Page 71 of Explosive Vengeance

“Loud and clear,” Chloe murmured back.

The more time Megan spent with Trinity, the more she appreciated the older Valkyrie’s ability to calmly take charge and organize things. When Trinity was at Laidlaw Hall, she spent a lot of time with Kiyomi. Megan wanted to hang out with them more once this was taken care of and she brought Chloe back with her. Chloe was easily the most social and outgoing Valkyrie Megan had ever met. It must have been extra hard on her to be alone all these years.

“Perimeter cameras going down in three, two, one… Out.” Amber announced.

Chloe stayed in front as they jumped a ditch and ran across the expanse of grass toward the eight-foot-tall stone wall surrounding the manor.

“You’re clear,” Jesse told them.

Music to Megan’s ears.

“Interior yard is clear too,” Amber reported, now watching the hacked security feeds on her computer. “I’ve got everything on a loop so it won’t raise suspicion.”

Heath boosted Chloe up to scale the wall. She straddled the top, checked, then dropped down on the other side. “Go,” she told them.

Heath jumped up to grab the top of the wall and hoisted himself to the top, then reached down for Megan’s hands while Ty boosted her up. They dropped down on the other side, followed by Ty a second later, and took up a diamond formation as they moved toward the house.

It was an impressive chateau, but not as nice as Laidlaw Hall she thought with a mental sniff. Dubois had bought this place with dirty money. Whereas Marcus had inherited his ancestral home, and worked damn hard to maintain it with the money he carefully managed.

They headed straight for the side entrance where the hired help came and went, as it had the best entry point for their purposes. Megan stepped up to the door and used her little electronic gadget to unscramble the key code, then punched it in.

Click.

“We’re in,” she whispered and eased the door open an inch, pistol up and ready, Chloe and the guys stacked up behind her. The mudroom was empty, the house quiet.

“Two heat signatures, but they’re faint. One downstairs near the kitchen, the other upstairs near the master suite,” Amber reported.

So Dubois might still be in Belgium. Perfect. “Copy. Moving in now.” This was a simple get in, steal what they needed, and get out mission. To maintain the air of secrecy they had to avoid all contact with the guards, or it would tip Dubois off that he was no longer safe here and the women would likely be lost forever.

She led the way through to the lower hallway, then stopped to let Chloe take point. They’d gone over the floor plan until Megan had it memorized, but Chloe was the expert here.

They snuck down the hall, moving toward Dubois’ office. According to Chloe the man had backups of his backups at all his places, so if they were going to find what they needed, it would be in there.

“I got movement,” Amber said. “Guy on upper floor’s headed downstairs.”

Chloe gestured behind her and the team ducked out of sight into the butler’s pantry. Megan waited at the door, curbing her impatience. She wanted to get this done and get out of here without any hiccups.

It felt like half an hour before Amber spoke again. “He’s still in the kitchen. Midnight snack time, I guess.”

Megan stifled a groan and waited with the others until Amber gave them the all clear, then crept out of the pantry. This time Chloe made a beeline for the office. Megan stayed hot on her heels, lock pick kit in hand.

While the others kept watch she picked the lock on Dubois’ office door and snuck inside with Chloe, while Ty and Heath remained outside to guard them. “How’s our window looking now?” Megan asked Amber. That idiot security guard had just deleted a serious chunk of their time.

“You’re gonna have to work fast. You’ve got T-minus eleven minutes.”

Well, crap.

She and Chloe spread out and began their search. While Amber walked Chloe through hacking Dubois’ password on his desktop computer, Megan looked around for more enticing things. The custom-built cabinets held financial files they might find useful later. She kept going, searching for a thumb drive or something like that hidden away where no one was likely to look.

The massive antique desk had no false bottom on the underside or in any of its drawers. She checked the art next, pushing aside the corner of each painting on the wall. “Bingo.” A safe.

She removed the painting, propping it against the wall to get a closer look at what she was dealing with. Electronic keypad. Fingerprint biometric scanner. She sighed in disappointment and disapproval. All this money, and this was the level of security Dubois used to keep his private stuff safe?

Well, bonus for her. “Let’s see how thorough his cleaning service is,” she murmured, taking out a few items from her pocket. She sprayed a fine layer of dust onto the tiny screen, then put a piece of tape over it to preserve any print there. Shining her penlight on it, she smiled. “Not that thorough.”

With the print intact, she used her electronic scrambler to get the code to the keypad, then pressed her thumb over the print. “Etvoilà,” she whispered as the door opened.

“Anything good inside?” Chloe whispered, still at Dubois’ computer. Amber was remotely copying the files on it now, and would then use Lady Ada to scan them for relevant information.

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