Chapter 23 – Revelations at Different Locations
Paris, France. 11:35am, 7th November 2032.
As soon as Matt, Jess and Tyson arrived at the airport in Paris, Jeremy's men immediately spotted them; a lot of people surround the three of them to ensure no escape. They were walked out of the airport into a waiting two-car convoy. On the positive side, it'll save them time from having to navigate the city by themselves on public transport. But they're more uncomfortable having to sit together 3 abreast facing 3 guards opposite them in the clean black van with even darker tinted windows. It's completely silent, tension mounts up with every second. The henchmen's heads stay fixed solid, looking out the back window whereas the others are not quite as disciplined. Matt averts his eyes away from them at all costs; he would easily lose if a scuffle, physical or verbal, broke out. Tyson is still incredibly laid back despite the situation, being unusually casual around their captors. Jess is the strongest out them, she is far from afraid of the thugs but they are not the target, they are on the peripheral.
They stop outside an apartment block in the heart of the city and are instructed silently through hand gestures to get out. The three leave first before more than ten guards in the convoy get out into predetermined positions like the beginning of a stage show. They open the door to the inside after one of the guards unlocks it with a code. The stairs looks relatively new, but are rickety, creaking under the weight of the train following behind. The building itself isn't what they expected. It's maintained only to a certain level that is not all encompassing. Paint flakes, wooden floors are worn and unvarnished and there is a bit of visible grime in the corners. As they rise up the stairs, the number of guard following them decreases, two guards stop at the landing of each floor until they are the only ones left allowed to go to the top floor, the penthouse.
"Ready?" Matt asks them, waiting to open the door on behalf of the group. Jess doesn't see the point and opens it before he has the chance. She leads them inside confidently into the room that is at a much higher standard compared to the stairway. All the colours are much brighter, looking like they have been freshly renovated meaning the sun has not had time to fade them. The purple on the wallpaper is deeper, the contrast on the gold fleur des lys is greater and the furniture looks to be new with the cut wood smell wafting through the air.
"Do you like it?" Jeremy asks, sitting on one of turquoise fabric couches looking out to the rooftop skyline over the balcony. It's weird, because it's not a taunt; it's a serious question. Jess walks into the room first followed by the other two. It paints a look of disappointment Le Paradox to see they are the only ones there.
"Did he just send you three here, his lackeys, to see me?" He asks, now he's back to his default taunting mode. He sees that they are all standing uncomfortably looking at him, he want's to ease the tension in the room.
"Sit, please. It's not booby trapped if that's what you're worried about." He insists. Tyson is the first to sit down, taking up way too much of the couch with his large size.
"Let me ask you this, to start. Do you think that this is where I conduct my business?" He asks. The three are all silent for a brief period.
"No?" Tyson answers hesitantly.
"Right you are." Jeremy congratulates. "Here, have €10,000."
He reaches into his pocket slowly so to not put them off by thinking that he's pulling out a gun. He shows them the neatly bound bundle of money before tossing into Tyson's lap.
"You see, when I heard that one of the lower flats here was available. I came and managed to speak with the landlord when I inspected the property. For such a run down property, he asked for €3 million, and do you know what I said? I said I wanted to buy the entire block of apartments from the basement to the very top of the chimney. He explained to me that he didn't own the entire building, in any case I paid €4 million because I was a nice guy and he was willing to sell immediately. That was in the second floor, so I then went down to the first floor and knocked on the door and asked if I could buy their apartment as well, when they refused, I made an offer they couldn't refuse. No, I did not murder a young family then and there, I'm not a monster. I offered to not only buy their apartment but I would buy one for them on their behalf separately. In total that one floor cost me €7 million, some were more expensive than others; but do you know why I went and did this? It was all for this one." Le Paradox explains. "Because, according to local law, the majority owner of a building receives any lots which are vacated and empty for an extended period of time. I owned the rest of the building; I got this one for free."
"It's a shame the Cooper's couldn't be here to see this, because, this used to be owned by their father." Jeremy says. "That would have sounded better if they were actually here…"
"You wasted a whole lot of money buying the building just so you could feel that you had a superiority over Alex?" Jess asks, being the more headstrong out of the three.
