Chapter 3: Breaking and Entering
"Try everything" The young thief quietly sang to herself whilst peering through her binoculars. It had been 2 days since her visit to the 10-7, she'd had to take yesterday off after drinking way to much, and Savannah was now perched atop a roof top observing the hotel. The sun was to her back hiding her in its warm embrace whilst she sat watching the bay plaza hotel.
It was a relatively modern building of steel and glass though from the outside it looked unremarkable. Just another rectangular, heaven scrapping monolith in one of the most fashionable neighbourhoods. A lot of the structures of the old port area had stood there for decades. Made of red brick and steel they had once been warehouses stocked to the rafters either with precious metals and stones for export or luxury goods imported from far off lands. Now they had been converted into hotels and spars ready to serve the more well off mammals. The inside however was the definition of modern luxury with spacious well lit rooms. Clean and comfortable though some would say it lacked character the hotel had become the go to accommodation for the well off business mammals visiting the great city.
Still humming to herself the phantom counted up the floors until she reached H floor and then counted across. Then she saw him "Bingo" A tall and well built wolf leaning against the railing of a balcony, cigarette held by his lips. Dressed in a simple white T-shirt with a brown bikers jacket over the top of it and a pair of jeans finished his look. "Hmm tall dark and handsome. I like it" She giggled to herself whilst bringing her camera up to snap some pictures. As he stretched she snapped a few more "That's it honey work it. More pout less pose" The maned wolf joked. The thief watched as the mysterious Mr Smith took one final drag from his cigarette before stubbing it out and tossing it into a nearby bin, disappearing out of sight.
For the next few minutes Savannah had time to think over her first impressions of Mr Smith. He didn't look like a business-mammal, at least none that she'd ever seen but maybe his room would say otherwise. The minutes ticked by as she watched the hotels main entrance waiting for the Wolf to appear again.
Eventually the mystery mammal once again emerged from the building. Savannah was able to snap a few extra pictures of him as he descended the granite steps and strolling across the plaza, passed the large water fountain at its centre and off out of view down the street.
With the wolf gone for the foreseeable future the thief made her move. Hopping along the roof tops of the old port quarter she made a way around to the west side of the hotel. This was the one side of the bay plaza where one of the surrounding buildings was taller than it. It was also the side without any windows. Climbing up a drain pipe the phantom made her way onto the neighbouring roof where she could look down onto the hotel. The hotels roof was unremarkable consisting of multiple air-conditioning units and three doors allowing access for maintenances workers. Like most buildings a low wall ran around the lip of the roof too prevent mammals from falling or jumping.
Taking several paces back Savannah took a deep breath, rolling her neck and shoulders. She had jumped gaps like this one plenty of times before but it was still a wide void and a very long way down.
With her nerves steeled and hood pulled up Savannah rushed towards the edge of the building. Picking up speed the thief hopped just high enough to plant her feet atop the low wall. Her powerful legs uncoiled and launched the maned wolf forwards.
A familiar feeling of weightlessness lasted for barely a few seconds before gravity began to pull her earthward again. But her forward momentum kept her moving towards her target. Tucking her legs up she barely made it over the lip of the wall.
landing on the hotels roof Savannah performed a graceful forward roll before stopping on one knee.
Brushing herself off the phantom made her way to one of the maintenance doors. It was locked of course, needing an access card to unlock.
At least for most mammals.
Still whistling to herself Savannah pulled a little trick out from her sleeve. A paw held cracking device. This little device was actually very simple. All these locks used a series of three digit numbers that corresponded to the cards used by the staff at the hotel. All the cracker did was run through all the different number combinations until it found a match. Placing the cracker against the lock it took mere moments before the door unlocked with a beep.
