Thieves' Gambit

Informationen zum Autor Kayvion Lewis is a youth services library technician. She's been working with books since she was sixteen, hopping from libraries to bookstores and back again. She spends her free time breaking out of escape rooms, throwing knives, and occasionally jumping out of airplanes. While she often visits her family in The Bahamas, Kayvion lives in Shreveport, Louisiana. Klappentext The Inheritance Games meets Ocean's Eleven in this cinematic heist thriller where a cutthroat competition brings together the world's best thieves, and one thief is playing for the highest stakes of all: her mother's life. With only one winner, the contestants must decide: who to con, and who to trust. Leseprobe Curiously, when plugged into the computer in 2310, the flash drive asked if I wanted to copy the hard drive. I tapped yes, but since this laptop didn't have a c-port, I didn't get to snoop on what I was copying. I spent the loading time digging through the file from the 2410 laptop some more on my phone. I scrolled through links like Clients , Contacts , Numbers , and Master List . I found myself opening the phone number one, and up popped a spreadsheet with a whopping five thousand entries. Only a hundred lines down, I was finding names with addenda like (vice president) and (CEO) behind them. Using the search box, I typed in Quest . My name and cell number, along with Mom's and Auntie's, were there. Thankfully, there wasn't anything like (thief) behind ours. They were incriminatingly italicized, though, so maybe it was implied. I tapped my chin for a few seconds before typing in another number. All of Count's texts about penalty games had made me forcibly memorize it. Lo and behold, there was a result. Aurélie Dubois. So she did have a real name, a very French real name. Interesting. I exported it all into my fam's black box. Surely Count was going to pop up and tell me to stop? She didn't. I deleted the original file from my home screen undetected. With the actual flash drive done loading, I returned the laptop to its safe and got ready to make the jump down to 2210. No lights came on when I dropped the marble again, so after tossing my heels, I bit down on my clutch for a third time and made the last swing onto the balcony. Landing in a crouch, I flipped my braids back. My updo was a mess by now. Ten minutes left on the countdown. This was going to be tight. I scooped up my shoes, about to slip them back on and hightail it out, but the curtain by the balcony door rustled, as if there were a breeze. Only the curtains were behind the glass, and the door was shut. Someone was inside, waiting with the lights off. I had a feeling I knew who it was. I rushed to throw my heels down to the next floor and slip over the railing as the door flew open. Taiyo was like lightning. I unsnapped the weight on my meteor bracelet, but with a twenty-story drop right behind me, I had no space to maneuver. I landed one blow to his jaw before he grabbed my arm, twisted it behind my back, and slammed me to the ground. I kicked against his hold, but he twisted my arm tighter and dug his knee into my back. With my face pressed against the cold concrete, I did my best to glare up at him. Payback for scratching your specs? You wouldn't, like, let me Venmo you the difference and forget about all this, would you? He might have smiled, but it was gone before I could be sure. Don't worry about it. I think this makes us even. Taiyo's actually pretty petty, who'd have guessed. Noelia's silver heels halted a few inches from my face. I strained to look up at her. She fished the flash drive out of my clutch. How did you know I'd be in here? I asked. Tailing me this whole time? No need. I know you better than you think. Eight years later, and you'r...

Auteur
Kayvion Lewis is a youth services library technician. She’s been working with books since she was sixteen, hopping from libraries to bookstores and back again. She spends her free time breaking out of escape rooms, throwing knives, and occasionally jumping out of airplanes. While she often visits her family in The Bahamas, Kayvion lives in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Résumé
The Inheritance Games meets Ocean’s Eleven in this cinematic heist thriller where a cutthroat competition brings together the world’s best thieves and one thief is playing for the highest stakes of all: her parents’ lives.

At only seventeen years old, Ross Quest is already a master thief, especially adept at escape plans. But escaping her family business—grand larceny—to attend college like a regular teen proves more difficult. Her future plans take an unexpected turn when she’s invited to participate in the Thieves Gambit—a high-stakes competition where winner takes all. Ross isn’t interested until a botched robbery aboard a yacht leaves her parents lives hanging in the balance. When no one else can help, the prize for winning the Gambit—a wish for anything in the world—becomes the only thing Ross has her sights set on.

Thrust back into the very world she was trying to abandon, Ross must find a way to outsmart the other players in a series of dangerous heists where killing the competition isn’t exactly off limits. But when she learns two of her competitors include her childhood nemesis and a smooth-talking, good-looking boy who might also want to steal Ross’s heart, winning the Gambit becomes trickier than she imagined.

Ross tries her best to stick to the family creed: trust no one whose last name isn’t Quest, but this isn’t a competition that Ross can win alone. Trusting the wrong person could mean the difference between her parents living or dying. In a race against time, Ross takes the biggest risk of all to win: trusting her own heart.

Échantillon de lecture
Curiously, when plugged into the computer in 2310, the flash drive asked if I wanted to copy the hard drive. I tapped yes, but since this laptop didn t have a c-port, I didn t get to snoop on what I was copying. I spent the loading time digging through the file from the 2410 laptop some more on my phone.

I scrolled through links like Clients, Contacts, Numbers, and Master List. I found myself opening the phone number one, and up popped a spreadsheet with a whopping five thousand entries. Only a hundred lines down, I was finding names with addenda like (vice president) and (CEO) behind them. Using the search box, I typed in Quest. My name and cell number, along with Mom s and Auntie s, were there. Thankfully, there wasn t anything like (thief) behind ours. They were incriminatingly italicized, though, so maybe it was implied.

I tapped my chin for a few seconds before typing in another number. All of Count s texts about penalty games had made me forcibly memorize it. Lo and behold, there was a result. Aurélie Dubois.

So she did have a real name, a very French real name. Interesting.

I exported it all into my fam s black box. Surely Count was going to pop up and tell me to stop?

She didn t. I deleted the original file from my home screen undetected.

With the actual flash drive done loading, I returned the laptop to its safe and got ready to make the jump down to 2210. No lights came on when I dropped the marble again, so after tossing my heels, I bit down on my clutch for a third time and made the last swing onto the balcony.

Landing in a crouch, I flipped my braids back. My updo was a mess by now. Ten minutes left on the countdown. This was going to be tight.

I scooped up my shoes, about to slip them back on and hightail it out, but the curtain by the balcony door rustled, as if there were a breeze.

Only the curtains were behind the glass, and the door was shut. Someone was inside, waiting with the lights off. I had a feeling I knew who it was.

I rushed to throw my heels down to the next floor…