Sealed in the Vault – Part 2: Who Opened the Door

The woman with the torch was called Vesna, and she had the calm, friendly smile of someone who always got what she came for.

"I like you, Nora," she said, descending the last steps with her hands in the pockets of a long black coat. "Oskar talks about you when he's drunk. I've been hoping to meet the woman who taught him to pick a lock."

"He taught me," said Nora, not moving.

"Then you're both very talented," said Vesna. "And I'm very curious what you'll do now."

The crate sat on the marble floor behind her, its lid already prised open. Inside, the uncut stones glittered in the torchlight like frozen rain.

Oskar's voice came through the earpiece, flat and urgent. "Nora. Look at her left hand."

Nora looked. Vesna had a thin silver ring on one finger, engraved with a small bird. Nora had seen that ring once before, on the hand of the man who had sold them the Prague job.

"You work for Halbert," Nora said.

"I work for whoever pays best this week," said Vesna. "Halbert will be very happy when he hears the vault is empty. Unless you'd like to offer me a better deal."

"Like what?"

"Half the stones," said Vesna. "And a clean getaway with Oskar. He'll know the route."

Nora laughed, sharp and disbelieving. "You want my partner?"

"I want what he's worth," said Vesna, quite seriously. "He's the only one who ever got away from me in Prague."

There was a long silence on the radio. Nora could hear Oskar breathing.

"Oskar," she said quietly. "Did you ever tell her where you hid the money?"

"No," he said. "But I'll tell you the truth, Nora, now that it counts. I didn't run from Prague with the money. I ran because Halbert had a gun to my head and told me to take you down with me, and I couldn't do it."

Nora's throat tightened. The vault was cold, but her skin burned.

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because I'm standing on the third floor, looking at the stairs, and I'm not coming down unless you say so," Oskar said. "Green or yellow, Nora. You decide."

She looked at Vesna, who was watching her with a patient, almost fond expression, as if Nora were a difficult card she already knew how to play.

"Green," Nora said aloud, to the empty corridor. "Come down, Oskar. Let's see what she's really offering."

Footsteps sounded on the stairs, unhurried, familiar. Vesna's smile widened.

Then the lights went out.

Somewhere in the pitch-black vault, a voice whispered her name, and it was not Oskar's.