Chapter Eighteen
First National Bank
Of New Orleans
French Quarter
Midnight
A s they reached the bank, they were working out the plan in the vehicle. They were going to have to do this carefully, and that meant without drawing too much suspicion to each other.
The easiest part would be the technology.
There were things to evade that.
The hardest part was that during Rogue’s research, while the team was swamping with Shing, he found out that the bank used a backup security method.
SECURITY GUARDS.
Throughout the night, they had someone drive by, and also on occasion they had people go into the bank and do a walk through on days when there was a lot of cash in the safe.
They wouldn’t know which would happen until it went down.
That was a problem for him. His wife would be going in, along with Alyona, and he didn’t trust anyone when it came to her safety.
“We’re going to have to be very careful,” he said. “There are three levels of security. The cameras, alarms, and human interaction. I can track both of you through it, and shut down security as you go,” he said, handing his wife and Alyona leather wrist straps.
When they both put them on, he explained.
“They have trackers that will move you along the bank corridors so I can turn on and shut off security as you go. You both have to stick together.”
Alyona didn’t bat an eye.
“Da.”
To be honest, Rogue was hella curious about the woman. She was quiet, and if he was going to send her in with his wife, he needed to know.
“How much breaking and entering experience do you have, Alyona?” Rogue asked.
She was to the point.
“I can tell you what’s in the CIA office in DC, if you’d like.”
Yowza.
That said it all.
Oh, well, that was some experience. She was definitely KGB. Only, she was distracted by something, and it was difficult not to see that.
“But are you focused?” he asked.
Ajax came to her rescue.
“She’s got this. You just be where you need to be, and do your job. I’ll get them in, and you monitor.”
Someone was snippy and defending his woman. Well, that was pretty normal in their world.
Rogue hated putting his faith in the unknown, but he didn’t think Greyson would risk his child on a mission she couldn’t handle.
Here went everything.
“Okay, then,” Rogue said, starting to block the street cameras as he pulled up behind the bank. “You’ll have to go up, and work your way down to the basement vault.”
“Gotcha,” Jinx said.
She was in all black, and looked like a thief. She was sporting the same attire he was, and what they normally wore when they had their date nights.
He kissed his wife.
“Be safe, Jinxy. If you need me, let me know.”
She winked at him.
“We’ve got this. See you in a bit, Handsome.”
Then, he opened his laptop as the threesome left the confines of the car, and he put the com in his ear.
It was show time.
Rogue did what he did best.
He electronically broke into a secured bank with the intent to steal.
“You’re all clear,” he said, meaning cameras were off.
“Copy,” Jinx said.
Rogue watched them get to the back of the building. From where he was parked, he could see the dumpster, and Alyona getting ready.
She pulled out a rope, and on the end, there was a metal piece. When she pushed the button, it formed a hook, and she tossed it.
Then, she kissed Ajax, and began climbing.
When she was up and over, she motioned for Jinx to follow.
Rogue’s wife climbed, and when she reached the top, she made a heart with her fingers for her husband, and disappeared.
The rope was pulled over, and there was no sign they’d been there, but Ajax who was lingering.
Inside the car, on his laptop, Rogue saw when the trackers went on with the push of a button. Immediately, he got down to work, as his fingers were moving quickly over the keyboard.
His job was to stay one step ahead of them to clear all of the electronic security.
“The door is unlocked and unarmed,” he said, watching the dots move on the screen.
“Copy,” Jinx said.
Once inside, Jinx pointed at the air duct that went down.
“You good with tight spaces?” she asked Alyona.
The woman nodded.
“Da.”
“Well, then, we should have some fun,” she said, willing to take one for the team.
They opened the grate, and Jinx went in first. It was going to be like a slide down to the next floor.
Because she was curious, she reached out to her husband.
“Where does this end up?” she asked Rogue. “Don’t say the furnace.”
He gasped.
There was no way he’d let her even get into a duct if that were the case.
“ JINX ! Why would you put that out there?”
She laughed and ignored his fear.
“Just answer the question. Where does it go, Babe?”
Because he wanted to double check, he typed in the box, and it pulled up the next floor.
“It looks to take you right to the basement. The only problem is, if you go down that way, you can’t get back up that way. There’s no way you can climb up the inside of the duct.”
That she understood.
That meant one thing, and only one thing.
“Then, plot a new route out. We’ll walk out the front door to get to you.”
They might have to.
His options were limited in a bank this old. It wasn’t new construction, but a building that had been there a long-ass time.
