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Thanks for returning to another chapter of this story! I think that I'm finally back into the swing of things after the arrival of my second baby boy, so I'll hopefully be posting a chapter once a week – possibly more, if there's high demand. Thursdays and Fridays are usually the best days for me to post, but Saturdays are certainly not ruled out, if my week is particularly crazy. Feel free to hold me accountable.

Thank you so much to all of you that have read, reviewed, private messaged, favorited, and followed. I appreciate each show of support for the story and for me. Also, this is the sixth chapter of part two, so voting on the gender of Steve and Allie's baby is officially closed. I should probably tell you the results, but… I have to have something to surprise you with! Don't hate me – you won't have to wait until the very end.

Happy Reading!

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Chapter Six: False Alarm

Allie

I had been expecting the knock, otherwise the loud rapping would have startled me. With a sigh of resignation that this was my life for the moment, I set my banana nut muffin aside and moved for the door. On the other side stood Medici, accompanied by one of his guards, whom he told to wait just outside the door. The guard hesitated as if I were a serial killer rather than a former con artist, but he obeyed his boss.

"You have something for me?" The excitement was evident in Nicolas' voice as he closed the door behind himself.

Deciding to throw his ever-important manners into his face, I gestured to the table. "Good morning, Nicolas. Would you care for a muffin? I had them delivered from that bakery on the corner."

The flash of irritation in his eyes told me that he knew exactly what I was doing, but he donned his manners like armor and gave me a polite smile. "No, thank you. I've already had breakfast. You asked me to come?"

"I did. Please, sit." I took my own seat and watched him take the one across from me. "I have the beginnings of a plan."

The excitement returned. "The beginning of a plan is better than no plan at all. I'm eager to hear it."

"I realized my problem with the planning thus far," I said as I slowly peeled away the last of the paper from my muffin. "Looking at a blueprint is nothing compared to seeing the security system in action."

His dark brows furrowed together. "I'm not following."

For such a smart businessman, he had a hard time putting things together sometimes. "I'll never know how to beat the security system if I can't see it."

"We don't have anyone on the inside that can-"

I cut him off. "We don't need someone on the inside. I just need someone to trip the system."

"On purpose," he clarified.

"We used to do it all of the time when we were dealing with a complex system," I told him. "Use someone to trip the system and then watch what happens. That tells you more about a location's security than anything else will."

"Who do you suggest we send in to trip the system, then?" he asked me. "It obviously can't be you. I'm assuming that they detain whoever it is for proper questioning."

I nodded. That was what I expected would happen. "But if it was an accident, they won't hold them for long. Maybe one of your guys can do it."

He was loathe to get one of his men arrested, but he wanted the music box very, very badly. "Yes. I can get one of them to do it. When would you like this done?"

"Today." At his look of surprise, I shrugged innocently. "You want the music box as soon as possible, don't you? This will allow me to formulate a plan."

Resolved, he nodded and stood. "I will ask for volunteers. What should I have them do?"

"Tripping and falling into a display should do. I'm planning to go to the museum at one. Anytime after that is fine. I'll have a camera rolling the whole time."

"I will let you know once he is inside," he told me with a nod and then moved for the door. "I look forward to moving forward with a plan." And then he was gone.

With a sigh, I returned my attention to the muffin in front of me, reduced to crumbles at my nervous hands. It had been so long since I'd pulled any kind of heist and though I believed that the training never truly left you, I knew that it could become rusty from misuse. That's what had happened to Adam Hall in Egypt…

No negativity today, I warned myself and went to get a fork. You don't have to trip the alarm. You just have to be there and film everything. That wouldn't be too challenging, thanks to the jacket camera I'd had Medici get me. Whoever his tech guy was, he was pretty good. Not as good as the tech guys that I knew, but passable.

Passable enough that he would be able to tell if I had communicated with Steve, whether that be by e-mail, chat, or text message. So, no matter how badly I wanted to talk to my fiancé, I restrained myself. Trent's life was at stake.

It grew closer and closer to time to go, so I reluctantly pulled my hair up into a high ponytail so that no strands would block the camera at the base of the hood. I dressed in jeans and a plain white tee, and then slipped the thin black jacket over it before pulling on a pair of sneakers to round out the outfit. I kept makeup minimal, as I wanted to fly under the radar. I'd been going to the museum quite a bit, so I always tried to appear as unrecognizable as possible.

The museum was only a short walk from the hotel, as both were in the richest part of the city of Paris. It held the best bakeries, the best cafes, the best museums, and the best hotels. If the circumstances were different, I was sure that I would have loved spending time there. It would have been a lovely vacation.

But the circumstances were not different, and I hated everything about it.

I paid the museum entrance fee with the card that Medici had given me to cover expenses and then I wandered in, looking around at all of the art. My cover was that I was an exchange student studying art, and to keep that cover I had already visited several other art museums in the area. But there was something different about the Kingsley Museum… a superiority. I wasn't sure whether it was the displays or the elegance of the building itself, but I knew that it was probably my favorite museum in the world.

Too bad I would never be able to return to it after I robbed it. Too risky.

