Diaper Heist - Part 3

Apologies for the lateness on this one. Life has been hectic. Enjoy!

“How are we looking?” the Ghost asked, as she stepped up to the vault door that separated them from the interior vault.

Inside the manager’s office, they were isolated from the guards, patrons, and bank staff, but that isolation went both ways. They couldn’t see in, but the Ghost and Cassandra couldn’t see out.

That’s why they had Bell.

The radio in Cassandra’s purse chirped. “You’re clear. They’ve coned off the puddle outside the door, and the manager’s in the break room with Irene.”

“How long?” Cassandra asked.

Bell’s tone was more amused than concerned. “Don’t worry. I’ll let you know when you’ve got to move.”

“I want an idea of how long we have. If we run out of time without realizing-”

“Jeez, Ghost. Was this chick a hall monitor in her past life or something?”

The Ghost smirked, but didn’t say anything. Her ear was pressed to the vault door as she slowly spun the lock mechanism, listening with the intense concentration of a master working at her craft.

Cassandra swallowed. If the Ghost couldn’t get through that vault door before someone came around, they’d both be trapped with no escape route.

…

“Oh my god,” Irene stammered, her face bright red as they got to the back room. “I don’t know- I-”

She wasn’t acting. Even if it had been her intent, the extremely public accident she’d just had was mortifying. Hopefully no paparazzi had been around to snap a candid photograph of the scene, but even without photo evidence, there’d still be tabloid stories by tomorrow.

“I’m afraid I don’t have any clothes in your size,” the bank manager said, “But we could send someone. I’m sure it wouldn’t be any trouble to fetch something from a local shop.”

Irene blushed and shook her head. “No, I- I can call someone, William. Just let me use the shower, and I’ll be okay.”

William nodded, giving her a bit of privacy to wash up.

Stepping into the employee washroom, Irene took out her phone and sent a text. ‘We’re ready for pickup.’

…

Bell checked her wireless video feed as she stood up from the office chair. She had a solid connection - all the security cameras were sending their transmission straight to the small monitor on her wrist.

To the actual recording on the security computer, it was getting sent a recycled feed from the week prior. It wasn’t a perfect disguise, any audit would notice the discrepancy, but at a glance it’d be unnoticed, and more importantly, if anyone did suspect foul play, they wouldn’t have any proof of who was involved.

With the screws in the vent back in place, all Bell had to do was meet the van that was coming to pick her up out back, while watching to make sure that the Ghost wouldn’t be ambushed. For her, the coast was clear, and she could slip to the broom closet near the exit without being seen.

For the Ghost, though…

“You’ve got a janitor headed your way.”

…

Cassandra frowned. “No problem, right? He’s just going to clean up outside the office.”

“He’s got his keys out,” Bell replied, over the radio. “Get out of sight.”

“Crap,” Cassandra whispered. “We’ve got to move, Ghost.”

“I’ve almost... got... it,” the Ghost replied, listening quietly for ticks. “If we leave now, I’ll have to start over.”

“Then hurry up.”

The radio piped up again. “You’ve got ten seconds.”

“Just… about…” the Ghost said.

The vault door popped and swung open. Without a moment to spare, they both hurried inside, pulling it almost shut behind them, leaving just a crack available to let them back through later.

Cassandra spoke quietly into the radio. “We made it in.”

“Great. I’ll meet you at the pickup point.”

While she was talking, the Ghost retrieved the camera that Cassandra had planted, plugging it into a small LCD display. “Come on…”

“Did it get what you need?” Cassandra asked.

A few breathless seconds passed before the Ghost nodded in affirmation. “He wasn’t so careful with the password when the room was empty. I got it.” Turning to the pin pad, she punched it in, stepping through the barred door and into the safe deposit room.

Now was the simple part. She just had to pick the lock, grab the documents, and get out of there. “Cassandra, tell Bell-”

Click.

The sound of the barred door shutting rang out behind the Ghost and she turned, raising her eyebrows when she saw Cassandra on the other side, grinning maliciously.

“You thought that I’d just go along with your plan, didn’t you?” Cassandra asked, gloating. “Like I believed that you didn’t have some plot to slip out of custody before I could get you into jail. Well, newsflash: I’m not as stupid as you think. I’m putting as many miles between here and myself, then I’m calling the authorities to tell them that an international thief is stuck in a bank vault.”

The Ghost’s eyes flashed with anger. “We had a deal-”

“Kiss my ass,” Cassandra replied, walking out the vault door and slamming it solidly shut behind her. It locked, leaving the Ghost trapped.

