Disclaimer: Still don't own it
Spencer felt her adrenaline rise.
As she and Mona made their way to the back entrance of the Radley Sanitarium, her forehead was starting to sweat.
It was late and they were dressed in nurses uniforms in order to sneak into the facility; Mona having procured them online. They had waited until it was late enough to where the daytime staff had gone home for the night in order to make sure they were not recognized. When the last nurse that Mona knew from when she had been committed had gone home, having been watching from the parking lot, the two teens made their way to the back entrance. They had their passes attached to their uniforms and had put on enough makeup to slightly disguise their appearance; Mona hoping that no one would notice. She had also hacked Radley in order to place their aliases into the computer system so that the guards would be fooled further. The shorter teen had checked the roster and made sure that there was no guard on duty that knew her at first sight.
It was decided that they needed to hit Radley right away after Luca's little cache of information had been shared. From what he had revealed, the two teens now knew that Cece was in fact named Charlotte though he did not have a last name; only that it started with a D. Given that she indeed had a connection to Jessica DiLaurentis, Spencer had theorized that maybe Cece was actually a DiLaurentis; maybe from a secret fling that the older woman had with another man though they couldn't be sure. Mona had tried to look into the family's records to see if there was anything there like a hidden child or something, hitting a wall because of a private security firm of excellent status. It seemed that Kenneth paid a pretty penny to make sure that all searchs regarding his family were blocked from external view; no matter how good the hacker was. As good as Mona was, even she couldn't get through the firewalls and alerts set up.
Thus hitting Radley itself was the best course of action; hoping to get at Charlotte's hard files inside the facility. They had been planning this for a week, all the while planting false leads for Wilden to follow until they were ready to reveal to him the Radley angle. So far, the Detective had yet to make a move of his own on the facility due to him having hit a brick wall because of a lack of probable cause. It seemed that the asylum had a lot to hide in terms of its privacy so an army of lawyers were dispatched to prevent Wilden from even getting in through the front door; for now. The plan, besides going through Charlotte's files, was to also plant some false evidence implicating Alison as a possible suspect and then somehow leaking it to the police; maybe even the media somehow since the DiLaurentis Family had a few enemies there. This would start the final tumble of the dominoes for the two teen's endgame.
Which was going to happen next week; starting at the school dance.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Spencer asked her girlfriend nervously as they walked up to the back entrance's doors. There was no camera but a fully automated pin-pad and a steel bolted door blocking their way.
"I went to great lengths to make sure we were in the system as well as gain access to all passwords for this place; have a little faith," Mona assured the other teen as she took the badge attached to her uniform and pressed it against the scanner. She then typed in a six-digit passcode after the light went yellow; which then went green thus caused the door to open.
"Sorry I doubted you," the taller teen said apologetically as they entered the building; finding the guard desk empty. Mona had managed to find out the schedule for Radley's security staff so they knew when to avoid encountering them when possible.
"We need to move fast and avoid any of the nursing staff as we can. I am pretty sure that no one will recognize me in this getup but we just can't take that chance. I've memorized the layout to this place and we need to get to the floor below us where the records room is," informed the other teen as they moved quietly through the halls. She hoped to make it to their destination quickly since time was of the essence.
It was eerily empty and dark with it being almost dead quiet; which was understandable given on what time it was. Since Spencer had only seen the visiting section of the Sanitarium, she had not had the benefit of seeing the white tiled halls in the interior building with the few windows having bars on them. With everything being so white and sterile, it reminded Spencer of the rehab center she had spent the summer in. They passed many doors that had multiple locks on them that the taller teen assumed to mean that they were patient's rooms; wondering if they had passed or will pass the one Mona had stayed in. From what she understood from her friend, all the rooms were the same with a side bathroom; only having a toilet and small sink. Depending on what you were diagnosed with, there might be a lack of mirror due to the risk of broken glass. For the first week or so, Mona wasn't allowed anything made of glass; as well as only eating with plastic silverware for those rare times she ate in her room. Truth be told, she wanted to get out of here as soon as possible; even without the time constraints.
