by Nina Hall
They were about four in Chicago, with the Grey Network and the Oldz being the largest and the ones who controlled the city. They had eyes and ears everywhere. Hoping that they knew nothing about the cube would be wishful thinking on Anderson’s part. They were also very competitive, each dropping money everywhere to make sure they were the first to hear anything new happening in the city.
Clark looked over at Anderson, who gestured to him that they should go. Anderson paid their lunch bill, saying a silent thank you to the bureau, which catered to every agent’s midday meal. Clark drove, and Anderson sat in the back seat. Cruising towards the Diamond bank, Anderson looked out and as always he felt the heartbeat of Chicago by looking at its busy residents.
They depended on people like him to keep them safe. When would the city be free from these criminal organizations? The fact though was, as soon as they managed to contain one by successfully prosecuting their bosses, others crept up. Sometimes, like now, Anderson felt as if they were only containing the problem, not eliminating them.
But trying to finish them off completely was like removing weeds from garden forever. Impossible. Just when you thought you’d got the last of them, others hidden behind rocks sprouted up.
Traffic was heavy at this time of the day, and it took them almost half an hour to get to the bank. Clark guided the car into an empty parking slot. Immediately, a policeman showed up and tapped the widow.
“You can’t park here mate.” He said.
Clark showed him his badge and with a friendly wave, he left. The parking that Clark had picked was too near the bank for Anderson’s liking.
“This is too close, we can hardly observe anything.” he said.
They moved again, this time to a parking further down the road, on the opposite side of the bank. There, they had a good view of people entering the bank, and those like them, watching. Those were the ones Anderson was looking out for. If word had leaked of the cube being held overnight at the bank, then for sure there would be people staking it out.
“If you wanted to steal from Diamond, how would you do it?” Anderson said.
The bank was a solid building, its architecture imposing. It stood tall and big, daring anybody to try and infiltrate it. Except, Anderson knew that to a determined person, it could be done. Hell, these criminals even accessed the banks in brought daylight.
“Looks pretty tight to me” Jackson said.
Clark was silent and Anderson knew his brilliant mind was busy considering all possibilities.
“It would have to be an inside job.” Clark finally said.
Anderson turned this over in his head. The mob had tentacles everywhere, but they also usually needed time to arrange for contacts. It was unlikely that they would try to install someone at the bank. They just didn’t have the time. Unless, they already had someone. That thought sent a shiver down Anderson’s spine.
If they had someone within the bank, then he Anderson had a bigger problem than he’d previously thought. Someone with access to the bank would easily arrange for the cube to be stolen. They would not even have to break anything.
“I think we’re wasting our time.” Jackson said. “This thing has been kept very low. The possibility that word had leaked is very low.”
Anderson swallowed down his irritation. As much as he liked Jackson as a person, he hated his casual attitude. He never tried to foresee potential problems, preferring to deal with problems that were already present.
“The only way to be sure is to behave as if there’s a leak.” Anderson said. “Then we won’t be caught by surprise. Besides what have we to lose? We just need to be prepared, that’s all.”
Jackson shrugged form the front seat. “OK, you’re the boss.”
He was. Anderson led the team and had done so for three years now. The promotion had fuelled his confidence and increased his faith in the bureau. However, he now realized that the further up the ladder you climbed, the murkier the water became. Anderson wasn’t sure that the promotions further up were worth it. They were so far removed from what he loved doing. Being out on the streets, keeping the tempo of the city going.
“Want some coffee?” Anderson asked the two men at the front.
Anderson made his way to the deli neighboring the bank, walking as close to the walls of building as he could. A police car pulled up and two policemen stepped out. Anderson knew they were carrying out security patrols on the bank every hour. It had been his idea that they should start early so as to get people, customers and potential criminals alike, used to the presence of the police. That way, it would not be obvious that something was cooking on the material day, worth a lot of police patrols.
The deli was packed with customers but Anderson was happy to wait his turn in the queue. He wondered idly if anyone wanting to access the bank would consider accessing it from the deli, he quickly dismissed that thought. They’d have to drill through the wall and that would take hours. Which they wouldn’t have.
If it were him, Anderson thought, he’d grab the cube before it entered the bank. And that was impossible. Its current location was so secret that only Harris and two other people knew where it was. The more Anderson thought about it, the safer he felt. By the time he got his coffees, the weight on his shoulders had lifted considerably. He left the deli whistling, for the first time that day, noticing the warmth of the sun on his skin.
CHAPTER FOUR
Lisa felt like she could drown in that fresh laundered scent mixed with expensive masculine cologne that was Harper. Her new feelings shocked her and she knew that he would never know. Her feelings had quickly gone from resentment to attraction. He had a wide chest that tempted her to lay her head on, and hairy muscular arms that she ached to be wrapped in.
She felt foolish at falling for such an unsuitable person like Harper, but she felt safe in the knowledge that it was her secret and hers alone.
“Are you married?” Lisa finally asked, surprised at her own forwardness.
Harper looked at her quizzically and Lisa felt her face grow hot.
“There’s nothing else to do, we might as well talk.” Lisa said.
