Hello over there! So this chapter isn't really for plot development, its just a fun one. As always, I hope you enjoy and leave me a review if you can.
Natalie climbed the creaky old staircase of the Italian house for the millionth time. They had camping out in the abandoned house for less than a week, but it felt like Natalie had lived there all her life. She glanced down the dark hall to her left that led to the other bedrooms. Her own room was right in front of the stairs so she never had any reason to venture down the long hallway.
James had asked her to do some maintenance work on the com. units. It wasn't the most thrilling task, but it had to be done so Natalie had done so without complaint. With the fixed com. units piled in her arms she made her way to James' door. Natalie had thought it was sort of strange that James had chosen the bedroom at the very end of the dark hall, seemingly as far away from the rest of the crew as possible. But the more time she spent with the crew, the more she felt the underlying tension.
Whilst attempting to balance the large pile of various wires and bits in one arm, Natalie knocked on the door. There was no answer, and no sound of footsteps within the room. Dmitri had said he was in his room when she'd asked, but maybe James had gone out.
She raised her arm to knock again just as the door was flung open quickly. Startled by the unexpected fast movement, Natalie jumped backwards and a few of the com. units tumbled from her arms.
James stood in the doorway and watched Natalie with amusement as she scrambled to catch the falling equipment. He chuckled. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."
"You didn't startle me." Natalie said defensively. Having gathered the fallen units and her pride, Natalie stood up. "Here," She thrust the pile towards James, suddenly eager to get rid of the stupid things. "There'll all fixed. Or at least they were." Natalie grumbled. Yet again another unit fell from the pile, but this time James caught it with his cat like reflexes.
He smirked at her, obviously proud of his superior reflexes. "Thanks, just put them on the table in the corner." James moved aside to let her in. Natalie was slightly shocked; it wasn't like the secretive James that she knew to casually invite her into his room. She eyed him suspiciously.
"What's that look for?" He asked innocently.
Natalie brushed passed him. "Nothing." She looked around for the table, but had some trouble finding it. James' room was worse than the meeting room; every wall and surface was covered in plans.
It had become apparent over the last week that James compulsively took on jobs that most thieves would never risk pulling, but that wasn't to say that he didn't obsessively plan every last detail. He was risky, but he wasn't the kind of guy to leave anything to chance.
James closed the door behind them and moved to clear some space on the table for the com. units. After depositing the pile onto the table, Natalie turned to James. She noticed for the first time that his shirt and brow were stained with sweat.
"Are you all right? You look flushed." She inquired. Now would not be the time for the crew's leader to get sick.
"What? Oh, no, I'm fine, I was just working out." He explained, "It helps with the stress." They were all stressed.
Natalie nodded. "Anything else you need me to do?"
"Huh?" James seemed a little distracted. "No, there's nothing right now, thanks." Odd. They only had a few days until the heist and Natalie knew there was still a lot to get done.
"Are you sure? I could go over the gear list again, I'm sure there is still something we haven't got."
"No, it's fine. Take the night off, we'll have another meeting in the morning and assign jobs then." James brushed her off again.
Did he really not trust her with even simple tasks? When she was with the entire crew, Natalie felt at home, like she was part of it all. But when she spoke with just James, it seemed as if she was only some kind of temporary fill-in. In that moment Natalie became very unsure of her place.
She began to nervously bit her lip, but stopped when she noticed James watching. "Okay, well, just tell me if I can do anything." Natalie started towards the door.
"Natalie." James stopped her in her tracks.
Just give me something to do, she prayed silently, testing the gas tanks, organizing the gear, anything; She wanted some mundane task to occupy her thoughts. To keep her mind from filling up with doubts about what she had gotten herself into.
"Yes?"
He paused, and seemed to change his words. "Have you seen Siena lately?" He must have noticed the fall in her expression because he continued. "I couldn't find her this afternoon, and I know you two are close so I wondered if you knew where she was?"
