Bound To Love by Sally Clements Page B

clenched into fists, and the muscles in his jaw twitched as his diminutive mother strode to the lift, her two captors trailing in her wake. True to form, she looked defiant, even after three days not knowing if her only child was alive or dead. Not long now, Maman.
    Jake’s tone was much harsher than intended. ‘What are they saying?’ Being relegated to the sidelines was killing him.
    ‘Here, I’ll set you up with a headset.’ Michael plugged a spare set into the outlet as Smith pushed a chair over to him.
    On the monitor, the small figure of Vivienne Delon entered the empty space that held the Egyptian exhibition.
    ‘Why is there no-one else there?’ Jake asked.
    ‘Too early, the museum doesn’t open for two hours and her staff doesn’t get in for another half an hour,’ Smith explained.
    Michael jabbed at a monitor.
    ‘She’s accessing the alarm system.’ Vivienne’s iris filled the screen. Around it were six segmented panels. ‘She can signal us by looking into different segments.’
    Jake bit down his response. He knew better than anyone how the system worked. When he developed it he’d never dreamed he’d be on this side of the screen, watching his mother’s eyes for hidden messages. Her iris stayed steady, focused straight ahead.
    ‘But she won’t,’ Jake said.
    Silently, he counted to ten. The green light clicked on, the alarm was off.
    Vivienne had never liked Paul, even when they were children. She had questioned Jake carefully at Christmas after Paul joined them for dinner.
    ‘He’s very ambitious,’ she’d said. ‘Quite hard, sometimes.’
    Jake had brushed off her concerns. Dismissed them out of hand. Now, he could only watch from a distance as she unlocked the case holding the Rameses Bracelets, unable to extricate Vivienne from a hell of his own making.
    ‘So that’s your business partner?’ Smith asked.
    ‘Paul Grey, yes that’s him.’ Acid bit at his gut. His lying partner.
    Paul whispered into his mother’s ear.
    ‘Audio?’
    Michael shook his head. ‘He spoke too quietly, we couldn’t pick it up.’
    Vivienne unlocked the cabinet and opened the glass top wide. Light poured through the window, and a shaft of light illuminated the gold surface of one of the Rameses bracelets as she handed it to Paul before reaching for its twin. Paul bowed to Vivienne, taking her hand in his and kissing it.
    Jake’s blood boiled as Paul touched his mother. ‘Bastard.’
    ‘Happy bastard.’ Smith added. He glanced at Jake’s impassive face. ‘That’s a good sign, Jake. It means he thinks he’s got away with it.’
    Jake nodded. The knowledge didn’t lessen his anger any, though. The second man loaded the gold into a black briefcase. They disappeared from view and the fading tone of the tracking device echoed in the van. Everything was going according to plan. At long last, Vivienne was alone. She slumped on a nearby chair, head in her hands.
    The shout from the earphones was almost deafening, ‘He’s out of the museum. Go!’
    Suddenly his mother was surrounded by three armed men, dressed in black.
    ‘Those are our guys,’ Smith explained.
    The door was yanked open from the outside. Jake wrenched the earphones off and ran towards the elevator. His legs burned and his breath rasped from his lungs. The heavy metal doors parted just as he got there, and his mother stood in front of him.
    She was safe.
    Casting off his shackles of worry and despair, Jake pulled her close, reassuring her in French that it was over, all over.

 
    Chapter Seven
     
    Jake put down his umpteenth cup of cold coffee on the scarred wooden desk and glanced sideways at his mother. After over an hour, the enthusiastic young detective showed no signs of flagging, but there were dark shadows under his mother’s eyes, and her shoulders drooped with fatigue as she patiently answered questions.
    ‘That’s enough for now.’ He rose to his feet and frowned at her interrogator. ‘My mother is tired, and we’re