Page 55 of Conning the Billionaire
Micah nodded and seemed to contemplate the doorway. “You can’t make it to Mass today. You will need to go to his office tomorrow, and you’ll need to very carefully take stock of everything in his office, from where the Annunciation is hanging to their computer system and any security you see.”
“What, you’re not going to walk in there with me and scam him?”
Micah smiled. “Gathering information is first.”
Yeah, Kylie needed some damn information.
She asked, “So who you going to sell the stolen di Credi to?”
Micah’s sly smile was funny, especially when he flicked his dark gold eyebrows upward like he was proud of himself. “The Sovereign Prince of Monaco.”
“Who?” Kylie asked.
Micah frowned like she’d said something wrong. “Monaco. The prince who is a like a king there,” Micah said, starting to frown. “We’re going to sell it to Prince Maxence of Monaco.”
“That doesn’t even sound like a real country. Isn’t that in Africa, something about rockin’ the Kasbah?”
“That’s Morocco, but Morocco is a Mediterranean country, too. So, you’re close. A friend who lives in Monaco says that people confuse the two all the time.”
“But it has a king,” she said.
“A prince, but he’s like a king.”
“You know this is the twenty-first century, right? Countries don’t have kings or king-like princes anymore.”
“And yet there are royal families. England has one. The Netherlands. Norway. Thailand. Bhutan. Lesotho. And Morocco, oddly enough.”
“Yeah, but they’re all just tarted-up robber barons who got rich on colonialism and think they’re still hot crap.” Kylie was doing her GED World History homework.
Micah laughed out loud. “Don’t tell certain friends of mine, but for many of them, you’re right. Except for the Prince of Monaco, who actually rules his country, still. But it’s the richest country in the world, so he’s doing a pretty good job of it.”
“Yeah, ‘kay. And you’re going to swindle him?”
“No, he’s going to buy the painting from us.”
Kylie still felt like she was missing something. The whole plan seemed like it was full of flaws. “Yeah, okay, buddy.”
16
CHECK IN
MICAH
Micah retrieved a cellular phone from his suit jacket’s inner pocket after sneaking it from the hotel room’s safe while Kylie was still asleep in the bedroom.
After Kylie had nearly walked out on him and Micah had repaired the damage, he’d send her off to make a pot of coffee in the suite’s kitchen while he ostensibly showered.
The showerhead was indeed blasting hot water inside the glass enclosure. Clouds of steam billowed through the bathroom, hanging in diaphanous waves near the ceiling like half-forgotten dreams.
Like Micah, the phone in his hand was not everything it seemed. The cheap black plastic case and scratched screen belied some of the world’s most advanced and current technology in counterespionage. The device had been aged to look like nothing special but had been constructed less than a month before.
Yeah, Micah probably wasn’t weathering the years very well, either.
He dialed the phone and held it against his cheek.
A man’s voice spoke in a British accent near Micah’s ear. “Good afternoon, and it’s about time.”
Micah was a week late checking in. “Can you talk?”
