Ah, Caribou Lake... It's one of the biggest lakes in Saskatchewan. And it's a LOT bigger than you'd think.
On this southern shore, there's a lakefront manor. This is the Bowen estate. A lot of money has gone into it. A lot of money comes out of it...at a much slower rate. Many would kill to live here. Many have. And it won't stop there.
Down a backroad through the boreal backwoods, a black sedan approaches. The taiga does a considerable job of maintaining its cover. Too bad it can't muffle the engine's noise...
In orbit high above, satellites hover. Some of their solar panels are huge; like angel wings. One of them has got the Bowden company name on it. Another has got the Davenport company name.
Back in the black sedan, a girl sits tightly in the passenger seat. She's got sunglasses on...as well as a rainbow-colored headscarf. There's a lot of shade in this taiga; she doesn't need those shades.
"Moose crossing" signs dot the backroads out here...as do "bear crossing" signs. In the car, Ms. Gesner keeps everything repressed. You wouldn't know she knew about the bears out here.
She's a bit of a diva, where she comes from. And yet, she's still single. Her driver knows this. He hasn't just brought her out here for a heist. And it's only a matter of time before he confesses this to her.
At a dead-end, they park. The Bowden estate is no short distance from here. Regardless, Doug and Ms. Gesner have come a long way. Plus, they're trying to maintain a low profile...as insane as this seems, considering that no one else ever comes out here.
Doug Fendle is Ms. Gesner's driver. He gets out, locks the car, and circles the car to open Ms. Gesner's door for her...before realizing she's already let herself out.
Ms. Gesner's got a heart of ice, and her soul's even colder. It isn't just the cold nights of Saskatchewan that make it cold, either...or even the cold winters of the Wisconsin Islands, where she was raised...if not born. Her birth story is more of a tragedy. Doug knows what it is...and he's promised to tell her one day; for example, after this heist.
On foot, they continue. For clicks and clicks, the boreal taiga surrounds them. Lucky for the villainous duo, there are more wolves out here than bears. Unlucky for them, not all of them avoid humans.
Around them, the shadows grow longer. Dusk is on. And naturally, it gets cooler.
The wolves stick to the shadows...but stalk Doug and Ms. Gesner otherwise. The male wolves aren't stupid; they can tell that Ms. Gesner isn't one of their females. Alas, she is a female of sorts...which some of them find very interesting... TOO much, in some cases...
Ms. Gesner doesn't say much. But at least she's shed the head scarf and shades. Doug, by contrast, says a bit more. A few times, he talks about what he plans to do with the Bowen money once they dig it up...
Ms. Gesner's ass can't help but catch his eye. During a dull spot in the conversation (there seem to be a lot of those, with her), he pinches one of her cheeks; and he DOESN'T mean the ones on her face.
Ms. Gesner squeals, scurries ahead, and turns to Doug. She holds her hand over her cheek, brooding. "What was that?!"
Doug shrugs. "Can you think of nothing?"
In the woods, she hears twigs snap. She sees glowing eyes. She trembles, at the thought of all of those wolves out there, closing in.
She scoffs, takes his arm, and drags him. "We're wasting time. We've got to get out of here!"
She drags him off. Keeping their distance, many male wolves follow. They like that perfume Ms. Gesner wears...TOO much...
Near the Bowden estate, a waterfall feeds Caribou Lake. Again, anyone would kill to live on the estate.
Most of the landscaping is evergreen. But then, that's all that can survive up here. No need for water features; the lake is one. It's a steep climb...but there's a wharf just downhill from the estate.
There's an herb garden...as well as a garden of goose sculptures. Apparently this estate's owners are into goose-hunting. That makes sense; they don't call it the Canada goose because it wears the Union Jack on its sleeve...figuratively speaking.
Nightfall settles over the estate. It doesn't look like anyone's home.
In goat-steps, Doug creeps up to the back door. He attaches a bunch of gadgets to the doorframe. He presses a big red button, and takes a few steps back.
The door's lock turns itself, and swings ajar. Doug waits. The alarms don't go off. Perfect! The gadgets did their job.
Thanks to Ms. Gesner, the CCTV cams have already been disarmed. Rather, they're now playing reels. One step at a time, she climbs down from the telephone pole she had to climb to get into a good position to do what she did.
From below, male wolves still watch her. They don't seem to like it, that she's here with Doug...
Doug keeps the back door open for her, as she scurries inside. He closes the door behind her, and locks it. It'll keep the wolves out...unless the wolves are so desperate for a mate, they'd shatter one of the windows just for her...
Still with doubts, Doug leaves Ms. Gesner, and scouts every room in the house for squatters. True to their hunches, no one's home. Good; from there, they feel free to turn on a few lights. Alas, they only turn on the closet lights and night lights; they'd hate for the very few neighbors out here to see a lit-up house, and get suspicious.
Upstairs, Ms. Gesner finds a study. She boots the desktop computer in it, and checks out its web history.
With just the closet light and a few night lights on, Doug opens every book on the shelves, checking for secret boxes. He also moves some of the furniture, checking for safes.
