Page 45 of Rising Storm

They stayed silent in the small closet, but Helix could practically feel the nerves pouring off Gareth. The man wasn’t used to stealing, so his nerves made sense. Helix wanted to reassure him, but they couldn’t risk making any noise because voices sounded outside the door. Before he could think about what he was doing, he was slipping his hand into Gareth’s to squeeze his fingers. Gareth squeezed back and that small gesture slowed his heart down to a normal rhythm.

Once he was sure they’d waited enough time, his heart picked back up in anticipation. Gareth waited to keep watch in the hallway as Helix used the keycard and quickly disabled the security system. He was more than familiar with this brand because Lane had created it. It didn’t surprise him that Kavaugh used the system Hayrick had—it made sense. Lane had built a backdoor into the system so it was easy to shut down.

He hurried through the outer office into Kavaugh’s and sure enough, the statuette was in a glass case. Right there in the open for anyone to see.What an asshole.The rest of the office was the kind of opulent he’d expected with a large cherry wood desk and plush chairs on either side. He didn’t bother to pick the lock on the case, just picked up the stapler off Kavaugh’s desk and broke through the glass. He unzipped the coveralls and pulled out the backpack he wore in front. He’d snatched a towel from the motel and he quickly wrapped it around the statuette and carefully put it into the backpack. He was vaguely worried about breaking off one of the hands, so he’d have to be careful.

He heard voices outside of the office. He knelt and crawled into the outer room, to see Gareth facing off someone in the hallway. It was the same damn janitor who’d caught them in the closet and he was upset at finding Gareth in his coveralls.

Before Helix could think what to do, Gareth punched the guy and he went down.

Helix scrambled to his feet and ran into the hallway.

“Hurry!” Gareth said. “We’ll put him into the supply closet and get out of here. Did you get the Monteague?”

“Yeah, it was right where Sayer said.”

They dragged the janitor into the supply closet and locked the door.

“He could end up being in there all weekend,” Gareth said, obviously worried.

“Someone from the cleaning crew will come up and let him out when he doesn’t show back up. So we have to hurry. Take the stairs this time.”

They hit the stairs, running down them as fast as possible. When they got to the lobby, there was someone mopping the floor so they ducked back into the stairwell. They stared at each other, both breathing hard from going down seven flights.

“We’ll wait until he goes to the second floor,” Helix whispered. They stared at each other and he took in the red in Gareth’s cheeks and had to bite back a smile. He’d done this so much it was easy for him, but for Gareth, this was all new. It had been so long since his first few steals, but he could still remember how terrified he’d been. “It’s gonna be fine. This was easy.”

“Too easy,” Gareth whispered. “I can’t help but feel like it’s just too easy.”

“I’m good at what I do.” Helix turned and peeked out the door to see the other janitor getting onto the elevator. He beckoned Gareth to follow and ran toward the front door.

But it was locked. They ran to the other exit to find that door locked as well.

“Shit.” Helix looked around for something to break the glass, but they couldn’t afford to set off the alarm.

“Think that guy in the closet has keys?”

“I’m sure he does, but I’ll go steal them from the other guy just in case the first one has woken up.” He quickly pulled off the coveralls and handed Gareth the backpack. “I’ll pretend to be lost. He won’t suspect a thing.”

Helix ran toward the stairs. He was sure the guy was on the second floor, so he went up one flight and walked into the hall. He turned two corners before he saw the man and sure enough, there was a set of keys hanging from his belt. Helix wasn’t used to picking pockets and wasn’t sure he had the finesse to pull it off, so he just barreled into him and knocked him down.

In the responding scuffle, he managed to knock the keys off and get them in his pocket.

“What the hell, man?” the guy yelled. “Why are you running and what are you still doing here?”

“I was working late and I’m in a hurry. Didn’t see you. Sorry about that.” Helix stood and held out his hand to help the man up.

The guy grabbed his hand and stood.

“Really, I am very sorry. I hadn’t realized how late I’d worked and now I’m late for a hot date.”

The janitor just nodded and bent to pick up the cleaning supplies he’d dropped.

Helix didn’t wait for him to notice the missing keys. He turned and hurried into the elevator and met Gareth in the lobby. He unlocked the door and dropped the keys on the floor. Hopefully, the guy would think he’d dropped them himself. If not, it wouldn’t matter. The janitor in the supply closet would give them away.

They’d be long gone by that time.

* * *

Gareth inwardly shookthe whole time they ran to the car. He’d forgotten to take off the coveralls and he was sweltering in the triple layers of clothes with his suit jacket and shirt underneath.

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