“So you think we should give away the jewels? Will that save our lives?”
“Will resisting save the jewels? We don’t know how much they know. They know the frequency for the royal guard earpieces—who knows how much they’ve been listening in, or how long they’ve been planning this? They could know everything. How did they know to come after you? We can’t underestimate how much they already know.”
Ruby sniffled. “I’m still not telling them anything. I won’t betray my friend.”
Another hollow thud echoed through the hallway. Galen had yet to hear footsteps, but something was definitely happening not far past their door. Fear burned through him with urgency. He had to make Ruby understand. It was going to be difficult enough to keep her alive, even with her full participation. If she didn’t trust him, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
“I’m a Lydian Royal Guard, Ruby.” Galen let the pride and honor carry through past the pain in his voice. “I have pledged my life to keep safe the royal family and royal property. I would die before I let the Bulldog Bandits get their hands on the crown jewels. But I know one thing with utter certainty. I would sooner watch them empty the vault than let them hurt you.”
The room fell completely silent as Ruby’s crying stopped. “You can’t choose that. You have to protect the crown jewels.”
But Galen had made up his mind. They were outnumbered, outmaneuvered, trapped. If he tried to save everything—the jewels and Ruby and himself—he’d end up losing it all. But if he could pick just one thing, and focus on saving that one thing, he might have a chance. And as long as there was a chance, Galen would do everything in his power to save that one thing, even if it meant losing everything else.
“I’m going to get you out of this, Ruby, but you’ve got to trust me and do exactly as I say. Can you do that?”
Silence.
“Ruby?”
* * *
Her heart resisted Galen’s words, her father’s accusations running through her head, his rebuttal ready the moment she’d made her defense.
I would never do anything to betray the jewelry stores.
Maybe not knowingly, but you still betrayed us. You betrayed us without even realizing it. Gregory Tate had spoken out of anger—Ruby knew that. He’d later apologized for his harsh words, but he’d never taken them back. Because deep down, he truly believed she’d let them all down.
Just like she was letting down Stasi right now. “I don’t deserve to be saved,” Ruby told Galen finally.
But her words were obscured by a rhythmic booming in the hallways outside, followed by a rattling of keys and finally a grating squeal as the steel door swung open and the light flashed on, blinding her with its sudden brightness.
Ruby closed her eyes against the burning light, then raised them slightly, just enough to see Galen lying bound in front of her, bloodied, bruised, hurting.
His request echoed through her thoughts. I’m going to get you out of this, Ruby, but you’ve got to trust me and do exactly as I say.
With sudden clarity, she realized she trusted him, even more than she trusted herself. “Galen?” She whispered his name as the large shadow in the doorway moved closer. “I’ll do whatever you say.”
An evil laugh bellowed above her. “What’s that, Ruby? Making promises you can’t keep? Don’t bother talking to this guard. He’s as good as dead.”
“You need him!” Ruby had adjusted to the light enough to look Vincent full in the face.
“Not by my reckoning. Near as I can tell, we just need you.”
“You need the codes he has memorized.” Ruby thought quickly, realizing that if she told the Verrettis that the codes were the coronation years, they’d find a history book and dump Galen in the sea. No, she had to make them believe Galen was invaluable to their plans.
The royal guard wanted to save her life? She’d save his right back, if she could. And maybe, if they were very fortunate, they could trigger an alarm and save the crown jewels, too.
But one thing at a time.
“You want the crown jewels, don’t you?”
“How’d you figure that out? That Salvatore punk tell you all about us? Thought you only cared about the wedding jewels.”
“They were just a decoy, weren’t they? You stole the designs to distract us.” Ruby realized the truth of her words as she spoke them.
Vincent looked slightly surprised, then guilty. Then he laughed. “The whole store’s a front, a great excuse to have connections in the jewelry world, to launder anything that might otherwise make folks suspicious. Funny how we Verrettis can run a facade that’s more successful than Tate Jewelry will ever be.”
His words knocked her breath from her lungs. Ruby wanted to make a smart retort, but she could hardly inhale past the ache in her chest, feeling her family’s failures all the more acutely now.
Vincent had a pistol in one hand, a large hunting knife in the other. He slashed the knife toward Galen’s legs.
Ruby screamed.
“Calm down.” Vincent brandished the knife at her, waving it uncomfortably close to her face in the belly of the rocking boat. She realized he’d cut Galen’s legs free. “Gonna take him upstairs. We’ll talk like civilized people.”
A rush of hope dizzied her as Vincent pulled her to her feet. Maybe this was their chance. Maybe, if they broke free—
But Carlton appeared in the doorway a moment later and hauled Galen, still mostly bound, to his feet. He shoved him out the door and Vincent shoved her after them. She stumbled up the stairs. As she’d suspected, night had fallen. The moon and stars shone down clearly from the cloudless sky, reminding her of the night she and Galen had watched for falling stars. The island had been nearby, somewhere in the archipelago off the Lydian capital of Sardis, but Ruby didn’t know the area well enough to identify their precise location.
