Page 20 of The Eagle's Vault

Leigh’s arm looped around mine, her excitement almost a tangible entity radiating from her. “I didn’t notice it the first time, but the facial recognition? It was the Sperry Vision, state-of-the-art. There’s no way you can get past that.”

“You’d be surprised,” I muttered, letting my gaze slide over her profile. She was lit up like the day we’d met, when she noticed I’d opened her safe. Not angry like Thursday, but vibrant. All fiery enthusiasm and an almost magnetic sense of wonder. Scarlett’s makeup job highlighted her brown eyes, as did the borrowed suit. She was classier than her usual formless clothes, but no more attractive—just attractive in a different way.

“And the motion detectors in the vault?” Leigh continued, her thumb brushing back and forth against my forearm.

I grinned, allowing myself a moment to appreciate her passion. It had been a long time since anyone had shared so much interest for this part of the job with me. “We’ve got a solid start.”

“A solid start?” Leigh chuckled, a sound that seemed to bounce around the bustling street, mingling with the voices of people all around us. “I guess that’s one way to put it. You’ll do all your prep work at the hotel?”

“I’ve booked a temporary office,” said Scarlett, reminding me I wasn’t alone with Leigh. “We’ll move everything in tomorrow morning and dig in.”

Rav, in his usual growl, added, “I’ll review the security first.”

When we’d headed into Cassaforte, Leigh had been uncomfortable in the shoes and the skirt. Now? She flung one hand in the air, despite the overpriced bag she was carrying, punctuating her words as though she weren’t speaking to seven people over an earpiece. “An Eisenhart vault, Declan! It’s like stepping inside Fort Knox!”

“Fort Knox doesn’t use Eisenharts.”

She smacked my chest with the clutch. “You know what I mean.”

I laughed, tightening my arm around hers. “Yeah, I remember my first few penetration tests. I was a green twenty-one-year-old, fresh out of university. Thought I was James Bond or something.”

She rolled her eyes at me, a playful smile on her lips. “I’m sure you did. How long have you been working for Reynolds?”

“Since I graduated.” A flood of memories washed over me. The adrenaline, the challenges, the thrill of outwitting a system designed to be unbreachable. And back then, doing it with one of my best friends and her mother. Evelyn, Scarlett, and I had been an unlikely trio before the rest of the team trickled in.

“And you’re always on the move like this?” Leigh asked, her tone softer now, curiosity replacing the excitement. “Traveling the globe, testing safes? You said you do recoveries, too? Jewelry and art?”

“Sometimes.” I shrugged, offering her a lopsided grin. “Gets me out and about.”

“Well, I hardly ever leave Boston. But this?” She waved her free hand at the old-world charm around us, her eyes wide with genuine awe. “It’s like living inside a postcard.”

A laugh bubbled up in my chest. “Glad you’re enjoying the scenery.”

Her gaze flickered back to me, a shy grin shifting across her face. “The scenery’s not half bad.”

One fake name and a single recon mission, and the woman was flirting with me. Or did she mean the vault was the scenery? Or the river?

“An Eisenhart VIII, eh?” Brie cut off any chance of me testing out the flirting theory. “The Eisenhart VII was a tough nut to crack. The triple cylinder locks took us hours.”

“Hours well spent, Brie.” Will’s slight British accent peppered a word here and there, growing stronger with every month he spent in London. “It should give us a leg up on this one.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” I was still irritated about that long night, waiting for the two-hour time delay to finish. If Cassaforte had the same, I’d have to bring a deck of cards for entertainment. “She’s the new beauty on the block. They won’t have just improved things, they’ll have changed them up.”

Brie remained calm and steady. “I’ll hit the dark web, see if there’s anything about the VIII. We’ve had good luck with that in the past, so you never know.”

“Good call, Brie,” I said. “And, Will, you and I need to cross-reference the data my phone grabbed from the door. It might help us figure out what Eisenhart changed with the new model.”

“Got it, Dec.”

Leigh turned slightly in our walk, holding the clutch against my arm. “What does the phone actually do? Other than trigger stink gas and indigo dye, of course?”

Jayce’s snort reverberated through the earpiece. “Oh, Brie, you’ve got to hear this story.”

“Story time can wait.” I tried frowning at Leigh, a not-so-subtle encouragement for her to keep her mouth shut. It was useless, though, since Jayce would spill it all. “The phone’s case is more than what it seems. We’ve got some added testing tools in there. When combined with the phone, it can analyze everything from metal compounds to electronic factors.”

“Like a miniature lab?” If Leigh held my arm any tighter, we’d have to stop walking. Her need to understand was visceral, and all I wanted was to sit on the stone half-wall next to us and show her the inner workings.

If Daphne had been a quarter this interested in what I did for a living, I would have held an ounce of regret for our breakup.

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