The Fourth Ruby

  “Raven ditched me as soon as you went in,” puffed Gwen.

  “Yeah. I know.” The Phantom’s last taunt was still ringing in Jack’s ear. Turnabout’s fair play, innit? He had heard that before, at the Thieves’ Guild. “She’s with the Phantom,” he said between breaths. “Had us pegged the moment we floated into the guild. I’ll bet she wanted us to see her going into the guild master’s boat, just so we’d believe she was working for him.”

  Guards began pouring out from the main gate of the Kremlin, and the few policemen in the square ran to meet them—all except for one, who stood between the two teens and the scooters, scratching his head as he spoke to a little girl in a flouncy green skirt.

  Jack swept up his sister as he and Gwen ran past, shouting, “What an imagination, huh?” But he doubted the cop heard him over Sadie’s “Wheeeeee!”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  ZZZAP.

  The Phantom and Raven materialized directly between the scooters and the fleeing kids, knocking the nearest bike over with the blast wave of their arrival. The Phantom revved up the remaining scooter while Raven hopped on behind, and the two spun around in a cloud of smoke and sped away.

  “We have to stop him,” grunted Jack, righting the fallen scooter. The three piled on, with Gwen shoving helmets down on everyone’s heads. But Jack’s launch was not nearly so dramatic as the Phantom’s. It was more of a slow toe-walk through a 180-degree turn and a lurching, wobbly acceleration out of the square.

  “Car!” shouted Gwen as soon as they hit the street. “Lamppost!”

  Jack jerked the handlebars to avoid the streetlamp and fishtailed back into the center of the road. “Thanks, but I’ve got this.”

  “Really? How many times have you driven a scooter before?”

  He didn’t answer.

  Police vehicles flew down the other side, lights flashing and sirens blaring, all heading for the Kremlin. They didn’t seem to care about a couple of scooters racing through the city. The Phantom leaned left and right, dodging the traffic and widening the gap. “They’re not even wearing helmets,” Gwen complained, apparently adding that nugget to the thieves’ growing list of offenses.

  Jack would have turned to give her a sarcastic look, but taking his eyes off the road meant certain death. “Why are they bothering to drive at all? Can’t they just jump away?”

  As if he had heard the question, the Phantom looked back and gave him a three-fingered Boy Scout salute, his other two gripping the stopwatch.

  Zzzap.

  Zzzap Zzzap Zzzap.

  The thieves leaped forward through the traffic, blowing out car windows and streetlamps with the blast waves of their jumps, until Jack couldn’t see them anymore. He stared after them.

  “Car!”

  A horn blared. Jack steered back into his own lane, heart pounding. Once he recovered his balance and his composure, he let the scooter coast to the curb. “They did that for our benefit.”

  “They were toying with us,” added Gwen.

  “Yeah,” agreed Sadie in a muffled voice. “But if we’re done chasing them, can you guys stop squishing me?”

  Jack lowered the kickstand and stepped off. “Sorry. These things weren’t really built for three.” He narrowed his eyes at his sister, who looked like a fairy mushroom in her oversize helmet and brightly colored skirt. “Why on earth were you talking to that policeman?”

  “You said to find one if you didn’t come out.”

  “In thirty minutes. We were in there like fifteen . . . twenty at the most.”

  Sadie held up a bare wrist, twisting it back and forth. “If you want that kind of accuracy, leave me a watch next time.”

  “Hey. Focus.” Gwen unbuckled her chinstrap. “What about Tanner? Where did he go?”

  “I think he had his own escape plan,” said Jack. “He was wearing ankle thrusters.”

  “What do you mean ‘ankle thrusters’?” Gwen dropped the helmet to her hip. “Tanner can’t even walk.”

  “Yes he can. Tanner’s legs work fine.”

  “Get. Out.” She punched him in the arm.

  “You were right, okay? Tanner’s behind the whole thing. He set me up.” Jack shoved his hands into his pockets. “Twice. All for a few shiny jewels.”

  “The jewels.” Gwen punched him again. “The Phantom wasn’t carrying the jewels.”

  Jack stepped back out of her reach, rubbing his arm and frowning. “Yes he was. Tanner took the big ruby, but the Phantom stuffed a bunch of diamonds into his coat.”

