by Nina Hall
The banks closed the doors for the day at five.
“You look beat.” Harper said, his face creased with concern. “Let me drop you home and then come back for a couple more hours.”
“No,” Lisa said with vehemence. “I’m OK, I can handle a few more hours.”
Resolutely she stared straight ahead, though she could feel Harper’s eyes boring into her face. She would sit here until they both went home; the last thing Lisa wanted was preferential treatment because she was a female.
“Alright.” Harper said with a sigh.
* * *
Lisa woke with a start to complete darkness and in panic fumbled around. Her hand came up against a solid mass and she tried to push it away.
“Easy now” A deep voice said soothingly. “It’s me, Harper, you fell asleep.”
“Oh Shit.” Lisa said.
Harper laughed a deep sound that seemed to come from his stomach.
“What time is it?” Lisa said rubbing her eyes and trying to peer out of the van. It was total dark outside and she couldn’t figure out where they were.
“Where are we?”
“It’s ten and we are parked further down the street. The bank is up there, see?” Harper said, pointing a finger. “We’d stayed in that position for too long. We are lucky we weren’t spotted.”
Lisa could feel the stickiness of saliva on her cheek. She wiped off the drool with the back of her hand and felt glad for the darkness. She hated to imagine how she looked with saliva dribbling down her chin like a toddler. It was bad enough that she’d dozed off on a watch. It was so unprofessional.
“It’s cool,” Harper said. ‘It’s happened to the best of us.”
“Yeah thanks.” Lisa mumbled, feeling her skin grow hot.
“Let’s call it a day shall we? We’ll start again tomorrow at the same time.”
“OK.” Lisa said.
When they pulled up to Lisa’s block, she jumped out of the van quickly and waved goodbye. She wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. She felt stiff as she rode the elevator up to the third floor. She closed her door, grateful to be in the safety of her apartment. She took out a vegetable salad from the fridge and ate it while standing. Ten minutes later, she was out again, headed to the 24hour gym, a couple of blocks away.
“What do you want to do today?” Rambo asked her.
He was her trainer at the gym and so called for the huge muscles that adorned his chest.
“The ring” Lisa said.
“Why did I think you’d say that?” Rambo said with a smile, leading her to the back of the gym, where the boxing ring was.
He helped Lisa with her gloves and her head gear and they went for it. There was something refreshing about getting into the ring and sparring. She loved throwing punches and evading them. It beat lifting weights although she occasionally did. An hour later, she was back home. After a shower and a glass of milk, Lisa went to bed. After a night session at the ring, she normally managed to sleep immediately her head hit the pillow.
But tonight, sleep was evasive. She found her thoughts returning to Harper and trying to figure him out. He was different from most guys who found silence threatening. She and Harper had not exchanged more than ten sentences all day, yet he had not felt the urge to fill the silence with conversation. Lisa found herself curious about his personal life. Was he married? Did he have children?
Intrigued, she vowed to find out the following day.
The next morning Harper was gracious enough to pick her up at the agreed time. Lisa felt surprisingly fresh as she took the elevator to the ground floor. She looked for the white van. It was nowhere to be seen and she settled on the side walk to wait for Harper. A sharp hoot sounded and she looked towards a blue sedan. Not recognizing it, Lisa turned away. It hooted again, and on looking closer, she recognized Harper.
“Hey,” Lisa said, sliding into the passenger seat. “Who is this?”
“We needed a different car today, and this seemed as good a choice as any.” Harper said.
They stopped for take away coffee. This time they were not so lucky. They got a parking space a bit further away from the bank. Still, they had a pretty good view. Lisa found her attention on the two shops that neighbored their target. On the left was leather goods store and on the right was the deli.
Like the day before, the cops patrolled the bank on the hour and two uniformed guards stood at the entrance.
“It’s going to be difficult to gain entry through the bank.” Lisa said.
Harper nodded. “My thoughts exactly; I’m thinking either of the two shops; the leather shop or the deli.”
“The deli seems easier.” Lisa added.
“They use one huge padlock to lock up. You shouldn’t find that too hard—”
“To pick” Lisa finished.
They broke out into laughter. Lisa looked at Harper and loved the way his laugh reached his eyes and the loud noisy laugh he had. He should laugh more often, Lisa thought. It softened his face and made him approachable.
Lisa stopped laughing suddenly and looked away. Crap! She must stop thinking about Harper as if he was a potential lover. She remembered his words when they first met. You don’t interest me as a woman. That dismissal had hurt and it still did. With that sharp reminder of what Harper thought of her, she turned stony faced and promised herself to concentrate on the business at hand.
The deli was busy especially with lunch time approaching. Lisa offered to go get their lunch sandwiches. She pulled her cap low and took off to the deli. She pushed open the glass door and walked in. The counter was manned by four employees, each decked out in a crisp white apron. The back of the counter shared a wall with the bank.
Lisa ordered their sandwiches and coffee and left. They ate their lunch in an uncomfortable silence. After lunch, Lisa slipped out again, this time to take a look inside the leather store. Approaching the entrance Lisa deduced that it would not make a good target. The huge, thick door manning the entrance appeared to be laced with alarms and though disabling the alarm was possible, it would take too much time.
