Page 67 of The Eagle's Vault

“Isaac?”

I clenched my jaw. I wanted to say yes. Say the jerk who talked down to Leigh was behind something like that, but I wasn’t ready for that yet. “We should get Brie to look into the rest of the Barton employees.”

He pushed his shaggy black hair from his forehead. It was a habit he’d picked up over the last few years, after he stopped cutting it military-short. “Is that what you were doing in the garden? Interrogation?”

“Shut up, Rav.”

“It’s a good lead.” He pulled out his phone and typed some notes. “We’ll start with looking into Leigh and Isaac again, though, since they’re here. I’d rather not let anyone get the jump on us.”

“Reasonable.” I shook off the discussion and returned to our original goal. “Jayce and I are going underground. Brie and Will will monitor our GPS, keeping us on the right path. We’ll all stay in touch via earpieces.”

Rav nodded. “I’ll be at the wheel, waiting to pick you up. Scarlett, Malcolm, and Emmett are at the catacombs right now, dealing with any potential surveillance.”

I mulled over my tools again, selecting the drill and a flexible endoscope. “I’ll take these, though I’m not sure how the drill will fare against the vault door without knowing what kind of stone we’re dealing with. Sandstone or tufa, sure, but what if it’s marble? Granite?”

Rav grunted in agreement, standing and stretching his broad shoulders. “Your portable x-ray may help, but there’ll be a lot of playing it by ear.”

“A spectrometer would’ve been handy.” I began packing my gear meticulously. I had a job to do, a mystery to unravel. One that wasn’t Leigh. One that was a welcome distraction.

“Remember, this is a recon mission. Get the details, snap some photos and videos, then get out. You’re not opening that vault tonight.” His eyes bore into mine, serious and full of intent. “And watch out for traps.”

I frowned at him, holding up my lock pick set. “C’mon, Rav. I’ve been doing this for a while now. I know all about traps.”

My mind flashed back to Leigh’s safe, the unexpected trap that had caught me off guard. Stink gas and dye—her trap had bested me because I was too busy trying to impress her. But tonight was different. This was business. She wouldn’t be there, and I’d be in game mode.

“All right, all right. I’ll be careful. You should probably worry more about Jayce, though. She’s the one likely to try and crack the thing open on a whim.”

Rav chuckled, shaking his head. “Then make sure you pack a chocolate bar or something. She’ll follow you anywhere.”

His words were light, but they masked a deeper truth: we were stepping into the unknown, and the stakes were higher than they should have been, because we didn’t know what Giovanni would do if we failed. For tonight, the job was clear—gather intel and get out. No heroics, no theatrics. Just pure, professional precision. As much as the thrill of cracking the mystery vault beckoned me, I had to keep my priorities straight.

Another knock rattled the door, pulling my attention away from my gear. Rav stood abruptly, his instincts on high alert as I moved to answer.

Jayce, a lollipop sticking out of her mouth, greeted us as she barged into the room. She shot a quick nod at Rav before turning her attention to me. “You wearing your thermal suit?” she asked, her words garbled around the candy. “Remember how cold it was in the catacombs yesterday?”

“Yeah, I’m wearing it.” I pointed to the tight suit on the bed. “Did you bring your respirator mask? It might get dusty down there.”

She held up the mask she’d brought, a satisfied grin on her face. “Yep.”

“How about elbow pads, knee pads, and a headlamp?”

“Seriously, Declan?” She rolled her eyes. “This isn’t my first job, you know.”

“I’m just making sure.” I nudged her shoulder before pulling out my own mask. “We were told to pack for a fancy wedding job when we left home three weeks ago, not for spelunking in the underbelly of Rome.”

“Fair point.”

“Did you pack a thermal imaging camera?” I asked.

She shook her head. “That one, I didn’t.”

“Or a moisture meter?”

“No, but I did bring a crowbar,” she announced with a smirk.

It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.

Wait. Did she actually bring one? Or was that a crack about when we met Leigh and Isaac?

---