Thieves Like Us Chapter 13: Staying Up for More, a sly cooper fanfic

Chapter 13 – Staying Up for More

Constanta, Romania. 1:43am, 5th November 2032.

It has been a tiring journey on the train, passing through 7 countries and stopping at each capital city. Alex has forced himself to stay awake for as long as he could but sleep couldn't be avoided forever. As the clock approached midnight, Alex finally went to sleep whilst clutching onto the cane like it was a teddy bear. No one noticed this, as they had all done the same thing as Alex long before and gone to sleep. This city bordering onto the Black sea is not the final stop on it's journey, it has to go all the way to Constantinople into the morning. It's a pity that they can't admire the picturesque view looking out to the sea; it's quite spectacular with the rising or setting sun as it glistens an orange glow.

Along the way, when Alex was a bit more awake, he found out a few of the details he needed to know. The art auction is only a temporary set up at the old Casino, which set right on the coast. A building built a few years before the first world war, and therefore bore the brunt of the 2 subsequent ones as well as many eastern European conflicts. As prosperity came to the region, especially to the east, Romania became a playground for the rich, adorned with fast cars and pompous displays of wealth. This prompted a major renovation of the casino in the late teens to restore it back to it's former glory, as well as a more modern section added on to cater for the needs of a modern day casino.

Only the sound of the message 10 minutes before the train arrived in Constanta woke the passengers up. It makes Alex jolt a little bit, there's no room to swing the cane in the small seat he occupies, he has to concentrate on not doing it, and he was prepared to not turn invisible as he knew they would warn him as they did with every other city the train stopped at. He drags his tired body off the train along with the backpack and cane in hands in the nearly empty train platform in the early morning air. He heads towards the taxi rank with the cold air keeping him going. He hails a cab and calls to go to the casino's adjoining apartment complex built to house all the paying customers, of which their gang has joined the list.

The complex has a tunnel that goes under the road and beachfront path so that the view isn't destroyed by a horrible overpass. Alex enters the lobby, standing out with the class of décor around him. The lobby is as opulent at the actual casino would have been in the 1910's except with modern touches all around like a holographic map of the casino complex from top to bottom, and by bottom it means below sea level, literally below sea level. Some casino tables, high rolling ones, are placed in a toughened glass room which allows them all to see the sea and what lies above, for the most part are rolling waves. Alex sneaks into his own hotel room so he doesn't disturb his two members, Jess and Tyson who have already taken the two bedrooms that this room has, leaving him with a couch that he gladly accepts as a place to sleep on.

7:43am

It's only the faintest of noises but Alex picks it up and it wakes him up. The sound of footsteps is light, definitely not Tyson then, so it's Jess walking along the carpet and into the mini-kitchen, across to the fridge, no wait, the pantry. She's hungry but not ready to go down to breakfast yet, she must want to go with Alex or Tyson. All Alex does to know this is just by keeping an ear to the ground and knowing where everything is placed, even in his tired state he still made sure he knew where things were. The couch he sits on faces directly to the balcony, which overlooks the casino and the water beyond. The tiny kitchen with only a bar fridge and a cupboard for snacks is behind him to the left and further to the left there are the two bedrooms which are occupied.

"The cupboards are empty." Alex says, facing out to the balcony whilst lying motionless on the couch. Jess turns around to the source of the sound. The half opened cupboard satisfies Alex's predictions.

"Are you a detective as well as a thief? Both sides of the law?" She asks, without a care for the massive irony of her statement.

"No, I've been into enough hotel rooms to know what's kept inside one." Alex explains as he sits up on the couch and turns his head to face Jess. "The fridge will have a selection of over priced drinks which you shouldn't touch unless you want to be charged for it."

"But we can afford these things, can't we?" Jess asks.

"Just because I steal things doesn't mean I then spend it." Alex explains. "Every cent counts, every last dollar, pound, yen, rouble or euro matters. I've had to live like that and I'm not going to change that now."

"5 euros is nothing compared to £1.8 million, it's way more than I've come across." Jess explains.

"Oh, so what have you done then?" Alex asks, shifting his clothes around so they are comfortable.

