Page 117 of Gave Proof Through the Night

“Thirty seconds.”

At the end of a hallway, I go through glass doors and find myself in a garden courtyard. It’s quite nice out here, actually. Quiet. And the muggy heat is starting to let off to make it a serene space away from the city noise. There are string lights strung across the courtyard, a grid of plants growing directly out of the stone and red brick accents, and stone benches placed throughout.

I sit. I smooth my skirt over my boots. I make myself breathe like a woman who has all the time in the world.

“Fifteen seconds.”

“Talk to me,” I say.

“System’s air-gapped. I have to forge the handshake manually.” A frantic clatter of keys, audible even through the earpiece. “It’s asking for a system sync. Rejecting my signature.”

That’s when I see Hobbs.

He’s coming down the hallway fast, eyes locked on me, shoulders already squared for a fight. He bursts through the double glass doors like a Bond villain. I guess he kind of is.

His chest is heaving, tie crooked, and he finds me sitting there, cool as anything, like I’ve been waiting on him for an hour.

“So we meet again,” I say.

He straightens his jacket, buying himself a beat he doesn’t need.

“Such an elaborate ruse to get me alone. You shouldn’t have.”

“Oh you know me,” I say. “I’m nothing if not impractical.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way. Erica. Just give me half the plunder that’s all I’m asking.”

“If you’re trying to entrap me, it’s not going to work.”

“I’m not trying to do anything of a sort. I know you want that necklace and I want for you to ditch the hockey player.”

Just the mention of Jeremiah out of his mouth gives me rage. “Leave him out out of this.”

Somehow, Zoe’s voice brings me back to my senses before I whack Hobbs with my super cool combat boots.

“I’m overriding the environmental control module! I’m telling the computer the weight change is just a pressure drop from the ventilation system… come on… accept the packet…”

“Five. Four. Three.” Suri’s voice trembles.

Then static.

Then a sharp digital chirp, and Zoe’s voice, ragged with something that isn’t quite a laugh. “Scale’s zeroed. Computer thinks you weigh nothing, Suri. You’re a ghost.”

“Tanya standing by for the load,” Tanya says, already moving toward the vault corridor.

I let my shoulders drop for the first time all night.

“You know you’re not gonna get close to that necklace without my help,” Hobbs says.

“I don’t want the necklace, and you know this.”

“Then what do you want?”

“You know exactly what I want.” I fold my arms. “Must we go over this again? It’s getting a little redundant, to be honest.”

“Oh, come on.” He throws up a hand. “Again with those stupid letters. I told you, Erica, they don’t exist.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Hobbs. It’s all over your face.”