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THE
SECOND
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CHAPTER
FIVE
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THE
GREAT
PERHAPS
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|__________________________|
[[ VERA. ]]
"I'm getting this surge of deja vu right now." I said, adjusting my ear piece as I stood across the street with Ace. We overlooked the tall glass structured building that had hung a flagpole that hung the company's logo; it was an upside down, and yellow smiley face.
Ace fiddled with the magnet camera on his blazer.
"Same here. You look beautiful by the way." Max replied over the earpiece.
I glanced over at the camera on Ace's blazer, smiling into it a bit as I felt my cheeks heat when I looked away knowing he had been gazing at me. As Harry decided last minute as we regrouped in the mystery machine, also known as Max's tech van of all the other devices locked away as we had travelled from place to place since the getaway. As far as the mystery machine's been, it had possibly been shipped everywhere where we had needed it, though it remained stowed away at Max and I's villa in San Francisco when he hadn't needed it to get work done. And why had it been called the mystery machine? Usually if Carmen, or anybody else would ask as to why it was named the mystery machine, both of us would say it's because of this green and blue tie dyed swirl at the back of the van that somewhat resonated to the Scooby Doo van. I wore orange one day and, well you know how the story goes on a wild night, it had been the second evening sitting in that van with him when we were passing a joint and as it goes, so forth. Him and I would always spare the grope-y details as we discussed the history of the mystery machine with others, though we came to the same response as it was that it had been called the mystery machine for a reason. And it would totally besmudge the mystery if we had went any further about it. That memory of a familiar touch felt quite close though, as I thought deeper about it, though I'm snapped out of my thought when Ace elbows me in the arm.
"Yeah? What?" I shook my head, glancing at him.
"We've got a ladder to climb. So I'm going to need you on planet earth here." Ace rose an eyebrow at me. I shrugged.
"Yeah. Present. Dummy." I scoffed, slightly bummed I had been interrupted from daydreaming about that night.
"Be careful." Max said. "Please."
"Talk me through it alright?" I said, pushing up my glasses up as I ran a hand over my sleeked bun. I swayed my hips, touching up my cherry red lip gloss with my pinky.
"I've got you." He reassured.
As I looked around precautiously, I turned back towards Ace, as he fiddled with putting his headphones on as we waited by the long green metal ladder aligned along the building's white walls.
"Um, what do you think you're doing?" I pried to ask him.
"Listening to AC/DC, and?"
"Cool. I wasn't asking what you were listening to, I was asking you what do you think you're doing?"
"Vera." He forewarningly said in a tone of unamusement. I'm completely aware we're no longer in the national bank anymore, but I'd prefer you to not breathe down my neck while I'm trying to climb this ladder up like twenty stories fucking high, here."
"Whatever. Got your sling?"
"Ummm." Ace had felt around his pockets for quite some time, cursing. "It's got to be in one of these pockets somewhere."
"Please don't tell me you left the mystery machine without it." I sighed, glaring as I hit him with a side eye.
"Found it." He chuckled, its rainbow shimmer glimmering as he flashed it over at me. It had been a metal shaped oval, mine in the shape of a glimmering heart.
"Right." I nodded once.
"Alright, right behind you." He said, and with the flick of the spinning ring and the sound of a light ting, a thin durable wire had shot up with a metal clamp in the shape of an asterisk. As soon as the wire on Ace's metal sling halted from feeding out more wire, he glanced over at me in question while he hooped the other end of the wire through the metal fasten on his belt.
"Hey, you sure these wires go this far up?" I asked Max from my earpiece.
"Positive. So they are elastic, actually, meaning they can stretch a bit further than its usual meter length to pierce & clamp onto the ledge but you remember what I told you don't you?"
"Yeah." I exhaled, gulping when I slowly glanced up at the tall building's structure. "Spin the ring again if we ever find ourselves off that ladder."
"Just like a lighter, baby."
"I love you." I said.