“Ready?” she asked Alyona.
“Da.”
As they both slid through the air ducts, they both came to a stop at the grate.
With her booted foot, she kicked it out, and it went flying.
Well, so much for that.
When she dropped, she was in the outer area of the vault, and they were only halfway there.
Now came the difficult part.
Safe cracking.
“I’m up,” Alyona said, pulling a listening device from her pocket, and holding it to the tumblers of the safe. Slowly, she worked the first of three locks.
When it clicked, she moved onto the next one.
Rogue watched the dots on the screen, but when he looked up, he saw they had a problem.
Oh, shit.
This was worst-case scenario.
“Yo, Ajax, we have security rounding the building in a drive-by,” he said, getting that sinking feeling that they were absolutely going to enter the building.
This was why he did weeks of recon before a break-in. There were too many unknowns.
He could see the man duck behind the dumpster so as not to be seen.
“Are they just driving by?” he asked.
Rogue watched.
“Are we good?” Jinx asked from inside the bank.
He watched the car, and answered his wife.
“Yeah, so far,” he said, as the car did a loop around the block.
The whole time, Rogue was splitting his focus between the two.
“Update?” he asked.
She shared.
“Alyona has two of the three tumblers handled,” Jinx said over the phone. “She’s moving through them quickly.”
Thank God.
“Good,” he said, seeing the security car stop in front of the building.
Yeah, and that was because they now had a bigger problem than a locked vault and electronic security.
SHIT.
This was a night that the human element was being tossed into the mix.
The security was entering the building.
“Jinxy, you guys have to move fast. You’re about to have company.”
Uh-oh.
His wife had news for him.
“Rogue, you, and Ajax have to buy us time. They’ll come right to the vault first since that’s where some of the valuables are stored. We have no way out but the one door.”
He was aware.
Now, he had to find a way to give his wife and Alyona a fighting chance inside where the cops weren’t surrounding the building.
There was only one option.
“Jax, I need you to meet me in the front,” Rogue said. “Mask up. We have to put down two security guys to buy the ladies time.”
“Copy,” he said.
“Alyona and Jinx, we got you,” Rogue said.
Then, the com went dead.
Meanwhile…
Inside…
Jinx looked at her watch. Alyona was opening the vault in record time and she didn’t want to rush her, but this was no laughing matter.
“How close are we?” she asked.
Normally, this was Rogue’s thing. He was the safe cracker of the two.
She moved the dial, and they heard the click.
“Ready,” Aly finally said, as they now had access to the vault. “It’s all ours.”
Finally.
Pulling up her sleeve, Jinx saw the number she wrote there, and showed Alyona. They immediately went into the vault and got ready to open it.
As they found it, Jinx picked the lock.
It took a minute.
MAX.
When they opened it, they had what they came for, and it was indeed intel on them and the Blackhawks. This was shit that could NOT get out.
“We have the goods.”
Her voice came across the com.
At that moment, Rogue and Jax were just making it into the bank. While he’d heard her, he couldn’t speak due to being heard by the guards.
So, he texted his wife.
‘Give us a few. Stay in the vault. We’ll come get you. Have some fun.’
Well, that was all she had to hear. He was telling her to loot it. Oh, and that was exactly what she was going to do too. This was a fancy-schmancy bank, and there was bound to be goodies a plenty.
Jinx showed Aly the text.
“Let’s see what we can find in here,” she said, as they both began opening the locks throughout the vault.
As they worked, Jinx broke the silence.
“So what’s your deal?” Jinx asked, making small talk. “It’s clear you’re ex-KGB, but why are you here?”
Aly wanted to be honest, but then…
She couldn’t.
“Let’s just say that I had a bad breakup.”
Jinx got it.
That was enough to make a woman scared or to run.
“We’ve all had them,” she said, and then was honest. “Well, I haven’t. Rogue is the first guy I’ve ever been with. I was a Marine. I avoided that mess.”
Aly found some jewelry and held it up. It glittered in the vault lights,
“Take it. We’re looting this place,” she said. “There’s no way they won’t know there’s been a break in. The guards are likely going to be found tied up. If I know my husband, he’s going to cause chaos.”
That he didn’t answer told her all she needed to know.
Together, they kept going, and all along the way, they kept taking any papers or valuables they found.
You never knew what you could find in a vault that might come in handy later.
Since Aly wasn’t talking, Jinx kept going. She had a little theory of her own.
