The Judas Relic: An Evangeline Heart Holiday Adventure Read Online Free PDF

laptop to the point of his knees and leaned back. “Wouldn’t really need you if I could’ve figured out that part, don’t ya think?”
    I ignored his sarcasm and leaned closer, letting my gaze roam over the details of the castle. “When do they change shifts?”
    “In rotations every two hours. Never more than two guards going off or coming on at a time.”
    “Shit.”
    “Again … if this was easy, I wouldn’t need you.”
    “Thanks.” It was an offhanded comment, but I meant it. The impossible jobs were what I was good at, and, truthfully, the ones I enjoyed the most … but solving the puzzle of a tough assassination was completely different than this. With those, I merely had to wait for my mark to show me the hole in his habitual schedule. Paintings didn’t move. Paintings didn’t have schedules.
    But security guards did. I just had to find the pattern. “Scroll through again, point out the guards.”
    He did and I memorized the layout, their posts, and calculated in the rotations, looking for the stability and reliability inherent to all humans. It was our biggest flaw, one I exploited at every opportunity—we liked the comfort of habits. “Do they mix up the order of who goes off, or does that stay static?”
    His lips flattened into a line of concentration and he clicked through the schedule, matching it up to the castle’s layout. “This is a new system since acquiring the painting, so they might change it in the future, like every thirty days they restructure, but for now…” He clicked through the blueprint and schedule again, rapidly flipping back and forth. “Right now it looks like the posts rotate at the same time every day.”
    That was something and I needed to let my brain gnaw on it for a bit. I settled back into the sofa. “Let me ask you, how do we pull off this duchess-and-duke scenario?”
    “Made them up.”
    “Oh, swell. I figured that. What’s the deal?”
    “The Jeffries have an older son, about our age, who is currently living in the U.S. Went to school at Harvard and is somewhat considered the scourge of the family. He didn’t do much with himself after college and lives the life of Riley in the big city. However, his mother adores him. You, dear lady, went to school with him. I am an old friend from boarding school, and when I went for a visit to the States, he introduced us. I saved you from having to put on the accent. There’s a file in my briefcase. It’s all on the wonder boy who was so kind to send his mum an e-mail for us and have us placed on the guest list His name is Richard. I suggest you memorize it what’s in the file. I have. I’m not too worried about questions. This will be a full party. The hosts will likely not even notice us.”
    “I probably don’t want to know how you hacked into this Richard’s email.”
    “You’ve seen what I can do with a computer, Lina. That was kindergarten stuff.” He smiled all chagrin.
    “Of course it was. Okay, so anything else?”
    “Yes. We have to get in and out.” He pointed back to the screen and punched in some keys, switching the scene from the inside of the castle where the painting was located to the outside. “This is the service entrance, and before we head in as our royal Merriweather selves, we need to get another car for our getaway. Preferably a catering van of sorts, something that looks like it might belong with the servant quarters. I’ll take care of getting it parked.”
    “I don’t even want to know.” My team always handled details like that for me during jobs , and the less I knew about those details, the better. “Documents?”
    “Taken care of—IDs, disguises, passports.”
    He’d done a good job, and I wasn’t surprised. At least in this area of his life, he was the utmost professional.
    As I stood up and walked to his briefcase, there was a knock at the door.  
    “Just a moment,” Clay yelled out and then lowered his voice. “Wrap a towel around you and look like