“I was once.” Harper said.
“And then what happened?”
Harper swung his eyes to her again.
“You’ve got many questions, haven’t you?”
Lisa’s face grew hot and she looked away. God what would he think of her now, in addition to being a tease, now she was nosy.
“Sorry, I do get carried away sometimes. Don’t mind me.” She said.
“What about you, ever been married?” Harper said.
Lisa wondered if leaving your groom by the alter qualified as having being married? Theirs had been a whirlwind romance and in six months of dating, Ben had proposed and she gleefully said yes. The only hitch had been that Ben was legit, an entrepreneur with a string of restaurants. At the time she had been slowly building a rep within the organization. Ben thought she was a personal trainer, a mistake she never corrected.
On the wedding day, attended by only about 100 guests, most of whom were Ben’s family and friends, Lisa had gotten a good dose of cold feet. She liked to think that reason had prevailed. Ben wanted a stay at home wife, to support him in his business and raise his children. As much as Lisa thought she loved him, she wasn’t ready to settle down. Worse yet, she couldn’t get married to someone who didn’t know all about her.
Telling him was not an option. So she’d left him at the altar. Lisa liked to console herself with the knowledge that only a hundred people had witnessed their non-wedding. That was eight years ago. Her guilt had lifted when she heard through mutual friends that Ben had married. That had been her closest to matrimony and she intended it to stay that way.
Lisa had come to the conclusion that not all people were meant to be married, and she was definitely in the group that were meant to stay single.
“Nope, never been married. I’m smarter than that.” Lisa said.
“Shit!” Harper cri
ed out, bolting up in his seat.
“Easy tiger, it was a joke.” Lisa said then realized his attention was elsewhere.
Lisa looked out at the direction he was looking at and saw nothing.
“See him?” Harper said.
“Who?”
“The guy holding three cups of coffee? That’s Anderson, he’s a fed.” Harper said. “What is he doing here; I thought it was a police job.”
They watched Anderson walk down the street and enter an unmarked car. The presence of the feds worried Lisa. Who knew how many of them would be around that night. Would she and Harper be able to access the deli? For the first time, Lisa contemplated failure and immediately rejected that thought. And it wasn’t just for the money.
Failure was something that had never happened to Lisa and she wasn’t about to start now. She turned her attention back to the feds. They stayed twenty minutes longer and then cruised past them and left.
“How long does it take you to pick a lock, like the deli one?” Harper asked.
Padlocks were child play and easy to open.
“Less than a minute” Lisa said.
“Good. If we go with the deli plan, we’ll need to enter it as quickly as possible. With the feds on it, they will be very much around that night.”
Lisa’s tummy growled a sharp reminder that she hadn’t eaten breakfast. Harper turned to her and smiled. Lisa’s breath caught. He seemed to be growing on her. Something about Harper felt comfortable, as if she had known him all her life. Shaking her head, Lisa turned away in embarrassment.
“The body never lies.” Harper said. “Let’s grab something to eat.”
They left corporate street and headed uptown. Harper led Lisa to an Italian restaurant, a little away towards the suburbs.
Lisa went for pasta in half sized portions and harper chose pasta also but a full portion. Lisa watched him wolf down his meal and wondered how he kept himself so fit, if that was his usual mode of eating. He ate fast and systematically wiping clean the plate. Lisa lifted an eyebrow when Harper looked up.
“Whose stomach was growling earlier?” She said.
Harper smiled. “I hate lingering over food. Just like to get it over and done.”
They had coffee after lunch until Lisa realized with a start that if she didn’t make a move she’d be late.
“Going somewhere?” Harper asked when he saw her looking at the time.
“Yeah, I have to be somewhere in twenty minutes.” Lisa said, reaching for her purse.
Harper covered her hand with his.
“I’ll pay. Please.”
Lisa found herself unable to speak. His hand on hers felt like a live wire connection. Something was stuck in her throat. Words would not come out. She felt her hands growing sweaty. When he finally lifted his hand, Lisa felt herself grow weak in the legs. How would she be able to stand, let alone walk? She mumbled her thanks and busied herself with drinking a glass of water. She hoped Harper had not seen her school girl reaction.
She glanced at him. He was looking at his phone. Lisa exhaled. He hadn’t noticed anything amiss. She sipped her water as she waited for Harper to settle their bill. The waitress, an attractive brunette who looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties, seemed to be flirting with Harper as she took his card. Lisa concluded it wasn’t her fault for finding him attractive. He seemed to have that effect on women.
“Shall I drop you somewhere?” Harper asked when they got into the car.
“Home is OK.” Lisa said.
“Thought you said you’re going somewhere, or is it a date picking you up from home?” Harper said.
“On a Wednesday afternoon?” Lisa said with a laugh.
“From what I’ve heard, men flock around you like flies, getting a date during the week shouldn’t be too hard.”
Lisa’s brown eyes flashed with anger and she turned to Harper.
“How dare you? What the fuck do you know about me to qualify you to make such a stupid comment? Name the men you know that I’ve dated.” Lisa put out her hands in front of her and indicated with a finger that she was ready to start counting.
