by Nina Hall
“Are you OK?” he asked remnants of laughter in his voice.
Lisa grinned. “I think so. My hands are sweaty; it was almost like being on a job.”
“It feels odd the first couple of times, watching people who don’t know you’re watching them. Let me show you something else.” Harper said turning back to his computer.
He punched some keys and the view changed to what seemed like a control room. Two men in security uniform sat on a desk watching TV monitors, on the desk. Mesmerized, Lisa watched as they sipped coffee and talked. They couldn’t hear what they were saying. One man yawned and in doing so stretched his neck backwards and for a moment he seemed to be looking at them. Lisa flinched.
“He knows there’s a camera recording happenings at the control room, but he doesn’t know it’s been watched.” Harper said.
“This is the bank’s security control room?” Lisa asked.
“Yeah.” Harper said. “They monitor the cameras during the day but not at night. At night, the cameras record and if there’s an incident, they can just go back and see the previous recordings.”
“Wow!” Lisa said. “If you can do this, does it mean you can access the bank’s financial transactions.”
“I can. It’s something I’ll pursue later but not now. Even right now, I can transfer people’s money from their accounts to mine, however, the problem with that is not getting the money. That’s easy. Transferring it to a medium you can use and not get caught is the problem.”
“You mean they can trace the money?” Lisa said.
“That’s exactly what I mean. If you want to get away with it and to protect yourself, first of all you need to be out of this country. Go to a country where they don’t have an extradition agreement with the United States. Steal the money, transfer it to a dozen accounts in different countries, hopefully they’ll lose track.”
“Or maybe not” Lisa said.
“True maybe not. Even if they can trace it, your trump card will be where you’re living. Many European countries do not have clear extradition agreements with America, or even countries in South America.”
“Why haven’t you gone before this?” Lisa said.
“It’s not that easy.” Harper said. “First of all, my parents are still alive and if I left that would mean I’d never see them again unless they came to visit me.”
“What would stop them?” Lisa said.
“They’re a bit old and not that adventurous. I don’t know.” Harper said, shrugging.
Lisa thought of her own existence and felt a pang of loneliness. She had grown up in foster homes, shuttled from one to another until she turned eighteen, by which time she was a professional shoplifter. She had no relatives and no close friends. She envied Harper for having parents whom he cared about. She now understood his reluctance to leave the States and start life elsewhere.
“What about your plan to leave the business?” Lisa asked.
“Oh, that’s different.” Harper said. “I’m not leaving the country, just the state. Nobody, except you now, knows anything about me. My parents don’t live in Chicago and I’m glad I kept my mouth shut over the years. Nobody knows I have parents or even where they live. When I go visit, I use different names and I change flights like four times.”
Lisa whistled.
“You always knew one day you’d leave?” she asked.
“Not really, but I like to live my options open.” Harpers said.
Harper tapped a few more keys and the view changed again. This time they could see the street and the view of the bank entrance.
“Why the hell were we staking it out then?” Lisa asked in exasperation.
“Nothing beats being physically present at a location. Cameras miss a lot of stuff and you only get a certain angle. Besides, I was only able to have this, this morning.”
“There’s that fed guy.” Lisa said, pointing at a man walking past the bank trying to blend in.
“Anderson, yeah that’s him. See the two men walking just behind; those are his cronies at the bureau.” Harper said.
They observed the live recording for a while and then Lisa pulled a seat and sat down.
“Now to the bad news” Harper said. “I can do all these, but I can’t do much about the laser beams surrounding the vault. When that bank employee went in, he disabled the beams before he entered the room. For us, the hole we want to drill from the deli goes into here.” Harper pointed to a spot in the vault room, on a front corner. “The lasers will be active which means you have to manually skip over them.”
“OK, I can do that.” Lisa said.
“I’ll have some goggles for you so that you can see the way the laser beams criss-cross around the vault and you can step over them. Don’t worry; we’ll practice that in a few minutes.” Harper said. “Let me set it up for you.”
Opening a drawer, Harper got some normal looking goggles and handed them to Lisa. She slipped them on and waited. Harper then switched off the lights and the room went into total darkness. Using a torch, he went over to a work top covered with a cloth. Impatiently, he jerked the table cloth to reveal a board with multi colored wires and exposed electric connections. He switched it on and immediately the front of room was flooded with red beams of light running along and across each other.
Lisa removed her shoes and the suede jacket. She walked over to the edge, where the red lines began. Bracing herself, she lifted one leg, careful not to touch the light. Her leg touched the ground and she braced herself to shift the other. Her thighs were shaking from the strain of holding her legs still. On the third jump, it happened. She touched the beam with a foot and a screeching alarm went off.
Harper quickly switched it off. He then turned on the light. Lisa was surprised to find her black tank top dripping with sweat.
“It looks easy right?” Harper said.
“It does, and it will be.” Lisa said determination etched on her face. “There’s less than five days left.”
With that thought, she asked Harper to switch off the lights and started again. The trick to jumping the beams successfully, Lisa realized, was to stand on her toes. That way, she would give herself ample space to turn round to give her other leg the best position.
