Chapter 21

CAL

It was almost four when Jack and I packed up our gear and climbed down to the alley. Despite Jack’s feeling, we needed concrete evidence that Dasselaar had The Evolution of Man in his possession, and there was only one way to get it. We needed to get inside the gallery.

Good thing Jack and I had the skills to make that happen.

Jack had set up a loop on the cameras, but it would only buy us limited time, and this new complication meant the clock was ticking extra loud.

I kept watch while Jack unscrewed the exterior panel for the electrical service to the gallery building and connected a small device to one of the wires. He screwed the panel back into place, then came back to the keypad for the alarm system.

“I cut the power on the security override so I can work from the keypad directly.”

“I don’t need the play-by-play as long as you can get us in before they figure out the security footage is looping.”

Jack nodded and put his flashlight between his teeth while he separated wires behind the keypad and connected them to a handheld device. Red numbers scrolled across the screen until the device beeped and flashed green, the automatic lock on the door disengaging with a soft snick.

He disconnected the wires, stuffed everything back into the wall, and resecured the keypad.

“After you.” He gestured to the door.

I pulled a flashlight from my pocket and Betty from her holster on my hip and set my finger on the trigger. There shouldn’t be anyone else in the building, but I wasn’t taking any chances. With Dimitri being held hostage, it was time to shoot first and ask questions later if it came down to that.

Stepping over the threshold, I swept the storage room quickly. “Clear.”

Jack shut the door behind him and flipped on his own flashlight.

The gallery was much larger than it looked from the street, and now, standing in the storage area, it was obvious Dasselaar had divided the building into thirds—the public gallery up front, the private collection in the middle, and a large storage area at the back. Crates, boxes, and shipping containers filled the space, but it took only seconds to locate the one we wanted.

The final container had been left in pride of place at the center of the room with a clear walkway all around it. There was no way this wasn’t the painting we’d been looking for.

Jack kneeled on the floor next to the crate. “If it were me, I would have installed a pressure-sensitive biometric lock on this box.”

“Good thing Dasselaar appears to be an arrogant idiot.”

“Yeah.” But Jack didn’t seem wholly convinced of that fact.

We used a compact electric screwdriver to make quick work of the screws that held the lid on, pocketing them so we could replace them when we were done. “Ready?” Jack nodded, and we lifted the lid off.

I knew the painting was inside the box before we finished lifting the lid, but I was still shocked to see it sitting in the crate surrounded by foam and wrapped in a layer of glassine. “Fuck.”

“My sentiments exactly.”

Then something else caught my eye. “Uh, Jack, what’s that?” I pointed to the corners of the crate, where small metal disks were flashing red.

“Pressure sensors. They link directly to Dasselaar’s phone. Fuck. He’s on his way back. Apparently, he isn’t as stupid as we thought. We need to go. Now.”

We dropped the lid, secured it, and ran back out to the alley. We’d barely made it to the street when Dasselaar’s car whipped around the corner, but we didn’t stay long enough to see what he would do, and I only looked back to make sure Dimitri was no longer with him. The car was empty, and I breathed a sigh of relief as Jack and I raced away from the gallery, sticking to the shadows and moving just fast enough to get out of range but not so fast that we drew suspicion.

Neither of us said a word until we were back in our hotel room.

I flopped down on the end of the bed. “How do we know if that’s the real painting or a fake?”

Jack sat down next to me. “You know the answer to that question already.”

I did, but I didn’t like it. I didn’t want to make the call I knew I needed to, especially when things were weird between us, especially when doing what needed to be done would put my family in more danger, but I pulled my phone out of my pocket anyway and tapped the screen to connect the call.

My twin answered on the second ring. “Quin, we found the painting. You need to get to Amsterdam.”

Quin and Dimitri’s story, Full Color , is coming soon!