Page 10

J ake and Livvy watched the building from the safety of their room, and people began to leave around five. By six, the groups exiting the building had dwindled to almost none. It was still light out, but as the sun began to sink behind the buildings of Manhattan, fewer and fewer people exited.

Finally, when they hadn’t seen anyone come out of the building for at least fifteen minutes, she looked over at Jake. “Go time?”

His throat rippled as he swallowed, and he glanced over at her. “Yeah, I think it’s time. We don’t want the streets to be completely empty, because then we’ll stand out. So let’s get moving.”

“Sounds good,” she said. Jake put the two cameras into a smallish backpack, then added the installation directions and the screwdriver. She put her gun into its inside-the-waistband holster on her left side, and draped a loose jacket over it, making sure it was zipped enough to hide the gun. It was loose enough to allow quick, easy access to her weapon, and she noticed Jake had done the same. She hoped to God neither of them would need to draw their gun.

Once their guns and equipment were hidden, she tugged a black knit cap over her auburn curls and shoved her long hair into the hat. Both of them wore dark clothes.

“Time to move,” Jake said. “There are still people on the street, and we want to get there before it’s completely deserted. We want to blend in instead of stand out.”

“I’m ready,” she said.

Jake’s gaze swept over her, and it felt as if he’d brushed his hands down her body. Shivering, she tried to ignore the sensation, but her skin itched like it was too tight.

“After we’re done, we’ll have dinner at a restaurant in Sheepshead Bay. It’ll make us look like tourists.”

“Dressed all in black?” Livvy scoffed. “We’ll look like what we are -- cat burglars.”

“Hell, no, we won’t. Especially if we get rid of these,” he said as he snatched the hat off Livvy’s head and stuffed it into the backpack, along with his own hat. It felt as if he’d tangled his fingers in her curls for a moment, and she shivered at the sensation. Then he stepped away. “Now we look like New Yorkers,” he said.

“Yeah, I’ve heard they wear a lot of black.”

“They do,” Jake said. “Trust me on this, Livvy,” Jake said, slinging the pack over his shoulders and shoving his arms through the straps. “No one should give us a second look.”

“I don’t know about that,” Livvy said. “I feel as if we’ll stand out like sore thumbs.”

“We’ve got this, Livvy,” Jake said, adjusting the way the pack sat on his back. “New Yorkers? Dressed in black? A dime a dozen in Brooklyn.”

“I hope to God you’re right,” she muttered. She drew a deep breath and headed for the door.

Jake grabbed her hand and tugged her away from it. When she turned to face him, he asked, “You have your gun?”

She patted the waistband of her pants. “Exactly where I need it. You have yours?”

“Yep. I’m good.” He studied her for a long moment, then finally said, “You know you don’t have to do this, right? I can get into that building, do the recon, and get out by myself. If you’re nervous about this, don’t join me.”

She stared at him for a long moment, not sure if she was grateful or insulted. Insulted won. “Of course I’m nervous,” she said. “We’re breaking into a building. And if we’re caught, we have no excuse for being in a locked building at this time of night.”

One side of Jake’s mouth curled up. “Really? The woman who rides a Harley is nervous about a simple B and E? I’m shocked, Williams. Shocked, I say. I’ve never seen this cautious side of yours.”

“Yeah, well, breaking and entering a Bratva building has a lot more risk than riding my bike,” she shot back. “At least when I’m riding, I’m in control. Of everything.”

Jake’s teasing smile faded. “I can do this by myself, Livvy. You don’t have to come.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Of course I’m nervous. And I’m sure you are, too. But the whole point of this B and E is figuring out good hiding places,” she said, irritated that Jake was putting her on her heels. “And planting those cameras, which will go a lot more quickly with two people. So, no. I’m not gonna back out. I’m just registering my objections.”

“Objections heard and appreciated,” Jake said. “But I’ll be fine by myself.”

“You’re an idiot if you think this is a one-person job,” she retorted. “At the very least, I can keep watch while you install the cameras.”

“All right. If you’re sure you’re in, let’s stop bickering and get moving.”

As they got into the elevator and the doors slid closed, Jake grinned down at her. “And remember to act like second honeymooners on our way out of the lobby. We want anyone watching us to buy into our cover.”

“I can act as well as you can,” Livvy retorted. “You concentrate on looking like an adoring husband.”

“And you’ll be my devoted wife, right?”

Livvy snorted. “In your dreams, Dunbar.”

Jake slapped his hand over his chest. “I dream about you every night, Williams,” he said, trying to look all googly-eyed.

Livvy burst into laughter. “You look like a… a myopic monkey,” she said.

Jake swiveled to face her. “Nothing myopic about my vision when I look at you, Livvy. I’m completely smitten,” he said as the doors slid open.

He tucked his arm around her waist and led her to the door, grinning to himself at the pole-axed look on her face. She didn’t recover her composure until they were on the street.

“Smooth move in there, Dunbar,” she said, taking a step away from him.

