The message had arrived sometimes in the morning when he was out doing grocery shopping. It was a regular job, though not exactly his specialty lately but nothing out of ordinary or even too complicated, something he was usually paid to do and it was not against the law. There were companies that specialized in such things, he just happened to like to work alone in the absence of his old team. He bit on one croquette and started to scan through the lines of text looking for the appointed target.
Fingers tapped nervously on the desk while she waited for the file to download. It was a long shot, there were some key points she knew she would have some trouble to overcome, and since she insisted on working alone, something she'd learned from Mac, it was going to take her some time. But she wasn't going anywhere and she had a lot of time on her hands. Insurance business was boring.
"Why should we do it? We're retired. We don't need money. We don't need any fame… and…"
"And mother's not here." The blond man sitting on the bench beside the younger agitated one chuckled.
"And… mother's not here." he sighed.
"Well…" his friend shrugged and took a mouthful of his sandwich "we don't have to do it."
"Right." The third man nodded with a relaxed smile. "We just… sit here, enjoy the spring in the air and…" he narrowed his eyes at the building in front of them "…watch."
"And since we're here… we can just think about it… see if we could do it, right, Linus?" the blond man said to his younger friend.
"Yeah… I guess…" Linus muttered. "Do we know anything about it?" he asked but there was a hint of interest in his voice.
"Some… there are still a few holes to fill…" he admitted. "It would take some digging… and convincing… but we should be able to gather all the info and stuff we need… that's all in theory of course." he added with a smirk.
"Hmm… it doesn't look that challenging… we've done tougher things… Rusty, wouldn't it be a waste of our time?" Linus wondered eyeing the building and assessing the situation.
"Danny doesn't think so." The blond man chuckled and elbowed the man on his other side.
The third man quirked a smile and kept looking at the building. The wheels inside his head were spinning fast.
"You think you can open it?" Rusty asked casually.
"Yeah, I know that brand, it should be no problem. I'll just need some time." Linus nodded. He wasn't speaking in theory any longer.
"That we don't have much." Rusty mused. "So now the question is how we get in… and out."
Two pairs of eyes turned to look at Danny.
The man in question answered serenely. "I have no idea."
But he was going to think of something.
She had a perfect legitimate reason to be in the square that day. She was coming out of work and had decided to walk home. Spring was right around the corner and she opened her long coat feeling the warm breeze that caressed her beautifully shaped legs. The pigeons walking on the pavement around her looked up but they weren't interested in mother nature's work of art, they just wanted to see if she carried a bag with food for them. Gin ignored them and pulled out her cell phone. Pretending to check her messages she quickly took photos of the surrounding area.
Pigeons might not be interested in nature's beauty but human males sure were, it was the main reason why that terrace had been placed strategically there. Rusty rose his eyes from the table and dropped the spoon in his cup splashing coffee all around when he saw that familiar silhouette in the crowd. "Fuck!" he swore and motioned to get up.
"Oh, man…" Linus complained looking down at the brown stains on his sleeve.
Only Danny reached for Rusty's arm to stop him. "Where are you going?"
"Look, it's Isabel…" he pointed at the far south-east corner of the square.
"It's not Isabel."
"She looks like Isabel…" Linus mused eyeing the woman.
"It can't be Isabel. She isn't here." Danny reasoned calmly and Rusty slumped back in his chair.
"But…" he whined "it's Isabel…" mumbled to himself looking longingly at the woman in the distance.
"It's not… so who is she?" Danny asked the next obvious question.
"I don't know. I haven't seen her before." Linus said. He would have remembered her, Isabel was a beautiful and interesting woman.
Rusty dropped his head in his hand looking like he had lost his best friend but Danny retrieved his cell phone and opened it. "Do you have a good signal?"
The other two men opened theirs to check.
"Yep."
"Crystal clear."
"Then why is she photographing our building?" Danny deadpanned.
"Please sign here…" the postman handed him the pad.
Martin Bishop signed and took the heavy yellow envelope from the man and then closed the door. On the way to the computer the envelope was ripped open and he looked over the papers. Ah it was that time of the year again, he had to pay his taxes. What a joy. He dropped them on the desk and with one hand he picked up the phone that was just starting to ring.
"Yes."
"Marty, how are you doing, man? You know the data I sent you a couple of days ago? What's going on with that?" a voice chatted quite loudly in his ear.
"Dave, you know I only do one job at a time. I won't be free until next week."
"I know, but my clients are getting antsy. Someone is tapping into their system and although there's no damage yet they're freaking out."
"Then it's a crooked system, they don't need me to prove them that."
"No, it's a good system, last generation and all that crap. This thing shouldn't happen. Can you take a look into it? They don't know what to do…"
"OK, but I don't promise anything. I'm really…"
"Thanks Marty!" Click.
"…busy." he finished with a sigh and put the phone down.
Friends and favors, not a good combination. He searched for the file Dave had sent him earlier in the week and read the specifications. Not a bad security system as a whole. He could think of very few ways of improving it. He also discovered minor flaws that only very skilled people could use in their advantage. For now everything seemed in order. He started to monitor its behavior and since it was still in the normal parameters he went back to his work.
Later when he looked over the readings he discovered a pattern that had no reason to be there. It looked like Dave had been right, someone was periodically breaking into the system what for he couldn't possibly imagine. It wasn't a regular hacking, it seemed to be done just for the fun of it which of course no one in his right mind would ever do. You could end up spending your retirement in jail if you got caught. It got him curious, and you know what they say, curiosity killed the cat. The same thing was going to happen to Marty.