At last, Ms. Gesner thinks she's found the main banking website. She gets to the login page. Her mind goes blank.
Doug creeps in, and sets a piece of paper on the desk before her. He shines a flashlight on it, so she can read it. He keeps shining it, as she punches in the User ID and password with the desktop's keyboard.
Outside, there's a small boat on the water. It's got a crew of two; a guy and a girl. The guy's got binoculars. He sees the flashlight's light, from inside one of the estate's windows. His eyes narrow.
He sets the binoculars down, looks at the woman in the boat with him, and nods. Her eyes glow with creepy light, as she smiles...
Back inside, Ms. Gesner presses the return key, as Doug turns off the flashlight. Doug then creeps over to the window, and takes a devious peek through the blinds.
He sees the boat on the lake...and sighs. God, he hopes that they're just the neighbors, out for a midnight row. And he certainly hopes they didn't just see the flashlight's light from outside.
"We've got to walk a finer line," he tells Ms. Gesner. "I can't tell yet, but we might or might not have competition."
Ms. Gesner shakes her head. "There's a lot less in this account than I'd expect." She shrugs. "This computer's been to other banking sites, too. Maybe the people who live here have multiple accounts..."
"Or," Doug assembles them on another table, "they have secret boxes full of earmarked money, disguised as books about humanitarian relief. There's also a safe in the closet, and another one behind that painting of Sir John Macdonald on the wall, up there."
Ms. Gesner scoffs. "Macdonald?! What's so special about him?"
Doug shrugs. "Well... He was the Canadian Provinces' first conservative premier. He was also the first premier overall..."
"Never mind; I was being a snob. I do that a lot, in case you haven't noticed."
He grins. "Yes. I have, actually... Anyway, if you want to log into any of those other bank accounts, I think I've found the login info for all of them. I'm not sure, but I also think I could break into one or both of those safes."
"How much is in the secret boxes?"
"Haven't counted it; but most of the banknotes are $100s and $500s."
"Sounds like a decent trophy. We should take it back to the car as soon as we can. If our luck holds out, we can come back for what's in the safes."
Doug shrugs. "Hell, we could crack the safes now."
Ms. Gesner studies him. "Are you sure? Don't you think we've been here for too long as it is?"
"Hey, I came with you this far, didn't I? I said I was going to help you claim your family fortune, and I will."
Ms. Gesner sighs. "You know, you're doing a LOT more for me than I've expected you to. Hell, I didn't even expect us to get this far. What's your play?"
Doug scoffs. "Why do I have to have one? Is it really that incredible, that I just want to spend time with the hottest blonde bombshell in the Wisconsin Islands?"
She smiles up at him...and flicks some of the hair from her face. "What makes you so sure that I won't betray you, and take everything for myself?"
He sits on the desk, right next to the desktop's keyboard. "Even if you do...it'll be worth it. I care about you a lot more than I ever have any of the simple country girls back on the Illinois Islands, where I'm from. I couldn't love the flag enough to join Gov. Rauner's military. But for me, that's okay, because dying for a hot chick's ass is SO much more worth it, to me."
She arches her brows. "JUST my ass?"
He shrugs. "Well... You know... ALL of you...if I ever get that far one day. Frankly, I don't want to rush this. You might feel differently, but..."
"I wouldn't want to rush, either. I just...don't know if I'm ready for commitment."
He holds up his hands. "That's fine. Take your time; shop for other men. I can always have another, if not you. It...might take me longer to break her in, but..." He sighs. "This is starting to feel weird." He stands back up. "Let's get started on those safes!"
Doug goes downstairs, hunting for a stepladder. In his absence, Ms. Gesner sits alone for a while, smiles, and thinks...
Outside, a great horned owl lands in a tree, and starts hooting. His eyes are big. He's not looking at the house...but he could just as easily turn his head, like a swivel, and start doing so...
Back inside, the wall safe is rigged with nano-explosives and nano-mufflers. Seconds later, the safe blows. The door swings open. Alas, the closet lights and night lights flicker...but don't go out.
Ms. Gesner scoffs, lowering her hands from her ears. "Great; if the neighbors didn't suspect before, they do now."
"Oh, come on," Doug implores. "It's not like we blew the power out."
"We...should probably wait to do the second safe. What if that couple in the boat is still watching?"
"First of all, we don't know if they're watching. Second of all, if there was a temporary power outage, they wouldn't know, because their boat isn't plugged into the power grid. Third of all, aside from them, I like my chances."
"So... You don't think the neighbors will get too suspicious, if two flickerings happen within an hour of one another on the same night when there's no bad weather?"
Doug scoffs. "This is Saskatchewan, babe. Natural disasters happen all the time. Aside from the sky, stones are always coming undone in the hills. Landslides happen out here, too. And that actually has more to do with the electrical phenomenon that just happened. The bombs don't draw power from the local power grid; them, compounded with the mufflers, must've caused a shockwave that temporarily disconnected the electric connections within the grid."
