Hailey was close enough behind him to reach out and touch his hand. It was a small motion, almost nothing, but Nick felt it all the way through his body.

They started forward again, moving around the lip of the dome. Another handful of yards and they would be directly above the small courtyard where the bell was held. The way down would be trickier than the way up. There was no scaffolding on the front of the building, but there were a couple of low balconies that would make the climb possible. The last ten feet would involve gravity and a hard landing. The only real problem would be the exposure—even coming over the top from behind the building would mean they would have to get to the bell in full view of the troopers patrolling the main grounds; but Nick’s plan had taken that into account as well. Or more accurately, he had borrowed a bit of strategy from Hailey and her card counting—distraction and misdirection. If things went according to plan, they would get to that bell unnoticed.

After that—Nick would leave the rest to Hailey. It was still hard to imagine what they were on the verge of discovering, but Hailey had gotten them this far already. Nick glanced back at her again, marveling at how confident she looked as she edged along after him, framed like a silhouette against the gray sky—

There was a sudden flash of motion behind her, and Nick froze, his feet coming to a stop against the slanted tiles. Hailey saw the fear in his face and whirled in time to see the angled, thin man in the tailored suit lunge over the railing they had just climbed. He landed on his feet a few yards in front of Hailey, his narrow frame casting an even narrower shadow up the curve of the golden dome to his left.

“Thought I might find you here,” he said. “It appears that Professor Jensen’s quick thinking—and extensive library—saved us both a trip down the coast to Philadelphia. You’ve done some amazing work, friends. But I think I’ll take it from here.”

And then he was moving forward, his body light above the tiles. The man didn’t have a gun drawn, but he didn’t look like he needed one.

Nick started to move as well, but Hailey was between them, and the man was close, too close. Hailey looked stunned, but then Nick saw that one of her hands had moved into her backpack—and then everything happened at once.