She was almost ready. After months of preparations she was confident she had it all under control, just one more detail to fix. It was why she was in that sport store looking for a spandex suit. The one she was using for working out she had become too fond of so she needed a new one. And possibly adequate shoes too.
The boy working in the store came quickly to help her dumping an older lady who wanted roller blades for her nephew, but Gin dismissed him with a short gesture of her hand. She didn't need any help, she knew exactly what she wanted but she always started just by looking first.
At the other end of the store three men were doing basically the same thing, the only difference being in the size of the suits they needed.
"I'm thinking to get myself one of these." Linus said picking up a fishing rod and trying it in his hands.
"Not bad." Danny nodded. "If you catch anything Rusty will volunteer to eat it. He likes fish, right Rusty?… Rusty?… Rusty?" he turned around to look for him when no one answered. "Where did he go?"
"Oh, no…" Linus muttered seeing who was Rusty about to approach near the changing room.
"Isn't too early in the year to go diving?" the blond man grinned at the brunette who had a black spandex suit hanging on her arm.
"The local diving club has an acclimatized pool." she replied with a smirk.
"Would you recommend it?" God, she looked just like Isabel except for the longer hair.
"Absolutely. You can work out without having to embarrass yourself in front of an audience." Another smart reply.
Was she implying he needed to work out? He looked down at himself. He was in a good shape as ever. Maybe she meant another form of work out.
"Have we met?" he narrowed his eyes at her as if trying to remember.
She took one step closer to the changing room. "I don't think so."
"Rusty Ryan." his hand shot out.
"Virginia Baker." Her hand rested in his for a brief moment. "Now excuse me, I need to try this on…" she smiled and disappeared behind the curtain.
Wow, she even felt like Isabel. Her accent was different though. Not Isabel, he sighed.
"Rusty, come on, let her go…" Danny pulled him away. "We have to take these and go. We have a meeting at four." he reminded him.
"Yeah, yeah… I know…"
"Are you gonna take that?" Danny asked Linus.
"What, this?" he looked at the fishing rod he was still holding. "Nah, maybe another time…"
Most robberies were done at night. Not because security was less tight but mostly because there were less chances to run into unwanted witnesses. Two parties were planning to enter the bank that night. One slid down on a cord from the roof aiming for one particular window, and the other was dressed as sanitation service men coming out of a truck at the back entrance.
Virginia had had the plans for months having been special consultant on that insurance contract, so special that her name wasn't mentioned anywhere in the paperwork, and of course she had kept them as she did with all her work. There had been no intention to break into the bank at the time but since then a valuable jewelry collection had been stored in the vault and her eyes sparkled just by thinking about them. It hadn't been incredibly difficult for her to come up with a plan to get in and take what she wanted. Quietly she climbed up the window and closed it behind her. Then she let out a small sigh. First step had been done. She was inside.
At the gate Danny, Rusty and Linus showed up their accreditation cards to be let in. They passed the inspection without problems, the forgery had been done extremely well, and they followed the regular path to the garbage storage. The corridor was empty so no one noticed when instead of opening the right door they went to the next. The card they used worked and from that point on they had twenty minutes until someone would start wondering where they were.
The next critical step was when she had to enter the underground floor. There was a whole separate security system assigned to that area and she was a bit nervous about it but nerves were good with such a job, they were keeping her on her toes. She pressed the keys on the control panel by the door and… nothing.
"This can't be right…" Gin grumbled to herself and tried again.
The lid flickered as if processing the command but didn't stay on.
"Oh, come on…" she rolled her eyes.
This was stupid, it had to work. Unless the system was disabled already. She used her card and, click, the door got unlocked. Too easy. Hmm. They couldn't have forgotten it this way, and there was no reason to cancel it, people in the banking business were paranoid when money was involved. Must be a system malfunction. It didn't occur to her that someone must have passed that way before her.
She continued to walk moving light on her feet and making no noise at all. As she made it to the main safe without encountering any other obstacles on the way she discovered someone had already taken over the job of opening it. Three men were working on it while whistling cheerfully.
"Fourteen minutes." one of them announced.
"You're not gonna blast that out, are you?" her voice echoed clearly in the room.
"Shit!" Linus dropped one of the detonators and hurried to pick it right back up.
"Isa…" Rusty swallowed the rest of the word when he saw the woman leaning against the wall with her arms crossed upon her chest.
"What… what are you doing here?" Danny stammered perplexed. They had been so sure no one was downstairs between 2:05 – 2:25 that they hadn't bothered to put someone to stand on guard, not that they had enough men for that too.
"Geez, I don't know… I must be sleepwalking." She deadpanned. "And dreaming there are three idiots working on my safe. What do you think I'm doing here?!" she argued.
"Your safe?" Linus' eyebrows rose.
"Now this explains why you didn't find her registered at the diving club." Danny said towards Rusty eyeing her costume. "I think I liked Isabel better…" he muttered to the blond man who still didn't seem able to put two words together. "Listen… It's obvious why we're are all here," he started on a condescend tone "but we were here first."
"Well, I came prepared better." Gin claimed and pulled away from the wall. "I can open that for you" she managed to say it without growling and pointed at the big metal door "without making it go boom and alerting the entire neighborhood… for a price." she smirked.
