Chapter 7
The First Taste of Fame and Diamonds
Squall allowed Rinoa to sit on the newly moved sofa for the briefing. He had told no one about his decision, and so when she was not told to leave, everyone had questioned Squall. He hadn't answered their questions with anything but telling Rinoa to stay where she was. Rinoa felt uneasy in their presence, and she noticed that Quistis kept looking at her as if she shouldn't be there.
Squall, who had spent the morning driving people back and forth, collecting cars, and haggling prices, was now back in the warehouse. From what Rinoa had managed to overhear, most of the cars had been bought, but she was almost positive that she had heard the word stolen.
"They've done an excellent job with the cleaning," Squall observed as he sat in the front seat of a small black sports car. Rinoa half-expected him to start making engine noises and pretend to drive it, by the way he was holding the steering wheel. But he didn't.
Quistis opened the bonnet and looked inside at the engine.
"Looks almost legitimate! If it wasn't for this little number here..." she said, looking at it closely. Selphie peered over her shoulder and snorted.
"Who's going to notice that? It's only one number missing, and only someone who collected these cars would know that," she said knowingly. Quistis frowned.
"What does cleaning mean?" Rinoa asked Zell, who was sat beside her watching the others inspect the last car.
"Cleaning?" he asked, confused.
Rinoa nodded. "Yeah. Squall said they'd done a good job on the cleaning."
"Oh, cleaning, right. It means putting new number plates on a stolen car, faking tax disks and turning the mile clock back. We buy or trade cars from the guys that stole them; then we send them off for cleaning, and when we've finished with them we either keep them or sell them to make a profit," Zell explained to a wide-eyed Rinoa. "All illegal of course," he added, "but then so is stealing diamonds."
"And just how did you steal those diamonds?" Rinoa asked, intrigued. She had heard many police reports and journalist views on how it had been accomplished, but none of them seemed to match the people she knew. Apparently the team trying to catch them were not allowed to make more than their official statement, and so there was no clue as to what they knew and didn't.
To find out more, Quistis had been trying to hack into the police databases for the past few days. But she had come upon wall upon wall of security and had had to abandon her search. The furthest she had managed to get had been to officer Almasy's files, and had been locked out by a password she couldn't crack. She knew it had to be a word, with one capital letter and a maximum of five numbers. She knew this because she had stumbled upon the account rules during her hacking. Loading an up a program that would send random words and letters into the computer, Quistis had left it working overnight, and even now it was still running.
"The diamonds are old news, what we've got planned now is much more fun!" Zell said, crossing his legs up on the sofa in front of him and smiling at Selphie who was pretending to wash the windscreen.
"I'm gonna shine this up real nice for you, Sir," Selphie said, rubbing her elbow on the windscreen. Squall made an angry sign out of the window with his fist.
"Get out of the damn way!" he shouted before starting the engine and pressing the horn, making everyone jump. Selphie kicked the front tire.
"Nobody drives away from my carwash!" she screeched, rushing around the other side of the car and jumping into the passenger side. "Yeehaw!" she screamed, flicking on the radio and the headlights.
All those in front were instantly blinded and flung their hands up to shield their eyes. Music began filling the warehouse, making the dust on the floor vibrate.
"Oh, turn it off!" Rinoa shouted over the noise, unable to stop smiling. She was answered by a crowd of laughter and Selphie hand jiving in the front of the car. Squall was looking in the glove box and handed Selphie something before turning off the engine, still allowing the music to keep playing.
Selphie held up the papers that had been handed to her and grinned.
"One careful owner, hey?" she shouted as she read. "We'll soon change that. How about five insane owners?"
"I think my ears are bleeding," Irvine moaned, moving to the car and turning the whole thing off. Selphie gave him a very annoyed glance. "I'm not sure that even was a song, just a whole load of people screaming."
Squall brought a large white board over to where Rinoa and Zell were sitting and turned it so that, when sat down, everyone would be able to see it. Inclining his head to the sofa in a hint to make everyone sit down, he began.
"Ok guys, three cars, two motorbikes, five locations, and...five return taxi fares," he said, fixing a map onto one side of the board.
"Wow, go Squall with the maths," Zell said, giving him a thumbs up. Squall looked around annoyed. "Sorry."
"Zell, as punishment for being alive, you can take the black car to across the Zepher River, and out to the air field," Squall said, putting a pin into the location Zell was to take the car.
Zell's mouth dropped.
"But that's so far!"
"That's the point," Squall said, reaching for another pin. "Quistis, you're taking the red motorbike south and to the garages near the bank. I already have someone there to watch it, so don't worry about locking it away. When we need to use it, he'll bring it out and leave the keys in the ignition."
Quistis nodded and looked over at the bike with an owning glance.
"Irvine, the silver bike goes to the car swap we used last time," Squall instructed, placing another pin "and the red car I'll take out tonight since I've things to do. The last can stay here. Now Selphie, you haven't done this before, so if you want someone else to go with you, it'll have to wait until tomorrow..."
Selphie looked worried.
"What is it?" She asked.
