Part 24 (1/2)
Leo Ca.s.sady, also dressed all in black, walked to his desk and bent forward to study a set of plans laid out there. His handsome face was hard and expressionless. ”We have plenty of time,” he said flatly. ”The gas cartridges are set to fire at one-thirty, and we can be at the museum long before then.”
”I don't want to take any chances,” Quinn insisted. ”We have to cut the power in case one of the guards realizes he's being ga.s.sed and gets to the alarm. Even though we've been tripping alarms and shorting out electrical systems all over the city for a week, that's no guarantee Ace will automatically a.s.sume there's another glitch in one of their systems.”
So that's why so many museums have been having problems, Morgan realized. Morgan realized.
”We have plenty of time,” Leo repeated. Then, head still bent over the plans, he said, ”Tell me something, Alex.”
”If I can.”
”Why don't you carry a gun?”
Quinn laughed shortly. ”For two very good reasons. Because armed armed robbery carries a stiffer penalty-and because I'm a lousy shot. Good enough?” robbery carries a stiffer penalty-and because I'm a lousy shot. Good enough?”
”It's a dangerous weakness.”
”Is it? Why?”
”Because you can't defend yourself. Suppose, for instance, that I decided your usefulness to me had ended. After all, I'd much rather keep the Talisman emerald myself-no need to break up the collection. And I hardly need your help now that I have the proper ident.i.ty codes to placate Ace for an hour or so.”
Rather grimly, Quinn said, ”I didn't give you those codes.”
”No, you very wisely kept them to yourself.” Leo looked at him with a faint, empty smile. ”But you forget, my friend-I've been doing this a long time. Longer than you, if the truth be told. I took the precaution of cultivating my own source inside the museum-though I didn't sleep with him.”
”Who?”
”Ken Dugan. He's such an ambitious man. So eager to please. And I'm so eminently trustworthy, of course, so respectable. I'm sure he never thought twice about leaving me alone in his office once or twice for just a few minutes while he took care of a little problem out in the museum.”
”Let me guess. He has a lousy memory and had to write down the codes and pa.s.swords?”
”So many people do, you know. And hide hide those little slips of paper in such obvious places. The codes weren't hard to find. Not hard at all.” those little slips of paper in such obvious places. The codes weren't hard to find. Not hard at all.”
Quinn took a step toward the desk but halted abruptly when Leo reached into his open desk drawer and produced a businesslike automatic.
Morgan felt her heart stop. The gun, a s.h.i.+ny black thing with a long snout-a silencer, she realized dimly-seemed to her enormous. She wanted to cry out, to do something. But the harshly whispered warning echoed hollowly in her mind. No matter what you see or hear, no matter what you think is happening in that room No matter what you see or hear, no matter what you think is happening in that room . . . She had promised him. . . . She had promised him.
”This is not a good idea,” Quinn was saying evenly, his face expressionless.
Leo walked around his desk, the gun fixed unwaveringly on the other man. ”I beg to differ,” he said in a polite tone. ”I'm not wildly enthusiastic about killing you in my own house, you understand, but it seems the best way. I don't have the time tonight to take you somewhere else, and I won't make the stupid mistake of trying to keep you alive somewhere until I can make other arrangements.”
”I hate to sound trite, but you'll never get away with it.”
He knows what he's doing . . . please, G.o.d, he knows what he's doing. . . . . . .
”Alex, you disappoint me. Of course I'll get away with it. I have so often before. And this time, since I plan to make certain the authorities believe the mysterious Quinn pulled off the robbery of the century-and then fled the country-I'll make very sure your body is never found.”
”Oh, I couldn't possibly take the credit for something I didn't do.”
”The one flaw in my grand design; I'd much rather take the credit myself. But you see how it is. Living right here in San Francisco, well, I just can't take the chance that any of the bright boys and girls at Interpol will link me with this particular robbery. So you'll get the kudos, I'm afraid.”
”Leo, we can talk about this.”
”That's the mistake the villains always make in movies and on television,” Leo mused thoughtfully. ”They let their victims talk too much. Good-bye, Alex.”
He shot Quinn three times full in the chest.
It wasn't her promise that froze Morgan on the terrace; it was soul-deep shock and a pain so great she was literally paralyzed by it. The three shots-so soft, almost apologetic as they issued in whistling pops from the silenced gun-slammed Quinn's powerful body backward with stunning force, out of her sight when he crashed heavily to the floor, and she could only stare numbly at the place where he'd stood.
Leo, sure of his marksmans.h.i.+p, didn't bother to check the fallen Quinn. Instead, he glanced at his watch, then got an extra clip for the automatic out of his desk drawer and left the room with a brisk step.
Again, it wasn't her promise that kept Morgan still until she heard the sound of his car leaving the house; it was simply that, until the sound jarred her loose, she'd been trapped in a dark and horrible place. With a moan like that of an animal in agony, she stumbled forward, wrenched the door open, and rushed into the study.
”d.a.m.n, that hurt.” that hurt.”
Dropping to her knees beside him, Morgan stared incredulously as he sat up, pulling his gloves off and probing his chest with a tender and cautious touch. He wasn't even pale.
”You're alive,” she said.
”Of course I'm alive, Morgana. I never make the same mistake twice.” He pulled the neckline of his black sweater down several inches, revealing the fine but exceptionally strong mesh of a bullet-proof vest. ”I've been wearing this thing every night since the b.a.s.t.a.r.d shot me the first time. Had the devil of a time hiding it from you that first night at your apartment. Thank G.o.d you decided to take a shower before things got intense.”
”You're alive,” she said again.
”Like being kicked by a mule,” he grumbled, getting somewhat stiffly to his feet. Then he reached down, took her icy hands in his, and pulled her up into his arms.
She was crying, Morgan realized, clinging to him.
”I'm sorry, sweet,” he said huskily, holding her very tightly. ”I thought he'd probably do that, but there wasn't time to warn you. I'm sorry. . . .”
She could feel where the bullets had struck him, the brutal indentations on the armor plating in the vest, and it was several minutes before she could even begin to stop shaking. He stroked her back gently, murmuring to her, and when she finally lifted a tearstained face from his chest, he rubbed at the wetness with his fingers and kissed her. As usual, when he did that, all she could feel or think about was how much she loved him and how much she wanted him.
Then, with a sigh, he said, ”I hate to repeat myself, but what the h.e.l.l h.e.l.l were you doing here tonight?” were you doing here tonight?”
Morgan sniffed as she looked up at him. ”I thought if I could figure it out, then Leo probably could-and then he'd know know it was a trap.” it was a trap.”
”Figure what out?”
”Who you really are.”
Quinn looked at her with a smile playing around his mouth, then shook his head a little as if in wonder. ”You're a remarkable woman, Morgana.”
She sniffed again and rubbed her nose with the back of one hand. ”Yeah, right.”
He gave her his handkerchief. ”Use this.”
”Thank you.”
While she blew her nose and wiped away the last traces of tears, Quinn stepped to the desk and used Leo's phone to place a call. ”He's on his way, Jared,” he reported. ”No, he thinks he killed me. I'll be black and blue tomorrow, but that's all. Yeah. Okay, we'll be there shortly.”
Jared must have asked who ”we” was, Morgan decided, because Quinn winced and murmured, ”Well, Morgan's here.” Then he jerked the receiver away from his ear-and she could hear unidentifiable sputtering sounds.