"No, that's where you are wrong. I actually profited from the whole venture, can you believe that in every nook and cranny was something of value?" Jeremy corrects. "The real reason why I come here… is not to take care of business or even to claim the hidden loot, this place is too good for that. This place, is more of a personal reminder to me that I am not limited by and that I can overcome the past. I was orphaned at a young age, I was mocked and ridiculed until…"
"You talk about that or I'll rip your throat out!" Matt shouts full of uncharacteristic rage, standing up to dominate the skunk.
"Woah… chill," Jeremy says on the defensive. "What did I just say before? You're not limited by and that you can overcome your past."
Matt slowly sits down back into his more quiet self.
"Suffice to say, I'm here and you are there." Jeremy replies.
"Hang on, what's the actual point of us being here? You've talked a lot but you haven't said anything yet." Tyson asks. Jess and Matt half turn and stare at Tyson for such an unusually insightful comment, even Jeremy is put off by it.
"Straight to business then." Jeremy replies.
"But you said…" Tyson begins.
"I know what I said." Jeremy says but his concentration is broken by the sound of a little ping, like people clinking glasses together before beginning a meal. Jeremy turns, half loathed at yet another foolish assassination attempt. He can see the bullet lodged right in the middle of the bulletproof glass.
"Not again." Jeremy complains outwardly. "I just had that window replaced."
"Dead skunk walking." Jess comments.
"I don't consider myself to be lucky; I'm merely, prepared." Jeremy replies. "Now, you know I'm wealthy, I'm prepared to offer a very generous remuneration package for all of you that will keep all of your pockets lined with untraceable bills in exchange for your utmost loyalty. If there's a job that needs doing and you're suited for it, you do it without question. Of course, we can work around Alex's extreme aversion to death and any other minor squabbles that you have."
"Let's see: you've pushed Alex off a building, you've hijacked every single attempted heist, you killed a lot of security guards and police, you've invaded a bank, you've captured Erin's gang and taken her possessions for yourself. Not that this was necessary, I would have said no anyway." Matt answers strongly. "You're nothing but a manipulative bully."
He pauses to reflect on Matt's obvious disliking to his offer.
"I'll give you a chance to reconsider because where there is a carrot, there is a stick; well in this case, more like a tree trunk." Jeremy replies. "I've been kind, I've shown you what I can do and how annoying it is to have to see my handsome face at every turn. If you reaffirm your wrong decision, then consider it impossible to do any heists of any kind. You'll fade into obscurity before you've even begun! Whereas if you come into my little group, you will be free to do all the heists you want. I can provide opportunities, support, financial backing, anything you need I can get; within reason of course."
"So, what do you say?"
They are all looking at each other, wondering what to do about this incredibly tempting offer. No one wants to speak until Matt gets out his phone.
"Can I call them and ask, just to be safe?" Matt asks.
"Yeah sure, go ahead. I'll be waiting right here." Jeremy casually says whilst Matt dials his phone, ready to call Alex.
20 Minutes Earlier in a field in North East England
"Why would he bring us out here?" Erin asks, staring at a GPS locator on Alex's phone, walking towards the target. They can see nothing but countryside in all directions; trees, fields and the occasional road that cuts through the greenery. This path is just a dirt road that they're walking along searching for what Bentley perceives to be important. But right now, they can't see anything interesting.
"This location is just a spot in that field over there." Erin points out to her brother out in front. "Do you think it's a trap?"
Alex does a double take to make sure no one is following him or is about to spring a trap.
"I can't see anyone but you." Alex replies.
"Land mines perhaps?" Erin thinks.
"Don't be silly." Alex replies. "Maybe it's like buried treasure or something, more loot."
"That's a stupid place to hide treasure, what if someone is tilling the field to plant some crops or laying foundations for a building and recovers it? Besides, why would dad try to store loot here if he's already got a vault to store it in?"
Alex stops in surprise of what she's talking about.
"In Switzerland?" Alex asks.
