Chapter 21
Kitty, for the whole next month, experienced a frustrating blend of excitement and boredom. Her excitement came from spending more than a little time with her friends, and Ling---don't forget!---while her boredom came about because she was assigned the Cooper case. Now, this boredom was a sort of a mixed blessing…on one hand it made her life at work very cut and dried…but, on the other hand, she delighted in the knowledge that Carmelita and the Gang were all safe and sound. So…she spent her days, with Ling, tracking down any number of sketchy and doubtful leads…all that availed to naught.
Surprisingly enough, Kitty didn't get the weekly ranting sessions Carmelita had endured from the overworked Chief Rob. Now, she didn't know if that was because her poor friend had taken the heat off of her by resigning, or because she herself had made it clear from the start that she simply wouldn't put up with that sort of nonsense. She sat back in her thinly padded chair, thinking back…
"…well, Inspector, you had better produce far better results than Fox did," Chief Rob growled on the second Monday after she'd been promoted and assigned Cooper's case. "Or…they'll be---"
Kitty cut him off, much to his surprise, of course! "Or else, what? You'll fire me?" she growled right back, rising to her feet to confront the shocked Chief of Paris Interpol. "Go right ahead, bub. Only thing is…I should probably warn you…I'll quit a minute before you fire me."
Chief Rob had blinked, rocked back on his heels. "Y---You'll what? Young lady, you---" he stammered, then tried to reassert his authority.
"Chief," Kitty answered back patiently. "You just don't get it yet, do you? I like my job…I really do." She then leaned forward slightly to emphasize what she said next. "But, not at the expense of putting up with all the crap you made Carmelita put up with. No way. Ain't going to happen."
Chief Rob gaped like a fish.
Kitty smoothed down her jacket. "Here's the deal…I'll do my job, you do yours, okay? I won't tell you how to do your job, if you don't try to tell me how to do mine, agreed?" She smiled at him sweetly, but her deep blue eyes were like hard blue steel.
"Why, I never!" Chief Rob grumbled, uncomfortable. "I'll not be… Er, that is…where do you…um," he finally growled in his mounting frustration, throwing his hands up in the air and walked away grumbling to his office, where he finally slammed his door closed…very loudly.
However, Kitty told herself, coming back to the here and now…Chief Rob hadn't even once threatened her position since that encounter. She grinned. "Eh, maybe this isn't such a bad job after all…" she murmured.
Ling Chu looked up from his paperwork across from her, his expression curious. "What was that, Kitty?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing," Kitty replied, then quickly changed the subject. "Say, we're on for lunch today, right?"
Ling laughed softly. "Yes, Kitty," he replied in his patient fashion. "Like we have ever since I began working here, you know."
"Hey, you don't mess with what works, buddy," she quipped, grinning adoringly at him.
That very same day found Yuri Sing and her protégé, Naomi Rousseau, hard at work at C'est Sing. The two were in the process of preparing Yuri's latest designs for the Parisian runways this fall…but, in addition to that---which was enough, in and of itself, of course!---the two kept their beautiful eyes and ears open to the goings on on both sides of the law in Paris proper. Any little tidbit, even rumors and gossip, eventually made its way to either Carmelita or Bentley.
Yuri was in her workshop, four pins held between her lips, as she pinned the hem of one of her newest dress creations. She carefully hemmed the lustrous black silk mid-calf length skirt to the proper length, then double-checked the seam that held it to the soft brushed velvet bodice of the dress. "So, Naomi…what do you think, mon ami?" she asked, her right hand on her hip while she gazed critically at her latest creation.
"Tres manufique, Madame!" Naomi replied truthfully, her eyes shining. "Oh, do you know…I think that dress would like spectacular on our Carmelita, don't you think?" The rich black material would accent the vixen's reddish-brown fur, and highlight her rich blue-black hair.
Yuri's green-gold eyes twinkled. "Oui! I quite agree, cheri!" Yuri replied, idly rubbing her free hand under her chin, thinking. "I wonder…"
"About what, Madame?" Naomi wanted to know, her eyes curious.
