The Heist

Ch. 32

32

Ari's POV

I could sense Harry's panic as I hid in the shadows. I was hidden so well that not even he find me. The high heels came off my feet. I left them in a corner of the stairs as I lifted up my much too long, much too tight dress and raced up seven flights.I met Louis in the hallway outside the room.

"What're you doing?" He asked me. His very words were repeated by Harry only seconds later. His comms were on now.

"Power going on in seven minutes and twenty-six seconds." Liam spoke urgently.

"Fuck." Matt groaned, standing in the doorway. Gabby was the only one in the room, pressing the controls over and over, trying to make the tape explode.

"I'm going to open the safe." I said calmly.

I knew that if all six members of my team were in the room, all twelve eyes would be on me. They knew I was good at opening safes- it was my specialty- but they didn't think I would be able to open this particular one given a set time frame.

"I can do it." I whispered.

"No, no you can't, Ariana. You have ten minutes if were lucky. Ten. Without tools cracking this safe, we predicted, would take you twenty minutes at least." Harry scolded me angrily, his ear piece now turned on.

"Don't talk to me like I'm a child. I'm fully aware of how long we assumed it would take me. I know what I'm getting myself into." I fired back, already setting up beside the safe.

"And then what? We get the paintings and stroll out the hotel with them?" Gabby's eyes narrowed, she was siding with Harry.

I ignored them. They continued to protest, to freak out, and to doubt me. I tuned them out and pressed my ear to the cold metal.It took me fourteen tries and a total of eight and a half minutes, but yes I opened the safe.

"Well shit. Remind me to never bet against you." Louis said, wide eyed. I laughed and went to take out the paintings. We still had yet to figure out what to do with them.

"Three bulky men are getting into the elevator." Harry said calmly, the power was on and downstairs was a little less chaotic.

"Follow them." I said, looking around to figure out what to do with the art.

"On it." Harry laughed, I grinned, we thought far too much alike.

So there we were. I had two paintings under my arms, while Gabby, Louis, and Matt all took one. We shut the safe and locked it. From where we stood, it appeared as though nothing in the room had changed. Louis took down the tape and gathered their equipment. All we had to do now was vanish.

Some called it fleeing, other escaping, but through and through I continued to call our exit a vanishing act because the stuff we did was almost like magic- you know, the now you see it now you don't type shit. Anyway, that's what we had to do: vanish.

"Liam, stall the elevator." I murmured.

Gabby looked at me quizzically, "With Harry on it?"

"Mmhm." Harry muttered subtly.

"Trust me." I whispered.

And they did. Everyone did. My entire team had put all the faith they had in me, following my directions blindly. So, the elevator stopped. Over comms I could hear the 'bulky men' talking angrily. Harry pretended to have a panic attack. If we weren't under these circumstances I might've laughed. Of course, we were under these circumstances so instead I got down to business.

"Louis, what else do you have in those bags?" I asked, my leg shaking.

He listed everything from smoke bombs to exploding food. Perfect.