A Beautiful Heist Read Online Free PDF

shouldn’t have been there. If I’d just done the job for her, she’d still be here today. I had the power to get her ring back. And I didn’t do it.”
    “Yes,” Templeton said, his voice softening. “It was awful. I know. But, Cat, you need to forgive yourself. Or you’ll never be happy.”
    I sat for a moment, staring up at the vaulted ceiling. Maybe I didn’t really deserve to be happy.
    “Listen, love, I know what might help. I’ve got a little tidbit I’ve been dying to tell you.” He sounded mildly breathless. “I really shouldn’t . . . . but, naturally, I’m going to.”
    I turned slightly and glimpsed his flushed, open expression and gleeful smile.
    “AB&T is considering you for the Elite level of their jewel department,” he said.
    My eyes widened.
    “That means, my dear, that you’d be getting a premium commission for all your jobs. And some perks. A car, an expense account. A penthouse.”
    I whispered, “Are you serious?” I licked my lips, in spite of myself, and my breathing quickened.
    “Dead serious,” he said. “And I haven’t even told you the best bit yet.”
    “What?” A gym membership? Contribution to my pension? I shouldn’t have been feeling so excited. But I couldn’t help it.
    He paused for dramatic effect. “International assignments.”
    “Get out !” I expressed my shock, here, at an apparently unsuitable volume, judging from the heads that snapped in my direction. A woman in the front of the nave—who possessed the pinched face of a constipated goat—speared me with a very nasty glare.
    I smiled weakly, apologetically.
    International assignments. It was the dream of every thief. Why bother mucking about with small potatoes in the Pacific Northwest when you could be jetting off to New York, Hong Kong, Marrakech to pull off much more glamorous heists?
    “Don’t get too excited, Cat. You haven’t got it yet,” Templeton said in a low voice. “They’re going to be watching you carefully over the next couple of jobs you do for us, and then confirming their decision.”
    It was odd that he told me not to get excited. Sensible, sure, but that had never been a particularly strong feature of Templeton’s personality. Was he worried about whether I could pull this off? Naturally, as my handler, if I received a promotion, he would, too. He had a lot riding on my performance.
    “So what do I have to do?”
    “Just keep doing your job,” he said. His voice carried the hint of a warning. “No mistakes. And stay out of trouble. I’ll keep you posted.”
    I decided to ignore Templeton’s peculiar mixed messages and focus on the positives. This was incredible. In my mind I saw the Hall of Honors at headquarters: the wall of plaques, each etched with an Elite thief’s name. Okay, well the thief’s name in the code we used at AB&T, of course, but the effect was the same. And no photographs. We tried to avoid that sort of thing.
    The most recent inductee to Elite status was a thief named Ethan Jones, from the art department. I remember feeling terribly jealous. Mine would be the first female name up there.
    I felt a warm billow of pride at that. And then I frowned. Why was I getting so feverish over this? I thought I wanted out. I thought once I had made amends for Penny I was going to go straight. Wasn’t that the deal I’d made with myself?
    “One other thing,” Templeton said. There was a sudden wisp of smoke in the air as a side door opened and a row of candles was snuffed. “There’s been a new FBI agent assigned to the jewel theft desk in the Seattle office.”
    “Oh?” My jaw clenched. New agents are trouble. Always trying to assert themselves, striving to impress the boss—just the sort of thing that made my job more difficult. But I shrugged. I didn’t want Templeton to worry about my confidence. An Elite thief wouldn’t worry.
    “She’s young and zealous. Name of Nicole Johnson,” Templeton said.
    The name didn’t sound familiar, nothing