She didn’t bother to enter; instead she found her way to the back alley to the service entrance of the deli. Sure enough, the padlock hanging on the back door of the deli was just as flimsy as the front one. Lisa guessed that no one would bother to break into a deli to steal food, and they were bound to have emptied their cash registers every night.
There wasn’t much activity at the back. The bank was sealed at the back with an impenetrable wall and she only gave it a cursory glance. She knew the security at the back was even tighter than at the front.
“Say we infiltrate the bank through the deli, how long would it take to drill the wall?” Lisa asked.
Harper switched on the laptop he always had and showed Lisa an image of a wall.
“I think it’s been fortified inside the bank so it could take a couple of hours.” Harper said. “Tonight I’m thinking we watch the back. That’s probably where we’ll access the deli from.”
“I’m thinking there must be cleaning staff?” Lisa said.
“Yeah, me too and they probably come in at night. The deli closes around nine o’clock.” Harper said.
This information reminded Lisa that she’d fallen asleep the night before. She could have kicked herself. Tonight she was determined to remain professional. The last thing she wanted was for Harper to think that working with her was a mistake.
When night came, Harper drove the car to the back and looked for an unobtrusive unlit spot. At nine, they observed the deli workers leaving for home. At ten, two women alighted from a van marked as a cleaning van. As soon as they got off, the van drove off. They had their own key to the deli. Two hours later they emerged and as they were locking up, the cleaning van appeared. They went in and the van drove off, its wheels skidding on the road.
“Looks like if we decide to go with the deli, it has to be from twelve, right?” Lisa said.
Harper nodded. He looked tho
ughtful.
“It doesn’t give us much time, if we start at 12?” Harper said. “Drilling quietly can take up to two hours depending on the thickness of the wall.”
“Accessing the vault and the security system…” Lisa added.
“May take another three hours or more.” Harper finished.
They sat in thoughtful silence.
“The deli is just one option; let’s weigh others first and then we’ll see from there.” Harper said.
Lisa’s eyes were on the bank building.
“That cube must be really secured if it’s that special?”
Harper looked at her quizzically. “Weren’t you told?”
“Told what?”
“It’s not at the bank yet. It’ll be brought approximately two weeks and five days from now. That’s when we strike.”
Lisa fell back into her seat. Shit. That presented a whole set of worries. What if it wasn’t kept in the vault? What if they designed another safe place for it? Worse still, what if the plans changed and the location changed? All this work would be for nothing.
“You know there’s not much we can do if the plans change.” Harper said.
Was the man a mind reader? Her brain changed gears fast and she wondered how the boss had neglected to tell her such an important piece of info? They could even grab the cube before it reached the bank, and she told Harper so.
He shook his head.
“Its location is so secret, that even the bosses have no info. The only info that’s come through is the date when it’ll be brought in.”
Lisa whistled and nodded. Still the thought of grabbing the cube before it reached the vault would not leave her mind.
“Did I mention that we only have the one night to get it” Harper said. “It’s only in the bank overnight. The following day, it leaves for another secret location.”
Lisa’s only reply was a dropped jaw.
CHAPTER THREE
“You do know how important this job is for both of us?” Harris said.
Anderson nodded, swallowing hard. If everything went well, Harris would get his promotion and he had hinted at recommending his job of special senior agent for Anderson. Not that he had angled for it, however with a new mouth to feed; Anderson could do with the extra cash.
“So the only place we really need to worry about is the overnight stay at the bank. It’s our vulnerable part of the journey and if anybody was to strike, they’d strike then.” Harris said.
“Can we not have it at one of our secure locations?” Anderson asked with a frown.
“Look,” Harris said, smiling for the first time since Anderson had entered his office. “I know we mistrust security at banks, but the reality is that they’re very secure. The cube will stay overnight and will be in the bank vault.”
“Will we be allowed inside the bank to guard it?” Anderson asked knowing what the answer would be.
“Of course not, you know how the private sector and the Government work. We loath each other. The reality however is that we need to start working with them and according to the senior management in this organization, this is as good a time as any. It’s political, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“I don’t like it.” Anderson said. “It’s a huge risk and we are exposing the cube to unnecessary risks.”
“Anderson, you’ve become too cynical. If you want this job,” Harris said pointing a finger at a wooden plaque bearing his name and rank, “You must learn to work with all parties. Even if you think their idea is dumb. It’ll be safe in the bank. Even makes our job easier. Besides nobody knows anything about the cube and I don’t except them to. ” Harris expression turned solemn. “Keep your ear on the ground. If word on the cube gets out, there’s no telling what lengths they’ll go to get it. This must be kept very quiet.”
Harris then shuffled some papers on his desk which Anderson correctly understood to be a dismissal. He walked slowly out of the office his usual bounce missing from his walk. His partners, Jackson and Clark were waiting just outside the office for him. They hurried after him.
“The three bears, hey, where’s Goldilocks?” One of the agents in the open plan office called out as they walked out.
