Arthur spent the rest of Tuesday looking for Vladimir. He also spent all of Wednesday looking for Vlad. He didn't find Vlad. He did find were Vlad lived and was greeted by Vlad's overly polite little brother.
Aurel told Arthur that Vladimir had been home and packed up and left. No, he hadn't mentioned where he was going or when he would be back, sorry sir. Aurel had no clue where his older brother had went, but Aurel gave the detectives a list of places Vladimir frequented.
The list included five different arcades, four game shops, three bars, two warehouses, and the public library.
Vlad was not in any of the arcades or game shops and the police found all of the bars devoid of high schoolers and all bars denied ever serving anyone under the age of twenty one. In the warehouses they found multiple kids selling suspicions smelling things in little bags, but no Vladimir. The librarian politely told them to leave and that she would call them if Vlad showed up.
After a considerably long argument, Arthur was able to convince the police to station an officer at each location to watch out for the teen and sent out a description to all units. However. Thursday came and Vladimir was not found.
Thursday brought new business for Arthur, be he spent the whole day in the office where he could hear the earpiece when the North started on their "job". Arthur and Kiku were constantly on the phone with the police trying to coordinate people as efficiently as possible and so that there was at least two units within a five minute drive of every museum, official building, landmark, and bank in the city. They didn't know what heist the North were going to pull, but Arthur was determined to catch them in the act. The earpiece would tell them exactly what the North were doing and hopefully, where they were.
However, five in the afternoon came and the earpiece was silent. Arthur leaned back in his chair and sighed. The police chief could handle things for a few moments, besides the guy was getting pretty annoyed with Arthur micromanaging.
Arthur picked up the phone again and dialed.
"Hello? Kirkland residence."
Arthur couldn't help but smile, "Hi Peter."
"Arthur! How's work? Are you going to be back in time for dinner?" Peter asked, his chipper voice was one of those that didn't get distorted by technology. He came through loud and clear, almost as if her were standing next to Arthur. Arthur had always wondered about that; what was it about some people's voices that they sound the same on the phone as face to face.
"Sorry, I was just calling to let you and Allistor know that I won't be home tonight." Arthur said and glanced over at the rest of his team. He wasn't going to demand that they stay all night, but chances were that some of them would anyway.
"Awe, why?" Peter whined, "I brought my art project home today and I wanted to show you guys!"
"You can still show Allistor and you can show me tomorrow." Arthur said, his gaze returning to his own desk. It was a bit cluttered. He would have to fix that, "I'll be back in the morning, probably before you leave for school, so I'll see you then."
"Good! Do you want to talk to Allistor?"
"Please."
"ALLISTOR! IT'S ARTHUR! HE WON'T BE HOME TONIGHT! HE WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!"
Arthur winced and held the phone away from his ear. Was he that loud when he was young? He didn't think so.
"Arthur?"
"Allistor, I know on late nights you usually bring me dinner, but please don't bother tonight." Arthur twirled one of his pens, he had seen a video where a guy could do all these crazy tricks with a pen. Now that he thought about it, Alfred and Gilbert were just the sort to waste the time to learn that sort of thing. Maybe he should ask about it?
"Why? There is no such thing as no time to eat." Arthur could almost hear Allistor frown, "If you're too busy-"
"No, it's just that I'm going to order a few pizzas for my team." Arthur noticed Alfred perk up and glance in his direction. Didn't he know eavesdropping was rude? Well, they were in the same room, so maybe it didn't count.
"Very well." Allistor sounded relieved, Arthur thought Allistor worried too much.
"Alright, thanks!" Arthur said, "Good night!"
"Take care." Allistor hung up.
"Are you really going to order us pizza?" Alfred asked with a puppy-like hope on his face.
"No." Arthur said, "I'm going to let you order pizza and I'll pay for it."
"YES!" Alfred rocketed out of his seat and punched the air, "Stuffed crust and extra cheese, here I come!"
Gilbert laughed, "Dude, you know they deliver, right?"
"Stuffed crust and extra cheese! COME TO ME!" Alfred laughed and threw a pencil at Gilbert who caught it and promptly threw it back.
"Is anyone else on, or am I first again?"
The whole room froze.
"Don't kid yourself Finland! You started an hour before we did, of course you're first!"
"Icy! Is Norway with you?"
"Why do you all insist on calling me that? I'm Iceland and no, he dropped me off at the corner and will be taking the back entrance."