"I want you to take the silver car we've been using to the cleaners and try and sell it. I don't care what you get as long as it's enough for a cab back. We just need to get rid of it," Squall said, sending a sideways glance at Rinoa.
Selphie nodded.
"I can do that," she decided.
Rinoa had the feeling that the reason they had all of these new cars was because Squall was worried that someone would connect her accident to them. But the fact that he was letting her listen to this, without insisting she be out of the room, or that the others should be guarded with what they say, confused her. Maybe by letting her listen to his plans, he hoped she would feel involved in whatever they were planning. Even though she had very little idea what it was.
Squall had been very clever about what he had told her and allowed her to see. The others obviously didn't realize how useless she would be if she was forced to tell the police what she knew. She didn't know were they were, only that they were on the outskirts, and she only knew their first names and they could be false. She knew they had stolen the diamonds, but she didn't know how, and she could never prove it.
Suddenly realizing that a pair of eyes were upon her, Rinoa looked around and caught Irvine staring at her. Not sure how to feel about this, she blushed and looked back down. This only seemed to encourage him, and he stared even more openly. She could have hugged Squall when he commanded Irvine's attention again. She had no idea what was being said now, as her head was so full of confused thoughts that everything else was a blur.
"Rinoa?"
Rinoa jumped, she hadn't realized she'd been sitting alone, and she wondered how long she had been lost in her own thoughts.
"Yes?" she replied, looking up. Squall was looking at her with a frown on his face, as if he was thinking about something puzzling.
"Can you drive?" he asked, moving the board back to where it was kept, along with what looked like half a hand glider and a snowboard. Rinoa shook her head.
"No. Why?"
"I was just wondering if keeping you here with a car was such a good idea. You might decide to escape," he said, looking serious.
Rinoa burst out into a fit of laughter.
"You really don't trust me, do you? Look, if I leave here, I'd have to go home to my dad, who'd make me marry this really old creepy guy. Not to mention he'd probably beat me silly for running away in the first place. Maybe you should go out and meet my dad, and then you'll see why I've so keen to stay," Rinoa said, still smiling.
Selphie and Zell both gave them a wave as they started their vehicles and backed out of the large warehouse doors. Quistis had already left, and Irvine was still fussing with his jacket.
"I don't need to. He's been on the radio most of the night with a reward for your return," Squall said, sitting down opposite and relaxing in the chair. "What a charming fellow he is."
Rinoa smiled more shyly now and looked down at the floor. When he was being mean it was much easier to think of things to say, but when he smiled she found herself losing all her words. They sat in silence until Rinoa tried to move and knocked her arm.
"Are you ok?" Squall asked as she winced. Rinoa nodded, but there were tears in her eyes and he saw them before she could blink them away. "Do want some pills or something?"
"No, it'll stop in a moment. I knocked it last night and it went away eventually," she replied, clutching it to her chest. "It's getting better now."
Irvine finally revved the motorbike engine and left through the doors. Squall followed the trail of smoke left behind and closed the doors, shutting out the sunlight.
"I'm sure Irvine could make it better," Squall said, watching her face take on all sort of emotions at that statement.
He walked back towards her, and Rinoa felt her heart start missing beats.
"What's that suppose to mean?" she retorted. He shrugged.
"Thought you could tell me," he said, as if knowing the answer. Rinoa wasn't sure how to answer, and she didn't know what Squall imagined he knew.
"I don't want to tell you anything," she said, standing up and walking to her room. To her horror Squall followed her.
"Is that because there is nothing to tell, or because it's too embarrassing?" Squall asked, walking two steps behind her. Rinoa began to speed up until she was almost running, but a hand under her arm forced her to stop. Dragged roughly backwards, and almost stumbling into him, Rinoa pushed at his chest to get away.
"He's not good enough for you, Rinoa. He has a woman in every town; don't let him have you, too."
Rinoa resisted the urge to spit in his face. It was an instant reaction, and the thought of it disgusted her. How could think about doing something like that? But how dare he grab her like this, speak to her like this, and expect her to nod her head and obey? Other girls might, but there was no way she was going to.
"Get off me!" she shouted, hitting him harder. "Why do you care, anyway? I'm old enough to decide who I wanna see, and it's not as if it's gonna affect you."
"Well, I forbid it!" Squall hissed, shaking her hard enough for her sling to come undone. His grip slipped and Rinoa managed to pull away.
"Forbid this!" she screamed, slapping him hard across the face. Squall took hold of her too fast for her understand what was happening, and she was forced backwards into her bedroom. Pushing her through the door, Squall slammed it in her face and locked it from the outside.
Rinoa sprang back towards it and turned the handle. Becoming panicky when it wouldn't open, Rinoa hit her hand on the wooden panels.
"Let me out, you bastard!" she screamed hysterically, kicking the door frame screaming into the wall. "I know you're out there! Why don't you just admit it, psycho… You don't want me to get with Irvine because you want me. Isn't it? Well, come and get me then!"