"Already ahead of ya." Ace called, already several steps up on the ladder.
"Ugh." I uttered, holding my heart sling above my head as I spun the ring and the wiring had shot up for quite a good chunk of time before it stopped.
"I love you, Vera. You've got this alright?"
I smiled, giggling as I glanced down at the pavement. "Mhm." I fiddled with the end of the wire, looping it through the flower fasten in the middle of my skirt before I began the climb closely behind Ace.
Meanwhile, halfway up, Ace raises a hand and is out of breath, his sweat dripping onto the side of my face while I had been underneath him on the ladder.
"Ace, would you watch where you perspirate." I flatly said rhetorically, dodging to inquire him.
"You think I can control where my sweat trickles?"
"Well it's ridiculous."
"You're ridiculous."
"Seriously? This is ridiculous you're bickering with me on a ladder about ten stories high up right now."
"Y—"
"Ace, don't look down. What did Harry tell us?" I quickly said, though he had already turned around, glancing down at me.
"Shit." He cursed, his knees getting slightly shaky.
"Ace." I warningly said.
"Yeah, well you started it." He said anyway, frowning down at me.
Before I could say my next words, his shoe slips on the bar as he shuffled in the wrong angle, sliding down several bars before he gripped onto one of the bars below me.
"Ace? Ace!" I screamed in panic. "Fuck the sling, you idiot, the sling!" I rapidly spoke.
"What's going on?" Max asked.
"Ace he fucking slipped, trying to tell me something." I said worriedly, my terrified eyes glancing down at the boy hollering in panic as he gripped onto the bar.
"Clockwise. Tell him to spin it clockwise." He told me.
"Clockwise, spin the fucking ring." I fumbled with my words, yelling them to the top of my lungs as the wind had wooshed, rendering me in a rush.
As he did, my eyes widened in sheer astonishment when he pursued to continue hollering, as the wire had sent him straight up, Ace disappearing behind the ledge that hung over the ladder.
"Vera!" His voice was a distant gentle noise from above the roof as I took a deep breath, releasing my right hand from the metal bar. I spun the ring on the sling clockwise, and found myself shrilling as I laughed slightly, scrunching my nose when I speedily cut through the current of wind and over the roof.
I screamed in shock when I had rolled over onto the concrete in safety, groaning as I looked over at Ace who had still been laying there on the concrete a distance away from me.
"Now that was fucking cool." Ace beamed. "Would you tell your boyfriend he's a fucking genius?"
"He says you're a fucking genius. And Max, I... That was really fucking clever of you." I exhaled.
"Vera? This is Harry. Pass the earpiece on to Ace, would you? You both did amazing by the way, now that was fucking clean." Harry intervened with urgency in his tone. A small smile played on my face, gradually turning into a bigger one.
[[ ACE. ]]
"You and Vera have entered the west wing."
"Mate, there's fucking wings in this building?" I'm irked as I panted, setting a hand on my hip, gradually lowering my headphones.
"Think the red cross symbol, planted at the angle of the concrete below the structure's foundation." Harry replied. "Now do you remember the objectives from this point and on?"
"Trust. Know." I said. "We've got it covered from here, H. Catch ya on the flip side."
I handed the ear piece over to Vera, as she sighed. "You're sure we blend right in with these outfits, baby?"
In a moment she glanced over at me in content, nodding once. "We're all set. At the end of this hallway, at the corner office, C Suite, I'll be lookout, and I'll pass the earpiece on to you, so Max covers the instructions on how to get you into Mr. Jupiter's computer system." She told me, glancing over at the cart of mail unattended adjacent from the both of us within the vast hallway as Vera did a twirl, getting on to casually pushing the cart as a few employees had passed by us while we turned the corner.
I casually smiled, Vera doing the same before we walked by them and the smiles were wiped clean off of our faces, stoic glances replacing them. In the moment as soon as we are about to approach the CEO office, we both simultaneously turn our backs to each others, Vera pretending to flip through the many envelopes in her cart. We both glanced at the security camera no longer blinking red, presuming Max at the mystery machine had stalled the surveillance recording and layered a replay from the last ten minutes on there.