"Why didn't he turn his earpiece on?"
"I did."
"Norway!"
"But talking on the phone and driving is dangerous, so talking on radio must be too."
"Police chat on the radio all the time!"
"They are very unsafe drivers."
The room burst into motion. Vash connected wires and things to his control box and Arthur lunged for his phone.
"Arthur? We can handle-"
"No time!" Arthur snapped, " The North are on the move! We are going to transmit the feed onto your open channel so all units can hear it and react accordingly."
"Do you have a location?"
"Not yet, sorry." Arthur signaled Vash, "Okay, it should be on, can you hear it?"
"All units respond affirmative. We are going to-"
"Thanks, I'll call you back later." Arthur hung up and rocketed over to Vash, "Do you know where the waves are coming from?"
Vash shook his head, "It's jut like before, it's totally invisible."
"Denmark here."
"Me, Icy and Finland are already in position. Where are you guys?"
"I'm here, don't know about Swede."
"There are police everywhere, just like we were told, but I ran into some."
Arthur's phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Who told them?"
Arthur sighed, "Apparently there is a mole in the agency-"
"Then why are we wasting all this man power? This is ridiculous!"
"I'm sorry, I've been working on it privately, but tonight we will get them, mole or no mole." Arthur said quickly and hung up.
"Sweden here."
"About time, man!"
"Sorry."
"It's okay, you're just in time."
"Hey! If I was late you'd never let it down! Why is it okay when he's late?"
"Heading in now."
"You're doing that thing again! You can't just ignore me!"
"Are you in position?"
"Yes but-"
"Let it go Denmark."
"Fine, but make this a new record, people! We need to be in and out in less than four and a half minutes."
"Thanks Denmark, we don't need to be reminded."
"Don't get sassy with me young man!"
"I give everyone permission to kill Denmark the next time they see him."
"What?!"
"Yes!"
"I thought you wanted that honor, Norway."
Arthur's phone rang again.
"Hello?"
"If this is a waste and I pulled everyone from their families tonight to listen to some criminals bicker while they commit some unknown crime, then I'll personally talk to your supervisor!"
"We will catch them tonight!" Arthur snapped and hung up again.
"Can we all please focus?"
"I'm done already. I don't know what you slow pokes are doing."
"Finland! You had a head start, that doesn't count!"
"We are nearing three minutes people! Hurry up!"
"We all have watches, thank you very much."
"Hey, did our case get reassigned yet?"
"No, but our contact said that if we aren't caught tonight, then there is no way Arthur will be able to keep it."
"Good, maybe the next team will be a real challenge."
"Yeah, I'm sort of looking forward to it."
"Vash, please tell me you are having some progress on their location." Arthur said.
"Nothing. They must have the best masker in the world or their using some back loop I don't know about." Vash said, a hint of frustration leaking into his voice.
"What are the chances of that?"
"Very slim."
"Arthur called out all the police right?"
"Yep. It's okay, Sweden knows all of their positions. No worries."
"It wouldn't matter anyway. I'm done, you guys?"
"Done."
"On my way out."
"Got it."
"Vash! Do we have anything?" Arthur's calm was gone.
Vash shook his head.
"Yep. See you guys tomorrow for the drop off?"
"See you then!"
"Good night!"
"Don't get caught!"
There was a laugh then everything went silent.
Arthur's phone rang.
No one moved.
The air felt hot and heavy, almost suffocating.
The phone rang.
"Um, Arthur? Are you going to answer that?" Alfred asked tentatively.
The phone rang and rang.
"No." Arthur said, "I'm going home." He pulled a twenty out of his pocket and dropped it on Alfred's desk, "Here, this is for that pizza. Go home and eat with your families. There is nothing else that can be done tonight."
Arthur left the office, his phone still ringing.
Emil put down his script and glanced at all of the bird cages hanging in Tino's living room. He picked up his cup of hot chocolate and looked at the screen showing the detective's offices. They had finished the heist on Thursday, but it wasn't when the police thought it was. It was through out the day. Now they had a living room full of bird cages and a bunch of quietly startled, very exotic, birds.
This was, by far, the strangest and most exiting theft they had ever done. They had taken each bird separately through out the day since taking them all at once would have caused an unavoidable racket. They had timed it so that the birds wouldn't be missed until tomorrow, when the empty cages would be noticed, each with the North card in it instead of a bird. Tomorrow was also the day they delivered the birds to the train station where they would be paid the rest of the money and the pretty animals would be taken off of their hands.