“You’re afraid of Alexsandr,” Jinx said. “Whenever his name is brought up, you flinch. Was he the bad breakup?” she asked, watching the woman.
Her hand paused, and there was fear there.
“You can trust me,” she said. “I’m very loyal.”
What choice did she have?
Aly was honest.
“Yeah, he was the ‘breakup’ as you mentioned. If you could call it that. All I know is that he’s a horrible human being.”
“I bet,” she said. “Well, we’ll protect you. You don’t have to worry about him.”
That blew her mind.
“Why would you do that?” she asked. “I’m no one to you.”
Jinx stopped her.
No one?
What?
“No one? You’re my family. Heath married your sister, and you’re my sister now too. We’ll do what we need to for family.”
Her heart skipped.
That blew her mind.
“Really?”
Jinx nodded and tossed her a ruby necklace she found in a box to her.
“Plus, you’re a Croft. We’re tied to them. Jagger and Maura love Emma, and you’re their daughter. Jagger is the Irish mob, and now, Emma is running it.”
That was right.
She was a Croft.
Jinx reassured her.
“We’ll stop him and put him down, and then whatever happened won’t matter.”
She looked over at her, and wheat she meant to say was thank you. What came out of her mouth…it caught her off guard. Why she did it, she wasn’t sure.
“I’m number One.”
Jinx looked over at her.
“Uh, I opened those boxes fast. Maybe we’re both number one.”
Aly shook her head and then explained. What choice did she have? It was already out of the bag. That cat was running free on an open com.
“No, his assassins he travels with. I’m his first and favorite. I was to marry him.”
Jinx gasped.
Here was where Aly expected to be condemned by that fact. Instead, what she got was anything but condemnation.
“Thank God you escaped. That man you’re with would be a mess without you,” she said.
Ajax was on the com, and he could hear them. The truth was, he would be a mess without her. So, after he bought a ring, or found one she liked, he was going to marry her.
If he could pin her down.
Alyona was slippery.
The woman pleaded for her privacy.
“Please don’t tell anyone. I was supposed to be plan B, but I just can’t do it. He’ll hurt me like he used to.”
She had bad news for her.
“All four of us are on this com. Rogue heard you.”
Aly was honest.
“I trust you. You said we were family, and that matters. I have to put my faith in you because if not, I have nothing to believe in.”
Jinx got it.
In that moment, she made up her mind. There was no doubt that this woman had been a victim. She had the responses of one.
“Rogue and I won’t say anything.”
She had hope.
“Promise?” she asked.
Jinx held out her pinkie.
“I promise.”
And for Alyona, a woman who had been taught to never trust, that meant the world to her.
Maybe, she’d be okay, after all.
Meanwhile, Rogue and Jax were tracking the security guards. Every time they turned off a camera, he had to make sure when it came back on, it was looped.
It was like undoing everything he’d already done to ensure the women were safe.
It took time.
When the two men came to a stop in the stairwell that led to the vault, they knew what was happening next. They were going down and would find the women looting the vault.
Shit.
It was time to move.
He motioned to Ajax.
Immediately, the man got it.
They needed a distraction.
Knocking on the wall with his fist, Rogue got their attention. When they came their way, trying to figure out what was going on, they’d both have to move fast before they called in for backup.
They didn’t need the cops there.
“Did you hear that?” the one security guy asked.
The other nodded.
“It sounded like someone was knocking on the door. Did we lock it?”
The other nodded.
“I think so. Let’s go see who it is,” the one said.
They got ten feet and into the doorway that led to the main area before they had a problem.
Jax and Rogue were on them, disarming the two security guys, and then had them on the ground, restrained with their own cuffs.
It went fast.
Before they could say anything, or look up at them, they knocked them both out.
Rogue knew what was next.
“We gotta get them to the vault, and get the women out of here. If they don’t check in every so many minutes while inside a building, they call in more security,” Rogue warned.
Ajax was curious.
“You spend a lot of time watching security guards, don’t you?”
He laughed.
“You have no idea.”
When they got downstairs, the girls had two bags filled with things, and a rolled-up folder stuffed into the back of Jinx’s pants.
“Ready?” Rogue said, as they rolled the two guys in and propped them up against the vault.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here,” Alyona said.
Jinx stopped them.
“Let’s leave the cops a trail,” she said, pulling a can of spray paint from her bag, and shaking it. Across the wall, she wrote something in Russian, and Alyona laughed.
“What’s it say?” Rogue asked.
She read it to him.
