It Started With Stealing | Sherlock Holmes

90 - On With The Heist

"What happened to you and the detective then?" Cleo asked when she saw Elizabeth strolling up to the small group.

Elizabeth was kitted out in her own black catsuit as she always was for times like these. The brunette tied her hair back as she made her way over to them, not particularly enthusiastic about the question she had been asked.

"Not really any of your business, is it?" Came her curt reply, "Got everything?"

Cleo laughed at her attitude, "You might have been doing this for longer than any of us but the main value the Forty Elephants hold is that we are always prepared."

"Prepared and missing a person?" She noted that there were only four other women instead of five.

The leader pointed above her own head.

Amber stood above them on the fire escape, glaring down at the gang's newcomer, her one hand resting against the metal, no longer bandaged but terribly scarred and stiff. If she could, she would gut Elizabeth yet she had been strictly informed not to unless she wished to be gutted herself.

Cleo chucked Elizabeth a slim, black rucksack, "Mask's inside."

Unzipping the backpack, she delved into it, reaching for the mask but her fingers also brushed past something else. Her brow wrinkled as she drew out two objects: a black elephant mask that would cover only the front of her face and also a gun. This time, Elizabeth laughed.

"If you know I used to work for Jim, then you should know that I don't kill."

Cleo and the girls looked at her as though she were acting like an arrogant bitch. Elizabeth wasn't being over-confident about her abilities - she simply did not wish to cause any violence. Theft was a big enough crime in and of itself - murder was unnecessary.

"And what do you do if you get caught by an armed guard?"

"I - "

"Shoot first." Came Amber's sharp tongue.

Cleo smiled tightly, "We don't have time for casualties. If you don't like it, I can't do anything about it, but the code is that we will leave you behind." She walked over to the thief, took the gun from her, checked the bullet chamber and handed it back to her, "I wonder what it would look like if your detective came back to find you in a jail cell for something you promised you would never do again."

Without breaking her gaze, Elizabeth shoved the weapon into the rucksack. She wouldn't use it. God help her, but she wouldn't go against her word, she would not kill anyone by her own hand and certainly not for this gang.

Elizabeth put on the mask, making sure to tie the string tightly around the back of her head to prevent it from slipping.

"Everybody clear on the new plan?" Cleo acknowledged their nods, "Then let's go."

On the way up the fire escape stairs, Amber stopped Elizabeth at the top.

"Got a problem?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Amber." Cleo warned from behind her right-hand woman, "We want this heist to go smoothly."

"It will." She said, not taking her eyes off the thief, "I just want to make it clear that if I could repeat our first encounter, I would go for your eyes."

Elizabeth took one look at her shaking, injured hand, "Think you mean eye. Because you clearly can't take out both with a hand that shakes like that."

"Watch me."

"Watch me because at least I still have the skill to not end up with a debilitating injury."