"That's impossible, you can't open it, it's a 101 Marches…" Linus contradicted her.
"Unless you have the code and the key." she smiled serenely.
"And you have that?" Danny looked pointedly at her.
Gin rolled her eyes. Of course she had them, she didn't make a habit of taking midnight walks inside banks for nothing. "Here…" she pulled out the master key from her pocket to show it to them.
Hmm, okay she was good, Danny had to agree. He couldn't get his hands on one of those and the code was out of the question, it would have cost too damn much to get it. "So what's your price?" he stepped away from the door.
Virginia took cautiously one step back. "First I want to make something clear… you can take the key from me but you can't make me give you the code. You simply don't have the time." She glanced at her watch. "In fact there's barely enough time left to blow it up. Do we agree so far?"
"Ten minutes." Linus checked his watch too.
The men looked at each other. No matter what she might think about them they weren't into torture, and especially not when women were the subject. And the time schedule was getting tight. Danny nodded.
They could always kill her after she did her part but she didn't think they would at least not there. She didn't see any weapons on them.
"What do you want?" Rusty asked finally finding his voice.
"I'm here for the Clermont jewelry collection and I intend to leave with it. I don't care about anything else, you can take it all." she stated.
That suited them fine, better than fine even, not that they would let her know it. "Deal." Danny said. "How much time do you need to open it?"
"Twenty seconds." She was already walking to the door. Linus moved closer to watch what she was doing but she kept her word and eighteen seconds later the massive door opened and they entered the vault.
"Eight minutes." Linus continued the counting.
Virginia went straight to the case labeled 10127 where the jewelry collection was stored. Her time schedule was slightly different but she had to hurry too, even more now that they were there. What if they messed up somehow and the authorities were warned before she could leave the building?
"Start loading." Danny commanded.
While careful not to miss any of the expensive jewelry she had her mind set on she kept an eye on the men's activity behind her. She didn't miss that two of them immediately started to fill the garbage padded sacks they had brought with them, but the one that seemed to be the leader went first to take something from a case in the back. They weren't there only for the money, she realised, they had agreed too easily to share the capture with her. Something to think about, later.
"Six minutes."
"I'm done." she announced. "I can leave you boys to get out by yourselves?" she smirked.
"Try not to get caught. We need five more minutes." Danny replied seriously.
She needed more and their intrusion was making things difficult for her. "Close the door before you leave…" if they weren't amateurs and managed to leave without setting the police on their way the longest it took to discover the robbery the better. "One more thing…" she asked for their attention "Don't try to screw me over on this… if I'm going down you're going down with me. I worked for these people, I can tell them you forced me to help you." she warned them. "I know his name" she nodded at the blond man "that will be enough."
Rusty mocked a grimace.
"Good riddance." Danny mimed a brief salute a smile dancing on his lips. He didn't trust her but he liked her style.
She grinned and disappeared outside the vault.
"Move, move, move!" Linus alerted them and they started to open cases at random and drop the content on the floor. More madness would delay the investigation.
Fifty minutes later the Ocean gang was sitting quietly on the riverbank enjoying the calm and quiet of the night, two kilometers away from the bank assaulted by the police, and Gin was celebrating in her own way sipping champagne on the rooftop of her apartment building.
Marty stretched his back and rubbed his eyes. After a couple of hours spent in front of the computer he was feeling the need for a snack. His way to the kitchen was diverted to the door when he heard the doorbell ring and he stared at the two suits standing in the doorway.
"Martin Bishop?" the taller man asked.
"Yes."
"FBI. I'm agent Walker" he flashed his badge "and this is agent Miller." His colleague did the same. "We want to talk to you."
Want not need. This couldn't be good. With a resigned shrug Marty gestured for them to get in. He couldn't think of any reason for them to be there, he'd been clean for years, so he stood leaning against the desk and waited for the visitors to start talking.
"Turkish Bank for Development has been robbed two days ago. Over 100 millions stolen…"
"120 millions." Miller specified.
"Do you know anything about that?" Walker interrogated him.
"Only what I read in the papers." It had been on the front page of every newspaper in town since it had happen. It would have been hard to miss. Still Marty had a feeling it wasn't the answer the feds wanted.
"We found evidence of you hacking into the bank's security system, Mr. Bishop." Walker claimed.
"It wasn't hacking. I was hired to test the system and identify the possible flaws."
"The bank has no records of hiring you or anyone else for that matter." Miller stepped in.
A muscle twitched along Marty's jaw. This was not good. Had Dave set him up? Very unlikely, Dave had a family and three kids and they had known each other for years. Someone must have fooled him, posing as working for the bank. He chose not to mention his name, if he did Dave would go down too and he didn't want that for his friend. "Then I can't explain it." he shrugged.
"You are aware, Mr. Bishop, that with this thin defense and your previous felony record you are facing 20 years in prison, right?" Walker insisted.
"20 to 22." Miller added to make it more precise.
Marty wisely kept quiet. If they had come to arrest him they would have done it already. They wanted something from him, they always did.
"The government would be willing to reduce the sentence if you agree to… show your patriotism."
Ah, now we're talking… "What do you want me to do?" As long as he didn't have to kill anyone, and computer geeks hardly ever had to do that, he knew he could handle it. They wouldn't have come to him if he hadn't been the right man for the job and they had special people to do the killing.
Walker nodded at Miller and this one opened his briefcase. "We have this…" he pulled out a plastic bag labeled 'Evidence B3' which contained a small disc "it's encrypted…" he said but Marty had already guessed that part.
