Chapter 15
15
Everything was moving too smoothly for Magnus’s liking.
He knew better than to question Santiago’s logistical abilities, but it still surprised him when a Tallinn Airport concierge guided the crew from the Gulfstream, through customs and then to two black SUVs prepared to transport them to Dr. Grant’s safe house, located in the Pirita district along Tallinn Bay.
Their fraudulent identities held up in security.
Their luggage was passed through without a problem.
The pleasant drive to the safe house only took twenty minutes...
Yeah, this was too smooth. Not that he wanted the other shoe to drop, but if it had to, he’d love for it to happen early in their journey. Magnus shared a car with Santiago and Lawrence, unable to enjoy the bright blue view of the bay from the highway. He didn’t remember being this pessimistic during their international jobs. Cautious maybe, but not full-on anxious about fucking up.
He wondered how Celeste was handling herself as she traveled with Beatrice in the other car. Was she just as nervous? She seemed poised while they moved swiftly through the airport. But she routinely excelled at preventing people from seeing her sweat. Perhaps she had to keep her own nerves in check for the sake of her young assistant.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Lawrence intoned from beside him.
“Yeah,” Magnus said, watching the scenery pass them by. He could tell that Pirita was the wealthy part of Tallinn. The mansions were spread out throughout the heavily wooded area, a stark difference from the brutalist apartment blocks in the city center. This natural setting promised seclusion for them to do their planning. “I can’t believe I’m here.”
“You look a little nervous.”
Magnus pulled at the collar of his dress shirt. Even though he wanted to look presentable while traveling, he wished he had worn something a little more comfortable. He couldn’t wait to get somewhere and settle down. “Not nervous,” he lied. “You’re sure you don’t know what’s waiting on us here?”
The wrinkles of Lawrence’s brown skin deepened as he smiled broadly. “Son, you’re going to have to take my word when I tell you I don’t know what that woman had planned.” He shook his head and chuckled. “All I know is that we’re probably in for a wild ride.”
Magnus sighed. “This is ridiculous.”
“That’s Doris for you.”
He glanced at Lawrence and saw that the old man was much more relaxed than he felt in that moment. “Has Celeste said anything to you?” he asked in a low voice.
“About...”
Magnus shrugged. “How does she feel about things? Anything about Doris? This job?”
“Oh, you know CeCe. She keeps her cards close to the vest.”
In the rush to get to Tallinn, Magnus hadn’t had a chance to spend any one-on-one time with Celeste. They’d all gone their separate ways, prepared for the journey, only to meet at JFK. “The journal she’s reading. She hasn’t talked to me about its contents. Do you think Dr. Grant left her clues about the job in it?”
“That’s a good question,” Lawrence said, pulling at his earlobe. “Doris wrote in a diary nearly every day of her life. Or at least for as long as I’ve known her. What I gave CeCe is just a compilation of entries. I didn’t read it, though.”
“You mean to tell me Dr. Grant just gave you these things, these tasks, and you blindly trusted her?” Magnus asked, scoffing. “You weren’t tempted to read the journal yourself?”
Lawrence scoffed right back. “I trusted my partner. What would I have gained from digging in business that didn’t concern me? I kept enough of her secrets. Sometimes you need to let a person keep something for themselves.”
Magnus pulled at his collar again, slightly more agitated this time. “I trust Celeste,” he protested weakly.
“Y’all are doing a good job of being civil to one another, but I don’t believe you trust each other. I reckon things wouldn’t have fallen apart so spectacularly after the Stockholm affair if you had.”
The calmness with which Lawrence spoke jarred Magnus into sitting up straighter. He didn’t perceive judgment from the older gentleman, only his usual form of straight talk. Lawrence’s tone forced Magnus to reflect on the idea of trust. Who had he last trusted? What had it felt like to let someone else take the reins?
Unfortunately, the jewelry counter immediately came to mind. He’d left Celeste hanging in the wind while he changed plans to suit his own comfort. While part of him felt guilty for keeping her uncertain, another pettier part of him liked being in control of the job. He enjoyed knowing that she couldn’t access all his secrets, just as he couldn’t fully reach beyond her well-trained facade.
Jesus...how helpful could that be?
Did they truly know each other? Beyond the intimacy they shared? She let him into her bed, they knew each other’s bodies, but amid the work they did with one another, had they really understood each other? Their romance was more or less a workplace tangle and falling into bed with his coworker was a lot easier than it should have been. It was a fun affair, exploring the world, stealing and then exploring her body before the adrenaline wore off.