"Alright, coast clear." I said.
"And code word in case you've got to get out of there?" She questioned.
"Jupiter fits just right."
"Glamorizing?"
"Acquiring."
[[ 2 HOURS BEFORE THE CLIMB ]]
[[ MAX. ]]
"This has got to work, I've got a good feeling about it." Ace said from beside me, adjusting a blue tie once more before he puffed his collar outward as he peered onto my laptop screen.
I take a big gulp from my can of Coca Cola, placing it onto the wooden stand beside me. "And it's going to. Just gotta have a bit of faith."
"Don't believe in God, mate. If you ask me, it's a whole lot of bollocks." He said.
"Well you've got to have faith in something. I wasn't implying religion, just... Something that sparks that fire in you, man." I explained, glancing at him.
"Harry. Easy." He replied, running his fingers through his hair a few times to detangle the unruly knots in his dark hair. "He's saved my arse several times on the run from felony charges wafting about the city before we landed in New York."
"Harry's got quite the pep talk that cooks." I agreed curtly.
"Alright, ready." Vera sing-songed, twirling around for me by the backdrop we'd be taking photos that we'd later on work on transcribing. Something about that nature. If only her breasts hadn't been bouncing about as she perkily held her hands behind her back, I'd have it in me to delve into the finessed art of transcribing jpeg's. She grinned at me, a beam within her eyes that held me down, right here, in the now.
"You look fucking unbelievably stunning right now." I breathed out.
"She was a porn star. If I'm correct—"
"Ace, Vera doesn't quite like when—" Harry attempted to intervene though I frowned when the smile from her face slowly fell, her lips parting as she's taken aback.
"Ummm." Her voice trailed.
"Bro. Bring that up to her, one more fucking time. I fucking dare you."
"Max, baby. It's okay." She chided. "Ace, you're a fucking fucker. You've fucked more of my ex-coworkers than I've fucked overtime on my fucking lunch breaks." Vera then retaliated, her voice raising by the fuck's in her phrase.
"Pose, babe. You're doing it." I encouraged her as she bit her lip, holding back from smiling.
"Well alright then." Ace chuckled.
Harry and Dixie, burst out of a steaming shower meanwhile, from down the corridors. The both of them walking over as they spun a few times collectively, their gaze not once leaving each other's as Dixie buttons up the rest of his blouse.
After Vera steps away from the perched camera mounted on my laptop lid, the rest of us had followed, a flash hitting every beat on our each of our photos for the Starlight identification cards.
Scrunching my nose, the flash had snapped too quickly as Vera snapped my picture for me. I ran a hand over my face, blinking slowly and quickly before I removed my glasses, getting a quick gaze at them before I put them back on.
"You seeing straight for me, Maxwell?" She teased, stepping in front of me as my arms snaked around her hourglass body. "Because it's not long now, 'til we make it or break it."
"We're all going to be alright." Harry interrupted, all of us turning to him as he enunciated in announcement to us all as we turned to him. "And this something we've all known, preparing for that bank, getting out of there. We can't crack underneath pressure, no matter how brimmed it'll get. We execute. What we will be using as an asset, is the girl."
"The girl. What girl? Who, girl?" Vera wondered.
"Ivy Jupiter." He replied.
"You're not implying we kidnap the girl, are you? Because she's literally like fifteen, Harry. She's a fifteen year old girl." Dixie glanced at him.
"We aren't going to kidnap her, just get her to sit and have a talk with us. There's no harm in it." He said, heaving a huge suitcase onto the table, as he popped it open. "And as we would anywhere, we go in armed, or not at all."
"Now what the fuck are we going to wear tonight?" I leaned over, picking up a handgun from the suitcase, glancing briefly at everyone in the room.