Rinoa waited for a noise, but there was nothing, and she suddenly realized that she was alone. Letting the angry hot tears fall down her face she looked at her red hand--the blood collecting in the palm from where she had hit the door. And there was a small scratch that she brought to her mouth in an attempt to stop the stinging. The bastard had locked her in a room without a proper reason why, but she had also hit him; and even though she had considered it the only way stop him from hurting her arm, she'd still intentionally done it. Whereas Squall had probably not even realized that his actions had caused her any pain at all. But she wasn't about to forgive him for it, especially since he had just awoken the first real emotions she had felt since being here, hate, fear and excitement.
Struggling off of the floor from where she had sunk, Rinoa made her way to the bed and lay down. Her tears fell onto the pillow, leaving it cold and damp against her face, but she couldn't care. Whispering over and over to herself about the injustice she had just received, Rinoa found herself falling asleep.
Squall listened to her screaming as he walked away. The side of his face was stinging, and he was confused by his actions. Why should he care so much if Rinoa wanted to make herself one of Irvine's little sluts? She was impossible to frighten, since she seemed to have no real sense of danger. A life of comfort and having her own way had undoubtedly done that to her, and she was hardly required to think for herself in here, either. Maybe getting herself into trouble was the kind of wake up call that Rinoa Heartilly needed, yet he couldn't bring himself to see her name on Irvine's long list of conquests. For all her impossible nature, she didn't deserve her innocence to be so cruelly shattered by a one night stand, which was undoubtedly all Irvine was considering her as.
They would be leaving this place soon, and no one had any intentions of ever coming back again. After this raid was over, that was it. Everyone was to go their separate ways, and whether they stayed in touch was up to the person with the most motivation. As far as he was concerned, this had only ever been a job, a way for him to make the money he needed for the rest of his life, a life he was determined to live to the fullest. The gang had been changing over the years, members left and joined, until there was just him, Zell, Selphie, Quistis and Irvine left working on the Esthar continent. Rinoa had just been a complication, but she was clueless to what they were planning next, and Squall was determined to keep it that way.
Ignoring her, he went to find the beeping that was coming from Quistis's computer. Taking a bottle of cola from the fridge, Squall moved the mouse to remove the screensaver and read the little grey box that had appeared. It seemed Quistis's program had got through officer Almasy's password and security walls. Tapping Quistis's number into his phone, Squall called her phone and waited. Hopefully she wasn't driving.
"Hello?" the far away voice asked ad the phone was answered.
"Your computer has just hacked into Seifer Almasy's account. How long do you have before our computer number appears in archives?" Squall said, speaking into the microphone that was attached to the headphones Quistis always wore.
"Ten minutes, but no one will check it until Sunday week," she replied. "Have a look around. You know your way around computers better than most. Just remember, if you're not sure, just click cancel."
"Yeah, I think I can manage that..." Squall said sarcastically as Quistis hung up.
Officer Almasy had a long list of petty investigations that were not yet finished, but the one Squall was looking for had its very own section and a large amount of files. This was too easy, he decided as he printed out pages of the file Almasy had labelled as "evidence". He wasn't too far wrong in some of his theories, and one seemed as though he'd watched the whole thing on TV.
At the beginning of their diamond career, he and Selphie had stolen two large diamonds from a high-rise apartment. The raid had been planned a month in advance, and they had taken a hand-glider up to the roof of the building and successfully hidden it for three weeks. It hadn't been very big, as it had been designed for Selphie, who had weighed hardly anything.
Squall, who was dressed as a maintenance man had insisted a fuse had blown in room 102, and that he should be given a key. The rest was only too easy, leaving the diamonds in the roof of the elevator, and walking out of the building ten minutes later. Selphie had walked in dressed in an evening gown and had headed to the elevator without anyone stopping her. Taking the diamonds and heading for the roof, she had swapped the dress for a jumpsuit and had had hand-glided her way to freedom.
The story, when it had been made known, had been almost a present to the press. So many stories had been printed, and because the crime was so ridiculous it has sold every paper. But ridiculous or not, it had worked, and the gang had had their first taste of fame and diamonds.
Rinoa awoke to find herself in the dim light of the setting sun, and she gazed over to the wall clock to read the time. It was the late afternoon, and she wondered what she was doing sleeping. But suddenly she remembered that she had been locked in, and the feeling of being trapped returned. Climbing off the bed, Rinoa pulled at the door, but found it still locked. Looking around desperately, a window began to look like her only way out.
Without thinking, she pulled the bed over to the side of the wall and stepped on top. Pulling the window pane open, Rinoa peered out and then pulled herself up onto the ledge. Swinging her legs out, Rinoa squeezed herself out and landed heavily on the grass below. Steadying herself with her only good arm, Rinoa crept along beside the wall and began to run towards the blinking lights in the distance.
Quistis arrived back to find Squall at the computer. The headphones were over his ears, and so he didn't hear her when she spoke. It was only when she tapped him on the shoulder that he took them off.
"Where's Rinoa?"
Squall's face went pale and he jumped away from the computer, and walked quickly to the bedroom. Unlocking the door, Squall found the room empty and cold. A breeze was blowing in from the window, and showed clearly how Rinoa had left.
"So, where is she?" Quistis asked again.
"Gone."
