To Have and to Heist(103)

“We’re dead.” Gage shook his head. “We are so fucking dead.”

* * *

◆ ◆ ◆

?Time goes slowly when you’re tied up in a warehouse. It could have been ten minutes, or it could have been an hour before we heard a door slam. Then footsteps. Two sets. Raised voices came from the main warehouse floor. I couldn’t make out their words, but the tone was one of frustration.

“The buyers must be here,” I whispered. “That means our time is running out.”

“Where’s Anil?” Gage was still working away at the duct tape around his ankles. He’d managed to loosen it almost enough that he’d be able to free one foot if he took off his shoe.

“Maybe he’s tied up this evening,” Cristian said.

Emma’s gaze snapped to him. “You’ve just been waiting to use that one, haven’t you?”

“I can find humor in any situation.”

What happened next is something I’ll never forget. I heard a faint noise coming from overhead. At first, I thought it was just buzzing from the lights, but as the sound got louder, I looked up, trying to track it.

I spotted the small drone just before it flew overhead. It dropped down, hovering just above us. Tiny lights flickered on its wings.

“It’s Anil.” I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “I told you he’d come.”

The drone rose higher and higher and then disappeared through a hole in the ceiling that I hadn’t noticed before.

I tensed in hopeful anticipation. Who would be coming through the door? Police? Fire? Jack? Or would Anil try to pull off the rescue on his own?

“What the fuck?” Gage’s gaze was fixed on the ceiling. The hole was actually an access hatch, and someone was looking down.

“Is that . . . ?” I squinted through the glare of the fluorescent lights, trying to identify the figure now climbing through the hatch. “Rose?”

“It is Rose.” Chloe’s face was a mix of happiness and horror. “But what is she . . . ? No. No. Nope. She didn’t. She can’t.”

But she did, and she could. Spread-eagled and dressed entirely in black, Rose dropped slowly from the ceiling, supported only by a thin wire tied to some contraption around her waist.

“It’s our grease woman come to rescue us à la Mission: Impossible,” Emma whispered in delight. “Look at Rose go.”

Rose descended at a slow, steady pace. She was wearing a backpack over a formfitting spandex bodysuit, running shoes, a pair of cat ears, and a long tail.

“I think I might have a concussion,” Gage said. “I’m seeing an eighty-year-old cat woman dropping from the ceiling.”

“It’s real. It’s Rose to the rescue.”

“I can’t watch.” Chloe ducked her head. “She’s going to get hurt.”

“She’s done it before,” I assured her. “Although I think it was quite a few years ago.”

Rose stopped a few inches from the floor. “Did someone call for a grease woman?”

“You can put your feet down,” I said, keeping my voice low. “There are no booby traps, pressure plates, or lasers. You’re good.”

“I wanted to see how close I could get.” She dropped to her feet and detached the cable around her waist. Above in the opening, Chef Pierre gave her a thumbs-up.

“You’re amazing, Rose,” I whispered, my senses alert for any hint that we’d been heard.

“You’re lucky I kept my rigging, ears, and tail,” she said. “I wore the bodysuit because Chef Pierre wasn’t comfortable with me going nude the way I did in the original show. He doesn’t like to share, so don’t tell him about Stan.”

I made a mental note to thank Chef Pierre for his discretion.

“I’ve got chocolate croissants, madeleines, macarons, and tools to cut you loose.” Rose removed her backpack and pulled out a plastic food container, sewing scissors, and a handful of kitchen knives.

“It’s all I had,” she said when Gage gave her a quizzical look. “We’d just returned home from the wedding when Anil called to say he couldn’t get in touch with you and he thought you might need a rescue. I told him he couldn’t go alone, so he came and picked us up. I was still in the garage packing my rigging when he arrived, so I just grabbed what I could from the kitchen on my way out.”

I looked up at the opening, but all I could see was Chef Pierre. “Where is Anil?”

“Hi, guys!” Anil squeezed between two barrels and into the circle. He was dressed in black, his face covered in a ski mask.

Chloe shot Anil a puzzled look. “How did you get in?”

“Through the door.” He pulled out a meat cleaver and sawed at the tape around Gage’s feet. “There were two guys in suits outside when we got here so we went up to the roof on the rear access ladder to launch the drone. Rose volunteered to go down, so we rigged her up, but by the time we finished, the two guys were inside. Rose wanted to drop down anyway, just in case I had a problem getting in.”

“Best five minutes of my life.” Rose ran her bread knife over the tape on my ankles. “If anyone wants a go . . .”

I updated Rose and Anil while they cut us loose. As soon as I was free, I went over to Ben and lifted Cristian’s feet so I could check the damage. I didn’t have any experience with bullet wounds, but a chest covered with blood and a gaping hole seemed pretty bad to me.