Shatterproof (9 page)

The guard tried to respond, but didn’t have enough air in his lungs to speak. His partner was unconscious. The hostages helped the old man he had kicked to his feet. They filed through the concrete door, sliding it closed with a loud
bang
.

Cheyenne Wyoming was running a brush through her long blond hair on a private jet flying south at thirty-five thousand feet. Her twin brother, Casper, sat across from her holding a small mirror and a pair of sharp tweezers, picking errant blond hairs from his nose.

“I told you that if we pulled off the heist at the Pergamon, we’d be back in with Vesper One,” Casper said. “Ouch!” He held the tweezers up, looking at his harvest.

“We’re not back in,” Cheyenne said. “We’re just not dead. Yet.” She picked up her smartphone and read Vesper One’s text aloud.

The wolves are at bay . . . for now. But it will take only the slightest irritation for me to set them upon you again. Proceed immediately to Bamako. From there you’ll catch the ship to Timbuktu. Keep an eye on the Cahills, but do not impede them in any way. Unless you want my pack of assassins to tear you to shreds.

Vesper One

“Guy has a way with words,” Casper said. “But he makes mistakes.”

“Like what?”

“Like failing to take Danny Boy as a hostage. His big sister wouldn’t try any tricks if Vesper One had her little brother.”

“He’s turned it to his advantage,” Cheyenne said. “The boy’s pretty bright.”

“He’s not bright,” Casper said. “He’s lucky.” He pulled the last nose hair out. “Ouch!”

Dan was dreaming that Vesper One was calling him. . . .

“Where’s my phone?”

His eyes shot open. Amy was standing in front of him in a hotel bathrobe, her hands on her hips.

“Uh . . .” He looked down at his cell phone and realized that the ringing he’d heard wasn’t a dream.

“Never mind,” Amy said. “I see it. It’s probably Evan.” She picked it up. “Hello?” She hesitated. “Who is this?”

A look of shock crossed her face.

“I’m betting it’s not your boyfriend,” Dan said.

Amy shook her head and put the phone on speaker.

“How did you get this number?” she asked.

“Interpol is the largest international police organization in the world. But that is not how I got your number. Is your brother, Dan, there? I believe he has a wallet that belongs to me, and a priceless manuscript belonging to the Pergamon Museum.”

“Yep on the first one,” Dan said. “Nope on the second. We didn’t swipe
The Book of Ingenious Devices
.”

“Then how do you know it is missing?”

“Television.” Dan glanced at Amy. “Hang on a sec, Vanek.” He took her phone and put it on mute. “You missed some things during your Skype date with Evan.”

“It wasn’t much of a date,” Amy said.

Dan quickly filled her in, then took her phone off mute. “Sorry about that, Vanek. We’re on an airplane and they’re telling us to switch off our phones. We’ll have to continue this conversation late —”

“Another of your funny jokes,” Vanek interrupted. “You are in rooms three thirteen and three fourteen of the Brandenburger Hof. I am standing outside your door, and all of the exits from the hotel, as you say in America, are covered. So as not to disturb the other guests I would like you to come out quietly.”

Dan and Amy turned and stared at the door in disbelief.

“We need to think about it.” Dan put the phone back on mute and walked over to the door. He looked through the peephole. A distorted Agent Vanek was looking back at him with a cell phone to his ear.

Amy walked over and resolutely opened the door.

Milos Vanek looked at the two children. They looked exhausted, disheveled, and nervous. The girl wore a white hotel bathrobe, and her hair was tangled as if she had just awoken. The boy looked like he had slept in his clothes.

“May I come in?” He wasn’t really asking, but it was always best to be civil. He had the hotel surrounded with plainclothes policemen, but he wanted to remove the Cahills quietly if possible.

Amy nodded and stepped aside. He slipped past her and Dan into the elegant room.

“Very posh,” he said. “It must be nice to have more money than you know what to do with.”

“We slept in a graveyard the night before,” Dan said.

Vanek smiled. Apparently, the boy’s imagination knew no bounds. He looked at Amy. “You will need to dress. And if you are thinking of exiting through the door of the other suite, I have a policeman stationed outside that door.”

Dan’s face cracked. “You don’t understand what’s going on here.”

Vanek looked at him. “I understand very well. The theft of a priceless masterpiece, escape from jail, assault of a police officer, impersonating a police officer, pickpocketing.” He held his hand out. “I would like my wallet and passport back . . . and my keys.”

“How did you get my cell phone number?” the girl asked.

“You left it for me at the Pergamon Museum,” Vanek said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out her watch. “Perhaps not intentionally.”

The children stared at the watch in dismay. The girl put her hand out tentatively.

Vanek shook his head and put the watch behind his back. “The wallet,” he said.

