Hello readers! Strap yourselves in because the heist for the Golden Dolphin is ON! Enjoy!
Chapter 5:
"Okay, friends," Wolf said, rejoining the others on the far side of the museum's huge entranceway. He flipped the ring that he secretly stole from Diane, and said while catching it back into his paw, "It's showtime"
Together, the Bad Guys stepped into the main part of the museum. Boy followed them from behind, secretly.
Boy opened up his coat to allow Barks, who was inside his master's coat the whole time, peek out.
"You heard him, Barks" Boy said, to his guinea pig comrade. "Time to play"
(BARKS SQUEALING QUIETLY)
The silly guinea pig went back to hiding inside Boy's coat and continued to follow the Bad Guys from behind.
There was a big open space that had been turned into a reception area for guests of the event. Round banquet tables had been set with multi course place settings, elegant centerpieces, and at the front of the room was a stage with a podium and a giant screen set up for a video presentation during the award ceremony itself.
"Once we're in," Wolf reminded the guys. "It's on to Step Three: we split up and take our positions
Nearby, up on the floor above, the chief of police was instructing her fellow officers on their mission for the evening.
"Officers, if the Bad Guys crash this event, I am definitely going to lose my job. And I will NOT hesitate to take you down with me. Now, move out!" The chief declared
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Hut, Hut, Hut, Hut!"
"Hut, Hut, Hut, Hut, Hut, Hut, Hut, Hut, Hut, Hut!"
On Wolf's command, the Bad Guys also broke off and moved into position.
Piranha broke away from the others and nonchalantly dove into a nearby fountain to access the building's plumbing system. Webs hopped off Shark's head and crawled stealthily across the floor, in between partygoers' legs and shoes. Shark sidled up the main staircase, heading for the Ceremony Room and his next move. Meanwhile, Wolf headed for the balcony level, snagging guests' wallets and jewelry along the way. Snake stayed on the main floor, looking behind him to make sure no one was following as he was heading towards a swirly, wavy golden pole-like sculpture. As for Boy, he just kept on walking calmly just minding his own business not trying to make anyone suspicious, especially the Bad Guys.
"Mics on," Webs said quietly while making her way through the moving crowd of guests. "Everyone on comms, do you copy?"
"Copy" Wolf responded
"Copy" Snake responded
"Copy" Piranha responded
"Copy" Shark responded in a high-pitched voice of a lady
"Copy" Boy responded, in his thoughts
With that, the Bad Guys were on the move
Snake looked around to make sure no one was looking before he carefully began slithering up the golden modern art sculpture to reach one of the museum's upper ledges, then slid directly into an air duct.
(SNAKE LAUGHING)
A security guard is seen making his way to the security room as he used his keys to unlock the room before entering. But what he didn't know was that Webs was riding right on his back.
Back in the Ceremony Room, Shark was lapping up the life of luxury in his job disguised as a partygoer.
"A drink for the pretty lady?" A waiter asked, leaning in close
"No thank you," Shark said, before taking both drinks. "My life is too complicated right now"
Suddenly Boy approached him as he took the one drink from the predator's fin and kissed his palm. The kid was ready to do nasty things with the master of disguise.
"Why you're one of the most beautiful dames I've ever seen," Boy commented him, in his disguised voice
Shark chuckled feeling flattered, "Oh, really?"
"No," Boy replied, in his disguised voice. "But I don't mind lying if it gets me somewhere"
Boy took his seat next to Shark leaving the disguised predator puzzled. Boy then wrapped his arm around Shark's muscular bicep and turned to the waiter.
"And you can say it was a real love match" Boy said, in his disguised voice. "We married for money"
"What in the…no we…" Shark said, confused
"You know it was love at first sight. Eh, my shrinking violet" Boy said, in his disguised voice. "Say, it wouldn't hurt you to shrink 300 or 400 pounds"
Shark was shocked and insulted and stood up from his seat. "Why, I've never…I oughta report you to the authorities!"
"I thank-you to let me do the reporting," Boy said, as he pulled out a notepad and pen. "Is it true you're getting a divorce as soon as your husband recovers his eyesight? Is it true you wash your hair in clam broth? Is it true you used to dance in a flea circus?"
