A/N: This is another quick update. By now some of you have identified three of the movies I'm paying homage to with this fic (D.O.A., Entrapment and The Italian Job). Let's see how many more you can find. For now, enjoy the chapter. Cheers!

Chapter 4

"Guys, has anyone of you seen Sarah? She sorta disappeared after breakfast."

"She's in the study, Chuck," Morgan replied. "While you were out for supplies she got busy studying the videos and stills you took yesterday. All she asked for was a pot of coffee and some croissants."

"Croissants?" Chuck echoed.

"Chocolate croissants, no less," continued Morgan. "The girl's working hard for her paycheck."

"I'll go see how she's doing."

"Casey will be here in an hour," Bryce informed him.

"All the more reason to see how far she's progressed."

"Dude, Sarah is good at what she does. I'm sure she'll have something good by now."

He shrugged, went to the study and knocked.

"Come in," Sarah called from inside.

He entered. Photos were tacked or taped all over the place. The computer was still playing a video taken the night before. An empty cup of coffee and a half-eaten croissant were competing for space with her notes on the mahogany desk. As for Sarah, she was still in the casual clothes she had been wearing at breakfast. But now her blonde tresses were pulled up in a messy bun and skewered with a number two pencil to hold them in place. She took another bite of her croissant and furrowed her brow in thought.

"Give me good news, Sarah," he said cheerfully.

She looked up. "What makes you think I have good news?"

"I don't think. I know. You're really good, Sarah, so you're bound to have something juicy by now."

"Well, if you consider finding out which routes to avoid like the plague good news, then yes, I have good news."

"Show me."

"OK. Take a seat." She waited until he was seated comfortably. "There is no way to bypass or disable the camera and the alarm covering the front door."

"So… scratch that route."

"Also, walking or crawling from the fence to the house is completely out of the question. The sensors are lower than knee level, just two or three inches above the grass and they are layered. I just described the lower grid. The upper grid is at four feet. The sensors of both grids are following random sweep patterns, making it completely impossible to dodge them."

"It's not like I was planning to dance my way through the sensors." He noticed the funny look she gave him. "What? I love heist movies."

"Anyway, we are lucky on one count. This place is primarily a house, a residence, so the security system is geared towards preventing entry in general and securing just one room in particular."

"The study," he said.

"The study," she confirmed. "There were no indications of sensors or alarms in the other rooms."

"Makes sense. I mean, who would want to have to shut off an alarm just to go take a leak in the middle of the night? Tell me more."

"Well, I mentioned the outer sensor grids. If one is tripped, one of the cameras placed around the house swivels to investigate the contact, running the image through a mass recognition program. If it turns out to be just an animal, the system goes back to standby. If it detects a human…"

"All sorts of alarms go off," Chuck guessed.

"Correct."

"Okay, can't we crawl on the ground to avoid the lower grid?"

"To do that you'd have to jump over the fence, most likely triggering both grids. Cutting a hole in the fence is also not something I'd do. It's rigged to the alarm as well."

"Rigged? How?"

"My guess is low voltage electrical current running through the metal."

"Then we can bypass it with jumper cables."

"We'd still have to cut through the fence with a power tool, making noise and a lot of sparks. A hacksaw is out of the question. It would take far too long."

"I just remembered something. Dogs sometimes dig under fences. But it too would be very time consuming, I guess. We'd be exposed for far too long."

"And we'd risk discovery at the very least forcing us to abort. At worst, we'd be in a firefight. We're lucky on one count though: There are no patrolling guards."

"What's to patrol? Besides, the security office in the attic has feeds from multiple redundant cameras covering the entire property."

"Ah, you noticed that."

"For your information, Sarah, I'm pretty good at breaking and entering."

"You proved that when you broke into my hotel room without me noticing. Back to the job at hand, I believe I found a weakness in the security system that we can exploit."

"I'm all ears."

"The chalet is built on a slope. The wood line behind it is less than fifteen meters from the edge of the gable roof and so is the fence." She stopped talking and played a part of the video footage they had taken during the night. "As you can see, the sensor coverage stops at the fence. The cameras covering the rear likewise have a limited field of view in the vertical, being unable to see two meters past the fence."

