Page 88 of Enduring Caine
“Shipments.” I shrugged, even though he couldn’t see me. “It ends in the cave. I’m not sure if we’ll be in a blind spot when we get down there, but it’s close to the Venus statue so we can turn off the camera. I don’t know how much time we’ll have.”
He checked his watch and I did the same. “They said three o’clock because the weather could hide them.”
That gave us ten minutes. “How did they get in touch with you?”
“I checked my dead drop location while I was working the perimeter this morning, and there was a reply. It’s been so long since they returned anything…”
“But someone always picked them up?”
He shrugged. “Could have been an animal eating the paper for all I knew.”
“You told them aboutThe Magdalen?”
Elliot said he needed me to get the proof because of an inter-organizational disagreement. That must have meant it wasn’t on the TPC’s priority list, so maybe they ignored it? Maybe they went straight to Elliot about it being brought up? Did I just get Elliot into a heap of trouble for acting outside their agreed parameters? It could get the FBI kicked off the case and Elliot thrown out of the country. Maybe that was a bad call.
“No response on that part,” he said.
Probably for the best.
Vincenzo said, “You turn off the camera—stay as close as you can to the back wall, which may keep you hidden, since the security is focused on the entrance. I’ll run out and signal them once you’re done. They should be able to make it into the cave and drop off my things, then out again.”
“What are they delivering?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Before we get down there…” I put a hand on his arm midway down the stairs. “I need you to tell me the truth.”
He turned to look at me, his face dim in the corridor, reflecting the scant light from above. “Focus on the job, Sam.”
“Were you working with Johann?”
His head twisted slightly, eyes narrowing in the darkness.
“Leonardo told us Johann was Interpol. Just now, in the kitchen.”
He took my hand from his arm and stared at it for a beat. Without looking up at me, he continued down the stairs, pulling me behind him. “I can’t reveal operational information to you.”
“You’ve told me so much, though.”
“About me, only.”
“Is anyone else involved?”
Antonio had suggested Henri. Could any of the other guards be in on it? Why did Vin complain about being so shut off from his handlers if there were others here?
“They keep us in the dark, so there’s no chance we can reveal each other if we’re caught.” He stopped, turning enough to see the hand he still held in the dim light coming from the cave.
I pulled it away from him.
“Come on, Sam. We need to hurry.”
It was chilly and damp in the cave, with the rain pelting down outside. A shiver ran through me as I watched the seconds tick by on my watch. It had been four minutes since I disabled the camera. “Six minutes left, Vin.”
He stood at the entrance to the cave, the low rumble of a boat engine approaching.
This was good work. Important work. I was helping the TPC fight an antiquities smuggler. It was the right choice.
Wasn’t it?