Chapter 3 - Day 3
Arriving at the library the next morning, d'Artagnan was surprised at how busy the place was. Everyone seemed to be working on something, whether they were crowded around tables looking at plans or standing in small groups discussing something seemingly very important. There was only about 25 people in Vadim's little gang, but every single one of them was occupied by whatever was going on.
It was actually unusual to d'Artagnan that Vadim had so many followers. He would have thought that someone like that would work alone, or have very few accomplices - not accepting any newcomer that appears on his doorstep. If they all had a role, how comes Vadim was the well-known one out of all of them? Did he come up with the plan and they just helped carry it out? Did he keep most of the money and riches himself? D'Artagnan made a mental note to find out more about this, more for his curiosity than anything else.
"Ah Christophe, perfect timing!" Vadim exclaimed as he walked towards d'Artagnan from the other side of the room.
"Vadim? What's going on?" d'Artagnan questioned curiously.
"Your first test my boy," Vadim answered with a grin on his face.
"Test?" D'Artagnan grew slightly concerned. What was Vadim going to make him do? If it was illegal and he got caught, there was only so much he could get away with on the assignment without actually being in serious trouble with Treville.
Vadim led him over to one of the tables near the back of the room and gestured for him to sit down and view the paper work that had been laid out.
"You say that you want to join us and I believe you, I do, there is just the slight issue of your skill. You see, this heist is going to be legendary and I can't have amateurs ruining everything." Vadim looked d'Artagnan in the eye, a serious expression on his face. "So I've planned a little something for you to be getting on with today."
Vadim noticed the worried expression that had been growing on d'Artagnan's face that the boy had been unable to hide and he couldn't help but laugh.
"No need to look so frightened! It's only something small, and you've probably done this a hundred times. I just need to see you in action is all. You won't be going alone either, I'm sending some of the boys to be your backup."
"You want me to steal something?" d'Artagnan guessed, remembering that his cover story was that he was arrested for stealing.
"You up for that?"
"Of course," d'Artagnan smirked, he couldn't blow his cover now that he was so close to finding out the information they needed.
"Good!" Vadim clapped him on the back, "You've heard of Orfèvres right? That jewellery store in the shopping centre…"
Yep, Treville was so going to kill him.
. . . . . .
Athos found himself sitting at his desk, attempting to finish a report that Treville had requested. Unfortunately his mind kept wandering to d'Artagnan, about how the assignment might be going. He was missing the boy terribly, previously having him as a constant presence with them wherever they went. Despite being part of a trio for so many years, d'Artagnan seemed to fit into their little group so nicely it was odd to think that there wasn't always four of them.
He was also again being distracted by his other two friends that seemed to never be doing any work. Aramis had somehow acquired a large lump of blu-tack and they were now making animals out of it.
Athos hadn't even realised that he was staring at them until Porthos looked up and caught him in the act. "What?" Porthos asked innocently.
Athos simply rolled his eyes, "I don't understand how either of you actually get paid, I mean when was the last time you did any proper work hmm?"
"This is work Athos…a work of art!" Aramis expressed, holding up his mini elephant for them both to see.
"You know what, you're right, I mean your talents are completely wasted by being in the police," Athos replied. "You should have become a comedian."
"Haha ha ha," Aramis let out a forced laugh, smirking all the same, "you think you're so funny Athos."
"I guess that makes two of us then…" Athos started, causing Porthos to laugh at how childish they were being.
"Seriously though, it would be good if you actually did something productive once in a while." Athos started, and carried on quickly after receiving an incredulous look from Aramis before he could be interrupted, "and as it so happens I have a little something you two could do. It would get you out of the office for a little while?"
"And why didn't you mention this earlier?" Porthos asked, already reaching for his jacket.
"Because Treville's only just emailed it to me…and if you were looking at your computer you'd have seen that he emailed it to you both too." Athos replied.
"Woop woop! We're going shopping!" Aramis grinned.
"Actually thinking about it, maybe you two aren't the best for the job…" Athos began.
"He needs us to pick up the CCTV footage from that attempted robbery at Orfèvres the other day," Porthos continued reading over Aramis' shoulder the email that he had brought up on the screen. "Why? We're not even on that case, and anyway shouldn't that have been picked up when they first went to talk to the owner?"
