Perfect Scoundrels (Heist Society 3)

“Please.” Gabrielle gave a dismissive wave, and crossed her long legs. “What else?”

But the final thing, Kat seemed almost afraid to say.

“Time.” She swallowed hard. “There is no way to steal the prototype before the launch—not if it’s at the Superior Bank of Manhattan. Their security is too good and…it’s the Superior Bank of Manhattan. No one has ever done it.”

“That’s what they said last time.…” Hamish said.

“And the time before,” Angus added.

“The Cleopatra Emerald was being moved, and that made it vulnerable. We had two weeks for the Henley,” Kat countered. “The launch is in three days. I don’t know…”

“So we steal time,” Hale said. His words had a force to them. And for a second, they scared her. Then Hale softened, retreated. “So what do you say, Kat?”

She nodded, but it took her a moment to mutter, “Okay. We just have to delay the launch, right? We can do that. We just have to…” But she let her voice trail off, absolutely unsure what to say.

“I don’t see what the problem is.” Gabrielle stretched out on a bench. “We can find Garrett, right? And he can’t sell the prototype if he is…shall we say…tied up?” She gave a self-satisfied smirk.

“Gabrielle!” Kat rolled her eyes.

“What?” Her cousin looked as innocent as she could possibly be. “We could keep him someplace nice. It will be like a vacation. Or rehab. He might even thank us.”

“Yeah,” Kat mocked. “Thank us…have us arrested for kidnapping…really, they’re practically the same thing.”

Gabrielle huffed. “You have obviously never conned anyone in rehab.”

On the other side of the car, Hamish slapped his thigh and proclaimed, “I like it!”

“Of course you do,” Kat said.

“Now, now, hear me out,” Hamish went on. “We don’t have to kidnap Garrett. Not if we kidnap the buyer.”

“Or distract him,” Angus added.

“Like the Bulgari job,” Hamish said.

“You mean the job that landed half the DiMarco family in a South African prison?” Kat said.

Angus shrugged. “Nobody said it was perfect.”

“You’re missing the point, guys,” Kat told them. “We have to get the prototype back before the launch. If the investors and stockholders see the faulty model…”

“Hale Industries is finished,” Hale said.

“The Princess and the Pea?” Gabrielle suggested.

“Not enough time,” Kat said.

“Where’s Waldo?” Gabrielle went on.

“No.” Hamish recoiled. “I am still not allowed back in Morocco.”

“Three Blind Mice?” Simon said.

Everyone looked at Kat, who shivered. “I don’t do rodents.”

The train kept going and the suggestions kept flying, but none found their mark, and finally silence descended on the crew.

“Maybe we’re making it too hard,” Simon said. “Simple is good, right?”

“As long as we’re not kidnapping anyone,” Kat said.

Gabrielle blushed. “It was only a suggestion.”

“What do we know about Garrett?” Kat asked. “Hale, does he gamble?”

“I don’t think so,” Hale said with a shake of his head.

“Drink?” Kat asked.

“No more than any of the other people from my childhood.”

“Chase the ladies?” Hamish asked.

“No. He’s just…a lawyer. He was always there. Briefcase. Suit. Hat. The guy is seriously boring. There is nothing scandalous or even interesting about him.”

“Well, that’s not exactly true.” Kat spoke softly, carefully. She forced herself to meet Hale’s gaze. “He does have an ex-wife. And a daughter.”

“Natalie isn’t a part of this. She isn’t,” Hale insisted even when Kat didn’t protest.

“Okay. I believe you,” Kat said. “But she might be useful.”

“We’re not going to use her.” Hale’s voice was like stone, unmoving. “And besides, it’s not like she and her dad are exactly close. Natalie went away to boarding school when her parents divorced. She hardly ever came home after that.”

“How long has Garrett worked for the company?” Gabrielle asked.

“That’s the thing.” Hale shrugged. “There’s always been a Garrett working for us. His dad had the job before him, and so he was always…around.”

“Okay, so we go farther back.” Kat felt herself swaying, rocking like the train. “Tell us about your grandfather.”

“What can I say, Kat? He’s dead. They’re all dead. My grandmother. My grandfather. My grandfather’s brother—”

“Wait,” Kat said. “Was this the brother who was supposed to run the company with your grandfather?”

“Yeah. He died way before I was born. He was supposed to be a real character, but then he died, and my grandfather got it all—all the money, but all the pressure and responsibility too. He was a workaholic. And—”

“When did your great-uncle die?” Kat asked.

“Maybe fifty years ago. Like I said, I never knew him. No one ever talked about him. It was like the whole family thought he was cursed or something.”

“No more curses.” Gabrielle’s whole body shivered. “Please no more curses.”

