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An awed silence filled the rooreatest junior thieves the world would ever know stared at her and uttered, "Smokey the Bear"

"It could work," Si slowly

"It ork," Gabrielle added

Angus even raised his hand, as if Kat were a visiting professor "Yeah, well that still doesn’t explain hoe’re going to carry five paintings out of the most secure museum in the world--"

"Even if they aren’t their paintings," Ha noticed," his brother finished

Kat walked to theShe tried to see out into the night, but the glass had become a mirror in the darkness Kat stared at their reflections, studied theet noticed"

To call it a party would be a mistake It wasn’t a celebration so much as an excuse to blow off stearaph and a collection of ragtime records in the corner of the solarius

Maybe it was the scratchy sound of trulass--maybe they were all a little drunk on the possibility (or perhaps the illusion) that this thing ht actually work But, eventually, Siood Angus challenged Hamish to balance a cricket bat on his chin for two h it all, Kat sat on an old chaise lounge, watching the party Hale sat on the other side of the roo her

"So does he hate everyone, or am I special?" Kat didn’t have to turn She could see Nick standing over her shoulder, reflected in the glass He threw one leg over the chaise lounge and sank onto the cushion beside her She felt suddenly conspicuous, as if there were entirely too much them and too little chair

Hale looked away

"You never did answer my question, you know," Nick said He took a sip from his drink "This afternoon?" He cocked his head in Hale’s direction "How long have you two beentogether?"

Kat pulled her legs under her, farther from him "Oh, a while," she said, and then for reasons Kat would never know, she couldn’t stop herself fro at the memory

There are stories thieves don’t tell--trade secrets,to repeat The story of Kat and Hale was none of those things, and yet it was one she never said aloud; at that moment she wondered why She studied him across the room He smiled back in a way that said, despite the music and distance, so

Haus’s waist as the two of theoed past

"I still vote for Uncle Felix," Ha

"Did the us asked, his cheek pressed against his brother’s

"Uncle Felix hurt his leg?" Kat asked, and Ha ers are faster than they look"

The Bagshaws both seeus told her "It’s a good plan Uncle Eddie couldn’t have done better"

Halass "To Uncle Eddie"

Everyone echoed the toast, except for the boy beside her "Who’s Uncle Eddie?"

Perhaps it was her iination, but Kat could have sworn that the needle on the phonograph skipped For a

While the whole crew stared at Nick, Hale s her to describe the indescribable

"Uncle Eddie isood con starts, with a little bit of the truth

Gabrielle added, "Our uncle"

"Yes, Gabrielle," Kat conceded "Uncle Eddie is our grandfather’s brother He is our great-uncle" She gestured to herself and Gabrielle "The real kind"

"Way to rub it in, Kat," Angus said with only a se tone as he and his brother danced by (Kat wasn’t sure as leading)

"The Bagshaws are sort of like" Kat struggled with the words

"Our grandfather worked with Eddie before he even us explained

"You ever hear of the Dublin Doxy Heist?" Hamish asked, eyes wide "What about the tionna breed all her other dogs with?"

"And then she got the wrong dog back?" his brother finished Nick shook his head

The brothers shrugged as if Nick were utterly beyond saving, and resuo Nick turned to Simon, unfazed "How about you? How do you know this Uncle Eddie?"

Siether "My dad had a sort of cash-flow problem when he was at MIT, and that’s how he met--"