“I met him in person when they were questioning me about you. He’s taking orders from Werner. He’s just one of their lapdogs, like Rollo.”
“Interesting,” Emerson said. “So they control both the world’s gold supply and the Federal Reserve. They’re trying to take control of the United States government.”
“That’s just a conspiracy theory,” Riley said. “Our financial system isn’t even based on gold anymore. It hasn’t been since the seventies.”
“Then what is it based on? It’s based on trust. Belief in the United States government.” He removed a dollar bill from his pocket. “It’s printed right on all our money. Federal Reserve Note. It’s only worth a dollar because the government says it is. You need to believe that the government will protect its value. Otherwise, it’s just a worthless piece of paper. But what if that government responsible for safeguarding the money supply is exposed as incompetent? Or worse, what if the U.S. government is the one doing the stealing? Our currency would plunge overnight. It would be total and devastating financial chaos on a global scale.”
Emerson’s iPad was beeping inside his rucksack. He pulled it out, tapped in his security code, and the floor plans for Mysterioso Manor appeared on the screen.
“The flashing red dots indicate where the security has been breeched,” Emerson said.
“There are a lot of them,” Riley said. “There are flashing dots all over the place.”
“Yes,” Emerson said. “We have visitors.”
Emerson crossed to a full-length mirror set into the wall and pressed the palm of his hand against the glass. A clicking sound came from behind the mirror, which opened like Aladdin’s cave.
“A fingerprint scanner?” Riley asked.
Myra shook her head. “You boys and your toys.”
“It gets even better,” Emerson said. “It’s also a two-way mirror. When the salesman pitched it, I couldn’t resist.”
Everyone squeezed into the narrow space behind the mirror, and Emerson pulled the massive door shut. No one spoke, and in the absolute silence Riley’s heartbeat rocked her body. She told herself she was safe behind the silvered sheet of glass, but she didn’t believe it. Not for a moment. She saw the door to the tower room open and instinctively stepped back, bumping into Emerson.
Rollo entered the room accompanied by five men in assault gear, rifles held at their hips. He glanced briefly at the mirror, the high tower windows, the conical ceiling, and then his attention swung to the safe.
“The safe is open and empty,” Rollo said, more to himself than to the men. “He’s been here and moved on to another room.” He turned to one of the men. “Stay here. You have a good view of the grounds should he try to leave the house.”
Emerson tapped Riley on the shoulder and maneuvered her flat to the wall while he quietly lifted a trapdoor. Light was dim to nonexistent, but Riley could see the hint of a stairwell winding away from the opening. Emerson curled Riley’s hand around his penlight and eased her forward.
“Take it slow. You’re going to lead us out of here,” he whispered, his lips skimming her ear.
Riley felt a shiver rip through her, the result of an unsettling mixture of absolute terror from their situation and pleasure from Emerson’s touch. She cautiously lowered herself through the trapdoor and began creeping down the narrow stairs, fighting the panic of claustrophobia. The stairs had been set between the outer wall of the tower and the inner wall of the stairwell they’d originally climbed. Myra was directly behind Riley, and Emerson was behind Myra. Emerson had the rucksack over his shoulder and the duffel bag clutched to his chest, and Riley could hear the rucksack occasionally scrape the wall.
The stairs ended at a small narrow landing.
“Now what?” Riley whispered.
“It’s a door,” Emerson said. “There’s a touch latch high on the right side.”
Riley ran her hand up the door, found the touch latch, and the door opened into a long, windowless passage.
“This will take us to the garage,” Emerson said.
“How did they know we were in the house?” Riley asked.
“I imagine they tracked me through my iPad,” Emerson said. “I’ve turned it off and I’ll destroy it when I get the chance.”
They quickly traveled the length of the passage and came to another door with another high touch latch. Emerson opened the door and they walked into a large utility closet. He cracked the door of the closet, looked out, and jerked his head back in.
“There’s an armed guard standing three cars down,” Emerson said to Riley. “I can disable him but I need you to distract him.”
Riley went wide-eyed. “How am I supposed to distract him? What if I startle him and he shoots me?”
“You’re female,” Emerson said. “Females distract males all the time. Just go out there and use your feminine wiles.”
“I don’t have any wiles,” Riley said. “Harvard Law didn’t offer that course. I don’t know how to distract men.”