Chapter 23
"Okay, people…it's time to begin Phase One," Bentley declared to all and sundry. "Which, I might add, will consist of some good old-fashioned reconaissance work by our pair of Master Thieves."
"Thank you. Thank you," Sly commented, bowing comically…that is, until Bentley's scowl silenced him. Carmelita smiled, but shook her sable-haired head.
"Ahem!" Bentley continued, trying to inject some dignity back into his presentation. "Now, while you two were out scouting around, I went out on the Net and secured the latest satellite photos of the entire Embassy compound. Okay, while that's great, it still doesn't get us any closer to finding either our fake Lamborghini, or Ms. Zuikawa herself." Bentley turned toward Sly and Carmelita, eyeing them directly. "That being said, folks, we need you two to get inside the compound, do a quick little bit of recon work, and then find yourself a secure hiding spot to work from. Remember, that place you find has got to be comfortable, it's got to be secure, and, most of all, it's got to be a good place to set up your base of operations." Bentley checked his laptop one last time, then looked back at the pair again. "All right then, the coast appears to be clear. Get to it…I'll brief you again when you've completed Phase One."
"We're on it, buddy boy," Carmelita replied grinning. "We'll get a bead on this Zuikawa woman before you know it." Carmelita looked over to Sly, who got out of the panel van first, then helped her down.
"Ready, querera?" Sly asked, his grin contagious.
"I'm always ready, Ringtail," Carmelita answered, then the pair dashed off with nary a whisper into the thick trees of the woods. Sly led Carmelita through the foliage to one particular beech tree. This venerable beech was nearly forty meters tall, and its trunk was four meters around. It's bark was smooth, but not too smooth, and there were convenient branches low enough down for them both to ascend with no problem. "Your escalator awaits, milady," Sly professed grandly in a soft, amused voice, indicating the first bough with a overly dramatic sweep of his arm.
"Escalator, huh?" Carmelita remarked, grinning. "Thanks ever so much, sweetheart. You're a real prince," she added, reaching both hands over her shoulders to unsheathe her canes.
"Hey, I try," Sly responded, grinning still, his cane ready in his hands. "Follow me, querera…if you can!" Sly knew there was no better way to inspire his Carmelita than to challenge her.
"Get real, mister," Carmelita grinned, then sprang up, hooking the low bough with her canes and used them to pull her up. She then squatted down on the thick bough, and grinned down at him. "All your gonna see is a whole lot of me!"
"Well, that's fine by me, Carmelita," Sly opined, gazing up at her pretty face. He stepped back a few paces, then seemed to run directly up the beech's trunk, using his cane's curious tip to secure him a place beside Carmelita. "Hey, at least I won't be complaining about the view…"
Carmelita shook her head, unable to not smile at the flirty raccoon beside her. "You are impossible, Ringtail. You know that?" she challenged, leaping to the next highest branch lightly.
After that exchange---and a few more like it besides---the two Master Thieves halted upon a slimmer bough, some twenty-five meters above the ground. "Say what you will," Sly observed just then, resting, "that's one heck of a view." And, it was too! From their vantage point, the two could see that the Japanese Embassy compound was roughly octoganal in shape, the central tower---very pagoda-like---rising five floors above the ground. Around the main building, the Consulate itself, was clustered many other outbuildings---such things as garages, and warehouses---closest to the consulate, and further out the barracks for the JSDF Marines that guarded the place, as well as guard shacks for the on-duty guards. The grounds---even in the bleakness of Autumn---were truly spectacular---immaculately groomed, and landscaped.
"You could say that, handsome," Carmelita offered, nearly as awed as Sly was. She then shook her head, and brought her deep red binocucom to her big pretty eyes. "At least we've got some cover this go round, Ringtail," she added, as she scoped out the place through her electronically enhanced optics.
"Very true," Sly agreed, mimicking her actions. "You getting all this, Bentley, old chum?" Sly continued to hold the 'record' button down on his binocucom, which continually sent digital images to Bentley's laptop computer.