"Mainly quick pickpocketing, no big heists, I get enough to get by." Jess explains, making it up as she goes along.

"Biggest take?" Alex asks, out of curiosity.

"Doesn't matter, it's as insignificant as a speck of dust compared to this." Jess says, shaking off these questions.

"Mine is $1,750." Alex explains, then he realises something. He looks around the room for something. "Have you checked this room?"

"For bugs? It's clean." She answers.

"We're in a casino hotel room, of course it's bugged." Alex remarks. "That's what casino's do. They analyse all sorts of data and things to figure out how to make people spend more money at the tables."

"I expected that sort of information to come from Matt." Jess replies, moving closer to the couch.

"I'm not stupid, I'm not smart like him but… I know about what I do." Alex answers.

"Smart people don't get caught." Jess adds.

"Is it smart to join me?" Alex continues.

"I have 1.8 million reasons why it's the perfect choice." Jess adds.

"Then how did you find me in the first place? I'm guessing it's that video on the Internet." Alex answers to himself.

"I'm ambitious, willing to do anything to get the score. I thought that we share the same qualities, plus I guessed you had connections."

"Well, then you're not like every single person I've met." Alex answers. "I thought that once, but I know now that everyone starts from square one, even me. Everyone that thinks otherwise is with me now doing this heist."

"And also it doesn't matter they bug the place, they won't share any of this with the police or anyone. Anyone with the amounts of money that are around here have a high probability of coming from… other places." Alex explains further. "So, breakfast, shall we get some?"

"Yes, should I get Tyson up?" Jess asks, already heading towards the corridor leading to the bedrooms.

"If you want." Alex says, looking out over the view and admiring it's beauty with the grand old casino centre stage.

"Alex." Jess shouts. "He's not here."

"Then he must already be at the casino." Alex answers as Jess comes running back to Alex.

"For breakfast?" Jess asks.

"No, he's probably at a bar or at the tables." Alex answers. "We have to check the money, how much would he have taken or could have spent? All of it. How much would he spend? All of it." Alex says whilst pacing quickly, figuring out the situation out loud. "We have to find him quickly, let's go to the casino now."

Alex is very worried, not nervous, but worried that all of the takings have just disappeared in a flash; in an ill placed bet on some obscure race, in one hand of poker or in one spin of the roulette table.

"Quickly." Alex urges as he runs to the door and unlocks it with his key card placed inside his pocket so he can go back in again. He sprints down the hallway past the cleaners and the waiters bringing similarly overpriced room service. Jess tries to catch up to him down the hallway as Alex veers right towards the elevators, which he tears straight past and goes straight into the stairs. Jess tries to follow, even with her level fitness she does not have the raw ability to move up or down as quickly as the raccoon that is streaking ahead of her. She is almost embarrassed that he's waiting for her down the bottom of the stairs at the ground floor. When they open the door, they head for one of the two staircases at either side of the main lobby that lead to the tunnel and therefore the casino itself. Whereas Jess tries to move down twice at a time, Alex takes complete disregard for the stairs and uses the railing to slide down, again putting him ahead of Jess.

Once again, he let's her catch up as they run along the brightly lit tunnel before they reach the main set of stairs on the other side, which Alex takes the normal way except much faster again before arriving at the casino lobby which has a restaurant near by which Alex checks and find him slumped over the bar, either in sleep or unconsciousness, perhaps both. Alex runs over to the bar ahead of Jess to wake him up.

"I'm sorry were closed." The bartender says as she cleans up the place from the previous nights ruckus.

"No, this is my friend. How long has he been here?" Alex asks leaning down to look at his passed out face.

"He was here when I started my shift at 6." She answers.

"Do you have his tab or a record of what he ordered?" Jess asks.

"Here are the receipts from last night." The bartender says, handing over several merchant copy receipts impaled on the black metal spike. "If he paid by card, then it'll be on there."

"He would have paid cash, thanks for your help." Alex answers. The bartender gets back to cleaning the bar. Alex puts the back of his hand near Tyson's nose to check if he's breathing, which he is thankfully.

"Hey, wake up." Alex asks, clicking his fingers in front of his ear. Tyson is still passed out.

"I'll call an ambulance." Jess says.