"Do you think we might be able to convince her to model it for us?" Yuri asked what she was thinking. She turned her exotic gazed to her friend. "I think---with her height and figure---she could really make this dress sell!"
Naomi then grinned…just a bit wickedly. "Oui, Yuri," she replied, then grinned even more. "Just imagine Monsieur Cooper's eyes if he were to see his Carmelita in this, no?"
Yuri laughed her rich, soft laugh. "Oh, yes," she said after a moment. "I can imagine very well, mon ami." She then canted her blond-haired head, smiling. "I do believe I shall ask her next time we meet. Oh, of course, only after I present her with this…as a token of my affection, you understand…" She gestured at the nearly completed dress to emphasize her point.
Naomi giggled, her amber eyes twinkling. "Oh, of course, Yuri," she replied.
Then, both girls looked at one another and burst out laughing. "Come, cheri," Yuri said, after they regained their composure again. "Let us get the prototype here to the seamstresses. I expect Carmelita's dress will be done sometime next week. Ah, but I cannot wait! Both to see her expression…as well as Monsieur Sly's!"
Naomi then remembered something. "Madame?" she queried, watching her boss at work, her brow furrowing in worry.
"Oui, Naomi? What is it?" Yuri asked, already plying thread to spot hem the skirts of the dress.
"You know of my 'friend', Girard?" Naomi continued, then stopped, waiting.
"Ah, yes. What of him?" Yuri's tone spoke eloquently of her true opinion of the rat. "He is a ne'er-do-well…though, I must admit I feel pity for him."
"Well, I hope you will not think poorly of me then," Naomi replied hesitantly. "He came---as he always does---begging for money, Madame. This time in exchange for information."
"Ah, and what sort of 'information' does Monsieur le Rat have, hmm?" Yuri said as she began removing the completed dress from its mannequin. She cast a wary glance Naomi's way.
"It seems that word has reached Girard's ears," Naomi responded tentatively, "that there is a new gang in town. And, from what he tells me, they are not very nice…nor are they French. He said they spoke funnily…with an accent."
"I see," Yuri replied, still wrestling with her creation, but indicating Naomi should continue. "Do go on, child…"
"I paid him twenty francs, Madame," Naomi explained. "I would not have at first…not until he told me this new gang has already made it's first heist…somewhere in Germany, in fact. And, that they were holed up here in Paris somewhere."
"Hmm," Yuri mused as she hung the dress on a hanger. "Anything else?"
"Oui, Madame," Naomi said. "He told me that the leader of this gang is a very bad man…a huge bear named Polarski or some such..."
"Hmm," Yuri mused further, resting from her labors finally. She thought a moment later, then added, "You did well, mon cheri," she said. "Do pass that along to my Bentley next time you call that handsome boyfriend of yours, no?"
"Oui, Madame," Naomi pledged, mentally logging that task to do. "Girard had many other things to say as well. Shall I pass that along as well?"
"Oui, dear," Yuri replied. "Notify Carmelita. At once."
Oh…and, speaking of Carmelita…
Carmelita continued working, with all of her intensity and desire, to become a Master Thief. After all, she had spent long, grueling---yet very exciting!---hours, days, weeks, and now months, training…all toward that much sought-after goal. After she had mastered the physical aspects of her job, as well as the many tricks of the trade, she had now finally gotten into the technical side of her training. She now spent long hours grilling both Bentley and Sly about matters of security, surveillance, intelligence, and so forth.
Carmelita sat now before a laptop computer---one that Bentley had refurbished for her use---her long slender fingers tapped rapidly over the keys, her reddish-brown eyes reflecting the multitude of screens that flashed before her eyes. She then sat back, and stretched her arms above her head…after nearly an hour of studying schematics of past Cooper jobs. She didn't even get a chance to lower her arms before she felt a pair of comforting arms go around to encircle her waist, and then someone---and she knew precisely who!---nuzzled her neck. "Hey there, sweetie," Carmelita greeted, smiling.
Sly paused to softly kiss her long neck once, then twice, smiling as he felt her shiver. He grinned at her then, kissing her cheek. "Oh? And how could you be certain I'm not Bentley? What then?" Sly teased, his dark brown eyes dancing.