‘Fuck you, Americans. Russia is here.
--Alexsandr D.’
Rogue laughed.
“When Elizabeth finds that out, and has to investigate, you’re explaining that to her.”
Jinx shrugged.
“She likes me.”
That she did.
“Come on,” Rogue said, taking his wife by the hand. “We gotta move.”
Outside, they closed the vault door, and left the two security guards in there.
Then, they hauled ass.
At the front door, another security car drove by, and they knew if the two guys didn’t answer them on the radio in the next minute, they’d have more problems.
Oh, they could handle them, but then, the cops were coming, and Elizabeth and the Major wouldn’t want a shootout.
When the car went around the back, Rogue pushed the doors open.
“Get your asses to the car.”
The four of them ran.
When they reached his sleek sportscar, they got into the back, and Rogue got them the hell out of there as the other security car was on the opposite side of the building.
As they were a block away, the silence was finally broken.
“We’re good,” Rogue said, slowing down to not draw attention to them.
“Well, we have the file,” Jinx said, holding it.
Ajax turned around from the passenger seat.
“What’s in it?”
She showed them.
“My military records, Eve’s, everything about Zayn, Dakota, and Rogue, plus a whole section on Elizabeth and each of her kids. All of Maura and Jagger’s cases, her assault, and the Snakes that were killed. Someone was running surveillance on all of us for the CIA.”
Well, shit.
They might have just got lucky.
They hoped.
* * * H U N T E R – C R O F T * * *
Area Fifty-Two
After One A.M.
When they returned to the new hidey-hole, Elizabeth was sitting at the counter on the phone with her boss. It seemed it was a late night with everyone there.
She was discussing Thomas Bernard, and how he was sticking his nose in the wrong place.
They let her finish her call, and when she closed her tablet, they dropped the loot on the counter.
“Well?” she asked.
Jinx handed her the file folder.
“We were right to be worried. Artemis Dubois had everything on ALL of us.”
When Elizabeth flipped through it, Ivan was beside her, taking in the intel. If her kids were in there, that meant he had to make sure they were prepared.
Back at the Fort.
Thank God they were going to be getting more land after the wedding.
They needed more security. While they had the file, they didn’t like the unknown, and who knew if there were more copies of these files.
“Well, Artemis sold us out. We have to hope this is the only copy.”
Maura didn’t like this.
Half of their security was that they had anonymity. Now, not so much.
“How bad is it?” Greyson asked.
She slid him the folder since she trusted him.
That’s when he saw how bad it was.
It was everything on them.
EVERYTHING.
“How long until we find out if we’ve been compromised?” Ethan asked, his voice sharing that fear that Elizabeth was feeling.
“I don’t know. Artemis might not have given him this. He might have been picking it up tomorrow. The only way to find out is we have to get him and ask—somehow.”
Well, that upped the game and made this exponentially more difficult.
“We have to find him, see what he knows, and figure out how much shit we’re actually in.”
They had to find a needle in a haystack. A Russian needle in almost four million miles.
That should be fun.
And impossible.
* * * H U N T E R – C R O F T * * *
Three A.M.
Poe Seville’s Home
It took a while, but finally, Poe fell asleep. Only, it didn’t last long. As he was out cold, he heard one squeaky floorboard in his room.
It was one he avoided daily, but an intruder wouldn’t know it was there.
Immediately, his eyes popped open, and he looked around.
What he saw shocked him.
Gamble was standing over him.
At first, he was scared. Knowing the man could be lost in a night terror, or amped up on adrenaline. There was no doubt he was dangerous.
Oh, boy.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asked, as he saw a shaking man.
Gamble didn’t know who to turn to. He’d been asleep, and it had been peaceful. Then, the dreams began, and now, he was chased.
And he had nowhere to run.
“Please. Help me. I’m dying inside,” he whispered. “It’s killing me.”
Well, that sounded ominous.
“A nightmare?”
He nodded, his body drenched in sweat.
Poe knew what might make him feel better.
Company.
Moving over, Poe patted the bed, giving him the opportunity to not be alone. The whole time, his brain was warning him that this was crossing the doctor-patient line.
But then again, so was having a patient stay in your home. Since he’d already crossed it, why the hell not?
When he saw the offering, Gamble nodded, needing to not be alone.
He crawled onto the bed, curled into a ball, and laid there.
It was clear he was staying.
In for a penny.
In for a pound.
Well, here went all his sensibility, and for the life of him, Poe had no idea why.
That was a lie.
