20(S2E9)-The Heist

20

(Season 2, Episode 9)

The Heist

12:30 PM Sunday

“This seems flimsy,” Linda said, going over the plan again in her head.

Tobias fought back the urge to agree.  “It’s the best one I have.”

Tobias pulled the long sleeve waffle knit shirt over his head and Linda raised an eyebrow.  “You realize we’re in North Carolina?  Isn’t that shirt a little much?”

Tobias grinned at her.  “Ever since I saw an episode of CSI: NY when they caught a guy from an arm hair I try to have as little flesh showing as possible.”

“I see.  You realize that since you have never been arrested they would have nothing to match it to?”  Linda said knowingly.

Tobias frowned at her.  “Hey, let’s leave the thievery to me, alright?”

Linda let it go.  “I just think this is too risky.”

Tobias handed her the pack of Chinese firecrackers to put in her purse.  “This is the best I can come up with on such short notice.”

Linda tried to come up with an argument but she couldn’t.  It didn’t change the fact that she was worried about this job.  She was distracted from these thoughts as she watched Tobias unfold a paperclip then worked it around the buckle of his belt.  “What is that for?”

Tobias smiled at her.

****

1:53 PM Sunday

 Tobias strode through the front door and walked into the lobby.  The security guards all perked up as he entered. Some of the businesses in the building were open even on Sundays, so the building was open but there were very few workers.

The security detail was also smaller on Sundays.  Only four heavily trained, very alert security guards monitored the building.  It was a good day to steal from them.

“Attention, workers and guards!” Tobias suddenly raised his voice, garnishing the attention of the three security guards and the one woman who was rushing out of the building to get to the last remaining shred of weekend she had left.

Tobias couldn’t help but smile at the attention.  “I have an announcement…”

The security guards were already advancing on him.  This forced him to widen his smile.  God help him, but he loved this. This had never been his style.  He preferred to be quiet, sneak in sneak out.  The situation had forced Tobias to get creative.  The last round of Sidney’s tournament was that night and she would need leverage against Savannah.

Leverage that Tobias had to get.

“In the next sixty minutes, I am going to rob this building blind.” Tobias finished his statement and the security guards were on him.

****

1:54 PM Sunday

 Linda watched from her car across the street, and felt the butterflies in her stomach begin to move.  Nervous, excited anticipation came over her as she realized there was no turning back.  The plan was in motion and this was it.

Her part was small in the heist itself but very important, at least that was what Tobias had told her.  She wasn’t sure if he was being honest or placating her but either way there was no chance she was going to fail at the task.

She took a series of deep breathes in an attempt to calm herself, then she stepped out of the car and walked across the street holding nothing but her purse.  She reached the side walk and checked her watch.

2:00 PM Sunday

She nodded to herself.  It was time.  She calmly walked down the street placing her hand into her purse as if she was looking for something, when in all actuality, she was protecting her face from the exterior security cameras on the building and lighting the line of fire crackers hidden in the otherwise empty bag.

The bag started to make a low hissing noise signifying the explosives where lit.  With that, Linda arrived in front of the main entrance and in one swift motion opened the door and hurled the bag inside.

It sailed through the air and landed dead center in the middle of the floor.  The thwap noise in the quiet, nearly empty lobby caught the security guards’ attention.  They saw the bag but before they could do anything, the loud bangs of the bag began to explode and crackle throughout the lobby.  The succession made the room sound like Beirut.

“SHOTS FIRED!” One of the security guards screamed

“DOWN!”  Another screamed as the men dropped behind the counter to avoid the phantom gunfire.

In the commotion, Linda calmly but quickly, walked away and circled the block before coming back to her car.  Once inside, she grabbed her cell phone and called Tobias.

If he didn’t answer they were in serious trouble.

****

2:00 PM Sunday

The men grabbed Tobias, cuffed his arms in front of him and two of the men then dragged him past the main security station and down a hall branching off the to the right of the lobby.

They opened a secure door with a swipe of a key card then shoved Tobias into the small room.  The room was without windows or exits with the exception of the air vent in the ceiling that was out of range.

The room was made for holding people.

Tobias turned quickly and ran at the man who shoved him, slamming into him.  The guard was taken off balance and stumbled before catching his feet and delivering a hard fore arm shot to the side of Tobias’ head.  Tobias stumbled and fell to one knee.

The blow was more of a deterrent then a real attack and Tobias shook it off easily.

“Try that shit again and you’ll be eating through a tube.” The guard said angrily as he shut the door behind him.

Tobias frowned.  “Not very original.”

The guard’s eyes narrowed but he didn’t respond.  Instead, he turned to his partner. “Go call the cops and tell them we have a prisoner in custody.  Let them sort this whack job out.”

Tobias smiled at the remark and looked at his watch.

3…2…1…

Gunfire sounded from the lobby and the guards spun toward it as if they could see through walls.  Their radios buzzed and a panicked voiced screamed that shots were fired in the main lobby and they had no idea where it had come from.

The two guards rushed out of the room making sure to shut the electronically sealed door behind them with a click.

Tobias wasted no time pulling the electronic key card out of his sleeve.  He had lifted it off the guard when he had charged him and jammed it up is cuff when he fell to the floor.

He then put his hands to his waist and quickly un-bent the paperclip he had wrapped around the buckle till he had a long piece of metal.  With a quick couple of movements he unlocked the hand cuffs and dropped them to the floor.

****

2:06 PM Sunday

Mitch Clark had been a Special Forces Delta Squad member.  He was highly trained and in great shape, even though he was forty.  He had been honorably discharged from the military at age thirty-five and since then, had been doing this relatively boring job.

It suited him, however, and the pay was good.  He wasn’t one of those Rambo types who couldn’t let it go.  Instead, he never minded settling down, now married with three kids and a grandchild on the way.

