It’s one of the top levels, and I’m still not sure what sort of magic they used to hide it from others. They might have made it a pocket dimension of some kind? Or they might just have worked some illusion magic combined with some forgetful magic to make any non-magical person not realize that they were skipping a level. How they did it isn’t really my business, of course, because that’s not what’s going to matter if I’m going to break in—what matters to me is the security, and that’s top notch.
“The Shard is brimming with some of the most powerful magical artifacts,” North explains. “Even I don’t know all that’s hidden in there, but I remember it was a really big project when it was created.”
“I wouldn’t take a job breaking in there,” I admit. “It’s one of the few places I wouldn’t want to break into on my own.”
Of course, I’m not on my own now, and that’s an important distinction.
“There’s got to be at least one thing in there that Donovan’s had his eye on for a while,” Cain says. “I mean, some of the shit in here… I’m not sure that all of it was even legal when it was created but of course once it was created they couldn’t fucking un-make the damn item so now all they can do is keep this stuff under wraps and hope that it’s not going to be too big of a problem.”
“I’ve heard stories about the kind of things in there,” I admit. “Any one of them could be a huge problem to someone like Donovan. And now that he’s got an Immortal Key he can just waltz in.”
North gets a wolfish grin on his face. “Yeah, and I bet that a certain mage we all hate won’t be too happy to learn that’s what Donovan’s up to. A potential rival for his power? Not something he’ll take lightly. We can use that as blackmail. We can go public with this information and make sure that Roanac knows about it. Roanac wouldn’t be happy, and he’ll go after Donovan, it would put a huge target on his back.”
I love it. The idea of making the man that was sending bounty hunters after me for months squirm, make him feel afraid for his life the way he did to me? I love it. It appeals to the savage part of me that had to be alone all these years, scrounging for what I could, not able to trust anyone.
“Let’s do it.”
Raven looks at me. “You just said you wouldn’t break in there.”
“Notalone,” I counter. “If we can get in there before him then we can set a trap the moment he steps onto the floor. We’ll have him like a fish in a barrel.”
“But he’s the one with the Immortal Key,” Cain points out. “We can’t get in that way.”
I can feel a feral grin stretching across my face. Finally, the place where my expertise can come in handy. I finally feel like I’m meaningfully contributing to this instead of just being taken care of by other more capable people.
“That’s fine,” I tell them. “We’re just going to have to break in the old-fashioned way.”
CHAPTER13
Obviously Donovan’s not already over there. He needs to plan this carefully. He has to get from New York to London without raising any red flags or people will notice that he’s gone and up to something. That gives us a little bit of time to plan something on our own, thank fuck.
We have to portal to London, which is fine, and then we can do recon on the building. Which is easier said than done. The non-magical security alone is fairly intense and then there’s the magical security on top of it. Fortunately it’s a busy building which allows us to get away with some recon during the day.
“Are you sure we shouldn’t sneak here at night?” Cain asks.
“We will be doing that,” I reply. “But first we need to just scope it out and get a feel for the place. When nobody’s supposed to be in the building, the guards will be on high alert. Right now there are tons of people moving around going about their business. So we can then get lost in the crowd. They’ll have no idea that we’re here. And if they do realize that one of us is up to something, we can then lose them among all the other people that are here.”
It’s like that old principle that if you’re a con man and you want to get in somewhere you shouldn’t be allowed, you just grab a clipboard and act like you know what you’re doing. People don’t question confidence. The guards are going to be looking for people who seem nervous or out of place. If you blend in, then you’re fine.
We go in during the day and take surveillance, figuring out what kind of human security they’ve got—easy—and what kind of magical security is in place—not so easy.
Honestly? It’s surprising how much more fun it is as a part of a team. A lot of things are easier, too. I don’t have to take all the photographs or make all the scans on my own. I can send us off to different areas to cover more ground faster. And I know that if I slip up, there are three other people who have my back and can help me out. It’s not all on my shoulders. It’s a shared burden.
My fence would sometimes ask me if I considered taking on a partner or apprentice. Someone else to help me out. I’d always scoffed at him. Why would I? Nobody could be trusted. And even if they could be, which was unlikely, could they ever really be as good as I was? Could I ever really depend on them? Yeah, right.
And yet here I am, with three people that Icantrust, that Icandepend on, who are helping me out. I know that they won’t betray me, and I know that if I tell them what to do, they’ll listen and they’ll do a good job at it. I don’t have to worry about them fucking it up.
It’s a huge relief. A weight off my shoulders that I didn’t even realize was there.
After we do the daytime reconnaissance and learn all that we can, we have to go back at night and actually see what we can manage. We have to break in while not only evading the alarms, but by making sure there’s no suspicion of a break in. Normally with a job like this I would say hey, if they realize that we broke in later on, that’s fine. But we’re not here to actually steal anything so getting away with the loot isn’t our aim here. Our goal is to slip inside and then lie in wait for someone else.
If Donovan has even the smallest suspicion that we’re here or that anyone is after him, he’s going to turn tail and run, and we can’t afford that. I’ve never known him to be alone or without protection of some kind. Most people as powerful as he is will have at least one person with them always. You can’t get to the top without making a few enemies. I don’t know when we’ll get another chance. We can’t afford to screw this up.
“Are you feeling okay?” Cain asks after we’ve finished the last of our planning. It’s the night before we break in, and I’m going over everything again at the kitchen table. Just to be certain.
“I’m fine,” I reply. “I just need to double check everything. It has to be flawless. We have to be flawless.”
“I get that.” He smiles softly at me. “But we’re going to be fine. You’re good at this, it’s what you do. You wouldn’t steer us wrong.”