Expansion (The Accidental Heroes Chronicles Book 2)

by S. E. Cyborski

  “About time,” Amy grumbled, falling in behind Sandra and Michael as they headed to the elevators. “Let’s get this done. I want to go back to sleep.”

  “Patience,” Sandra cautioned while Michael pressed the button. “You need to shut up about it, too. I don’t want anyone overhearing you and wondering what we’re doing.”

  “We want to get away without anyone the wiser,” Michael grinned, repeating the words Sandra had told them so often. He winked at Amy as Sandra rolled her eyes then stepped into the elevator when the doors opened. They had the carriage to themselves as it was a little after three am now. Which was all to the good, really. Most of the patrons would be asleep in their rooms and security would be down to a skeleton crew. From what Sandra had been able to learn, that skeleton crew was two guys in a room watching a battery of cameras. And even if there were some late-night gamblers out in the casino itself, they were usually too wrapped up in their games to even notice what was going on around them.

  The elevator let them off on the ground floor and the three moved purposefully towards an unnoticeable and unremarkable door just off the casino floor. It was kept locked, only security and hotel management having the keys to the door. But locks were really no impediment to someone with Michael’s abilities. While Sandra and Amy spoke softly together, their bodies shielding what Michael was doing, he changed the gravity around the lock. Slowly, ever so slowly and without even a faint click, the lock turned and the door inched open. The three darted inside and closed the door quietly behind them. The whole thing had taken barely two minutes and they were right on schedule with the timetable Sandra had in her head.

  Inside was a white hallway with closed doors running its length. Exactly as described by the security guard Sandra had managed to corner and question. Adding a desire to please her to his emotions was simple and the guard explained anything and everything Sandra could wish.

  “We’ll wait here until you give us the signal,” Michael whispered, leaning back against a wall as if he had every right to be in the hallway. Amy mimicked him, crossing her arms over her chest again. “Good luck, Sandra.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t need luck,” Sandra replied, smiling to herself. She walked down the hallway, stopping outside the third door on the left. Taking a moment to breathe and stretch her senses, Sandra pushed invisible fingers through the door to get an idea of who was on the other side. As expected, two people were there, boredom prominent in their emotions. Though there was a flash of curiosity and wariness in one and Sandra wondered if that was because she was being observed on the cameras. They would know she had no right to be here. But that didn’t matter. Not with what Sandra could do.

  Knocking on the door brought one of the guards towards her, the door opening to show a mousy man with limp brown hair and watery brown eyes. He wore a uniform with a vest in the casino’s colors over it. His fellow guard wore the same uniform and had his blond hair brushed back from his forehead. Blue eyes glanced over for a moment then focused on the screens again.

  “Can I help you?” the mousy guard asked, opening the door a little further. His nametag read Ryan.

  “Hello Ryan,” Sandra purred in her most seductive voice. She started lacing desire and lust into Ryan’s emotions as well as the blond guy’s, all overlaid with a desire to please her. “Mind if I come in?”

  “Why not?” Ryan asked, stepping back to allow Sandra to step into the little room. The blond guy turned around in his chair, eyeing Sandra up and down. His own nametag read Henry. “What can we do for you?”

  “Hey, aren’t you one of those magicians?” Henry asked suddenly, eyes narrowing as he studied Sandra. “The Triumvirate or something like that?”

  “Why do you ask?” Sandra asked, annoyance and a touch of worry flashing through her. Whether it was from loyalty to his job, a natural stubborn determination, or something else, this Henry seemed resistant to her emotional manipulation. Which meant that he was the more dangerous of the two and the one Sandra would need to concentrate on.

  “I was security in the audience and you look really familiar,” Henry said, voice fading slightly as Sandra took a tighter grip on his emotions. His eyes glazed over and his pupils dilated as Sandra increased the desire and eased away the wariness. Ryan merely watched her avidly, a hungry look in his eyes. He was already Sandra’s, needing minimal manipulation, and she could afford to take some of her attention off of him. “But I guess it doesn’t matter. What can we do for you?”

