Primed for Crime

The Heist -- 01

London, England

It's hard to believe that I am standing over a case of crown jewels in the London Tower. A couple months ago I would have never pictured myself here, yet here I am. I struggled to control my breathing as anxiety rose within me. I needed to focus on the task on hand, and I currently only had exactly 5:29.23 to get the glass case off, grab the jewels, replace them with fakes, fix the glass case, and get the heck out of there.

Now I'm down to 5:22.01.

"Ava? What are you waiting for?! Get the rings and let's get out of here," Ethan's voice whispered fervently into my ear.

I steeled my resolve and apologized to Ethan through my com. I made quick work of the case as I efficiently used a glass cutter to remove the lid. I kept a hand pressed against the lip that I had exposed so I wouldn't trip the pressure alarm in the case. I placed the plate of glass gently on the floor.

"Dan, are the alarms turned off?"

"Uh, just a sec. Alright, you're good to go," Dan confirmed.

I slipped my gloved hand into the exposed case and nimbly grabbed one of them. I tucked it into a small pocket on my black suit. I proceeded to repeat the process with the other two rings. I didn't have time to admire the sparkle that the gems gave in the dim moonlight. I had a job to do, and I couldn't relax until it was over.

I withdrew the worthless fake rings from its compartment, and carefully situated them into the same position that the real ones had been. Then I took the plane of glass that I had tucked away and went to work fixing it. When I got done, the case looked exactly as it did before I came. I withdrew my silver calling card from my breast pocket and carefully placed it face up on top of the glass.

"It's done. Piper get ready to run," I said in masked relief. I checked the time and my breath caught when I read 03:20.00. I needed to hurry up my escape.

"Ava, hold on a second there is a guard facing your window," Dan said. "Alright, now you're clear."

I raced to the window I had come through and quickly climbed around the lip of the roof. I pulled myself up onto the roof and ran on the tips of my toes up to the top of the roof. Heading west, I came to the end of the building. I turned to my left and eyed the tower that I would have to scale without a rope.

"I'm beginning my ascent of the southwest tower. Dan be ready to put those magic magnets of yours to action," I said softly.

With only a second of hesitation, I began my ascent. I pushed myself to climb faster. When I had reached the top, I swung myself onto the tower. I scrambled to the west edge and looked down at Piper on the adjacent building. The height difference between us made me even more anxious, but I was glad Piper held the other end of the rope I would be on.

She signaled to me that she was ready, and I clipped the harness I wore to the rope on top of the tower. Just to be safe, I tugged at the anchor that was put in place and was relieved to find that the magnetism keeping it in place was still operational. I repelled down forty feet until I was level with her and stood on a ledge. After unhooking myself from the rope, I carefully took out my retractable hook from yet another pocket in my suit and pulled it out to the full length.

In a threating tone I said, "Dan, these things better work. If they fail, I'll probably fall to my death."

"Or you could live, get caught, and our entire mission will fail," Ethan added.

I grit my teeth in a sarcastic smile. "Thank you, Ethan, for pointing out the obvious."

"That's what I'm here for."