Page 46 of Rising Storm

But they’d done it! They had Rising Storm.

Helix drove this time and he was glad since he was still feeling the adrenaline rush of the re-steal. He still felt like it had been too easy, but they’d planned everything out ahead and all had gone to plan. Except for the locked door, but Helix had solved that easy enough. The man was something else. And he was all cool, calm and collected while Gareth was a mass of quivering nerves. Hell, he’d been a cop for years, so he thought he’d handle this just fine. But being on the other side of things was a completely different animal.

“You hanging in there, Gareth?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just need to stop shaking.”

“It’s the adrenaline. I’m doing it too.” He held out his hand and sure enough, it was shaking too. That made Gareth feel a bit better. Not like such a wuss.

He held the heavy backpack in his lap as Helix drove them to the motel, then took it inside with him. He unwrapped it from the towel and set it on the table, then stood staring at it. It was a statuette of a man with his hands raised. His clothes and hair billowed out as if blowing in the wind. It was like he stood in the center of a storm, raising his hands to the heavens to bring the lightning down.

It was a pretty piece and from what Gareth understood, worth about three hundred thousand dollars on the black market. Larry had never said what he’d paid for it, but Gareth knew it had been a lot. He’d told Gareth it had been his one major frivolous purchase because he’d loved it so much. That it held special meaning.

“Hard to believe what this thing is worth,” Gareth said.

“Monteague only did about thirty pieces. One of his others is worth a cool million. The one in Hayrick’s basement is about as much as this one. He’s really popular for having only done a small number of statuettes. I think there’s one in the Smithsonian Museum. Surprised Hayrick never had us go after that one.”

“And probably thankful. Stealing from a museum would be crazy.”

Helix shrugged. “It can be done. Luckily, I’ve never had to.”

“Kavaugh is going to shit when he sees it’s gone.”

“Yeah, and I’d like my brother far away from him when that happens. He’s supposed to call me so I can come get him. Hopefully, Kavaugh doesn’t go into his office over the weekend. It should be Monday before he realizes it’s gone. He may suspect my brother since Sayer will go missing around the same time.”

“Have you talked him into coming with us?”

Helix shook his head. “I’m still working on him. He’ll agree—no worries.”

They stood staring at the Monteague for several moments.

“Well, we did it. I’ll get this back to Larry on Monday. He never went into the house on weekends when I was volunteering there.”

Gareth pulled off the coveralls and dropped them onto the floor. Sweat covered every inch of his body under the suit and he ripped off the too-tight jacket and breathed a sigh of relief when the cool air hit his neck. He unbuttoned his shirt, letting in more of the air to relieve his skin.

Helix just watched him, his golden brown eyes full of appreciation.

“I don’t know about you, but I could use a cool shower. Join me?”

Helix quickly undressed.

Chapter 19

Helix was surprised when Sayer didn’t show up until the next day. He finally knocked on his motel room door and smiled when Helix answered.

“You never called me to come get you,” Helix said.

“Can I come in?”

“Of course.” Helix looked at Sayer’s car and saw a suitcase propped up in the back seat of his red sedan. “Did you leave him?”

“I did.” Sayer walked into the room and sat in one of the two chairs. “He doesn’t know it yet. But I managed to filch a few things and get my small stash of money. Did you mean it when you said I could come with you guys to Maine?”

“Sayer, I want you there more than anything. Of course I meant it.”

“Then I’ll go. I have enough to get a plane ticket, but I’ll have to stay in that house for a while when I’m there. I don’t have that much money.”

“Our whole purpose is to give Hayrick’s thieves a new start and whether or not he had you stealing, you were still a victim of his. He had you on a long con, after all. Called you Bet.”

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