Roxanne Verretti waited at the landing with a gun in one hand, a dog leash in the other. Two saggy-eyed bulldogs sat at her feet, the wrinkles of their chins disappearing into the folds of their necks and shoulders. Ruby had never realized how much Roxanne looked like her beloved pets—which obviously hadn’t been poisoned. Another lie? Or had the pets simply been replaced?
“We’re far enough out to sea,” Carlton announced as he hauled Galen toward the starboard side of the yacht and shoved him high against the rail. “How’s about I hold him and you shoot him?”
SEVENTEEN
“No!” Ruby’s protest came out like a scream.
Galen couldn’t hear anything else, but he saw Roxanne Verretti raise her gun and point it his direction. He still wore his body armor under his uniform shirt, but at this close range, she could hit him in the head or neck if she was a decent shot, or wound him and toss him over to die slowly.
Considering that his hands were still bound behind his back, Carlton could toss him over uninjured, and he’d have little chance of making it to shore, never mind that he was a strong swimmer. In fact, if Carlton continued to hold him by his collar, his toes an inch above the deck, he’d strangle him before he ever hit the water.
Roxanne didn’t shoot.
It took Galen a moment to see why, and he struggled for each precious breath.
Vincent had extended his hand, palm out, in front of her, like a crossing guard instructing her to stop. “Ruby says we need him.”
“You need him,” Ruby confirmed in a shaking voice. “He’s the only one here who knows the codes.”
“You don’t know the codes? How’s come they give you clearance if you don’t know the codes?” Roxanne didn’t seem to have a tight grasp on English grammar, but given her grip on the Glock in her hand, Galen doubted she had often been corrected.
“They only tell me the codes for the cases I need, when I need them. If you try to get into the cases without knowing the co
des, you’ll trigger the alarm.”
Roxanne looked from Ruby to Vincent.
Vincent shrugged. “We need codes to override the alarm.”
“We need the guard?” Roxanne didn’t sound happy about it.
“We need the guard.” Carlton didn’t sound happy, either, but he lowered his arm.
His feet finally flat on the deck, Galen sucked in a welcome breath and tried to think clearly. They’d averted one crisis. How many more lay ahead?
“Let’s sort this out.” Vincent hauled Ruby up a few steps into the salon, the same room the Verrettis had occupied when Rocco had pointed them out from the cliffs overlooking the marina.
Carlton shoved Galen in next, and Roxanne followed with her dogs snuffling at her heels. Galen didn’t see Milton, but the pilothouse rose above the salon, its lights on low. Probably Vince and Carlton’s father was up there, steering the boat.
As his eyes adjusted to the posh salon interior, Galen observed what he hadn’t been able to see from the cliffs Sunday night.
The room was the Verrettis’ control central, with maps and schedules and electronic equipment spread across the table, scattered over the countertops, piled in the corners on the floor. None of it appeared to be a permanent fixture, which didn’t surprise Galen in the least. No doubt the bandits needed to be able to dispose of evidence quickly. At the moment, however, they must have felt secure. There was enough evidence in the room to link them to any number of crimes in Lydia alone.
It was a reminder he didn’t need. They wouldn’t have let him and Ruby see the evidence if they had any intention of letting them live long enough to share what they’d seen.
Galen’s resolve hardened. He had to help Ruby escape somehow. Eventually Rocco would catch up to the bandits. Someday they’d face justice. But Galen knew Rocco had no intention of going after the Americans until they returned to the US, where he could bring them in without facing any charges himself.
Galen prayed silently for the safety of his fellow guards. For their sakes, he didn’t want them anywhere near the vault.
“Here we go.” Milton pulled out a hand-drawn map of the old city wall, the hidden steel door and initial passage entrance marked in red. “They put a bunch of extra guards on the old city side of the wall.”
Galen felt his heart sink. The royal guards were all expected to be on duty for Isabelle’s wedding, so Selini had asked for volunteers to work extra shifts covering the stretch of wall between the information guard booth and the tower known as The Last Stronghold. Since none of the men had been told what they would be guarding, Galen had hoped his fellow guards wouldn’t volunteer. Unfortunately, none of the men he worked with had ever been known to back down when help was needed.
From what Milton said, Galen knew his fellow guards had risen to the challenge. Which meant his closest peers would be out in force when the bandits arrived. And the bandits had a history of shooting guards before they ever saw them coming.
He couldn’t let the bandits shoot his friends. But as he prayed silently for the safety of his friends, he couldn’t help wondering how he was going to keep Ruby safe if he didn’t play along.
Milton stabbed a finger at the other side of the map, where a creek meandered through the ancient moat and trees grew thick on the other side of the wall. “We’ll approach from outside the old city.”
“But there’s no entrance on that side,” Ruby protested.
“Ain’t there?” Milton lit a cigar with a chuckle. “We’re going in the tower window.” He pointed to The Last Stronghold.
“It’s a hundred feet off the ground.” Galen informed him bluntly, Kirk’s many explanations running through his mind. It was too high. They’d need a helicopter or a crane, but the trees were too thick to allow a crane anywhere near the tower, not that a crane would be remotely stealthy.
Milton leaned back and puffed on his cigar, chuckling as he snapped his fingers at Carlton.
