✔ᵉⁿᵍˡⁱˢʰ Splinter Cell [Fast and Furious 07]✔

05

As hoped, the opening had been a success. On the whole, Charlie's absence had not been too noticeable, and thus had not harmed the whole celebration, as the leader was more than happy in the end. Fortunately.

Meanwhile, it was just after three, so Charlie still had enough time to pay a little visit to an old friend. One should make time for friends.

Unusually quiet and dark. The only source of light, thanks to the starry sky, was the moon and the stars themselves. Good thing Charlie didn't need a flashlight.

"How long has it been, honey? Seems like only yesterday," Charlie stopped grinning in front of a glass box that stood on a pedestal and looked at the glass from all sides, "Finally, after three years, we meet again, my little one.

As I said. The art business could be interpreted one way or another. If you were looking for the best thieves or burglars in the U.S., you would find Charlie, among others, who was on that list, way up there. Nothing, absolutely nothing in the world was so well secured that it could not be stolen, let alone broken into. Even though people like to say that, it is not true. More in the past than today.

Monaco

It was the exhibition of Queen Mary I, better known as Bloody Mary. There was her diamond, the blood diamond. A red diamond slightly smaller than a clenched fist.

Funnily enough, Owen had had to persuade Charlie to come with him to Monaco, but that had not been difficult because he had always had a special talent for persuading people and wrapping them around his finger. What he actually wanted there, she still did not know. Only his behavior the day after her arrival had been more than strange. Too quiet, somehow tense. A thing that was extremely untypical for him.

The visits to the casino, the exhibition and of course the diamond. Back then Charlie had said that she would get it eventually, no matter how long it would take.

Today, almost three years later, Charlie finally got his chance. From Monaco, the exhibition went to Lisbon, Venice and now Los Angeles. It could not have been easier for her.

"As I promised you then, you come to me," Charlie lifted the glass cube more than gently, removed the diamond from the metal setting, replaced it with a black feather, and set the glass back on its pedestal, "Three years I had to wait for you. What a waste."

"Who are you really?" came from a corner and Charlie had to look up with a grin, "Burglar and thief. Ironic, considering your so-called profession. Oh yeah, typical woman. Lying and sneaky."

"Didn't I say Owen knew what he had in me? Also that I could be useful? Oh, right. That habit," Charlie smiled broadly and patted Deckard on the shoulder as he passed, "I'm good. Very good. My client list proves it."

"That's how you knew each other," Deckard shook his head, turned and set his jaw to the side, looking from Charlie back to the glass box, "He hired you for some stupid job."

"No," Charlie stopped dejectedly, pushing back a few loose strands and turning to Owen's brother, "It was really in Bali. Just how people meet. No job, nothing. Just a vacation."

With the diamond in his pocket, Charlie headed home. Three and a half million in "only" four minutes. In hourly wages, a dream.