"Ambulance won't help, he's not that drunk. He's just sleeping very deeply." Alex replies. "He needs time."

"Speaking from experience?" Jess asks.

"Don't drink." Alex comments. "Help me move him."

Alex puts Tyson's left arm around his shoulder.

"Please." Alex says, not yet taking the large weight of the tiger. Jess does what he asks and together they lift him off the bar and the barstool. It's a difficult task to drag him along together so they don't lose grip on him and keep him upright. Some guests are more struck about this sight than others, some are regular customers have seen stranger things. Lucky for him the lifts go to the tunnel level and the 4 levels of basement car parks level below, so a 6-storey climb isn't on the menu this morning. They continue along the hallway until they reach their door, which Alex opens with the key card, before moving sideways into the hotel room and finally lying him down on the couch.

"He needs to wake up in his own time." Alex explains.

"Do you do this to all your drunk friends?" Jess asks.

"Yes, because I only have one and you're looking at him right now. Come on, let's go and eat something." Alex says, completely fine with leaving him on the couch, he knows he'll wake up before he comes back. He's seen this happen with other around his age in youth hostels, how they come back so inebriated that they wreaked of vomit. Their breath was so full of alcohol that if a sober person tried to take a breathalyser test they'd fail due to all of the alcohol in the air. He knew some people who spent more on alcohol than on their accommodation, so he knows what happens in a whole variety of situations. This is a mild case. It also gave him enough ammunition to stay away from drinking, as well as the fact it would destroy his physical capabilities and would drain what little money he could get.

After helping themselves to an all you can eat buffet of everything one could reasonably offer in a breakfast setting. They return to the apartment, with Alex's prediction of Tyson regaining his consciousness coming true, albeit very hung-over. Tyson groans at the pain inside his head, it can be heard from outside the apartment.

"Are you okay?" Alex asks, hoping that it's not him in some sort of other pain. Jess runs over to the couch to confront Tyson.

"Breathe! Just, breathe." She commands.

"Okay! Okay!" Tyson says, the noise is just too much right now, like every sound is a massive blow inflicted on him.

"What happened last night?" Jess asks.

"I, I, I…was sleeping." Tyson answers nervously, hoping they haven't found out about his goings on last night.

"We found you drunk at the bar this morning, what were you really doing last night?" She asks a bit forcefully, her interrogation training and skills subconsciously kicking in.

"You won't like it!" Tyson yells, on the verge of sobbing. "I lost."

"How much?" Alex asks, more kindly than Jess.

"Chill, please. It's too noisy." Tyson says randomly.

"What happened last night?!" Jess asks.

"Okay, okay." Tyson exclaims in desperation to prevent harsher questioning. He then contorts his face, trying to remember anything from last night. "There was… was… oh what was his name?... Ah! I can't remember! But he was great, you know, (they don't know) and we kept buying each other drinks and… that's it, I don't know what happens next."

"Did you bet at the casino?" Jess interrogates.

"How would I know, my head is ringingggaaahhhhh!" Tyson exclaims.

"Memory loss." Alex notes to himself before turning to Jess. "Where did you put the money?"

"There's a safe in my room." Jess says. "I'll go check it now."

"No! Pleeeeease don't!" Tyson begs with his slurred speech continuing.

"Hang in there, it's going to be fine." Alex comforts as he looks around the room for one of the many possible hangover 'cures'. Even in this day and age, where doctors have cured AIDS and perfected cancer treatment with survival rates for all cancers over 90%, they still haven't yet found a cure for a hangover that is effective. What he looks and finds is instant coffee, he takes a sachet and finds a kettle which he fills and turns on, boiling the water as it pours out of the spout, and mixes the coffee powder in a cup. He takes this quickly made concoction and brings it over to Tyson without spilling a drop.

"Drink this." Alex commands, making sure Tyson grasps the cup before he lets go. Tyson takes a sip before downing the whole thing before Jess comes back with the news.

"Okay, want to hear the good news?" Jess asks.

"Does such a thing exist in this situation?" Alex asks rhetorically.

"Not all of the money was used." Jess answers.

"How much was used then?" Alex asks, preparing for a number infinitesimally close to 1.8 million.