Part 10 – First Job – Part 3
The pizza man that arrived on sight was just a few inches shorter than Fohl, and you could tell he was a high schooler.
"I have eight cheese and four pepperoni pizzas for the HERO Brigade," he asked.
"You received payment," Naofumi asked.
"Yes," the delivery guy said.
"Good," Fohl said, "Do you have a spare uniform?"
"What," the delivery guy asked.
"We need to deliver these pizzas around to the back of the building to save the people inside that bank," Fohl said as he pointed to the front of the bank on the surveillance cameras, "You want to delivery these pizzas to a place where armed robbers are?"
"Not particularly," the delivery guy said.
"Exactly, now do you have a spare uniform," Fohl asked.
"Unfortunately not," he said.
Naofumi pulled out his wallet, and fished two hundred dollars out, "Two hundred to lend him your uniform," he said as he held out the money.
"Where's the bathroom," the delivery guy asked as he took the cash.
"This way," Fohl said.
After changing, Fohl grabbed the warmer boxes, and proceeded around the back of the building with Sadeena right behind him, holding her shotgun: no cameras alongside the back of the bank, there was a window that overlooked the back, but from Fohl's angle, he couldn't tell if it was bulletproof or not.
There was a fence where Sadeena managed to take cover and signaled Fohl up to the door.
The door itself would probably not help too much either, from the way it was mounted, it was probably made of solid steel.
Right next to the door was a buzzer, there was a fence that could conceal their movements, but the line of sight would probably leave them exposed unless they crouched.
As he pressed on the buzzer, the back door swung open, and standing there was a man in his mid-thirties holding a Serbu Super Shorty at him.
Sadeena clicked off the safety on her S&W M&P before doing a quick brass-check, full magazine, plus one in the chamber, if they decided to go hot, she'd take him down.
Fohl made sure to put on his best confused/scared look. But looking down the barrel of a shotgun? He used to be a Green Beret, calm under pressure was the name of the game back when he was in the Army.
"You the delivery guy," the robber asked.
"Yes," Fohl said, "Yes."
"Put the boxes down there," he said as he pointed in front of the door, Fohl placed the warmer packs down, "Open them," Fohl opened each of the packs to show him the boxes, "Place them inside the door, and we'll hand you the packs."
As Fohl placed the warmer packs down, another man walked over with an MP5, took the pizzas out of the packs, and took them one pack at a time around the corner.
The man pointing the shotgun at him tossed him the boxes, and said, "Don't go looking for payment here."
Fohl picked up the warmer boxes, and doing his best to pretend to be scared, he ran for the gate, and around to the back of the command center, entering in front of Sadeena.
"Good to see you back," Naofumi said.
"And you as well, boss," Fohl said as he removed the hat the delivery guy handed him.
"Go get changed, and we'll discuss what you found," Naofumi said.
"We might have a lookout point," Alta said.
"Go ahead," Naofumi said.
"Shop across the street has a window with a circular top," Alta said, "Curtains are made of denim."
"Very opaque," Naofumi said.
"Yep," Alta said.
Naofumi turned towards Sadeena, "When we get through discussing what Fohl discovered, grab a couple of pairs of binoculars, and keep a lookout," Naofumi said, "And make sure you get pictures. If we can identify the hostiles, we can possibly talk them down."
"Yes, sir," Sadeena said.
"And, Supermodel," Naofumi said before she could walk away, "Make sure to put netting over the lenses. We can't let them know where we are until we're ready."
"Yes, sir," Sadeena said.
"Supermodel," Erhard asked.
"I'm a mercenary, not a poet," Naofumi said.
"Clearly," Erhard said.
"Captain," Raphtalia said as she walked into the room with a handful of wrapped papers, "Architect plans just arrived."
"Good," Naofumi said as he stood up, "Chief, you might want to join us."
"Right behind you, kid," Erhard said.
As Naofumi and Erhard proceeded up the stairs behind Raphtalia, Fohl followed the Pizza deliverer out, and then followed them up the stairs.
"What've you got," Naofumi said as they entered the planning room.
"The only real problem is there's a big open window around the back," Fohl said, "I couldn't tell if it was bulletproof or not."
"Guess we're about to find out," Naofumi said as Raphtalia laid the plans across the table.
Raphtalia passed Naofumi the plan for the second floor as she handed the plans for the vault to Sadeena, then the first floor to Alta, and took the security detail plans for herself.
"Let's see what we got," Fohl said as he examined the plans with Naofumi and immediately went to the back window, "Shit."
"What," Raphtalia asked.
"The window on the second floor is one and a quarter-inch thick aluminum oxynitride glass that is held in place by one-inch thick carbon steel rebar that runs the entire length of the window and eight inches into each side of the walls," Fohl said.
"And the window itself extends one foot into the wall in both directions," Naofumi said.
"So even if we were to fire a fifty caliber into it, it'd just dent the window," Sadeena said.
"Yep," Naofumi said.
"And the back door isn't a good choice either," Alta said, "It's a one and three-fourths inch thick carbon steel door."
"And the lock itself is a foot-long deadbolt that is controlled via an electronic key that has a 200-volt backup power supply," Raphtalia said.
"We'd need enough c4 to bring the building down to open it," Sadeena said.
"So the back is out as far as breaching goes," Fohl said.
"And the front," Naofumi asked.
"We might have lucked out there," Raphtalia said, "Glass is only one and a quarter inch polycarbonate, but the bars are made of carbon steel."
"We have a thermite lance in the Grizzly," Naofumi said, "Should be able to melt through them all in less than a minute."
