“I left a badly designed secure apartment.”
“You lied to my guards.”
“One of them was very easy to lie to.”
“He has worked for me for seven years.”
“You should reconsider your hiring standards.”
Mara hid a smile behind a folder.
Silas leaned over the map.
“Julian controls warehouses twelve through nineteen, the northern rail yard, and two customs offices.”
“He also controls the western tunnels,” Mara said.
Evelyn studied the map.
“The tunnel beneath the Lyric connects to the customs depot.”
“Yes,” Silas replied.
“Daniel said Julian was building a private transportation network.”
“He may use it to move the stolen art before police seize the warehouses.”
“Or to escape.”
Mara pointed to a route leaving the depot. “A cargo ship named Orpheus departs at midnight. Registered owner is a shell company tied to Julian.”
Silas began issuing orders.
“Close the harbor gates. Alert the coast guard through Inspector Reed. Put teams at every tunnel exit.”
Evelyn looked at him. “The theater entrance.”
“Already covered.”
“What about the old orchestra lift?”
Silas frowned. “What orchestra lift?”
“The original stage machinery includes a freight platform. It descends below the basement.”
“It was not on the plans.”
“Because it was sealed after an accident in 1936.”
Mara unfolded a blueprint.
“Where does it go?”
“Under the orchestra pit. Daniel repaired the controls last year.”
Silas and Mara exchanged a look.
Julian could enter the theater without using the discovered door.
They reached the Lyric at ten thirty.
The building appeared empty.
Rain hammered the roof. Wind pushed against the old doors. The lobby chandelier flickered even though no one had struck the electrical panel.
Evelyn led Silas and Mara through the backstage corridors.
The orchestra lift stood beneath layers of scenery in a storage room.
Its control lever had been cleaned recently.
Silas motioned for two officers to remain above.
The platform descended with a groan.
At the bottom, they found a second tunnel.
Fresh tire marks crossed the floor.
“They are already moving the collection,” Mara said.
A distant engine started.
Silas touched Evelyn’s shoulder.
“You stay here.”
She looked at his hand.
He removed it.
“Please,” he said.
The word surprised both of them.
Evelyn understood what it cost him.
“I will stay with the officers,” she said.
Relief flickered across his face.
Silas and Mara disappeared into the tunnel.
Evelyn waited.
One minute.
Two.
Then the officers’ radios produced bursts of static.
A figure emerged from behind the lift machinery.
Julian Rook held a pistol.
One officer turned.
Julian fired twice.
The first officer fell. The second reached for his weapon, but another man appeared behind him and struck him down.
Evelyn backed toward the wall.
Julian’s coat was torn. Blood marked one side of his face, but his movements remained controlled.
“You should have remained outside our world,” he said.
“You brought your world beneath my theater.”
“Daniel brought you into it.”
“You forced him.”
“I offered him an opportunity. He failed to understand the price.”
Julian’s man searched Evelyn and removed her telephone.
“The recorder,” Julian said.
She gave him the evening bag.
He emptied it onto the floor.
The recorder struck the stone.
Julian crushed it beneath his heel.
“You lied about the copies,” he said.
“Did I?”
“If police possessed those records, this theater would be surrounded.”
“Perhaps they are waiting for you to leave.”
He studied her.
“You are braver than Daniel.”
“That is not difficult when one has finally met the man he feared.”
Julian’s expression hardened.
He grabbed her arm.
Silas’s voice emerged from the darkness.
“Release her.”
Julian turned.
Silas stood twenty feet away, weapon raised. Mara took position behind a stone column.
Julian pulled Evelyn against him and pressed the pistol beneath her ribs.
“Put it down,” he said.
Silas did not move.
“You know I will kill her.”
“Yes.”
“Then lower the weapon.”
“No.”
Evelyn felt Julian’s surprise in the tightening of his grip.
Silas’s face was cold, almost inhuman.
“You need her alive,” he said. “You do not know where the copies are.”
“There are no copies.”
“Are you willing to gamble your life on that?”
Julian smiled faintly.
“You learned from your father after all.”
“My father would shoot through her.”
Evelyn’s heart stopped.
Silas continued.
“I am not my father.”
His gaze met hers.
In that instant, she understood.
Silas was not refusing to surrender.
He was waiting for her.
Evelyn let her knees collapse.
Julian’s grip slipped.
She drove her head backward into his chin.
Silas fired.
The bullet struck Julian’s gun hand.
Mara fired at Julian’s accomplice.