THIEF! Chapter 16

A Long Night Part 1: Set Up

Liana was awakened by the sound of the wind in the trees. She had left the window open. Opening her eyes, she arose, especially excited about this day. She dressed hurriedly, and then turned to set up her other set of clothes. Today was the big day. Today was the day they would take action against the conspirators. For once Liana's rush was here before she actually did something, and it even coincided with her conscience. Tense. Giddy. Her mind went over the plan over and over again, as she prepared. Liana checked the three pokeballs at her waist, and then, satisfied for now, she went downstairs.

She continued playing it out in her mind during breakfast. Barely eating, never speaking, Derek saw a dramatic change in his little sister's manner. Liana usually was talkative even on nights when she went out to steal. But, there was something else, he thought. She had been going out almost every night for the past few weeks. But he hadn't seen anything in the papers about her heists. Surely they would have been noticed, as they were before. If she wasn't doing this, what was she doing? Derek wanted to find out. And, he thought as he watched his sister absentmindedly twirling her spoon, he would have to do so soon.

Liana hadn't even noticed her brother's attention. She went to school in a daze, unaware of the world around her as she thought only of the coming night. And though she couldn't tell, her friends were all oblivious too, to one degree or another. Dream was just as excited, or he would have noticed and been suspicious. But he was remembering the analysis they had made of the thief's latest message.

"Hmm, so that's where the meeting is." Dream mused over the note he had found in their kitchen. They were back at the police precinct, and Dream was missing another day of school. "This man must be high-ranking among them then. Perhaps even the leader or one of them, anyway."

His father though, immediately latched onto the new name. "Felix Raltan. The name doesn't ring a bell offhand. We need to run a search for this guy. Find out who he is." A man went off to begin looking for all references to the name. "And they've decided on murder, she says."

"Dad," Dream questioned. "What about the date? 'Three nights from this one,' does that mean three nights from the one in which she gave us the note, or is it shifted to consider that we won't get the message until this morning?"

"I don't know. It's probably the former, but there's no way to be certain about it. To be safe, we should assume it's the first day, and set up for it by then. If it's the next day, then we're merely early. So long as we're careful, we don't need to worry about tipping them off either."

"What about this?" Dream asked his father. "'And do not be concerned about the niece, Allyssa. She will cooperate with the police.' It sounds like she talked with the girl. How else could she know?"

"This Allyssa may very well be the thief herself. If that's the case, we will have a great deal of trouble keeping her away from the take down." The police chief shook his head, thinking. "Does she fit the description we have of her? You know, dance or do gymnastics?"

"Not that I know of," Dream replied. "And I think she's a bit shorter than the height that was estimated for the thief. So it's probably not her. Do you want me to watch her at school anyway?"

"Yes. You can't just make assumptions like that without knowing a person's character. Allyssa either is the thief, or has been in contact with her, and probably knows who she is. Either way, she's our best link. See if she's recently started hanging out with a new person, or if she looks at her for guidance. That could give us some clues. Also, we're going to want you to respond again, the same way you did before. And there's one more thing. Do you, as a profiler, think that the thief will try to be a part of the take down?"

Dream had thought for a moment before telling his father what he had known all along. He just wanted to be sure, since his statement would dictate the actions of the police. "Yes, she will. The thief wants to see this through, and being a part of this will help mitigate any feelings of guilt she has about what she has done. Also, she will seriously underestimate the danger of the situation, viewing it as a game to be played, and won without any bad consequences. She knows where and when, and has a connection to Allyssa that may help her get in. The thief will not pass up this chance."

Just then, the man who had gone to check out Raltan came back, bearing a picture and much paperwork on his quarry. "Mr. Felix Raltan has quite the reputation underground. He is indeed a hit man, well known for his efficiency, his ability to murder in many ways, and his skill at covering up evidence and making the crime look like something else."

The police chief nodded to the man. "Thank you for that. All right, listen up, everybody." All the police officers working the case turned to Dream's father, ready for whatever he was going to give them. "We're going to take down these conspirators here," and he pointed to Allyssa's house on a map. "2 days from now. We have a warrant to bug their house, so we should be able to get good incriminating evidence from the conversations. We will move after we get that. There is going to be a professional contract killer there, and he will almost certainly have a weapon with him. So when we go in, be especially careful of this man." He pinned up the picture of Raltan on the bulletin board among the pictures of the conspirators. Everyone studied the man's face, memorizing it. "He will be the most dangerous. The others are business men and are unlikely to have weapons and even more unlikely to know how to use them properly. However, many of them may have pokemon, so don't get complacent with them. One last note: There is likely to be a teenage girl around, playing at being hero. She may try to interfere, so be careful of her too. That's all. Let's get to it."

But watching Allyssa had proved unhelpful. Liana and her friends had learned their lesson from before. They stayed in a group themselves, since they would be more suspicious if they suddenly broke up, but they and Allyssa pretended that nothing had happened between them. Dream couldn't find anything noteworthy, as hard as he looked in the short time he had. Conversely, the others had noticed him, and Jenna concluded to them that their plan of action was well taken. It also went well with the reply Dream had once again posted on the public bulletin.

"Thank you. We will be there. The new man is exactly who you thought he was, and we have taken it into account. Do NOT go there. It is too dangerous."

Liana almost laughed when she read that part. Who were they to tell her not to go? She had known before they had. No one of the group heeded the warning of the police, not even Bobby, who was the most level-headed. They were all psyched up to take down the criminals.

And so, when school ended, each person went home to make their final preparations. Everyone then met at Bobby's house, except Allyssa, who stayed at her house awaiting the others, and Dream, who knew nothing of this other meeting. Every single one of them, as they approached Allyssa's house, checked the pokemon at their waists, tense, and ready for action.