A/N: So I finally managed to get this up. I hope you'll like it. Please let me know what you thought.
The man dressed entirely in black, complete with a balaclava, shot a glance at the security camera as he made his way down the corridor towards the menagerie. Thinking about how nobody would be able to identify him, he grinned mischievously and swiped the wristband across the security panel beside the door.
Once inside, he whipped off the balaclava, freeing his dark wavy hair from under it and allowed himself a laugh.
It was going to be a piece of cake. He knew where the camera in the menagerie was and at that moment it couldn't even see him. He knew the exact timings of the ARC's camera rotations. In ten minutes, the CCTV feed at the ADD would switch from the armoury to the menagerie but he'd be long gone by then. He really was a genius. Not only would he have gotten in and out of the ARC undetected, but nobody would have a clue who had stolen beloved Rex. He wouldn't be a suspect – they'd think someone had stolen tampered with his wristband ID before using it. Jess might have thought adding the DNA to the wristbands was brilliance but any genius with a bit of knowledge of genetics and computers could get around that.
Before he got ahead of himself, the man in black darted out from beside the door and hid in the shadows beside the mammoth's enclosure. Its dextrous trunk came out to fondle his hair, recognising his scent. But he couldn't waste time playing with Manny; he had a mission to complete.
Creeping down the line of variously sized lodgings, he made his way towards the camera, the hammer clutched securely in his hand. As soon as he was close enough, he lobbed it towards the electrical device and smashed the lens. The red light flickered off, and he grinned in celebration.
Job done, he opened the enclosure beside him and set the little lizard free.
"Hey mate," he called to Rex as he glided overhead. It was a good job the ARC personnel had removed the bioscanner last week, he thought. "How are you doin'?"
Rex came closer, alighting on the man's shoulder and affectionately rubbing his nose against the thief's cheek.
"Good to see you too, mate. But I need a favour. See it's my anniversary, right? And my girlfriend, well, she really loves lizards, mate. So I need to get you out of here because she is going to love having you around."
Rex chirped and fluttered down to the table.
Grinning to himself again about the excellence of his plan, the thief bent down and picked up the cat carrier off the floor. It was perfectly sized for the little, prehistoric lizard, who skittered forwards and ran into it without hesitation.
The man shut the cage and looked down at his watch. Six minutes to spare. Donning his balaclava once more, he took up the carrier and swiped his wrist once more to leave the room. Then he was down the corridor and almost home free.
Almost home free? It wasn't like anyone could bother him, and the CCTV couldn't even see his face. He was home free.
As soon as he made it out the doors, the man ripped off the balaclava, stuffed the cage into the car he had left idle and waiting, and leapt into the front seat, immediately flooring the accelerator.
The car zoomed away, and he allowed himself a victory grin and jig, feeling exactly like Superman or Batman or one of those other heroes. If they were going to call anyone Action Man, it should definitely be him – they should have seen his stealthy walking and secretive glances down corridors. James Bond could eat his own heart out.
The next day dawned and he got up, eager to surprise his girlfriend, but it would have to wait. After getting in late, he'd overslept and she'd left without him. Still, it was no matter. He simply dressed and left the flat.
He'd already disposed of the clothes he wore last night – set them on fire in a metal bin along with the wristband containing all of his biological information. He would simply tell Jess he'd lost his and ask her to make him a new one. It had happened before.
When he arrived at work, he headed straight over to the ADD, aware that the ARC seemed to be in chaos. Jess was talking into the earpieces and everywhere he looked, people were running about. It looked like his little act of thievery had been discovered. He'd have to hurry getting his new wristband. It wouldn't be long before they discovered it was an inside job and found he was the last person to enter the menagerie.
"Jess, I'm really sorry but I lost my wristband. Do you think you could make me another?"
"Yes, give me two tics," she answered; sounding stressed as she got to her feet and started gathering the strap along with everything else she would need.
He nodded, beginning to feel nervous, as he watched Captain Becker stride angrily through the hub.
"Still nothing on CCTV? How the hell did the guy get past the men at the doors? It's not like he could use the vents – I had motion sensors installed after Quinn insisted on using them as his favoured point of entry and exit."
"I don't know Becker," Jess replied testily. "All I can get on CCTV is him in the corridors. There's no face for me to run through recognition software and no prints. He even had a wristband to get through the doors. I've already given Lester the door readouts from the last month but as you can imagine it's going to take a while to get through them."
The culprit allowed himself a mischievous grin, before wiping the smirk off his face as Jess turned around and wrapped the new wristband about his wrist.
"Try not to lose this one as well," she reminded him.
"Right. I am sorry about that. Thanks anyway, Jess. I'd best get down to work – don't want Lester on my case," he muttered, cheerily waving to them.
He hadn't gone five paces before Lester's voice rang out over the internal sound system.
"Connor Temple, in my office now!"
He winced and jogged off, aware of Jess and Becker's confused stare following him.
Connor hesitated before, slowly opening the glass door and closing it behind him. Lester didn't turn at the sound so he tiptoed across to the chair on the other side of the desk and eased himself into it.
"Could you tell me why if I ventured to the Tesco around the corner, I would find a metal bin full of burnt clothes and a severely damaged wristband belonging to one Connor Temple?" the ARC director asked suddenly, still sitting in his chair but facing away from the desk and the young man in his twenties sat across it.
"Right, well you see the thing is, Lester, I really wanted to surprise Abby – for our anniversary-"
"-Do you know how much time and resources have been spent on searching for the man who was able to break into our building and leave with a creature, Connor?"
"Er…no…"
"I didn't think so," the older man sighed, spinning the chair around and knitting his fingers together on the table top. "Not to mention how much it's going to cost to repair the damage done to the security systems and having to recover the wristband you 'lost'. Just what exactly was going through your mind when you decided to break into the ARC after hours and steal Rex? Actually, don't answer that. I don't want to know. I've half a mind to fire you," he threatened, quietly seething.
Connor gulped at his boss' tone.
"But I won't. I'm sure the rest of the team, Miss Maitland in particular, wouldn't hesitate to set the mammoth on me," he said, sounding as if he very much regretted his inability to sack Connor.
"Thank you so much! You won't regret it-"
"-Spare me the emotional crap, Connor and get out of my office. I expect Rex to be back in the menagerie tomorrow morning," Lester told him, spinning back around in his chair and loosening his tie.
Connor nodded, forgetting that Lester couldn't see him, and practically leapt at the door, fumbling with the handle in his haste.
"Oh, and Connor, the next time you fancy kidnapping Rex, please do so in broad daylight, without breaking the cameras. I'm sure the ARC could spare him for a day or two without him having to be secretly removed from the building. We do need to keep on top of paperwork, of course," Lester added as Connor finally got the door open and fled.
A/N: So what did you think?