"We have specialized personnel for this but we need someone to do it faster. It's a matter of national security, Mr. Bishop. We've received some threats…" Walker decided to leave it there.
"How fast?"
"Two days."
"I'll have to take a look at it before I can guarantee that."
"You're missing the point, Mr. Bishop, you have no saying in this." Miller stated.
"Once the deadline has passed the deal is off." Walter took the disc from his partner and threw it on the desk.
Miller reached back into his briefcase and produced two paper sheets covered in small printing and with an official header at the top. "It's the confidentiality clause. Sign here…" he pulled out an expensive pen from his breast pocket, pushed his metal frame glasses higher on his nose and showed him where.
He didn't bother to read it, he knew what it said. He couldn't discuss the matter or show the evidence to anyone, neither mother, brother, cat or dog. Lucky him, he had none.
"Thank you..." Miller took back the pages, checked the signatures and carefully stored them in his briefcase. Marty noticed he didn't leave him a copy, of course not.
"Two days, Mr. Bishop." Walter reminded him. "We'll be in touch…"
Marty showed them to the door and closed it after them. He stood there for a moment assessing the situation, but there wasn't much he could do about it beside the actual work. He returned to the desk, put the disc in a safe place along with the pen that Miller had forgotten and he hadn't exactly hurried to give it back, and then he picked up his jacket and went out. He needed to get some coffee, lots of coffee.
Around the corner Danny was waving at the cab to stop.
"Think he bought it?" Linus asked.
"Yes, he did. Let's go get Rusty and take care of the other thing."
"We need to get rid of this first," he held up the briefcase "it weights a tone."
"Coffee with milk and cream." Rusty gave the order to the cute waitress waiting to serve him.
"I'll take mine black." Virginia dropped her purse on the chair near his showing up out of nowhere and took a seat across the table in front of him. "Hi."
"Hey…" he grinned intrigued to see her there. "Lunch break?"
"No, it's my day off." she smiled and pulled out a cigarette. Rusty hurried to lit it for her. "Thanks. You?"
"What a coincidence, me too." he leaned back in his chair with a contented look. "Have you been diving lately? How's the water?"
"The water is fine, calm and warm."
"Did you find any treasure?"
Gin shook her head. "Not yet."
"How did you find me?"
"Oh, you showed up in one of the photos I took." she shrugged her hand like that had been easy and nodded at the waitress who was bringing their coffees.
"Interested in photography?" he continued the conversation.
"Architecture." Gin took a sip of her hot coffee. "I love this square."
"So do I. That's why I come here to eat so often."
"I've noticed. You're friends do too." she smirked. "Where are they by the way?" she was used to see them in the square together and she'd had to wait until the right moment to find Rusty alone.
"Working."
"Poor souls." she let out a compassionate sigh.
"Indeed. They're working very hard." a glint lit his eyes. "You?"
"Not so hard. Just closed another contract. It pays well but not as much as others can make. Did you hear they robbed the bank last week?" she gestured to the building at the distant part of the square. "They might have made millions. 80 I've heard."
"60, it was a slow night… but they were marked."
"Ah, too bad…"
"There's also the jewelry…"
"They were fake." she claimed.
They were both lying and convinced the other was too. It was part of the game.
"Oh, well… I wouldn't worry about them. Never seen thieves starving." Rusty grinned.
"Yeah, I'm sure they'll soon find another job."
They looked at each other for a moment in silence and then Virginia reached for her purse. She put some money on the table to pay for the coffee and she got up.
"It was nice running into you, Rusty. Please say hi to your friends for me."
"I sure will, Gin… I sure will." the man grinned wondering what did she really want from him.
Those had been two days of hell. Marty couldn't eat, sleep or drink, and he was getting paranoid. He had the constant feeling of being watched. Dave wasn't answering the phone, little did he know he'd left on vacation with the family, and he didn't trust contact anyone else. Where was Mother when you needed him?
The encrypted code was hard to crack, really hard, and after a while it had stopped making any difference whether he drank coffee or water. What he really wanted was a drink and to send everyone to hell but he couldn't afford it, not yet.
The second night was the toughest, he wasn't advancing much and he was running out of time. He hadn't encountered something so challenging as the small disc the feds had given him in a long time. In the morning he was still running out of time. Enlightenment came shortly after noon and he let the computer do the rest of the work while he took a long relaxing shower.
He still hadn't eaten when the phone rang announcing him there was a cab waiting for him downstairs. It took him to the airport and in the waiting room close to the terminal for the flight to London he met with them.
"Let's take a seat." Walker gestured to a row of chairs and they all sat down. "I take it you solved our little problem, otherwise you wouldn't be here."
Marty kept his comments to himself and reaching inside his pocket he handed him another small disc. "You'll find all you need on it."
"We need the original too." Miller held his hand open and Marty gave him that too.
"Thank you, Mr. Bishop. You did a great service to your country." Walker shook his hand. "I don't have to remind you that all of this is top secret until we catch the bad guys…"
"And after that too." Miller added.
Marty nodded, he understood perfectly. "You forgot your pen." he gave it to Miller who covered his surprise easily and took it.
"Thanks."
"Goodbye, Mr. Bishop. Stay out of trouble and we will contact you…" Walker said before getting up and leaving with Miller to the terminal. Their flight was being announced.
