Heist Society

Heist Society by Ally Carter Read Free Book Online Page B

Book: Heist Society by Ally Carter Read Free Book Online
Authors: Ally Carter
Tags: Fiction - Young Adult
. . “It is seriously frowned upon.”
    They found a table outside, near the edge of the crowded pool, away from cameras and guards.
    Simon dragged his chair beneath an umbrella. “I burn,” he explained as Kat took the seat across from him. He took a deep breath, as if working up the courage to ask, “Is it a job?”
    Hale stretched out on a lounge chair, his eyes hidden behind dark shades. “More like a favor.”
    Simon seemed to deflate, so Kat added, “For now.”
    The desert air was dry, but there was no denying the smell of chlorine—and money—as Kat rolled the blueprints out onto the glass tabletop.
    Simon leaned over the plans. “Are these the Macaraff 760s?”
    “Yep,” Hale answered.
    He whistled in the same way Hale sometimes whistled, but Simon’s sounded more like a wounded bird.
    “That’s a lot of security. Bank?” he guessed. Kat shook her head. “Government?” Simon guessed again.
    “Art,” Kat said.
    “Private collection,” Hale added.
    Simon glanced up from the table. “Yours?”
    Hale laughed. “I wish.”
    “Is it our objective to make it yours?” Simon’s eyes grew wide.
    Hale and Kat exchanged a look. Hale’s grin seemed to admit that the thought had crossed his mind. Then he leaned closer and said, “It’s not exactly a typical operation.”
    Simon wasn’t fazed; his mind was too full of theories and algorithms and exponential alternatives for typical to have any meaning for him anymore.
    He studied the blueprints in silence for ten minutes, before looking up at Kat. “In my professional opinion, I’d say it’s a pass. Unless this place is Fort Knox. Wait a second.” His eyes shone. “ Is it Fort Knox?”
    “No,” Hale and Kat said in unison.
    “Then I wouldn’t hit it,” he said, pushing the blueprints away.
    “It’s already been hit,” Kat confided.
    “Your dad?”
    “Why does everyone keep saying that?” Kat exclaimed.
    Hale took off his sunglasses to look Simon in the eyes. His voice barely carried over the sounds of the laughter and splashes from the pool. “We would like very much to know who hit it.”
    “Who hit this ?” Simon jabbed his finger at the center of the blueprints. “It’s not a big list, I can tell you that.”
    “The smaller the better, my friend,” Hale said with a pat on Simon’s back. “The smaller the better.”
    “Can I keep these?” Simon asked.
    “Sure,” Kat said. “We’ve got a spare set. And, Simon . . . thanks.”
    She was already standing and starting to walk away, when Simon asked, “This is why you’re back, isn’t it?”
    Kat squinted against the bright sun. She felt a million miles from the gray-skied campus of Colgan.
    “Yeah.” She glanced at Hale. “It’s kind of . . .”
    Simon waved her away. “I don’t need to know. I was just wondering if it had anything to do with those two guys who have been following us since we left the lecture.”
    Of all the people Kat expected to see on the Las Vegas strip, Arturo Taccone’s goons were not on the list. They hadn’t tried to blend in among the tourists and high rollers— hadn’t taken a place at the tables, or positioned themselves by the slots—and that, more than anything, infuriated her. Together, Goon 1 and Goon 2 were five hundred pounds of European muscle.
    And yet Kat had missed them.
    She worried what else she might be missing as she rushed Hale and Simon away from the pool.
    When Kat looked back, she saw Goon 2 raising his left arm, pointing at his watch.
    “Kat?” Simon asked.
    “Keep walking.”
    “What time is it?” Kat wondered aloud as she and Hale walked across the tarmac to the Hale family’s private plane. “Let me think . . . Twelve hours in the air . . . That’ll put us there—”
    “High noon,” Hale answered. “Give or take.”
    “Okay, first thing tomorrow we hit the streets around Taccone’s place. Somebody saw something.”
    “I got it covered.”
    “The DiMarcos might be in town.”
    “Actually,

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