The younger bandit pulled out a large black nylon bag. “Pneumatic line-throwing grappling hook launching system.” Carlton’s eyebrows danced with excitement as he read off the features from the label. “Self-retractable, capable of towing a 7mm Kevlar line 120 vertical feet, complete with noise-mitigating system.”
Milton blew a puff of smoke toward Galen’s face. “Sounds like your tower won’t be a problem. Now, explain to me why I need you both to get me in there?”
Galen explained, every word feeling like treason on his lips, fear nearly stopping his heart half a dozen times as he realized that he couldn’t help them, couldn’t get them through all the security measures even if he wanted to.
But each time he hit a roadblock, instead of declaring him worthless and shooting him on the spot, the relentless thieves around the table found a solution to the obstacle. In the end, the Verrettis seemed pleased with their plan. Galen felt sick to his stomach. After going over every step of the plan in scrupulous detail, Galen couldn’t see when or how he would trigger an alarm without the bandits knowing or even catch a break to help Ruby escape. He prayed that God would open his eyes, to see his chance when it came. To give him a chance, however small.
The Verrettis’ plan was simple. Galen and Ruby would get them inside the vault and give them access to the jewels. And as soon as the bandits no longer needed their help, they’d eliminate them.
Galen prayed he’d find an opportunity to free Ruby before it came to that.
“Take him back downstairs,” Vincent instructed his brother. “Me and Ruby got a lot of catching up to do.”
Ruby drew back. “I don’t want—”
Vincent silenced her with a slap across the cheek. “You do, babe.”
Galen couldn’t stand it. He lunged forward, out of Carlton’s grip, across the table toward where Vincent sat on the cushy curved bench next to Ruby. He’d told himself to bide his time, to wait for an opening, to wait at least until they were closer to shore or had their arms untied. But there was no more waiting, not if Vincent was going to hurt Ruby right now.
Pushing off with the soles of his feet against the built-in benches that encircled the table, Galen spun a swift half circle on the papers that littered the smooth surface. He dropped down onto the bench, his hands still tied behind his back but able to steady him as he shot his legs straight out. As he got his feet around Vincent’s neck, he then slammed Vincent’s head against the cushioned seatback, wedging one heel against his forehead, one instep against his neck. Vincent squealed like an angry pig, his eyes bulging.
He saw the butt of the gun moving toward his face a split second before Carlton thumped his temple with a hard blow and everything went dark.
* * *
Ruby wanted to scream, to dive across the table after Galen, but Carlton followed his blow by swiftly tugging Galen from the table and dragging him down the stairs.
“Gimme a hand, Ma,” Carlton whined as Galen’s prone foot caught against the doorframe.
Roxanne kicked the foot free. She’d been puffing on a cigarette and pulled it out to talk. “I’ll get your father. I’m not touching those dirty shoes. I just got my nails done this morning.” She ambled down the stairs after her son, the dogs snuffling in her wake, leaving Ruby alone with Vincent.
Ruby tried to inch away from Vincent, but he had one arm tight around her waist and pulled her closer to him instead.
“Don’t make me hit you again. I won’t be so nice this time,” he warned through gritted teeth. “I got a deal for you, a good deal. The only deal you’re going to get.”
Hardly budging from his spot on the bench, Vince reached back, grabbed a laptop from the counter behind him and flipped it open.
Ruby recognized the document on the screen. They were the income accounts from Tate Jewelry, updated that afternoon. She felt blood rushing dizzily to her head, pounding at her temples. It couldn’t be
. “How did you—”
“Easy, babe. I planted a remote transmitter inside your father’s CPU. I can see everything on his hard drive and everything on his screen.”
“When? How?”
“The first time was during your high school graduation party. You made that easy for me. All I had to do was sneak away while you and your friends were playing some stupid game, unlock one pathetic little door lock. Really, if your dad valued his business, you’d think he’d protect it better.”
“But my father replaces his computer every two years.”
“A nuisance, I admit,” Vince clicked through reports, showing expenditures, sales projections, even the latest numbers on the royal wedding jewelry replicas. He closed the page quickly, but not before Ruby saw that the replicas were selling high on their projected range.
In spite of being knocked off. In spite of everything Vincent had done to sabotage her father’s business. Ruby felt a heady swirl of hope.
Vincent kept talking. “I just snuck in again and replaced it. Not a difficult task for someone of my talents.” He smiled at her, then, a smile she recognized from years before and had once mistaken for confidence, but now saw as conceit.
He seemed so sure of himself. An ill sense of foreboding crept through her veins.
“Why are you telling me this?” She felt certain he wouldn’t let her out of his sight now that she knew what he’d done, not when she knew enough to send him to jail for multiple life sentences.
His smile grew. “I’m a reasonable man, Ruby. I’ve always liked you.” He reached for her face. Drew her closer.
Ruby’s spine stiffened, resisting.
“Do you have any idea how wealthy I am?” Vincent’s voice went husky. “Your parents want to retire. A merger of Verretti Jewels and Tate Jewelry would be advantageous to us all.”
Ruby opened her mouth to ask why, with all his wealth, he’d want to acquire her parents’ chain, but she realized the answer before she spoke.
Royal Heist Page 15