Technically, the two teens were at another movie though this time in Ravenswood; there being Noir Film Festival in town. Their plan was to actually hit it as well as spend the night there; even going as far as renting a room where they stayed last time. While Spencer's parents had been fine with the girls spending another night there, it took a little more persuasion to get Leona to give permission for the trip. The woman had become slightly suspicious with all the recent visits from Wilden as well as the rumors of what was going on behind the scenes; thus she looked as if she didn't believe they were really going to Ravenswood. Mona then offered to have the woman accompany them and even have the three of them go shopping; which seemed to alleviate Leona just a tad. She had to decline since she had a fundraiser to attend, a last minute thing, but was going to meet them tomorrow. This meant that the two teens needed to wrap everything up tonight so that they could maintain the illusion that they were using the weekend for pleasure; no pun intended.
"Well our timetable gives us at least a few hours. It helps that we already paid for the tickets and all that is required for us to prove we were there was to just rip them in half," Spencer whispered as they passed a grey jumpsuit janitor mopping the floor. He had his earplugs on and was in his own little world; completely ignoring the two teens in the hallway.
"Agreed; this way," Mona said as she led the two down another hallway; which had another janitor working on changing one of the overhead lights. Spencer was glad that her friend knew where she was going since everywhere they have been so far looked the same; thus it was easy for her to get lost in this place.
They quickly rounded a corner and had to slow down when an older grey-haired female nurse, dressed in a white uniform as they were, appeared ahead of them; looking down at a clipboard as she walked. Making sure she and Spencer's badges were on full display, Mona kept her face neutral as they passed the older woman; whom she didn't seem to recognize. The nurse also didn't seem to know Mona as well given that she didn't give the teen a second look; just giving them a brief nod before going back to what she was reading. Spencer breathed a sigh of relief as soon as the woman disappeared from view; an act shared by her friend. Mona flashed her badge on a side door which then took them to the stairs; not wanting to risk meeting anyone in the elevators given that it was often frequented by the staff more than anyone else. The patients were never allowed in them unless for emergencies and each elevator needed a passkey for anyone to use them. Mona herself had heard through the grapevine that someone had lined the elevator walls with leather though she didn't know for sure that was the case.
They passed another nurse; a young one by the looks of her and possibly an intern. The young woman looked as if she was out of highschool and had long blonde hair; a little too long that ran contrary to what Radley regulations stated. Mona noted that the blonde was also wearing heels that were out of touch for the rest of the facility; remembering seeing a previous nurse get dressed down for it when she had been a patient. The older woman gave the two teens a look over as they passed one another in the hall; obviously surprised that they were in pure white unlike her own checkered uniform. While Spencer did her best to keep her face neutral, Mona created an aura of authority that seemed to spook her into looking away; which the shorter teen smirked at once they were out of sight. As they approached an obvious checkpoint that was empty of anyone manning it, Mona veered them off to a door on the right; using her badge to get themselves inside before anyone came back.
They had arrived at the records room.
The room itself was rather large; just slightly bigger than her room at home. It was all concrete with no windows at all; with a few mats on the floor that looked that they had not been shaken out for quite a while. There were rows of file cabinets with some going all the way to the back as well as the ceiling; though they were lucky enough that the files they wanted were in the front cabinets. A few vents could be seen on opposite sides of the room; probably for circulation since the room had to get cold at certain times of the year. Given that the room was in the deepest part of the facility, she doubted it got hot at all; especially the lack of any real electronic equipment in the room other than the computer. There were old lights overhead which the lights were either really dim or not working at all. Luckily, the teens had brought their flashlights just in case they needed to search in the dark with the door being thick enough to keep their little search hidden from outside view. There was also a small metal table with a few chairs scattered around the room.
While Spencer went straight to the hard records in the file cabinets, Mona went to the lone computer in the room; on a small table next to the wall that held the single electrical outlet in the room. After booting up the machine, which was a few years old and still running Windows 2000, she hacked past the security screen and began digging for anyone who had the name Charlotte. Her friend was also looking and found a file with a name that caught her eye; one that had the last name DiLaurentis. Spencer had been looking out for the last name but was genuinely surprised that it was for a Charles DiLaurentis; someone she had never even had heard of before in connection to the family. Grabbing the chair next to the metal file cabinet, the taller teen sat down and read; her eyes practically bulging at the revelations in the huge file. She had always believed that Alison's family had a few skeletons but this was something else entirely. She turned to tell Mona what she had found since this was crucial to know.