"I dunno, probably had something to do with incompetent police officers not doing their job." Aramis answered.
Athos had to hold back a laugh at that one, "Look Treville needs someone to do it, so do you want to go get them or not."
No more persuasion was needed for the two to be out and on their way to the shopping centre.
. . . . . .
D'Artagnan was not happy. Not in the slightest. He wasn't a thief. He had no 'thief' skills. He had no desire to learn any. Yet here he was, casually strolling into the busy shopping centre, Felix and a few others by his side, preparing to steal for the first time in his life.
Vadim had explained exactly what he want him to do before swiftly sending him on his way. He didn't want anything specific, just whatever d'Artagnan could get his hands on really, as long as it was of some value.
D'Artagnan didn't feel prepared enough to be doing this. Despite not being a thief himself, he'd had several run-ins with them in the past and he was pretty certain that they'd all planned their robberies before carrying them out. Not deciding to do it all spur of the moment like he was about to. Most had some sort of weapon or at least something to cover their faces. D'Artagnan and his 'friends' had neither. Vadim had said that it wasn't needed, that it wasn't even one of those proper expensive stores - the ones that had alarms all over the place and jewels that were barricaded behind glass screens and a bazillion locks - so no precaution was needed, he just had to be quick, in-and-out, grab the jewellery and leave.
On top of all that, Vadim had simply given him one piece of advice. The secret to a good trick is to make people look the wrong way. Well, in d'Artagnan's opinion that was easier said than done.
The small group of five had made it to the shopping centre in quite good timing - much to d'Artagnan's chagrin - and were now heading to the jewellery store on the second level. Another issue in d'Artagnan's mind, if he was having to run away, would he use the escalators or the lift? Escalators would be a wise choice, but what if they had lots of people on them and there was no room to run down? If he used the lift could he get down quicker than the person chasing him? What if the lift broke down whilst he was in it? What if-
"You know what you have to do?" Felix asked, cutting off his train of thought.
"Yeah, I'm ready" D'Artagnan attempted to act as relaxed as possible, reminding himself that this was supposed to be his day-job.
Entering the store d'Artagnan was pleased to see that it already contained quite a few people, all of which were already distracting at least one member of staff. If it was completely empty he was more likely to get caught by someone.
Immediately d'Artagnan began to scope out the place. Finding his police skills coming in quite useful, he was able to determine the easiest jewels to grab. Several sparkling necklaces and bracelets were out in the open dotted around the shop on different stands.
He was momentarily distracted when Felix's voice could be heard loud and clear. Turning around he understood why. Standing at one of the counters Felix had his arm around Zoe's waist and was talking cheerily to a member of staff, "Well you see it's my gorgeous girl's birthday in a few days and I think she deserves something just as gorgeous as she is…" Zoe was giggling into her hand, acting all embarrassed. Acting the part.
On the other side of the shop Pierre and Louis could be seen pretending to be interested in the rings under the counter.
Looks like it was time to get started.
There were three members of staff out on the shop floor, all of which were currently serving at least one person. D'Artagnan went about looking at the watches that were on show, constantly looking out of the corner of his eye to check if he was being watched.
Moving closer to one end of the counter where a stand of bracelets was on show in the corner, he tried to work out how he would go about getting them off. From where he was standing it looked like it was going to be pretty easy. They seemed to be on a kind of horizontal tube that had a pole through the middle which was attached to the base of the stand.
An up close inspection confirmed d'Artagnan's thoughts. There was nothing that the bracelets were attached to, nothing that needed to be unlocked on the ends of the tube. Getting these expensive items off was as simple as sliding them off of the end. It's a wonder this place hasn't been robbed before, they're making it way too easy not to, d'Artagnan thought to himself, preparing to begin his part in the plan.
Carefully looking around one more time, d'Artagnan could see that the three members of staff had been cleverly led to the other side of the shop by Felix and the others.
With no one watching over him, he quickly but gently slide the first bracelet off the stand and slid it into his pocket. Looking around again he confirmed to himself that no one saw anything.