“I thought so,” Jake said, pleased with himself. Livvy was way too self-possessed. He hadn’t seen her shaken very often. “Anyone looking at us saw a pair of honeymooners. That’s all they’ll remember.”

“I hope to God you’re right,” she muttered.

They chose a street that allowed them to watch the front door of the building they’d be slipping into. In the three-block walk, Jake didn’t see anyone exit the building. Opening the door and walking inside would be risky -- they had no way of knowing who might be watching.

Leaning close to Livvy, he said, “I’m gonna try and make it look like I’m using a key. You act like what we’re doing is perfectly normal. Don’t look over your shoulder. Don’t shuffle your feet or touch your hair. Your attitude should be, ‘we have every right to go into this building. We have business here.’ Okay?”

“Yeah, I can handle that,” she said. “You’re unlocking the door. We have business inside.”

“Right.” He nodded toward the building. “You been watching?”

“Yeah,” she said. “No one in or out.”

“It’ll take us seven, eight minutes to get there. We want to walk at a normal speed. Not hurrying, not hesitant. If we don’t see anyone else exit the building, we’re probably good.”

As he spoke, the door opened and a man stepped onto the sidewalk. Both of them slowed, watching the man carefully.

He was dressed in a uniform of some sort. Baggy pants. An open jacket. When the wind whipped his jacket open, they could see that he wore a jump suit. A dark color.

Jake frowned. “Maintenance man? That’s my guess,” he whispered to Livvy.

“Yeah,” she said after a moment. “I agree. Look at his shoes. Heavy-duty boots, probably with steel toes, like someone on his feet all day, carrying heavy stuff, would wear.”

Their steps slowed as they watched the maintenance guy lock the door, then yank on the handle to make sure it was secured. Then he turned a corner and disappeared from sight. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. If they’d been a couple minutes earlier, they’d be breaking into the building while the maintenance guy was heading toward the door.

“You think he was the last one in the building?” Jake asked.

“We’ll find out, won’t we?” she said, blowing out a breath to steady her nerves. “I’d think the maintenance guy would make sure the building was secure and empty before he left.”

“I agree,” Jake said. “Let’s pretend we’re window shopping along here,” he said. “We’ll keep an eye on the building, but I’m not expecting anyone else to come out.”

“Or go in, I hope,” Livvy said.

He slanted a look at her. “Yeah.”

By the time they reached the building, the sun had set over Manhattan. There was enough light to see, but dusk slid inexorably over the city. When they stepped up to the door, Jake already had his lock pick out. It only took seconds for him to unlock the door, and he opened it wide, waved her in, then followed her into the lobby. He quickly closed the door and locked it again, then drew her off to the side, away from the glass doors.

As they huddled against a wall, out of sight from the street, Livvy strained to hear any sounds from the building. She heard nothing. No voices. No machines running. Saw no lights in any of the offices. After ten or fifteen minutes, when they hadn’t heard a thing, Jake touched her elbow. Jerked his head toward the stairs, and she nodded.

They moved quickly up the first flight of stairs. By the time they reached the second floor, no one on the street could hear or see them. He bent and put his mouth to her ear. “We’re on the third floor. Room 320.”

She nodded, and they started up the next staircase. It was darker up here, with the light fading outside. A few ceiling lights glowed, enough to illuminate the stairs and the office doors. There was an eerie feeling to the deserted building. It made her want to get into the office, get the cameras installed, and get out. But of course she didn’t say anything to Jake. She wasn’t afraid of the dark, but darkness could hide too many things.

She had no sense of being watched, and from the way Jake headed up the stairs, he didn’t think so, either. When they reached the third floor, he found 320 quickly. Before he inserted the pick into the lock, he pressed his ear to the door. Listened for a long time. Finally he inserted it into the lock and eased the door open.

The room was pitch black. Jake eased the door closed and pulled out his phone. Turned on the flashlight and used it to scan the room.

Livvy was surprised at how similar this room was to the room where she’d had her meeting. Couches lined the walls, and there was a single desk in the corner. There was a window in the room, but it was covered with a dark shade.

Livvy crouched in front of the door and used her own phone flashlight to study the sill. It looked as though the threshold was a tight fit to the sill, and would prevent any light from leaking under the door. She turned to look at Jake. “Does that shade seem lightproof?”

“I think so,” he said. “I can’t find any gaps in it.”

“The sill and threshold look tight, too. I think it’s safe to turn on the light.”

“That’d make this installation go more quickly,” he said.

“And that’s exactly what we want: to get those cameras installed, check out escape routes and get out of here.”

“Yeah.” He fiddled with the backpack strap. “I don’t know about you, but the silence is creepy.”

“I agree. Let’s get to work.”

She flipped on the lights, and they both had to shut their eyes for a moment. But as soon as they were acclimated, Jake pulled the desk chair into the middle of the room. “Where should we put the cameras?” he asked her.

“How about one above the door, the other above the window?” Livvy said, her eyes studying the room. “That way, we get a picture of the whole room. And if someone’s sitting at the desk, the camera near the window should easily pick up his voice. Especially since he wouldn’t think he was being recorded.”

