Free The Chase by Janet Evanovich, Lee Goldberg Page A

aren’t any alarms in there,” Nick said.
    “Probably?”
    “I’m ninety-eight percent sure.”
    “It’s where all his treasures are hidden. Why wouldn’t the room be protected with all of his security measures?”
    “Because to get there, a thief would have to get past his fence, his armed guards, his vicious dogs, infrared beams, heat sensors, pressure pads, motion detectors, surveillance cameras, and whatever else he’s got in the house. I’m sure Carter doesn’t think that’s possible. But even if someone could surmount those obstacles, he’s got the wall, his secret doorway to the secret room, under constant surveillance. So why go the extra step of rigging the secret room itself with security measures?”
    “To protect all of his stolen treasures.”
    Nick shook his head. “That’d be overkill.”
    “Have you seen his house? It’s a monument to overkill.”
    “There won’t be any security in the secret room. Think of it as a vault. How many vaults have you seen that also have alarms inside? Everybody thinks the big door, and everything outside of it, is enough protection.”
    “But you know it’s not,” Kate said. “And so does he.”
    Nick shook his head. “I don’t think so. He’s arrogant. He’s got too much confidence in himself and his men.”
    “You’re still guessing,” Kate said.
    “It’s an educated guess.”
    “What if you’re wrong?”
    “We’ll need a distraction.”
    “What do you have in mind?”
    “Your dad,” Nick said. “What’s Jake got with him?”
    “A handheld rocket launcher.”
    “You have a very overprotective father,” Nick said. “When you were a teenager, how did he greet your dates? With a flamethrower?”
    “With a foot-long combat machete, just like the one he gave me on my twelfth birthday.”
    “Every girl should have one,” Nick said.
    “Dad’s on a fishing boat in front of Carter’s estate. If we get into trouble, all I have to do is press the button on the tiny transmitter in my pocket and he’ll destroy the dome on top of Carter’s house. Is that enough of a distraction for you?”
    “Maybe we can work out something a little more subtle.”

Nick, Kate, and Joe met in Boyd’s suite at the Regal later that afternoon to discuss the plan.
    “Carter Grove has graciously turned off his alarm system and invited us into his house, saving us the trouble of breaking in,” Nick said. “While he gives Boyd and the film crew the grand tour, Kate and I will sneak into the home theater, open the hidden door, and steal the bronze rooster from the secret room. We’ll stash the rooster in a carrying case for a piece of the lighting equipment and take it out with us when the filming is done.”
    “The alarm system will be turned off, but what about the security cameras?” Boyd asked. “You said there were cameras all over the place. How are you going to get around the cameras?”
    “That’s what Joe is here for,” Nick said. “Yesterday, he set up shop in a construction trailer in an empty lot next door to Carter’s house. The trailer is located beside the utility boxes for the neighborhood’s electric, cable, and telephone services. He tapped intothose lines and breached Carter’s security system. While we were picking you up at the airport and bringing you here, Joe supervised the crew that was setting up the movie lights in Carter’s house.”
    “I don’t know anything about lighting,” Joe said, “but I made sure there were some tall light stands placed throughout the house at the same height and angle as Carter’s security cameras. I hid tiny cameras of my own on the stands and filmed the empty rooms. When Kate and Nick slip into the theater, I’m going to replace the video feed from Carter’s surveillance cameras with a continuous loop of the footage I shot of the empty room.”
    “Very clever,” Boyd said.
    “And that’s not the only reason we have our own cameras everywhere,” Nick said. “Joe is going to be our