Well that was easy. Maybe he could get another one? I mean he wanted to keep up his reputation as a thief and what better way to prove himself to Vadim than to bring back a collection of jewels.
Doing the same thing, d'Artagnan slid another two bracelets off of the stand at the same time and again put them into his pocket.
Wow could this get any easier? He could take the whole bloody rack and nobody would notice. Of course this is how people get caught though. They get cocky, try to take too much and then get caught. He'd seen it a hundred times in the past. But surely one more wouldn't hurt. (Well it would hurt the shop owner but he was trying not to think about that.) One more, then he would call it a day.
But of course, just as he was putting this final bracelet in his pocket, another member of staff came to the front of the shop and spotted him.
"Oi stop!" The man called out running towards him.
D'Artagnan didn't even hesitate, he turned and bolted out of the shop in an instant and from the sound of running behind him he guessed that the others had done the same. Well, either that or security were now chasing him.
Risking a glance over his shoulder he wasn't sure whether to feel pleased or worried that it was in fact both. The others had clearly done this several times before as despite his police training they'd managed to catch up with him in. The two security guards however were a bit further behind, meaning if the group just kept running they might in fact get away.
Reaching the top of the escalator, d'Artagnan could have laughed out loud thinking back to before the robbery when he had been considering this dilemma. Luckily there wasn't a single person on it once he'd reached the top and so he tore down in seconds, the others hot on his heels.
Continuing to run down the middle of the shopping centre, swerving in and out of the masses of people, he chanced looking back for a second time to see if they were still being followed.
What he saw, however, was so unexpected that he didn't even notice he'd stopped running.
Maybe 30 feet behind him was one of the 'security guards'. Only it wasn't security, it was Aramis.
Shit, he thought to himself. Only once he'd registered that Aramis was in fact no longer chasing him did he realise that he was also standing still. He didn't know what to do. The logical thing would be to run. 'Christophe' doesn't know this man so whilst he has the chance he should get away.
But he could hear the others calling his name, meaning they'd seen that he had stopped…and also that Aramis has stopped. The last thing he wanted to do was make Felix suspicious of him, so if he managed to 'get away' now what would that make them think?
Realising that Aramis was not going to make the decision for him, he decided to run, praying that the others didn't really notice anything.
He carried on running as fast as his feet would allow, the five of them sprinting out of the building and down the street before anyone else could do anything about it.
. . . . . .
Aramis and Porthos had taken their time in getting to the shopping centre. They figured that they had probably been annoying Athos a bit and so thought it was a good idea to give their friend some time on his own.
Just inside the shopping centre was their local Costa and so they saw no harm in popping in to grab a quick takeaway coffee each.
Hot drinks in hand they continued towards the jewellery store.
"You know, when this case is over, the four of us should really go out for the day." Aramis thought out loud.
Porthos hummed in agreement, "I think all of us have been so focused on work recently we haven't had time to properly hang out together in ages."
"Can't believe we're actually having to do this though…finishing up other people's jobs." Aramis commented as they approached Orfèvres.
Porthos didn't have the chance to answer as a shout of "Oi stop!" could be heard from inside the shop followed by a group of young men and women running out of the store.
Without even having to think about it, the pair not so carefully threw their coffee cups in the nearby bin, shouted a quick "it's okay, we're the police!" to the shop employee and chased after the group. Despite the training Aramis and Porthos had had over the years, the group they were chasing were young and so had speed and agility on their side.
"I'll go left, try to cut them off!" Aramis shouted to Porthos, deciding to take a different tactic to take down the delinquents.
Aramis veered off to the left while Porthos continued straight on, keeping the group in his sights, watching how they carelessly knocked over passers-by and seemed to be getting further away from him.
Aramis was thankful for his decision to go a different way as he managed to reach the top of the escalators just as the last girl of the group stepped onto them. He didn't even bother looking back - presuming that Porthos must be behind him somewhere - before tearing down the escalators after them.
Oh my god do they ever get tired? Aramis thought to himself as he continued running through the crowds of people. Can't one of you just slow down enough for me to catch you!