"Yeah, you've been there?" Erin asks.
"You've been there?" Alex asks back.
"Some guys in suits came to my apartment and whisked me off to Switzerland one night." Erin explains as they walk along. "Bentley must have put in a lot of effort into all of those traps to keep people out."
"When I saw that single laser shooting across that void, I didn't have a clue what to do. When I remembered what I needed to do, it was like… a brick wall hit me in the face. I'm thinking, that's not possible." Alex recounts.
"I just did it, if dad could do it then I thought that I can do to too, screw conventional science. I've slid on a near massless object." Erin replies. They're both revelling in a small moment of brilliance and audacity. They've walked right up to as close as they can get on the road to the point without straying off the path and they haven't even realised it yet. They are having a blast just talking openly to each other.
"Here it is." Erin stops as she turns to the left to see the smooth dirt patch of farmland yet to be tilled. She watches intently at the screen and paces forward like following a treasure map before stopping about 30 metres inside the field.
"That's the coordinate right here." Erin says, looking up then down at her position for confirmation of some sort. "He didn't say to bring a shovel did he?"
"No, guess we'll have to make do with these." Alex replies, referring to his gloved hands. He gets onto his knees and begins to dig out the dirt. Erin follows his lead by placing her cane on the ground and begins to shovel the dirt behind them. Two heaps begins to pile up behind them as the hole gets deeper. They continue to dig even as the whole gets large enough to stand in.
"I'm starting to think it might not be in this spot." Erin says as the hole gets even deeper and wider.
"It must be here, it's the correct coordinate isn't it?" Alex says as he scrapes along the sidewall, beginning to dig outwards, when he does this he hits a hard object that's not a tree root or a stone, but something much smoother and shinier even after it's long stay underground. It's the dark, plastic handle of a briefcase of some kind.
"I've found something." Alex says to Erin who's waiting at the top. He retracts his cane from the grabber and hooks it around the handle and pulls it out from the dirt, causing the ground surrounding it to cave in. He climbs up out of the hole and puts the case into Erin's hands using the cane.
"Do you want to do the honours?" Ask Alex. "Or you can fill in the hole, it's your choice."
"Um, thanks." Erin says awkwardly as Alex begins the much easier task of pushing the piles of dirt back into the hole. Erin meanwhile inspects the small briefcase and it's security. She sees smooth sliver hard cover around it and just pushes into it to feel it's toughness. It crumples when she pushes in and it rebounds out when no force it applied, but it feel flimsy, like it's just a temporary case; a protection against the forces of nature. She feels around the centre of the thin side, feeling for a catch or release but the finish is smooth and flawless. So the only solution is simple, brute force. She crouches down and puts the case on the ground and begins to try and rip the protective casing off with all of her strength. They snap off either side of the actual briefcase, which has one side full of security devices; a handprint scanner, a retina scanner and a numerical electronic code with 18 digits required. Erin takes off a glove and puts it on the handprint scanner, which it accepts before looking into the retina scanner, passing that one as well. Now it's only a code with a myriad of possible combinations that's left. Alex has finished filling and smoothing the hole out and is now looking over her shoulder.
"We need some sort of code breaker, maybe Matt can hack into it." Alex wonders out loud as Erin puts in some numbers. "And why would he need to put this code on it when it's already got…"
It accepts the code as well. Alex is not surprised and neither is Erin, they both know that she's got a knack for breaking codes.
"Open it." Alex says in eagerness to see what's inside.
"We should do it in a secure place." Erin decides. "Not here, it's too open."
Alex does another double take just to provide his point that no one is listening or watching in on their conversation. The nearby road is empty; the path is clear and there's not a bird in the sky.
"And empty." Alex reminds her. "Open it up."
She pinches her finger around one of the clasps for the briefcase but hesitates when doing so. She is put off by something in the surroundings. There is that feeling that somehow, they are not alone, she can sense it. She does a double take as well looking down the empty road, the clear path and up to the sky but she neither hears nor sees nothing.