"Yep, and crystal clear too," Bentley assured them both. He then frowned, as first Sly's then Carmelita's binocucom swept over a series of rocky-faced hills inside the compound. "Hold on!" he commanded softly. "Carmelita? Could you sweep that big hill over to your left? Yeah, that one. Now, zoom in a bit…that's a girl…"
Carmelita did as she was bade to, but really didn't appreciate Bentley's continual commentary…especially that "that's a girl" line.
"Well…I'll be," Bentley observed in their earpieces. "Take a look at that, would you, Sly? Just a little more to your left…just a bit more…no, more yet…there! You see what I'm seein', pal?"
Sly paused and zoomed in further. He saw the smooth brownish-green back and side of what appeared to be a large, terraced grass-covered hill. Now, the front of it was different…first off, it was faced with stone. Or, Sly told himself, what appeared to be stone…he couldn't be sure, really. The face was layered and a bit craggy, convoluting in and out. Before the stone face of the hill was a garden…a carefully manicured garden, one in the shape of a number of vaguely concentric circles that matched the contours of the stone face of the hill, the largest at the edge, moving progressive smaller until they stopped, leaving a perfectly round area about three meters in circumference, where a curiously carved stone fountain lay dormant. "I'm not sure, Bent," Sly returned after his initial look. "I swear it looks like there's some sort of entrance into that stone formation…but, hey, maybe it's just an optical illusion."
Sly and Carmelita grinned at one another a moment later, as they heard what had to be the sound of Bentley's keyboard being furiously typed upon. "Bingo!" Bentley then crowed a moment later. "While you two were playing Tarzan and Jane," here Bentley silently chuckled, "I was busy. I found and downloaded the schematics of the compound from the construction plans on file with the French government here in Paris."
"Slick, Slick," Sly commented, grinning.
Bentley didn't really know how to respond to that, so he just ignored it. "According to the schematics, there actually is a cave there, believe it or not," Bentley told them, zooming in on the schematics as he spoke. "Well, to be fair, it's only supposed to look like a cave…actually, it's a storeroom for the groundskeepers for the Consulate."
"Neat," Carmelita then observed. "Well, I can't vouch for it's comfort, fellas…but it's certainly secure, and…it's certainly central to the whole compound. Two out of three ain't bad, guys."
"Nicely put, querera," Sly complimented his lady love, who grinned back at him, wrinkling her pretty nose at him. "Whatcha think, Bent?" he asked, a moment later.
"Hmm, maybe," Bentley replied, still studying. "Says here that the room is pretty big, nearly ten meters square," he added. "Oh, and it gets even better…it's lighted and heated too…all year around."
"Sounds better all the time, don't you think?" Sly posed quickly.
"Yeah, I concur, Sly," Bentley finally agreed. "I doubt I could find a better place in the time we have. So, go ahead…get in, and let me know when you've set up shop…so to speak."
"Understood. We'll be talking to you soon. MT-squared, signing off," Sly said cleverly, letting his binocucom thump softly against his chest.
"MT-squared?" Carmelita asked, arching one slim dark brow.
"Sure!" Sly told her, "I mean…there is two of us, and we are Master Thieves, right?"
Carmelita's frown turned into a soft chuckle. "Clever. Master Thief, Squared, huh?" she posed, after figuring out what he was up to herself.
"Yup!" Sly told her, canting his head, grinning at her. He sobered a moment later. "Well, time's a-waistin', pretty lady. Whatcha say we pay that snug little cave a visit, hmm?"
"I'm game," Carmelita replied, rising to the challenge as always. She then looked from where they squatted on the beech bough, then the twenty-five meters---at least!---that separated them from the Embassy's wall. "Er…I hate to be a spoilsport or anything…but, have you considered just how we two are going to get to that cave of yours, mister?"
"Why, I'm glad that you asked, Miss," Sly responded, sounding for all the world suddenly like some vacuum salesman. He reached up to slip the shoulder straps of the backpack he wore this evening, then slung it in front of himself.
She was going ask him about that…but, she just hadn't the time as of yet. Sly began to open the bulky looking pack. She was burning with curiosity, but decided to play along. "You are? Why? What you got in that bag, mister?" she asked in the voice of an air-head.