  “Not those jewels. Britain’s jewels. The Phantom stole a sword, a scepter, and a crown, Jack. A bag big enough to carry that lot would be obvious.”

  Gwen was onto something. Jack could see it. She paced beside the scooter. “He wouldn’t carry a bag that big into the Kremlin. That would be an unnecessary risk. And he wouldn’t leave the Crown Jewels at the Thieves’ Guild. No way. He’d want to keep them close.”

  “You mean he hid them somewhere in Moscow,” offered Sadie.

  “Exactly. They weren’t just toying with us. That chase had another purpose.” She raised her eyebrows, giving him her now-you-fill-in-the-rest-because-it’s-all-so-obvious look.

  Jack had no clue. He spread his hands. “Just spill it, will you?”

  “With all that famous loot, our thieves only have one sure means of getting out of Russia—the hyperloop.” She pointed back toward Red Square. “And it’s that way. They were leading us away from it so—”

  Jack finally understood. “So they’d have plenty of time to recover the stashed jewels before we figured it out.”

  “But we have figured it out,” said Sadie, looking from one to the other.

  Gwen nodded. “Yes we have.” She threw on her helmet, heading for the scooter. “And that means we can head them off at the pass.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  JACK SPED ALONGSIDE the canal, within sight of the bridge and the hyperloop station. He had gone out of his way to bypass the police in Red Square, and it had cost him. The Phantom and Raven zapped into view in a blast of snow at the water’s edge, right next to the station door. Raven immediately hopped off to unstrap a long, hardened case from the scooter’s rack.

  “The jewels,” said Gwen.

  “I see ’em.” Jack turned at the bridge, back tire slipping out behind him. He skidded to a stop at the apex and jumped off. “Raven! Stop!” He went for the dart gun in his satchel, but his fingers found nothing but cold air and denim. He looked down in confusion.

  Jack had no satchel.

  The memory of handing it over to Raven on the roof of Vladimir Hall flashed in his mind. He kicked the base of the bridge’s stone railing.

  “Lookin’ for this?” Raven pointed Jack’s own dart gun at him. “You didn’t think I’d let ya keep it, didja? Not after you shot at me.”

  “Oh, well done,” muttered Gwen.

  Jack pushed her behind him, and Sadie behind her. “Don’t go with him, Raven. You may be a thief, but you’re not like the Phantom.”

  At the mention of his title, the Phantom tossed back his hood. “The Phantom? Is that what you been callin’ me? I told you. It’s the Ghost.”

  “An’ I told you, ghosts are pathetic.” Raven lowered the dart gun and faced the other thief, puffing herself up. “Ghosts are sad, lingerin’ creatures. Leftovers. Phantoms are dynamic and terrifyin’.” She threw her hands in the air. “Oh my days, Arthur, one’s painted right over your bed, innit?”

  “Yes it is, Imogene. An’ I ain’t got a wink o’ sleep since you painted it there, have I?”

  “Arthur?” asked Gwen, peeking out from behind Jack.

  “Imogene?” asked Sadie, peeking out from behind Gwen on the other side.

  The-Phantom-slash-Ghost-slash-Arthur abandoned his argument with Raven-slash-Imogene and offered a short bow. “At your service, yeah? Spector an’ Spector, soon to be the most famous thieves in all the world.”

  “Yes, but Arthur and Imogene?” asked Gwen, push
ing Sadie out of sight again.

  Raven shrugged. “Our dad was as British as they come.”

  “Hey!” Jack slapped both hands down on the rail of the bridge, sharply enough to make Raven raise the dart gun again. He took a deep breath and forced some of the tension in his voice down a notch. “I get it. You’re a brother-sister cat burglar team. Cute. Whatever. How does the professor fit in?”

  “Tanner?” Arthur snorted—in exactly the way his sister always snorted, Jack noted with annoyance. “Whole thing was his idea, yeah? We use the device he gave us to get in an’ out o’ Spookville an’ the Kremlin.” He lifted the long case, holding it up for Jack to see. “An’ we get to keep everythin’ but them two big rubies.”

  “The rubies.” Gwen stomped her foot. “I knew it. I knew this was about those rubies.”

