Chapter 16
16
“I expected a little more than this,” Santiago said.
Lawrence chuckled. “Honestly, me, too.”
“At least we know we’re in the right place,” Beatrice said in an uncertain tone.
As they stood at the front door of the Tallinn safe house, Celeste couldn’t help but feel a shudder of grief as she gazed upon the same kind of red envelope that had been delivered to them several days ago. “Let’s take it inside,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at the two black SUVs in the driveway. “Where we aren’t being watched.”
“They’re leaving now...” Santiago murmured from behind dark sunglasses. “From here on out, I’ll take care of transportation.”
“Vehicles are in the west side of the compound,” Lawrence said, unlocking the front door with another keypad. “I think you’ll find something you’ll like.”
Magnus peeled the envelope from the door as they entered the mansion. Inside, a large foyer with cherrywood floors, white walls, a table with the largest bouquet of silk flowers Celeste had ever seen. Pink and blue hydrangeas were Doris’s favorite, and they greeted the crew like a sunny smile. Another pang of sadness hit her as she drifted farther into the home.
The first floor was flooded with natural light, plush white furniture in the living room, leading to a paver patio. To her right, a massive kitchen. To the left, there was a small library. At least, smaller than Dr. Grant’s library in the US. She couldn’t wait to explore the rest of the house and the grounds.
“There are four bedrooms, two on the first floor, two on the second. All of them have one bed. Doris’s personal office is upstairs, her library is right there,” Lawrence said, gesturing beside the group. “The vault is in the basement, along with her training room and my workshop. I don’t know if any changes have been made since I was last here, but I’m prepared for a surprise or two.”
Four bedrooms. Celeste let that fact tumble in her mind while she watched Magnus turn the envelope over. Perhaps she should get used to sharing quarters with him. If they had any hope of getting the team back in working order, they would need to put their heads together and provide that show of a united front.
Of course, sleeping in the same bed as Magnus was not as awful as she imagined it to be. Celeste would never tell him to his face, but cuddling with him at Dr. Grant’s house was comforting. When he admitted that his bed had been lonely for the past few years, she understood his sentiments.
“Maybe we can split up and take a rest after we’ve read this,” Magnus said. “I’d love to know why we’re in Estonia of all places.”
“Same,” Beatrice said, dropping her bag in the hallway. “I’d also love a drink to steady my nerves.”
The young woman did look a little antsy as her eyes searched the space. She twisted a box braid around her finger, a habit Celeste had noticed on the jet.
“The bar is in the living room,” Lawrence said. Beatrice and Santiago followed him down the hall, leaving her with Magnus.
“What do you think?” he asked, gesturing to the home around them.
“Even though I shouldn’t be, I’m a little surprised. This isn’t exactly a safe house. The grungy flat in Prague? That was a safe house.”
“This feels like a retirement plan,” he said with a sad smile. “If such a thing is possible for our line of work.”
Was he talking about Doris or them? One night, five years ago, he wanted her to run away with him. Where, she didn’t know. But she couldn’t fathom giving up her life under Dr. Grant’s direction. Not when she’d helped Celeste get to where she was. Not when there was more to gain...
“How are you feeling about this?”
“Ready,” Magnus said with a grin.
She nodded. “Yeah, you look it. Not trying to cut and run yet, so that’s good.”
He chuckled as he gave her a brisk pat on the back. “Now, there’s my bitchy CeCe. I was beginning to wonder where she was.”
She scowled and gave him the finger in response as she followed him down the hall toward the others. Even though she tried to insult him, Celeste had to admit the obvious: she had quit their crew, too. Despite her loyalty to Doris, she couldn’t find it within her to continue without Magnus. It made her sick. “There’s the arrogant prick we know and love.”
“Love?” he said in mock dismay. “I’m flattered.”
On second thought, maybe she’d bunk with Beatrice during this trip.
In the living room, Santiago was fixing drinks and Lawrence had already found himself a seat on the large white sectional. “Would you pour me one of those, Santi?”