Sly smiled, appreciating Carmelita playing along with him just now. "Well, little lady," Sly began, "in this bag, I've got the greatest invention known to the Western world. Now, true, it doesn't slice. And, well, it doesn't dice either. And, why heck, it even doesn't even make Julienne fries. But, what it does do, there's none better." He reached in and withdrew an odd contraption. "Here it is…Doc Bentley's Rapid Rapple Gun!"
Carmelita was intrigued, but continued with Sly's charade…smiling as she could almost hear Bentley grinding his teeth in frustration. "Oh, my!" she responded, clasping her hands together girlishly, then lifting them up to press them against her cheek, her big brown eyes wide and vapid. "What does it do?"
"Simplicity itself, Miss," Sly returned, picking the crossbow-looking device up, spread its arms with a deep sounding click, then whipped it around toward the Embassy wall and held it at arms' length. "This!" he said, and fired it. The device gave off the most comical 'sproing' sound imaginable, and a short grappeling hook zipped with bullet-like speed toward the wall, its curved tines expanding as it flew. The rubber coated grapples jetted over the wall, then jerked to a halt. Sly then carefully spooled out an equally thick cable from the device's stock area, and then danced around the tree trunk, encircling its girth with the cable until he was once again beside Carmelita. He then secured the cable's looped end to the carabiner that also hung from the end of the device. "Now, observe, little lady!" Sly told her, and tossed a switch on the side of the device. There came a brief electric whirring noise, and the grapnel was winched tight, two of its three rubber-coated tines digging into the wall, then the thin cable stretched taut. "So…can I mark you down for a dozen, Ma'am?" Sly finished, waggling an eyebrow Carmelita's way.
"Sly!" Bentley screeched. "Quit screwing around, buster!"
Sly sighed theatrically. "There's always a cynic," he lamented, then grinned.
Carmelita grinned back and then moved forward to kiss him dramatically upon the cheek. "My hero!" she teased, then giggled.
Sly hugged her once. "C'mon, sweetheart," he told her, stepping on to the steeply descending line. "We best get Rail Slidin' before Bentley blows a blood vessel…"
"I heard that!" Bentley told them, his voice incensed.
The pair of Master Thieves, Sly first, followed by Carmelita, whisked noiselessly down the slickly coated cable to alight atop the Embassy wall a moment. Then, the nimble thieves used the wall to aid them getting down inside the compound proper. "Nicely done, querera," Sly congratulated Carmelita, who alighted ghost-like beside him.
"Thanks," she returned, her sharp brown eyes already looking for their destination. "C'mon, Ringtail…this way!" she instructed, taking his hand to draw him in the right direction. It was only twenty meters to the hill, but the two still took a good ten minutes time getting there. It wouldn't do, after all, to be spotted by the JSDF Marines now, would it? Sly and Carmelita waited until the patrol moved past, then ducked into the safety of the darkness of the stone face of the hill, which was in shadow. Carmelita then led the way inside the cleverly camouflaged entrance to the cave-like entrance to the groundskeeping storeroom.
Carmelita ducked inside, then they traveled about a meter and came up against a rock-colored painted door. It was the span of only a few minutes until Carmelita picked the simple lock. They were sure to consult with Bentley---to see if the door was wired for security or not, which it was thankfully not---and then they opened the door and stepped within their soon-to-be sanctum.
As Sly closed the door, he blinked…as Carmelita flicked the switch, illuminating the room they would send this evening in with fluorescent lights. He whistled softly. "Not too shabby, huh, Carmelita?" Sly observed, looked around their new hideout.
"I've seen far worse," Carmelita commented, gazing about. On the walls of the place---which were freshly painted a soft khaki color---they found a row of unlocked lockers…which held sets of olive coveralls, khaki hard hats, and rubber boots. Along another wall, they found racks holding gardening and groundskeeping implements…things such as clippers, pruners, weedwhips, that sort of thing. "Um, Sly? The tools…I get. But, would you care to explain this, sweetie?" Carmelita pointed to the wall beside the door, where stood a small electrically-powered four-wheeled motorbike, of all things!
"Well, I'll be," Sly murmured, moving over with Carmelita to look at the oddity. "Hmm, I suppose," he began tentatively, running a hand over the smooth seat of the bike, "that since the grounds are so large, and there are so few groundskeepers and gardeners, that they need something like this to, well, get around the place, you know?"
