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“Here we go,”Jenniferwhispered.

The number stopped.The panel turnedred.

And then a siren started,as loud as a howl to themoon.

We looked at each other.Jennifer’s eyes werewide.

We both spoke at once.

“Shit.”

“How do you shut it off!”Ishouted.

“Idon't know!We gotta get out ofhere!”

She grabbedher bag from the floor and ran to the escape rope with me on her heels. I skidded over to a chair sitting in the corner, and jammed it under the door handle just as I heard the lock release. The door pushed forward and wedged against the chair and through the opening came the confused shouts of the people on the other side. Shoulders immediately started to slam against thedoor.

“Christophe, come on!”Jennifer shouted. She was already half way up therope.

“Go!”I shouted back, and she shimmied her way up and disappeared into the vent. I ran and jumped for the rope, hauling myself up as quickly as I could. Jennifer looked down at me with wide, frightenedeyes.

The door vibratedwith a heavy kick, again and again. I reached the vent and Jennifer grabbed at my wrists, struggling to pull me in. I couldn’t move! I wasstuck!

“The bag!”Jennifer screamed. “It’scaught!”

Swollen with loot,it was caught against the opening. In a moment of panic I strained and pulled, but it was useless. I knew I had no other choice. Still holding on to the ledge, I released one hand at a time and let the bag fall from my shoulders. It hit the ground and burst, the goodies inside scattering across the floor just as the door explodedopen.

Ilookedover my shoulder and saw two men in suits—part of the house staff—staring back at us in shocked disbelief. Thenheshowedup.

“What the hell is going on?”he shouted. A woman arrived behind him, saw the mess inside, and let out a high-pitched squeal of ascream.

My eyes methis for the first time. His gaze pierced mine and an electric thrill coursed through my entirebody.

One final pull,and I disappeared up into thevent.

“Go, go, go!”

We crawled as fastas we could, banging along the inside of the duct, praying that they didn’t have the system memorized like wedid.

Shit.I’d gotten cocky and greedy, and I had no idea if we were going to be able to get out of this. At least they hadn’t seenJennifer.

Istrainedto listen to their movements—they could hear us, they were followingus.

“The momentwe get out of that vent, I want you to run,” I said. “Drop your bag, shift, and run. I’ll be right behind. You gotthat?”

“What,are you crazy? I’m not going to drop mybag.”

“They only know about me.We can’t risk them coming after you, too. Get out of here as fast as you fucking can. I’ll take thepack.”

“Mason…”I could hear the fear in her voice. Jennifer was tough, but she was just a kid. We’d never been in this situationbefore.

“Do what I say, Jennifer,”I said, doing my best to sound calm. “We’ll befine.”

We droppeddown the vertical shaft. Almost there. I couldn’t hear them anymore, but I knew they’d be outside, searching all of the ventilation access panels. It was a huge house, so maybe, just maybe, we’d getlucky.

Icouldn’t letthem get Jennifer. For Mom’s sake. She couldn’t find out that Jennifer had been doingthis.

Jennifer quickly undidthe screws on the access panel and pushed it open. I could hear the party upstairs in commotion, the voices of the guests trying to figure out what was going on. She reluctantly removed her pack, and handed it tome.