“Let me show you.” Harper said, on Lisa’s fourth try. First he got another pair of goggles.
Watching him going over the beams was like watching a dancer, gracefully executing his moves. Every movement seemed choreographed and well thought out, not like her own clumsy movements. Lisa noticed that every time he brought the second leg over the light, before moving again, he would shift his body, taking a ninety degree turn. Then he would lift one leg, when it hit the floor, pause to regain his balance and finally lift the other leg.
Harper was now on the last beam. Looking at her watch, Lisa saw that he had taken almost six minutes to get over the beams. The trick was to take her time. The more she rushed, the higher the chances were of accidentally brushing against the beams.
She practiced over and over again. Harper returned to his computer and engrossed himself in it. Occasionally, he looked up and gave her thumbs up when she managed to go over the beams without triggering the alarm.
“Don’t get stressed,” Harper said when Lisa let out a sigh of frustration. “You’re almost there. All it takes is practice and mostly concentration. Forget I’m here, empty your mind and think of only those red lines. It’s just you and the lines.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Stepping out of the shower, Lisa looked out her bedroom window and saw the disappearing sunlight. Summer was nearing the end and the days were getting shorter. She dropped the towel and lathered her body with oil. Next she wore a matching pair of black panties and bra, before stepping into a one piece, leather suit.
She pulled it up hard. It was taking more effort than required. Lisa cursed under her breath. She’d added some weight. She promised herself to watch her diet in the coming weeks. Finally she got it up to her arms, and she zipped it up with th
e single zipper at the front. Then she wore thin black leather gloves. She walked to the full length mirror and looked at her reflection.
Her hair was wet and clinging to her forehead. She grabbed her mask and slid it over her wet hair. Only her brown eyes were visible. She swallowed a ball of saliva and looked at her hands. Her fingers were shaking. She clenched them into fists then released and some of the tension left. She only had fifteen minutes to get ready.
She took off her mask and put it into her small rack sack. She picked out a simple t-shirt and leggings and wore them on top of her suit. She wore the same clothes on top of her suit on all her jobs. They were a size bigger than all her other clothes. She returned to the mirror again. You couldn’t tell she had other clothes underneath the t-shirt and leggings.
Next she wore black socks and simple black sneakers. She checked her rack sack to see if her tool box was there. It was, and although she had gone through the contents earlier, she decided to check again. Hair pins, a small torch, and many other snippets a normal person would find no use for. Lisa chuckled, imagining her downstairs neighbor, a retired school teacher looking through the contents of her bag.
When she was ready, she grabbed her bag and went downstairs, preferring to use the stairs rather than the elevator. The white van was pulling up as she closed the door downstairs. Lisa went to the side and slid the door open.
“Hey boys,” Lisa said as she entered the van.
“Hi Lisa” Alan said from the driver’s seat.
She could see the white flash of Harper’s teeth in the darkness. The light from his laptop illuminated the back of the van to reveal a huge padlock on the body of the van. Lisa sat opposite Harper and almost fell off when the van swung onto the road.
“Easy Alan.” Harper said.
‘Sorry guys, it’s how we used to do it at the racing track.” Alan drawled.
“This ain’t no racing track.” Lisa said. “You’ll kill us before we even get to Corporate Street.”
The traffic was light at that time of evening and they were in Corporate Street by seven. The darkness by then had settled on the city. They went to the back street and Harper directed Alan on where to park the van. Away from the back camera, but in sight of the Deli so they could see the cleaning van arriving.
Lisa removed her tights and t-shirt and wore her ski mask over her head. She removed her tool bag from the rack sack and hung it over her shoulder.
They sat in silence, eyes glued to the deli. As they had anticipated, at nine, four employees of the deli left, closing the padlock behind them. Another hour passed and the cleaning van rolled in. The two women entered the deli and left in exactly two hours. Lisa felt her insides relaxing at the predictable activities of the night. The more everyone stuck to their schedule, the easier it would be for their operation to move smoothly.
The van drove off and Lisa jumped into action. She moved to where the padlock hang. She removed her small torch from the tool bag and clenched it between her teeth. The padlock was similar to the one on the door of the deli, and other than its size, it was a simple padlock. Using a pair of lock picks, Lisa worked the padlock and in less than thirty seconds it snapped open. Then she locked it again.
She went back into the van and grabbed a blue metal box that resembled a suitcase.
Harper began rehearsing the job. “Now we’re inside the deli with our drilling equipment. We dismantle the counter, removing the things on the shelves. Lisa keeps watch by the windows and also gives a hand where necessary while I drill the wall. This should take approximately two hours. Once inside the vault room, I set up my equipment and Lisa prepares to go over the laser beams.”
Harper handed Lisa her goggles. He switched on his board and the back of the van was illuminated by red lines.
“How many steps are there Lisa?” Harper said.
“Ten.” Lisa said.
“How long does it take you to go over them?”
“Ten minutes.” Lisa answered.
They sat in silence and waited for the ten minutes to be over.
“Now, you are past the laser beams, it’s time to face the door. I’ll give you the combination of the vault door and once it swings open, you’ll need to pick the lock of the metal door.”
