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Jennifer was takingin everything with wide eyes. I grinned at her and made a thumbs up.Jackpot. The room was lined with shelves and racks filled with belongings. There were at least two dozen handbags, several of which looked like there were studded with diamonds. Fur coats, jackets, and even a few weekend duffle bags. No matter what, this was ahaul. A majorhaul.

We both slippedour backpacks off, unzipped the sides to expand them, and set to work. Jennifer went to the purses and handbags, and I went to the coats. We worked silently, not knowing how much the people on the other side of that door would be able tohear.

Hounds of Hell,thethingsthese people brought in with them. Several of the men’s jackets had clips of cash stuffed into the breast pocket that totaled more in value than some of our entire hauls. There were solid gold pens, a cigarette lighter that probably cost as much as a car, and even more cash. The guys really liked to carry wads of cash with them,apparently.

Imademy way down the row towards the back of the room, my bag already nearcapacity.

“I’m full,”Jennifer whispered, grabbing the line hanging from the ceiling. “Yougood?”

Istuffeda pair of fur gloves into my bag and zipped it up—and then saw it. “Whoa. This wasn’t on themap.”

Asafe.

Iwentover to it and looked at the keypad on the door. Jennifer came up next tome.

“It’s electronic.Have you ever tried opening one of these ones?” I askedher.

“Yeah,”she said, “but I’ve only done it a couple times, and I don’t know howlong—”

“Did you bring your gear?”

“Of course.”

“We’ve gotsome extra time, let’s see what’sinside.”

She frowned,and then set her pack on the ground. “I don’t think this is a goodidea.”

“We have time,”I repeated. We’d only been there for less than fiveminutes.

“Fine,”she said, and pulled out a small pouch from herbag.

While she worked,I went over to the door to keep an ear out for anyone coming. The coast was still clear and wide open. Nobody would know we’d been here until the party was over, and even then, they probably still wouldn’t realize they’d beenrobbed.

“DidI bring my wad of cash with me tonight,honey?”

“Oh, I don’t know.”

“Iguess not.”

Ten minutes passed.Thenfifteen.

Istartedto pace theroom.

We still had time.At this point, we could probably be here all night without anyone findingus.

“Stop that,”Jennifer said. “You’re screwing with myhead.”

“How much longer?”Iasked.

“Idon’t know.It depends on the firmware of the system. Wecouldjust leave, you know? We didn’t expectthis.”

“Iknow,I know. But… It’s our last job. Come on, I thought you of all people would want to know what’s insidethere.”

“Ido,but… I’m just not used to sticking around for so long. Wait. Wait, I got it. It’s gonnaopen.”

“Yes! Jennifer, you’re amazing.”

Ihurried over.The panel on the safe flashed green as a series of numbers scrolled across the screen, and we leaned in eagerly. The string of scrolling numbers began to stop, one column at a time, until it was down to one finaldigit.