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"No" Eddie was starting toward the kitchen "No," he said again, once Kat had caught up to hi to act noran ht that, for one of the world’s greatest bluffers, it was a shame for him to have such an obvious tell

"You’re the only one who can do it, Uncle Eddie"

"No, Katarina," he said "No man alive can do it"

"We have to try It doesn’t have to be the full Anastasia, just enough to delay a few days All we need to do is keep Garrett too busy to prove that the Hales have a fake, and appease his buyer We do that and then--"

"It cannot be done" It was rifter telling all who could hear that the Anastasia was dead

"Yes, it can be You can do it"

"I could have," he ado and I were ten years younger But the Anastasia is not an easy thing, Katarina It is a dead con"

"So no one will be expecting it"

"I’ainst the counter The pots shook All Kat could think was that she had never heard her uncle yell before Not at her Not in that room He was the sort of man for whom a whisper carried far more force than a shout

Then he took a deep breath and steadied his nerves "With science--DNA--it cannot succeed"

"We don’t need it to succeed We just need it to buy us a little tih time to rob the Superior Bank of Manhattan"

Kat kneas right, but she didn’t dare say so "So we’ll buy enough time to find some other way You can do this, Uncle Eddie" She eased closer, placed her hand on top of his "Please"

"You are a s I think this ti with your head," Eddie told her "Someday you will know that the heart is not always as wise as it is strong"

"Uncle Eddie…" Kat’s voice broke She was too busy thinking about the files in Garrett’s office, wondering just how many secrets had once lain inside the one labeled Scooter, and her hands began to tre she’d just stolen Hale back She didn’t want to lose hiain

"Uncle Eddie," Hale said froaze to the boy, looked at hier A threat Kat wondered how her life would have turned out if she’d left that fateful night two years before with a painting and not a boy

"You still owe me for my "

"Ten percent," Hale told hiive you ten percent of Hale Industries if you do this"

"Hale…" Kat said, dumbfounded

"Okay," Hale countered before Eddie had even said a word "Fifteen"

"You think I don’t want to do this because there’s nothing in it for reatest thief in the world And without you--in a month--Hale Industries will be half as valuable as it is today, so that’s why I’ive you twenty percent of a billion-dollar corporation for a week’s worth of work"

Kat stood quietly, honestly not sure ould happen next Hale sounded like hi there, a raw, aching thread, and Kat knew that if she pulled it, his whole world ht unravel

"Please, Uncle Eddie" She pleaded with the only man who could fix it all, watched him sink carefully into a chair Heto break, and Kat half expected to hear a creak as he placed his elbows on the table

"Your e ht be a few more years before history repeated itself"

Kat rolled her eyes at the es ago," she reminded him; but her uncle just shook his head

"I’ve known reat-niece’s friend A boyfriend, on the other hand…that is a most different matter"

"Yes, sir," Hale said He stood up a little straighter, spoke a little louder

"You have a powerful family, boy"

"Yes, sir," Hale said "Please don’t hold theave a wry s about them?"

Chapter 28

The abandoned lab they rented was somewhere in New Jersey Gabrielle drove while Kat’s s she had to do So when they finally walked through the ht was that they ht carit-covered s A thick layer of dust covered everything: crates and shelves and long rows of tarp-covered equipment

But then there were the voices Kat followed theo until she could see Marcus in the center of a wide e He had a ruler in his hand, and when he stopped, he looked at Eddie, who sat in the center of the space on an old office chair

"The Hale raduated frolared at Hale "And I believe that is all Hale men but one"

"Correct," Marcus said, and kept on pacing "As a child, Reginald had three nannies, all named…"

"Beatrice," Eddie said

"But he called thee