Page 72 of The San Marco Heist

Scarlett’s eyes narrowed a sliver. “I seem to recall somebody telling me that. I wonder how secure that connection is?”

Will blurted, “You’re kidding me, right? You don’t seriously want us to try and hack into that car?”

Scarlett walked with me, her hand in mine, and we left through the rear door of the lounge. By the glass wall, on the stunning white marble floor, the Aereus rotated slowly. Camilla Albrecht wasn’t the only one who liked to show off. Her husband had built a room designed specifically to generate envy. It would’ve been one thing if the car simply sat on its round elevator platform, but turning? Pretentious bastard.

Brie groaned. “I’ve got too much going on already. Can you do it, Will?”

“I... um... They just use it to monitor the car. Telemetry, maintenance needs, flat tires. What do you want to do?”

The two men in the gallery were focused on the Ferrari. They’d meandered around the Velatti several times while Scarlett and I were dealing with the discovery of the ring. That left just the two of us staring into the windows, but she was right. It was quiet in this room. The two men spoke to each other, so we couldn’t have an open conversation about my plan. But Scarlett’s team was sharp. As soon as I’d mentioned the monitoring system, Will immediately knew that I wanted him to hack into it. Somehow, I had to subtly suggest everything else I wanted him to do. “Have you ever piloted a drone, Eloise?”

Scarlett leaned over, peeking into the open driver’s window. She didn’t crouch or hunch her back. No, she bent fully at her hips, resting her hands on her bent knees. Her long legs and fine ass were on full display. She shimmied side to side, ever so slightly. If we weren’t in such a dire situation, I would’ve deeply appreciated the movement.

One of the men at the Ferrari tapped his friend and smirked at me.

Clever woman.

I looked pointedly at each of them and gestured toward the lounge with my head. In case it wasn’t obvious enough or they’d had a few too many to drink, I waved them away as well. The first one made a rather crude motion, like slapping her ass, but fortunately hauled his friend out of the car gallery.

We were alone.

“Do you have us on video?” I ran my hand down Scarlett’s back, over the curve of her ass. “You know the people in the lounge are watching us, right?”

She tilted her head up at me, the same look as when Bruce White had discovered us in the light well. The pretend-coy look. “Hopefully, it will keep everyone out of this area.”

“I apologize for being so touchy-feely this evening.”

She rested her arms on the driver’s side window frame. “It’s a job. Important enough that we need to pull out all the stops.”

Right. Just a job. “Here’s what I’m thinking. Can you get the car moving and—”

Will spluttered. “You’re kidding me?”

I’d said it was crazy. No idea where the cameras in the room were, I shrugged in response and leaned next to Scarlett, looking inside. It was gorgeous, and this was probably a sin. “Think of it like your drone. Get it moving, smash the glass wall of the lounge, hopefully into the shelving, and cover our tracks.”

Scarlett nestled her mouth against my ear as the car turned enough on its pedestal that everyone could see us. “It’s definitely crazy. But if there’s a chance it works, it would clear out the area. Brie could trigger several other alarms around the house—”

“And it might be enough chaos to get the ring.”

“It does telemetry!” Will practically squealed. “It’s not a drone. It’s a three million dollar car with monitoring systems!”

Another couple of minutes and the car platform would be turned enough they wouldn’t see us. I shifted my hand to her hip, pulling her tighter against my side. It wasn’t exactly a hardship to convince anyone still watching that we were counting down the seconds until we were in bed together. “Which also has a remote starter and central computer system that controls everything.”

“Will, my clutch is hanging inside the car. Is my phone close enough to any central processing system or anything for you to get a feed from the car itself?”

“You two are insane,” Will said.

Rav chuckled. “Brie, before you wipe the security cameras, promise me you’ll download this?”

“Download it?” Will groaned. “I don’t even know if I can…”

Scarlett and I looked at each other when he trailed off. Had he figured it out?

“That was easier than I expected.” Will’s voice was far calmer now. “I’m in.”

From what little I knew about the Reynolds proprietary phones, they were a technology marvel. They also made an absolute mess when they self-destructed.

“It’s not a self-driving car, so I can’t pilot it like a drone. I can remote start it in neutral or park, but there will be safeguards in the program that prevent it from starting—”

---