"Shh," Carmelita teased right back, closing her arms over his own and sighing. "Just so long as you don't tell Yuri…then we're good." She fought down an urge to giggle.
Sly couldn't help but chuckle at the remarkable woman he now held in his arms. "Well, okay," he replied, going along with her. "I suppose Yuri and I could comfort each other then…if that's the case, of course." Sly grinned, waiting to see if Carmelita would rise to his bait.
"You'd better not," Carmelita warned, twisting in his arms to reach up and grab a hold of his cheek ruffs, pulling his face to just before hers. "I didn't chase you all this time only to let some other girl have you. You're mine, and heaven help any girl that thinks otherwise." Her eyes shone with her love for him.
"What. A. Woman," Sly replied, shivering himself at just how much he loved her. "You needn't worry about that, querera," he assured her, before he kissed her good and proper. "There is no woman for me but you. Only you, Carmelita."
Carmelita now grinned in happiness, then nodded her agreement. "Good," she added. "Then we understand each other." She lowered her arms back over where his encircled her waist again.
"Always," Sly agreed, then looked up at what she was up to. "Say, I remember that heist," he offered.
Carmelita looked up too, but didn't release her hold on his arms about her slender waist, though she did give him a little smirk. "Yeah, I figured you might," she replied. "You've been there enough, Ringtail. Yep, the Louvre…the museum with the tightest, most integrated security proctocols in the Western world."
"A worthwhile challenge, Carmelita," Sly commented, then added, "well, for a Master Thief, of course, you realize."
"Hmph," Carmelita snorted, studying the diagrams on her laptop's screen. She then softly bit her full lower lip. "Sly, do you, I mean, do you think I could---?"
"Carmelita," Sly whispered into her twitching pointed ear. "I learned some time ago, that there is nothing you cannot do once you've put your mind to it, querera."
"Yeah, except catch you," she returned, grinning. "But, now that I think about it, I eventually did catch you, you know. I just wasn't going about it the right way was all…"
Sly laughed, and hugged her affectionately. "You will find, my love, that the key to being a Master Thief often times is figuring out just what the 'right' way is."
Carmelita grinned, wrinkling her nose cutely. "You're too smart for your own good sometimes, Cooper," she commented. "But…for the moment at least, just shut up and kiss me."
"Ah, my plan worked, it seems," he teased…well, while he could still talk at least!
Bentley, seated in his workshop, sat back from his bank of computers and sighed in weary satisfaction. He had been working feverishly on a secret project for weeks now…gathering intelligence, cultivating contacts---his own as well as Yuri's surprisingly fruitful ones---for data, as well as countless nights prowling the ThiefNet. Now, it seemed, all his work was finally bearing fruit. He got to his feet, smiling mysteriously, as he had for weeks now, and headed for where he knew Sly and Carmelita to be.
Bentley made it to the small workroom, and frowned as he peered inside and saw Carmelita and Sly kissing…again. But, his frown was short lived…after all, he was a man in love too…so he knew how that went…finally! He grinned, then reluctantly cleared his throat to get their attention. "Ahem!" he exclaimed.
Sly stood up, moving his hands up to lay them upon Carmelita's shoulders. Carmelita's eyes briefly fluttered as a result of their kiss, but she regained her composure quickly enough. "Okay, Bent…what's up?" Sly questioned.
"Just a minute, Sly," Bentley returned, that same smarmy little smile on his face. "Murray'll be along in a moment, okay?"
"He's up to something," Carmelita whispered to Sly, eyeing the mysterious Bentley warily. "He's been smiling that Cheshire Cat grin of his all week now."
"Well, let's not ruin his surprise, eh querera?" Sly proposed. "You know how he sulked last time…" He grinned.
"Fine," Carmelita replied, grinning too. "Hmm, I have to admit I am curious what all this hoopla is about."
"I'm here!" Murray announced a moment later as he hurried into the room. He had just folded up his cell phone and put it away. "I was talking to Naomi," he explained.
