Hey all! Here is the very long third chapter: a reward to all of you who followed and reviewed LGSAF since I last updated. Three of you responded to my poll (A big round of applause for Dolphingirls, rmonroe, and Nophiefan!). One guess for Eliot and two for Hardison (I'm sure he feels extremely proud right now). Well, now we shall see who the first kid actually is. :-D
Enjoy!
Chapter III: Chocolate Girl
Sophie Devereaux walked down the streets of Manhattan New York and stopped in front of a small cafe. She took a deep breath before going inside.
It was a small, neutral colored space with about five tables and a few people, most of whom were sitting.
The walls were lined with plants, large and small, and some beautiful paintings. It gave the place a classy tropical feel that Sophie admired. There was also a flat screened TV in one of the corners that played the news.
The place was just as Sophie remembered it.
"Can I help you?" A brunette waitress with curly hair approached her."
"Um, I'm waiting for a friend." Sophie replied.
"Oh, well in that case how about a table?" The waitress gestured her over to an empty table near a wall across from the TV.
Sophie thanked her and ordered a coffee, sipping on it while absent-mindedly watching the TV as she waited. For a while it was just the weather and everyday politics, but it was the next story that caught Sophie's attention.
"Gandrige museum was broken into last night and a painting insured for six million dollars by T.M.D.A. Insurance was stolen," the news anchor reported. Sophie pursed her lips, impressed. Whoever had managed a feat like that was good - maybe even as good as her.
She chuckled as the news anchor continued.
"The main suspect at the time is Sophie Devereaux, and infamous art thief in the criminal world."
Sophie's eyeballs popped out of their sockets.
"What!" She gaped before quickly silencing herself and glancing around to see if anyone had heard her. It didn't appear as if anyone had.
"Apparently Nathan Ford, the I.Y.S. Insurance investigator who has been tracking Devereaux for years now, was in the museum gallery moments before the painting was stolen. For those of you who don't know, I.Y.S. and T.M.D.A. have one of the biggest rivalries in the industry. Ford's actions leave us wondering if this was a plot by I.Y.S. to sink their rival? More on this story in a bit."
The channel went on a commercial break, leaving Sophie struggling to keep her jaw from dropping.
"What kind of sorcery is this!" She snapped.
"Well I'm sorry, all I didn't know walking up to a dear old friend was any type of magic at all." A familiar voice spoke from behind her.
"Greg Shwartz, how nice to see you again." Sophie smiled, temporarily forgetting her problems and rising from her chair to greet her friend.
"The pleasure is all mine Sophie." He grasped her hands in his and held them tightly for a moment before letting go and allowing her to sit back down.
He sat across from her and clasped his hands on the table in front of him.
"So, what's this I hear about sorcery?"
"Well, apparently I broke into the Gandrige museum last night when I most definitely didn't."
Greg shot her a confused look and Sophie explained in more detail what the news anchor had just said.
"Wow." He laughed. "You've been a very busy lady, huh."
Sophie scowled at him. "I didn't do it Greg."
"I'm sure you didn't, Soph." The man winked.
Sophie sighed. "well, it's all the better that you're here. I was looking for another place to lay low for a bit, now I'll really need one. Any ideas?"
"I've always got ideas." Greg shrugged.
"What kind of place are you looking for?"
"Something different. I need to throw Nate off."
"You mean out of your ordinary inhabitance? I've got just the place. You'll love it." Greg promised with a grin worth a thousand dollars. Unfortunately, Sophie forgot what those types of grins on Greg meant.
"It's an abandoned apartment. It's in a bad part of town so you should keep your eye out, but I promise it's just what you need. Not a whole lot of street cams in that area either, just in store windows so you might want to be mindful of that.
"I don't think I.Y.S. Has access to private store cameras." Sophie told him.
"Where is it?"
Greg pulled out his phone and showed her on the map, then wrote down the directions on a napkin.
"Thanks so much Greg, I new I could count on you!" Sophie gave him a smile as she stood up.
"Hey! Wait a moment! You aren't going to stay around for a few? We haven't had time to catch up."
"I really would love to." Sophie replied.
"But unfortunately I probably should go. It's only a matter of time before they pop my face up there with a rewards offer next to it."
Greg rolled his eyes. "Like the drama queen you are Soph. Alright, but when this blows over you owe me a dinner date."
"And I'll look forward to it." Sophie nodded to him before heading towards the door. Greg stood up and walked her out of the cafe towards her car.
