Chapter 4 – Race Against the Clock
Central London, England. 10:43am, 3rd November 2032.
9:57 remaining
Alex swings open the door and shuts it, without any regard for whether it closed or not, and races towards the stairs as he has no time for waiting for the lift. He leaps down each set of stairs but it takes a little too long to recover from the landing. Then he sees the steel handrails either side of the stairs, shooting down the rails are those little blue shimmers that keep on popping up whenever there's something useful to climb on, perhaps this is the time to test out the rail slide technique. So he jumps onto the outside handrail and begins to slide, using the cane to balance. However, the rail ends at each flat landing. So, in an equally impressive manner, Alex looks at the opposite handrail and bends his knees and performs a back flip. Watching the live feed is Matt, and he can't believe that he even tried that, let alone landed it. It goes on like this down to the bottom floor, gathering speed until Alex just wall runs across to the next rail instead of back flipping. When Alex reaches the ground floor, he can't help think but realize how cool they must think it looked as he puts the cane inside the grabber.
"That's completely outrageous what you did there." Matt comments.
"I'm just getting started." Alex says as he runs for the back exit.
"Hey Tyson!" Matt shouts, Tyson comes out of the room a little bit out of sorts with the glasses in his hand.
"What?" Tyson says, like he was being interrupted.
"Check out what Alex did." Matt says, rewinding the footage back to the start. Tyson can only watch in awe at Alex's athleticism.
"Damn." Tyson exclaims. "Where is he now?"
Matt resumes the live feed to discover he has already climbed up to the roof of another building across the street. Tyson goes straight to the window and can see Alex running across the rooftop and jumping across a laneway gap between buildings. Matt starts to have second thoughts about the success of his bet.
"I bet he'd take more than 10 minutes to reach the bank. I'm going to lose." Matt admits.
"Not as smart as you think." Tyson comments.
"Hey, I knew he'd be quick, but not back flipping off handrails quick." Matt counters.
"Let's just continue watching and think about how we'll never be able to do what he's doing." Tyson admits in awe as he crowds around the computer.
6:24 remaining.
Already half of the way there, Alex can't see just how he could lose this bet without a major obstacle. He continues his path across the rooftops, running at speed towards an older building with a ledge with about a 5 metre gap in between. He leaps, taking a boost from the ledge of the previous building, and lands on the tiny sandstone ledge. Alex then takes out his cane and shuffles along the side of the 4th floor of a building. He doesn't look at the people inside who may or may not have seen him, but instead he's focused on the turn and what may be around the other side. To his luck, there is another ledge that he can jump cross to. So without hesitation, he does so. With only one floor until he reaches the roof again, Alex look's up at the ledge from the next floor and places his cane back in the grabber, he'll need tow hands for this jump. Alex jumps outwards with his arms outstretched, and reaches the ledge and pulls himself up quickly then onto the roof. When he reaches the top, he sees all of the attached buildings down this entire street which he has to follow almost to the viewpoint for the bank. Alex glances at the timer and thinks he has it in the bag.
3:05 remaining
"I don't know whether I should be congratulating you or cursing myself for placing that bet." Matt comments in a self-pitying mood over the wire.
"Cheer up, I'm not going to rub it in. Besides, I'll let you keep your share as a reminder to not bet against me when it comes to doing these sorts of things." Alex says as he jogs casually down along the rooftops, occasionally leaping down a story as the height of the buildings descend to only three stories.
"I'm very grateful." Matt thanks Alex.
"It's the least I can do." Alex says as he nears the end of the row of buildings. "Now, where exactly to you want me?"
On Alex's glasses, a large red marker pops up over the exact rooftop he has to stand on. It's the building across the street at the end of the row of buildings Alex seamlessly crosses with effortless ease.
"Across the street in 3 minutes, too easy." Alex remarks.
"It's a one way street 4 lanes wide plus footpaths, you can't jump across that. Besides, you've basically won anyway so just come down cross the street then climb up to the top." Matt says. To Alex, it's like a challenge that he can't say no to because he knows he could do it at the right moment. Alex can see the right side of the front entrance of the bank from where he is, some people go in and out, but nothing untoward can be seen from his position. The raccoon stands up and looks at the passing traffic at the vehicles driving past along with the torrent of cyclists in this city, spurred on by the extremely high price of the congestion charge tax. But what Alex is looking for is one of the most iconic vehicles in London, the double decker bus. There is a lamppost about 2 metres away from the building at about the same height, the top of it shimmering away in anticipation of what he will do.
"If you fail at this, it's not going to be pretty." Matt warns.
