Page 34 of The Eagle's Vault

Next time, I’d go slower and let Declan win.

“Twenty minutes since you entered the vault,” Will announced, interrupting the uneasy silence that had fallen between Declan and me. “Suits will hold for another fifteen or twenty at most. Power drain is more than planned.”

Declan’s key finally clicked in the lock thirty seconds later, and we carefully retrieved Edoardo’s safe deposit box, sliding it onto the tops of our filing boxes. Inside, as expected, lay a beautifully crafted chess piece sitting atop an envelope. Declan picked the piece up, turning it in his fingers. “No booby tra…”

His words trailed off as his gaze landed on the envelope.

“What is it?” I asked. Silly question.

Declan’s name was written on the front in elegant, precise handwriting.

“We’ve got a letter,” Declan announced, his shoulders tensing. The room seemed to hold its breath. Even the keyboard clacking stopped.

Isaac muttered, “I knew she shouldn’t have gone in there.”

“Isaac, you’re not helping,” Scarlett came through, a note of stern authority underlining her words.

“But—” he started, and his words shifted to little more than a faint noise in the background of Scarlett and Rav’s communications.

Someone had muted him.

Declan carefully opened the envelope and removed a note card, along with two photographs. He slipped them into a pocket so fast I couldn’t see what was on them.

Not good.

He scanned the note, lips turning down, eyes hardening. He swore under his breath, crumpling the paper in his hand.

My voice shook as much as my hands had been earlier. “What was in the note, Declan?”

Chapter 13

Declan

“Declan?”Leighsaid,herwords sharper than I would have expected from her, as she plucked the traitorous letter from my grasp. Her smoothed it out, her eyes darting over the crumpled paper.

“It’s from Edoardo,” I ground out between clenched teeth. “It’s a fucking setup.”

“What?” Jayce asked over my earpiece.

I was already moving, key filing tools in my hands, scanning the neat rows of cold steel safe deposit boxes lining the walls of the vault. My heavy breaths were too loud in the metallic chamber. My mind raced, heart pounded, the edges of my tools biting into my fingers.

“That conniving little fucking prick!” I could have punched the walls. Pulled out my drill and laid waste to the goddamn place. Test the Eisenhart VIII model, my ass.

“A setup,” Leigh whispered, just loud enough for the earpiece to pick up.

“I’m waiting for an explanation.” Scarlett’s voice was sharp. Scary in a different way from Rav’s.

“A setup, Scarlett,” I snapped. I hauled out the tray underneath another safe deposit box and did my best not to slam my tools down on it. Breaking the thing off wouldn’t solve anything. “Edoardo sent us in here to fall into a trap.”

“Why?” Isaac’s voice, thick with concern, hit my ear next. How had he gotten his mic turned on again?

I flung my hands in the air, as if some invisible force could answer the question for me. “Guess we’re about to find out.”

My gaze shifted back to Leigh. The note still hung in front of her, fear burning in her eyes. The door had been too easy. I’d known it. There should have been a timer on the door or some sort of backup.

Blueprints and an inside man, Edoardo?

I should have canceled.

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