"Thanks again Greg." She told him as she got into it.
"Don't mention it," Greg smiled.
"Good luck."
"Same to you." Sophie started the engine, giving him one last wave before driving away.
It wasn't long after Sophie reached her destination that she realized what Greg had meant by abandoned. He had meant abandoned by humans, nothing more. The place was filled with life forms Sophie didn't know existed.
The apartment was a dusty, pitiful excuse for a dwelling. It wasn't the kind of thing Sophie was accustomed to at all. Sure, being a thief and a grifter had led to some nights in tight spaces, but never anything as dreary as this fourth floor penitentiary; it did an effective job of making Sophie reconsider her life in crime.
She groaned as she blew a massive spider web out of her face for what seemed like the billionth time. It had taken her almost two hours for her to work up the courage to tour the small fourth floor apartment. Along the way she had managed to find a few things that had been left behind by the previous owners; moldy food, a cockroach infested mattress, and something that looked like it had once been a bookshelf but was now both termite play land and rat nest depot.
Fortunately, the two latter objects were in the apartment's only bedroom and she saw no reason to disturb either. She left them unbothered and closed the door to the bedroom, making a mental note to come back and stuff any holes under the door. She didn't want any of the room's contents to crawl into the area she would soon claim her living space.
After getting an idea of what she was dealing with, she headed to a relatively small department store called Shop Heart, a place she had spotted a few blocks down when she had driven up here. She surveyed the store and it's security for a few minutes before she began stuffing bottles of bleach and other cleaning products into a large Gucci bag she used for thievery purposes. Not only did it conceal a large number of items, but people were less likely to suspect someone with a Gucci bag stealing.
She was low on cash, so she honestly couldn't have brought most of the stuff if she had wanted to. Sure she had credit cards with lots of money on them, but that always led Nate straight to her; something she wanted to avoid. So she agreed to save her cash for buying things that were harder to steal, like a broom and dustpan.
She lingered in the insect/rodent repellent section longer than any of the others. What she picked would basically determine how her evening went so she needed to pick well. After carefully reading the labels on the bug repellents, she grabbed the two that impressed her the most and swiftly put them in her bag before moving on to the rodent repellents. She was running out of space in the bag now so she could really only choose one type.
She eventually settled on a brand she had heard of in a commercial and attempted to slip it into her bag but was slightly short on space. She maneuvered things around so that her wallet would be in the side pocket. With this adjustment, she was barely able to put the rodent repellant into her bag and close the top of the purse so no one would see it.
She then proceeded to the aisle where brooms and dustpans were and began picking out one of each. It was during this moment that she felt an ever so slight tug at her bag's shoulder strap.
Any other time she probably would not have noticed it, but now, being sensitive to bugs and other critters that had surrounded her just a half an hour earlier, she turned to see what it was. She prayed to the Lord of sanity that it wasn't a roach.
Instead, Sophie was faced with a person.
A small person who took off running down the aisle before Sophie could get a good look at her.
A bad feeling funneled through her stomach and Sophie checked the side compartment of her bag only to find it empty.
"Hey! Come back here!" She yelled, running after the thief. She chased the girl all around the store, attracting several awkward looks from other shoppers. Unfortunately, catching the little thief proved to be hard, and the challenge increased when the girl darted into the "employees only" storage area. Careful not to be seen entering, Sophie pushed open the doors and sincerely hoped that no one would see her on the other side.
To her luck, no one was in the immediate vicinity and she turned her attention back to looking for the thief. She desperately scanned the room before spotting a small movement over in the corner of the storage area, behind a stack of boxes.
Carefully walking over to the corner, she saw the thief trying to pull off the cover to a vent that sat near the bottom of the wall between a row of boxes.
"Hold it right there!" Sophie hissed as loudly as she thought she could get away with.
"Give me my wallet back."
The thief ignored her and continued to try and open the vent cover. Sophie proceeded to walk over to her but that was when the girl turned around.
"I'll scream if you touch me." She threatened. "I saw you stealing."
The threat was effective, freezing Sophie in her path. If the girl had seen her stealing the employees would easily find the objects she had taken, and that would be as bad or worse as loosing her wallet anyway. Her pause gave her a moment to really take in her new adversary.
She couldn't have been older than seven or eight. She had stormy grayish blue eyes and messy blonde hair that fell a few inches past her shoulders. She was dressed in an old red T-shirt with worn off black letters and ragged blue jeans with large holes in the knees, Sophie's wallet firmly tucked in one of the worn down pockets. She wore ragged sneakers mismatched in size and color with the larger being green and the smaller being orange; her big toe poked through the front of the orange one.