  Jack glanced back to shoot her a frown.

  “Sorry,” she whispered, but as soon as he turned back around, she added, “But I did.”

  Jack rolled his eyes and leaned against the rail. “Is he down there now? Is Tanner down in the hyperloop, waiting for you?”

  “Not likely.” Arthur tilted his head in the direction of Red Square. “Before we hit the Kremlin, your professor made me pop in an’ unlock a door in that cupcake cathedral. I think he planned to have a look inside after we was done fetchin’ the jewels. You might still find him there”—he grinned—“assumin’ the cops don’t nab ya first.”

  To emphasize Arthur’s point, a siren wailed in the distance. Raven pulled her brother toward the hyperloop stairwell and opened the door. “I’m afraid it’s time we leave you, Jack. I’d say holdin’ the bag, ’cept we’re takin’ it with us, ain’t we?”

  While the thief gloated, Jack felt a cold metal ball pressed into his hand, out of sight below the stone rail.

  “She didn’t get everything,” whispered Gwen.

  He remembered. Gwen had pulled an electrosphere from his satchel right before Raven took off to have her fake fall and give away their position to her brother. Jack raised his other hand and shouted, “Wait, Imogene!”

  The thief extended the dart gun. “Raven. It’s Raven, yeah?”

  “Yeah. Sure. Raven. Um . . . we had some fun, right? You and me?”

  She snorted. “I guess.”

  “I mean we had a sort of connection, you know?”

  Arthur’s face went flat. “You what?”

  Gwen elbowed him hard. “Whatcha doing, Jack?” she whispered through her teeth. “You were supposed to shock her, not hit on her.”

  “I’ll only get one shot at this,” he whispered back. “Gimme a minute.”

  “Awright.” Raven shifted her feet, looking off to the side, cheeks turning a little redder than the cold had already made them. “Maybe we did, yeah? So what. If you think I’m gonna hand over the jewels because I gave you a wink and a smile, you got another’un comin’.”

  “Um . . . no. Nothing like that. But I thought you might want to take something to remember me by. Besides the jewels, of course. And the gun.” Jack winced. “And all my candy.” He couldn’t believe the baloney coming out of his mouth. He doubted Raven would either.

  Then again, she was a thief. And thieves are greedy.

  “Fine. Sure. What ya got?”

  Without risking another word, Jack tossed the electrosphere, letting the chain zip from its housing. He watched the copper ball sail across the canal, almost in slow motion. Raven caught it with one hand and went totally rigid.

  “Imogene?” Arthur dropped the case into the snow at his feet, catching his sister as she collapsed. He went rigid as well, and the two stunned thieves toppled backward down the stairs into the black.

  “It worked,” said Jack, starting to run. He raced across the bridge with Gwen and Sadie at his heels, raising his voice in triumph. “It actually wor—”

  A flash lit the doorway, registering as a light crackle in the odd merger of Jack’s senses. That was all the cue he needed. He whipped his body around, tackling Gwen and Sadie to the ground as the blast wave hit the bridge. Flames poured over the rail. For a full second there was nothing but heat and the black roar of the fire. Then the cold returned, and with it, utter silence.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  JACK JUMPED TO HIS FEET and ran for the stairs. “Raven!” Black smoke poured from a gaping hole where the hyperloop door used to be. Charred, paper-wrapped toffees littered the snow. “I killed her.” He skidded in the snow as he rounded the corner at the top of the steps. “I killed them both.”

  “Jack, don’t.” Gwen was right behind him. “It’s too dangerous. The pressure gates could—”

  A long, whining screech drowned out the rest of her warning, ending in a soul-sucking pop.

  A roar filled Jack’s ears. The air was sucked from his lungs, and the snow around him rushed away, mixing with the smoke to form a whirlwind that tried to suck him into the hole left by the explosion. His feet slipped out from under him. He started sliding toward the vortex.

  “Oh no you don’t.” Gwen had him by the collar, leaning back into the steps, boots wedged into the stones on either side.

  A string of alarms went off as cars parked along the canal tilted in sequence, asphalt caving beneath them. In the distance, a four-story apartment building dropped about a foot into its foundation, sending up a cloud of snow and dust. The whole section of the hyperloop had collapsed.

