The Arrogant Thief

by Mallory Crowe

  “As talented as you,” she said pointedly. “That just proves my point. Even with her, you can hardly stand the idea of someone being smarter than you. I’d say it’s a girl thing, but I know you’d feel the same if she were a man.”

  “Well, at least I’m not sexist.”

  “I’m just giving you an honest answer. You don’t take criticism well because you’re so unused to getting any. Now it’s your turn. Tell me about this mysterious woman who can put up with you.”

  “Wow. I’m going to need an antibiotic for my ego after all of this. Sarah is her name. She lives in the city and is a bored heiress. She’s a nice way to pass the time.”

  “A nice way to pass the time? Hardly a love letter,” she mumbled.

  “Who said anything about love? We’re exclusive because someone in her position can’t afford to be getting an STD and she doesn’t have to test me every time I come over for a booty call.”

  “A booty call? Is she the one calling you?”

  “I let her know when I’m in town, and she lets me know if she’s free. It’s a... relaxed arrangement.”

  “This whole thing is just too odd. I’m happy you’re happy, but I don’t get it.”

  “Don’t get how someone can be happy and relaxed with me?”

  She shrugged. “I know I’m not relaxed around you.” She could feel how that caught his attention, and she tried to figure out a better way to say it. “I mean, when you’re around, I’m on my toes. Like everything I say comes out wrong and at any moment you might think I want—” Nope, not better. “Never mind. I’m not helping here.”

  She wanted him to say something to set her mind at ease, but he didn’t give her anything. Instead, he leaned back against the seat, and they finished the cab ride in silence.

  It wasn’t until they were in the posh streets of the towering skyscrapers of the financial district that he finally looked to her. “Maybe it’s a good thing you’re on edge. You’re going to need to be.”

  Gage slowed his step as they approached the Vance Tower. The family specialized in real estate, so it was hardly surprising that they had their name on a skyscraper. He’d done his fair share of jobs in the city, but never one in Vance Tower. The good news was that his cover would be fresh and new. The bad news was that he had no idea what he was doing. And with no Toni, Tristan, Slade, or Hunter working his backup, that would be a problem.

  He and Melissa walked right on past the building, and he looked inside as subtly as possible. Inside, there was a reception desk and a few turnstiles. He couldn’t see much detail through the windows, but if it was like a lot of these other buildings, he’d need a keycard to get through the turnstile unless he could be marked as a guest. When he made the actual heist, he wouldn’t want the attention of signing in, but for a bit of reconnaissance, that would be fine.

  “We’re going to go in. Let me do the talking, okay? I can get us in as guests.”

  “How? You can’t list Courtney Vance as the person you’re going to see. Or Brenda.”

  “I won’t need to. Trust me.”

  “I’m really starting to hate when you say that,” she muttered as she followed him inside. She was worried how she’d react when faced with lying to an actual person. An actual innocent person at that. But it was surprisingly easy to copy Gage’s easy, nonchalant swagger as he approached the counter.

  “Hey, man.” He leaned his forearms on the marble counter.

  The two security personnel at the front desk were very professional-looking, with little earbuds in their ear and a spiraling white cord along the neck. The blue sports jacket they each wore was branded with the name of the building on it.

  Gage didn’t smile at them and they didn’t smile at him.

  “Can we help you, sir?”

  “I’m trying to get up to Vance.”

  “Who are you here to see, sir?”

  “I’m here with the auditors.”

  Melissa kept her face expressionless. If this whole charade didn’t work out, it wasn’t going to be because of her, damn it.

  “Let me call to verify,” said the man, whose nametag said “Arnold.”

  She glanced at the other security guard, but he was staring at his computer screen and wasn’t interested in them at all. At least they appeared nonthreatening.

  Arnold now had the phone to his ear, and she had to bite her cheek to keep from giving away how worried she was. “Hello, this is the main desk. I have two people here who say they’re with the auditors. Okay, one second.” He turned his attention to her and Gage. “What are your names?”

  Before she could even make something up, Gage said, “Scott Hart and Toni Murray.”

  Well, she had to agree with his logic on that one. He was leaving another breadcrumb for Toni or Scott to follow. But just because he gave a name didn’t mean he’d be able to get past—

  “You’re all set.” Arnold handed them two clip-on badges that said “VISITOR” in large red letters.

  Well, hell. That actually worked. She nodded a thanks and went to the turnstiles, which were unlocked by the security guys, and went straight until they reached the elevators. She remained quiet until she was inside the elevator and finally let out a sigh of relief. “I can’t believe that worked.”

  “Don’t get too relaxed. We’re not out of the woods yet. And we’re trespassing right now, so we’re officially breaking the law.”

  “Wow, you’re a killjoy. Can’t you just be happy that we made it?”

  “We said we were auditors. People never say no to auditors. Too afraid to piss them off and then pay financially.”

  “Noted.”

  He frowned and looked at her. “What does that mean?”

  She thought it was rather self-explanatory, but the elevators opened before she could even start to figure out what to say to that.