Sophie stared at the girl in shock for a few quick seconds before the girl turned around and proceeded to pull off the cover.
"Wait!" Sophie cried. She couldn't loose her wallet this easily. It wasn't even just the money, she didn't want her ID or credit cards to be used and lure anyone into the immediate vicinity. Plus, if that did happen, she wouldn't even have the credit cards to use for an emergency escape.
The girl ignored her and began crawling into the vent. Sophie thought frantically for a solution before remembering something she had stuffed at the bottom of her bag.
"Chocolate, I have chocolate!" She offered weakly, but knew it was no use. Even though the girl was young, she appeared to be a seasoned criminal. The fact that she had managed to sneak up on, steal, and threaten another much older thief proved that.
By some miracle, however, the girl stopped and turned around curiously.
"Chocolate?" She asked.
"Yeah, I have two chocolate bars. They're really good." Sophie replied in relief, using her grifting powers to help sell the girl.
"I'll trade them to you for my wallet." Sophie added after she felt she had the girl hooked.
The little girl glanced at the wallet, then back at Sophie and the chocolate bars she held out.
"Why do you want the wallet?" She asked curiously.
"Because I have important things in there and I need money to buy something." Sophie replied, refraining from snapping "because it's mine!"
"But why do you need money when you can steal?" The girl asked. Sophie was shocked that the girl who had sounded like a bank robber just moments ago now sounded like an innocent child. She was also perplexed at why the girl would even consider handing over the wallet for chocolate she could easily steal herself, but she decided not to question the "miracle."
"Because I need a broom and a dustpan, and I can't steal those."
"How come?" The girl looked genuinely confused. "That's easy!"
Sophie shook her head about to disagree but stopped when a weird smile crossed the girl's face. Her eyes darted over the something behind Sophie.
"Trouble, see ya!" Just like that she was gone through the vent. Sophie turned her head to spot an employee walking her way.
"Hey, you! What are you doing in here?"
Sophie quickly slipped the chocolate bars back into her bag and zipped it up before turning around to face the annoyed male employee approaching her.
"I'm so sorry, I was looking for the ladies room. One of the other employees told me it was back here but I can't find it." Sophie once again put her grifting powers to work, easily adopting the role of a lost, confused customer.
"There's no bathroom back here lady, it's on the other side of the store by the clothes. Now get out."
"I'm so sorry." Sophie repeated, heading for the door and going back into the main area. Breathing a sigh of relief, she now allowed her frustration to get to her.
She has been so close to getting her wallet back but now the girl was gone, and so was her entire money supply. As she headed for the exit she grabbed a small chocolate cake slice from the dessert aisle and slipped it into the compartment where her wallet used to be. At this point she deserved it; her day had gone from really bad to worse in just moments.
She still couldn't believe that not only had the girl spotted her stealing, but she had also managed to steal from her. The kid couldn't have even been a decade old.
No, Sophie wasn't and a master at thievery but she normally did a decent job of stealing without getting caught. And no one had ever managed to steal from her while she stole.
"At the worst possible time too."
If her credit card was used anywhere in the vicinity it would lead Ford, and at this point maybe even the police, straight to her.
She was still sulking when she exited the store, but her pitiful thoughts were interrupted when she spotted a brand new broom and dustpan laying abandoned in front of the alley to the left of the store.
She frowned, walking over to them cautiously and soon spotting the thief standing in the alley directly behind the objects.
"Told you it was easy," The girl bragged.
"Can I have chocolate?"'
How? Sophie wondered in awe as hope returned to her heart like a butterfly to a flower.
"If I get my wallet back."
Just as she had done earlier, the girl pondered the idea for a few moments before nodding. She cautiously moved closer to Sophie and extended the wallet only when Sophie held out the chocolate bars. She quickly let go of the wallet and snatched the chocolate from Sophie's hand, retreating back into the alley.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Sophie checked the wallet for its contents and found all of her credit cards and various ID's, but not a single dime of her money.
"You took the money." She complained.
"I like money." The girl replied as she stuffed one of the chocolate bars in her mouth whole.
"Ugh..." Sophie moaned before deciding to let it go and take the win. She would have had to spend the money anyway and she no longer had to worry about her cards being used.
"Well thanks." The told the girl who mumbled something incoherent as she chewed the chocolate bar.
Sophie grabbed the broom and dustpan and started back for her building, feeling much better.
