Chapter 2 – Halloween heist?
Criminals always think they are smart; most of the time, they are until they get overconfident and make a mistake. Or they don't take proper precautions from the start. There have been a few former cops, agents, and just people from the law side that have gone to Darkside, so to speak. Some of them have done well, made a lot of money, and retired quietly; others fell into the criminal mindset of thinking they were smart and ended up getting caught.
Jake Peralta planned on not getting caught.
After his first impromptu meeting with Seamus Murphy, he did a bit of soul-searching and said fuck it. Why not see what it's like to play for the other side?
After coming to that conclusion, he went to the State capital and filled out paperwork for a business, a private investigator, and a consultant; why would Jake do this, you may ask? Because he was smart and did not want to get hit by the IRS.
He would also need a paper trail for all the money he would be getting from his business. After all, he couldn't just show up with a few hundred thousand dollars in his bank account without any explanation, now could he?
After an hour of waiting in line and $200 later, Cool Guy Consulting and Private Investigating LLC was born. He wanted to name it Die Hard Consulting, but that was already copyrighted.
When he got home, he was a bit happier, and Amy immediately noticed.
"Did something happen?" Asked Amy Santiago. His girlfriend and former coworker.
He definitely had to lie here. He could not tell Amy that he agreed to help a known crime boss. While Amy thinks she knows when he is lying, she could not be more wrong. Jake grew up in New York with a single mother. Lying was an essential skill to have, and he mastered it by 8th grade. So, while he never wanted to lie to Amy, he had to this time.
But he wouldn't tell a whole lie.
"Yeah, I decided to give the PI thing a try," Jake answered with a smile and a shrug. "I got a client today."
"Oh, Jake, that's awesome!" Amy responded with a smile. She was genuinely happy that he was getting out of his funk. "Soooo, what's the case? Who's the client?"
"Just a guy who is trying to clean out his business of some bad people, and for now, I can't say the name," Jake explained with a small smile.
Looking back, this would be the moment where a lot of things would be changing in the lives of the 99.
XXX
Cleaning house for a crime family was surprisingly not that hard. All you had to do was find the ones who would rat on you and give them enough rope to hang themselves, but to do it without arousing suspicion was key. With the help of the truly loyal and a few well-placed calls to tip off the NYPD(the 99, of course, got to keep the numbers up for the squad), all it took was six months.
While that was happening, the truly evil members of the crime family had to be packaged and sent to the feds well. So there was a discrete probe…well, not discrete because the FBI was in with Seamus as well; all he had to say was he wanted a deal and was willing to offer the killers of the family, and the FBI was on board.
With everything lined up, the FBI and the 99 cleaned out a huge chunk of the Murphy crime family and practically gutted them, leaving only Seamus and a few of the top members alone. The deal was cut and done; everything was above board as far as the arrested were concerned, never knowing that their boss sold them out to save his own skin and to gain power.
In return for giving up the gang and some blackmail/proof he had on other gangs, all of Seamus's current money will now be legal, and all the businesses got a nice check mark with a few years of tax break.
A small chunk of the money was moved into the business account of Cool Guy Consulting and Private Investigating, no questions asked, and the rest was moved into an investment firm with a blind trust in waiting for when Seamus ran for Mayor.
Cool Guy Consulting and Private Investigating got paid a nice sum of $500,000.00 for only six months worth of work.
Seeing the sum hit the bank account made Jake wonder why the good guys never get paid this much, but that was not his problem anymore.
Half a million dollars for only six months' worth of work—well, it wasn't even that much. All the hard thinking and planning was done after three weeks, with only minor changes needed.
Crime does pay.
After all the money was handled Seamus asked for one more meeting before the Consulting was done.
A few days after the bust and the current mayor stepping down after being associated with crime, Jake sat down in Sals, waiting for Seamus to arrive while eating some good pizza.
"I got to say, Peralta, when I picked option 2, I didn't think it would go this smoothly, but I guess that goes to show old man Lanucci was right about you." Seamus started the conversation as he sat down and ordered a slice as well.
"So that's who gave my name," Jake responded in between bites and chewing.
"You know the old, some of 'em will always offer advice, and he was close to my grandpa." Seamus explained.
"Good to know, now don't forget my final payment."
"Yea, another $500,000.00 for ya Peralta."
This would be the last time Jake the consultant and Seamus the criminal met for the last time. In the coming years, it would be Jake the king maker and Seamus the governor candidate meeting.
XXX
After working with Seamus, Jake worked a few small cases—you know, the usual: who's stealing what, some fraud, the cheating wife, and all that jazz. Nothing was as exciting or as high-paying as Seamus's, but Jake wasn't actively trying to expand his criminal enterprise yet.
That was another mistake criminals made; they moved too fast.
The other thing that was on the docket was what he should do with the million dollars sitting in the business account. He wasn't going just to let it sit, thanks to some side stuff with Seamus, and the deal that was made his business was tax-free until the end of the year. He wasn't sure how, but he would take it.
Some would definitely be invested, but what to do with the rest?
Maybe buy some land or start a small business to bring in some passive income?
He had a few months to make his decision.
Another thing that was slowly approaching was Halloween. His phone had already pinged him with the reminders that he had set. If he were still on the force, he would be planning his epic heist, he was even thinking about proposing to Amy , but now….now he wasn't sure.