"I'm starting to like what I think you're going to tell me next. Going through or under the fence is out of the question, but it appears we can go over it."

"You're one hundred percent correct, Chuck. With the proper equipment, I can get us on the roof. From there it will be a relatively simple matter to avoid the security office and find a way into the study. I trust you can get me said equipment."

"Just tell me what you need. With the combined resources of the CIA and the NSA, I can get you anything. And I mean anything."

"Can you get me a medium rare cheeseburger with extra pickles?" Sarah meant it as a joke, but Chuck took her seriously.

"Excuse me a moment." He went out and returned a few minutes later. "You'll have your cheeseburger soon."

"What do you mean?"

"I talked to the others and called Casey. He agreed to bring lunch."

"I never expected to be taken seriously."

"Your hard work needs to be rewarded."

"Thanks. Would you like me to continue with the details?"

"No, not yet. Better to wait for Casey. Then, you can tell us all about your brainstorming and give us a list of equipment you consider necessary for the operation. And before I forget, I got authorization to give you a down payment, but from what I see it will in fact be payment for services rendered up to this moment." He took an envelope from a jacket pocket and handed it to her.

"Thank you." She quickly counted the money. It was in both US dollars and Swiss Francs.

"In US currency it's about two thousand bucks in total."

"I… I don't know what to say. But I really appreciate it."

"You are welcome. I figured you might want to go shopping at some point and you would need the extra cash. The rest of your fee will also be paid in cash."

"You don't want to leave a paper trail, do you?"

"No paper trail equals plausible deniability on the CIA's part, Sarah. What others don't know won't hurt them."

-o-

Casey soon arrived, bearing lunch. While they enjoyed it, Chuck filled them all in on Sarah's progress. The NSA agent was duly impressed by the young blonde's thoroughness. The plan so far certainly made sense. When Chuck finished speaking, he asked the logical question.

"And how do you propose to go over the fence and the open ground between it and the house while remaining out of the cameras' field of view?"

"For that we'll need some very special equipment," Sarah replied. "Specifically, this part of the operation calls for a gun-launched grappling hook."

"It's so pirate-y," remarked Morgan.

"But instead of a ship's gunwales, I'll be aiming it at the chimney. It's strong enough to support even Mr. Casey's weight with no problems, provided we go one at a time."

"What if you miss?" Bryce asked.

"I don't miss," she replied.

"Bryce means that we have to cover every contingency, Sarah."

"Well, for such an eventuality we'd have to carry spare hooks and cable reels."

"It should be no problem getting those. Do you have any specific preferences, make, model and the like?"

"As a matter of fact I do, Chuck." She grabbed a notepad, scribbled something on a page and tore it off, handing it to him. "This is the best complete system in the market. Special Forces and police SWAT teams also it when required. Personally, I prefer an even better version, but I'd have to order it myself."

"What do you mean better?"

"It's equipped with a special sight connected to a rangefinder, giving the correct aiming point under any and all conditions. But in our case, we'll be firing it horizontally instead of vertically, so the trajectory is going to be flat, obviating the need for the special sight. As an added bonus, my grappling hook launcher of choice also breaks down into small easily concealable parts."

"Dammit Carmichael," Casey groused. "You didn't tell me your consultant is a thief."

"Need to know, my friend. It's all need to know."

"But since you figured it out, Mr. Casey, yes, I am a thief. Chuck, how soon can we get it delivered?"

"I'll call Langley and have one sent here from an Army base in Germany. I expect we'll have it by tomorrow morning at the latest."

"Good. I want to start practicing as soon as possible. While waiting for it and some other stuff to arrive, we can prepare a room to simulate the mark's study as closely as possible. Oh, I took the liberty to add some very special night vision goggles to the list."

Casey cleared his throat. "Is there any way I can help?"

"Not for now," Sarah said. "But we'll need you for the practice sessions. And you could give us a hand in rearranging the study."

"Sure, I can do that."

"Great. Chuck, can I borrow your car please? I want to go buy some things."

