Around three in the morning...
According to what Alvin had read in books, this was the best time for sneaking around and stealing things.
Everyone who should be asleep—and everyone who shouldn't—ought to be exhausted by now.
Standing in the living room, Alvin opened a Space Gate just wide enough for one person, leading to a corner of the Moscow Central Bank vault.
According to Yelena, it was a blind spot in the vault's surveillance coverage.
Alvin quickly slipped through and pressed himself against the wall. Once Yelena had squeezed through after him, he promptly closed the Space Gate.
Watching Yelena stand close beside him, he took a telescoping rod connected to a signal jammer from his waist. She was trying to use technology to block the surveillance feed inside the vault.
Alvin gave her a disdainful shake of his head. "Could you stand a little farther away from me?"
Yelena gripped the pencil-thin telescoping rod with both hands, struggling to keep it from wobbling too much.
Faced with Alvin's scorn, Yelena—who was on tiptoe and still couldn't quite reach—said unhappily, "Couldn't you give me a boost?
Do you think it'll make you look better if we get caught on camera?"
Alvin glanced sideways at the not especially tall Yelena and sneered. "The 'Black Widow' recruitment standards can't be very high!
How tall are you, 160? 165?
Don't you have any kind of minimum height requirement?"
Yelena glared back at Alvin...
Compared with Alvin, who stood over six feet three, Yelena did look rather petite.
But her figure was perfectly proportioned. She had a curvy build, but not an ounce of her looked bulky. She was fuller where she should be, and nowhere she shouldn't.
The only thing that bothered Yelena was that Alvin kept glancing at her legs.
She