Harper was taken aback by her sudden anger.
“Hey look, it was a joke. I didn’t mean to offend you in any way.”
“I don’t know what you’ve heard from your chauvinist male friends, but I’m not the person you think I am.”
Harper threw his head back and laughed so hard, tears fell from the sides of his eyes.
“What, what’s funny now?” Lisa demanded.
When he was finally able to stop laughing Harper explained.
“You remember that first day we met?”
“Yes?” Lisa said, wondering where Harper was going. “And keep your eyes on the road; you might get us killed before we steal the cube.”
“ Well, one of the first things your boss told me was to watch out, that if I wasn’t careful you’d make mincemeat out of me then chew me and spit me out.”
Lisa’s eyes widened. “Who, Nick?”
Still laughing Harper nodded.
“I’ll get him for that.” Lisa said.
“Which reminds me, don’t forget about the meeting tomorrow.”
“Like I would” Lisa said.
When he pulled up beside her block, Lisa jumped out and went to the driver’s side. Harper rolled down his window and looked at her in amusement.
“For your information, I’m going rock climbing.”
She threw her hair back, turned and left. When she left her house thirty minutes later, Harper was still parked in the same spot.
‘Hey, what are you still doing here?” Lisa said.
“I thought I’d give you a ride, to make up for upsetting you earlier.” Harper said.
Lisa contemplated him. He was so hard to read. Right now he had a poker face which gave nothing away of his intentions. Lisa shrugged and went round to the passenger seat and hopped in.
“Lead the way.” Harper said and she proceeded to give him the directions to where she was meeting with the rock climbing members today.
“So rock climbing is your thing?” Harper said, giving her a sideways glance that turned her stomach to liquid.
Lisa nodded. “I’ve always loved rock climbing since high school. And in case you haven’t connected the dots, climbing is a sort of requirement for my job. It’s a chance for me to practice. How about you?”
“How about me what?” Harper asked with a teasing smile.
Lisa rolled her eyes. “What’s your thing, what do you like to do, when you’re not plotting to break into banks?”
“Karate but I used to rock climb a few year ago.”
“Noo,” Lisa said. “You’re winding me up.”
“I swear I’m not. I used to belong to a climbing group in downtown Chicago. Kinda got bored with it. Was no longer a challenge.”
“Do you want to come with me on this climb?” Lisa asked, then immediately regretted it.
He might think she was coming on to him, the last thing she wanted.
“But you don’t really have to, you’re probably busy.” Lisa said.
“I’d like to.” Harper said. “We’ll just swing by my place I pick up a few things.”
He lived two roads away from hers. His block was more central, surrounded by restaurants and shops. She followed him into the building and up the elevator. He lived on the fourth floor. While his view was not as great as hers, his apartment was huge. The living room had a rustic look with wooden floors and a book case spilling with books.
“Give me a few seconds.” Harper said and disappeared down the hallway to what she assumed was his bedroom.
She wondered over to the book case and looked at his selection of books. Surprisingly, he had a wide array of books on aviation. The next shelf held books on tourism of countries all over the world. Then there were legal books, tens of them. Several others on karate. He really was an enigma. His bookcase had such a wide variety of subjects; it was difficult to know where his
interests lay.
“I’m ready.” Harper said from behind her making Lisa jump.
He grinned when he saw that he had scared her.
“Sorry, I seem to do that a lot.” Harper said.
“You mean sneaking up on me?”
“I call it walking. How have you survived so long in this business if you can’t hear someone approaching you?”
Lisa looked like she was seriously contemplating his question, and then said: “Probably because I’m the one who does the sneaking up on people.”
Harper threw his head back and laughed. Lisa smiled. She would never tire of hearing that laugh.
Lisa directed Harper to Caves’ rock, about half an hour away. It was close to the city yet a completely different world. They were meeting with the group of ten at three. At five to, Lisa and Harper were driving into Cave’s rock, off a small beach.
Everybody else was there. Lisa introduced Harper to Tom their guide and the rest of the team, made up of four women and six men. Lisa was not close to any of them, she shied from any attempts to include her in their social activities like going for a drink. She longed to sometimes but in her line of work, the fewer people she was close to, the better. She missed that companionship of having girlfriends. Hopefully when she saved enough, she’d leave Chicago and start a new life elsewhere, free to make friends and perhaps even get married.
Tom assured them that all the equipment was safe and had been tested, something Lisa never gave a thought to. She trusted Tom, having observed the lanky man for years doing his preparations for a climb. He was meticulous, testing each piece of equipment, over and over again. He took more time explaining the safety measures, mostly directing his comments to Harper even though Lisa had assured Tom that he was an experienced climber.
The day which had started out sunny and warm had turned cloudy. Lisa hoped it wouldn’t rain, spoiling their planned climb. They laid out their ropes, and checked with their hands for any breaks in the ropes or weak points. Lisa glanced at Harper occasionally. He was completely absorbed in his task. She admired the contour of his face and the fullness of his mouth. She clenched her fists, and fought off the urge to cup his face.
