Page 258 of Caelum

Old-world thinking like that was why teen hackers kept getting the better of ancient politicians. Still, as I’d told Samuel, now wasn’t the time for a critique.

Within two minutes, Stefan had picked the lock and was pulling open the door. Inside, there was an internal drawer that he dragged out. The lockers were small in size but were over three feet long. The baubles we found within the unit had my eyes flaring wide in surprise and had Eren grabbing the bag from my hands and holding it out for Stefan to shove the gear into.

It took less than an hour to break into the small vault housed within a Swiss bank beloved by the very crooked. But it had taken weeks to set our plans into motion.

The con, I was relieved to say, was on.

Now we just had to get out of here.

“You have the gear?” Samuel rasped in our ears, his fatigue sounding even more evident to me. Eren too, I thought, because he shot me a concerned look after he shoved the diamonds in my backpack.

We’d decided I was the safest carrying the stolen items. Mostly because I could stun the shit out of any police or security by shifting into a bear. Shock value would hopefully give me time to get away.

Gone were the days where we hid among the shadows, where our races mingled silently among the humans. Change was coming, and we’d signed Drekavac’s death sentence as well as millions of Ghouls’ tonight.

Sneaking out was easier than getting in, but no less fraught with tension.

The bank was in a shopping mall of all things, an ancient one in the center of Geneva, but a mall with neighbors nonetheless.

We’d broken into the coffee shop beside it—a place that also stole from customers with coffee at ten goddamn euros a cup—had taken advantage of the ancient plumbing this unit shared with the bank, and had torn through the bathroom wall to make it into the bank itself. All the while, Samuel had been fiddling with the security systems so that when we made it inside the building, we could get through the nine-strong levels of security the alarm system, Inferno, likened to the nine circles of hell in the eponymous Dante novel.

That whole ability to code Malbolge came in handy tonight. Seemed like part of the security system had been written in it.

With the gear stored away, Stefan, Eren, and I nodded at one another and made our way out of the vault. As we headed to the bathroom, we came across the three security guards Stefan had lured our way and that Eren had then sung to sleep at the beginning of our journey.

Stepping over them, we made it back into the coffee shop, and within three minutes, were in our getaway car that Frazer was manning in the area the mall used as a loading dock for its tenants.

All was going according to plan, until, of course, all hell broke loose.

Behind us, Samuel had finally triggered the alarms and the sound had my bear whimpering in dismay, which was exacerbated by the tires squealing when Frazer shot off from our hidden parking place and down the street.

“Couldn’t you have waited a few more minutes?” I snapped into the headpiece we were still wearing.

“No.”

Well, that was short and definitely not sweet.

Rolling my eyes at Samuel’s curt response, I grabbed the backpack and settled it between my feet in the back seat of the car. Now we were away from the built-up area, Frazer suddenly turned into a frickin’ speed demon. As he drove, he released a bark of laughter that went in time to his overloading the engine and us hitting a hundred-twenty on the speedometer.

Stefan, Eren, and I all jerked forward then back as he ramped up the speed.

Sadly enough, I was getting used to this treatment.

The man drove like he intended on dying today. That made being his passenger very goddamn uncomfortable, but his propensity for speeding was what made him a good getaway driver.

More’s the pity.

“Everything go according to plan?” the lunatic asked, his eyes catching mine in the rearview mirror.

“Couldn’t have gone better,” I replied, tugging off my balaclava as my brothers did the same.

“Good.” He released a breath and his shoulders sagged slightly with relief. “Should hit the news within the hour.”

“How long until we contact the fence?” Eren questioned, though we all knew the plan backward and forward, so I didn’t know why he bothered wasting his breath.

“Tomorrow. We need to give it some time to make the theft look authentic.”

I snorted. “Nothing more authentic than breaking into a fucking bank to steal something that isn’t there in the first place.”

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