  “I was wondering if I might ask you gentlemen a favor,” Sandra cooed, sashaying forward and settling herself into Henry’s lap. She smiled winsomely at him, widening her eyes to look as innocent as possible. There was a flash of genuine desire in Henry, one that had nothing to do with her own manipulation, and Sandra knew she had him. Now to get them to do what she needed them to do. Thankfully, she wouldn’t have to worry too much about the words she used. Just the tone and her manipulation and these two would be eating out of her hand. “I am just fascinated by all these cameras and technology. Could you show me what they do? Maybe turn a few on and off?”

  “I don’t think we can do that,” Ryan argued faintly, shaking his head as if flies were buzzing around it. He rubbed his face and Sandra tweaked the desire in him again. Ryan flushed and shifted his feet, sitting down suddenly in his chair. “I mean, it could be our jobs if we do that.”

  “Oh I don’t want you to shut off everything,” Sandra replied, pouting and turning back to Henry. “Maybe if you could just shut off one section, someplace no one’s at. No one will ever know, will they? Just our little secret.”

  She leaned forward and breathed deeply, unable to stop an internal eye roll as Henry’s eyes travelled the expected path down to her chest. He swallowed hard, a sense of duty warring with the desire Sandra kept spiking in his emotions. A quick glance at Ryan showed her the mousy man was out of it, eyes glazed as he stared at a wall. Quick pants came from his parted lips and his cheeks were flushed red. Ryan wouldn’t be a problem anymore nor was he useful. Slowly, taking longer than the locks on the door to unlock, the duty in Henry’s mind was overridden by desire and lust.

  “I... I guess I could do that,” Henry said hesitantly, licking his lips as he brought his eyes back up to meet Sandra’s. “It’s pretty late so maybe one of the hallways in the hotel? I don’t think anyone’s walking around there.”

  “Oh, that’s just a little boring, isn’t it?” Sandra cooed, grinning sharply in victory. She sent a flash of glee to Michael and Amy, the signal they’d agreed upon when coming up with the plan in the first place. She felt an answering pulse of satisfaction and turned her complete attention back to Henry. “How about somewhere down here? Maybe down in the vault? No one will even notice and you don’t have to worry about guests complaining if one decides to go for a stroll.”

  “The... vault?” Henry repeated slowly, turning the words over and over in his mind. He felt like he was moving through molasses, thoughts coming glacially slow. But there was a pleasant tingling and warmth flooding him and that was more important. He needed to do what the woman on his lap wanted because he wanted to make her happy. “I can do that. But not for too long. I don’t want to lose my job.”

  “You won’t, sweetheart,” Sandra whispered, leaning in close while upping the desire in his emotions. Henry shivered under the onslaught and reached for the console. Another pulse of satisfaction told Sandra that Michael had reached the door to the vault but he and Amy were staying out of view of the camera. Henry flipped a switch and one of the camera monitors went dark. He glanced up at her, eyes nearly black from dilated pupils. Sandra started counting in her head, hoping that by the time she reached 120, Michael and Amy would have finished what they were doing. But before she’d even reached 20, Henry was reaching for the switch again.

  “Need to turn it back on,” he mumbled, loyalty to his job surging forward again. Sandra grabbed his hand, settling it against her thigh before leaning down and kissing him. Continuing the c
ount in her head, Sandra used every trick she knew to keep Henry distracted. He kissed back greedily and sloppily, pawing at her hip. Sandra threaded her hands through Henry’s hair, tipping his head back and deepening the kiss as she reached 80. Just a little longer, just a few more seconds of dealing with too much tongue and a roving hand and she could get away. Just after she reached 120, Michael sent her another pulse of satisfaction and Sandra cut the connection she had kept open with him. Now to extricate herself from Henry.

  “All right, sweetheart,” Sandra said, pulling back and pressing a light kiss to Henry’s lips. “I think you taught me enough about the system. I can’t thank you enough.”

