Operation Stradivarius: 8 hours window remaining
The coffee shop was just closing up. Liam was in the back, mopping up. Why we don't just get a Mister handy for this shit, he thought. Though, on second thought, if they got a Mister Handy to do the cleaning, they could just as easily get a Mister Handy to be the barista, then he'd be out of a job. Better to be stuck cleaning than to be unemployed, Liam concluded.
Then he heard a loud banging from the lobby, followed by an annoyed yell, "God damn it."
There shouldn't be anyone out there, Liam thought. He was always the last one out, and they never had customers this late. Technically, they'd been closed for fifteen minutes. With this in mind, he grabbed the baseball bat that he kept leaning on the wall next to the door between the lobby and the back and went to see who this intruder was.
The lobby was dark, management had been on their asses about lowering the electricity bill. So once he'd finished cleaning, he'd turned out all the lights. A figure in dark clothing was just getting back to their feet, considering where they were rubbing, they'd probably slipped on the wet floor and fallen on their ass.
"Hey buddy, if you're here for coffee, we're closed." Liam held the baseball bat where he knew the intruder could see it. "And if you're looking to rob the place, find somewhere else or I'll knock your block off."
"Put that thing down Liam. It's just me." The figure pulled down the hood of their sweatshirt to reveal a brunette with striking green eyes.
"Madison," he said, putting the bat down. "You know we're kind of closed, right?"
She nodded, then looked back on the spot where she just fell. "Yeah, I figure that's why it's dark as hell and the floor is like an ice rink. I swear between that and Ming, my ass is going to be permanently bruised."
"Well you shouldn't come in here after we close," He motioned for her to follow him into the back. "But tell me more about what Ming is doing to give you those bruises."
She punched him in the arm, "Fucking perv."
He laughed, "I'm a guy; you can't suddenly get a hot girlfriend and not expect me to make comments. It's hard coded into our systems." Once they were back in the coffee shop's break room he turned back to her. "So what the hell do you need coffee for at this time of night? You and the girls pulling an all-night study session or something?"
Madison suddenly looked apprehensive. "I'm not here for coffee Liam. You know how you were a soldier in the Winter gang?"
How in all bloody hell does she know about that? Liam's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "I don't know what you're talking about Maddy."
She reached into the pocket of her sweatshirt, Liam half expected her to pull out a recording device. Instead, she pulled out a fat bundle of hundred dollar bills. "Liam, I don't care what you used to do. I know that you were running numbers when you were nine. I know you were stealing cars for them by the time you were fourteen. I know you were involved in extortion, armed robbery, burglary, and on two occasions, the destruction of evidence in a murder case. I also know you got out of that sort of stuff after high school, I don't care about any of that."
Liam kept one eye on the cash and the other fixed firmly on Madison. "I'm not saying anything, but hypothetically, if none of that matters to you then why would you bring any of it up?"
Madison took a deep breath before speaking again, "I need you to help me break into someone's house." She pointed to the money, "That's two thousand dollars."
What the hell? "Madison, what is this, some kind of sorority initiation stunt?"
She shook her head, "Liam, it's not that, but I need you to not ask any questions. All I can tell you is that it's important."
He looked Madison up and down, taking notice of certain details for the first time. She was dressed entirely in black, black sweatshirt, black sweatpants, black tennis shoes, black gloves. He thought about her request, they'd known each other just over a year and this wasn't the kind of thing she got into. She was loaded, so money wasn't something she'd steal for. No exes, so no stuff she'd have to steal back. That only left thrill seeking, he'd seen a few of those when he ran with the Winter crew. CIT had turned Boston into the one of the capitals of the American tech industry, and one of the best college towns in the world. That meant every uber-rich corporate CEO, political mastermind, or old money blue blood who thought their little darlings were the next Robert House, or just wanted another thing to brag about at parties in the Hamptons, sent their kids to Boston to study.
This brought whole new industries to the city. Wealth flowed in and luxury goods dealers came with it. And just as legitimate businesses adapted, so did the illegitimate. The local crews had to step up their drug game, drop the standard stuff and get into real pharmaceutical stuff, from pot to Daytripper, from peyote to Daddy-O, they had to get their hands on X-Cell, on Calmex, and on addictol so that when the party was over, the kids could take a few puffs and be right as rain before their morning lectures. Car boosting crews had to learn to work around the anti-theft devices for Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys, Mercedes, and Chryslus Rockets. Second story guys had to learn how to circumvent top dollar security systems and get into ritzy apartments and penthouses. High end prostitution, new underground casinos, millions of dollars were changing hands constantly. The stakes weren't small time anymore, the Boston crews were on the level of the New York outfits now.
And the rich kids weren't happy to just be customers. Dealing with criminals wasn't exciting enough for some of them. They wanted to dip a toe into the underworld, run numbers, deal some drugs to their friends, boost a few cars, that sort of thing. Bosses loved them, mainly because they'd usually work for free. Street guys like Liam had hated them, mainly because they didn't know what the hell they were doing. It was one of the reasons he'd gotten out of the game. Eventually one of those kids was going to get caught, it would be all over the news before their family could cover it up and then the people would demand action and the feds would be all over Boston.
But he'd always thought Madison was smarter than that. "Madison, if you're looking for a fucking thrill, go sky diving, go down to Florida and punch a great white, go do anything other than this."
Madison shook her head, "Liam, that's not an option."
Fucking perfect. "Alright, fuck, if you're really going to insist on this, I'll help. But not something as risky as burglary. We'll boost a couple of cars, move some merchandise for one of the crews, get whatever craziness that's making you want to do this out of your system." He ran his hand through his hair, fuck.
Still, Madison shook her head, "Liam, I'm not doing this for any stupid thrill or anything like that. This is important, and I need you to help me with it. I need to get into a specific person's house, technically it's an apartment, and then I need to do what I have to do, and get out without leaving a trace. Now are you going to help me or not?"
Fuck, Liam face palmed, she's going to do this if I help or not. "Maddy, what the fuck have you gotten yourself into?"
"Liam, your smart enough to know that I'm not going to tell you that."
Fuck, "Alright, I'll help, I'm assuming you want to do this tonight. Let me finish closing up, then I'll meet you at your place in twenty minutes."
"Thank you Liam-" He held up a hand, cutting her off.
He picked up the cash and took half of it. "Half now, half when the job is done. Always do it that way, bring half the cash up front, promise them the rest when the job is done. Always, even with people you know. People need a reason not to just shoot you and take the money." He held the rest of the money out towards her.
She took it, "Thank you Liam, but I figured we would just go right now."
Of course she did. This is why I never liked working with rookies. "I still have to close up, and you have to change." He could tell that she was about to interrupt. "I'll tell you why, at your place. You don't want me to ask any questions, fine, I won't, but we do this my way." She looked like she was about to protest, but thought better of it.
"Alright, I'll meet you at my place." With that, she left.
What the fuck am I getting myself into?
First post Dragon Op, I'm trying something different by italicizing specific thoughts, tell me if you think it's better. I kind of think it helps, at least, I don't think it hurts.
This one won't take nearly as many chapters as Dragon, but it's not nearly as plot heavy. It's actually kind of fun to write as Liam.
Either way,
Read and Review People.
