Page 20 of Stuart Woods' Smolder

“The only cop I saw was going the other way.” Benji glanced at Devin. “You see any?”

“A state trooper drove right past us without even looking at me. That’s it.”

“Good,” Simon said. “Show it to me.”

Benji popped the trunk and removed the two suitcases inside. Under them was the box that contained the painting. He pulled it out and set it on the ground.

He was about to undo one of the latches when his brother said, “Move.”

Benji stepped back, then Simon opened the box and sucked in a breath. The painting was facing up, looking just like it had on the wall in Aspen, sans frame.

With great care, he removed it from the box and held it out so that he could take in every inch.

“Breathtaking.”

Benji glanced over his shoulder. “It’s not bad.”

Simon gawked. “Notbad? This is an Andrew Wyeth. He isone of America’s greatest painters. And you say this isnot bad? Don’t speak of things you know nothing about.”

“Sorry,” Benji mumbled. “I just meant I liked it.”

An alarm went off on Simon’s watch. He placed the painting back in the box, then silenced the buzz.

“I need to go,” he said. He pulled a fob from his pocket and pushed one of the buttons. The Mercedes’s trunk swung up. “Put it in there.”

While Benji and Devin transferred the box to the trunk, Simon climbed behind the wheel and started the engine.

Once the trunk was shut, Simon lowered the driver’s window halfway. “The door.”

“What about it?” Benji asked.

Anger flared in Simon’s eyes. He pointed at the roll-up door. “Open it.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

Benji jogged over and pulled on the chain that controlled the door until there was enough room for the sedan to pass through.

Simon raced out of the building and drove off without another glance.

“Your brother’s kind of a dick,” Devin said.

“He was just in a hurry.”

“If you say so.”

Chapter 6

That night, Stone was sound asleep when the alarm control panel on his bedroom wall began beeping.

His house was equipped with a state-of-the-art security system that included bulletproof windows, steel-reinforced doors, motion sensors, cameras, and the most advanced door locks available. Beeping in the night wasn’t common, but with such an advanced system, small glitches weren’t unheard of.

He went to the panel. On the screen was the messageINPUT CODE, and below this a countdown that had just changed from 17 to 16. This particular message only appeared when the security system was armed and an exterior door had been opened, giving a person thirty seconds to turn it off after entering the house.

Stone switched on the camera feed that covered the area around the downstairs control panel.

A dark shape huddled in front of the panel, with three otherfigures standing a few feet away, shining flashlights on the keypad.

Stone jammed the button that would immediately set off the alarm, then retrieved his pistol from the nightstand and rushed out of the room to the top of the stairs.

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