Motorway, Netherlands-Belgium Border. 9:13am 28th July 2013
"Why does the traffic have to be so bad?" Murray asks himself as Bentley tries to find alternate routes. This border crossing today is jam-packed full of cars that aren't moving fast at all through the gates. The van is forced to wait in line with the other vehicles much to their discontent. The will only be further behind than they need to be. Already having not aught them before they took off meant that they would be several hours behind before they make it to Lyon. Another car has had the same idea. With all of her Interpol credentials reinstated, she passes by through the diplomatic entrance. No need to wait in line for the queues. They even spot the distinctive blue van amongst the trucks and cars that clog the road.
"Look, they're back there. We'll beat them there easy." Joey says, reassured that this traffic will cause them a 30-minute head start. On the other side of the car, Carmelita is giving her details.
"Yep, It all checks out. There's just one more thing I'd like you to do." The toll guard explains.
"What's that?" Quickly he tries to draw his gun but there is no one quicker than Carmelita. She beats him to it.
"Give the gun here." She demands and he gives it up. Joey takes this one for himself.
"See ya." Joey shouts out of the window as he drives off. "Yeah, they'll be onto us soon so I thought I'd enjoy it while it lasted." He explains as he speeds away into the distance.
"You ready for a high speed pursuit?" She asks. There need not be an answer as he already floors the car and goes into the fast lane.
Lyon, France. 9:24am 28th July 2013
"They'll know that I've left and not completed the mission so they'll try to shut down every link to me now." She explains to the now fully awake Sly.
"So, how do we get inside?" Sly asks.
"Because the director will be stuck in the Netherlands, we should have an easy access and enough time to get inside before this all gets out of hand." She says, trying to hide the secret she has kept from him all this time.
"So, what are we talking about, roof? Drains? Vents? Because I'm down for all of that." Sly remarks, just proving how good he is at skulking around.
"The war rooms are downstairs in a bunker, we'll have to be careful going inside as that's where all of the personnel will be."
"Too easy." The invisible Sly states back, showing how he knows what to do. The landing shakes him out of his focus and out of his invisibility.
"Once we get out they will try to find us so we you need to follow me out of here." She instructs.
"Do you know the place?"
"How else would they know who I am and what I needed to do? They took me there first." She explains. She parks the plane in a vacant hangar and waits for the engines to spin down before attempting to get out. That would only end up in a result that wouldn't be good for them in ways untold. There is no need for a set of stairs to help them get down form the plane, they just jump down. She shuts the hangar doors and stands with Sly at the exit door.
"We have to assume that everyone out there is looking for us, in reality, that's what's going to be happening once the Director gives the order." She explains.
"Relax, I'm used to it." He replies.
"I don't think you want to know what's at stake here so you need to be on top of yourself." She finalises one last time but he has already disappeared and opened up the door.
"Come on Penelope, stop being so serious and let's go." Sly urges her. She does the same and they walk together across the concrete ground. It looks normal from the ground, people unloading the baggage from the planes carts and cars driving them along for them to be put inside the terminal. Sly doesn't know where all of the security that she was talking about is. He feels as relaxed as a thief could ever let himself to be, which isn't relaxed at all. Penelope holds Sly's invisible hand so that he knows where to go. The run across the ground and go up the stairs into one of the gangways for one of the incoming flights. The passengers are getting off the plane so Sly and Penelope stay invisible amongst them. They walk slowly along the pace with the groups of people that trudge off the plane from a long flight. They all look very deprived of sleep. Sly thinks they could learn a thing or two from him. His sleeping pattern is never fixed so he just goes to sleep whenever he wants to, allowing him to cram in sleep when it's convenient and not when it's required. It's just another thing he needs to put in his big book of secrets.
The inside of the terminal however is crawling with guards, like there has been a terrorist threat. Penelope stops and whispers into Sly's ear.
"We need a disguise." She says.
"We've come to the right place." Sly says. All the boutique shops surround them; they could find a multitude of outfits.