Shark wasn't taking these insults very well. He was ready to swallow this jerk as an appetizer. But he reminded himself that he was on a mission. He couldn't risk getting himself or his friends exposed. The fishy predator decided to let it go.
Shark turned to the waiter with a huge smile, "He's a funny man. I could just eat him up" he said, before turning back at Boy with a glare and said, "…literally"
Up in the vents, Snake slithered to his destination. Once he got there, he paused. In the next moment, he molted out of his skin and costume, leaving both his withered snakeskin and dapper disguise behind, He emerged from the air vent in fresh stealth gear.
Over in the men's restroom, a caterer is heading into a stall to use the toilet. However, he didn't see Piranha slowly peeking his head out of the toilet as the Columbian Fish expressed a huge grin on his face as the man closed the bathroom stall door behind him. It was unfortunate for the caterer, but fortunate for Piranha.
Back in the security room, Webs plugged in a red hard drive into the hard drive system and opened her laptop, typing a code to log into all the security cameras. From behind her, having dispatched with the security guard—by hanging him upside down from the ceiling of the security room with duct tape—Webs had successfully hacked into the museum's surveillance system. She could monitor everyone's progress and clearly see everything that was going on in the backstage area. The Golden Dolphin was right where it was supposed to be, sitting backstage waiting for their big moment.
"Boys," Webs said into the comm link. "It's dolphin season"
"Copy that," Piranha replied, stepping out of the bathroom in his new caterer's uniform. "I'm on the move"
Back at the party, the chief of police continued her patrol, talking into her walkie-talkie.
"Unit Two, is the backstage area still secure?" She barked
The response came immediately through the walkie-talkie, "Unit Two, all clear"
The chief of police smiled, "This is where all the training pays off"
However, what the chief didn't expect was that Wolf, who took the opportunity, purposely bumped into her.
Wolf merely tipped his hat to the chief as he strode confidently down the hall. "Pardon me. Terribly sorry"
"Not a problem, sir" the chief said, humbly
She then spoke into her walkie-talkie again, "Keep your eyes open, boys. They could be anywhere, just waiting to humiliate us"
For a woman with all muscle but no brain, little did she know, Wolf had planned on that. He didn't want to miss a beat. It had given him the opportunity to swipe her security card from under her nose. The canine gave the fourth wall another cunning smile and continued walking towards the next stop on their heist plan, he looked up at the security camera that was watching him and smiled, showing off Webs the card.
(WOLF LAUGHS)
"Wolf is in position," Webs reported to the rest of the gang
Near the kitchen, caterers were pushing out carts that had plates of food for the guests. Piranha, who was disguised as a caterer, is seen pushing one of those carts.
"Piranha, you all penguin-suited and booted?" Webs asked, over her comm
"Affirmative," Piranha murmured, "I'm a clean, mean dolphin-stealing machine"
He joined a line of caterers, pushing carts towards the event hall space.
"What's going on, guys?" Piranha asked some of the other waiters
The key to fitting in, he knew, was to act like you belong. But as soon as no one was looking, Piranha veered off in a different direction.
Meanwhile, above the floor, Wolf made his way toward a staircase, stealing more wallets and jewelry, making it look as easy as taking candy from a baby. Suddenly, he came upon his easiest mark of the night: a frail and very rich-looking old lady. The canine caught sight of dollar bills spilling out of her purse, and Wolf just couldn't resist. He was on a mission, but a theft like this was impossible to pass up. But just as he grabbed on to the woman's purse strap, the old lady tripped and began to fall down the stairs. The purse strap, held on one side by Wolf, was the only thing keeping her from falling all the way down the stairs.
Wolf glanced at the old lady, then at the purse—then at the fourth wall.
(WOLF SIGHS)
"Here," Wolf grumbled, "Let me help you"
With a quick heave-ho, the canine pulled the old lady back up to safety. Feeling like a sucker for letting his conscience take over. He then picked the old lady up and gently placed her back on one of the stairs.