Once inside Savannah made her way down to the H floor. Taking a moment to check the corridor was clear she slipped out of the utilitarian service staircase and into the long clean corridor. The upper half of the walls and ceilings were painted in a cool light grey while the lower half was an earthy graphite in a rainforest pattern. At each end of the hall were a pair of potted plants. All grown to shoulder height and perfectly shaped into a uniform sphere. "7, 9, 11 ah 13" with the target room found Savannah pulled the code cracker trick once again. Her ears on a swivel just encase someone happened by but at this hour of the morning most were still in bed.
With a click the door opened and the thief slipped inside.
The room shared the same colour scheme as the hall and when twinned with the large French windows, that led onto the balcony, it made the room feel light and airy and gave a breath taking view out over Zootopia bay. The large double bed sat against the left wall together with a pair of bed side tables on each side. While mounted on the opposite wall a generously sized plasma TV with a long, low cabinet below it that ran almost the length of the room. Located towards the back of the space, between the bed and cabinet was a small table and chair. Made of glass and chromed metal it was most likely intended for nothing more than laptop for business meetings and calls. Immediately to the left of the main door was the bathroom consisting of a top of the range power shower and oval counter top sink. Like the rest of the interior of the hotel it was painted in a series of cool greys with slate tiles used on the floor and lower walls. Clean, modern and efficient. Exactly what most business mammals wanted.
This one in particular seemed to definitely like clean and efficient.
His room was clean. Almost disconcertingly so. The bed was immaculately made with not a crease in sight. Every plant, lamp and sculpture that sat atop the various units, from the bed side tables to the low cabinet was perfectly placed. Even the chair next to the small table seemed to have been specifically positioned. If not for the laptop on the table Savannah would have worried she'd broken into the wrong room. The only other thing of note was, what on closer inspection turned out to be a mirror, that had been turned around to face the wall. Though strange she didn't give it much thought. "Probably just superstitious" The thief shrugged.
The laptop seemed the best place to start. Plopping down in the chair Savannah plugged her cracker into the devise. Both came to life and the pocket cracker got to work but it became very clear very quickly that it wasn't going to be able to get into this laptop. It was simply too tightly locked up and would need a dedicated hacker to break open. She considered taking it with her but Mr Smith was clearly a neat freak and wouldn't fail to notice a missing laptop.
With the laptop out of the question she went back to inspecting the room. Savannah wasn't looking for any more personal affects, there didn't appear to be any, rather she was looking for good hiding places. Not for her but for a bug and tiny camera. If she couldn't crack into the laptop then maybe the good Mr Smith might show or tell her who he was. All she needed to do was find a good place.
Slowly Savannah went around the room "Hmm, no to obvious. Uhh, nah doesn't cover the room. The shower? Maybe for my private time." The thief giggled before continuing her search. "Ah, perfect." Hidden away close to the bed was an air vent, its entrance covered buy a false panel so it would blend in with the wall. When looked at from a certain angle however the panel became see through. It was almost like it had been purpose built with this kind of thing in mind. She placed the small spy cam into the vent, ensuring it was recording, before re-securing the vent cover and placing a listening bug underneath a bed side table.
Of course all of this was well and good but she still needed to find something for Echo to work with. She needed to find the cases the painted dog mentioned.
Only one place left, under the bed. A bit cliché perhaps but mammals still hid stuff there. And Mr Smith was no different. "Jackpot" Hidden under the bed were the 3 large cases mentioned by Echo. There was also a 4th which appeared to be brief case or at least looked like one but at this angle it was impossible to tell. Reaching under the bed Savannah dragged the first of the larger cases out.
The maned wolf was thankful for all the hours she spent in the gym but it was still difficult. With a surprising amount of effort she was able to drag the case out from under the bed. The case was an olive green colour and clearly made of hardened steel with reinforcing bands running around it. Other than that the canister was secured by a simple padlock. "Sometimes simple is best." Savannah smirked before pulling out a set of lock picks, holding up the tool as it sprang free. In no time at all the lock popped free.