There were a few moments of silence and then a woman voice spoke:
"You know those weren't FBI agents, don't you?"
Marty turned his head and looked at the woman sitting in a chair behind him with her back turned to him. "I know."
Virginia finally turned too and with one hand showed him her IDs while the other she held it out to him. "Isabel Lahiri from Europol." she introduced herself with a reserved smile. "Let me take you to lunch, Mr. Bishop. We need to talk."
"To our success!"
"Yeah!"
"To success!"
The men clinked their bottles with mineral water and grinned. The big day was coming. This was the one, not the bank robbery, that had only been needed for preparation, but this, this was it. The biggest heist they had ever pulled off. For one night only, the money bid by three terrorist organizations for a new mass destruction weapon in an illegal auction would be stored in one place, held under strict supervision tighter than anything imagined. It was the challenge that excited them more than the money some might say though it was a very nice sum.
"Let's go over the sequence of events once again." Danny requested. Everything had to work as planned or jail would feel like heaven compared to what the mob would do to them if caught. "One. 2:23…"
"The alarm goes off." Linus said.
"Two. 2:37…"
"We get in." Rusty continued.
"Three. 2:48…"
"The safe is open." Linus nodded.
"Four. 2:52…"
"We load the cargo." Rusty grinned.
"Five. 3:06… we go out." Danny finished.
So he thought. The door of the warehouse where they were planning all their strategic moves opened and Virginia walked in.
"Six. We hide the money… Seven. You split the capture with me… you can pick the times." she smiled sweetly at them.
"Oh boy…" Rusty sighed and made one long face. Virginia wanting to be part of the operation was complicating things.
"I'm starting to get tired of you walking in on us like this all the time." Danny frowned.
"Won't happen again." she smirked.
"How did you do it?"
"Did what?" she feigned innocence.
"Found us."
"Apparently Marty is not so easy to fool as you thought he was." she replied. "He helped me monitor your moves." She claimed and stepping behind Linus' seat she leaned forward and reaching over his shoulder she pulled out the fancy pen from his breast pocket and threw in on the small table between them. They nodded obviously impressed. Marty had been one step ahead of them. He might even be one step ahead Gin but she didn't like to think that was the case.
Danny gestured for her to occupy the fourth empty seat at the table so he could buy time for himself to consider their options. She wanted some of that money and he didn't like that.
Gin sat down, crossed her legs pretending she didn't care about the effect they had on the men present and asked all business like. "Any more questions?"
"How much do you know?" Danny questioned though he didn't have many hopes that something might still be saved.
"I know what's the code you asked Mary to decrypt used for." Frankly it was all she needed to know. That small piece of information was telling her everything, the target, the location and the circumstances. She didn't need anything else, but she had done her homework well.
"That's hardly enough for you to raise pretensions to be taken in." Linus argues.
Rusty watched the woman curious waiting for her answer. He had a feeling she had another ace up her sleeve. And she did.
"I can get you out of the danger area in half time and I can provide a safe place to keep the money for as long as needed."
That sure rose their interest.
"Explain." Danny invited her.
Blue prints were spread on the table and four heads lowered over them. "The building at the north side of our ground zero…" Gin's finger pointed at the right square. "Not many people know it but years ago it used to be connected to the old underground tunnel system of the city… which is ruined now and closed to the public access but still usable if done with care."
"That opens a lot of possibilities." He had to agree.
"How do we get to that building and where to from there?" Rusty asked.
"As you see the two buildings have a common wall between them and right about… here…" her finger moved a bit "there's a door."
"Aaaah…" Rusty smirked. "Locked, isn't it?"
"Sealed. But it can be opened and ironically it's easier to do so from the outside." she shrugged. "We'll need a man there to work on it and open it for us at the right time."
"We don't have any extras. It's just the three of us." Danny pointed out.
"Four." she reminded him with a smile. "Your locksmith can wait outside. You have the emergency code."
Linus frowned, he didn't want to miss all the action. "We need three people inside." Danny insisted.
"I'll be in there with you." she stated simply. "I can carry as much as you can." The men honestly doubted that.
"OK, assuming what you say works and we make it to this nearby building… what next?" Danny carried on with the plan.
"We make it to the basement, the entrance to the tunnel should be cleared in advance, we follow this path…" another plan was laid on the table with the tunnels map on it and a red line showing the way they should follow "…and we end here."
"What's that?" Danny's eyes narrowed. "That's the museum… you can't be serious." he blinked looking up at her.
"I am. The security is less strict than anyone would think in some ways and I know the place like the back of my hand." Gin claimed displaying a smirk. "So boys… what do you think?"
There was a long pause until Danny said "Equal share?"
"What else?" she deadpanned.
The things had gone well. The fire alarm started at the scheduled time in the building across the street and soon the area was blocked by fire trucks and people in yellow suits going in and out of all nearby buildings. No one noticed the three extras who mixed with the troupes. They were wearing protective suits, helmets and air filters on their faces.
They entered the private residence along with the others passing by the guards totally overwhelmed by the invasion and they easily got separated on the way and headed to the back part of the house where the vault was. The emergency code that no one other than the owner had worked from the first try, lucky for them or otherwise the whole building would have blown up, and from there it was relatively easy to go find the hidden door in the wall.
Linus was waiting on the other side in the retirement house, the residents were too old decrepit and deaf to wake up because of all the racket outside, and he led them to the basement and from there inside the tunnel labyrinth upon which the entire downtown had been built hundreds of years ago.