Her happy bubble popped the moment she stepped back into the apartment and saw a rat dart away from her bags. All that evening Sophie fought dirt and critters with her newly acquired combat tools. Still, things continued to sink to an all time low when she sat down to eat her cake and found ants were crawling inside. Not much later, Sophie ran out of the apartment struggling not to pull her hair out.
Greg was right, it was a bad neighborhood and there were all kinds of scary looking people around doing things that would probably make Sophie want to run back to her critter roommates if she knew about them.
But since she didn't she opted to stay out for a bit to get some fresh air. She wasn't a fool though, she stayed alert to her surroundings with her hand never leaving the pocket she had placed her pink taser in.
She had almost completely encircled her block when she heard a scream coming from the alleyway across the street.
The scream had most likely come from a young female but it stopped abruptly, leaving Sophie curious. Against her better judgement she decided to see if she could figure out what was going on. She crossed the street and headed over to the dark middle space between the surrounding apartment building.
There was nothing in her immediate view as it was too dark to see more than a few feet ahead, but she did hear the faint sounds of struggling and heavy breathing. She crept further into the alley, her heart beating like a drum as she got closer to whatever action was going on.
Suddenly things got quiet.
"Who's there!" A rough male voice yelled suddenly. Sophie froze, fearing the worst. Her hand slowly crept down to her pocket and she wrapped her fingers around the taser, preparing it for action.
"I said who's there!" The voice yelled again and Sophie felt the urge to turn around and run but found herself facing a bright light before she could.
She winced as she took in what she was up against. There were two large, muscular men who appeared to be tattooed from head to toe. They were both bald with multiple piercings in their ears and nose. They were also tall but one was slightly taller than the other.
It was the shorter man who held the flashlight in Sophie's face, and it was the taller one who had his arms wrapped around something very different.
"Let me go!" A young voice managed to cry out and Sophie immediately recognized the person as the girl who had stolen from her just hours earlier.
"Get out of here!" The man holding the flashlight snapped. Sophie stuck both of her hands in her pockets and adopted the persona of an ignorant, stubborn woman, hoping the men wouldn't realize she had a weapon.
"What are you doing with her?" Sophie snapped.
"None of your business! Go!"
Sophie frowned. "You're assaulting a little girl, if you don't stop I'm calling the cops."
The little girl gave her a wide eyes, as if she would have slapped her hands on her forehead if she could have. The two men, however, glanced at each other before they burst out laughing.
"Cops don't do nothing around here, woman." The taller man said with a grin.
"They don't care to mess with us, they know what's good for them."
"If there's anyone you should be calling he cops on it's this little thief." The second man added in a voice that wreaked with frustration.
"She don't know better than to steal from her elders. And she still won't tell me where my damn money is! Freaking two hundred bucks gone!"
"Let the girl go or you'll regret it!" Sophie threatened, trying to cover up the fear in her voice."
Both men stared at her in awe before the shorter one began walking towards her. It was now that Sophie got an even better look at his huge muscles. She was more than tempted to run and never look back but something wouldn't let her leave the girl.
"Something tells me you're new around here, that you haven't figured out how things go in this area yet."
The taller man also began walking towards her, dragging the struggling blonde girl behind him.
"I'm getting the same feeling, Phil." He addressed his partner.
"Don't touch me!" Sophie darted out of the way as Phil reached out to grab her right arm. He succeeded, however, on the second attempt.
He forced her against the side of one of the buildings and leaned in close, his smelly breath fulling Sophie's anger even further as he spoke.
"I think it might be time for you to learn about the local peking order."
Hidden from the view of both the muscle man's friend and the young thief, Sophie seized the opportunity to lash out with her taser, striking him in the stomach.
"Agghh!" He yelled in pain and Sophie punched him in the head as he fell to the ground, momentarily knocking him out. Because he had been holding the flashlight it went down with him, and Sophie was left staring into the darkness. Still, she could hear the other man's gasps of shock.
"What did you do!" He yelled, letting go of the younger girl who promptly fled the scene. "I'll kill you!"
With one hand, he shined another flashlight at Sophie. With the other hand he put the woman at gunpoint, causing her heart to skip at least three beats.
"You weren't kidding huh." She chuckled nervously.
"He'll live you know." She knew she couldn't punch well so she assumed that. But seeing that the man still hadn't stirred she began wondering if she was right.
Ignoring her comment, the man continued to hold his gun pointed at Sophie's temple and she quickly realized she needed a plan.