In all the time he had been here nothing like this had ever happened.

His normal everyday job had turned into the gulf war in a matter of seconds and he couldn’t help but worry as he crouched low and moved in behind the security desk as the shooting continued.

He couldn’t help but think that something was off about the gunfire as he instinctively reached for a gun he didn’t have.  He cursed himself, remembering what he did for a living.  No longer the soldier.

He moved up behind the desk next to Charlie Jenson, a good kid who worked under him but often had delusions about this job being bigger than it was.  He clutched his night stick nervously.  “Sir!  Gunfire!”

Mitch nodded.  “Did you see the shooter before it started?”

Charlie shook his head.  “No, sir.  Didn’t see anyone, just a purse.”

The gun fire seemed to slow and Mitch was starting to be very suspicious of the sounds, “A purse?”

Charlie nodded.  “Some woman just hurled a purse into the middle of the room, and then all hell broke loose.”

Mitch exhaled and looked at the floor realizing what was wrong with the gunfire.  It wasn’t gunfire at all, “Firecrackers.”

Charlie looked confused.  “Excuse me?”

Mitch stood up and all three of his men screamed “No!” at the top of their lungs but nothing happened.  Mitch saw, in the middle of the floor, the remains of a purse and a few Chinese fire crackers, the last remaining charges popping off.

When Mitch’s head didn’t explode in a puff of pink mist, the other three slowly stood to see the same sight.

“Fucking firecrackers!” Mitch yelled.

Mitch then reached for his card to turn off the alarm that someone had set off in panic and realized that his card was gone.

“That mother fucker!” Mitch almost growled as he turned into a sprint, running back the way he came and down the hall to the holding room which now stood open.

The thief was gone.  He had breached security and used them to do it.

****

2:15 PM Sunday

The real estate office was closed and the only man there was the janitor who waved to Tobias as he walked past, then went back to buffing the tile floors while listing to his head phones.

Tobias knew that even with the distraction, he had very little time to waste.  Even with only four guards it wouldn’t be long before they searched the floor and he needed to be gone by then.

He moved to the far end of the floor and entered Savannah’s office when his phone rang.  It was Linda checking in.  He answered.  “I’m in.”

Tobias had used his paper clip to pick the lock to Savannah’s office.  It had taken him a minute which was longer than it should have and he wondered if he was getting rusty with age.

“They were all at the front but the sirens are going off.  Cops will be there soon.” she said.  “How long will this take?” She asked through the jitters that came with a first time crime.

“Not long,” he said switching on her computer.  “I plug this device into the USB port and it transfers the entire hard drive to Skeever.  He then finds some leverage and we have what we want.”

Tobias kept his head on a swivel as the computer took what seemed like an hour to boot up.  Finally, he jabbed the device into the drive and it began to transfer when the elevator at the end of the hall dinged.

“Shit!” Tobias whispered as he dropped behind the desk.

“What?!” Linda asked anxiously.

“They’re here.” He whispered into the receiver as he could hear the guard leader giving orders.

“Get out of there!” Linda whispered now back to him even though she wasn’t the one hiding.

Tobias knew the computer needed more time so he had to somehow get the guards away from this room.  He didn’t really care if he left the device behind since it would be useless after the transfer.  “Plan B.”

“What is Plan B?!” Linda asked franticly.

Tobias hung up the phone as the guards entered the room.

Tobias was all about the details when it came to Plan A.  Plan B however, had one simple step.

Run.

Tobias moved in one fluid motion, vaulting over the desk on a straight shot at the door. One guard stood in his way but he was small and judging from the look in his eye, he was completely taken by surprise.

Tobias hit him low and sent him backward onto the slippery, freshly polished tile floor. Tobias struggled to keep his footing and tried to sprint past as he could already hear the guards screaming to grab him.

The one who he had knocked over got his hand out and caught Tobias’s leg sending him pitching forward but Tobias had enough presence to use the momentum throwing himself forward and hitting the floor like a baseball player trying to slide into a base.

He slid across the floor and out of the reach of the second guard who turned fast to chase but slipped and crashed head first to the ground.  Tobias stood as he stopped and swiped the card to the door that lead to the stairs.

As he jumped through the doorway, a guard caught the back of his shirt collar but he didn’t get enough and this only served to rip Tobias’ shirt.  Tobias spun and slammed the door in the guards face and hurried up the stairs.

The guards went through after him but thinking the logical move was to go down, they flew in that direction.

Tobias moved to the roof access door and swiped his card opening the door.  Once on the roof he moved fast, pulling off his ripped waffle knit shirt to reveal a cut off flannel shirt under it.  He then slipped out of his Dockers to reveal denim shorts, and then pulled off his gloves and pulled a ball cap he had taped to his chest out of the front of his shirt and put it on.

****

2:26 PM Sunday

The cop eyed Mitch with suspicion when he finished his story.  Mitch had informed the police it had just been a child’s prank and completely left out the thief part.  If he had told the truth he would have lost his job, and Mitch had no intention of going broke because some asshole wanted a peek at some real estate files.

“Just a prank then?” The cop asked, still suspicious.

Mitch opened his mouth to answer when he saw a red neck walk out of the far alley between the buildings and calmly walk across the street to a car with a good looking blonde in the driver’s seat.  The car then slowly pulled into traffic.

“Sir?” The cop again asked Mitch, who had been watching the car go in a daze.

“Mother fucker.” Mitch mumbled.

“Excuse me?” The cop asked with more than a little agitation in his voice.

Mitch couldn’t help but smile.  “Yeah, it was just a prank.”

Mitch shook his head and thought to himself how that was the most honest thief he had ever met.

END EPISODE 20