The Chase Read Free

replied with a smooth, absolutely perfect British accent. “John Steed, Sotheby’s International Realty, London office, at your service. I have some very motivated clients overseas who are eager to purchase vacation homes in Malibu. So I obviously needed to turn the lights on and dress the house.”
    Jessup eyed Nick suspiciously. “You haven’t sold it, have you?”
    “Not yet.”
    “Not ever,” Jessup said.
    “You’re no fun,” Nick said, dropping the accent.
    “I just let you rob a bank and go on a high-speed chase through downtown Los Angeles in a police car, which reminds me—” Jessup held his hand out to Nick, palm up. “Have you got something for me?”
    Nick reached into his pocket and dropped a thumb drive into Jessup’s hand. “Here are all the dirty photos and videos that Fred Bose was using to blackmail regulators to get his company’s flawed but wildly profitable medications approved. I don’t think Fred will be declaring this thumb drive among the items missing from his safety deposit box.”
    Jessup put the drive into his coat pocket. “What happened to everything else you stole from the bank vault?”
    Nick placed the servings of sole onto plates and spooned on lemon caper sauce. “I left them in the squad car. Even the uncut conflict diamonds.”
    “What was Bose doing with those?” Jessup asked.
    “Not him,” Nick said. “You might want to check out whoever kept safety deposit box number 7210. They have been very naughty.”
    “Those diamonds are untraceable,” Kate said. “I’m surprised you didn’t keep them.”
    Nick smiled at her. “I’m on the side of the angels now.”
    “And thanks to your effort in downtown L.A. today, nobody will ever suspect it,” Jessup said. “Or question that Kate is absolutely committed to catching you. It was a win-win all around. I just wish you hadn’t caused so much property and vehicle damage.”
    “We had to make it exciting for the viewers at home,” Nick said. “Or they might have switched to
Judge Judy
instead.”
    “TV ratings weren’t one of my concerns,” Jessup said.
    His biggest concern was that Nick would get caught, and it would be revealed that the FBI had sprung him from jail and was using him to help nail major crooks, even as he’d become one of the Bureau’s Ten Most Wanted criminals. Kate’s job was to be Nick’s handler and protector while, at the same time, leading the FBI’s manhunt for him. Only Jessup and Deputy Director Fletcher Bolton, who picked their targets and ran the secret slush fund that financed Nick’s swindles, knew the truth. And if any of it ever became public, they’d all end up in prison.
    They took their plates of Dover sole and went to the table. Nick brought the fruit, cheese, and deviled eggs, and Kate took the white wine from the stoneware cooler.
    Jessup helped himself to iced tea, selected an egg with caviar, and slid a file across the table to Kate. “This is for you. It’s the details on your next assignment.”
    Kate poured a glass of wine for herself and one for Nick. “Who are we going after this time?”
    “No one,” Jessup said. He glanced at Nick. “We want you to break into the Smithsonian.”
    “Always a pleasure,” Nick said.
    Kate raised an eyebrow at Nick. “You’ve done it before?”
    Nick shrugged. “Nobody goes to D.C. without visiting the Smithsonian.”
    “Most people go when it’s open.”
    “I don’t like crowds.”
    Jessup took a sip of his iced tea. “In 1860, British and French forces sacked the Old Summer Palace outside of Beijing andpillaged the twelve bronze animal heads from a century-old Zodiac fountain in the Imperial Gardens. Each of those Qing Dynasty heads is worth about twenty million dollars. The Chinese are determined to retrieve all of them.”
    “We have the rooster in this country,” Nick said. “It’s been on display in the Smithsonian for over a hundred years.”
    “I’m surprised you know about it,” Jessup