Natalie did know, or at least she had a guess. "No, sorry. I haven't." Natalie staged a small mutiny within her thoughts. Fine, if James wouldn't trust her with even the smallest tasks, then she wouldn't trust him with anything.
James stared at her for a long moment and Natalie stared back. He didn't believe her and they both knew it. The real question was whether he would call her out on it.
Admitting defeat, James sighed and broke eye contact. He turned back to his blueprints sprawled across the bed, signaling that their conversation was over. "Alright, thanks. I'll see you later."
Natalie marched her way to the door and closed it with a defiant thud. She hated being dismissed like that, as if James thought he could controlled her. Alone in the dark hall, her aggravation only grew. What gave him the right to brush her off? Why did he get to decide whether she was part of the crew or not?
Natalie tried to sooth her hurt pride before she worked herself up past the point of no return. Her grandfather had always said, Natalie's pride would only get her into trouble, and her quick temper didn't help.
But her thoughts changed as she passed the open door to the meeting room. If James couldn't find Siena, it was because Siena didn't want to be found.
On a hunch, Natalie climbed to the roof. As expected, she wasn't there. James would have looked on the roof. Scanning the surroundings, Natalie noticed a support beam connected the building with its neighbor. She peaked over the edge of the roof. It was a long way down, and the old beam was more than a little sketchy.
Natalie took a deep breath. The things she did for these people. Ridiculous.
Siena whipped around when Natalie rounded the corner of the slanted roof, but seemed to relax when she noticed it was only her. "Hey." She greeted, not at all concerned that Natalie had found her hiding spot.
Natalie sat next to Siena on the edge as the sun settled low in the sky. Their feet dangled three stories above the ground and that familiar edgy feeling swept over Natalie's skin. "You really like heights don't you?"
Siena smiled a true thieves smile. "It's the best vantage point for surveillance." It was when she was smiling like that that she looked so much like her brother. Natalie recalled James first description of the twins. 'Thieves since the day they were born.'
Another thought occurred to Natalie then. "Mac doesn't like height's, does he?" Siena didn't say anything, which was a answer all on it's own.
Natalie tries a different approach. "So, the Bagshaw's are part of the family, right?"
Siena nods, always happy to answer Natalie's questions. Siena seemed to want Nat to be a part of the family too. "Yeah, years ago, one of the Bagshaw's did one of my mother's uncles a favor, and after that the Bagshaw's were in."
"Just like that? Must have been a pretty big favor."
"Actually, I'm not sure what it even was. I should ask Uncle Bobby sometime."
"Right, so the Bagshaw's aren't biological family then? Mac's not your cousin or anything?" Natalie teased.
Siena wrinkled her nose at the thought and laughed. "Gross! No, we aren't related."
Natalie joined in with Siena's laughter. "Okay, just checking."
"Ugh, no. We're family, but not like that. I've known Mac since I was a baby.
We all went on our first real heist together. Did you know that? Me, Dmitri, Mac and James. We stole a painting from a small gallery in Munich." She smiled at the memory. "But we didn't think through the transport, though. By the time we got home and unrolled the painting it was completely destroyed and Dmitri started to cry. But then Aunt Kat showed us the signature at the bottom and told us it was a fake, so there was no harm done. Uncle Angus was so proud of us though. He took the painting and hung it on the fridge so that everyone could see it. We were eight."
Natalie smiled too, but couldn't help but be a little bitter. They had all grown up together and they would know each other for the rest of their lives. Natalie had no siblings or cousins, and no childhood friends. She would never be a part of something like Siena was.
Siena seemed to catch the Natalie's expression. "It's not always rainbows and sunshine, though. I don't have enough fingers to count all the times we've messed up an had to haul ass out of there before Interpol showed up." Siena shuddered at an old memory. "But it will be better now that you and Cake are here. I won't be the only girl anymore and you'll be the one that has to wear the dress and those high heel death traps."
"You'll have to wear a dress for this job, though."
Siena groaned. "Don't remind me."
"Oh and don't forget about the makeup." Natalie teased.