Carmelita nodded after a moment. "Hmm, that sort of makes sense," she replied, looking at the dark green painted electric four-wheeler. "That would explain those wire baskets on the back too, huh?"
"Yeah," Sly agreed. "I bet they put the tools they're gonna need for a job, and take them along with them." Sly then turned his attention away from the odd conveyance, and toward the room itself. "This is a pretty nice setup," he commented, then frowned. "Though, I would of preferred another exit door, if I had my druthers."
"Hmm," Carmelita murmured. "It is a little bunkerish, isn't it?"
"Now that you mention it," Sly concurred. "It is. Hey, let's scope this joint out, then we'll report into our friend, the worrywart."
"Ooh, wait until I tell Bentley!" Carmelita teased, causing Sly to gasp a moment, then softly chuckle.
"Cute," Sly countered, then grinned. "Now, speaking of cute…get your cute little rump over here and help me, woman!" He shook his head.
The two performed a quick hands-on search of the place…and, much to Sly's relief…discovered there was another access into and out of the storeroom. "Sweet," Sly observed, after he and Carmelita lugged a stack of twenty kilo burlap sack of topsoil out of the way to reveal a small waist-high access tunnel. Sly grinned. "Back in a flash, my sweet," he told her and crawled inside the darkened shaft.
Carmelita was just beginning to worry when she first heard, then saw, him return. He said nothing at first, brushing the dust and dirt from his hands and knees. "Well?" she prompted him in exasperation. Sly could be so irritating sometimes!
Sly blinked, then grinned. "Sorry, querera," he apologized. "That tunnel leads out---would you believe it?---to just outside the Embassy's western wall, I think." He scratched his head in curiosity. "Thing is…why?"
Carmelita shrugged. "How the heck should I know?" she countered. "Why should it matter anyhow?"
Sly sighed, then shrugged himself. "I guess it doesn't really. I just hate not knowing things…"
"Aiee," Carmelita growled, then smiled. She then shook her head, then kissed his cheek. "Poor Sly…always a riddle unsolved, huh?"
"Something like that," he countered then laughed. "Let's call in, shall we?"
"After you, sweetheart," Carmelita was quick to say. "Bentley's been so---er, I mean, well…never mind. You fill him in, okay?" Carmelita grumbled under her breathe, hating the fact that Bentley was always listening in…to everything she said. She hated not being able to speak her mind!
Sly grinned over at Carmelita, understanding all too well the feeling. "Yo, Mastermind!" Sly called, smirking. "MT-Squared is in the house!"
"Cute, Sly," Bentley groused, responding. "I take it you're both safe and secure in your new hide, right?"
"Affirmative, Mastermind," Sly teased, knowing just how much his saying things like that irked his bristly pal sometimes.
Bentley sighed in frustration, but perservered. "Understood," he told them, then added. "Oh, and nicely done, you two." He then paused to type furiously a moment or two on his laptop. "Okay, Part One of Phase One has been completed. Now, on to Part Two."
"Got it, Bentley," Sly replied, the consummate professional once more. "What's next, O Fearless Leader?" Well, maybe not…this was Sly Cooper, after all.
Bentley squeezed his eyes shut a moment, glaring over at Murray, who snorted then chuckled at Sly's teasing. He recomposed himself, and continued. Time for a little bit of revenge, he told himself. "Sly? Carmelita? Check your right trouser pockets, would you?" he instructed.
"Check our pockets?" Carmelita reiterated, her eyebrows furrowing. "What sort of game are you---?" She sighed, and decided to play along. There was no way she was giving Bentley the satisfaction of knowing he was annoying her. No way. She dug tentatively into her right trouser pocket, and her eyebrows jumped up precipitously as her slender fingers closed on something there. "What the hell is---?" she posed, retrieving the object, which was very small, and…well, odd feeling. Carmelita's lips were thinned as she finally extricated the object out of her pocket, and her eyes were flinty. She felt the small whatever-it-was snugly in her fist, then exhaled sharply through her nostrils, trying to calm herself. She opened her fist, curious as to what Bentley had--- "Eee!" Carmelita screeched, jumping back, her brown eyes huge with surprise. For, on her palm, she saw a bug! A real bug! She tossed it to the floor, raised one booted foot, and---
Bentley was silently chortling at his cleverness, as he heard Carmelita softly screech. However that clever feeling was dispelled a moment later when his ears were assailed by a sharp detonation in his earphones. "What happened?" Bentley cried out as he snatched his earphones off his head, holding one hand over his now ringing ear. Bentley's ears were then further assaulted by a string of vituperative Spanish oaths from Carmelita.