  “Now’s the fun part.” He moved out of the elevator and turned right, which she noticed was the opposite direction of the reception area. But sure enough, there was an open hallway to meander down. With their visitor badges firmly in place, they walked as if they knew where they were going, and no one paid them any attention.

  “What are we doing?” she asked as quietly as possible.

  “Not too sure.” He kept walking. “Getting a lay of the land. Eyes on Brenda’s workstation.”

  “You’re telling me we broke into this building just to wing it?” asked Melissa.

  “We came here to look for surprises. When we’re doing this for real, I need to know what to look out for. I also want to figure out what to do with you.”

  “Me? I didn’t realize I was such a bother.”

  “You’re not a bother. You’re an asset. Four eyes are always better than two, and I want to know the best way to utilize you. Are you okay?”

  “What? Yeah. I’m fine. I was only kidnapped and forced to commit crimes.”

  “Watch your words,” he warned, glancing around them to point out that anyone could be listening. “If you’re not comfortable, say something. I assumed you were okay with this since you’ve been itching to go out in the field more often lately. The whole point to be doing this is so you don’t.... You know.”

  Die, she completed for him silently. “You watch your words,” she mumbled. “I’m just... apprehensive. Rightly so, I think.”

  “Slow down a bit,” he said.

  She glanced around and realized they were right next to Brenda’s office. Gage surprisingly walked past it even though there was nobody inside and continued to the next empty office two doors over. They both walked in, and he pushed the door shut. The interior office had a window open to the hallway, but he pulled the blinds closed so they’d have some privacy. A laptop sat on the desk, and he pulled it open to look at the lock screen.

  “Are you going to like, hack that right now?” she asked.

  “I can’t hack anything if I don’t know what it is.” He pressed a few buttons and brought up a black and green coding-like screen.

 
“How did you even do that?”

  “Hacker magic. As soon as I figure out what it is, I can get into it. The earlier I know, the easier the rest of the job will be. This way, when we come to do the actual job, I’ll know what I’m doing.”

  “All that implies that at some point you don’t know what you’re doing.”

  Gage worked at the computer, his fingers running over the keys so quickly she couldn’t even tell what he was typing. “Don’t make me prove myself to you,” he muttered. “Okay,” he said finally. “I have what I need.”

  “I’ll trust you on that one because it looks like you did nothing.”

  “What exactly do you think it is I do?”

  “I don’t know. That, I guess. Somehow in my mind it looked cooler.”

  He raised a brow at her. “You think that wasn’t cool? We just broke into a building and got some really good reconnaissance done, and that’s not impressive enough for you?”

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. You’re very cool. I promise.”

  “Gee, thanks.” He shut the computer. “Your approval means so much to me.”

  He said it as though he were joking, but he seemed honestly annoyed that she didn’t think he was cool enough. And that was an alarming thought. Gage was plenty cool. If he was any cooler, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from drooling all over him every second of the day. Just that one particular small instance wasn’t what she thought it was going to be. She promised herself to be nicer to him later, but right now she just wanted to get out of the danger zone. “Now what? Do we just walk out of here?”

  “Not quite. I still need a security badge. Two, actually, if I want to get us both in. Before we go anywhere, we’re going to have to mingle.”

  “Mingle? I’m good. You can take care of that mingling thing on your own.”

  He tilted his head at her. “Now I know I look damn good in the suit, but there are some people who are just better distracted by a pretty lady than a pretty man.”

  “You see? That’s the thing. You shouldn’t be referring to yourself as pretty, Gage. You know, humility is attractive too.”

  “Trust me, humility is not attractive on me.”

  She highly doubted that. She was pretty sure everything was attractive on Gage, but she knew saying that out loud wouldn’t help her case at all. She just rolled her eyes and followed him out. They continued their trajectory around the building until they came to a break room. He motioned with his head for her to follow him, and they approached cautiously. The break room was rather... plain. A basic white tile floor, with gray, circular tables all surrounded by counters and cabinet space filled with break room-y things. Gage stopped by the coffeemaker and poured himself a cup. The other people in the room didn’t seem to pay them any attention, but she could feel a few hairs rise against the back of her neck. Two strangers coming in to get coffee... visitor badges on—any office worker had to find that interesting.

  They sat down at an empty table and nursed the crappy coffee. She had to fight the urge to spit it out after she drank it. She wasn’t exactly a coffee drinker. If anything, she was the type to go for a strong caffeinated soda or an energy drink over the coffee. There was a time when Josh was younger that she’d been dependent on the stuff. After bartending, she stayed away from any drink that might be addictive in any way.

  Unfortunately, that had worked too well, and now she could barely stomach the stuff. Right as she was about to take another drink, Gage stood. “I just remembered something. We better get going.”

  She didn’t know whether his abrupt exit was reason to be worried, but she was just happy that she didn’t have to drink any more of that coffee. She tossed the remnants of her cup in the sink and followed him out. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong. I got what I needed.”

  “What you needed? I know you didn’t have a chance to get their badges. You never even got close to them.”

  “I didn’t need to get close to them. If I stole their badges, they would know by the end of the day and they’d report them missing. Then security would cancel any access they have, and we’d be flagged if we tried to use them. I didn’t need badges. I needed names and descriptions.”

