Chapter One
Matt
I went over the plan one final time to make sure everyone knew what they were doing. Raleigh was smiling broadly, anticipating the job to come. I often wondered if she stuck with us for the money or just for the thrill.
"I'm ready," she said excitedly.
"Bring them to their knees," I said. She nodded and got up from the park bench. As she made her way across the bustling city street to the entrance of the office building, I stood up.
"Give her two minutes then make the call," I told Roderick.
"Alright Matt, everything is set up, now we just have to wait."
Roderick was our hacker. His skill with electronics and technology was more than just impressive, it was beautiful. With his skill set, Roderick could perform feats that made hacking look like an art.
"That should be good, she's had enough time," I told him, after a few minutes had gone by. Pressing the on button on his earpiece, he tapped a button on his laptop. The computer patched him through to the office of security in the building under a false answering machine.
"Hello?"
"Hello," he responded, taking on an official tone, "This is Ike Stevenson with securicorp, our monitors are saying that one of your active security cameras has gone dead, are you experiencing any trouble like that?"
"I'm sorry who is this?" The confused security guard responded.
"Securicorp? You know, the company you hired to fix your security equipment? Our system tells us whenever your equipment is malfunctioning, and we just got an error report from one of your cameras. Camera nine I think?"
"I don't remember hiring a--- oh wait, one of our cameras is on the fritz, what should we do?"
Roderick grinned in victory. "Just sit tight, we'll be down there in five minutes."
"Good work mate," I told him, elated that the first step went so smoothly.
"Thanks, but the hard part is still to come. You really think Raleigh can keep the CEO away from his office long enough?"
"Rod, if anyone can do it, it's our girl Raleigh."
I wasn't lying. Raleigh was our people person. She was the social one, a skill that played a major part in almost all of the jobs we did. If she wanted the CEO away from his office, I had no doubt that she could get him to do it. When Raleigh said 'jump', most people would argue over who gets to ask 'how high'. She was also an adept pickpocket, which in this particular job was an essential part of the plan.
"Alright, it's been a couple of minutes, let's bring the van around."
"Sounds good. Lisa, we'll keep in touch," Roderick said, tapping the earpiece in his right ear.
She turned hers on and nodded.
"See you guys when this is over."
The security guard was taken aback by our professionalism and, merely stood in the corner dumbfounded as we worked. He had given us full access to the surveillance room, which included full access to all of the cameras. From here we could see every part of the building, and turn the cameras off and on at will. Passing as an electrician and his assistant, Roderick and I began examining inconsequential wires to keep up the act, in the hopes that the security guard would not get suspicious while we waited for the next stage of the plan to commence.
"So what are you guys doing down there? Can you explain some of this to me?"
I cringed and held my breath, hoping he didn't have extensive knowledge of wiring and cameras.
"well, you see," Roderick replied without skipping a beat, "This micro converter isn't syncing with the transient line that leads to the camera, so as soon as I get the nano resonance under control here we're going to have to shut down the system so we can isolate the problem."
"I see..." the guard said, looking twice as confused as before. I let out a sigh and relaxed, continuing a debate about nonexistent electronic terms with Roderick to keep up the cover. My real job at this phase was to monitor the camera feeds around the building to see what progress Raleigh was making. As it turned out, she was making incredible progress, and was now in a full blown conversation with the CEO. As a young man in his late thirties, Raleigh's twenty four year old looks and charm had seemed to entrance him, and as I watched the two of them on the screen, he never took his eyes off of her. This was good, considering the more focused he was on her, the less focused he would be on the keycard in his front pocket of his suit jacket. It's only a matter of time now, I thought, as I watched her make another subtle flirtatious move.
"I'm going to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back," I told the security guard, who was still trying to decipher what Roderick was doing to the wiring. He made no objection. Once I was outside of the surveillance room, I tapped my earpiece and gave Lisa the green light to move in.
Lisa was our combat expert. A second degree black belt in three styles of martial arts, Lisa had a knack for weapons of all sorts, and practiced at the gun range quite frequently. While we had never needed anyone killed before, there is no such thing as 'too careful' for a group of professional thieves. If it came down to it, we might need someone to ensure our escape with deadly force, and Lisa served that role. Her main uses during each job dealt with her acrobatic skills however, and most of the time she was the one climbing buildings or evading security devices. This job was different. This job, we were pulling off in broad daylight, in a building filled with people. Her goal this time was to use the CEO's keycard to get into his office and take what we needed. I could have done it myself, but in the event that someone walked in on her stealing sensitive information, she was far more qualified to beat someone senseless and shove them in a broom closet.
"Ok, it looks like we're ready to isolate the problem," I said, noticing Raleigh inconspicuously passing Lisa the keycard on one of the cameras. Roderick agreed, and right on cue, cut the feed coming from every camera in the building. When the head of security would review the footage, he would find nothing but a convenient several minutes of static. Now it was just a question of Lisa finishing the job.
~~~
Like what your read? interested in reading how it ends? the next chapter is only 700 words, and can be read right here: topic90809.html
Gender:
Points: 262
Reviews: 73