"I am reading the file of a Charles DiLaurentis; who was incarcerated here at the age of five and is the older son to Jessica and Kenneth DiLaurentis," informed Spencer to her friend who was staring intently at the computer screen. Spencer was still in wonderment since another sibling had never come up during her many moments with the DiLaurentis Family; as far as she knew, it was just Alison and Jason.
"And I am reading a file detailing on how Charles DiLaurentis became Charlotte DiLaurentis a long time ago due to a sex-change operation," Mona countered with information of her own. The file she was reading was quite detailed and had been pretty well encrypted as well as hidden with only a few that could access it.
"So Cece Drake is really Charlotte DiLaurentis who was once Charles DiLaurentis?" Spencer asked astounded; though more at herself than anything else. Mona just nodded her head, also seemingly surprised by the revelation.
"Yeah; she was apparently diagnosed with a series of mental instabilities since she was five; all which apparently involved violently lashing out at times. There are a few notes on some of the incidents as well as the medication she has been prescribed," Mona told her friend as she scanned what kind of pills Charlotte was still taking. Before they left, Mona planned to pay a quick visit to the pharmacy as an evil idea popped into her head.
"I suppose that explains the car attack on you; do you think Alison knows and that is why they are so close?" inquired the taller teen as she skimmed through the file. It was mostly background with a few tidbits on the early counseling sessions when Charlotte had still been going by Charles.
"It would explain a few things; though Cece Drake is probably an alias so that Kenneth doesn't know. Apparently Jessica and the management here contrived a fake death certificate in order to pretend that Charles died by suicide; though they have it here that they did it out of protection for the patient in case something came up. I doubt that Jason knows too since he could never keep a secret such as this and would never date his own sibling," stated the other teen as her mind contemplated on what they now knew. As much as this would cause chaos in the swing of things, revealing it now would prove to their disadvantage.
"If this came out, it would send Jason into a tailspin to be sure. I kind of like him and think that we can't really do this to him like this," admitted Spencer with full sincerity. While he was nowhere near an ally, Jason was one of the few innocents that they considered off limits unless they were really desperate.
"I agree; plus other than embarrassment, this really wouldn't do anything for us in the long run and might be more beneficial to Alison. I can see Jessica spinning this to gain sympathy somehow and forcing Kenneth to go along or face town scrutiny. What this does give us though is insight into our enemy and a way for us to take down Charlotte so she isn't there to protect Alison next week," Mona said to her friend as she pulled a thumb drive out of here pocket to hook into the machine. She had to remove the keyboard USB to do it but managed to begin copying the files to view later; seeing that there was more to read.
"Anything about Bethany there?" asked Spencer as she took pictures of the hard file for their own records. She had brought her special A phone which was slightly larger than her own personal phone.
"As a matter of fact there is; I'll copy those as well since anything about her could work out for us. When you are done there, plant this in her files so Wilden will be able to view it when he finally has access. I'll plant the electronic version once I am done copying the files," ordered the shorter teen as she finished with Charlotte's records and moved onto the other blonde. She then looked at the time and realized that they needed to hurry up so that they could make it to the pharmacy before the nurse came on shift.
"Understood," said the other teen as she wrapped up her photo taking and placed the file back in the cabinet. She then went to the section in the back of the cabinet to pull out Bethany's file to plant the fake pages that Spencer had inside her dress; happy to get rid of them since they were a bit uncomfortable against her body.
The two worked quickly to get what they needed done; with Spencer planting the incriminating files and Mona finishing her data copying. After everything was done, Spencer made sure that everything was as it was; even going as far as to spread some dust on the filing cabinets in order to pretend that they had not touched. Mona had done the same with the computer, erasing the access logs and even planting a virus to give her access in case she needed to take another look some point in the future. The computer did have a phone line going into the wall which told the teen that she might be able to access it; taking advantage of its poor security firewalls. They then quietly shut the lights off and snuck out of the room towards their next destination. The pharmacy was not too far away but required them to go through a few checkpoints as well as having to go out another side entrance; which was a little ways away from the parking lot. Mona though knew a path outside to take them to their car without being seen.
Once in the pharmacy, Mona made a few alterations to complete her revenge on Charlotte.
Merry Christmas and Please Read also a special thanks to Paraddicted for the pre-read!