Page 78 of Wild Oblivion

Henrik shook his hand. "Klaus will know. He’ll test the Vrilkristall before letting Giselle go, if he lets her go at all. I suspect he’ll kill every one of us when he gets what he wants. But once he has the crystal, our future is tenuous at best. We might not have a future at all. Perhaps not even a past."

40

This was a really bad idea, but Jack assured me that Juan and Jesus were the best tile guys on the island and could match the tile in the living room after we cut into it. There was just one slight problem. The house alarm.

I had a plan for that.

After a good night’s sleep, JD and I headed back over to Willow Bend to surveil the joint. James and his family had cleared out by 9:00 AM.

We pulled to the curb in front of the house. With the surveillance van wrapped like a public works vehicle, we wouldn’t draw much attention. Wearing neon vests, nobody would give us a second look. Though no matter how we disguised him, Henrik looked a little out of place. Just a tad past the age of retirement for manual labor.

We hopped out, walked up the driveway, and entered through the back gate. I knocked on the back door a few times just to make sure nobody was home.

No dogs barked.

From the French doors that opened to the patio, I got a view of the keypad for the alarm. With my phone, I zoomed in and took a picture, then sent it to Isabella.

Every manufacturer had a default service code. Even if the homeowner had changed it, there was always a backdoor to get into the system in case of an emergency. Most home alarms were hard-wired with a landline. Many had a backup battery and a cell phone in case the power was cut. Trouble is, most people don't replace the backup battery when it dies. Some people don't go to the extra expense of having a dedicated cell line just for the alarm.

It's always user error that creates vulnerabilities in a security system.

Within a few minutes, Isabella had identified the make and model and downloaded the security codes from the dark web, which were readily available. For no other reason than to cause mayhem, hacker groups were notorious for posting sensitive information about consumer electronics. Almost everything could be breached, from smart TVs to digital thermostats to networked wireless printers. Everything offered a backdoor into the system. You could never be too careful.

From his wallet, Jack pulled out a small lock-picking kit. He knelt down by the back door, slipped the tools into the slot, and jiggled them around. In under a minute, he unlocked the door and the deadbolt. He gave me a last look before opening the door. Last chance to back out. Last chance to avoid felony charges.

I kept telling myself it was for a good cause.

You know what they say about the road to hell…

I nodded, and Jack twisted the handle. He pushed open the door, and the alarm began its countdown of incessant beeping. Dressed in ball caps, dark sunglasses, and dust masks, our faces were obscured from any cameras that may have been positioned in or around the property. We had swapped out the plates on the utility vehicle with fake temporary tags.

We hustled through the house toward the keypad, and I punched in the code that Isabella had sent me. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.

Just like that, the system was deactivated.

JD and I shared a relieved look.

By that time, Henrik had meandered through the house to join us.

I said to him, "I need to know exactly where it is.”

He had previously counted the paces from the back fence to the French doors in the living room. From there, he stepped off exactly where he had buried the crystal. Just as he had said, it was directly under the coffee table.

JD and I carried it out of the way, then moved the couch against the wall. It would give us a clear area to work.

Jack closed the blinds at the front of the house. The frosted glass of the front door would keep anyone from seeing us inside. But it was about to get hella noisy in here.

We searched the area for cameras, but didn’t find any. It seemed the only camera on the property was the doorbell.By parking across the street, we hopefully hadn’t activated the motion sensor, but that was anyone’s guess.

Jack opened the front door, stayed clear of the lens, popped the cover, and dropped the battery. With the camera offline, it wouldn’t send updates to James’s phone.

He gave another look around before stepping back inside and rejoining us in the living room.

I stood over the tile that marked the spot. "In the spirit of measuring twice and cutting once, you’re positive this is it."

Henrik glared at me. "I've never been more certain about anything in my life.”

We didn't have a way to scan for the object. Infrared wouldn't penetrate the tile, and neither would ground-penetrating radar. The foundation slab was too thick, and the rocky substrate underneath was too dense. I didn't figure Henrik would have buried the crystal too deep. A few feet at best.