"I still don't think we're safe here, let's get out of here first." Erin says, making a conservative judgement call. She stands up with the briefcase in one and the cane in her other and begins to walk back to the bus stop from which they came. After taking only five steps, she stops again and looks around.
"Do you hear that?" She asks quickly to Alex, who also is picking up the faint sound she hears in the distance.
"Yeah I hear it." Alex says, then he sees what's causing it, then he sees a dust trail coming from their right.
"Look!" Alex points to Erin as a convoy of three black vans approaches at rapid speed to their location. Alex and Erin both run into the field to get away from this threat running to a line of trees, which partially screens the road from view. They look back and see the sliding door of the van open as it stops to let it's occupants out. However, They can hear a sound coming from the main road itself. They are being surrounded from both sides. Another vehicle, a sedan appears from the left from behind the trees and it stops across from them. The back window is down and a balaclava-wearing marksman holding a rifle is pointing it at them! The shooter signals to them whilst aiming down the scope telling them to get out of the way. Alex and Erin race across the dirt and away from the sniper's line of fire. There is no muzzle flash, there is no gunshot sound; the only sound they hear next is a thunderous explosion. Alex turns back for a brief look, the front left corner of the front van has caved in dramatically, making it impossible to drive. There are also at least ten assailants pursuing them on foot all dressed in the wrong type of clothing for this terrain, a suit. They run into the line of trees to get into some cover as another bang rings out across the countryside.
"Keep running!" Alex urges as the clash continues behind them silently as some try and take out this impedance to the prize whilst some continue to chase the two fleeing raccoons. They continue running away as fast they can, with the adrenaline pumping keeping them going. To the right, to their astonishment, a paratrooper swoops in to cut them off on the road, wearing a full grey bodysuit as well as a dark grey parachute for camouflage against the clouds. One lands on the ground, discarding his parachute in the process as another one swoops in to do the same manoeuvre.
"What do we do?" Alex asks.
"I don't know." She replies automatically. The two masked paratroopers advance towards them from one side whilst suited henchmen approach from the other. They have no choice but to cut across back away from the road to bisect their paths. This route takes them into another more grassy field where there is helicopter hovering low to the ground with a rope ladder hanging from the side for them to escape the situation. Naturally, they don't trust that way of exit, but they can't stop moving with all of these separate criminal entities converging on them; all for the contents of that briefcase. As they run off to the side of the hovering helicopter, it moves to block them, using the ladder to block their path. However, it's not agile enough to change direction as fast as they do so they pass underneath without being trapped. They're thinking that is becoming nonsensical, that all of these parties were here, waiting for them to uncover the briefcase so they can pick it off them but that's not how it's appearing. Some appear to not be interested in them but are more focused on stopping others from reaching them. There is a broader spectacle at play.
A rugged four-wheel drive turns off the road and careens straight for their position at high speed before it's front left side is impacted by an explosive bullet from the sniper; snapping it's suspension and decimating the wheel, ploughing it to an abrupt stop in the field. They can see two riders on quad bikes and in full protective gear and full face helmets approaching as well as the helicopter behind them tries to manoeuvre towards them. The people in the four-wheel drive now rush out and chase them on foot now their vehicle is bogged down. The quad bikes race towards them before making a U turn to come up along side them to drive along at the same pace they are running, as to offer them an escape out of here like the helicopter. They're making rapid, desperate hand signals to tell them to get on. The mayhem is getting too out of hand for Alex and Erin as they get tired. At some point they need a way out, their own propulsion is inferior to the surrounding vehicles. Alex is the first to jump onto the back of first quad bike with a heavy and tired leap. Erin has no choice but to follow, the worst thing they can do is to get separated.
The two leather clothed rider's speed away from the convergence of criminals, the helicopter begins to pursue them as well as the marksman's sedan from the road. They tear across fields with little regard for what is on them until they reach another road where a small truck is coming across in a perfectly choreographed manoeuvre. The back doors of the truck swing open as two people inside the truck throw a metal ramp that hinges onto the bottom of the truck and crashes down onto the asphalt with many sparks flying from the back. The two riders quickly drive onto the ramp and into the rear bay of the truck one behind the other. The ramp is pulled up with a rope until it's fully vertical before shutting the doors on the light, leaving them in the dark. The riders stay on their bikes for stability in the fast moving truck trying to get away from the other pursuing groups, but Alex and Erin have gotten off and have sat on the floor of the truck to rest. All they can hear is the whining of the electric engine and the tyre roar reverberating from the inside. The inside is too dark for them to see who and where everyone is.
