I gave him an exaggerated frown and nodded. “Well, all right. I guess I’ll give you a try.” I ran my hands over the stucco on the wall behind me.
“Not so fast.” He stepped back. “First off, I’ll be giving you a try and second, you only get one chance.”
“But I thought you just said—”
“I need to see you do it again before I’ll officially take you on. Let’s head back over to the street by the fountain.” He looked at his watch and I looked at the sky, the moon was up high now. “There should still be plenty of opportunities for you to do your thing with all those restaurants lining the street and people coming and going. It’s only ten, so the place should be hopping.”
You had to love the French and their late night eating habits. I glanced at the entrance to the alley, excited to be getting out of this dark place. “What? You want to watch me steal something?” I raised my eyebrows.
“Yes. How else am I supposed to vet you?” He raised his dark, thick eyebrows, his eyes piercing mine.
“Touché.”
He threw his arm out, inviting me to lead the way, which I did. As we walked, I fingered the flash drive I’d tucked in my pocket. I walked slowly up the path, observing the people eating at the tables.
He came up beside me, and the heat from his body brought attention to the chill in the air. He put his hand on my arm, slowing me down. “See the woman with the red scarf?”
“I see her.”
“Do you see what’s sitting on the table next to her?”
“Her wallet?”
“Go get it.”
Apprehension slammed into me. I’d wanted to fake-steal the drive in my pocket, not really steal from an innocent bystander. This lady’s only crime was eating her dinner too early to be native to France.
“Very funny. You’re crazy. She’d catch me, and I’d end up in prison.” I tried to slow my racing heart.
“Here’s how it’s going to go down. I’ll distract her, and you’ll lift it.”
I looked at my feet then glanced at him. “I’m afraid,” I whispered. I had to make him see some weakness in me so he could see me grow under his tutelage.
“Good. That fear makes it more fun. Besides, if you get seen, we’ll just book it out of here to the metro.” He motioned to his board. “They’ll never catch us.”
I bit my lip and rubbed my hands down my pant legs as I looked around, watching people walk past, hurried and not paying anyone attention. He urged me forward. Did I want to do this? No. Would I do this? Yes. My stomach soured. I needed to get over it. This had to be done and the woman would be okay. But would I be okay? What if something went wrong? I had no backup. This would be yet another mark against me. Another item of proof for Siron that I was reckless. Another thing to make Jeremy wonder what he ever saw in me. I had to be perfect. No mistakes.
Kamal moved to the other side of the lady and started to talk to her. I couldn’t hesitate, but I also couldn’t breathe. I reached over and grabbed. I almost stopped once I was a few meters away, but Kamal was suddenly there, walking beside me. “Did you get it?”
“Yes.” I said it in a breathy whisper, the wallet palmed in my hand. I looked back—a completely novice thing to do.
Kamal walked in front of my gaze. “Don’t look back. Never look back.”
“Ok.”
“It was nice of her to leave it out for you, wasn’t it?” He grinned.
I chuckled, slipping the flash drive into the folds of the wallet. We turned a corner and I said, “Let’s see what we’ve got here.”
The drive fell out as I opened the wallet, and I chuckled when I bent over to pick it up. “Great. A flash drive.” After making sure I was standing in his line of sight, I threw it toward the trash can behind Kamal. He reached up with a swift hand and snagged it.
“Whoa! Never throw anything out. Give everything to me.” He shook the drive in front of him.
“Oh, sorry. I thought a used flash drive wouldn’t be worth anything.” I feigned stupidity.
“You’d think that. But these drives can be very valuable depending on who they were taken from and what information is found on them.” He tossed it in the air and let it drop back to his hand.
“Huh. Really?” A jolt of expectation ran through me.
“Yeah. I’ve got a guy who loves getting these things.”
My heart sped up a little at that. What if he’d already passed Dufor’s drive to his guy? If it had already moved on to the next tier, it would make everything that much harder.
“So are you going to give it to him today? Does he give you the cash right away?” I leaned forward eagerly, letting the strain in my voice come through as excitement about getting some money.
He laughed. “My drive guy’s been out of town for a while, but if—and it’s a big if—there’s something on here, you’ll get your cut in a week when he gets back.”
Inwardly, I breathed a sigh of relief. Chances were Kamal still had the drive. A countdown started in my head—I had a week to locate the drive and retrieve it before Kamal passed it along. That meant next Wednesday was D-Day, the last day the drive would be in play.
I didn’t want him to get suspicious, though, so I steered the conversation back to what Eva would be most concerned with. “My cut?”
“Yeah. Thirty percent.”
I let my jaw drop and narrowed my eyes, like any savvy person living on the street
