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OCD much?
I unshouldered my duffle bag and unzipped it.
My client wanted one particular item in the vault, but there was so much more for the taking. I decided to focus on what I was hired for first. I opened several drawers, finding more money, old watches, gold, and silver bars, but when I found the drawer of raw uncut gemstones, I knew I was close. I opened the one above it and sucked in a breath.
There were so many diamonds.
I reached out and touched one of them, marveling as the flawless stone reflected the soft light shining above it. I took a small blue velvet purse out of my duffle and started to fill it with one handful of diamonds after another.
My client wanted these. All of them. They would be untraceable and highly valuable. Anything else in the vault was mine to keep and I meant to take whatever I could.
Within reason, of course. I wasn’t going to get greedy.
I perused the rest of the jewelry, scanning and studying each piece until I settled on a diamond necklace, a tennis bracelet, a pink diamond ring, and several pieces of tanzanite that caught my eye. I secured everything in my duffle, padding it with more money until it was full. I could only take what I could carry and a piece of me was disappointed that I would miss out on the rest of the incredible items stored here.
I’d never come back though. As a rule, I never hit the same place twice no matter how tempting. It was too much of a risk.
I was in and out of that vault in less than an hour. I closed the door behind me and lifted the duffle up, slinging it over both shoulders like a backpack. I snuck down the hall but paused when I heard a footstep brush against the floor. In silence, I dove into a coat closet, hiding all the way in the back behind several thick wool jackets. I held my breath, listening and trying to figure out what was going on. No one had ever come here in the middle of the night, as far as I knew anyway.
Maybe the owners were back from vacation; at least that was what I assumed. From what I could tell, the property was maintained, but not actually lived in on much of a regular basis. I hadn’t thought about it until now.
Hushed whispers echoed in the foyer, and I crept forward just enough to peek through the gap between the closed door and the wall. There were two men standing there. They were both tall and strong, but I found myself drawn to the one on the left. His eyes caught the light and I studied them, losing myself in the deep mahogany color. His nose was bent a little at an angle, almost like it had been broken before. His chin was covered in the shadow of a beard, thick and dark, giving him a dangerous aura that made me shiver just the tiniest bit.
My gaze turned downward, studying the expensive suit that covered his muscled form. The fabric shone in the soft light, but the platinum cufflinks on his wrists practically sparkled. Each of them was diamond encrusted. The thick platinum ring on his finger had a single ruby, enormous enough to be five or six carats at least. It appeared to be engraved with something, but I couldn’t make it out from this far away. I’d have to get much closer to see it and I definitely wanted to avoid that.
He didn’t look like just a rich man. He looked like something else.
A criminal.
“Listen, Ronaldo, if we’re going to use this place as a safehouse for the gun runners, we need to man it with better defenses,” the man muttered. His brow furrowed with frustration, and he turned those hardened brown eyes back on his partner.
The man beside him looked exasperated and a little bit high strung, like a man that had drank a whole pot of coffee an hour ago and all the caffeine was hitting him at this very second. The whites of his eyes were a bit bloodshot and there was a hint of annoyance behind them.
“No one knows this place is here, Jon,” Ronaldo answered.
I knew about it, but I wasn’t about to tell them that.
“What if we post guards around the perimeter? Would that be enough, boss?”
Boss? Boss of what?
“We should install security cameras on the inside too. We’ve got a lot of money stashed here and it should be adequately protected,” Jon continued resolutely.
“I’ve got a few guys that could do something like that,” Ronaldo replied.
“Good. See to it that it’s done. I’m going to arrange a few things myself in the meantime,” Jon said thoughtfully. I watched him closely. His brows drew together as he thought through various options before he moved to the stairway.
I’m not sure where these men had come from, but they most definitely hadn’t been here when I’d broken in. Safe in the closet for now, I hunkered down, shifting only slightly to balance the weight of my stolen goods on my back. I got comfortable and listened to them talk about a few different kinds of weapons and which Russian arms dealer would be best to work with for each one.
By the time they walked off, I’d been able to figure out that they were involved in some shady alliances that worked to sneak weapons in and out of the city of New York, as well as the surrounding area. Guns, knives, bullets, bombs, you name it, they were shipping it in and out of the state. I watched as they moved upstairs and disappeared toward the office.
I was certain that I didn’t want to get involved in any of that.
Even though I knew that I hadn’t left a trace of me for them to find, I was still a little nervous. I had left the place as I found it, shutting the drawers, and only taking what I could carry. At first glance, it wouldn’t have been obvious to anyone that I’d been there, or at least, it shouldn’t have been. Either way, it was time to go. I’d already been in this place longer than I wanted to be.
I took advantage of their absence, sneaking out of the closet and back down to the guest room I’m come through in the first place.
I slipped out the window and kept to the shadows all the way into the safety of the surrounding woods. After about a mile’s hike, I came upon my motorbike and mounted it. With a hard kick, I started up the engine and sailed off into the night. I smiled, knowing that another job was complete.
I didn’t look back.