Lifting the lid a quiet hiss emanated from with in as the hermetic seal was broken. But when she saw what was inside her eyes bulged "Holy moley". The canister was stuffed to the gunnels with weapons though not being an expert Savannah couldn't identify exactly what they were. She could tell that there was a machine gun, Sub-machine gun, shotgun, rifle and 3 spaces for a group of missing pistols. Savannah snapped a few pictures using her phone before closing the case and re-securing the lock. Echo was certain to know someone who could help with this.
Still taken aback by the amount of military hardware Savannah broke open the second case. This one was filled with enough ammunition to take on the Zootopia guard though one thing stood out. Several boxes were marked MK VII TQA. Opening one of the boxes Savannah removed one of the rounds within. It appeared like a normal bullet except the end was split into four parts, only held together by the casing at its base, and protruding from the tip was a small dart. "Huh. Maybe Delta will have some idea." She decided to pocket one of the strange bullets. Surely Mr Smith wouldn't miss one bullet.
Moving on to the 3rd case; it was smaller than the previous 2 though built in the same manner. When the maned wolf broke open this one she was met with all manner of gizmos and electrical doohickies all encased in foam like the other 2 cases. She could only recognise one. It looked to be smilier too her own paw held cracker but this one was much more advanced. It made hers look like something dug out of an ancient Egyptian tomb.
Glancing back towards the laptop Savannah briefly considered using the advanced cracker on it. But scrapped the idea with a shake of her head. She'd already been here for half an hour and she had no idea how long Mr Smith would be gone for. Once again she snapped a few photos of the contents before moving onto the brief case.
It was a stylish black case made of flawless brushed aluminium and, unlike the other cases, was held shut by a combination lock. "Hmm" Placing her sensitive ear to the lock the thief listened closely as she turned the numbers one after the other. As each pin with in the lock clicked she moved on to the next until it popped free. Given the contents of the other cases Savannah wasn't really surprised with what was inside.
A sniper rifle. That much she was certain of even if it was in several pieces. But like with everything else in here she needed an experts opinion. Snapping a final series of pictures she closed each of the cases before sliding them back under bed. The maned wolf payed close attention to insure the cases went back in the same order that they came out.
Glancing from one side of the room to the other Savannah made sure everything was the way it had been when she walked in. "Laptop? Check." she began to list off. "Bed?" Smoothing off a wrinkle she'd made "Check. Vent? Check" Everything was set. Pulling her mask back over her face she once again slipped out the door before making her way back to the roof without issue.
Now she just needed to get back down.
As previously stated only one of the surrounding buildings was taller than the hotel. The rest where a lot smaller and if she were to try jumping down onto them Savannah would most likely break her legs. If not more. This would require some...creativity.
Inspecting the face of the former factory before her Savannah saw an opportunity. Having stood for there for over 100 years the red brick had been weathered and worn down. Instead of a relatively smooth surface it was now pot marked looking like a giant, blunt cheese grater had been used on it. Seeing this the thief realised that, while she wouldn't be able be able to climb the wall, she could slowly slide down it until reaching the square plinth at the base of the smoke stack.
Risky and uncomfortable but there wasn't really any other option. Thankful that she had remembered to wear her knee pads, foot wraps and gloves Savannah rubbed her paws together, warming them up.
Once again she took a few paces back before running towards the edge of the roof.
Leaping over the void the maned wolf impacted the wall opposite.
Digging her claws into it. Dried clay was chipped away, sprinkling the ground far below the thief. The scrapping of keratin on brick made for a sickening feeling and an unpleasant sound. Savannah was beginning to worry her claws would come out. Thankfully she was barely a few feet from safety. The thief deftly dropped down, landing with practised ease. Brushing the flakes of brick from her body Savannah checked her gloves "Damn it". They had done their job and protected her paws but the wall had shredded them in the process. "Your sacrifice shall not be in vain"
With her theatrical needs met for the time being Savannah hopped down to the ground and disappeared into the maze of back alleys.