he who hesitates is toast

By five o'clock, almost everything is ready.

Inga's gone. The security team is gone. The rumors she'd set are chasing around Madripoor like wildfire.

Sarah's gone, too. The only one of the bunch Sharon didn't fire. She tells her not to come in tomorrow, it isn't safe, and Sarah only nods, looking weary and a little sad, and says her goodnights, and then there's only her.

This is the hardest part of the whole plan. With the security team gone, anyone who believes that she orchestrated last night's hit is free and clear to take a pass at her. She can only hope their fear of thwarting the Power Broker and robbing him of his revenge is greater than their desire for their own.

In the meantime, she pulls the pack back out and adds the few things they'd been waiting on: the glass art, the angelfish magnet Bucky had given her. She hasn't eaten anything all day, but she's too nervous and wound-up to have something now.

Instead, she goes down to the gallery and into the vaults to remove the Royal Danish Egg from its locked case, carefully boxing it and putting it into a bag to be loaded into the car along with the pack and the Cézanne.

And then there's nothing to do but wait.