Getting into the building
was a snap, getting into the Galleria was harder, but Pia's skills
overcame the excellent security system that was in use. The safe was proving to
be a bit more difficult. But she would get into it. That was a given. No safe
was unbeatable; she'd learned that at her father's knee. Mr Lupo had been a
locksmith and taught his only child everything he knew in hopes that she might
someday take over his business. She'd always thought she had, just not
quite the way he'd envisioned.
The safe at the Galleria had
eight wheels in the lock. First, she needed to discover the contact points
before parking the wheels. That took time and a good ear but when she was
finished and had graphed the results, she had all the possible combinations.
Then it was just a matter of dialing each one until the safe opened.
The whole process took well
over an hour and required incredible patience but time was not a problem and
she had patience to spare. Finally, the safe door swung open and she examined
the contents. The items she'd been sent to steal were on the top shelf, each
one in its own velvet-lined box. After packing them carefully into her bag,
resisting the temptation to take something small for herself, she closed the
safe door, spinning the dial to lock it again, and then went into the
Galleria's main office. File cabinets lined one wall. After a brief search she
found the one holding the provenience papers for the stolen items and put them
in her bag as well.
Then she was out of there,
leaving being much easier than entering. She only had to reset the Galleria's
alarms and then the one on the back entrance to the building.
Getting home proved to be
more of a challenge. Perhaps Mr Reede with an 'e' hadn't been kidding when
he'd said someone had been watching her at the bar a few nights ago.
She was a block away from
the building when she saw the car. At first she thought nothing of it, it was
late but that didn't mean she could expect to be the only driver out and about
by a long shot. When she made a right turn onto a side street that was a
shortcut to her place and the other car turned too she still shrugged it off,
but after a third turn with it still behind her she began to tense up.
Let's just see if I'm being paranoid or not, she thought, making a last second turn onto another
side street. "Guess not," she muttered as the other car did the same
and then pulled up close behind her. That's when she realized the street she
was on was very dark and held primarily warehouses and a few vacant shops. Way to go, girl.
She accelerated, hitting
sixty as she came up to the next corner, which she took on two wheels, praying
the car wouldn't roll. It didn't and she sped down the short block to the next
corner, taking it just as rapidly.
"Thank you, Tito,"
she said prayerfully when she checked the mirrors and saw she'd was alone on
the street. He might disdain cars now in favor of his bike, but when they had
been younger he'd taught her everything he knew about driving including evasion
and escape techniques. Tonight that had served her well.
She didn't slow her pace
until she was well out of the area and certain she'd lost her trackers. Then
she pulled into the driveway of the closest house, parked, leaving the engine
running, and buried her head in her arms on the steering wheel until she'd
stopped shaking.
Pulling back onto the street
once she was calmer, she carefully continued on her way home, vowing to herself
to do whatever it took to find out who had been driving the other car and, she
suddenly realized, how they had known where to find her in the first place.
* * * *
Pia marched into her
contact's place of business mid-morning of the following day. Stalking past the
startled receptionist, she pushed open the door to the man's office. He was
obviously in the middle of a meeting with a client but one look at her face and
he stood, excusing himself, and then led her into an adjoining room, closing
and locking the door behind them.
"What's got your tail
in a twist?" he asked.
"Who did you tell that
I was going to do that job last night?" she said with quiet anger, not
raising her voice as she put her bag down on the table in the middle of the
room and opened it.
"Not a soul," he
stated firmly.
"Did you attempt to
hire someone else before calling me?"
He nodded reluctantly.
"I put out a couple of feelers, looking for—"
"Someone who works
cheaper than I do," she spat out before he could finish his sentence.
"Who responded?"
"No one."
"But you let it out
what the target was."
"Yes, of course. Now do
you what to tell me what this is all about?"
Flopping down in the nearest
chair, Pia watched him as she gave him the details of last night's chase. He
muttered a couple of expletives as she talked but otherwise remained silent
until she was finished.
"I swear I had nothing
to do with that and I don't know who it was who was after you." He tapped
his lips as he leaned back against the table. "You're right though, it had
to be someone who heard what I was looking for. And you're well enough known in
some circles that when they saw you leave they knew you would have the goods
with you."
"And I'm going to find
out who he was."
"You're sure it was
only one person?"
"No. I wasn't really
counting heads after I picked up on the fact that the car was tailing me."
Getting up again she went over to her bag and handed her contact the cases and
the papers.
He nodded his thanks as he
took them over to the safe concealed behind a picture on one wall. After
stashing them on one of the shelves, he picked up two wrapped bundles of bills
to give to her.
Pia took them, thumbing them
quickly. "A bit more than usual," she commented.
"Call it hazard
pay," he replied with a smile. "Pia, I'll keep my ear to the ground
and if I hear anything I'll let you know. I don't want to loose my
best—associate."
"Thanks." She put
the money in her bag and then slung it over her shoulder. "Next
time," she said with a tight smile, "come to me first."
"For the big ones, I
will."
"Better," she
muttered as she left the room.
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