War of Thieves Trilogy Box Set Edition: An Adriana Villa Thriller by Ernest Dempsey

Author:Ernest Dempsey [Dempsey, Ernest]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Enclave Publishing
Published: 2015-12-24T07:00:00+00:00

12

Innsbruck

“You need to randomize these laser patterns,” Adriana said.

She stood in the entrance to Hummels’s gallery, staring at an array of red laser beams dancing across the room to their receivers. The beams moved in rhythm, back and forth, at a steady pace across a rectangular room that was twenty feet deep and fifteen feet across. Rails along the top, bottom, and middle of both the side walls enabled the lasers to run back and forth.

After dinner, Hummels took his guests down to the lower level where his gallery was located. He switched on various parts of the security system to allow Adriana to do a full inspection. She was partially impressed, but there were a few points that could be improved.

“What do you mean?” their host asked.

“A good thief will have no trouble figuring out the timing of those movements. Once they do, it gives them a pattern to follow so they can access the room.”

“Yes, but they would have to be extremely agile to get through something like that,” Hummels defended.

Adriana closed her eyes for a moment. She took a deep breath and stepped into the room. “I know that pressure sensitive floor tiles are expensive.” She moved sideways, lifting one foot over a laser and then the other as it passed by. The next second, another one at waist level came by from the other direction, and she bent over backward, allowing it to go over her just before the one at ankle level returned. She jumped it and bent forward to avoid a third beam passing overhead. “But having some of those tiles in here would be useful. It would basically mean a potential thief would have to come in from above. That, or override the system. Fortunately, most thieves aren’t hackers. Yet.” She cartwheeled over to the wall as the next sequence of lasers moved diagonally through the first fifteen feet of the room, like an eerie X gliding from one end to the other. She pressed her hands against the wall and stepped through the gap in the beams, letting them go by without interrupting the particles.

Her toes, fingertips, and every muscle in her body acted in unison with her mind. To the observer, her motions appeared effortless. On the inside, though, a war raged as she fought to control her balance. Days spent on her father’s training course had taught her all of these things. Adriana spent at least an hour every single day on a balance beam, climbing walls, performing moves that ballerinas practiced, all to make her a formidable warrior. Her father probably never had it in mind that she would become a master thief, using the skills he gave her as a means to pluck lost masterpieces from the hands of criminals. The lessons, however, proved perfect for that line of work. When she was at home, looking into a new project, Adriana still spent an hour every day practicing the same maneuvers her father instilled. They kept her sharp, agile, and almost perfectly in tune with her surroundings.

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