  “It was my pleasure,” Henry replied dully, panting slightly. He licked his lips and smiled hopefully up at Sandra. “You know, I get off in a couple hours if you want to go get a drink.”

  “You know, I’d love to, but I’m leaving later this morning,” Sandra said, mock regretfully. She moved Henry’s hand off her hip and stood up, straightening her top and brushing a finger over her lips. The taste of stale coffee lingered in her mouth and Sandra decided the first thing she was going to do when she got back to her room was brush her teeth. “Thank you so much. You should probably turn the system back on.”

  She waved and withdrew the lust and desire she pumped into both men. Ryan was nearly catatonic, still staring at the wall and drooling slightly from the corner of his mouth. Apparently, she’d overestimated his emotional capacity or ability to deal with the load of emotions she could add. Before leaving the room, Sandra tweaked both men’s emotions so that they would have an aversion to discussing what had happened. Let them come up with a reason why the camera went out so long as it didn’t involve her. As she closed the door, Sandra saw Henry flip the switch to turn the camera back on in the vault. There was no outcry or change in his emotions and Sandra felt a hot burst of satisfaction. Everything had gone according to plan, Michael and Amy leaving enough money in plain sight to make it seem as if nothing had been touched. Michael was waiting for her at the end of the hall and held the door open for her politely. They walked out into the hotel proper and linked arms, the very image of a couple out for a late-night stroll.

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  “Time to go,” Michael murmured as he felt the glee Sandra sent him. A glance at Amy showed an excited grin on her face, eyes sparkling as she took off down the hallway. Michael hurried after her, stopping just short of the door so that they weren’t visible on the camera just above it. After sending the signal to Sandra that they were in place, Michael took a deep breath and focused on the door. He started working on the lock on the door, shifting the gravity around the metal so that it turned and unlocked. When the light on the camera stopped flashing, Michael eased the door open and led Amy inside. The door closed with a quiet click and they were left in the dim vault.

  “So, money from the center of the stack here and valuables, right?” Amy said, moving towards the money.

  “Yep. You get a stack of money together and put it under the ventilation opening up there,” Michael said, pointing upwards. “I’ll get the jewelry and stuff.”

  Amy nodded and started taking money from the center of the stack and piling it up underneath the opening. She worked quickly, lips moving silently as she counted the seconds. They’d worked this out several times in Sandra and Michael’s room and Amy moved almost without thought. By the time she was finished, Michael had used his ability to open the lockboxes around the room and several pieces of jewelry joined the pile of money. Stretching his hand upwards, Michael pulled the grating off from the opening and then floated their haul up into the ductwork. Amy sighed and stretched, calming herself. She knew what was coming next and had to agree she was the best one for the job. Her claustrophobia didn’t agree, though, but Michael would never fit through the ducts.

  “Up you go,” Michael whispered, lifting Amy after the money and valuables. Amy pulled herself the rest of the way in and Michael fitted the cover back over the opening. He had reached a count of 115 and hurried out, knowing he didn’t have much longer before the cameras were turned on again. As he walked quickly down the hallway, he looked back over his shoulder to see the little light on the camera start blinking again. Perfectly timed and Michael congratulated himself silently. This was definitely going to be cause for celebration and now they had all the money they could need for the moment. As long as Amy got it through the ventilation system without being detected and back to their rooms.

  Sandra walked out of the security room and headed towards him, a grimace of distaste on her face. But Michael would worry about that later when they had time to breathe and were safe. They had no time for questions just now. He ushered her out of the hallway, letting the door slip closed behind them. Then it was just a short walk to the elevators, their arms linked together, and up to their room.

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  “Okay, Amy, just breathe,” Amy told herself as she worked her way through the ducts. Her breath came in short, nearly panicked pants as she used a cushion of air to float the money and valuables along in front of her. The walls weren’t closing in on her and the duct wasn’t running on forever in front of her. It was a finite area and Amy knew where she was going. She also knew she would get there, her special abilities giving her a unique advantage that regular thieves never had. “Just have to go up a couple floors and then you’re home free.”