Carmelita stared down at the squashed bug…then realized it was no insect…though it resembled one. It was a very clever, and most likely very expensive, transmitter/receiver unit. "Bentley, what sort of idiot puts something that looks very much like a bug in somebody's pocket…without telling them about it first, huh?" she demanded with a nasty growl.
"Do you have any idea just how much that device cost?" Bentley returned shrilly, realizing what had caused the sharp pop in his headphones. "Why did you have to---er, what did you do to it anyway?" he demanded in return.
"I squashed it with my boot heel, that's what!" Carmelita retorted, her fists clenched. "And, trust me, pal…be very glad you're not here right now. Very glad indeed."
"Um, next time, Bent ol' buddy," Sly posed very calmly, "it'd probably be a real good idea to warn us…don't you think?"
"Er, yeah," Bentley returned, much more subdued now. Maybe, he mused to himself, just maybe, his little revenge scheme wasn't such a great plan after all… "I'll keep that in mind, Sly." He then gulped audibly. "Er, sorry about that, Carmelita…a joke in bad taste. My apologies."
Carmelita wasn't really all that afraid of insects really. She had just been startled, that was all. She ran her hands up through her sable hair in a calming gesture, then exhaled loudly. "Apology accepted," she replied tersely, yet truthfully. "Now, can we get on with this, huh?"
"Sly, you do still have yours, right?" Bentley asked, heaving a sigh of relief. He was sure glad Carmelita wasn't fuming at him any longer. With a woman now on the team, he was going to have to rethink the team dynamics, it seemed.
"Yep, that's affirmative, pal," Sly answered, peering down at the ingenious little device that looked all the world like a very still life-size ladybug. "What's the plan for this little beauty of yours, Bentley?"
"Well, if we're really lucky, I'm hoping you two will get the chance to place it on Ms. Zuikawa herself," Bentley explained. "If not, I'm hoping you two can at least get it into the same room with her. Its omni-directional microphone is extraordinarily sensitive, and should be able to pick up any voices within a twenty-meter radius."
"Impressive," Carmelita opined then, nodding her head.
"Thanks," Bentley returned with a smile. "It's also sports a miniaturized tracking sensor…so if you do manage to secret it upon Ms. Zuikawa…I'll be able to track her to wherever she might go within the Consulate."
"Déjà vu, eh Bent?" Sly tossed out just then.
"What do you mean, Sly?" Carmelita asked, raising her eyebrows in curiosity.
"This is just like when Bentley wanted me to bug Rajan's office---you remember him, don't you?---with something like this…only in that instance, it was a real Indian waterbug," Sly explained to them both.
Carmelita smirked. "Let me get this straight," she mused aloud, canting her head slightly. "This is the second time you've bugged people…with a bug?"
"Yes, that's right," Bentley replied, just a bit indignant. "Hey, it worked then, didn't it?" he countered, then paused a moment. "You two do realize that if we can manage to 'bug' our quarry, so to speak…then it becomes the simple matter of using her to track down that fake car of hers, and hopefully getting a confession of guilt out of her as well."
"Sounds like a plan," Sly replied, nodding.
Bentley let that go. "Okay, you two…it's time for you to go do that Master Theif stuff of yours. Keep me posted. Bentley out."
Sly turned to Carmelita, reaching out and taking her hand. "As tempting as it might be to snuggle down in here with you, pretty girl…I think we'd better do as our overly cerebral pal suggests," Sly told her, the look in his eyes telling her just how 'tempting' she was to him.
