Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
“You’ve been there before, I’m guessing,” Kierse noted.
“Once or twice,” he conceded.
“In Amberdash’s ledger, he mentioned that he bribed his way into the top-floor office space with a vault. There’s only one reason he did that, and it’s to take the stone. He also has been guaranteed a level of security for transport between the office and the general assembly meeting.” Graves traced his finger along the route that Amberdash would take to get there.
“Which means that it wouldn’t be feasible to attack during transport, either,” Schwartz said. “The assembly security that I know are all ex-operatives, military, or secret service.”
“Precisely. We’re going to have to hit them before they move the stone into the assembly meeting. That means the time frame is short. After Amberdash has moved it into the vault and before he brings it back out.”
Laz leaned forward. “We’ll need everyone for that.”
“Yes,” Graves said. “First, Kierse will do the extraction. She can bypass any magical warding, and she can open the vault.”
She smiled her dangerous thief smile and nodded. “I’ll take point.”
“You’ll need to work on your persuasion.”
Kierse groaned. “Why?”
“If we want to get in and out without being seen, you need to use your persuasion to get to the vault.”
She saw the logic in it, but relying on her persuasion when she still couldn’t figure it out seemed unlikely. But Graves was looking at her as if he believed in her.
“All right. I can work on it.”
“I have to be seen in the assembly or else they’ll suspect something,” Graves said. “Lyra will also be there with her parents.”
“And Quint,” Lyra grumbled. “He’ll be part of the Syndicate delegation.”
“You’ll be on point to be our distraction in the lounge before we move in.” He pointed to the enormous lounge area for delegates off to the side.
“I’m a delegate as well,” Niamh admitted. “I’ll be on the floor. I can make noise if I have to.”
Graves nodded at her. “Laz, I want you on janitorial this time. Gen, I’m going to move you into the medical staff. They’re hiring Covenant, and I think we can smoothly put you there. Schwartz, do you think you can get into security?”
Schwartz considered it. “Yes, a friend owes me a favor. Probably not on the transport team.”
“That’s fine.” Graves waved it off. “Ethan, I want you on grounds crew.”
“Me?” he squeaked.
“You can garden. I think we can get you in there.”
“Uh…yeah,” he agreed with wide eyes.
“We have George and Edgar as our getaway car.”
“And me?” Walter asked as he leaned forward over the blueprint. “I’m going to have to be somewhere to access the security footage. It’s not going to be easy to hack their system.”
“No, it’s not. I’m going to get you into the library. You can dig in from there.”
Walter sighed. “I can do it.”
“Lyra and Niamh will be our distraction in the lounge. Kierse will persuade her way into the vault. She’ll pass the stone off to Gen through the medical staff exit. That will pass to Laz for cleanup. And we’ll have Ethan pick it up on the grounds to deliver to the awaiting car. All of this will happen before Amberdash even goes to bring the stone into the assembly.”
The group was silent as if imagining how it would all play out in real time. It was a big job. Bigger than the Plaza had been. Security clearance was a problem for most of them, but it would be feasible with how much new staff they would need to hire on for such an occasion.
“Does anyone want to back out? You can leave now. Laz will pull you from the group chat.”
Lyra huffed. “But the group chat is the best.”
Graves shrugged. “It’s up to you.”
No one moved. No one left.
Last time when they’d all agreed on a heist, there had been something in it for them. The cauldron, a trip to Vegas, riches, magical objects. But this time, it was just them choosing to work for Graves—for Team Holly.
“Then let’s get to work.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Kierse couldn’t stop yawning as George pulled up to the Druid headquarters. She and Walter had been working all week on the new magic, which left her utterly drained and feeling wrung out like an old washcloth. Even Graves’s treasure hunt throughout the house hadn’t topped up her magic, and she’d had to go out thieving three times already this week. They were no closer to achieving his new force fields. Not that Kierse was any closer to her persuasion.
At least today she had a break.
The back door of the limo popped open, and Gen’s smiling face appeared. “Thanks for driving out to Brooklyn, George.”
They were headed up to Covenant to get Gen into position for her role in the stone heist.
“Anytime, Genesis,” George said with a head nod.
His eyes were on his phone, though. He’d been doing that a lot lately. Like he had someone that he needed to be texting. Kierse had a suspicion who that was but wasn’t quite nosy enough to ask yet.