What he wasn't expecting was for one of them to do just that. The young man who he remembered was the first to run out of the shop had ended up at the back of the group and had decided to risk a look back.
Aramis had then noticed that the boy had in fact stopped and at first he was confused but after looking properly at the lad's face, he too stopped running without even realising.
Standing not that far in front of him was d'Artagnan. He looked worn out from the running and surprised to see that it was Aramis who had been chasing him. He also looked worried, like he wasn't sure what to do next.
Aramis didn't know what to do either. Should he let d'Artagnan go or should he arrest him? To everyone else around, the boy in front of him was just another criminal, not one of his best friends.
He didn't have a chance to make a decision as d'Artagnan took off just as quickly as he'd stopped, leaving Aramis watching him go.
"Shit!" he swore to himself, realising that he might have made a mistake. Turning around he looked back down the row of shops for Porthos, spotting him running round the corner, looking evidently confused that Aramis had not caught the perpetrators.
"Why'd you stop?" Porthos panted once he'd caught up with Aramis, but before he allowed his friend to answer he shook his head and carried on, "I'll keep going, might be able to catch at least one of them."
"No!" Aramis held his arm out to stop his friend, "We can't. It was d'Artagnan…"
Porthos looked at him confused, "What? You're sure it was him?"
Aramis nodded in reply, leading them both over to a nearby bench. If they were no longer going to catch the thieves, they might as well get their breath back.
"I don't think he knew that it was us chasing him; I mean I didn't know it was him that we were chasing. But as we were running, he looked back for a split second and in that second I think we both realised and we both froze. I didn't know what to do. I knew that if Vadim's gang saw me let him go, it could blow his cover, but then if I caught him, it could compromise the whole mission. He must have been thinking the same thing, but the others were calling his name and we were only looking at each other for like two seconds, but then he made the decision for me and carried on running. So I let him go."
Nothing was said for a few moments as Porthos took in what Aramis was telling him. He knew d'Artagnan could take care of himself but he still worried for the lad's safety. Aramis was right, letting him go may have been a mistake.
"I'm sure he'll be fine, they probably didn't even notice"
"I don't know Porthos…"
"It'll be fine. Anyway they're probably all off laughing to themselves about how slow the police are nowadays, not being able to catch up to anyone."
"Maybe. First we need to go get those tapes then get back and tell Athos."
. . . . . .
Two streets away from the shopping centre, Felix had told them all to slow down, "Running just makes you look suspicious, walk quickly and keep your head down."
D'Artagnan knew that they weren't at risk of being followed by the police, but he wasn't about to say anything. He'd seen Felix eyeing him dubiously as they ran away and knew it wouldn't be long before he was telling Vadim everything.
By the time they reached the library, they were no longer concerned about the police and instead were all talking excitedly about what had happened.
The three that they'd gone with had clearly done this before, but they were all only in their late teens and the adrenaline still coursing through their veins appeared to be making them giddy.
"But when that cashier actually asked me if I wanted to try one on, and then when the other one spotted d'Artagnan I almost had a heart attack" Louis giggled.
"Oh my god, it's like when we broke into that old guy house the other week, when he saw us and I thought he was gonna kill us all with that vase," Pierre continued.
Seeing them so happy made d'Artagnan laugh, regardless of it being about the crimes they'd committed.
Felix on the other hand had not said a word the whole way back. D'Artagnan tried not to worry about it. It was inevitable that he was going to tell Vadim, he was just going to have to deal with it when the time came.
. . . . . .
"What was he even doing in the shopping centre in the first place?!"
Aramis had lost the game of rock, paper, scissors that he and Porthos had played outside of their office door to decide who would break the news to Athos.
But as the pair had needed to call in other officers to deal with the shop's more recent break in, their friend was already well aware of what had happened.
"And stealing? What if it had been another officer outside of that store? What if he'd been caught? Is he trying to get himself killed?"
"Well, I think it's quite impressive that he actually managed to do it. Wouldn't expect it from the lad would ya?"
"Porthos, I hardly think it's something he should be proud of."
"Look, if Vadim told him to do it, he could hardly have said no could he." Aramis supplied.
"This is exactly why I didn't want him doing this in the first place." Athos said, sitting back down on his chair.