It was a good thing they had inspected the way the previous day from end to end, it made it easier this time for them so they didn't have to spend a month running around in circles in the underground, and the admission in the museum in spite of the men's initial circumspection worked exactly the way Gin had planned it.
This meant that close to 4 AM the gang was already settled comfortably in a rarely used room upstairs. They could have stayed in the basement but they liked to live in style and who could blame them. The only impediment was that they couldn't exactly turn on the lights. Sure the old palace was electrified but there were no curtains in the windows and everyone from outside could see the lights coming out of the windows of the long gallery which at that late hour in the night would have been a clear sign that something wasn't right and God forbid someone called the cops!
So sitting in a corner with blind flashlights placed on the floor they were counting the money when Gin's cell phone started to vibrate against her thigh. She wasn't planning to answer, only a nut would call her at that hour but she did glance at the screen to see who it was. Ah, another type of nut.
"Yes, Mr. Bishop." she said on a formal voice. Why was he calling her in the middle of the night?
"Gin, put me on the speaker."
Startled as he still knew her as Isabel Lahiri she did as told and put the phone on the floor between them. "You're on."
"Hello, guys…" Marty's voice echoed slightly amused in the large gallery.
"Hey, Marty…" Danny replied. "What's up?"
"Take a moment and listen to this." There was a second of silence and then a faint beeping noise made their eyebrows arch. "If you are wondering this is the signal of the localizing device that's probably stuck in one of the bill stacks."
"Fuck!" Rusty swore and four pairs of hands hurried to unwrap the last stacks remained untouched.
"Don't panic gentlemen." Marty said calmly. "I've intercepted the signal and now they're tracking it somewhere close to the north border. No need to thank me…" he sounded quite ironic now.
Danny took in a deep breath before asking. "What do you want?"
"To save your asses…"
"Geez, thanks!" Linus snorted.
"Let me elaborate first… I assume you're in the process of counting the money." Marty asserted and continued without waiting for a confirmation. "You are about to discover that your capture is richer than expected. In fact there's an extra share for a fifth person. Me."
"You're sounding pretty sure of yourself." Rusty interfered.
"I am. That's why you are going to give me my share, because like I said I am going to save your asses." he stated. "You've done your homework right but you missed one detail. There was one bidder added at the last moment to the auction. This wouldn't be a problem normally, but his money comes with a bonus. They are marked. By the police. Human senses can't make the difference and you don't have the means and time to have it all tested."
"Why should we believe you?" Linus asked a rightful question.
"You will have to once you finish the counting. And even if you don't you can't take the risk, can you?" Marty had a very strong point there.
There was a short moment of silence while they stared at each other assessing their options. Their very few options. "We're not prepared for such a situation." Danny had to admit, but obviously Marty was. "What do you suggest?"
"Terry Benedict. He's smart and greedy and a rate of 4 to 1 should suit you better than 6 to 1 like he will most likely want." came the reply.
Danny cringed. Not Terry, anyone but him. Dumping the money in the money flow at the Bellagio, the casino Terry owned, would have been very convenient for everyone involved if there hadn't been for one small detail. Terry hated Danny and Danny hated him. Not a great combination.
"I don't have his number." That was such a lame excuse coming from Danny that even Gin rolled her eyes when she heard it.
"No problem, I'll put you right through…" Marty's way of being helpful annoyed the hell out of Danny.
"No, no, no, wait… damn…"
The phone could he heard ringing a couple of times and someone picked up.
"Benedict."
"Hi, Terry. It's Danny, Danny Ocean."
If the caller's name surprised Terry he didn't let it show. "What can I do for you, Danny?"
Patronizing son of a bitch, Danny pulled a face. "I have a hot tip on my hands but I need a partner to make the most of it."
"How hot?"
"Very… but it needs to be handled with care… and fast."
"We promise to blast the gain at your casino." Rusty chuckled.
"I see…" his casino was eating a lot of money. "What sort of tip is that?"
"Fou-five horses" Five millions? That was tip money, Danny would not bother him for some change, Terry reasoned, "that will win the race in no time…" Five hundred millions? That was better but where would Danny get such a big amount of money? "we need to keep them in your stables for a while." In the vault, yes he could do that, the money would be safe there, the Ocean gang wouldn't steal their own money.
"What's my interest in this?" he inquired. He didn't have to accept the offer but he wanted to know how desperate Danny was to call him out of the blue in the middle of the night.
"40-60."
Not good enough. "Let me call you back."
"He's not gonna call." Linus opinionated once the call ended.
"He will…" Rusty thought out loud, maybe.
"Right… he's just making calls to see who's missing a big chunk of money." Marty's voice echoed from Gin's phone.
That was what Danny was afraid of. The bastard was going to call because he wanted to get back on him and he wanted it bad enough to soil his hands with dirty money. He'd done it before, it wouldn't be a first.
"60-40 and we have a deal. What do you need?" There was no doubt in Terry's mind that Danny was going to agree to his terms when he called back a little later. From what his sources had told him he'd understood that the man was in it way over his head so he had no choice.
"Hey, come on!" Rusty protested. They had worked for months on this and what they were getting now, casino chips?
Yes, he was screwing him over, Danny sighed to himself. He wasn't a violent man but right now he would have liked to slam his fist in Terry's smug face. For old times' sake.
"We need a van…" one of the casino's secured vans "…preferably with helpers adequately equipped." Armed guards.
