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My next two upcoming books, and the first chapter of one of them.

 

Nicholas Bishop (AKA Simon Lee Book) 

They Call Her Ella (The Grimly Family book 1)

Chapter 1 of Nicholas Bishop

Fun fact about Christmas parties: seven out of ten people don’t want to be there. And the three people who do are either there because they’re off their rocker, or they’re there for the eggnog (most likely spiked). Unfortunately for Lee, he was in the seventy percent. But he wasn’t given much of a choice whether or not he came to this party; it was one of the many things he had to do for his job. Even if he didn’t like it.

If only one of the other ‘retrievers’ could have come instead, Lee thought, sighing as he looked around the room again. The place was loud, packed with people, and smelled of cinnamon and pine. All in all, it was overwhelming his senses, and he really wished he didn’t have to be there.

“As crazy as it might sound,” Lee mumbled into his coms as he pretended to put food into his mouth, “I’m getting sick of counting people and fake eating all these cookies. Someone’s going to start thinking I’m a real pig.”

“You poor baby!” Digit said, not sounding at all sincere. “Would you rather have them think you’re crazy and talking to yourself? Or maybe instead, you could just focus on the job instead of talking all the time? That would be helpful.”

“You know what? I might very well remember that tone of yours when you ask for your cut,” Lee whispered, knocking the crystallized sprinkles off his cookie as he scooted it around his plate. “All you’re doing is sitting behind a screen, watching me work. Maybe I should just give you half of what everyone else is getting.”

“Alright you two,” Isabelle said, sighing, and Lee could see her shaking her head out of the corner of his eye. “Phantom, the office is clear. So why don’t you get to work? You can finish those cookies, and your argument, later.”

“Finally!” Lee said, barely keeping himself from throwing up his hands and yelling ‘hallelujah!’. He had started to wonder if Elroy was ever going to leave his little office to join the rest of the party. If he hadn’t, it would have made this whole evening a waste of time. “I’m going to head up. Izzy, watch my six.”

“Alright, but be careful,” Isabelle said, and the glittering green dress Lee saw out of the corner of his eye shifted around. “I can only do so much from here, and it might be strange if we both disappear. It might draw attention to you.”

Smirking, Lee placed the hand that wasn’t holding his plate against his heart, knowing she could see him from where she stood. “Izzy, I didn’t know you worried so much about my safety.”

She sighed. “I don’t, Phantom,” she said, and Lee heard the clink of her mug of ‘eggnog’. “But when you come back down here and leave, you’d better be carrying a very valuable piece of art, and I’d hate for anything to happen to it.”

“Yeah,” Digit cut in. “And do I need to remind you again, that it’s a very delicate piece of art too? You’d better not break it.”  

“Oh!” Lee said. “So you’re worried about the item, not me? I’m seriously hurt, guys.” With that, he grew serious again and scanned the room around him. “Don’t worry, nothing’s going to happen to the item while it’s with me. This isn’t my first-time ‘Decking the Halls’.”

With that, Lee straightened out his sweater, tossed his plate and cookies into the trash, and moved toward the hallway. 

Halfway down the hall, he brushed past the racks of coats and snatched up the duffle bag he’d dumped there earlier. Without pausing, he headed toward the stairs next to the front door running parallel to the hall.

Grabbing the railing, he pivoted around and did a 180 before heading up the stairs. “What’s the latest on those cameras, Digit?” Lee asked, hurrying up the stairs as fast as he could without drawing attention to himself.

“Cameras are down…” Digit said, hesitating a second as he clicked away on his computer. “Now! You’re good to go, Phantom.”

“Great!” Lee said, picking up his pace once he was out of sight of the guests downstairs. Once he reached the top of the stairs, Lee slipped around the corner and down the hall towards Elroy’s office.

He’d memorized the layout of the mansion so well, he knew he could have done it with his eyes closed. 

Making sure no one was around, Lee moved to stand in front of the office door. He looked down at the lock and grinned. “You’d think he could afford better locks than this one, especially with how rich the Allards are.”