He knew why.
“Are you going to be okay?” Poe asked, making sure to keep space between them.
Gamble shook his head.
“No. Please can I stay in here?” he asked. “I don’t do well sleeping alone. At Chartres, someone sleeps in the room with me.”
Well, it was a big bed, and the man was there for comfort.
“Sure. It’s okay. I have you, Gamble,” he offered, not believing he was saying any of this. Had any other patient tried to crawl into his bed…
He’d run for a door.
This man…
He’d somehow made him feel all sorts of feelings that weren’t safe or healthy.
He felt compelled to help him no matter what, and that was hella dangerous.
Gamble was remorseful.
“I’m sorry to bother you. Bad dreams.”
Poe wanted to help him, but he had to be appropriate. This was his patient, and there was absolutely no way sleeping in the same bed was a safe bet.
God.
But he wanted to.
Now, only, his license was on the line.
What they needed was a barrier, of sorts.
What to do?
What to do?
Pulling the blanket off of himself, he tucked it around his patient, making sure they weren’t sharing it. There was a protective barrier—somewhat.
Then, he tried to help him.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked.
Gamble didn’t answer.
Still, Poe pressed on.
“What were the nightmares about?” he asked. “You’ll feel better if you discuss it.”
He didn’t buy that, but what did he have to lose? When he’d woken up in a cold sweat, he felt the need to escape, but he’d promised this man he’d give him sixty days.
A Marine always kept his word.
Finally, he shared.
“She was drowning me. She was holding me under water, and blaming me. Storm told me if I was a man, I would have killed her and saved our child.”
Yeah, the guilt was getting to him.
That was Poe’s fault for opening that can of worms to help the man. Now, came the fallout.
“That’s just your mind playing with you, Gamble. It’s because we discussed it, and you were angry. All you have to do is let it go,” he said.
He didn’t know how to do that. The more he tried to live, the more difficult it was.
His whole world felt so empty.
“I have you,” Poe said, running his hand up and down the man’s back as he was in the fetal position facing away from him.
“She said I deserve to feel this. I knew that she was damaged, and I still tried to fix her. Not everyone who is damaged is fixable.”
He stopped that then and there.
Oh, he knew where the man was heading with that, and he wasn’t going to let Gamble die.
PASS.
“That’s not true. You’re fixable. I promise that I can get you through this. I know how.”
His voice was so low.
“What if I’m dangerous now?” he whispered. “What if I can hurt someone like she did?”
He soothed him.
“You’re not. I can tell you’re not a threat. If I was afraid of you, I’d never have you in my home, let alone an adjoining room, or now, my bed.”
Gamble was hurting deep down inside. It was in the part of him that once had love, and a family. It was empty, and he was so scared that he’d never feel anything but this again.
“I’ll never trust another woman. I never want to have more kids. I never want that life because I had it and it destroyed me. Help me,” he whispered. “Please.”
Poe’s heart was breaking for the man.
“I will help you. In the morning, we’ll talk about it over breakfast, and we’ll continue with our therapy. You’ve done well today, Gamble. You’re already healing.”
He wasn’t sure he was.
Poe reassured him.
“Go ahead and rest, Gamble. You need to rest. Tomorrow is day two, and we’ll dive into it.”
He put his faith in the man.
Why?
What choice did he have?
Slowly, Gamble closed his eyes as the hand on his back soothed him. It felt nice to be touched and not be afraid of the outcome.
In his dreams, he’d feel that cold chill of his dead wife touching him, and it scared him.
He shook.
“So cold,” he whispered.
In that moment, Poe did something irresponsible and incredibly dangerous.
He spooned him, using the warmth of his body to keep him warm. He was careful to stay above the blanket that was wrapped around Gamble, but still, his body was in direct contact with his.
SHIT.
This was spiraling out of control.
Already, panic was rising, and not in Gamble.
In Poe.
Should he leave him here and go into another room where he wasn’t breaking a million rules and risking his whole career?
Yes.
Did he?
No.
For some reason, he stayed to keep the man safe like he promised.
“I have you.”
Gamble’s whisper was barely audible.
“Please don’t drop me,” he said, putting his faith in another person and praying it didn’t kill him. “I have no one to trust anymore but you.”
That made Poe’s whole body react.
God.
Poe had a bad feeling about this.
Why?
In that moment, he suspected that he wasn’t able to keep this from becoming personal. He was growing attached to his patient in ways that were NOT allowed.
And that was a bad thing.
For a doctor.