He went over to the door and took a moment to examine it. It was a lever lock. He grabbed his curtain lock-pick out of the case, then it took him less than thirty seconds to get the door open. Too bad it wasn’t as easy to unlock Eden’s mind. There was so much that went on behind those witchy green eyes, it felt like his life and heart depended on finding out.
He snorted out a laugh. “Over the top, Thorne,” he whispered to himself. “You are totally caught up in the dangerous situation.”
He looked over at his shoulder at Eden and relaxed when he saw that she was sleeping peacefully.
He pulled open the door.
“Sorry, Eden,” he whispered. “No gold.”
It was a good sized room with table and chairs. Not nearly as ornate as what was in the other room, but still very nice. There was a credenza, a mini-fridge, trash can and two fake plants. They were certainly trying to impress people in here too. He opened the cupboards on the credenza for more of a clue as to what this place was. When he saw the different trays and velvet tablecloths, he realized this was probably where people brought their valuables after they took them out of the safety deposit boxes. They probably wanted privacy away from bank employees.
He snagged the tablecloths and checked the fridge.
Score!
Still cold bottles of Fiji Water. Apparently, they liked to serve the good stuff to their bank clients. He couldn’t have cared less what brand of water they wanted to serve. Okay, maybe not the previously used water bottles with the glued on tops with the germy local tap water that was sure to give you the runs. He’d gotten served that in a restaurant in Afghanistan and paid dearly.
He left the room with the tablecloths and knelt next to Eden. Slowly, gently, he lifted her head. Eden didn’t stir. Asher put one of the folded cloths beneath her cheek then tenderly rested her head back down on it. The little moan that fluttered past her lips almost made him groan. Never had he heard something so feminine and enticing. God, he had it bad.
“Sleep, sweetheart. We’re going to need the lioness soon enough.” And wasn’t that the damn truth?
He got up from his crouch and went back to the room so he could call Leo.
“Asher. What in the hell have you got yourself into?” his lieutenant demanded. “This is not the time to see if you can outdo Harry Houdini.”
“You’re showing your age, Max.” Asher chuckled. “I think you’re supposed to be saying David Blaine.”
“David who?” Now Max was sounding pissed. “Shut the hell up and listen. Right now, it seems like you have half of Maduro’s secret police force crawling over the bank.”
“Good, I hope it falls in on them.”
“Really?” came Max’s sarcastic reply.
“Instead of an hour to blow my way out of here, it might take two,” Asher blustered.
“Ah fuck, what do you mean?” He heard the defeat in Max’s voice.
“Ah fuck is right,” Asher agreed. “This thing was built in the fifties, back when they were thinking they had to withstand nukes. If I do any blasting from the inside, you won’t find even a DNA sample of either Eden or me. Our best bet is having someone using the combination that Suzanne gave Eden or having a precision C-4 blast from the outside.”
“What happens if it isn’t a precision blast?” Max asked.
Asher chuckled. “Well then, a lot of those stupid fuckers of Maduro’s are going to meet their maker.”
“I appreciate the vote of confidence,” Asher heard Kane McNamara chime in. “At least you knew that I wouldn’t be blowing myself up.”
Asher felt himself relax a little tiny bit at the sound of Kane’s voice. Granted, the man wasn’t as good with explosives as he was, but he was pretty damn good. If for some reason they couldn’t get the vault open with fair means, Kane might be able to get it open with foul means….and C-4.
“Ezio says that his guy on Omega Sky is as good as you, and he’s got him on stand-by to face-time me through everything. Of course, Ezio is probably just trying to talk up his team. Nobody is as good as you, buddy.” Kane was pouring it on thick. “But I prefer waiting until Suzanne is out of surgery and getting the code from her.”
“Why do we need her out of surgery?” Asher asked. “We have the combination.”
“Ash, this is Kane. There’s a teensy-eensy little problem. There is a revolving combination that’s employed after each use. There has to be some kind of numeric code for Suzanne to remember, but we don’t know what it is.”
“How do you know?” Asher demanded to know.
“It’s in the vault specs that Rafa pulled up.”
“Fuck!” Asher gave a frustrated groan. “Just when you think something is going to be easy.”
“My personal choice is Suzanne waking up and us finding out how to open that goddamn vault before the building collapses on it. Are we clear?” Max was still pissed.
“I love the sound of your caring voice, Lieutenant.” Asher teased.
“Ah Jesus, don’t go sounding like Cullen, otherwise I’ll leave you in there. Now tell me how the civilian is doing.”
“She’s fine. Hell, she’s more than fine. Did they tell you how she stepped up when