"I'll come with you. Right now you are a valuable asset to the team and you need to be protected."

"Don't be silly, nothing's going to happen to me. I'll be back before you know it."

"My team and I didn't survive this long by being complacent, Sarah. Please, it'll make me feel better."

"Okay. I'll need someone to help carry the stuff to the car anyway."

"Great. Morgan, I'll need some money from the mission petty cash."

"How much?"

"Sarah?"

"Five hundred Francs should do it."

"You heard the lady."

"I'll be right down."

Sarah drove the Jeep Cherokee to Zurich. With the help of a very useful app in Chuck's smart phone, they quickly found the shops she wanted and soon the trunk and the back seat were loaded with bags and boxes.

"I just thought of something," she said. They had stopped at a small café before going back to the chalet and taken a seat in a quiet corner.

"I'm listening."

"We don't know anything about the mark's safe. I can crack just about any safe, but it'll be faster if I am prepared."

"There are people in Langley working on it as we speak. They'll call us when they have results."

"I hope they do their job properly."

"They will. FYI, right now they are hacking into every high-end safe maker's and vendor's database to find who shipped one to our mark's chalet and what model it was."

"Devious," she remarked and took a sip of her coffee. "These pastries are delicious. We should get some for the guys, too."

-o-

Part of the garage was turned into a workshop. Using instructions provided by Sarah, Bryce and Morgan were hard at work making a skeleton frame to simulate the bookshelves in the mark's study. Upstairs, Chuck, Sarah and Casey were busily moving furniture around, trying to replicate the target room as closely as possible, using the surveillance photos for reference.

It was hard and occasionally backbreaking work, but in the end they had a room that was to all intents and purposes identical to the one they wanted to break in to. Sarah looked particularly pleased with the fruits of her work.

"Guys, I normally work alone, but if I ever had to join a crew, you'd be it."

"The job is not over yet," Chuck reminded her. "But thanks for the vote of confidence."

"You're right; it's not over yet, not by a long shot. There are more things to do. Morgan, I need the yarn, the thumbtacks and the duct tape."

"What do you need the yarn for? Are you taking up knitting?"

"Me? Hell, no. But we can simulate the security lasers with it."

"Will it work?"

"Yes. They are fixed, so with their locations known thanks to the sweep we performed yesterday it's going to be an easy matter to avoid them."

She and Chuck had made accurate diagrams of the laser grid in the study, so before long the room was crisscrossed with red yarn.

"What do you think, Ms. Walker?" Casey asked.

"It's going to be a tight squeeze at places, but I can do it. I'm not so sure about Chuck though. He's going to have a lot of difficulty following me."

"Actually, Sarah, I'm only interested in the computer at the desk," Chuck told her.

"Then I can get you in and out with no one the wiser."

"I'm counting on it."

"Excellent. Morgan, you'll stay here and report when the bug starts transmitting. Bryce, you're the getaway driver and relay station. Casey, you and your team pull security."

"Methinks it'll work, Carmichael."

"Don't get your hopes up until we get our hands on the info on the safe I'll have to crack," Sarah cautioned.

"The contents of the safe are desirable to have, but I can settle for bugging his computer," Chuck said.

"Chuck, I'm surprised. I didn't think you'd do things halfway."

"I'm merely being practical, Sarah. In this case, I'll take what I can get without compromising the mission."

"Hey, I get it. Now, help me rig this to the window, will you? It will simulate the alarm there. Being a top of the line system, it includes a hinge sensor. A grid covering the pane itself is unnecessary, as it is armor glass. In short, even if I disabled the magnets around the sill, the hinge sensor would trip the alarm as I opened it. Annoying, but it can be defeated."

"How?" Bryce asked.

"By removing the entire window, frame included, from the wall," she replied. "Enter the rods and the power tools I bought at that hardware store. I measured the fittings here, which are identical to the ones at the mark's place. Trust me. It will work. Until the grappling hook and its launcher arrive, we can rehearse the entry phase."

"Tell us what we need to do."

"Casey, Bryce and Morgan can sit and watch. As for the two of us, let's break out the climbing gear."

