The trio bundled up, then checked on the girls one last time before they left the building. The first thing Charles did was rebuild the dying fire in the main room of the command center.

“Myra, I don’t know if I should feel special right now or if I should feel dismayed that you and I are the only two at this orientation,” Annie grumbled. “So much can be lost when we translate for the girls.”

“Not to worry, Annie. I think the two of us are articulate enough to make it happen where the girls are concerned. If not, oh, well,” Myra said, throwing her hands in the air in a devil-may-care gesture. “And, may I say you are looking particularly…sparkly this evening, Annie. Did something happen I don’t know about?”

“Whatever in the world are you talking about, Myra Rutledge? What could have happened up here on this damn mountain that you wouldn’t know about?”

Annie’s face was so pink, and she was so flustered, Myra knew she was onto something. “You have a point, dear, but you do look…uh…guilty.”

“I do, do I?”

“Yes, dear, you do.” Myra did her best not to laugh at her friend’s discomfort.

Annie was saved from having to make whatever comment she could have come up with when Charles took a seat at the round table. Three stacks of folders had mysteriously appeared while Annie and Myra were talking.

“So, Charles, who is the mysterious guest who is to arrive in the morning? What happens if the cable car is frozen? Then what do we do?” Myra asked.

“We’ll deice it and spray some hydraulic oil. Our guest is Tobias Tyson, also known as Tee or, as his…uh…colleagues like to call him, MF. For Magic Fingers. Mr. Tyson is a…safe-cracker. Top of his field. Two stretches in the federal pen for his expertise. He very graciously agreed to my invitation to join us here and to teach one of you the tricks of his trade.”

“Which one of us? Whose safe are we going to crack?” the two women asked at the same time.

“That’s up to Mr. Tyson. But to answer your question, it will be Baron Bell’s safe that you are going to crack. My intel tells me the safe is like the man himself, or the self he portrays to the public—benevolent and old-fashioned. I have here many articles and pictures of the man, and the safe is always prominently displayed for some reason. It is an antique and weighs several tons. Impossible to steal, but not impossible to crack.”

“Tell us what you’ve learned from your people and the files Maggie brought to the mountain,” Myra said.