Lisa had seen the lock before, but she looked at it again on Harper’s computer screen.
“Two minutes.” Lisa said.
“To the important bit; getting the cube out. Remember it has an alarm on it, so the first thing you need to do is to disable the alarm.” Harper said.
“I’ll use the EMP pulse to disable the alarm and then take the cube and put it in the metal box.”
“Remember to lock the box properly; we don’t want to activate the tracker if it slides out.” Harper said.
“I’ve secured the metal box, next is my exit.” Lisa said.
This was the part that worried her the most. She had practiced walking over the laser beams with the box in her hands. They ached and hurt but worst of all, was the imbalance they caused. Though she had jumped over the beam successfully, she wasn’t 100% sure. She only had to go over the beams and Harper would be waiting to take the box from her.
“Alan, you’ll be waiting at the parking with the engine running after two hours.” Harper said.
“Sure boss.” Alan said.
“How does everybody feel about the plan?” Harper asked.
Alan was fine with it and he said so.
“I’m also OK with it but I could do with more practice for carrying that box over the beams. It’s not really heavy, just awkward because of the size. If I go over it a few more times, my hands will get used to it.” Lisa said.
“OK we can do that tomorrow.” Harper said. “Guys what we’ve done is based on a perfect plan, which rarely happens. Something is likely to go wrong, it always does. There’s nothing like a perfect plan. The feds could be hovering around here. Alan, you keep watch when Lisa and I enter the deli. If there are suspicious people, let us know. We don’t want to be caught off guard.”
They left, dropping Lisa off first. She had removed her ski mask and worn her t-shirt and tights over her suits. There were unlikely to be people on the street but it did not hurt to be careful. She felt beat. The actual job didn’t exhaust her as much as the practice. She supposed it was the worrying and trying to think of what could go wrong. In the actual job, there was no time to think, her concentration was usually in the present.
Lisa entered her apartment and stripped off her work clothes. She wore a lose nightie and went to the living room. She was too wound up to sleep. She made a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of warm milk. She flipped over TV channels but nothing held her attention for long and she decided to go to bed.
Dreams of police sirens plagued her sleep, but again, that came with the job. The nearer the day came, the worse her nerves got. She woke up thrice in the night, her night gown wrapped tightly around her body, sweat holding it to her skin like glue. Her breath came out in short, quick gasps and it took her a while to realize that she was on her own bed and there’s no police chasing after her. Staring into the darkness, Lisa was glad that she had made up her mind.
This job was not for her anymore. Age was catching up. Her nerves were worse than the last time. But to be fair, this would be her biggest job yet. Her other jobs were child play compared to this one. If caught, she’d probably spend the rest of her life in jail.
Lisa yanked her mind from such thoughts and resolutely closed her eyes, determined to catch a few more hours of sleep.
The following morning, Lisa jogged all the way to Harper’ apartment. They carried their coffee to the back room. Lisa practiced jumping over the beams with the blue metal box. It strained one hand until harper came up with the idea of hoisting it at the top of her head. That seemed to work better.
She only stopped when she felt confident of jumping over the beams without setting them off with the box or worse, dropping it.
“Can I buy you lunch.” Harper to
ld her at midday.
They walked down the street like any normal couple on a warm day. Lisa felt almost normal, like a regular girl on a date. She slipped her hand into Harper’s and to his credit; he didn’t look at her or react in any way.
They chose a bar cum restaurant and at a private booth away from the counter and the entrance.
Harper ordered a beer and Lisa went for a glass of wine.
“This is crazy,” Lisa said. “I never have alcohol before seven in the evening.”
“Me neither but today I feel like celebrating.” Harper said.
“Celebrating what?” Lisa said with a laugh.
“We’re celebrating one of two things. One, the coming success of our mission, and then most likely, our very last.”
“Secondly” Lisa urged.
“Secondly, we may be celebrating our last day of freedom. We may spend the rest of our lives, productive lives anyway, in jail.” Harper said in a casual tone.
Lisa’s mouth curled in distaste.
“Did you have to do that Harper? Spoil my meal and my day?”
Harper laughed.
“It’s the reality. Every time before I go on a job, I visualize myself on a sandy island somewhere. The sun is hot and I’m sipping a cool beer. Then I switch locations. I visualize myself seated on a long table, wearing a green overall, surrounded by hundreds of men, each of them engrossed in their tasteless meal.”
“Shit Harper, you’re a ray of sunshine aren’t you?” Lisa said her appetite all gone.
CHAPTER NINE
The five of them, Anderson, Clark and Jackson and the two guys Harris had picked to join them, met at eight in Harris’s office. The small office looked squashed and small crowded by six men. Anderson knew the two guys, King and Adams. They were both in their early thirties and Anderson hoped that the five of them would work well together.
“So boys, today is the day. As you well know, it’s imperative that the cube stays safe, and in the bank until tomorrow when it’ll be moved. The boys from headquarters will take it to the bank at ten.” Harris glanced at his watch. “That’s two hours from now. Once it enters the bank, it’s our job to make sure it stays there till tomorrow at ten.”