"I'm not going to, I'll avoid the problem of 'failing' in the first place." Alex argues as he looks out over the streets for a path. There's a bus coming from the right in the closest lane to the building, he spots a garbage truck coming in the 3rd lane away from Alex just behind the bus. All of his thoughts tell him that the path will align, at least that's what the blue shimmers tell him. The little blue sparkles emanate from the tops of both vehicles as well at the bright shimmer from the lamppost. He waits at the edge of the building, he has to drop down one story from the lamppost so a run up is not ideal. When he sees the two vehicle moving closer to the intersection point, he leaps onto the lamppost with one step and leaps down with arms out to balance his fall onto the bus. He lands on the roof with a quick forward roll before instantly leaping off the other side to reach the garbage truck. He stretches out his arms to grab the side of the garbage compacter before climbing up swiftly. Standing in a crouched position on the top, he tries to find a way across. Luckily the blue shimmers find a way, a lamppost on the other side has the shimmer shooting up it's metal upright. So Alex instinctively moves to the right side of the truck and jumps for the pole. He grabs it with both hands and climbs it as fast as possible before reaching the top and jumping over the footpath to reach the opposite roof.
Alex takes a few steps into the middle of the roof so he isn't in view of the general public as he waits for the expected congratulations/freaking out.
"How was that?" Alex asks cockily, pleased with his efforts.
"Completely stupid and utterly ridiculous." Matt comments.
"But he did it." Tyson adds.
"Oh like you could do that." Matt says sarcastically.
"Yeah." Tyson says enthusiastically, too bad for him that same enthusiasm wears away in seconds after he thinks briefly at all of the combined stunts Alex just pulled.
"Maybe not, perhaps the lamppost jump but… okay, not even that." Tyson self corrects.
"So, what do you want me to watch?" Alex asks as he steps towards the designated viewing point.
"The entrance, you're a bit early so you'll have to wait a little bit. I didn't expect you to be this fast." Matt explains.
"Just put a picture of what or who I need to look for." Alex commands. In a few seconds, a picture comes up in the top right hand corner, opposite Matt's vision. It's looks like someone in a hoody with long pants on, no any identifiable features are visible like this person has wrapped themselves in clothing to not be seen.
"This person doesn't have any identification I can find, from the picture, he or she hides him or herself from view by wearing large amounts of clothing to prevent security cameras from photographing him/her." Matt explains.
"Wait, you don't even know this person's gender?" Alex asks, the picture makes Alex think the target is male, the dark blue colour of the hoody and the fit of the jeans make him think so, but the baggy hoody could be hiding other things underneath.
"I know nothing, I've searched government databases, birth certificates. Nothing." Matt answers.
"Then how did you get this photo? It looks like it's from on top of a rooftop." Alex asks whilst thinking of who could get onto a rooftop and take covert photos.
"Our mutual friend 'Il Ladro' just sent this to me." Matt answers. "He said that he had intelligence that it would be this person getting the money from the bank tommorow."
"Won't he have to take off his… or her hoody and show his or herself inside?" Alex asks.
"It's certainly possible but considering the circumstances I'm not sure that they will need to follow the rules." Matt explains.
Not that they are anyway.
Suddenly, loud music begins playing through the earpiece, really loud music. It startles Alex and causes his ears to ring painfully. Alex desperately tries to fish out the earpiece and get rid of it so he can get rid of the violent noise. He hopes it hasn't upset him, because there is an unusual side effect that has flared up because of it.
After getting the earpiece out his ear, Alex quickly reaches into his pocket and gets out a well-worn thin mirror about the size of a playing card. He holds it out so he can try and look at himself. Try.
It started to become apparent just before they left from the apartment in Paris around 10 years ago that he realized something was different. A game of hide and seek, he was especially good at hiding when it's impossible to seek.
In the Thievius Raccoonus he had read about the shadow power first noted by the founding writer of the fabled book, Slytunkahmen. It was written that he could disappear whenever he wanted to avoid being seen by guards and prying eyes. He wondered if this was what he had, he wished he could ask his father about it, but then he went to prison and had never heard from him since. No contact, no possibility of visits, as if he had simply disappeared off the face of the earth. He wonders from time to time whether he could do what's happening to him right now, except in a more controlled way.
The reflection from the mirror reveals only the roof of the building behind Alex instead of where his torso should be. All he focuses on right now is calming down, crouching low on the roof with his eyes closed and thinking of something… calming.
The endless trees in the forest, climbing them and seeing the sight from the top. The lake and the eternal stillness it seemed to always have when he gazed out at it and marveling at it's reflectivity…
Alex checks himself again quickly with the mirror whilst he feels his heart rate. A sigh of relief as Alex puts the mirror back in the pocket, ready to be used in case this happens again, which there is no doubt in his mind that it will. He takes off the backpack and places next to him before he just sits down on the roof with his back hunched over his bent legs with his head hung low about how would he explain this embarrassing characteristic he has. Alex puts the earpiece close to his ear, just to check that the loud music isn't playing, and puts it his ear as it was before.