Carmelita felt an exciting little tingle up her spine. It never failed…how a single amorous look from him could effect her that way. It was part of what she found so attractive about him. "I agree," she responded, then squeezed his hand once. "I'll take a raincheck on that snuggling you suggested though…"
"Deal!" Sly replied, lifting her hand up and pressing his lips to the back of it. "Now, let the recon begin…"
The two Master Thieves shut the lights off, waited a moment to allow their eyes to adjust to the darkness, then dashed back out into the compound. Sly nodded to Carmelita, and he then moved north along the rocky face of the hill, while she moved to take up a southerly position. Then, both of them lifted their binocucoms and began scanning their environs.
Five minutes passed.
"Nothing to report so far, amigo," Carmelita whispered to Sly, scanning to the east now.
"Hello," Sly replied, his voice filled with surprise, then satisfaction.
That got Carmelita's attention, and she moved stealthily over to where he knelt, his binocucom pressed to his eyes still. "What've you got, Ringtail?" Carmelita whispered to him, lifting her binocucom to join him in scanning.
"Take a look, querera," Sly told her in a whisper of his own. "A hundred fifty meters, say…at two o'clock."
Carmelita moved her binocucom slightly to the right, imagining a clock face with herself directly in the middle, she moved her torso to where two o'clock would be and… "Oh!" she exclaimed softly. "Oh, my…"
"Exactly!" Sly agreed. "The lovely and larcenous Keiko Zuikawa herself…in the flesh." Sly paused, then called out over the team's radios. "Yo, Bent!"
"Got something, Sly?" Bentley hurriedly returned.
"Yeah," he said mysteriously, "you might say that, pal."
Bentley grit his teeth, but remained patient. "Go ahead…what have you got?" he asked…again.
"Check it out the imagery, and you tell me," Sly countered, pressing the 'record' button on his binocucom, being careful to zoom in first.
Bentley leaned toward his laptop display, and smiled as the image appeared. He watched as the image zoomed in, and the darkened---yet moon-lit---visage of a lovely Oriental leopardess appeared. "Jackpot, MT One," Bentley sent, grinning in satisfaction. "Identity confirmed, pal. She's definitely our target."
"Understood, MT One out," Sly replied, for once using some degree of radio communications protocols. Sly turned toward Carmelita, leaning his shoulder lightly against hers. "That's her, all right."
"Cool," Carmelita replied, then frowned. "Remind me again, sweetheart…just how are we going to pull this off?" Carmelita asked, holding up the little ladybug tracking device/transceiver.
Sly thought a quick moment, then remembered something. He grinned over at Carmelita. "C'mon…I've got a plan, querera," Sly informed her. He moved, and Carmelita paused a moment then followed him. In a minute, they were again back inside the gardener's storeroom/cave.
"Okay, that Zuikawa babe is coming our way, Ringtail," Carmelita pointed out. "What's this plan of yours?"
Sly didn't answer…well, with words anyway. He simply jerked his chin at the opened lockers beside him, glancing significantly at the work coveralls that hung there.
"Hmm?" Carmelita initially questioned, then cottoned on to his plan, and grinned. "Oh!" she added, then chuckled. "You're sneaky, buster."
Sly bowed theatrically to her, grinning. "Thanks, I try," he answered. He then moved over to the bags of topsoil, poked a hole in the top one with his cane, and smiled as he scooped up a small handful of moist, black soil. He dabbed his finger into the nearly mudlike substance, then streaked it at the outer corners of his eyes, then the corners of his mouth. He then looked about, and grinned, reaching into the locker before him. He showed Carmelita the small container of talcum powder that had been left there. He opened the container, shook out a small amount of the fine white powder, and then began to daub it on his chin. "So…how do I look?" he asked, once his ministrations were complete.
"Hideous," Carmelita answered with a laugh. "What's all that for anyway, goofy?"
"Tell you in a minute, okay?" Sly answered, then looked back at Carmelita, just a bit uncomfortably. "Er…"
"What's the matter?" Carmelita asked, sighing with reservation…yet she was curious.
"Er, do you think you could be a lady," Sly explained with an embarrassed chuckle, "and turn around a minute? Oh, and no peeking!"
Carmelita grinned, then shook her head, her eyes twinkling with amusement, but complied, even shutting her glorious brown eyes. "Okay, Mystery Man," she told him. "This lady has her eyes shut."