Bentley nodded his head, then waved them out of the room. "If you all would be so kind as to move into the alternate dining hall," he ordered, nearly pushing Murray on the back to get him moving. "Thanks."
In moments, the four of them moved into the second dining room, and…in doing so, realized that Bentley had been very busy, it seemed. The room was set up for a formal presentation of sorts. Each of the four chairs at the table had a notebook before them, as well as a pencil. A small high-tech projector dominated the surface of the table, and even as they took their seats, Bentley motored down a projection screen that covered the far wall. Bentley moved to the front of the room, then waited for them all to settle in.
As his friends looked on, Bentley began. "Welcome. Today, my friends, is a very special day for the illustrious Cooper Gang," Bentley explained. "For today, I'm presenting you with our next heist."
"What so special about that, Bent?" Murray questioned. "It's what we do…right?"
"Quite so, my immense friend," Bentley replied, grinning. Wow, this was a different Bentley now…wasn't it? "Heists are what we do…however, today is special for one very reason."
"And, that would be---?" Carmelita prompted, beginning to tire of all the long-winded preamble.
"That would be," Bentley continued, nonplussed, "because this will be our first heist with two Master Thieves instead of just one!" Bentley then winked over at Carmelita, his eyebrow moving up and down conspiratorially.
Carmelita was stunned! "W-What?" she exclaimed in most obvious surprise.
"Well, querera," Sly observed, nodding approvingly at the grinning Bentley. "You have been practicing so hard and so well for the last two months, yes?"
Carmelita, her eyes still wide, nodded hestitantly. Things were moving a bit too fast for her, right that moment.
"I concur," Bentley tossed out. "And, I think that it´s high time that you finally got the opportunity to get some field experience." Bentley then turned to Sly, adding, "Given the proper support, of course…"
Carmelita finally cottoned to what had been just said, and laughed in her happiness. "So, that's why you've had that smarmy little smile on your face all week, isn't it?" she demanded.
"Well, partly, at least," Bentley cleverly returned. "I have to give Yuri her due for the rest of it, you know," he added, blushing.
"Ooh, you two," Carmelita growled then, her eyes glistening with tears. She then reached over and hugged Sly to her fiercely, showering his face with thankful kisses. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"
Bentley saw her display, and gulped, starting to back slowly away.
"Oh no, you don't!" she barked, her tears staining her pretty face. "If you think you're getting out of this unscathed, you've got another thing coming, buster!" She nearly leapt out of her chair and hugged Bentley to herself rather hard, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically.
"Uh. You are, unh...um, erg, welcome!" Bentley grunted, feeling the breath squeezed out of his lungs. "Now, Car…me…lita? Think you could…uh, let…uh, me breathe now?" His face was becoming distinctly turquoise just now.
"Oh! Sorry!" Carmelita gasped, releasing him. She then moved over to Murray and promptly bussed him on the cheek, which made him grin happily. Carmelita, giddy as as school girl, sat back down…then leaned over to kiss her beau yet again.
"Ahem," Bentley mentioned…after Carmelita's kiss lingered on for a while. She let Sly go, and grinned over at Bentley. He rolled his eyes, shook his head, but smiled and continued. "Well then…let´s get down to brass tacks then, shall we?" Bentley said. He picked up the projector remote, and then dimmed the lights in the room. "All right, you two," he said without even looking Sly and Carmelita's way, "no necking, okay?"
"Bentley, I am a professional, you know," Carmelita responded, though she did pause to caress Sly's cheek one last time. "Let's get the show on the road, okay?"
Bentley looked back at her indignantly, but then finally sighed, and got on with it. "Okay, this heist will be a simple job, really," he proclaimed. "But, before we get to the particulars…let's go over the background data first." The projector clicked, then hummed and finally, a picture of an immense surly looking polar bear appeared. "Okay, Carmelita…let's see how sharp you've been keeping yourself of late," he mentioned. "Who is this jovial looking fellow? Can you tell me?"