Ms. Gesner heaves a sigh. "Godshit, I hope you're right."
They clear the closet, and get to work rigging the second safe. Once it's rigged, they step back. Doug sets the detonator, and they both take cover. Ms. Gesner covers her ears...despite the fact that these bombs will use mufflers, too.
The timer runs out. Doug waits. Nothing happens.
Confused, he summons Ms. Gesner out of hiding. The bombs still haven't gone off.
"Great," Ms. Gesner mutters. "We come all this way with a set of defected bombs." She shrugs. "Well, we might as well look on the bright side. The neighbors are now only half as suspicious as they could be."
"Need I not remind you," Doug asks, "that most non-criminal people spend these dark hours SLEEPING?"
She shrugs. "No, you need not remind me. I'm just concerned about... Are we going to just leave those bombs there, and tip the owners off that we were here, or are we going to risk getting blown up un-rigging the safe?"
"This," Doug holds up his hand, "is too much to think about. I'm not saying that we will or won't. But seeing as we can't just leave that safe the way it is, we might as well camp out in the attic, and sleep on the options."
"Do we even know what the options are?!"
"No. That's why I'm suggesting that we SLEEP on it."
"What if the owners come back early? What if someone's called the cops? What if the people in the boat try to get to the safe while we're asleep?"
"Well... If THAT happens, they might get blown up instead of us."
"That's a big risk."
"Yeah, well, so is just walking away from this problem without thinking."
"Don't you think we risk even more by staying?!"
"Ms. Gesner! Stop! Think! Look outside! It's nighttime, and we're in the middle of the Saskatchewanian wild! The woods are wolf-infested, and the lake is too cold to swim in, and not to mention pike- and musky-infested! Plus, as I said earlier, natural disasters happen in these woods all the time; it's part of the reason why nobody lives here! Is exfiltration really a priority to you right now?"
Ms. Gesner sighs. "Fine. We'll do this your way." She looks around. "Those wolves really creep me out. I don't know what a musky is, but it sounds scary."
Doug scoffs. "You were raised in the Wisconsin Islands. HOW do you not know what a musky is?!"
"Hey, don't look at me. My adoptive parents were white-collar, and big game fishing has never really piqued my adoptive father's interests."
Outside, the couple in the boat FINALLY rows away. Either they've gotten bored, or they've seen enough to rest assured that something's going on in that house, and it isn't a gas line's repairing. On the surface, alas, it almost looks as if...the boat is rowing itself, away...
Now, the wolves surround the Bowen estate. They know Ms. Gesner's in there. And they SO want to explore her...
In the attic, she and Doug set up camp. At least if they stay in the attic, they're less likely to get discovered if the Mounties decide to do a raid before the morning. When that happens, it's only a matter of making an escape without breaking their necks if they fall off the roof.
Doug comes up, with some extra supplies. He dumps them nearby, and starts to strip...
"I think," Ms. Gesner holds up her hand, "that someone should go out there, and get the money we've gotten back to the car."
Doug scoffs. "You're serious. Are we really in that much of a hurry to leave?!"
"Yes, Doug, we are. The homeowners could come home any minute. What's worse, that safe could go off too soon. What's even worse, the Mounties could raid the place. And then there's that couple in the boat..."
"Okay, fine, I get your point. I'll go out to the car, and I'll take the loot with me. But you stay here. It's dark, and there are wolves out there. I care about you too much to become responsible for your mauling."
She nods, wrapping herself up in the legacy of the family who doesn't know she exists. "Thank you. I promise I'll make it up to you, if you come back."
"Not sure if you can. Regardless, I will take that money to the car. With luck, the Mounties won't look for us there first. With even more luck, they haven't impounded the car...like they'd have to. It's a dead-end on a dirt road, and for the most part, it's a public road."
He takes a lantern, and goes downstairs. Ms. Gesner listens, as he collects the loot, puts on a coat, goes downstairs, and leaves via the back door.
Once he's gone, Ms. Gesner takes the initiative. She climbs down the ladder from the attic. She looks around...despite the fact that there's no one here, and all but the night lights are on.
She goes down to the kitchen. With velvet hands, she surfs the cabinetry...until she finds a steak knife. It gleams in the night lights' light...as well as the corneas of Ms. Gesner's eyes.
Patrice goes back upstairs, to the study. The closet door is still open. She turns on its light. The safe is still there; its bombs haven't gone off. Otherwise, she and Doug would be packing to leave by now.
This is stupid, she knows. But Doug has done SO much for her, since this all started. If this works, she'll repay the favor...if it kills her.
With the steak knife, she picks on the explosives. Or rather, she cuts a lot of the wires. The less connected everything is, the less likely anything is to blow up, if she and Doug try to...
Spontaneously, it blows up. And the explosion is MUCH bigger than Patrice would've expected.
Within the explosion, a portal opens. Patrice flails, while falling into it. Behind her, it closes, sealing her inside.
In her absence, the safe door swings open. Doug's still out. He has no idea what's just happened...or that Ms. Gesner is nowhere to be found...for now.