Meanwhile, across the compound from the Hill…
Keiko Zuikawa walked with determination in her step, smiling to herself in amused satisfaction. Everything, she told herself, was going as exactly as she had so meticulously planned. The internet auction she and her team were conducting had already begun, and, before this momentous evening was through, her uncaring, arrogant, and automobile-obsessed father was going to pay---and pay most handsomely!---to acquire his latest extravagance. Ha! Little did he realize that the ludicrously expensive Lamborghini Diablo Roadster he thought he was purchasing was nothing more than a cleverly staged fake! Just like he himself was, she hissed in her mind. Father? Ha! That was rich, she fumed. But, then she sobered and even smiled brightly. This scam…it was perfection itself. She would wreak her retribution, embarrassing her sad excuse for a father, in essence tweaking his nose…and at the very same time, net herself somewhere in excess of sixteen million U.S. dollars…and, all in the same evening! Life could be sweet at times, she mused to herself as she made her way toward one particular garage---a heretofore unused one, she knew!---where her Lamborghini replica was housed, awaiting her and her master plan.
She strode purposefully on, but then paused a moment as she neared one perfectly groomed terraced hill. Was it her imagination, or had she seen something out of the corner of her eye? She turned toward that visual distraction and started.
"Konbanwa, Zuikawa-sama," An elderly raccoon gardener greeted her, bowing deeply with respect. His face was lined with age, his chin frosted by the same, his back bent with years of his working each and every day.
"Hmm, good day to you, old one," Keiko replied, nodding her proud, silky black-haired head his way. The elderly were treated with respect in her culture, and despite the fact that she thought him vastly beneath her dignity, she bowed her head slightly with respect to his age and experience.
"You are too kind, Zuikawa-sama," the aged raccoon stammered, moving forward as if to get out of her way. However, in moving, the old one must of tripped on a root or something.
Keiko's big dark brown eyes went wide as she instinctively reached out her perfectly manicured hands---with bright red nails---to prevent the old one's falling. She grit her teeth as she felt his old hand clamp briefly upon her shoulder…hopefully not staining her perfect green kimono along the way. "Are you all right, old one?" she asked, more out of politeness than any real concern.
"Domo arigato goziemashita, Zuikawa-sama," the aged gardener proclaimed in a shame-filled voice. "I am so sorry, Lady Zuikawa. Please forgive my clumsiness."
"It is nothing, old gardener," Keiko responded, pleased to be acknowledged as Lady Zuikawa.
"Oh, but the Lady is too kind," the aged raccoon proclaimed…then began to prattle on to her about how proud he was to serve her, as were his children, and his children's children, and so on, and so on…
Keiko sighed, and rolled her eyes in exasperation. She had no time for this fool's prattlings! Honestly! she thought, as she disengaged the old one's hands from her kimono's sleeves. "Yes, yes…you're welcome. Now, I am very busy. Good day," Keiko told him, her mind on more important matters.
"Oh! Of course, of course," the old raccoon simpered to her, bowing and backing away. "May your ancestors smile down upon you this day, Zuikawa-sama."
"Hmph!" Keiko muttered in annoyance, but then raised her haughty chin high, and continued on with her business.
Sly Cooper grinned as he watched the slender attractive leopardess walk away from him. He smiled as he noticed the small dark brown speck on one particular bamboo stalk on Keiko Zuikawa's kimono-covered shoulder. "Bug is in place, Bent ol' boy," Sly said even as he ducked quickly back inside the cave again, opening and closing the door. He then spotted his lovely Carmelita, seated patiently---well, as patient as Carmelita could be!---awaiting his return. She got to her feet upon seeing him. "Konbanwa, Fox-sama," Sly bade her in his creaky wheezy old man voice.
Carmelita blinked, then narrowed her eyes. Then, she put two and two together and… "Very clever, Ringtail," Carmelita told him, chuckling. In the semi-darkness of the entrance, Sly's soil and talcum powder disguise was ingenious. It made him appear vastly older than he was, giving him lines around his eyes and mouth, and the whiteness of his chin only enhanced his image of old age.
"Thanks, querera," Sly said as he removed his hard hat, already drawing a kerchief from his back pocket to wipe at his face. "Okay, Bent…we're secure. What's next, pal?"
"Great job, you two," came Bentley's voice. "Because, it's time for Phase Two…"