  As she hooked around a corner, Amy saw the shaft that led up to the next level. That was the part where things got tricky. Stifling a cough from the dust in the duct, Amy used the air cushion to float everything up to the next level. It was slow and painstaking, requiring all of her concentration. A few drops of sweat trickled down her forehead to sting her eyes but Amy didn’t even blink. She barely even breathed, worried that anything would bring the money and valuables crashing back down. Air wasn’t her most comfortable element and this was a strain of her use of it. In the practice runs they’d had in Sandra’s room, they’d found that this was the most amount of weight that Amy could carry like this. That’s why they didn’t grab more jewels or anything like that.

  When the load made it up and into the next section of ductwork, Amy breathed a heavy sigh of relief and wiped the sweat out of her eyes. Just one more level after that. The next part was far easier: all she did was make a sort of narrow staircase by hardening the air as she stepped up onto it. Following the same path, Amy crawled up her air staircase and settled down on the bottom of the next section of ductwork. Here, she took a few moments to catch her breath. There really wasn’t all that much of a hurry, not anymore. There were no cameras in the ventilation system and no one looking for her.

  “Enough waiting around, you’re not getting anywhere like this,” Amy said, creating the cushion of air again and sliding the haul forward. She was breathing a little easier now, finally past the halfway point of her excursion through the ductwork. Crawling a little faster, Amy rounded another corner and went through about another six feet of ductwork before finding the shaft leading upward. Repeating the steps she’d used previously, Amy got the haul and herself up the shaft. Sandra’s room was at the opposite corner of where she was now but this was the easiest way to get up to this floor.

  With a resigned sigh, Amy scooted forward and turned yet another corner. She crawled the length of that duct and turned one last corner. Taking another moment to comfort her hands, since some of the vents down into the rooms had sharp corners on their covers, Amy let herself exult in the money they’d stolen. Everything had gone perfectly to plan and they even had another show later in the evening. With the money from their shows and the money they stole, they all would be living a comfortable life in no time. The jewelry would either be kept or broken up and the jewels sold individually. When her hands stopped stinging, Amy crawled forward and found the vent that led to Sandra’s room. She could see Michael lounging on the bed, one hand behind his head as he fl
icked through tv channels. Sandra was pacing the room, frustrated huffs of breath escaping her mouth.

  “I’m here,” Amy called down quietly, not wanting her voice to carry to other rooms. The ductwork was surprisingly echo-ey. “Let me out, guys.”

  Michael didn’t bother to hop off the bed to take the cover off the vent. He merely lifted a hand and pulled the vent down. Amy started shoving money and valuables through the opening, letting Michael and Sandra catch it as they fell. Then, she let herself down, feeling Michael catch her in a bubble of lighter gravity. Amy stepped down to the floor and brushed dust and cobwebs off her clothes. Sandra’s face was lit with an unholy glee, hands cradling the stacks of money as if they were precious babies.

  “We did it,” Sandra whispered, thumbing through the stacks and making sure all the bills were real. She wouldn’t put it past the hotel and casino to put dummy paper in the middle of the stack just in case. But it was all real and it was all hers. “We really did it.”

  “Congratulations to us,” Michael laughed, getting up from the bed to pull Sandra into a hug. He kissed her hard for a moment then let go to pick up a few stacks of money. “So, what do we want to do with our ill-gotten gains? I, for one, am not burying it.”

  “We’re not pirates,” Amy chuckled, rolling her eyes. “But I don’t think we should keep it in either of our rooms. Just in case the hotel searches the rooms.”

  Sandra let their conversation wash right over her, not paying any particular attention. Her mind was busy spinning different scenarios, so many options for where her life could go from this point. Knowing that their plan worked was merely the first step. Yet it was still early; they may not have gotten away as cleanly as they thought. Time would tell. But for now, they needed to get more rest. They had another show later in the evening and Sandra wanted to be completely rested for the final rehearsal before the show.