"Can you not play loud music? It hurts my ears." Alex asks. "I don't mind if you do but it has to be at a much lower volume."
"What was that all about?" Matt asks.
"What?" Alex asks to sound just as confused as Matt is. "I was just sitting down until you'd tell me to do something."
"Are you sure?" Matt asks sceptically.
"Yes." Alex answer adamantly.
"Then." Matt concludes, but with some uneasiness about Alex's explanation. "I need you to take a look at the way people walk around the bank, where people come from to get into the bank and where they go to get out. Watch the patterns of the people walking, most likely the target will use the crowds to stay in anonymity so it's important you know where they are usually come from when the drop happens."
"I'll just enjoy this usual overcast day in London then." Alex comments sardonically as he peers slightly over the edge so he can see the footpath in front of the bank. It's situated right on one corner of a 5 way intersection but has one quarter of the space due to the road layout. He can see a full front on view of the banks front doors, inside he can see a few legs of people in suits doing various banking transactions as one would expect when they line up to see the bank teller. Mobile banking and ATM's had basically killed off most of the service a traditional bank teller could do, but some people still crave that face to face interaction; to know that it's not just a computer in charge of their money but, in the end, of course it is.
Alex sits on the rooftop for 15 minutes, looking at people walking, some quickly and some who try and run through the maze of people in order to get at their destination that much earlier. He thinks he knows what to expect and where this runner is going to come from.
"I think I know how he's going to do this." Alex comments.
"Great, I'm sending you a package by drone." Matt announces. Alex turns his head to see the small quadcopter with a large claw like grip on a box hanging below. Alex watches it place the box on the ground before flying away.
"What should I be expecting?" Alex asks as he moves in to open the box.
"Cameras to place around the bank for surveillance." Matt says. Alex opens the box up and sees the 8 smaller boxes arranged neatly in a cube inside the one large container. Alex picks up a box but it's much lighter than he expected, it only feels like he got the boxes instead of the contents that are meant to be inside.
"They're empty." Alex says as he shakes one of them to check that he hasn't missed anything.
"It's not possible, I sent it personally from this building a few minutes ago." Matt explains.
"Something's inside." Alex says as he opens the box up to find a note inside.
'Do not attempt your heist or pay the price. For now, run.'
It's the only part of the lengthy letter he reads before he hears and sees a small drone similar to the one he saw deliver the 'cameras' before, except with flashing police lights and police markings, heading straight towards him with a camera strapped to the bottom to film him.
"Police drone! Get out of there now!" Matt shouts and Alex obliges as he takes off down the length of the building with the drone monitoring his every movement. The raccoon leaps over a laneway and onto the next building, checking over his shoulder for the drone's position. He has to find a hiding spot, a place where the drone can't follow him. Nothing seems to stand out for him and with this building surrounded by main roads, it's impossible to bridge the gap. So Alex turns around and head back towards the laneway with the drone having to tilt violently to keep up, Alex looks down at the laneway for a way to get down but the next thing he realizes is the drone had been obliterated behind him. The drone is broken up into several chunks as the fans do most of the chopping of debris as the engines struggle to correct itself when it's main body has broken apart. Pieces of the body fly off to Alex's right, some land on the roof and some manage to fall into the laneway.
Alex sees all of this destruction and doesn't know what to make of it, he didn't think that Matt or Tyson had a rifle kept in the apartment let alone be accurate from almost a kilometre away.
"Did you see that?" Alex asks in disbelief.
"It just blew up!" Tyson exclaims.
"No, It got shot down." Matt concludes.
"By who?" Alex asks.
"I don't know, it wasn't us." Matt answers.
"Thanks for that." Alex replies sarcastically as he looks in the direction of where he thinks the silent shot came from. He tries to look for someone or something on a roof but sees no one.
"I think the shooter has gone." Alex says but not confidently. He doesn't understand what has just happened fully yet, who was that who just saved him?
"Anyway, you better get back before they send another drone." Matt instructs and Alex obliges. But before he does he gets out the note and reads it fully.
'Do not attempt your heist or pay the price. For now run.
And now that's done we can have some fun.
Remember the old saying
What's yours is mine?
That summarized our lives
On one single line?
It's time to recognize
Your own morals paralyse,
So you went to see the world
With your own eyes.
But while you fled,
I got ahead.
So please, this heist don't try,
I don't want you to die.
I'm better than you, you see.
My gang is bigger than you three.
So please don't interfere with me.
Sincerely, JLP.