"Honey, come on, you don't really want to shoot me," She whispered seductively as she waved her hips back in forth a little; just enough to catch the man's attention, but not enough for him to realize it.
"We could have a nice night."
"You just knocked out my friend." The man snapped but Sophie shushed him.
"He'll be alright. Trust me."
She sent him a few neurolinguistic gestures and eventually found him taking him hand off of the trigger, even though the gun was still pointed at her head.
"This is all that effing girl's fault! Why do you care about her?" The man snapped.
Sophie shrugged. "Oh, I don't know... I have a thing for children."
"You made me loose her." The man growled before becoming slightly distracted when his friend finally moved, moaning in pain.
The gun lowered and Sophie seized the opportunity to leap forward with her taser in hand, electrocuting the second man and then the first man again as he was beginning to regain his strength.
Then she raced out of the alley and around the block, frequently checking over her shoulder to make sure no one was following her. Still, she didn't want to go immediately back to her dwelling just in case, so instead she ran into an empty alley behind an apartment building. She put her hands on her head, panting as she sank against the side of the steps.
She froze when she heard steps rounding the corner and tried to blend into the shadows of the staircase.
She peered out moments later and was relieved to see the little blonde girl standing at the entrance to the alley.
"Hey." Sophie said softly, rushing over to her and attempting to put her hands on the girls shoulders. She was automatically pushed away.
Sophie shrugged and studied the girl for a moment. She had a bloody nose and several bruises but other than that she looked okay.
"How are you holding up?" Sophie asked and the girl bit her lip.
"Okay..."
There was a long pause. Sophie half expected a thank you but none came. She shrugged once again before it suddenly dawned on her that she didn't even know the girl's name.
"Sweet heart, what's your name?"
The girl looked reluctant but eventually replied.
"Parker."
Sophie nodded. "It's nice to meet you Parker. My name is Sophie."
Parker nodded and looked away, wiping blood from her nose.
Sophie frowned, more questions coming to her mind.
"How come you aren't at home? Aren't your parents worried about you?"
Parker shook her head. "They don't mind if I'm out late."
Puzzled, Sophie forced a neutral look.
"Okay, well, how about if I take you home? We don't want you to get into anymore trouble tonight."
"No!" Parker yelled, turning and heading out of the alley.
"Hey Parker, wait!" Sophie called after her frantically. After all that she had gone through to rescue the girl she really wanted her to be somewhere safe for at least a little while.
"How about you come to my house? We'll clean you up a bit."
Sophie forced herself to relax as the girl turned around and investigated every muscle In her body, trying to gage whether or not she could trust the woman.
"I have more chocolate bars." Sophie added, which seemed to help Parker's careful scrutiny come to a positive conclusion.
The girl eventually agreed and followed Sophie back to her house, though Sophie noticed that Parker never dropped her guard, tensing every time she spoke and nearly darting away whenever there was a sudden movement.
But even so, Parker stayed at Sophie's apartment for nearly and hour. Sophie found a few napkins inside of her bag and wiped the blood of the small girl's face. She then put some canned beans into one of her plates for the girl. Of course, Sophie also served chocolate bars afterwards.
It took a lot to get the nervous child to talk, but the more she spoke the more Sophie came to the conclusion that the girl was either living with an abusive family or wasn't living with anyone at all. She wasn't sure which option she believed more, but it seemed nearly impossible for such a little person to be living on their own in an area like this.
After all, Sophie had almost been killed on her first night.
Eventually Parker insisted on leaving and Sophie made it clear that the girl could come back anytime she liked. She soon began to regret the offer upon noticed her wallet sitting on the kitchen countertop when she knew she had last placed it in her bag.
Anger began to flare as Sophie feared the worst, thinking the girl might have stolen her credit cards or IDs. Maybe bringing the thief into her home had been a mistake. After all, she had risked her life to save the girl and not even received a thank you.
All of that melted away when she found two green one hundred dollar bills tucked neatly in her wallet.
This was almost 5,000 words! :-O
I still can't believe it's this long, I really struggled to get this chapter to the point where I could post it and I ended up having to add a lot to it. Regardless, it was fun to write and hopefully it was fun to read! Make sure you review, don't exit this page without doing so. Parker's already mad that no one guessed she was the first kid. You don't want to make her madder, remember she likes explosives.
Oh, and by the way, who do you think the second kid will be? It will be a chapter or two before he comes in but we can start polling now.
Anyway, thanks for reading!