“Everyone needs a little liquid courage this evening?” he asked, handing a glass to Beatrice, who waited nearby. He whispered something in her ear that made her roll her eyes, but she grinned anyway. Perhaps she wouldn’t be bunking with Bea after all. She recognized the flirty smiles and stolen glances between the two and wondered how long it would take for her young associate to succumb to Santiago’s charms.
“I’d like a good night’s sleep before we hit the ground running,” she said.
“Let’s see where we’ll be running to,” Magnus said, ripping open the envelope. He read it through until a frown creased his brow. “Huh...”
“How bad is it?” she asked.
Magnus’s eyes flickered to her before glancing back at the letter. “She describes seeking help from old lovers...”
Celeste pursed her lips and averted her eyes. “Huh.”
“‘My darling little thieves, I couldn’t have become the woman you knew without a little help from some devious people. One of which was a lover who guided my hand back when we were younger and more vain. I think I loved him once. And before I knew what to do with that love, I let him go. Sebastian is just one of many regrets in my life.
“‘That’s where you come in. Pass along the final message he should be expecting: The South Sea is expensive, the Akoya is classic, but the Tahitian has the character you once loved. He’ll know what it means. Help him and he will help you. The network of thieves in Eastern Europe could still use a crew like you.’”
“She’s talking about pearls.” Magnus looked at her again. “And a man named Sebastian. It sounds like he knows we’re coming?”
She nodded. “I’ve been reading about him. He’s all up and through her diary. From what I can tell, he was the man who got her into stealing. Doris met him when she was in college, and he took her all over the world. He seems to really like jewelry.”
“And where do we find this Sebastian?” Beatrice asked.
Santiago brought over a drink. “Thank you,” Celeste said, taking her first sip of gin and tonic. “And that’s a good question. I have no idea.”
They turned to look at Lawrence, who shrugged. “She and Sebastian had an on-again, off-again kind of thing. In the eighties, while she was cutting up over here, she and Bastian were on for a spell. But when they had a falling out, I didn’t hear from him anymore.”
“Does he have a last name?” Magnus asked.
“He had many aliases,” Lawrence said. “We’ll have to research them all, I guess.”
“I haven’t seen anything, but I’ll continue reading.” Not once in her readings had she come across a full name. Which didn’t seem unusual for someone writing in her private diaries.
“Bea, you’re up,” Magnus said. “Find me anything on a Sebastian in Tallinn. If she’s convinced he’s here, we’ll find something.”
The young woman nodded. “I’m on it.”
“Santi, check out the vehicles on the property,” Celeste added. “We need to know what we’re working with, and which transport could be most useful for this trip.”
Magnus nodded. “And I’d like to look at your workshop, Lawrence. I miss your gadgets.”
The old man stood up. “Well then, let me direct you to the basement.”
The estate was impressive, but Doris’s basement was a marvel. It was much larger than the first floor above them, built outward and reinforced with concrete and steel.
Once they made it downstairs and Lawrence turned on the lights, she and Magnus were in awe. The gym was spacious, filled with exercise equipment and full floor mats.
“I’ll take you on back and show you the real goodies,” Lawrence said, leading them farther into the basement. He stopped before a large metallic door that had another keypad. Lawrence tapped in a code and Celeste watched in amazement as the door slid open. “The code is 0548.”
“Doris’s birthday,” she murmured.
“How did you know that?” Magnus asked.
“Her diary.”
Inside was a series of rooms sectioned off by glass walls. In one room sat a few lab counters that could be found in any high school science class. Behind those, several steel cabinets were built into the wall.
“This is my workshop.” Lawrence pointed to that area. “Through there is the vault and over here is the gun range if you’d like to practice.”
Celeste and Magnus exchanged shocked glances. “There are guns on the property?” she asked.
“When did Doris get into guns?”
Lawrence shrugged. “She’d never used them on a job, but Doris was from the South. She was always into guns. You don’t have to fool with it, but we’ve got a small armory just in case you’re interested.”
They followed him to his workshop, where he began opening cabinets and revealing all kinds of tools and gadgets they might need for a job. “What y’all might be interested in is something a little less lethal.” Lawrence pulled what looked like a semiautomatic handgun from the backlit cabinet. “The ammo is a simple tranq dart, takes your attacker out in just a few seconds.”