"Are you okay, ma'am?" Wolf asked
"Oh, my gracious, yes!" The old lady said, in a chirpy voice. "I may be dizzy, but I'm alive, thanks to you"
She wrapped Wolf in a warm, huge hug.
"What are you…" Wolf stammered
The canine felt very uncomfortable by the old lady's hug. No one ever hugs a wolf especially not one in disguised. Yet, it began to make him feel something that he hadn't felt before.
(WOLF GROANS NERVOUSLY)
"Oh, thank-you, dear," the old lady said, patting him lovingly.
This caused Wolf to sink down to her level with a dumbfounded look on his face.
"You're such a good boy" she finished
As she walked off, Wolf's eyes went wide—blushing underneath his fur—posing like a begging dog.
His tail had begun to wag uncontrollably. It was the feeling Wolf had never felt before…what was that? He quickly tucked his tail back into the seat of his pants, making sure no one had seen it slip out of his disguise. A few minutes later, he strolled into the janitor's closet Piranha had set up as a sort of makeshift command station. Once Wolf closed the door behind him, the fur on his face puffed out—like he suddenly had goosebumps.
"All good, brother?" Piranha asked, while chopping lemons
"Yeah, a-all good. Yeah, yeah" Wolf told him, trying to shake off his strange encounter with the old lady. Into his comm, he said, "Um…Webs, what do you say about moving on to Step Four?"
"Copy that," Webs replied, back in the central command post. "Shark, you're up. Do your thing"
Excitedly, Shark blurted out through his comm, "Do I get to improvise?"
While he climbed into Piranha's catering cart, Wolf muttered back, "Yes, fine, improvise. But please be subtle"
On the main event floor, Shark was ready to do his thing. His job: distract! So, he hastily spilled his drink, then lifted a table high above his head and hurled it across the room, before beginning to scream like a banshee.
"I'm having a BABY! Is there a doctor? Or perhaps several SECURITY GUARDS who could LEAVE THEIR POSTS and help me?"
"Do you hear? Do you hear? The bloated whale is giving birth and it's not from Jesus! Please, help her! Double-time, c'mon, let's move-move-move!" Boy called out, in his disguised voice
All nearby security guards quickly abandoned their posts to help out the screaming lady. As soon as they were out of position, Piranha wheeled the catering cart to the door of the guard room. Wolf's hand poked out of the underside of the cart to swipe them in with the stolen key card. Boy, who spotted them, slyly smirked noticing that they've reached Step Four already.
But getting through that first door was the easy part. Now they had to get past two elite special-ops guards keeping watch over the trophy room. Wolf and Piranha surveyed the scene from the far end of the hallway. That's when they noticed a food cart rolling toward the guards. The covered tray on the top of the cart was labeled: "Fish Surprise."
"Fish Surprise?" One of the Special Ops guards asked, leaning toward the tray. Curious, he lifted the cover.
"SURPRISE!" Piranha shouted, looking adorable, before leaping into the guards faces beating them both into submission
With the two special ops guards out-cold, Wolf rushed toward the next part of the plan. He studied the retinal scanner, the last step before they could get through the door. With a flick of his finger, he pulled up the selfie he'd taken with Diane Foxington earlier in the evening. He zoomed in on the governor's face, then hit send.
"Hey, Webs, can you enhance this…" Wolf asked
A nanosecond later, Wolf's phone dinged with an incoming message. Webs had zoomed in and enhanced the picture to get a high-res image of Diane's iris.
"Done" Webs chirped back, "Eight steps ahead of you, Wolfie"
Wolf pressed his phone up against the retinal scanner, watching as the light blinked green. It opened the metal doors, allowing Wolf and Piranha to enter inside the backstage area. They were in. The heist was ON.
However, on the other side of the curtain, Boy was watching them on the surveillance through his phone. It appeared Webs wasn't the only one watching the Golden Dolphin from the security room. This kid was on top of their game.
Boy glanced up to the fourth wall, "But I'm nine steps ahead of this game"
The kid smirked evilly.
What do you think will happen next? Please review and stay tuned for chapter 6, coming your way!