That thought struck a lot in him; if there was one thing that kept Jake going, it was that he was sure of what he had always wanted and what he wanted to do.
The fact he was hesitating to propose to Amy made him wonder how their relationship would progress. He was lying to her, after all.
But that was a thought for another day.
Now, right now, he had to figure out the money situation and what to invest in.
As he was dwelling on that, a thought popped in his head.
Halloween.
Halloween was the perfect time to commit a crime; he had endless distractions and could even get a group of people near to what he was going to rob.
What to steal, though? That was the question.
He obviously needed a client, and it had to be something they wanted. He also needed a team, one that would never meet him.
He had a few calls to make.
XXX
Planning a real heist was very easy….like stupidly easy. Well, it's easy when you're a former deactivate, and you know exactly what you're stealing, and the guard shifts cause your ex-partner is a bad cop and now works security.
All he had to do was call a few of the people he had gotten the names of while they were dismantling the Murphy family and while he was undercover. Discreetly asked around and got in touch (through a burner, of course) with a guy who wanted a particular item stolen from a collector's house.
Here, Jake decided to act a bit stupid.
No one on the team he had assembled could steal the actual item; he couldn't trust them. So he would do the actual stealing then and then do a drop-off, and it would go from there.
Plus, this way, the thugs/team would only need to be paid very little money if no risk was involved.
The item he was stealing was a Faberge egg.
It would be nice if he had a partner, but he would do it solo. He had already told Amy that he was working a case and would not be a part of her heist for Halloween.
A few weeks before Halloween, a few anonymous invites for a street party were sent out. The permits were already in place. The actual heist would depend on how big the turnout is.
His phone was left at an actual stake out point of a real case(one he had already solved); he had a burner already set up and ready to go. Cameras were avoided, clothes were changed, and Zoro's costume (with a cape!) was on.
Jake was ready to commit the perfect crime.
He walked toward the party, carefully moving about in the crowd. It looked like the turnout was very good. It is hardly noting that a few people were also wearing Zoro costumes. I am glad that some of the Cagslist ads were taken.
About an hour later, at approximately 1030PM, the party was about to hit the high point. It was time to move. He made his way to the house, a tall 3-story brownstone with a basement. Home of Vinchenzo Lorenzo. An avid collector and buyer of expensive and rare antiques.
He was also the manager of a collection house/auction house in New York, and tonight he would have the Lilies of the Valley Egg at his house. He had a bad habit of having some of the items in his house until the auction, so he could admire them at his pleasure until the auction. From what Jake had found out and researched(on a burner!) this egg was only stopping by in New York, it was owned by a very wealthy Frenchman, who was sending it to New York to be touched up.
It would remain at the auction house, under security and until it was touched up and then it would make its way back to France.
To jakes knowledge, no one aside from Vinchenzo and maybe a few of his staff knew the egg was even in New York. Even fewer knew it was in his house. Vinchenzo would be at party tonight, so all should be good in the house.
He made his way to the back alley, saw where the basemen's exit was, and started cutting open the lock. The alarm shouldn't trip until he's at the door to the main floor. All Vinchenzo stored in his basemen was some very nice wines. It didn't matter if the alarm tripped on the main floor; the 5-minute timer started once he pulled open this door.
Once the door was ready to be pulled, he made sure he had everything ready, pulled open the door, and rushed in. A quick look at the basement raised no concerns. He rushed over to the stairs and ran up pushed the door open into the kitchen. Once again a quick visual check made sure nothing was of concern.
Then, moved outside of the kitchen toward the study on the other side of the house. He went into the study and did not see it displayed anywhere, that must mean it's on the second floor.
Once again, a rush up the stairs.
Up the stairs and to the left, where his other study would be. The door wasn't even locked. Perfect.
He opened the door, and there it was, sitting atop a table. Lilies of the Valley, made in 1898 and presented by Emperor Nicholas II to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, is virtually smothered with pearl- and diamond-set lilies of the valley sprays, her favorite flower, and is designed in her most-liked style. It stands on four cabriolet feet entwined with diamond-set foliage. The surprise, three miniatures of their eldest daughters, Olga and Tatiana, surmounted by a diamond- and ruby-set Imperial Crown, appears when one of the pearls is twisted.
He did his research once he found out what he would be stealing.
He took a moment to admire it, and it was beautiful. It is beautiful.
He carefully moved it into the storage container that was bought with cash months ago and converted to secure the egg.
At this point, he could walk away, and he was 99%(can never be 100%) sure that no one would know he did it, but he wanted to leave a calling card.
So he took a sharpie from the desk and drew a stylized Z on the desk and then walked back down the stairs and out the front door this time.
He then made his way through the crowd and towards his exit route as the police arrived and made their way through the crowd towards the house.
By the time they made sure the house was empty, he would already be gone.
He made his way to the drop off point and left the case there. He sent the text for the pickup and then returned to his stakeout point. Stopping to change out of the Zoro costume and making sure to burn it.
And like that, he was in and out. Crime done.
XXX
I'm not sure how I feel about the heist. I wanted to do some twists and stuff, but Jake was solo. Maybe in the future, we'll have a 99-style heist.
Once again, I wrote this after a big test...i hope it doesn't become a habit.
Read and review!
S95N out!