Page 5 of Gifted Thief
I tossed back my hair and ignored the rejoinder. ‘Come on. Let’s get going.’
Leaving behind the depressing office space, the four of us moved quietly out towards the bank of lifts. We required little in the way of communication by this point; we’d worked together long enough to have an almost telepathic understanding of what was required. Still, out of respect for this being our last mission together, Speck glanced at me and I gave him a nod of acknowledgment. He unscrewed the button panel in the wall, short-circuiting the system and disabling all the elevators in one fell swoop. He jerked his thumb at Brochan who immediately stepped forward and wrenched open the doors to reveal the cavernous drop.
‘First one to the bottom is a rotten egg,’ he smirked.
Speck sighed. ‘Can’t we just take the stairs?’
Lexie tutted, giving him a sharp shove. Speck stumbled through the gap, his curse echoing as it bounced off the walls.
‘We are trying to stay quiet,’ I reminded her with a frown.
She shrugged. ‘No-one’s here, Integrity. We’d be waiting forever for Speck to make a move if I’d not done that.’
I didn’t entirely disagree; I didn’t entirely approve either. ‘There’s no point in taking unnecessary risks.’
‘Your impending retirement is making you boring.’
I folded my arms and gave Lexie a stony glare. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to maintain it for long before a smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. ‘Yeah, you’re right. I can still get to the bottom quicker than you though.’
The other woman grinned. ‘Go on then.’
I took a deep breath and jumped. Although the drop to the bottom should have been lethal, Taylor had cleverly modified all of our jumpsuits so it was a piece of cake. He was a regular Q. Each suit was fitted around the shoulders with a small canopy-style parachute. It was no good for heights of more than eighty metres, as sheer velocity would negate its gliding power. For something like this elevator shaft, though, it was perfect. Less than one floor down and I’d already released it, enjoying the air rushing past my cheeks as I descended with Lexie a heartbeat after me on the other side of the narrow drop. She might have beaten me if Speck hadn’t somehow gotten in her way and forced her into the wall instead of directly on top of the roof of the frozen lift.
‘Oops,’ he said, entirely unrepentant.
‘Idiot!’ Lexie hissed. ‘I’ve been trying to beat Integrity at this for months and you know this was my last chance to do it.’
‘Tell you what, Lexie,’ I said. ‘I promise I’ll meet up with you in a few weeks once I’m settled in Oban and we can have a jumping session then. As many times as you want.’
Brochan joined us, his large feet clanging loudly against the metallic lift. His merman body was better designed for water rather than land, even though he had a profound fear of the sea. Any footwear he ended up with looked like outsized clown shoes. It was a miracle he managed to stay as quiet as he did. ‘Waste of time,’ he dismissed.
‘Why?’ Lexie demanded. ‘You don’t think I’m good enough?’
‘She’s Sidhe. You’re not. You’re a cute pixie but you’re not like her.’
I stiffened. What did that mean? Fortunately I was prevented from asking by Speck’s obvious snigger. ‘She’s Sidhe. That’s funny.’ Brochan looked at him blankly. ‘Sidhe? She? You know. Sidhe is pronounced she and you said she is…’ His voice faltered at Brochan’s expression. ‘Never mind,’ he muttered.
Lexie sniffed. ‘Integrity is not Sidhe. Not like the rest of them are, anyway. She’s better than that.’
I gave her a grateful look even though we all knew the truth. ‘We need to get a move on,’ I said, changing the subject. ‘We’ve been here far too long as it is.’
Working together, we easily unscrewed the air vent panel opposite. I went first, wriggling my way through, followed by Speck, Lexie and Brochan respectively. It was unfortunate that Brochan was somewhat larger than the others and ended up getting stuck halfway. With considerable hilarity – muted though it was – we managed to pull him through. He landed with a rather painful sounding thump, rubbed the base of his spine and grimaced.
‘You really do need to watch your weight after all,’ I commented, dodging out of the way of his playful swipe. Then I winced melodramatically. ‘Ouch. If looks could kilo…’
‘Watch it,’ he growled back, jabbing his thumb ahead to focus me on our goal.
With only one barrier left, we all took a moment to admire the not-inconsiderable steel door in our path.
‘It must have cost a pretty penny,’ Lexie said, her eyes wide.
‘Hundred and twenty thousand,’ Speck answered. ‘Retail, anyway.’
‘Waste of time when you think about it.’
We shared a grin.
‘Are you sure the drill isn’t going to be too loud?’ Lexie asked, gnawing at her bottom lip.