  “You have the names from every office we walked by—the nameplates.”

  “Yes. Each ID has a picture registered with it. I could see it on the screen the security guys were looking at. So I needed a guy and a girl with similar coloring to us. Now we have their names. All we need to do is make badges to get us in the building tomorrow.”

  “How are you going to get a machine that will make badges for this building?”

  “Oh, I just figured I’d borrow theirs.”

  The farther Gage walked, the more sure he was that he could pull this off. Really, the job wasn’t that complex. Get access to the building, which he already did easy enough; then get access to one employee’s laptop. The encryption on the laptops was good, don’t get him wrong, but it was nothing he couldn’t get around with the right software. The whole thing made him worried. Anything that was too easy was always suspicious. And why did Courtney have to go out of her way to get him to help her? She could’ve gotten plenty of guys who were talented enough to pull this off and didn’t have to be blackmailed by some elaborate plot. Cold hard cash got a lot done in his industry. Something didn’t make sense, and he didn’t like it. Not when the stakes were this high. Not when lives were at stake.

  He knew he wasn’t supposed to like it, considering the kidnapping and all, but he just didn’t fucking like it.

  “I know this is probably a bad idea,” said Melissa. “But that streetcar smells really good.”

  Gage saw the little food cart she pointed to that was selling pretzels and hot dogs. “We need to eat. Might as well live dangerously.”

  “Do you think if we get food poisoning we can ask Courtney for a sick day?” she asked with a smile on her face.

  “I don’t see any harm in asking.”

  Melissa let out a little laugh. “Yeah, no harm in a bullet to the head.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m joking about this. It’s not funny!” However, her words were belied by the laugh she let out.

  “Might as well laugh. Better than crying.”

  “Ain’t that right. I’m sick of crying. I don’t want to cry anymore.”

  Now that got his attention. All the time he’d spent around Melissa, he never once heard her cry. She hardly ever complained, for that matter. “I didn’t realize you were the sort to cry.”

  “I’m only human, Gage. Of course I cry. But not as much as I used to. I’m a little bit, I don’t know, tougher than I used to be. When I was a kid and had those really hard times with my parents, I don’t know how many times Peter had to cheer me up.” She blinked a few times, and her face scrunched, as though the memory surfacing left a bad taste in her mouth. “Dealing with all that as a kid was hard. I didn’t understand it. I didn’t know why most kids seem to have parents who loved them and mine were pieces of shit. I kinda got over it. I had Peter, and I trusted him to take care of me. But then, when he was gone, that’s when things got bad. All this is way too personal, but I really feel as though the TMI barriers are down between us, right?”

  Gage didn’t know what to say to that. Were the TMI barriers down? He just nodded and waited for her to continue.

  “Now, after that night, I cried. Nothing was easy, everything was hard, and my emotions were so overloaded from all the change that happened at once. All of a sudden I was alone, had a little kid to take care of. Don’t get me wrong, I love Josh. He’s one of the only things that actually got me through that time with my sanity, but it was rough. After that, I don’t know. I got harder. So yeah, go ahead, Courtney. Wrap an explosive collar around my neck, threaten me. I’ve seen worse than her. After all I’ve gone through, she’s small potatoes.”

  She paused and rubbed the back of her neck. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you all this. It all worked out for the best.
Josh was a great kid, I had friends helping me raise him, and Peter wasn’t actually gone and made sure to sneak me financial support the whole time. So I guess it all worked out in the end. Just like this will too. So we’re going to eat some crappy street food, not get food poisoning, and do whatever the heck Courtney want us to do, then go back to living on normal lives. I can go back to being the B squad at Hart Securities, and you can get back to Sarah.”

  “Sarah and I aren’t....” Did he really want to tell her that he and Sarah weren’t together anymore? Now it added a whole new layer to this: they were both single. Especially considering what happened right before this, back in Michigan. What would she do if she knew they were both single? Maybe the better point was that he knew if she did try anything, he wouldn’t try to stop her. Maybe when this was all over, they could do something about this. He’d take her on traditional dates and see whether she still wanted to take things further with him. But not now, with the threat of imminent death hanging over their heads. He knew how things were in this situation. When you thought you might only be alive for another twenty-four hours, you throw caution to the wind, do things you shouldn’t. People you shouldn’t. He didn’t want to be that for Melissa. He wanted her to know what she was doing and what she was getting herself into. Hell, she would never really know what she was getting herself into with him. With Sarah, it had been easy. She was used to playing with the big boys. She was used to handling her own. Melissa had only just been thrown into his crazy world. He knew he had to take care of her the way she deserved. He owed Slade that.

  Cursing under his breath, he stepped forward to order the two hot dogs and two drinks. He put a line of mustard on his, and she seemed to slather hers in ketchup. “Do you want to sit down?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “We’re New Yorkers now. We walk and eat and talk at the same time. Multitasking!” As she said it, she took a giant bite of hot dog and he couldn’t help but smile at her.

  “Official New Yorkers,” he agreed as he took a bite as well. They walked the next block in silence, each making their way through the hot dogs.