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"You’re picking pockets?" Kat asked once they reached the kitchen

Her uncle stood quietly at the ancient stove that do careful," Kat went on "It’s not like the old days, Uncle Eddie Now every street corner has an ATM, and every ATM has a caht as well have been speaking to a deaf man Uncle Eddie pulled two porcelain bowls fro soup He handed one bowl to Hale and one to Kat and pointed the wooden table surrounded by mismatched chairs Hale sat and ate as if he hadn’t had a decent

"It’s a different world, Uncle Eddie I just don’t want you to get into trouble"

Just then, Hale’s spoon scraped the botto the dismay in his voice as he asked, "Uncle Eddie, why is the seal of the British Royal Faruff, impatient "Because that’s who I hen I stole them"

As Kat held the bowl in her hands, she couldn’t help but realize it was hot--in a lot of ways She couldn’t help but see Uncle Eddie as Hale saw him--not as an old man, but as the old man

"We practice a very old art, Katarina" Her uncle paused long enough to toss Hale’s wallet toward him "It is kept alive not by blood"--another pause as Uncle Eddie dropped Kat’s passport onto the counter next to a loaf of day-old bread-- "but by practice"

The old man turned away froht hoht that at the Colgan School"

Kat’s coat suddenly felt too heavy as she stood there, re that she couldn’t take the heat and that hy she’d gotten out of the kitchen She sat down at the table, knowing that now she was back in

There were a lot of things that could have happened next Uncle Eddie ht home dressed far better than the stray her e to finally ask Uncle Eddie the story behind the fake Reht have ad on her uncle’s cooking But when the back door slammed open, everyone’s attention was on the two boys who hurried in, struggling to restrain the largest, shaggiest dog that Kat had ever seen

"Uncle Eddie, we’re back!" The s’s collar "They were out of Dalot a" He looked up "Hey, Kat’s here! With Hale!" Hahtly shorter and stockier than his older brother, but otherwise, the ruddy English boys could have passed for twins The dog lurched, and Haht you were at"

When he trailed off, Kat told herself it was the heat fro her face red She focused on breathing in the fresh air froht Still, she was relieved to hear Hale ask, "So, Angus, how’s the buus started unbuttoning his pants "Good as new Gerht up You wanna see the scar?"

"No!" Kat said, but what she thought was: They were in Germany?

They did a job in Germany

They did a job without me

She looked at Hale, watched the way he licked his spoon and helped himself to a second bowl of soup, at home in her uncle’s kitchen She looked at her uncle, who hadn’t even sshaw boys, Kat couldn’t yin a bar"

"Hey, you guys want in?" Angus asked, bea Kat fro that even classic cons were beyond her now

"Sorry, Uncle Eddie," the brothers mu the ht without another word Then Uncle Eddie took his place at the head of the table

"You have to ask the question, Katarina, in order for this old man to answer"

The last tiust The air outside had felt like the air in the kitchen was then--sticky and thick At the tiain be so uncomfortable at her uncle’s table Sure, this here her father had planned the De Beers diamond heist when she was three It was the very roohty percent of the world’s caviar when she was seven But nothing had ever felt as crireatest con had worked and she alking away from her family’s kitchen in order to steal an education from one of the best schools in the world

Turns out, that was nothing co, "Uncle Eddie, we need your help" She lowered her eyes, studied a century’s worth of scuffs and scars in the wood beneath her hands "I need your help"

Uncle Eddie walked over to the oven and pulled out a loaf of fresh bread Kat closed her eyes and thought of warm croissants and cobblestone streets "He didn’t do it, Uncle Eddie I flew to Paris and talked to Dad He has an alibi, but"

"Arturo Taccone paid Kat a visit," Hale finished for her

Kat could count on one hand the nuenuinely surprised; this was not one of them She knew it the mo eyes "Your job was to deliver a e"

"Yes, sir," Hale told hiood year for cars, young man"

"Yes, sir"

"Arturo Taccone is not the sort of reat-niece"

"She left in the lanced away then added a quick, "Sir"

It felt, in thatto school was all the excuse anyone had ever needed to start treating Kat like a child "She is sitting right here!" Kat didn’t realize she was yelling until her uncle looked at her in thetime

"I’m here," Kat said in a softer voice

She didn’t say, I can hear you

She didn’t tell hi anywhere