Then to where a red light suddenly appeared, aimed right at Becca’s head.“Gun, get down!”Cam shouted as shots rent the air.
Becca yanked Abby to the ground while Jared and Russ crowded on either side of the vault doorway, returning fire at the rafters.
“Who the fuck is shooting at us?”Becca hollered over thepingof bullets on metal and thepopandcrashof shattering glass.
For a second, Cam had thought it was his people, but no one on his team, not even Bowers, would have given the order to take Becca out.They needed her.Someone else, the person or team who’d tampered with the lock, was in here with them.
He ran back over to the safe, shoved the tray inside, and slammed the safe door shut.
“What the fuck did you do that for?”Becca demanded.
“Because a third party is not getting their hands on our prize.”
“Shit!”Becca cursed.“Someone else must have gotten wind of it.”
“Or your boss doesn’t trust you to get the job done either.”
Becca gave him a look, affronted but not totally surprised.
“We need to get the fuck out of here.Jared,” Cam hollered ahead of him.“Clear us a path.Russ, close the vault door behind us.We can’t let them in here.”
The bruisers nodded, then sprang into motion, and Cam covered Becca and Abby between them.“Go, go, go!”he shouted as shots continued to pound the ground and walls around them, one slicing a gash across his outer arm.“Fuck!”
Adding to the chaos, glass shattered at the front of the museum and shouts of “FBI!”rang through the open space.The cavalry had arrived, clearly getting the picture that all was not right inside.
Cam had a split second to decide.End this now, or find out who was on that call with Becca?If his suspicion was correct, there was only one choice to make.“Head for the back!”he shouted while Jared and Russ laid down more cover fire.Finally, they made it out the back door and bolted down the alley.At the next intersection, Cam hauled Abby to his side.“We have to split up and divide their efforts.Becca, take Jared and Russ.I’ve got Abby.We’ll meet back at the condo.”
Becca protested even as Russ began to drag her the opposite direction.“I’m the one calling the shots here.”
“The two voices needed for the safe can’t be in the same location,” he explained.“You’ve got access to one.I’ve got the other.”
She pressed her lips together, stymied.“Fine, go!We’ll meet back up at the condo.”
Cam grabbed Abby’s hand and off they ran around another building and past more alleys.“What the hell is going on?”Abby panted behind him.“Are you on Becca’s side now?”
“I need to know who Becca’s working for.But first, I need to get you safe.”He glanced down the next alley toward the main street.Bingo!
He charged forward, dragging Abby behind him until they hit the main drag.Right in front of Nic’s truck.After cracking through two vault-level doors, the lock on the truck’s door was a piece of cake.
He jimmied it open and hoisted Abby into the cab, with a “Stay down.”
Ripping off his mask, he circled around front to the driver’s side, and Abby leaned over, popping the lock for him.She fell back into the passenger seat as he climbed in.“Where are we going?”
“Safe house.”He reached under the dash, grabbing the two wires he needed to spark a hot-wire.Thank God Nic still drove an older model.
Next to him, Abby turned in her seat to sneak a peek out the back window.“Someone’s coming!”
The hot-wire sparked, the truck roaring to life.Cam righted himself, grabbed the ball cap off the dash, and yanked it down on his head.
As he peeled away from the curb, he caught a fleeting glimpse of Nic’s blue eyes glowing in the moonlight.Cam hoped he’d read the message in his actions for what they were.
Fifteen
The dim cone of light at Nic’s feet wobbled as did the man holding its source, Aidan’s curses coming in a steady stream of Gaelic.
“We’re almost at the top,” Nic said.He’d taken the lead, knowing the path well and used to scaling mounds of sand.He didn’t need the phone light or even the weathered wood steps to make his way up to the cliffside patio.But Aidan and Lauren did.
“Are you sure this is where they went?”Aidan huffed.