“Then what?” the boy asked.

“Then I will arrest you and take you to jail.”

“We didn’t take anything from the Pergamon!”

“That remains to be seen. And there is still the priceless Caravaggio painting you stole in Italy.”

“Which was a fake,” Dan reminded him. “We should have gotten a reward for returning the real one.”

“The wallet,” Vanek repeated.

The boy crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “No.”

“Dan,” the girl said sweetly, giving her brother a meaningful glance. “You know that watch has sen-timental value to me.”

“I know,” the boy said, returning her look. “But Vanek’s wallet has
practical
value to him. If he lets us go, I’ll give him the wallet.”

The boy was correct. The wallet did have practical value to Vanek, which is why he had entered the room alone rather than having the door kicked in by the backup team in the lobby. The museum guards knew the boy had handcuffed him to the stanchion, so there was no getting around that embarrassment. But no one knew the boy had also stolen his wallet. Still, Vanek shook his head.

“No deal,” he said.

“Fine,” the boy said. “Let’s skip the watch and wallet and go directly to jail. Call your guys up here and search the rooms. You’ll never find the wallet.”

“I was hoping we could do this discreetly,” Vanek said, calling his bluff. He took a two-way radio out of his pocket.

“Wait!” the boy said, his face pale as snow.

Vanek frowned. The two children looked so sad and exhausted. There was none of the pleading or bravado he’d so often seen when crimes caught up with the guilty.

“How about this for a deal?” Dan asked. “I’ll give you your wallet back for the watch.” He hesitated. “And if you let us go, I’ll give you Luna Amato.”

The very sound of her name brought an angry flush to Vanek’s face. Thieves, murderers, forgers — they were all bad. But the worst of all of them was a dirty cop. When he’d reported Luna to his superiors, he’d been met by blank looks, blustering, and once even a cold glimpse of terror. Somehow she had gotten to them. Vanek had determined to track her himself, but after Turkey her trail had gone completely cold. He had been hunting Luna when he’d received an anonymous tip about the Cahills being at the Pergamon.

“You know where she is?” he asked.

Dan met his eyes. “I do. But I won’t tell you if you arrest us.”

Vanek locked eyes with the defiant boy, weighing his choices.

“How can I trust you will tell me the truth?”

“How can I trust that you won’t send your men crashing in here after I tell you where she is?”

“You have my promise,” Vanek said.

“And you have my promise.”

Vanek stared at him for several seconds. The boy did not blink. He could find the Cahill children whenever he wanted. The same could not be said for Luna Amato.

“I know there is more to what you are doing than meets my eye,” he said. “I am in a position to help you if you would allow me.”

The girl shook her head. “We can’t do that.” Vanek could hear the effort it cost to keep her voice steady. Something nagged him about the children. Something about them didn’t fit with the crimes he knew they had committed.

Vanek paused for an agonizing second, then brought the watch out from behind his back. The girl’s face crumpled for just an instant, as if the relief of having it back was almost more than her slim body could bear. The boy nodded, then reached into his back pocket and pulled the wallet out.

Vanek smiled. “Hidden in plain sight, I see.” He took the wallet. “Where is Luna Amato?”

“Mumbai.”

“I was stationed in Mumbai for many years. It is a very big city. Twenty million people. Where can I find her among them?”

“Find Jonah Wizard and you’ll find Luna Amato.”

Vanek raised an eyebrow. “Jonah Wizard, the star of music and the films? What does he have to do with the lying, traitorous Luna Amato?”

“He’s keeping an eye on her.”

“For what purpose?”

Amy cut in. “That’s not part of the deal,” she said. “Do you have police stationed at all the exits?”

Vanek nodded. “I have your promise about Luna Amato?” he countered.

The boy looked at him. “As Jonah Wizard would say,
word
.”

“Word.” Jonah Wizard shoved his cell phone back in his pocket and looked at Hamilton Holt. “That was Amy. They’re borrowing the jet for a trek to Timbuktu. The jewel snatch was a bust, but the hostages are still okay. Some Interpol dude is bouncing in from Deutschland to check out Luna.”

Hamilton stared at his hip-hop mega-platinum-star partner in confusion. He’d been with Jonah 24/7 for several days and he understood the Mumbaiya slang the food vendor was jabbering to them better than he understood his famous cousin.

“Are you saying that they’re using your jet to get to Timbuktu, and they didn’t get the Jubilee Diamond, but Reagan and the other hostages are okay?”

“You need subtitles, brother?”

“I guess.” Hamilton took the banana leaf topped with
pav bhaji
from the vendor and snapped open his can of Thums Up soda. Across the street a snake charmer was coaxing a king cobra out of a basket with a flute.