“That’s a Kwikset Grade 1 security lock,” Digit said. “I bet you can’t even make it through that door in less than five minutes.”

“Oh?” Lee said, reaching into his jacket for what he needed (a blank key with a sharp end and a piece of wire). “You’re on, little man.” With that, he inserted the key and went to work. Then, in less time than it would take someone to sing a chorus of ‘Jingle Bells’, Lee was through the door.

“There, told you,” Lee said, pushing the door open. “They might be safe against hacking, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go at it the old fashioned way.”

“Showoff,” Digit grumbled. “But you’re not going to win our other bet, Phantom. I can tell you that much. I know people better than you do.”

Lee chuckled and shook his head. “We’ll see about that, won’t we?”

After checking to make sure no one was watching him, Lee slid through the door and quietly closed it behind him. Then he turned his back to the door and looked around him.

“Oh, man!” Lee said, stepping deeper into the office. “This guy really likes Christmas. Doesn’t he, Izzy?”  he asked, twisting around to see all of it. Though all the lights kind of hurt his eyes to look at.

“Focus on the job, Phantom,” Isabelle ordered him, in her overly adult and sensible voice, which Lee hated. She didn’t even know how young he really was, yet she always used her ‘mother’ voice on him.

“Yeah, as much as I hate to say it, she’s right,” Digit chimed in. “Besides, your body cam’s starting to make me sick. So, unless you want me to throw up all over my tech, you might stop spinning and focus on the job.” 

How could he focus? There was literally a Christmas tree everywhere he turned, covered in bright flashing lights and glittery glass.

 “Fine…” Lee said, carefully running his finger over one of the ornaments. “But I still think a reindeer might have thrown-up its gingerbread cookies in here.”

“Wow!” Digit said. “Thank you so much for that mental picture when I told you you were already making me sick.”

“You’re welcome,” Lee said, grinning as he started his search for the item he was there for. 

Even though a violin wasn’t a very small item, Lee had a bad feeling it was going to take him a while to wade through all these nicknacks (Christmas and non-Christmas) that Elroy had in his office before he would be able to find it.

Sure, it would probably be in a safe, but said safe could be hidden behind any number of these trees, just waiting for him to break one of their ornaments and draw attention to his presence there, and he wasn’t talking about gifts.

Lee was just reaching to move one of the items on the bookshelf in front of him when a frantic ‘yelp’ sounded in his com. “Someone’s coming!” Digit cried, tearing through Lee’s thoughts like a hyper kid through wrapping paper.

“What?!” Lee said, freezing where he stood as he glanced around. “I thought you said it was clear? Izzy, isn’t that what you guys said?”

“It was,” Digit answered for her. “But now it’s not. There are two men headed in your direction, and I’d say you have about thirty seconds until they’re on top of you.”

Growling, Lee quickly looked around him again, this time for a hiding place, instead of a priceless violin.

If they were outside the door, then the only other escape was through the window, but Lee wasn’t going to go that way. He had a job to do, and he was going to finish it. He never left a job half done. 

That would be unprofessional and would look bad on his rap sheet. If anyone ever actually learned he’d been there. 

That’s when he spotted another wood bookshelf with a cabinet behind Elroy’s desk. Lee licked his lips and moved towards it, skirting a tree as he did so, barely missing having the tinsel stick to his sweater.

“Phantom, what are you doing?”Isabelle asked. “Get out of there! You’re running out of time; they’re almost there. If you don’t go for the window now…”

“Izzy, you know I’m not going to leave without that violin,” Lee said, grabbing the doors built into the bookshelf and opening the cabinet. “So why waste time saying it?” he added, squatting down.

Luckily for him, the target wasn’t one of those people who hid their junk in anything that had a door. He seemed to enjoy showing it off, so the cabinet was practically empty. So, taking in a deep breath, he squatted down even more and climbed into the cabinet.

Once inside, he reached back out and grabbed the cabinet doors, pulling them closed just as the office door opened and two men stepped through it. 

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