Time marched steadily onward and I snuck the occasional glance at my cell phone, having forgotten my watch back at the hotel. Pregnancy brain was not a con's best friend, by any stretch of the imagination. Just as I was thinking that it should be getting close to time, I received a text message from Medici.

He'll trip the alarms in the west wing. Ten minutes.

That didn't give me a lot of time, but I responded well under pressure. Breaking away from a small group of college kids that I'd been hiding near, I headed down the nearest hallway. It would take me as close to the archives as I could get. That's what I needed to film, as the music box was supposedly stashed in the archives.

How are you going to find the box once you're even in the archives? The logical side of my brain wondered. There has to be at least a thousand items in there. And the music box isn't even a logged item; your mother just stashed it there. How long are you going to need?

"One step at a time," I muttered to myself and checked my phone as I twisted down another hallway. The archives were close, but this was as far as I could go without arousing suspicion. I made it a point to look around as though I were terribly lost.

One more minute…

Just then, a security guard came from the break room that was, unfortunately, right next to the secured double doors that led to the archives.

Think fast, I could hear my Uncle Edward bark at me and suddenly, I felt as though I were six years old again, on my first heist with him. That time, I'd distracted the guard by falling and pretending to be hurt.

This time, I approached the guard with a confused expression. "Excuse me? Do you speak English?"

He was startled to find someone so close to the archives, but relaxed when he saw that it was only a woman. Fool. "Yes," he said in heavily accented English. "I speak English. This is a highly restricted area."

"I'm so sorry," I apologized. "I got separated from the group that I was with and I seem to have gotten turned around. How do I get back into the main part of the museum?"

"I'll walk with you," he told me, and gestured for me to follow him.

Perfect. When reviewing the footage later, no one would suspect the woman that asked a security guard for help. Criminals stayed away from security.

Before I could follow, the alarms began to sound and I covered my ears. They were loud and piercing – enough to startle the guard into looking around. That gave me enough time to point the camera at the doors to the archives. I would have to watch the footage later to find out if anything else happened. I saw bars, but red lights were flashing and making it impossible to see if there were any extra features.

"Come with me!" the guard shouted over the noise and beckoned for me to follow him.

With any luck, he would escort me away from the archives and right out of the museum.

I nodded and followed him closely. Medici's man had done his job well and, with any luck, I would be a step closer to forming a plan to rob the Kingsley Museum.

Steve

"Uh… guys?" The tech guy – Roger, maybe? – spoke up from the corner, where he'd been monitoring something on his laptop. "The alarms at the Kingsley Museum just went off."

When I saw Kol's face pale, I grew panicked. "Is it Allie?"

"I'm not hearing anything yet," Roger said and put his headphones on. "The police are responding."

"Let's go," Allie's dad said, and I followed without hesitation. Her father and Edward sat in the front of the car, and Kol and Max climbed into the backseat with me. We were off in a flash, heading for the Kingsley Museum.

"It's only a few minutes away from here," Kol assured me when he saw how tightly wound I was. "We'll see what's going on."

But I knew that he was picturing the worst scenario, much like I was. What if Allie had tried to break in, ended up tripping an alarm, and was now facing years in prison? Maybe she had been the best once upon a time, but she hadn't pulled a heist in years. What if that was her downfall?

"Pull up here," Edward said, and Allie's father obediently pulled up along the curve and parked, leaving the car running.

I was about to ask where the museum was, but then I saw it because police cars were stopping in front of it and officers were running inside.

"Call Roger," Edward told Kol, and I was only vaguely aware that I had been right about his name. "See what he's hearing."

With my heart thudding in my chest, I watched as more officers arrived and stayed outside of the building, forming some kind of perimeter. At the doors, more officers and museum security guards were slowly letting people out of the museum after they'd checked them.

"Roger," Kol said into his phone. "Are you hearing anything?"

There was a pause.

"He's linked to their system," Kol said and listened. "The museum reported… a man tripped the alarm when he fell into a display."

A man. Not Allie, then.

Relief flooded through me, until I heard Edward say, "Allie's partner, perhaps?"

Kol spoke again before I could ask any questions. "Right now, they have no reason to believe that anything is amiss. It looks like a genuine accident. They're taking the man down to the station, though, just to be on the safe side."

"Ask him to look at the footage to see if Allie was inside," Max requested, and Kol passed that along.

"It's going to take him a while to look through all of that footage," Allie's father pointed out. "It's almost two in the afternoon and the museum opens at nine. Should we stick around and see if we can spot her coming out?"

"Yes," everyone else in the car responded at the same time.

"He's looking," Kol added.

Edward pointed to a spot that had opened up down the street. "Move down there. It has a better eyeline to the door of the museum."

"What if she's wearing a disguise?" Max asked as the car pulled away from the curb.

I hoped that she wasn't. To be able to get a glimpse of her would do a lot to lighten my heart. To know that she was okay…

"Look sharp," Edward told us as the car settled against the curb in its new spot. "I'm going to get out and walk around a bit." As he spoke, he reached into the bag at his feet and pulled out a hat and some glasses.

"I could come, too," I offered.