"I'll go get it," Morgan said. As the logistics expert, he knew where everything was. Sarah had given them her gear back in Rome, too.

Before long, Chuck and Sarah were on the gable roof, dressed in black mission gear, a safety line tied around the chimney and attached to their harnesses. The others were watching from the balcony. Fortunately, the chalet was isolated and there would be no unwelcome spectators to the rehearsals.

"Are you guys OK up there?" Bryce called.

"We're just peachy, pal," replied Chuck. "Start timing us."

Sarah led the way to the front and then crawled on her stomach when she reached the edge of the roof, peering down to visually verify the location of the security cameras – simulated by a pair of soft drink cans. Chuck, following behind her, had a great view of her butt in the form-fitting mission pants. Keeping out of the cameras' field of view, she lightly dropped down to the balcony. Chuck followed suit a few seconds later. Using the power tool, she removed the upper right bolt from the window frame of the study, replacing it with a metal rod. She did the same with the rest of the bolts and within minutes she had pulled the entire window, frame and all, about half a meter from the wall. The gap was enough for them to get in.

She got in first and stood to the side, allowing him to enter. "Mind the lasers," she reminded him.

"I know. But thanks for the heads-up anyway."

"You're welcome."

"Guys, right now you can clearly see the yarn," Morgan said, taking a sip of his soft drink. He never seemed to be without a soda can. "But what happens when you do it for real?"

"We'll use night vision goggles to avoid the lasers."

"Night vision goggles do not give good depth perception."

"Then we'll use compressed gas as well. Not enough to fog the interior of the room and prevent us from seeing past our noses, but sufficient to make the laser beams visible."

"Does this answer your question, little buddy?"

"Sure does, bro. Carry on."

"Where to now, Sarah?"

"You head for the desk and do your thing. There are not too many beams in your way. Go."

"Okie-dokie."

She watched him as he carefully made his way to the desk without a single bell of the dozens hanging from the yarn ringing. "Good job, Chuck. My turn now."

The four men watched spellbound as she used the natural agility of her shapely body to slip between the 'laser beams' and make her way to the biggest cupboard under the bookcase and then to another large piece of furniture. Finally, she checked behind the paintings hanging on the walls.

"Well?"

"I can easily move about to find the safe. And then I'll have sufficient room to work on cracking it. Your villain and his people did a lousy job placing the sensors around the room. They left too many blind spots and gaps in the coverage."

"Then we are very lucky. And a bit of luck is always welcome as far as I'm concerned. Bryce, what's our time?"

"Ten minutes from the time Sarah dropped from the roof to her finishing the search for the safe. All things considered, it's record time."

"Ms. Walker, I think I found a flaw in your plan," Casey said suddenly.

"Please tell me."

"What are you going to do about the cable and the hook? You can't just leave them on the chimney and we can't throw them back. They could fall short and trip the ground sensors."

"Damn! He's right!" Chuck exclaimed. "Good call, Casey."

*grunt* (It was nothing)

"We can always shoot it back," Sarah shrugged after thinking it over. "We'll just have to take the launcher with us to the roof."

"That can work," Casey said. "Call Langley and have your people send a couple of extra propellant cylinders for the launcher, Carmichael."

"I'll take care of it," volunteered Morgan.

With the first rehearsal completed satisfactorily, they tried again. The results were the same, plus they improved a little on their time. And then it was dinnertime. Casey accepted an invitation to stay and Morgan whipped up something delicious.

"What's that?" Sarah asked. She was curious about Morgan's soft drink addiction.

"It's grape soda. I love the stuff."

"Can I try some?"

"Be my guest."

She opened a can and took a tentative sip. "Yikes! That stuff is awful! How can you drink it?"

"You have to acquire a taste for it. Plus, it's a lot better on the rocks."

Sarah tried it on the rocks and agreed it was really better that way.

"Listen up, people," Chuck said. "We did excellent work today and covered a lot of ground. I suggest we relax and enjoy a movie now."

Everyone else voiced their agreement, so the four spies and the thief gathered in the living room.

TO BE CONTINUED