The Prisoner's Gold (The Hunters 3) by Chris Kuzneski

Author:Chris Kuzneski [Kuzneski, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2015-10-08T07:00:00+00:00

36

Sarah and Maggie moved quickly through the warehouse, checking the markers for each row as they ran. Fortunately, what the facility lacked in modernization was more than made up for in organization. Each section of the space had been assigned a numeric label, and each box within that space had been further identified with a unique stamp. Every object was perfectly catalogued, with a place for everything and everything in its place.

Sarah wondered if the artifacts themselves had been tagged with barcodes.

She would find out soon enough.

Maggie suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. ‘There,’ she said as she pointed at a pair of boxes collecting dust on a shelf. ‘That’s what we’re after.’

‘Jack, did you copy?’ Sarah asked. ‘Maggie found the boxes.’

‘How big are they?’ Cobb asked.

Sarah stepped forward and took note of the size. ‘A little bigger than a shoebox. Why?’

Cobb didn’t give her an answer.

* * *

Cobb watched as the two men from the patrol car stepped out of their vehicle and walked cautiously toward the Mercedes. ‘Hector, talk to me.’

‘I’m not getting any radio chatter from the police band,’ Garcia said in his ear. ‘Looks like a genuine patrol. They’re not responding to a call, at least. I can’t understand what they’re saying on the radio, but the voices are all calm and bored.’

‘Stand down, Josh,’ Cobb instructed. ‘Let me see if I can work this out.’ Cobb didn’t want anyone to get shot just for doing his job, but he knew that McNutt wouldn’t hesitate to drop the unexpected visitors if it meant protecting the team.

‘Copy that, chief. But I’m here if you need me.’

Cobb knew his sniper was zeroed in, the crosshairs of his scope tracking the patrolmen’s every move. He stepped away from the bus stop and waved his map like a flag. ‘Hey there! Hey, officers!’ Cobb called out with a phony drunken slur to his voice. He ambled across the road toward the warehouse, staggering like a drunkard.

The men abandoned the Mercedes and headed straight for him.

‘Jack just bought you some extra time,’ McNutt informed the women.

‘How?’ Sarah wondered.

McNutt watched closely. ‘I think he’s pretending to be me.’

Cobb spread the map on the ground in the middle of the street, luring the patrolmen in for a closer look. ‘You’re just who I was looking for. Can you give a guy directions? I think there’s something wrong with my map. It’s in Chinese.’

He wobbled as he spoke, then flailed his arms wildly as he pretended to catch his balance. In actuality, he used the move to lift his shirt and expose the grip of the semi-automatic pistol he had holstered in the rear of his waistband.

Just in case.

* * *

Sarah peeled open the seal on the first box with one of the tools in her burglary arsenal. Some girls never left home without lip gloss; Sarah rarely went anywhere without lock picks and a pocket knife. She lifted the lid and peeked inside.

‘Loose-leaf documents, a couple of bound notebooks, and a book,’ she announced.

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