"Again, this was too easy." Tino said and Berwald nodded, "Are they even trying?"
"Please don't mock their effort." Lukas said, "They are doing very well considering their circumstances."
"What, Lukas being nice to cops?" Mathias laughed, "I can't believe my ears!"
Lukas didn't eve look at Mathias, "Arthur's team is formidable. That is why we are doing this."
Emil stood up and walked over to the living room as the other North talked. In one cage was a crested puffin. It wasn't actually all that uncommon, but it was beautiful and had been on the list to be stolen. Emil opened the cage and let the bird onto his arm. He stroked it's back and ran a finger over the white feathers on it's head. Beautiful. He felt slightly guilt admiring it since his own puffin was so jealous of him paying attention to other animals. Oh well, his puffin would never know. He knew this animal would have a wonderful life in a private collector's aviary and would be appreciated for the beauty it was. Emil put the bird back and walked back to the kitchen. He washed his hands and sat down again.
The others were talking, but he ignored it. It didn't pertain to him, so he didn't care. What he did care about was whether the normal police had broken ties with Arthur yet. That was the point of this and with Vladimir missing, they were no longer in immediate danger. However, the moment Vlad showed up again, he had every intention of freaking out. For now, it was time for a level head.
Emil shrieked and nearly jumped out of his seat as his phone rang. The other North looked at him in surprise then started to laugh. Okay, maybe his was still wound a little tight and maybe a little on edge.
Who was calling him in the middle of the night? Okay, six wasn't exactly the middle of the night, but still.
"Hello?"
"Emil."
"Leon?" Emil frowned, what? Leon was calling him? Why? Emil looked up and noticed the sudden silence that had filled the kitchen. He scowled at the other North and walked into the living room with the birds.
"Hi." Leon had a way of sounding even more emotionless than Lukas. It was infuriating.
"Um, what do you want?" Emil tried not to sound annoyed, but he could feel the eyes of the other North. Tino's apartment was rather small and Emil was mentally cursing it.
"You weren't at school today." No, it wasn't that Leon sounded emotionless, he sounded like he didn't care. That was it, his voice was devoid of passion and care.
"Yeah, I noticed."
"Why?"
Emil looked around at all of the birds. Because I was stealing birds all day. He couldn't say that. He coughed, "Um, I was busy. Lukas excused me."
"You weren't at school, Tuesday either." Jeez, Leon was so nosy.
"I was busy then too." Emil replied as blandly as he could.
"We were assigned a group history project."
"Oh? Was I assigned to a group?" Emil hated group projects and Leon knew it.
"Yes. You are with Peter and Raivis. Your group is supposed to do a presentation on the effects of colonization."
"Peter? Peter is in my group!" Emil sighed, life just wasn't fair sometimes, "Why didn't you ask to have me in your group?"
"I did, but Peter asked first." Leon still managed to sound uncaring. Didn't he realize how much pain it would put Emil through to have to work with Peter again?
"Well, thanks for telling me." Emil sighed again, then he frowned, "Wait, colonization where? The effects of colonization in North America is different from the colonization in Africa!"
"I don't know. You can call Peter and ask." Leon said.
"He'll tell me tomorrow regardless of whether or not I ask!" Emil said, "He's so annoying."
"So, you are coming to school tomorrow?" Leon asked.
"Yep."
"Good."
"See you tomorrow then."
"Good bye. Sleep well."
"You too." Emil hung up. Leon was so weird. Leon was also Emil's best friend. Emil was in Peter's group. Darn it. What about the colonization?
"School stuff?"
Emil looked up, Lukas had followed him into the living room without him noticing. "Yep. Nothing to worry about."
"If Vlad is at school tomorrow, I'm worried." Lukas said, with a perfect deadpan expression.
"The last day Vlad was at school was Monday." Emil replied and stuffed his phone into his pocket, "Him returning the same day I return would be creepy and I would worry about us being the ones being spied on."
Tino poked his head into the living room, "You two worry too much! Come on! I'm making french toast for lunch."
"French toast?" Lukas asked turning to look inquisitively at Tino.
"For lunch?" Emil asked incredulously.
Tino laughed, "You two are so much alike it's almost scary!"
"Are not!" Emil snapped.
This chapter came together really quickly and I'm pretty pleased with it. :) Thanks again to all of my reviewers! I'm glad you liked the last chapter!