"Where?"
Danny looked at Gin silently asking her how they were going to get the money out of the museum.
"Ice rink…" she whispered.
"By the ice rink." Danny repeated louder. "At six. Don't be late."
"My people are never late. Stop by the casino Danny to take care of the rest of the details." Terry invited him. He needed to know the number of the account where the money, his money, had to be transferred. He was in no hurry, Danny could take a long vacation before coming to collect the money as far as he was concerned.
"Bastard!" the men swore. "We got robbed! I wonder why did we bother at all?!" Rusty vociferated and Linus agreed with a firm nod, while Danny tried to stay focus on the matter.
"Let's finish this" he gestured towards the money spread on the floor "without being caught and then we'll deal with the rest." he suggested. "Why the ice rink?" he asked Virginia. The initial plan had been different counting on the fact that they could keep the money safely in the museum for at least a couple of days but with the police being after the money they couldn't risk it.
"We go out the same way we got in and then take the route down to the bottom of the hill. There's a tunnel exit there, right behind the ice rink. The entrance has been sealed last fall to prevent homeless people from gathering to sleep inside so, Marty," she called to the man who was still on the line "we will need a chainsaw."
Chainsaw? Marty ran a hand through his sandy blond hair. Where the fuck was he going to find one with all the stores closed? "OK."
Grumbling they finished to count the money and dumped them back in the sacks. No time to rest any longer, they picked them up and carefully went down the stairs, to the basement and from there down more stairs heading to the exit. Marty was already working on the other end as quietly as possible cutting the metal gate. While they waited on the other side Danny couldn't help it but felt safer than he did in the museum, he didn't know why.
Marty left before the arrival of the van, Benedict's men didn't need to see him, and because of the same reason Virginia waited deep inside the tunnel until they left. There was no activity in that deserted muddy area at that early hour in the morning, just a couple of stray dogs who watched curious the van being loaded and ran after it barking when it took off.
Danny, Rusty and Linus left to prepare for the meeting with Terry later in the afternoon and Victoria returned inside the museum. She locked the basement entrance, secured it, and noticing her shoes were leaving muddy trails on the floor she took them off and barefoot walked to the surveillance room. There were some tapes she needed to erase and switch them with fake ones.
Once she did that she ran to one of the offices where she'd stored a set of clothes and a briefcase and went to the visitors' bathroom to change. She stripped, the neoprene suit and the comfortable shoes were hid inside the briefcase, put the business suit on and the heels, brushed her hair and pulled it up again and then waited in one of the cubicles for the rest of the time. The museum was starting to get animated even if it wasn't going to be open for visitors until the late hours of the morning.
At a quarter to eight she boldly walked out and went to the museum curator's office. She knocked discreetly and walked right in. "Good morning."
Sitting behind his desk Preston rose his eyes from the monitor he was watching. "Good morning, Miss Baker. You're up early." He commented.
"I needed to bring you these papers" she pulled a folder out of her briefcase and put it on the neatly ordered desk "before I got to work. It's the insurance policy for the Monet collection. All there's left to do is for you to sign it and it will be good."
"OK, I will." He nodded.
Virginia smiled and headed back to the door. She'd called in sick a few minutes earlier as she had more important things to do like watching over three trouble makers not to run away with her money.
He watched her leave and then turned the monitor back on and returned to his previous occupation. It was too early for porn but the stripping going on on that screen was almost just as interesting.
The bartender placed the drink in front of Danny on the bar and moved to the next customer. He hadn't stepped in a casino in a while, maybe all casinos were bad luck for him, he wondered, and he didn't have Tess as lucky charm this time. That Virginia girl who had the bad habit of sticking her nose in other people's business was bad news. She'd been ever since the beginning. They shouldn't have accepted to work with her but now it was too late for regrets. Terry was going to screw them big time, to pay them back for everything they had stolen from him a long time ago.
Danny's eyes roamed around discreetly already thinking of ways to get even. The security was better than the last time, he noticed, now that would be a challenge he almost smirked to himself.
"Hey," Rusty landed on the stool near him, "any word from the man?"
"No. He probably knows we're here but he's waiting for us to make the first move."
"Let him wait then." Rusty winked and ordered a scotch.
By the slot machines Linus was doing his own supervising. He saw her from the moment she entered the door and watched as she talked to a security guard. The man said something in his walky-talky and then walked her to the elevators where she was welcomed by Benedict himself. He accompanied her in the elevator and upstairs Linus assumed. Interesting. What was Virginia up to? He went to Danny to inform him of this unexpected turn of events but Danny was busy talking on the phone.
"Marty, you can't be serious…"
"You know I'm right, Danny. Where else could I have gotten your accounts numbers from? I tell you, the police is after you, Rusty, Linus and Gin. They're tracking your every banking move. I had to hack into they database and I found all the data I needed there. And in a way I'm glad I did 'cause now we know how we stand. You don't want to go back behind bars, do you?"
Danny scowled at Rusty and rubbed his forehead knowing there were good chances for Marty to be right. The police had records on him and his other two friends and he reckoned Gin had to be a suspect in at least a few of the heist she'd pulled by herself over the years. Damn!
"You're going to suggest to use one of your own bank accounts…" Danny said sarcastically "You're forgetting you're in the same situation as us."
"With the difference that I have been clean for much longer than you…" though he knew he was still being watched anyhow. "What I'm suggesting is a Swiss account…" no name, just numbers "and it's not even mine. Neither of us can be connected to it."