"The window shouldn't be a problem then," Sadeena said, "Breaching charge, three strips of detonation cord, and one gram of c4."
"We can have it by tomorrow," Erhard said, "I'll put in a request."
"Appreciate it, sir," Sadeena said.
"The roof," Naofumi asked.
"Lined with a steel plate," Raphtalia said.
"Front windows seem like our only way in," Fohl said.
"This bank was designed so nobody could break-in," Naofumi said, "Whoever picked this place is smart, a little too smart."
"He knows this place," Raphtalia said.
"Probably studied it," Naofumi said.
"That also explains why he hasn't touched the vault," Raphtalia said.
"What," Naofumi asked.
"He never requested the bank president's presence," Raphtalia said as she took the plans for the vault, and turned it towards Naofumi so he could look at it, "The vault itself is two feet of solid carbon with a constantly changing password, updated to the bank owner's phone every six hours. Also, they're designed to close with two thousand pounds of force should the manager hit the panic button mounted next to the entrance."
"Can we get a list of everyone who visited in the last few months," Naofumi asked.
"We can," Raphtalia said, "But I think we'd be here for a while, this is one of the few banks in this neighborhood."
"Which means a lot of people use this bank primarily," Fohl said.
"So we'd have multiple pages waiting for us then," Naofumi said.
"Yep," Sadeena said.
"Well, let's get the list anyway, and see if we can get any identifications," Naofumi said, "Fohl, Sadeena, get across the street to the lookout spot, and keep an eye out. Alta, get back down there with Reichnott and see if we can get anywhere with the negotiations. Raphtalia, you and I are going to study these plans, and see if we can find another way in. Any questions?"
"If we discover anything," Fohl asked.
"Take pictures, and report to me," Naofumi said.
"And if things go hot," Sadeena asked.
"We meet back here, grab our weapons, and head in," Naofumi said, "Anything else," no one said anything, "Ok, everyone to positions, we meet back here at 2100. Dismissed."
As the team stood up to leave, Raphtalia took a seat on the opposite side of the table from Naofumi and began looking over the plans.
"Where shall we start," Raphtalia asked.
"You were in both the military police and this town's police," Naofumi said, "Where do you think we should start?"
"Let's start with the obvious, then," Raphtalia said as she pulled up the plans of the first floor, "How about the front door?"
Nighttime…
Mr. Green was sitting at the window while Mr. Red slept upstairs, and Mr. Yellow was keeping watch over the hostages.
Mr. White walked up to him with a cup of coffee, "Thanks," he said as he took the coffee from his hands, noticing the disappointed/angry look on his face, "Look, I'm sorry."
"You fucked this whole thing up," Mr. White said, "This would have been victimless, and insurance would pick up the tab. Right now we have to deal with these people, and we need to get out of this country."
"Hey, I didn't know that we needed a pass for the parking space, and if I did know that, then I wouldn't have parked there," Mr. Green exclaimed.
"How about taking a look around first," Mr. White asked, "I chose you because I thought you could do this. We can't have anything else go wrong."
"If something goes wrong, I won't cause it," Mr. Green said.
"See that you don't," Mr. White said, "Now here's the deal, keep quiet, and tomorrow, we should get out of here without any incident."
As Mr. White walked over to the window, he didn't notice the binoculars looking at him through the window of the shop adjacent to the bank.
"Male one alpha in window one Charlie," Fohl said as he focused on Mr. White in the window as Sadeena snapped a picture.
"Got it," Sadeena said, "Sending picture."
"You're pretty good at photography there," Fohl said as he continued observing the bank.
"I did a lot of it during stakeouts in the Military Police," Sadeena said.
"I'd imagine," Fohl said, "Worked with a few of them during my time overseas."
"Any I would know," Sadeena asked.
"Probably not," Fohl said, "Unless you count the CO of Camp Chapman or Jalalabad Airport."
"I worked with the CO of the Military Police at JBAD," Sadeena said.
"Doing what," Fohl asked.
"Exactly what I'm doing right now," Sadeena said, "I was a breacher, and I did some investigative work."
"As is standard," Fohl said, "Seems almost all of us are vets."
"The Captain included," Sadeena asked.
"You didn't read his file," Fohl asked.
"Didn't get one," Sadeena said, "You and Raphi were his original choices, me and your sister were chosen by you and her."
"Good point," Fohl said, "Yea, file says he served in the Army. The file was pretty empty though."
"So then how'd he end up being so trusted by the Brigade," Sadeena asked, "Someone who hasn't seen much action wouldn't be promoted to Captain."
"Especially when the other members of his team were all promoted to Lieutenants," Fohl said before noticing something, "Wait a minute… Sadeena, come look at this."
Sadeena walked over, and as she grabbed her binoculars, she tried to see what Fohl was looking at, "Where," she asked.
"Roof, between window three Charlie and three Delta," Fohl said.
Sadeena focused on where Fohl was talking about, it was a skylight, "Supermodel to Shield, Supermodel to Shield," Sadeena said into her radio.
"Go ahead," Naofumi said through the radio.
"We might have another way in," Sadeena said as she snapped a picture, "Sending now."
Naofumi walked over to the printer that was in their small room, saw the skylight coming through, and spoke, "Location," he asked.
"Roof, between window three Charlie and three Delta," Sadeena said.
"Copy that," Naofumi said as he walked over to the plans, "Three Charlie and three Delta."
"Right here," Raphtalia said as she pointed to the plans, "That's the manager's office."
"Security," Naofumi asked.
Raphtalia grabbed the security plans and quickly searched until she found the security installed in the manager's office, "Single cylinder deadbolt," was all she said.
Guess what's next…