glanced around the storage room. The space was big, at least thirty feet by thirty feet. Long tables were lined up in linear rows and covered in black fabric. Artifacts lay positioned on the tables, and stock cards with printed numbers sat in front of each piece.
She checked her watch. In a few minutes the room would be a flurry of activity, auction house specialists and assistants moving pieces through the adjoining door at her right to the auction room stage. That was why she’d waited to make her move. Chaos was the perfect way to cover her tracks. She had mere moments before her window of opportunity was up, though, and she needed to find it before that happened.
Wasting no time, she wove through tables of Egyptian artifacts and tried not to look at the Late Period jewelry, the Middle Kingdom carvings. Inside, though, her blood warmed as the past surrounded her. And with it, the dread that had been dogging her for longer than she could remember.
She pushed the feeling away and kept searching. Panic rose when she neared the back of the room and still couldn’t find it. On a deep breath she hoped would calm her pulse, she stopped and turned a slow circle. And that was when a sparkle three tables over caught her eye.
Her hand shook as she crossed the floor quickly and reached for the gold statuette of the crouching pharaoh, no more than three inches long, stuck between a chipped stone relief of Queen Tiy and a sphinx statue. The metal was cool to the touch; the gold chain looped through a small hole in the back, soft against her fingers. It was heavier than she remembered, and while it looked solid, Kat knew without even checking that it was actually hollow.
After all this time, it was here. Just like she’d hoped. He hadn’t sold it after all.
With quick fingers she unbuttoned her jacket and took the forgery out of the small front pack she’d attached to her waist. She refused to think about why he was selling the relic now. Refused to acknowledge that whatever sentimental value it might have once had for him was now gone.
Sentimental value? Yeah, right.
Okay, so there was still a little twinge in her heart when she thought of him, but her brain was working these days. And there was no way she’d ever make the same mistakes she’d made back then.
Thank goodness for baggy jackets and guards who didn’t pat you down. She said a quick prayer of thanks to St. Jude and Sister Mary Francis, the woman who’d taught her all about hopeless causes, and slipped the artifact into the pouch. After repositioning the forgery on the black drape of fabric, she rebuttoned her jacket, then headed for the exit.
The knob on the door rattled, stopping her feet two steps from freedom. A muffled, angry female voice drifted through the metal, followed by the jangle of keys.
Kat’s heart rate jacked up.
They’d figured out she was a fake. Jim-the-Sentry must have called someone when her signature didn’t match those on file. It was only a matter of time until they barged in and cuffed her, before her cover was blown and the pendant…
She darted a look to her left, spotted the door to the stage and knew it was her only option.
“Come on, come on, come on,” she muttered as she punched in the access code on the keypad and prayed it was the right one. If her source was wrong, she was toast.
The light flashed red twice before finally clicking green. The door gave with a pop just as the exterior door to the hall burst open. Kat squeezed through the small opening, turned and shut the metal door with her shoulder without pausing to see who came barreling into the room she’d just exited. She saw a heavy table to her right and muscled it against the door.
Breathing hard from the exertion, she paused to scan the area. The back of the stage was dark, but voices and music from the party were much louder here. A velvet curtain hung between her and the festivities. She considered her options. She knew from studying the blueprints if she turned left it would take her to the kitchen. To her right she’d have access to the offices and the elaborate hallway system that ran through the building. Her best option if she wanted to disappear.
“There’s no one in here,” a male voice said from inside