"Ugh, this nightmare is just getting worse and worse." She covered her face with her hands. "How are they supposed to take me seriously when I'm dressed up like a Barbie?" It was Siena's constant challenge to be 'one of the boys'. No wonder Siena was a tomboy, Natalie thought, anytime that she put on a dress or anything remotely feminine she would have been teased to death by her brother and James.
"I've got an idea, how about we have a girls night out? No dresses or heels required." Natalie suggested. They both needed to shake off some of the pressure that was weighing down on them.
"Girl's night out?" Siena seemed confused. It occurred to Natalie then that this was probably as completely foreign concept to Siena.
"Yeah, you know, just us girls. No boys allowed."
Siena seemed to warm to the idea. "Okay, sure, let's do it."
"Alright, where should we go? I think there's a movie theater not too far from here. How about a rom-com?"
The famous Antokov grin appeared on Siena's full lips. "I've got a better idea."
"Okay darlings, I have the blueprints." Cake's voice came through the feed. Cake had been enthralled with the idea of a girl's night, even if she couldn't actually be there. She had suggested clubbing, and offered to print out some fake ID's, but was disappointed when Siena and Natalie decided to rob an jewelry store instead. "It looks like they've got a laser system, infrared camera's and the standard alarm systems. Not too late to go clubbing."
Natalie rolled her eyes and the tiny computer geek, as she crawled through the vents. "Actually it sort of is, Cake."
"Ready?" Siena called from in front.
"Ready." Natalie confirmed. Siena dropped out first into the dark hall of the store. Natalie followed, with a much less graceful landing then Siena.
"First sensor is three meters ahead of you to the right." Cake warned. Like the skilled pro that she was, Siena stalked up to the sensor silently. Reaching into her bag she pulled out a can of hairspray and looked back mischievously at Natalie.
"Hairspray: Girl's best friend." She proceeded to coat the sensor with a thick layer of hairspray, rendering it useless. Siena handed Natalie another can and they moved slowly down the hall and into the main store, spraying every infrared sensors and disabling the cameras and alarms. The perfect tag team. They reached the cases and inspected their contents, careful not the set off the alarm system that was wired through the glass display case.
"What do you think we should take?" Natalie asked.
"How about this one?" Siena pointed to a row of pearls. Neither of them were very interested in the jewelry, they were there for the rush of it all. They would only take one or two things, nothing that would ruin the owners of the store. It wasn't as if the owners were innocent though. Selling blood diamonds was not the trade of honest men.
The girls browsed the selection of glittering jewels. "Ooh, that one's gorgeous." Cake was enjoying this almost more than they were.
"Which one?" Asked Siena.
"The one with the diamonds, on the right. Isn't it gooorgeous?"
Siena and Natalie nodded at each other. Siena hooked her fingers under the table and skill fully disabled the cases alarms. Natalie held the case open as Siena lifted the necklace from its place.
The necklace was a shower of glittering raindrop shaped diamonds. At the center was a diamond the size of Natalie's eye. The necklace was by far the most extravagant, and it suited Cake perfectly.
"This one's all your, Cake." Siena smiled as she placed it in her bag.
They could hear Cake's gleeful giggling through the feed.
"Now you two have to choose one." Cake urged.
"Diamonds aren't really my thing." Siena protested.
"Don't be silly, darling." Cake giggled. "You're a thief, of course diamonds are your thing." And if there is one thing to be said of Siena, it is that she was a thief through and through.
The next morning the owners would discover their misfortune. They would never know how two teenage girls had gotten in and out without so much as a footprint left behind. A diamond, an emerald and a sapphire necklace, were all missing from their fortified cases. Some girls have four-dollar friendship bracelets from Claire's, and others have stolen necklaces worth thousands of dollars.
Don't forget to review. It always makes my day. And if your not familiar with Claire's, because I know I have readers from many different countries, it's a cheap jewellery and accessories store for little girls. I'm not sure if its an American company or if its just here in Canada. I'll see you all (well, not literally) on Monday. Have a great weekend! -Niephora