“It wasn’t that kind of curse, Gabs,” Hale told her. “He was just…I don’t know…super eccentric or something. He wanted to be famous, but famous in a way that had nothing to do with being a Hale. So he was always doing stuff like climbing K2 or flying solo to the North Pole. He disappeared floating down the Amazon or climbing the Andes or something. It was this big, tragic family secret no one ever talked about.”

“So he just disappeared? They never found a body?” Kat said.

“No. Why?”

The train kept racing, but to Kat, everything was growing slow and still. She felt it in the crew around her, all gazes, all thoughts settling on her as she breathed against the chilly glass and whispered, “Anastasia.”

Chapter 27

For an odd sort of girl, Kat was used to odd sorts of meetings, but there was something especially strange about walking into Uncle Eddie’s parlor and looking out over the people who sat straight-backed on the dusty, faded chairs.

“Hi.” She shifted a little more nervously than someone of her pedigree ever should, and then she risked a glance at Hale, who stood beside her. “Thanks for coming, everybody. Have you all met?”

She looked from Marcus, Marianne, and Silas to the Bagshaws, Simon, and Gabrielle. Uncle Eddie stood by the fireplace, firmly in the center, and Kat had to wonder how she had ended up there, with these people for clients and crew.

“So everyone doing okay?” she asked. No one answered. “Okay.”

“Did you find the will?” Marianne asked.

Kat smiled sadly. “No. I’m sorry, Marianne. We think any trace of Hazel’s real will has probably been destroyed. But”—she hurried to add the good news—“if we can prove that Garrett stole from the company, we may be able to petition the courts to name a new trustee.”

“I’ll take care of you, Marianne,” Hale told her. “I will always take care of you.”

Marianne smiled and dabbed at a tear in her eye.

“Thanks to Silas,” Kat went on, “we finally know what’s going on. It looks like Garrett has stolen the Genesis prototype and its plans and is trying to sell them to one of Hale Industries’ competitors. That’s the bad news.”

“Does that mean there’s good news?” Silas asked.

“Sort of.” Kat drew a deep breath. “We know where they are. Garrett has a safety deposit box at the Superior Bank of Manhattan, and we’re pretty sure the prototype and plans are in there.”

Kat saw her uncle tense, but he didn’t speak. She could read his eyes: That is hardly good news.

“It is an extremely difficult target. No one has ever robbed it. Ever. And we can’t do a job like that in time for the launch. We may never be able to do it, and so that’s why, Silas, we need you working to duplicate the prototype. Can you do that?”

“I can try,” Silas said. “But without access to my lab and—”

“I’ll get you whatever you need,” Hale said.

“Good,” Kat told him. “Simon can help you try to recover the original schematics from the Hale Industries server.”

“That’s very nice,” Silas said with a smile. “But I’ve been working with that system since before he was born, and I haven’t—”

“I think you’ll find that Simon’s skill set is slightly more…specific,” Kat said.

“I steal things,” Simon told him.

Silas arched an eyebrow. “I see,” he said, then crossed his arms and grinned in the manner of a man who can’t wait to get to work.

“Great. So while Silas is trying to duplicate the prototype, we’ll try to retrieve the original.”

“Retrieve?” Marianne asked.

“Steal,” Gabrielle and the Bagshaws said in unison.

“Oh.” Marianne gave a sigh that said this day was getting more scandalous—and interesting—by the second.

“Now, forgive me for pointing out the obvious,” Silas shifted in his chair and leaned closer to Kat, “but retrieving the original isn’t going to do us any good after Garrett rolls out the fake at the gala two nights from now.”

“That’s why we’re going to disrupt the launch,” she said.

“You know,” Angus said, “I’ve got a little C-four that I’ve been saving for a rainy—”

“We’re not blowing up my company, Angus,” Hale said.

“Righto. Carry on, Kitty.”

“Like I was saying, we’re going to have to disrupt the launch, hopefully in a way that will keep it from being rescheduled any time soon. Also, we need to keep Garrett…distracted.”

The older generation sat looking at the younger, and Kat wondered exactly when and how the baton had been passed. She wanted to know if it was too late to give it back.

“And that’s why”—she took a deep breath—“we’re going to run a con. It hasn’t been done in a long time, but that’s okay, because we have the talent to pull it off.” She felt her hands shake, so she gripped one in the other. “Have you ever heard the story of the Grand Duchess Anastasia?”

“Well, of course,” Marcus said. “She was Russian royalty, killed in the uprising. Now, some people said that she had survived, but that was a conspiracy. A…”

“Con,” Hale filled in.

Silas was shaking his head. “But what does this have to do with—”

“Reginald.” Marianne’s voice was solid and sure. “It is because of Reginald, isn’t it? But…how? Who could possibly…” She let the words trail off, and Kat felt the room shift, all eyes turning to Uncle Eddie.