Page 5 of A Touch of Treachery
“Why do you want the case?There’s nothing in it.”
A low, ugly laugh trilled out of her mouth.“Please.I might be a glorified elevator operator, but I get a list of all the items brought to the Vault for storage, so I know you’re carrying the Grunglass Necklace.Henrika wants her property back, Charlotte.”
A few months ago, Henrika Hyde had tried to steal the Grunglass Necklace from the Halstead Hotel in Washington, D.C.The necklace had belonged to Hiram Halstead, Henrika’s father, who had promised it to her mother, Natasha, as payment for being his longtime mistress.But Hiram’s other daughter, Petra Halstead, had kept her half sister from getting the necklace.A furious Henrika had bombed one of Hiram’s hotels, killing her father and forcing Petra into hiding.
“Open the briefcase,” Iris repeated.“Now.”
“Why?So you can kill me a second later?”I shook my head.“No way.If you want the necklace, come over here and get it yourself.”
The other agent rolled her eyes.“Killing you isn’t part of the plan, Charlotte.I’m here to get the necklace and get paid.Nothing more, nothing less.”
I waited, but my synesthesia was silent.Iris was telling the truth.She either didn’t want to or didn’t have orders to kill me.Why not?
During the Tannenbaum mission in Germany, Desmond and I had battled a group of thieves who wanted to steal the Nutcracker Ruby, a ring worth millions of dollars.Katarina Tanetsa, the group’s leader, had claimed that Henrika had promised her a bonus for eliminating me.So why would Henrika let me live now?What had changed?
A soft beep sounded.Iris checked her phone again.“Time’s up.Open the case.Or I’ll start putting bullets in your body until you change your mind.”
“Okay, okay.You win.”
I keyed in a code on the electronic panel embedded in the blue leather.The lock clicked, and the lid lifted.I spun the briefcase around on the table so that the open side was facing Iris.
“Raise it up,” she ordered.
I slowly lifted the lid, revealing a large gold chandelier necklace on a bed of pale green velvet.The stunning necklace was studded with large teardrop-shaped emeralds and smaller princess-cut white diamonds, and all the jewels sparked and flashed with a vibrant inner fire.
Iris let out a low, appreciative whistle, then lifted her phone to her ear again.“Secondary objective secure.Heading toward the exit.”
“Roger that.”Once again, a man’s voice echoed out of her phone.
I frowned.Henrika was obsessed with the Grunglass Necklace, and the whole point of this mission had been to leak the fact that I was bringing it to the Vault for safekeeping.I’d expected Henrika to make a play for the necklace, and I’d been planning to use the thieves to try to discover where she was hiding.So why would Iris refer to the necklace as a secondary objective?And why hadn’t the three thieves come here to help her?
Unless ...the thieves were busy stealingsomethingelse.
A chill swept down my spine, and my stomach churned with worry.Henrika never did anything halfway, and if she had ordered the thieves to target another item at the Vault, then their primary objective had to be something big.What could be worth more to Henrika than the necklace she had coveted since childhood?
Iris slid her phone into her pocket, although she kept her gun aimed at my chest.“Close the case and hand it to me.No tricks, or I’ll shoot you.”
I closed the briefcase lid and stepped forward.
“Stop!”Iris barked out.“Stay where you are, and push the case over to me.”
I grabbed hold of the briefcase and shoved it forward like I was a bartender sliding a drink over to a thirsty customer.The case slid to a stop at Iris’s end of the table.
She picked it up, then grinned.“A pleasure doing business with you, Charlotte.”
“It’s not business.Not to me.Henrika made it personal.”
Iris shrugged.“Well, that’s between you and her.Me?I’m planning to retire to a nice little tropical island.”
I shook my head.“You’re not going anywhere.”
She laughed.“In case you haven’t noticed,I’mthe one with the gun.”
“Oh, I knew someone would have a gun.”I grinned.“So I brought a few toys of my own.”
Iris’s forehead creased with confusion, and her gaze flicked up and down my body, trying to spot whatever weapons I might have tucked away in my clothes.
“Execute Command Jewelry Box,” I called out in a loud voice.