He handed the gun to Celeste, who took it only to feel the weight of it in her hands. She wasn’t very experienced with firearms and didn’t think she should start today. She set the piece on the counter. “I don’t like it,” she said.
Magnus took it up, weighed it in his palm before wrapping his fingers around it. “You might not like it, but it could prove very useful in an unknown situation.”
“Let’s work on understanding our situation before navigating. I doubt Estonia is the same as the US when it comes to guns. We don’t need the heat.”
“Let’s not rule it out,” Magnus pressed.
“We don’t have to argue about it tonight,” Lawrence said. “I’ll put it away for a rainy day.”
Celeste cut her gaze to Magnus, who appeared annoyed with her. She didn’t care. They hadn’t needed a dart gun in the past, and probably wouldn’t need one now. “What else do you have?” she asked.
“Some oldies but goodies,” Lawrence said, reaching beneath the lab counter. He pulled out a long, flat box that contained several pairs of contact lenses in clear cases, earpieces and tiny button devices that Celeste didn’t recognize.
“What are those?” she asked, pointing to the small, round, flat disks. They looked like watch batteries.
“Tracking devices for crew members. They have a strong adhesive that will stick to the skin for a long period of time. I can keep an eye on you even if the earpieces and contact lens cameras fail.”
That was something she could get on board with. Celeste picked one up between her thumb and forefinger. “Even through sweat?”
“It sticks,” Lawrence assured her. He turned around, pointed out some other things in the cabinets. “We’ve got some glasses that toggle between regular and night vision, grappling hooks, drills, several lock-picking kits... We’re pretty much set up for anything you might need. All that’s left is you and the crew.”
The crew.
Lawrence, who was in his twilight years of stealing. Beatrice, the newbie. Santiago, the wheels. And Magnus...the other leader in this outfit. She didn’t know if she could trust him, but here he was, back in the fold.
“I’ll leave y’all to it,” Lawrence said, leaving the counter. “I’m going to stay in the master bedroom. I figure I earned it. You kids can sort out your lodgings while you’re here.”
They followed him out of the steel enclosure, locked up and walked back into the gym. Celeste put her hands on her hips and surveyed the basement settings as Lawrence disappeared up the stairs. “So...”
“So,” Magnus intoned while doing his own surveying. “This is Tallinn.”
“The city center was nice enough.”
“Yep, yep... It’s a nice little city.”
They fell into an uncomfortable silence once she ran out of pleasantries. It appeared he did, too. Finally, they met each other’s gaze.
Celeste took a deep breath. “Where are you sleeping—”
“Are you sharing—”
They stopped short, Magnus chuckling while she nervously raked her fingers through her hair. “You go first.”
“I was going to ask if you were sharing a room with anyone. There are three beds left for the four of us.”
“Lord knows why Doris couldn’t invest in twin beds,” she muttered.
“I really don’t want to sleep with Santi if I can help it,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets and rocking on his heels. “He’s a loud snorer.”
Celeste crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. This sounded suspiciously like a request of some sort. “Are you trying to sleep with me, Mags?”
He shrugged with a smug grin on his face. “Would you like me to, Celeste?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ll bunk with Bea.” The idea sounded ludicrous once he voiced it aloud. She couldn’t believe she had actually considered it. No, they didn’t need to muddy the waters even more than necessary. “You’ll need all the rest you can get, old man.”
Magnus raised a brow. “Old man? I’m only a couple years older than you.”
“And I bet you’re really feeling those years,” she said with a grin. Okay, they were back on steady ground. Making fun of her ex-lover was always the best route to go.
“Why do I feel like you’re taking another shot at my stamina?” he asked with a cocky grin. “It feels like you want me to prove something.”
Fuck!
She could feel herself slipping right back into another flirtatious exchange. As large as the basement was, she suddenly felt suffocated by her own desire to make Magnus prove how virile he was... Celeste needed to get out of there.
“Sleep well,” she said, starting for the stairs.
“I’ll try my best.”