"Just wait here and I'll get you something." She says as she walks over to the bathroom to change back into a visible state without being seen. Sly just waits outside, all the guards just casually walk past but they can't see him. After about 30 seconds, Penelope comes out and winks at a clear section on the wall where she saw Sly leaning on. Sly take a look around the corner, he can see her picking out some clothes for the two of them. A top from the top rack, another pair of pants. She's not dilly dallying with her time like some other women that he has seen in clothing shops. Penelope takes all of the clothes and waits for the employee to take off all the security tags that prevent them from being stolen. There is no challenge for Sly to steal from a shop that has done nothing wrong. The tags are too easy to get off if you have the equipment and technique to hide it.
"That comes to 598 euros." She says as the checkout girl finishes scanning all of the goods. Penelope passes over her card; it has all the money from the previous transaction on it so money is not a problem. However, access to that money is, her bank account is suspended.
"Your card is declined." She flatly states back to Penelope.
"Try it again, try entering it manually into the system." She asks.
"Are you some kind of computer genius?" She asks out of curiousity.
"I know a bit." She says, underselling her talents.
"You do it then, I can't use this thing in front of me." She says back as Penelope goes around the counter to type into the computer. What she does next is a stroke of genius in the short term. She makes the transaction as if the business has just recorded the stock she has 'bought' as drawings, meaning no money need to be paid and the goods can be taken away. A receipt is printed and she is away with the goods. Once Penelope walks past with the goods, Sly tags on behind to check out what her fashion sense is like. Not that he cares that much about fashion. If he looks horrible, he can just be unseen by all. He follows her into the ladies toilets while still invisible and goes into the stall next to her as she passes over his items for wearing. Sly puts on the clothes over his thieving outfit underneath in case he needs to do a quick change. No one is in the bathroom at this time, which is a rare occurrence for any women's toilets, especially at an airport.
Penelope waits outside to check to see if it is clear. Sly emerges from the stall donning a black shirt with black pants and black tinted sunglasses.
"You are very obsessed with the colour black." Sly remarks looking at his clothes. Then again, he should be expecting it. She was the 'Black' Baron, the Black Knight and owns a black plane. Her yellow-orange tracksuit combination has adorned with black stripes down the sides.
"Black is a very practical colour." She replies back. "Especially for what we need to do next."
"Does it involve stealth or being out of sight?" He asks, noting his similarly dark clothing.
"Yeah. But first we walk past the guards, don't make eye contact, don't try anything stupid and make sure you keep your cane out of sight. If they see that you will become Swiss cheese." She warns Sly.
"I always preferred Brie, but let's go." Sly says as they walk along the terminal to the exit. His cane is stashed inside the large shopping bag; he keeps it firmly closed to allow no outsiders to peak inside.
"We take the train into town and make our way to the building itself, which is next to a huge park, that's where we will enter from." She explains, trying to look casual as to not attract attention.
"It's a nice day today." Sly notes, looking out of the terminals floor to ceiling glass windows.
"Are you listening to me?" She asks, annoyed at his distraction.
"I'm just keeping up the act." Sly says calmly, he has done this more times than she has, he knows what to do when surrounded by guards that you can't take down. He has the experience; Penelope is trying to fit in. Sly thinks she's doing fine but in the end. Sly is the thief in this old couple. They walk out through the baggage carousel and out to the rail system that will take them as close as it can to the Interpol Headquarters.
Belgium. 9:58am 28th July 2013
"Can't you call these people off?" Joey asks as he floors it down the motorway.
"I've tried like 5 times already." Carmelita angrily replies, unhappy that this little pursuit will go across country for hours.
"Take them out then, I'll keep driving and you short out their engines with your shock pistol." Joey suggests.
"It's better than doing nothing." She says as she opens up the side window and prepares to shoot back at them. Pulling the trigger is difficult as the car overtakes all slowpokes that go in their way. It is also harder as Joey's good driving has managed to open up a 500 metre gap, but her marksmanship is unmatched. The engines fail as the electric pulse overloads the battery, meaning no ignition of the combustible mixture in the engine. The cars also block some of the lanes, which also aids them in preventing Bentley from getting past. No doubt the van has some trick up its sleeve that they don't know. All they can focus on is the road ahead and the many kilometres of pedal to the metal driving ahead.
"Sly's going to make it there first." Joey says out loud, thinking of the situation. "You should get your 'man on the inside' to give us some updates about his progress."
"Just keep on driving, I'll make the call." Carmelita says, not letting herself show that these ideas he keeps suggesting are perfect. They make a good team despite their differences.
"Pick up!" She shouts into the dialling phone.
No answer.