"Well I'd assume it isn't any kiddy party." Ace chuckled, adjacent from the other end of the suitcase as he picked one up as well.
"The rest should a breeze, right?" Dixie exhaled, tilting the gun in her hand as she had observed it in deep thought.
"Yeah. It should be." Vera nodded, smiling in reassurance. "You a good shot?"
"Huh? Well, I've been at a shooting range with my dad when I was six. I think I'll be." She replied, shrugging.
"Well you're going to have to fuckin' be. In broad daylight? Out there? We're all a fucking joke against those conniving fucks."
"We're all going to fucking die." Ace blurted flatly, running his fingers through his hair as he turned the other direction, pacing nervously.
"Ace, you're sulking." Harry forewarned.
"Welp, at least now we've got leverage to use these." I chuckled. "The walls are no longer in our favor, theoretically." I began to toss up bulletproof vest after bulletproof vest from another suitcase from the floor, everyone catching them as I threw them into the air.
"Right." Dixie exhaled. "Right." She began to pace with Ace fretfully. "Of course."
"You are going to stick with me no matter what, as for you. Do you understand me? I'm serious, Dixie, no more playing hero. You're not going anywhere without my cover." Harry sternly imposed.
"Okay, okay." She whined, sadness hinting her tone. Harry cupping her face as she pulled her into a tender kiss.
[[ NOW ]]
[[ ACE. ]]
In the middle of tapping at the keyboard one last time rapidly without a single pause, I let the pictures load into the employee identification system, each link masked with x's. Though I wasn't entirely sure if that meant safe, I presumed if the links were striked out with them, they probably had to be. Fuck, this was taking too long.
My eyes darted over to the bar loading, and it had barely been halfway into the completion before I sighed, looking over at the blue usb drive once more before I got up from my seat and went over to the door.
"What's taking so long? Birdie on a perch, not long now." Vera spoke through steady lips, glaring at me from the crack at the door.
"What?"
"You idiot. Look up."
"Oh. Doesn't your boyfriend have that under wraps? Hah." I snickered as she rolled her eyes.
"Just... Just do your techy work, execute, and we're out." She said far too quickly, kicking my shoe as I playfully backed away, hopping.
"Ow." I laughed, before I walked back over to the computer.
When the sound of whirring comes from behind me, I went over, grabbing the laminated ID's and tucking them into my dress shirt's pocket. Quickly, I shut the software on the computer, clearing the history, and taking the usb drive before I'm about to push the door open.
"Is my dad in? He hasn't been answering my calls, and we were supposed to meet for brunch."
"He's working business affairs a few floors up, as far as we've heard." Vera replied coolly, before the girl glanced at me in confusion when I had made my way out.
"And who are you and what are you doing in my father's office?" She furrowed her eyebrows up at me. Her face hadn't been so far from familiar, it was the brunette girl in the Starlight Security commercial.
Vera rose her eyebrows at me expectantly as I had paused to think about what to say, as my mind ran blank.
"Maitenenance work as he ordered, ma'am. Miss Jupiter." I sped through my sentence, nodding once.
"Oh. He did say that was scheduled to happen sometime soon." She said, nodding in reply as well. "Thank you, Mr..."
"Mr. Hishamoto." I said off the top of my head, forcing a smile.
Ivy Jupiter sighed, twirling around as she pleated her pencil skirt, walking away before she turned back to me with uncertainty. She then brushed it off as she looked away once more and swiftly turned down the end of the hallway.
"That was that Starlight girl. From that airline commercial." I said in deep thought, as we both speed-walked down the corridors to the elevator.
"Asset. Asset? She's just a teenage girl." Vera exhaled. "Beats me. Harry might have it all wrong."
"Can't let them deceive you. She knows something. Answers. Harry doesn't get things twisted. And we're going to get to the bottom of it. Tonight."
"A night to remember." Vera mused slightly sarcastic as we stepped into the elevator that dinged.
The doors slide silently to a close.
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