"You're not being reasonable…" no way he was putting all the money in his hands and trust him with it. He didn't even know the man.
"Do you have a better solution?" Marty knew damn well he didn't. It had been a last minute issue that they hadn't thought about as far as he could tell.
One, two, three… "What's the number?" Danny sighed and whined when Marty told him "Am I supposed to remember all that?" Marty repeated it so he could memorize it and he said "OK, got it. You should be able to confirm the transfer in fifteen minutes." He closed his phone and looked at the guys. "He thinks he's smart." he deadpanned.
"Gin is with Terry." Linus remembered.
"Another smartass." Rusty smirked impressed.
"Time to finish it." Danny emptied his glass and left the bar followed closely by his friends.
He identified himself to the first security guard he ran into and this one led them upstairs to Terry's office where Virginia was just walking out. "Thank you for receiving me on such a short notice, Mr. Benedict."
"No worries, Miss Baker, security is one of our main concerns." Terry nodded eyeing the three newcomers. "Please excuse me, I have some matters to attend… someone will walk you out. Gentlemen, come into my office." He gestured to the door behind him.
Their paths crossed and they pretended not to know each other, which allowed Rusty to glance back and whistle silently as he stared at her behind, a sight that disappeared far too quickly when the door closed. "Who was that?"
"Our insurance agent." Terry replied calmly. "Now about our little business…" it was such an euphemism that the men found it hard not to snort. "Shall we?" there was a computer on the desk and he invited them to get closer. "Which bank do you want to have the money transferred to?"
"Swiss…" Danny answered.
"Good choice." Terry stepped back to let him input the account number. "Would you like it in shares, monthly allowances…?" he said and only a hint of a grin showed that he was joking.
"All." Danny smirked.
"Good choice again." Terry nodded and transferred the funds from one of his many private and illegal accounts. "Everything alright, gentlemen?" he let Danny check the existence of the money in his own account.
"Looks fine." Danny agreed.
"Good. It's been a pleasure making business with you…"
Yeah, since you left us with crumbs, Rusty and Linus gave him a murderous look.
"…and now I have to go. I've got a casino to run." Terry dismissed them with a gesture to one of his men to show them out.
"And we've got money to spend." Rusty smirked. None of that money was going to be spent in Terry's casino. They didn't gamble. Casinos were only good to take money out of them and not in the usual way if possible.
They went downstairs and back to the bar where Gin was waiting along with glasses already lined up for them.
"Are we rich, boys?" she grinned as they took their seats at her left.
"Done." Marty pressed Enter and leaned back in his chair ignoring the gun pointed at his head. He'd done what the man had requested of him, he didn't think he really planned to kill him. "I hope you're pleased now."
Oh, he was, Preston put the gun away. He didn't need the money for himself, but the museum he was running did. He'd never really trusted Virginia, she showed up at the museum too often even for an art lover, and once she'd caught her on tape with the newly installed cameras he'd known she'd been and possibly still was up to something even if nothing was missing from the museum yet.
With a little help from a friend he had traced her cell phone and the very last received call had led him to Marty. A door busted down and a gun pressed underneath his chin had convinced the formally retired hacker that his life was worth more than the money he'd help stealing. The whole scheme was told to Preston who had his own opinion on the matter. Dirty money, which wouldn't help anyone if taken by the authorities, and having delt with the budget and fought a headache over the repairs needed to be done to the building it had given Preston various ideas.
When pressed to do it, with that gun, Marty had remembered that he indeed knew how to access the casino computer network and could monitor the data sent outside the LAN. Being a cryptography expert came in very handy at that point and only hours later a connection with a server in Switzerland was identified. Marty would not try to tackle down the Swiss banking system without a good preparation in advance, but he had no reservation when it came to hacking in the bank president home computer and with that and what he'd found from Terry he had managed to transfer the funds into the museum's fund trust and make everything look like a generous anonymous donation.
"I'm very pleased." Preston said showing no emotion on his face. He would have to have a talk with Miss Baker later but for now it all looked good.
"So we're broke." Virginia made a grimace addressing to no one in particular.
Imagine their surprise when they wanted to split the money and had discovered the empty account. Accusations had been thrown in all sides but there was no way to prove it one way or the other and after confronting Marty and having him confess his actions under the pressure of a man who neither of them could identify they just had to resign and come in term with the loss. That's what they were doing on that terrace mourning after their money over a drink.
"Yeah…" someone sighed.
"Well, you still got the money from the Turkish bank." she remembered.
"Nah… it wasn't what we were after so we gave it to charity." Danny shrugged and drank from his glass.
"But you've got the jewelry." Rusty grinned.
"That was a test for another job… so I don't have them either."
Linus' eyebrows rose. "A job? Did you get it?"
"Yeah… the problem is I think I'll need a team to pull it off." She muttered and gave them a long look. "Hey, boys… what are you doing this spring?" she asked like she'd just gotten that idea.
"I don't know, my schedule is clear…" Danny mused "You Rusty?"
"Me too." the blond man smirked.
"Me three." Linus said quickly.
"Well well well…"
"What is it about?"
"Is it a big one?"
"I think we should order first. Waiter!"
"Come on tell us…"
"Should we get Marty involved in it too?"
"Let's first see what is it about."
"Let the lady speak…"
Three pairs of eyes looked at Gin.
"So?"
The End