"Athos, he can take care of himself and I reckon he's probably doing a good job at fooling Vadim."
"Yeah, if he doesn't get caught out now that is," Aramis added solemnly.
Athos gave him a questioning look.
"There was a slight situation that occurred…"
. . . . . .
Vadim was very happy to hear that d'Artagnan had succeeded in stealing the jewels, but less so when Felix mentioned that he needed to talk to him.
D'Artagnan tried to act nonchalantly whilst sitting with the other boys, listening to more of their stories, but every time he glanced over to the table in the corner he could see Vadim's suspicious eyes watching him with Felix angrily ranting to him.
After a good hour, d'Artagnan was called over by Vadim. Passing Felix and his irritating smirk, d'Artagnan took the vacated seat.
"Good job today, I must say I wasn't entirely confident you were going to do it, but it seems you've successfully proved yourself."
Vadim took a moment to look at the bracelets that were in front of him before continuing.
"However," he said, looking back up, "I've been informed of some details that don't quite make sense."
"And what might that be?" D'Artagnan asked, feigning all knowledge of what he was talking about.
"You see d'Artagnan, I've only known you for two days so I can't say that I trust you yet, but I believed you were going to be a good addition to my crew. So when I hear that a police officer let's you go, I can't help but be slightly concerned…"
D'Artagnan gestured towards Felix, "Is that what he was talking to you about?"
Vadim dipped his head in confirmation, encouraging d'Artagnan to continue.
He took a moment to get the story straight in his head.
"I know him, the police officer. Not personally or anything, but I've been arrested by him quite a few times in the past."
Vadim was watching him carefully, clearly assessing everything he was saying.
"I was just quite shocked to see it was him chasing me and I guess he stopped for the same reason."
"Okay." Vadim nodded, "I knew there would be an explanation for it."
"So, it's all good?" D'Artagnan asked, surprised that Vadim believed him so easily.
"Of course," Vadim smiled, "and now that's cleared up you should get to bed. We've got an early start tomorrow."
"Sure," D'Artagnan replied warily, noting that he was probably already late to checking in, "I just need to pop out quickly, my girl's expecting me so I should go and let her know I'm needed here."
"No can do I'm afraid," Vadim stated, "don't take it personally, I don't let anyone leave the night after a job. Better to be safe than sorry."
"Right, yeah, of course," d'Artagnan acknowledged that he was being dismissed and so went back and joined the boys who had moved from telling stories at the table to playing cards in their sleeping areas.
Looking back at Vadim, d'Artagnan watched as he dead-bolted the locks and positioned his chair in front of the door.
There was definitely no getting out tonight.
. . . . . .
Tonight was Aramis' turn to pace needlessly up and down the room. "He's late."
Athos didn't even look up from the book he was reading to give his reply, "He's fine."
"No, something's happened to him I know it has. They saw me let him go. They know that he's working for us. I shouldn't have let him carry on running. It's my fault."
"Aramis," Athos closed the book. He'd read the same page three times now and hadn't been able to take anything in whilst his friend was still ranting, "Will you calm down, nothing has happened to him, and like you said yourself, he's always late."
"Oh I'm sorry, have you forgotten about your little outburst in the office today? And wasn't it only last night that you were worried because he was late checking in?"
"Yeah and wasn't it only last night that you told me I was being paranoid and overly protective and that I needed to calm down because he was going to call at some point."
Aramis sat down next to Porthos on the double sofa. Leaning forward he rested his head in his hands, letting out a long sigh. "I don't like this. This whole entire mission, it's so- …we have no idea what's going on whilst d'Artagnan's away from us. I mean something could have happened to him hours ago and we have no way of knowing. We shouldn't have let him go through with it."
"First Athos, now you…You know the way you two keep talking anyone would think that you don't trust the lad, that he's incapable of doing anything by himself."
Aramis was shocked at his friend's naivety, "Porthos, anything could happen to him whilst he's with those people!"
Porthos sighed before standing up and declaring he was going to make some tea for the three of them. "We're all going to calm down and just wait and see what happens…and if we don't hear word from him, then we'll decide what to do next…"