Heartbeats

Chapter 9

      Before my first time in New York, I thought everyone was exaggerating. I had seen my share of the world, my parents taking me wherever they went. By the time I was twelve, I had travelled to the tip of South America, parts of Africa, and travelled through most of Europe. I hadn´t cared much for all the talk about skyscrapers- why would I? I had seen many tall buildings throughout my life, surely these wouldn´t be so different. So the first time I crossed Brooklyn Bridge, I was more excited about finally getting to the hotel than sight seeing.

      I didn´t look up until the sun was suddenly cut out. The buildings towered over us, and even pressed to the window, I could only see a small sliver of the bright sky. The sight astounded me, and that was when I fell in love with New York.

      During the next five years, New York had become a constant for me. We had bought a nice apartment that had become one of our main safe houses. We discovered the city was perfect for us. So much stuff was happening, with so many people, and in so many places, that it was great for our job. Here you didn´t steal trinkets, you went for the big leagues, at least a couple of a hundred thousands.

      The van fit snuggly into the building´s underground parking lot, and we hauled the important stuff with us to the elevator. Our apartment occupied the whole seventh floor of a thirty-floor building. It had easy access to the fire escape, had double paned windows (the first being bulletproof), four bedrooms, and a small gym. Previously, the floor had been divided into two, but after paying an obscene amount of money to the tenant, we had taken the wall down.

      I frowned as we waited for the incredibly slow elevator took us up. We would probably have to move. Only four other people even knew about the safe house, and it was incredibly disturbing that someone had broken in. Had it been a random robbery? Or were they looking for something specifically? That made it even more alarming. Had someone leaked the apartment´s location?

      The elevator dinged open, and we stepped to the small room with only two doors, one that no longer opened. I took out the key and unlocked the door, stepping inside. I lingered on the doorway, Cam and Reach squishing around me and stepping inside, Cam hurrying to the bathroom. I crouched down until I was eye level with the doorknob. I scrutinized the keyhole, noticing the scratches that Laurel had mentioned. Somebody had picked the lock, and though it wasn´t an entirely amateur work, it was far from professional.

      Frowning, I stood back up, closed the door, and headed towards the small living room, from where I heard voices. Reach was sitting next to a petite redhead in one of the sofas. He was grinning from ear to ear, and he barely glanced at me when I entered. I shook my head; knowing Reach had harbored a crush on her for years, and by the looks of it, it hadn´t dissipated.

      Laurel followed his brief glance until she saw me. She immediately smiled, her green eyes sparking. She got up and approached me. “Gin!”

      “Hey.” I said, as she hugged me. Though I wasn´t especially tall, I did have at least a head on Laurel, and I could clearly see Reach blatantly checking her out as she squeezed me.

      “How have you been?” I asked as she sat back next to Reach. I remained standing and leaned on the doorway. Though this apartment had long been a safe haven, I felt utterly uncomfortable now. Somebody had trespassed our personal space, and the apartment now felt alien.

      Laurel shrugged. “So far, so good. Business has been good lately.”

      Laurel was one of the best fences in New York, and that was saying something. This city was filled with all types of criminals, and fences were one of the most common. No one knew how Laurel had come to be a fence, much less one so good and young. Since the day she had approached us, happy to buy one of the paintings we had stolen, she had become the only fence we approached in the city, and after a while, our relationship had developed into a good friendship.