"We don't know if Medici is watching cameras, Steve," Kol told me. "Better that we let Edward go alone."

Edward exited the car and headed down the street, walking with purpose.

"Should we even be out here if they're watching the security cameras?" I asked. I wanted to see Allie more than anything, but if it would get her into trouble…

"The windows are tinted enough that we won't be recognized. Now, we should all be watching for Allie," Max said, not looking away from the window.

He was right. I turned my attention to the people exiting the museum, slowly moving through the lines manned by police officers and security guards. They were patted down, and then allowed to leave. Clearly, the museum was being shut down for the day.

"Hold on a second…" Kol was suddenly leaning up against my shoulder, peering out the window. "I think… I think I see her."

"Where?" My heart was racing like it had just been jump started and I found myself practically in Max's lap to try to see out the window, which he was none too thrilled about. But I didn't care; I just needed to see her.

Kol pointed. "Skinny jeans, black jacket. Her hair is up in a ponytail. Look, she's moving past the guard right in the middle."

I followed the line of his finger and then I saw her, walking steadily away from all of the chaos like it didn't affect her at all.

"No!" Max was pushing me back and I was startled, not having realized that I was trying to get out of the car and go to her. "Kol!"

From behind me, Kol grabbed my arm. "Steve, you can't!"

"I have to see her!" The desperation that I heard in my own voice was potent and raw. "Just for a second!"

But then I heard the click and looked down to see that Kol had handcuffed my wrist to his own. When I glared at him, he shrugged innocently. "Oops."

"Give me the key," I growled.

"Can't. Left it at the house."

Of course he did. Otherwise, I felt like I could have beaten it out of him. "Kol, come on."

"I want to see her, too. Believe me. But if Medici is having this area watched like I suspect he is, then we can't risk it. Trent might die, and Allie would never forgive herself or us. I'm sorry." And I could see that he truly was, but that didn't make it any better.

I turned my attention back to Allie, who was now almost directly across the street from us, her ponytail blowing in the breeze. She kept her head down, determined to get to where she was going. I prayed for her to look over at me, but she didn't. Instead, she moved right past the car and kept walking until she had disappeared around the corner.

I sighed as I faced forward again, determined not to cry. With a shake of my arm, I said, "Seriously, Kol, you can unlock these now."

He gave me a sheepish smile. "Seriously, I left the key at the house." At my annoyed look, he defended himself. "What?! I figured that if I had it, you'd beat me up to get it and get to Allie. Actually, I figured that you'd try to find the key even if I told you that I didn't have it. Better safe than sorry."

"And now we're locked together." The only person I would be more annoyed at being cuffed to was Danny. Thank goodness Danny wasn't here. "Wonderful."

"Not for long," he reminded me. "We're about to go back. Right, Dad?"

Allie's father had been remarkably quiet up front and I looked at him, noting the expressionless mask that he wore. "Yes. As soon as Edward returns to us."

Almost as if someone had paged him, Edward opened the door and slid into the passenger seat. "I did not see her."

"We did," Max said and filled his uncle in as we headed back towards the house. Edward was, of course, relieved that it hadn't been Allie that had been caught at the museum.

"She will be getting close now," he said as we pulled up to the gate.

"Yes," Allie's father agreed as he typed in the code.

"What do you mean?" I had lost them. It happened frequently when they spoke like their minds were connected.

Kol was the one that explained. "Whenever we came up against a security system that was really hard to crack, we'd set it off."

"So, she already has the box?" My heart soared at the possibility of seeing her again sooner than I'd anticipated.

Kol frowned. "No. Don't interrupt. Anyway, setting the system off enables you to video what happens when the system is triggered. Kind of like…"

"Watching game film," Max supplied with a glance at me. "You're American. You like sports." Not a question.

I ignored him and turned my attention to Kol as the car rolled to a stop inside of the large garage. "So, what now?"

We all climbed out and Kol answered my question. "Now, she'll have to review the footage and form some kind of plan."

"And we," Edward jumped in, "will be keeping a very close eye on the museum. Tell Roger that I want him linked with all of the street cameras in the area to look for any sign of her. When she moves, I want to be ready to back her up as best we can."

Allie's father and Edward went off for a walk, Max wandered off, and Kol gestured for me to follow him into the house. "The key is in my bedroom."

"I still can't believe that you cuffed me," I muttered, but followed him. As if I had much of a choice.

"You weren't exactly listening to reason. I just anticipated that."

He was right, annoyingly. "How long do you think it'll be before she moves on the museum?" Seeing her had been great for my spirit, but not so much so for my patience. I wanted her back now.

"Hard to say. The fact that she had to trip the system means that she's having a hard time coming up with a plan. But now that she has the film…" He shrugged as we reached the second-floor landing. "If it's helpful, she could move within a week. If not, maybe more like three or four."

"A month." That seemed like years.

Kol's smile was sympathetic as he opened the door to his bedroom and led me inside. "We're doing all that we can in the meantime." He grabbed the key off of his bedside table and moved to unlock the cuffs.

"All that we can isn't enough," I said and rubbed my wrists where the cuffs had chafed.

The sadness in his eyes mirrored my own. "I know."