  A lingering buzz filled Jack’s ears. “What have I done?” he mumbled, starting down the stairs again, slower this time.

  Gwen followed him down, leaning on the iron rail beside the steps to steady herself. “You couldn’t have caused that explosion, Jack. Not with an electrosphere. The hyperloop uses pressure and electricity. There’s no fuel down there—nothing that could have made a fireball like that.”

  Jack touched the stones at the edge of the hole in the canal wall, rubbing the soot between his thumb and forefinger. “You’re saying . . .”

  “Tanner rigged it with a bomb. He murdered Raven and her brother.”

  “But why? Why would he do that?” The buzzing wouldn’t go away. Maybe it was the shock of seeing Raven and her brother killed, rather than a lingering echo of the explosion. Yes. They were thieves. But they hadn’t deserved to die. Just like those soldiers who hadn’t fired a shot even when one of their own was killed hadn’t deserved to get mowed down by cannon fire.

  “He didn’t need them anymore,” offered Gwen. “He got what he wanted.”

  Jack turned away from the empty black of the hole to look her in the eye. “The rubies.”

  She nodded. “And without Raven and the Phantom, we have no proof that he took them. Tanner never set foot in the Ministry of Secrets. And there are no witnesses or video that can place him at the Kremlin, thanks to the Phantom’s device.” She let out a rueful chuckle. “We can’t even turn in the remaining jewels. They’re buried under ten feet of rubble and crumpled steel.”

  “I don’t think so.” Sadie had come down the steps behind them and was crouched down beside the misshapen remains of the hyperloop door. She pointed to the shadows underneath.

  Both Jack and Gwen tilted their heads to look. There, trapped under the door, was the hardened case full of jewels.

  It took a good bit of grunting and heaving to move the door, but they soon slid it off into the icy water. Gwen popped the catches, and all three sucked in their breath as she lifted the lid. The largest of the gems each had their own custom pockets cut into the gray foam liner—two big sapphires and two huge diamonds. Next to these were several square compartments filled to the brim with smaller jewels of all shapes and colors. There must have been thousands of them, sparkling in the white light of Moscow’s winter sun.

  Sadie lifted a gold ingot, one of several. “But what are these?”

  “All that’s left of Britain’s Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign’s Scepter,” Gwen replied, recovering the ingot from the little girl. She sighed as she set it back in its place. “The thief must have me
lted them down. Wouldn’t be the first time. The Cromwellians did the same in 1649. The good news is that crowns can be remade. The jewels are the main thing.”

  The only item of the regalia that had survived intact was the gold-and-silver Sword of State, lying in its own cutout below the ingots. Arthur had probably meant to keep the famous weapon for himself.

  Lights flashed in the distance. Gwen slapped the case closed and secured the catches. “We need to move,” she said, hoisting it up and shaking it at Jack. “We’ve got enough here to clear our names at home, but I don’t think the Russians will be so forgiving. We have to get out of Moscow if we don’t want to end up in a gulag. And I think I know a way.”

  They took the scooter they had left on the bridge, with Jack driving and Gwen directing him toward some mysterious mode of transportation that she swore would get them safely out of Russia. He slowed to a stop as Saint Basil’s came into view.

  “Keep going,” said Gwen. “I’ll tell you where to turn.”

  “We can’t leave yet.”

  “Jack, whatever Tanner’s up to, the ministry can handle it. They’ll call in a twelve to hunt him down.”

  “And how long will that take?” he asked, turning in his seat. “The twelves are dispersed all over the world, and Tanner’s already got a head start. Gwen, we may be the only ones who can stop him.”

  Zzzap.

  Jack’s eyes jerked from Gwen to the canal, now a good distance behind them. He couldn’t have heard what he thought he heard. Both Spector siblings had been immobilized by the electrosphere, unable to use the stopwatch device to escape. And no one could have survived that blast. Maybe the sound was just a pang from his guilty conscience. Maybe he’d be hearing it for years to come. Still, he had to ask. “Did you two hear that?”

  “No.” Sadie answered his question quickly, as if she knew exactly what he was referring to.

  Gwen squinted at him. “Hear what?”

  He turned and cranked the scooter’s engine. “Never mind. Let’s go.”