Carmelita took her cue, thinking a moment, before she nodded and answered. "Oh, yeah…I know that bastard," she explained. "One Raikon Mikhailovich Polarsky. Russian Crime lord. The Moscovite Syndicate. Yep, our Moscow Office---er, I mean, Interpol's Moscow branch has been after this dirtbag for years now."
"Correct," Bentley replied, impressed. "But, never mind that…go on."
Carmelita nodded, resting her elbows on the table now. "The Russian Federation has found that any type of antiquity---anything from fossils to jewels---that's found in West Central Russia mysteriously seems to disappear from its site." She paused, then looked at them all. "Only to resurface a couple of days later for sale…and always offered by one of the front corporations Polarsky runs. He isn't subtle, mind…but then again, he really doesn't need to be now, does he?"
"Apparently not," Sly offered, staring at the image of the Russian crime boss. "Wouldn't want to meet up with the likes of him in some dark alley…"
"No, you wouldn't," Carmelita agreed. "People who oppose Polarsky seem to, well, disappear as well. He's not too picky about who he kills either…cops, FIS, archeologists, museum personnel…they get in the way, and that's that. He's purported to have had the Chief of the Moscow Branch whacked last fall."
Sly frowned, taking an instant dislike to this Polarsky character. "This is all really fascinating," he replied dryly. "But---hello!---we're in Paris…not Moscow. What does this have to do with our heist, Bent?"
"I'm glad you mentioned that, Sly," Bentley then responded. "The last few years…as things in the Russian Federation have gone to hell in a handbasket---so to speak---it seems our old friend, Raikon here, has decided to branch out of old Mother Russia. I've been doing my research, and I've found that several crimes have his revolting signature all over them. A Incan funerary urn---worth a fortune because it's solid gold with two emeralds the size of hen's eggs---mysteriously disappeared from the Musee Normandy last fall---oh, leaving behind four dead guards and one dead janitor. Then, a priceless yellow jade equine statuette vanished from the Royal Museum of History in Bristol just last month---again, leaving behind two dead security guards and a British bobby. Oh, and all the folks that bought it…they all died from either having their necks wrung---not broken, but wrung…like a chicken!---or by blunt force trauma to the head."
"Sounds like Polarsky and his ilk, all right," Carmelita said with a scowl. "Before I left Interpol…we had leads that some organization with Russian ties had muscled their way into the Paris crime scene…and none to gently at that."
"So," Sly then pointed out, "our big friend, Polarsky is trying to make a name for himself in Paris, huh?"
Bentley nodded his head grimly. "Sounds that way, Sly," he responded, then grinned. "That's sort of why I think he'd make the perfect target for some Cooper Gang brand justice."
"Sounds good to me," Sly replied, his dark brown eyes hard as agates.
"Good," Bentley said, then worked the remote, changing the image on the wall. "Okay, gang…have any of you ever heard about this ring? It was found outside of Lima, Peru…that's in South America. I saw reports from the Royal Academy of Natural History that they believe that this ring, the Anillo del Fuego, the Ring of Fire, comes from Eldorado, the fabled City of Gold."
"Whoa," Sly breathed, eyeing the exquisite ring. It was large, engraved with images of parrots and jaguars, with a huge---and I do mean, huge!---cabochon ruby set at its top. "That sucker's got be worth millions…" He whistled softly in awe.
Bentley ignored Sly avarice a moment, then continued. "The ring went missing two weeks ago…where it had been on display at Museum of Antiquities in Bonn, Germany. Now, needless to say, I had a hunch. So, I hacked my way through his site's firewall, then wormed my way into the surveilliance network of Polarsky´s compound. And, much as I expected, he's got the ring all right."
"Nice work, Bentley," Carmelita responded, impressed.
Bentley grinned his thanks to her, but continued on. "So, what we need to do for this heist to work is just concentrate on all the basics," he professed, thumbing the projector again. "First off, we need to get in and install listening devices inside of Polarsky's Paris offices. That way, if we're lucky, that sadist will make the mistake of admitting to stealing the ring himself. That testimony will go a long way to help Interpol make their case against this maggot."
"Okay," Sly responed, looking at the layout of Polarsky's compound on the screen before him. "I'm assuming you've got some goodies cooked up to make Phase One a piece of cake for we Master Thieves. Right?"