Alex's phone begins to vibrate; he takes it out of his pocket and uses the light from it to briefly look around his surroundings. There are four unknowns, all in full-faced helmets and leather protective gear waiting either on the bikes or leaning up against the sides. Erin is sitting almost perfectly across from Alex near the back of the truck. He looks at the phone itself to see it's Matt calling.
"Hey, what's up?" Alex says, this catches the attention of the people inside the truck.
"Le Paradox is offering to get off our backs in exchange for our loyalty. Do you have any other reasons to say no?" Matt asks sarcastically.
"Yeah, he's sent a whole bunch of people after us; helicopters, paratroopers, vans, quad bikes…." Alex answers.
"I'll let him know." Matt says, hanging up the phone which Alex puts back in his pocket. As soon as he does this he can hear someone coming towards them. He turns the phone on so he can see and sees someone reaching down to restrain him! The leather-covered assailant smothers and pushes Alex to the ground and holds him there as the raccoon thrashes back to regain himself over him. On the other side, Erin is facing the same fate although she managed to get a leg up on her attacker since her brother was attacked first. She's whacking and punching furiously at her unseen attacker whilst trying to protect their prize. They are outnumbered and outmuscled two to one. The raccoons are not physically built for strength, but power, it shows as they are both pinned to the ground by two of this group each.
Paris, France
"He says no, oh, and he says thanks for those guys you sent after him by the way." Matt answers back as he coolly slots away his phone. This puts a mixed reaction of
Le Paradox's face, he knows of the many parties, in fact he set up the entire stunt. Having as much interest in the Cooper's as he does, he made sure to claim this for his own as soon as possible. But, in a money making thought, he auctioned off the location and time for millions (of his own, or a more widely accepted currency) to only a handful of wealthy buyers; hoping that they can make an impression on one of the most successful criminals and get future business.
"Did he say that he was captured, by who?" Jeremy asks, being totally serious but Matt reads it as arrogance.
"No, he's safe away from you. Your grasp is…" Matt begins to tirade.
"No, wait." Jeremy interrupts, buying himself a second of thinking time to figure out his next question. "Did he say, who he was captured by?"
"Why do you care?" Jess asks insultingly. "You've tortured him for days."
"How do I put this…" He asks to himself, he's in quite the predicament here. "If I don't know exactly where the Cooper's are at all times then it becomes a problem for all of us."
"Yeah, because they're hiding…!" Tyson retaliates but Jeremy ignores it as his phone rings. He grabs it out of his pocket very quickly, like he's been waiting eagerly for this call.
"Where are they?" Jeremy snaps at the phone. He listens to the response and he holds his head in his hand in frustration, much to the three's pleasure.
"Chase after them!" Jeremy advises strongly down the phone, he looks like he is about to vent his frustration on something or someone.
"You don't know?! How come this wasn't planned for?!"
"Do you see them?!"
"Is anyone pursuing the truck?!"
"Get everyone in that area, The money goes to whoever breaks them out! They must be stopped now!" Jeremy shouts. "Go!"
He turns off his phone and sighs, struggling to contain the anger and frustrations at his subordinate's failure. But even worse than that, Alex and Erin have slipped into the worst possible hands from his point of view. He slips the phone away and paces across the room to think of his next move. Jeremy is on the edge here, potentially the most valuable asset he has is slipping away from his grasp. Meanwhile, the others are quite content at the skunk's rage, seeing him be week and not at all calm in a fixed and scripted way.
"Well, I think we should leave; you have business to attend to." Jess taunts, already beginning to walk out of the room.
"Wait." Jeremy says, time is ticking and his options are running out. "Believe me when I say they have been captured by someone worse than me. Interpol has got them now."