They ignored him, but the rest of the crew in the office burst out laughing. He had a point there, Anderson conceded. The three of them did resemble the three bears. Jackson was a huge black man and he walked as if he was about to ram into someone or something. He, Anderson was medium sized and Clark was the small bear with his diminutive build, which hid a brilliant mind and a black belt in Karate. You underestimated Clark at your own peril.
It was lunchtime so the trio headed to their favorite lunch hangout, a bar called Celeste’s. There was nothing feminine about the bar on West Street. It was dark inside, the only colorful thing were the red leather chairs. Anderson led the way to their usual booth at the corner where they could see the entrance as well as anyone walking along the street.
“What’s up?” Jackson asked as soon as they sat down.
“The cube will be holed up in the bank overnight.” Anderson said.
“That’s a nightmare for us.” Clark said, rubbing his nonexistent beard.
“Shit!” Jackson said, “A bank is the worst part to hide something like that. There are too many possible leaks. The mob may get wind of it.” Jackson said.
“That’s the other thing. We need to feel around if they know. If they do, we’re dead. Securing our cube will be a nightmare.”
Sweat had gathered on Anderson’s brow. The thought of any of the organizations catching wind of the cube and its value made his blood go cold. It did not bear thinking about. He reached for his packet of Dunhill’s from his shirt pocket. Empty.
“Damn Mary!” Anderson said.
The guys chuckled and Jackson offered him one of his cigarettes. Anderson lit it gratefully and inhaled deeply. He knew he’d pay the price later. A lecture on how bad they were for his health and the coming baby. If only Mary knew. It wasn’t the cigarettes that were bad for him. It was his damn job. Too much pressure.
Despite the pressures, Anderson admitted to himself, he loved it. An office job wouldn’t suit him at all. He enjoyed been out there among people gathering intelligence and putting criminals where they belonged. If this job went well, he may well find himself with an office job. As much as he wanted the increase in salary and other perks, the thought of sitting behind a desk all day like Harris, and having to deal with politicians, was not for him. As with things he could not resolve there and then, Anderson pushed that thought to the back of his mind. He would deal with it when the time came.
In the meantime, he needed to concentrate on figuring out any loop holes that existed with the bank. “What you having today boys?” a waitress in a short frilly apron asked.
Anderson squinted, she was new. He knew most of the staff at Celeste’s.
They made their orders for food, with Anderson settling for a steak and salad, an improvement of his usual fries.
“See why I’m still single?” Jackson said. “Anderson here has stopped smoking, is now eating cow food, what next?”
“She says after the baby comes, she’ll be packing my lunch.”
Clark fell back into his chair, his expression mock horror.
Anderson grinned and shrugged. Mary could be a bit controlling especially now that she was pregnant and giving birth to their first child in three weeks. Anderson closed his eyes when he realized that Mary’s due date coincided with the date when the cube would be in the bank.
“Shit!” Anderson murmured.
“It’s not that bad dude, is it?” Jackson asked, his big face crumpled with worry.
Anderson laughed and said.
“No, no, it’s not that. It just hit me that Mary’s due date is the same as the day the cube is brought to the bank.”
“Jesus!” Clark said, leaning forward. “Talk about pressure.”
Anderson nodded. “That’s pressure alright.”
> “We’re with you, whatever happens we’ll deal with it.” Jackson said earnestly.
They wolfed down their meal and lingered over their beers. Two leggy blondes entered the bar then. Jackson whistled and nudged Jackson. The two men turned to stare at the women as they walked towards their direction.
Anderson looked on in amusement. He did not miss being single. By the time he met Mary, he was truly ready to settle down and permanently say goodbye to the dating game. Even now, watching Clark and Jackson, it felt like such hard work.
“Hi Ladies” Jackson said standing up.
He struck out his hand and introduced himself before they could object and before they knew what was happening, they were squeezed between Clark and Jackson. Anderson excused himself then and headed for the bar. He sat down and observed the quartet. Like a well-choreographed movie, Jackson did most of the talking with Clark throwing the occasional word.
Anderson’s mind drifted back to what needed to be done. He fished out his phone and scrolling down the phone book, he pressed dial when he saw the number of one of his sources.
“Hey. I need some info.” Anderson said, speaking in low tones. “Find out if there’s a buzz on the streets of an upcoming big job.”
“Yeah, like a museum, bank, that kind of thing.” Anderson said, and then disconnected the call.
He felt marginally better after making that call. Still more needed to be done. It was not enough to send word out. He looked over at his partners. It was time to leave. He wanted to spend the afternoon looking at the bank and try to foresee any weak points. Anderson sighed. He wished they had the bank’s cooperation. It would make his job so much easier. He would ensure that the bank was solidly secure. Working from outside would make it doubly harder.
Now, they had to think like criminals. That was the only way that Anderson could think of how to counteract any problems or attacks that may arise. Anderson felt sure that something would happen that night. Unlike Harris who seemed happy with the arrangement, Anderson knew how the organizations worked. See, that was the problem of being a desk man. You lost touch with the street world.
