“I am. Your warning gave me just enough time to hide.”
“I was so fucking scared. I—I froze when I saw Becker on the screen, and it took me a few seconds before I could think straight and send you the signal.”
“You still did good, baby. You didgreat. I found the safe.”
“You did?!”
“Yes! It’s hidden in the wall of Becker’s office.”
“You were in the office with them the whole time?”
“In the closet, but yes. I also heard some interesting things.”
“What?”
I glance back at Paola, who’s still waiting so we can leave together, like we’ve been doing for three days. “Come get me. I’ll tell you everything.”
“I’m on my way. Get dressed and get out as soon as you can.”
I can already hear him on the move. “We did it, baby,” I say, smiling from ear to ear.
“Youdid it. I love you so fucking much, you fucking lunatic.”
“Love you too. See you soon,mi amor.”
Chapter 34
“So, we can’t hack into it?” Andrea naively wonders.
“No. I found the service manual with the diagnostic procedures and escalation protocols, and there’s no universal backdoor to this safe. We’d need a technician device, as well as a safe-specific code that only exists in physical form in the manufacturer’s vault in Sweden. These safes are highly secure, and if we input the wrong code twice, we’ll trigger an alarm that will not only resound to a deafening level but also warn Becker on his phone and his security team. The only panel that could be tampered with is inside the safe.”
“Damn… It didn’t seem like such a complex safe when I saw it.”
“To be fair, it is an extremely simple safe, but they made it virtually impregnable to anyone who doesn’t know the code.”
Andrea pauses to ponder, and I run the soapy sponge over her arm. Following our scare, we’ve been doing our best to relax. That’s why we’re sharing a warm and bubbly bath, as well as a bottle of champagne I ordered from reception.
I thought seeing her bleeding from a gunshot wound would forever be my worst experience in life. But those twelve minutes where I had no idea what was happening were even worse. Horrible images and vile thoughts wreaked havoc in my mind as I waited for something to happen. Anything. I was on the brink of a heart attack until I saw her exit the hallway a few minutes after them, unharmed and untouched.
Had they done anything to her, I would have gone scorched earth and destroyed everything, them included. With nothing left to lose, I would have let my rage take over and rule me.
“We’d only get two tries?” Andrea asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Yes. And then, game over.”
“How many digits?”
“Could be four, could be twelve, or twenty… It’s at the client’s discretion.”
“Jesus, we’ll never figure it out.”
“Aside from capturing Becker and torturing him until he talks, I don’t think we will, no.”
“I like the torturing idea. Maybe we can do it, regardless.”
“I’m with you on that.”
She’s silent for a moment, distractedly sipping on her champagne, but I can practically hear the gears running in her head. Already, she’s trying to think of a way to overcome this new obstacle. It takes her about five minutes to think of something worth sharing.