Jake scanned the room, then nodded. “I agree.” He dug into the backpack and found the knife to cut through the ceiling tiles. It took less than ten minutes to install the first camera. Then he carried the chair toward the door and repeated the steps. In less than a half-hour, the cameras were installed, the debris cleaned up, and the room looked exactly like it had when they walked in.

“We good here?” Livvy asked as Jake looked around the room. The back of her neck itched, and she wanted to get out of this building.

“Yeah. Let’s go,” Jake said, closing the backpack and slinging it over his shoulders again.

They turned off the light, giving their eyes a chance to get used to the darkness. After a few minutes, Livvy pressed her ear against the door. She froze, then turned to Jake. “There’s someone in the building.”

Jake came over and listened. “They’re on the first floor,” he said. “Their voices are echoing off all that glass. Let’s get out of here.”

They stepped into the hall and closed the door as quietly as possible. Then they looked around. No way could they go down the stairs if someone was on the first floor.

Just around the corner from the office was another door. Livvy opened it and peered in. Along the back wall was a line of meters. Judging by the numbers, one for every office on this floor. The side walls held shelves with office supplies, articles of clothing and, on the top shelf, weapons. Handguns, long guns, knives.

“In here,” she whispered. “They’re coming up the stairs.”

Jake slid into the closet and pulled the door closed slowly and silently. It was pitch dark in the closet, but Livvy pulled out her gun. She heard Jake’s clothes rustling, and figured he’d pulled his Glock out, as well. Then she whispered, “I think we could slide under the bottom shelves. They might still see us, but at least we’d have time to react.”

Jake crouched in front of one of the shelves. Livvy heard his clothes rasp against the floor as he squirmed into the space. “I’m in,” he whispered. “Get under the other shelf.”

Livvy dropped to her knees and felt around for the shelf. She wedged herself beneath the bottom shelf, then gripped her gun tightly. Just in case.

Voices came closer. Footsteps on the stairs echoed in the empty building. The intruders made no effort to be quiet -- Jake assumed they were confident the building was empty.

Instead of continuing up the stairs, the men’s footsteps echoed on the wooden floor, made the slats beneath them vibrate slightly. Jake held his breath, hoping they weren’t going into the office he and Livvy had just vacated. But they kept going down the hall, and it sounded as if they stopped about halfway down. A door opened. Closed a few seconds later.

He heard the muted sound of voices talking but couldn’t make out any words. Couldn’t even tell if they were speaking English.

He and Livvy were trapped in this tiny closet until those men left. Unless there was another way out of the building. He remembered he’d seen a large window beside this door, and he wondered where it went. He squirmed out of the space beneath the shelf and slid over to Livvy.

“Gonna go take a look at that window. See where it goes. See if there’s a way out there.”

She grabbed his wrist and held tight. “Maybe it’d be smarter just to wait here until they’re gone.”

“Could be a long time. God knows what they’re doing here,” Jake whispered. “It’ll only take a moment to look at the window.”

Without waiting for Livvy to answer, he stood up and pressed his ear to the closet door. Couldn’t hear a thing. So he eased the door open slowly enough that it didn’t squeak. Listened again, and when he heard nothing, he slid through the opening.

The window was a large hinged one with a latch on the wall. He eased the latch open and slid outside. Closed the window almost the whole way, then realized he was on the edge of the wall. There was a gap of about a foot between this window and the building next door, so he dropped down lightly and walked to the other side of the roof. Behind a large air conditioning unit, he found a chain ladder with steel rungs between the two chains.

Jake looked up at the building and saw the darker shapes of fire escapes zigzagging from the windows. Then he looked over the side. There was an alley on that side of the building, so he picked up the chain ladder and lowered it slowly down the side of the building. It stopped a couple of feet above the alley.

Exactly what they needed. He walked across the roof and listened at the window for any signs of the men but heard nothing. About halfway down the building, one of the offices was lit up. That had to be where the men were.

Easing the window open again, he crept to the closet and opened the door slowly. “Come on,” he whispered. “I found a way out.”

Livvy’s clothes rustled against the floor, then she stood up and hurried toward him. Once she was in the hall, he eased the door closed silently. Then he took her hand.

“Out this window,” he said.

Once they were out of the building, he pushed the window closed as far as possible, leaving only a tiny gap.

“There’s a ladder on the other side of the roof. Part of the fire escape system. We can climb down it, then get the hell away.”

Taking her hand, tightening his fingers around hers, he led her toward the other side of the roof. Pointed out the ladder. “I want you to go first,” he said. “Once you’re on the ground, I’ll come down. Then we’ll get the hell out of Dodge.”

“Okay.” She swung one leg over the edge of the roof and grabbed the chains on either side of the ladder, then started down slowly, one step at a time. When she was almost at the bottom, Jake reached for the ladder. But before he could grab it, a man on the other side of the roof said, “What the hell is this window doing open?”