His one-dimensional view of her was simple. She was an orphan, like he was...check. There was their common interest. Outside of that, he knew that she had a rough upbringing through the foster system, but she never talked about it. According to her, that was then and there was no use in crying over being alone. So he never broached the topic. Magnus also knew her mind worked faster than his. Celeste seemed to think like a fast-spreading web, extending possibilities and contingencies to problems he wasn’t even aware of.
But had there been anything deeper to their relationship?
Magnus stared at the rapidly passing trees outside his window until he saw only a green blur.
Yes, there had been. He’d trusted her with enough of his heart that he had almost told her he loved her. It was the night before the Stockholm job. She had convinced him that they needed a break instead of casing the princess’s condo again. She asked him to hold her...a request she rarely made. Celeste was exhausted from their months of working, each job more intense than the last. All it took was a quiet evening with the woman who knew him better than most for him to realize that he may have loved her.
Perhaps it was the softness in her eyes when she looked up at him... Or when Celeste kissed him gently on the cheek, something broke within him. The gesture hadn’t been sexual. Instead, it felt like an expression of intimacy he desperately needed. It had been too long since someone had embraced him with tenderness.
And he hadn’t said anything.
Even after they’d made the sweetest love that evening. Magnus never admitted that he had probably fallen in love with her somewhere between Rome and London. Instead, he asked her if she’d ever given any thought to leaving Doris’s breakneck quest for fortune in favor of something safer. Between the two of them, they could handle just about anything. Dr. Grant had trained them well enough that they could work for themselves.
Celeste had balked at the suggestion.
Even after saving her life, she wouldn’t choose him.
“We’re here,” Santiago said from the front seat.
Through the dense forest stood a secure gate. As their vehicle drew close, Lawrence unclipped his seat belt and exited the car. Magnus, Santiago and their driver watched him amble to a keypad, take a cursory glance around him and enter a code before the steel gates slid open.
“Still works,” he called out.
“Thank God,” Santiago said, grinning at Magnus. “Because this is where my expertise ends.”
When Lawrence returned to the SUV, both vehicles passed through the threshold and continued down a winding road toward the property. Tall hedgerows lined the well-paved path, not revealing the full grandeur of the Scandinavian estate until they were nearly on top of it.
“Jesuchristo...” Santiago murmured. “She owned this in the eighties?”
“It didn’t always look like this,” Lawrence said with a chuckle. “She had worked on building it up since the eighties.”
“How many of these properties did Doris have?” Magnus whispered, mindful of their driver.
Lawrence also glanced at their driver before replying, “A few...”
Magnus couldn’t have been surprised, given Dr. Grant’s secretive nature, but this estate was not what he expected out of a safe house. “Okay, then.”
“Listen, son,” Lawrence said, placing a hand on Magnus’s knee. “I know I’ve scolded you about getting along with CeCe, but I need you to start this job with a little more confidence. A little more swagger. I got a feeling we’re gonna need it more than ever. Ya hear me?”
Magnus took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah.”
“Not all the fussin’ and fightin’ you do with Celeste is bad for the job. I don’t know what it is about you two, but bickering seems to fuel you both toward the common goal.”
He could have told Lawrence what had made their arguments so worthwhile at the end of the day but kept his mouth shut instead.
“I’m saying this as your family,” the older gentleman continued. “As a man who knows you pretty well.”
Magnus was moved to place his hand over Lawrence’s in solidarity. Family? They had always called themselves a crew of criminals, but he’d never felt as though he was a part of a family unit. Hearing the words of Doris’s most trusted friend made him feel different. “Hey, of course. I get it.”
As they rounded the circular drive, drawing closer to the front double doors of the estate, Lawrence gave his knee one last squeeze before unclipping his seat belt. “More now than ever, dear Magnus, we’re gonna need that Nordic charm. The show starts now.”
“Nordic charm,” Magnus snorted. “I’ve been told that my people are lacking in that area.”
“Well, luckily, you’re Swedish-American. You’re welcome.”
This pulled a laugh out of Magnus and loosened his tight nerves. Lawrence was right. The show was on, and he needed to play his part. Confident, cold and arrogant if need be. And when it came to Celeste, a little sexual bravado might be helpful. It would be safer to tease and flirt with her than to make another mistake.