The Ghost stared for a moment, blinking. “Huh.”

…

The courier van pulled up around back, and the driver got out, carrying a tailored dress. Knocking on the back door, they waited for a bank employee to let them in, so they could deliver the set of clean clothes to Irene.

Nobody noticed the black-clad Bell sneak out and slip into the back of the van while the coast was clear.

…

“Thank you, so much,” Irene said. Her wet clothes stuffed into a bag, she adjusted her new, dry, dress. She once again looked like the stately woman that she was.

“Of course,” William said. “Now, what was that business you wanted to attend to?”

“I…” Irene started. “I don’t think I want to handle that today. This has all been a bit much, and I’d rather just go home and talk about this some other time.”

The manager wasn’t about to say no to her, not after what was obviously a humiliating accident. “Of course. Have a lovely day.”

Irene nodded, shook his hand, and walked out of the bank through the staff entrance, hurrying to get to the rendezvous point to meet with the Ghost and get her documents back.

…

William, glad that the mess outside his office was finally clean, flicked on the light switch and walked back to his desk.

It had been an odd day. A few strange customers, the whole debacle with Irene - he just wanted to get back to work. Just as he sat down, though, his phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hi, this is Cassandra. We spoke earlier about a safety deposit box?”

William blinked.He remembered her, of course, but her voice sounded… off. Just a little different. “Yes, I remember. Is everything alright?”

“I think I left my purse in the vault,” she said. “I can’t find it anywhere! I need my inhaler, it’s in the purse, and I’m starting to have trouble breathing. Could you please check if it’s in there for me?”

A customer having an asthma attack was no laughing matter. Getting to his feet, William said, “Of course, though I don’t think it’s in there. I’ll check right away, to be certain.”

“Thank you!”

He walked swiftly to the vault, entering the combination and throwing open the vault door.

There wasn’t even a moment to see the rag before it got shoved into his face. The Ghost supported his head as he reflexively sucked in a breath, getting a whiff of some kind of chemical.

“Does this smell like chloroform to you?” the Ghost asked, lowering him to the ground. “Sorry about this, but I needed the door open.”

He was too bleary to understand, and in a second, he was passed out on the ground.

Without Cassandra on the radio, the Ghost had no way of knowing if the coast was clear outside the office. She’d just have to cause a little chaos. Walking to the fire alarm on the wall, she yanked it, sending an alarm blaring and kicking on sprinklers.

She scowled as she walked to the door, opened it a crack, and peered out. This was a mess, and not the fun kind - she hadn’t had a job go this poorly in years.

At least she had the documents. Waiting for her opening, she slipped through the office door and, feigning panic and the fire, ran to the exit.

She was out.

…

“You could have just told me.”

Irene yelped at the sound, turning to see that the Ghost had somehow gotten into the hotel room they’d set as a rendezvous point, without making a sound. “Told you what?”

“What was really in the documents,” the Ghost said. “Who did the rope work?”

Frowning, Irene said, “You weren’t supposed to look.”

“You’ve got a lovely body,” the Ghost replied, giving a slight, sultry smile. “If you ever want someone to tie you up properly, well, you know who to call. And what to wear.”

Irene blushed, answering the first question instead of the comment. “My ex. He said he was going to send the pictures to the tabloids if I didn’t give him back the necklace he bought me for our anniversary.”

“You still care about him?” The ghost raised an eyebrow.

“No,” Irene said.

The Ghost nodded. “Then why keep the necklace? I’m sure you could afford to replace it.”

Irene responded plainly. “Because fuck him. He doesn’t get to dump me and then tell me what to do.”

Smiling, the ghost turned to leave. “I didn’t make any copies. You’re out, clean. I’ll be leaving the city for the near future, in case someone happened to see my face, but if you need anything else… you should know how to get in touch with me.”

“Ghost?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

…

Cassandra scowled at the news report, describing confusion at the bank. No mention of an arrest, which meant that the Ghost had gotten out. She’d go free, again.

She’d have to keep looking. The Ghost could be anywhere, but justice would find her, sooner or later.

As she finished the article, her phone buzzed with a message.

‘We had a deal.’ Unlisted number, but Cassandra knew who it was from.

She sent back, ‘You got lucky, getting out of there.’

‘I’ll make you another one.’

Cassandra frowned. What’s she talking about? Typing back, she sent, ‘What sort of deal?’

‘I’ll give you a week’s headstart. Run. Because you’re going to regret breaking your promise when I catch you.’