The Hawk and The Raven

#1

May 4, 2:00 AM

"Alarms killed" I told them calmly leaning back on my chair, as I sat listening to them from the hideout. "you're good to go" I added.

"copy that!" Louis responded.

"alright people, this is it!" Natasha uttered in fulfilment. "the last heist!" she exclaimed.

"Richard... eyes on the ground" Flynn mentioned on the comms. "Nat. Louis. with me!" he signalled them.

"roger Flynn!" Richard coughed a little. I heard the Range Rovers engine roaring as he finished saying.

Flynn is the most important guy in the group. The most talented cracksman and the leader in the field, a middle-aged man holding his responsibilities for a wife and a daughter. Although, we had been in the succeeding 3 heists, he has never revealed who his wife and daughter were. He holds record for over a dozen successful burglary in complicated buildings, like the vistas.

Richard is the senior most person in the group. He is the getaway guy and is a very talented driver. He holds record for over half a century of grand theft auto. The sad part is that he suffers from terminal leukaemia. He can kick the bucket any moment.

Louis, craziest and junior most person of the heist group. He is filled with the fire of his youth, explicable knowledge, and yet very naïve to be a part of the heist group. He is a wizard on laptop, and is known by the cybercrime department as the Hacker for 7 data theft cases. He has helped me in all the 4 heists, for data collection and victim surveillance.

Natasha, the only woman on the group. She is an assassin spy by birth. She holds record for over 6 assassinations in 2 years. The Federals declared her missing for the last six months, while she worked with me for the serial heist. Nat, that is how we all call her. Nat assists me in spying on the victims before the heist. She is a remarkable weapon handler in the field.

I am Eugene Perspicace; Technical support, eyes in the air, and the master of the heists. I am unknown by the cops, federals or the cybercrime; yet there is one person who knows me very well. The lot of us are anonymous for the last six months, whilst performing The Serial Heist. Not a soul in the public knows about the Heists nor the People behind it, because the cops covered up all the heists, for reasons that are a bit thick.

"ok louis, you're up!" I heard Flynn talk to Louis.

"this is not so difficult, I just need a few minutes to crack" Louis replied, as he started working on the laptop connected to the pin encrypted safe lock. he was hitting the keyboard swiftly and loud with his fingers, that I could hear the rattling of the keys.

"you guys are doing great, not bad for the final heist" I said to them.

"alright done!" Louis said the code. Flynn entered the code and opened the first lock. None of them knew, there was a biometric fingerprint scan behind the lock, except for one.

"oh no, no, no, no, no!" Nat ranted in disappointment.

"what's going on?" I asked as if in dilemma.

"damn it! Its got a fingerprint lock" Louis screamed on the comms. "its a bust!" he added.

How did I miss this? Every inch of the house, every move of the manager, seriously followed, yet to see it fail deliberately. Fail? My plan? I dont think so.

"Flynn?" I called him. My lips smiled wicked wide as I imagined what he was doing at the moment.

"Im already on it!" he replied.

While I was planning the heist, I noticed the fingerprint lock and started thinking about it, that is when Flynn told me how to crack it. It was a simple yet unknown trick. He suggested that one use a cellophane tape to get an impression of the fingerprint from an object that belongs to the person. The light yet fairly visible impression was rough enough to cipher the biometric scanner. I could hear the safe open slowly.

"got it!" he exclaimed.

"holy mother of god!" Louis laughed as he said. "all this money and there are still poor in the state?"

"alright pack it up guys! No time to lose" Nat said hastily.

I leaned back in satisfaction as the heist was going according to plan. I took both my hands behind my head to get comfortable, not realizing that I had hit the alarm bypass button by accident.

"Oh shit!" I shrieked.

The alarms in the house started wailing. This is not good at all. I must get them out quick! I realized the havoc, as I felt my heart starting to pound like it wanted to come out of my ribs.

"you have 30 seconds before the cops arrive!" I screamed as my voice turned squeaky at the fiasco. I heard bags of money being thrown on to the ground, and foot stomping hastily; to the other side of the wall I presume.

"are you ok Richard?" Nat asked in a rather worried voice.

"what the hell guys, just get out of there!" I shouted. I could hear coughing and puking sounds on the other side of my ear piece. I sensed something was wrong. Yet I could only yell, as I didnt want to jeopardize the plan. The pressure was getting to me. Sweat started flowing down my forehead. My chest became wet and heavy. My I tightened the grip on my chair as I heard the engine ignite.

"ok people just get in the van! Well sort him on the way!" Flynn announced, as they carried Richard into the van.

Had it been a few seconds late, the cops would've arrived and the whole plan blown to hell. Still, the plan worked. I stretched out my long hands as I breathed in relief and triumph. I jumped up from the chair and screamed yes! I jumped up so high in excitement that my head almost hit the hanging tubelight. The sweat had drenched my shirt by then.

"phew that was a close call!" Louis sighed in relief.

"everyone alright there?" I asked.

"we need to take Richard to the hospital! Hes not breathing!" Nat sounded worried about Richard.

It didnt take long for me to realize that he was in his last moments, as I panted hard to breath. I wiped my wet forehead, which was still sweating. I pulled my collar, and waved the shirt a bit. All the tension was indeed difficult to handle, and Richards condition seemed to elevate it more.

"get changed, take him to the hospital! I'll be there" I said nervously, my lips stuttering. I felt a headrush as I heard he is not breathing. I didn't want this to happen.