"I got you covered, Sly," Bentley assured him. "I've got some new stuff that'll water your eyes, buddy."
"Go on, chum," Sly said, waving him to continue.
"Now…item next: reconnaissance," Bentley proclaimed, changing pictures again. "Phase Two is our reconnaissance of the target and its environs. You know, so we won´t blunder into any traps and inform our big Russian friend of our presence. Then, with a wee bit of stealth, and a little bit of the Cooper Gang luck, we should be able to get in, get that ring, and get back out, sight unseen."
Carmelita smiled, very excited…yet, a little scared as well. After all, she was about to go on her first real mission. "So…when do we go then?" she asked, already sorting things out in her very logical mind.
"Well, glad you asked, Carmelita," Bentley told her, flipping to the next slide. "I received information that Naomi got from some street beggar she knows. I correlated what she had to pass with what I'd gleaned myself. Just before I called you all here, I discovered that the French government, working as an agent for the Germans, has received Polarsky's demands---time, place, and ransom amount---to get back their treasure. Hate to say it, people…but the exchange is supposed to go sometime tomorrow morning. So, that leaves us only tonight to pull this off."
Carmelita blinked in surprise. "You mean, we're going to have to do this now?" she demanded in shock.
"Don't worry, Carmelita," Bentley assured her. "We do this sort of thing most of the time, in fact on most of the heists we run."
"Uh-huh," Carmelita replied, none too convinced, feeling a bad case of butterflies in her stomach just now.
"C'mon, querera," Sly told her. "We'll all be there with you. You and I can do this. No problem…just follow the plan…step by step."
"Right, step by step," Carmelita parroted, nodding her head. She took a moment to psyche herself up. "All right," she then said. "Just let me change into my outfit."
Sly nodded, understanding her hesitation. "Go, but do hurry, querera," Sly called.
Carmelita quickly changed into her outfit, now complete with soft rubber soled boots, special designed by Yuri Sing herself. She then tucked her canes into their scabbards, slipped on her hat and mask, and dashed down the stairs. "I'm ready, guys!" she told them…and she really was too!
"Okay, Gang. Time to get this show on the road," Murray announced, picking up the keys to the team's van.
"Let's do this," Sly told them all, nodding especially to the very quiet Carmelita. They quickly piled themselves, as well as their gear into the van. Murray started it up, and they were off. As they sat in the van on the way downtown, Sly smiled over at a very silent Carmelita. "We´ll do just fine," he promised, moving close to speak softly to her. She smiled wanly back at him, but said nothing. Sly snapped his fingers, and reached into his pants pocket. "Ah, almost forget, Carmeltia my love," he announced. "Here…I made these up for you."
He handed her a small cardboard box…about the size of a pack of playing cards. Carmelita frowned, looked over at him, but then opened it. She sat back, stunned, as she slipped out one of the many calling cards, so much like Sly´s own, but for the fact that hers were a dark red instead of blue. "Hey," Sly continued. "I figured you could use these…I mean, so that people will know that there's a new master thief in town."
Carmelitas smile dimmed. "But, Sly…I´m not a master thief yet," she reminded him.
"Eh, perhaps not this moment, querera," Sly pointed out to her. "But you will be before this night is through," Sly added with a grin.
"Huh?" Carmelita asked. "How can you say that?"
"Easy, lady," Sly assured her. "This heist will require all the basics skills a Master Thief would possess," Sly told her. "When you and I complete this mission---without getting caught by Polarsky or Interpol, mind you!---you'll officially be a Master Thief."
Carmelita grinned hopefully at his proclamation. Finally, she thought. Finally, at long last, I'll be be a Master Thief. As she was savoring that thought, she was startled when suddenly the van slowed to a stop.
"All right, guys," Murray stated, glossing over the fact that Carmelita was no 'guy'. "We're here. This is the place," Murray observed.
Sly smiled. "All right, team…it's showtime," he said a small smile gracing his lips. Sly and Carmelita donned their gloves, while Bentley began setting up his command center within the van.