THE PLAN: Alpha House Part 2

Zuri’s heels clicked softly against the floor as she walked away pulling Musa by his wrist. Her posture was composed but inside, her mind raced. There was something about the way Otis smiled that was putting her off. He is the variable she could not plan for and that scared her. She stared at the clock on the wall opposite to the Auctioneer’s podium, it was 12:00 AM. They had five minutes until the lights went off.

Musa followed her even though he didn’t want to, his free hand clenched into a fist. JC kept his usual lazy smirk, but even he was aware that things had shifted.

Then the auctioneer’s voice rang out again.

“Ladies and gentlemen, our final piece for the evening. The crown jewel of this auction—The Kulindwa Necklace.”

A hush fell over the room.

Zuri turned just in time to see the attendants pull back the final velvet cloth. There it was—the necklace. A breathtaking display of intertwined gold, sapphire, and blood-red rubies, the centerpiece of a long-lost East African dynasty.

The bidding started instantly at five million.

She exchanged a glance with JC, who gave a small, imperceptible nod. Obviously the plan was for Sifa and Brayo to get it from the safe but things had changed. They were getting that necklace now, it’s just a matter of waiting for the right time.

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Ali and Shiko moved swiftly out of the car, their footsteps light as they approached the estate’s service entrance. Eazy came out of the shadows carrying a small box under his armpit making sure not to stand out. He lit up a cigarette blowing smoke in the air and followed them casually. The security outside was minimal—two guards stationed near a high-tech surveillance terminal.

Atop the second-floor balcony, a group of guards kept a watchful eye over the back exit of the estate near the service terminal.

Shiko exhaled nodding toward the balcony. “And them?”

“They’re the least of our worries,” Eazy took a puff of smoke. “This’ll take care of them,” he said tapping the box he was carrying.

“What concerns me is the cameras,” Ali muttered sitting on the ground opening his laptop.

Shiko and Eazy hurdled around him to keep him hidden from the guards direct line of sight on the balcony.

The estate’s external security grid was a sophisticated system—a combination of thermal motion sensors, facial recognition, and infrared scanners. While Ali had managed to infiltrate their network, some systems required manual access.

“I thought you said ‘we were in’,” Shiko said crossing her arms.

“We are,” Ali said chuckling. “But I still have to physically enter the override code. Otherwise, the lockdown will remain in place.”

Eazy sighed, flicking his cigarette. “And the exits? We can’t fight our way out of this. I hope Zuri isn’t banking on that piece of shit car as our getaway.”

“She’s not,” Shiko answered. “We sent Juma to pick up a car from Frances two hours ago. The plan is for Brayo and Sifa to slip out as part of Kali’s catering crew. Kendi is dressed up all fancy, she ill ghost out on her own. The car is for us and the three of them.”

Eazy rubbed his chin. “Frances is gonna want something for this you know. “

“Yeah, we know.”

“Uh oh,” Ali said as flash of code in red showed. It read:

Unauthorized System Override Detected. Rebooting Primary Security Measures.

Shiko’s stance tightened. “What’s wrong?”

“The system’s automated defenses just kicked in,” Ali muttered, his fingers flying over the keys. “It’s trying to boot me out. I need to manually reroute the encryption loop before the system re-engages.”

Shiko didn’t wait for him to finish. She pulled the homemade firework from Eazy’s box and struck the fuse. “Time to make some noise.”

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Meanwhile, Zuri was on the move as the biddings kept piling up, soaring past twenty million.

With a subtle gesture, she brushed past a waiter, her fingers lightly tipping his tray. A cascade of champagne flutes crashed onto the floor, shattering on impact. The sharp sound startled the nearest guards.

At that exact second, JC moved.

He stepped toward the nearest bidder, a striking woman in a glittering red dress, and stumbled into her.

“Oh! My apologies, madam—”

JC’s hand slipped inside her purse for half a second —just enough time to lift her keycard. They woman shot him a sharp glance then smirked ever so lightly before returning her attention to the auction.

Musa used the distraction to cut across the room, moving closer to the podium.

Security, confused by the glass incident, hadn’t yet noticed the subtle pieces falling into place.

Zuri reached into her bag, brushing her fingers against a compact jammer built from an old car remote, similar to the one Brayo and Sifa had. This one however, had a different purpose.

Zuri pressed it and the tiny device sent a disruption wave through the earpieces of the estate security—scrambling their internal comms.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

It was 12:01 AM when confusion rippled through the guards as Anita watched from the control room. She grabbed her radio.

“Status report.”

Static.

She turned to the cyber specialist beside her. “Give me your shoes.”

The man hesitated. “Ma’am?”

“Shoes. Now!”

The man hesitated, then pulled off his sketchers and handed them over. Anita exchanged them on for her heels, pulled her hair into a tight ponytail, and held out her phone.

“Put your number in.”

The man’s hands shook as he typed.

Anita took the phone back heading for the door. “Text when something important happens.”

“How will I know if it’s important?” the man asked.

Anita glanced back. “You’ll know.”

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Brayo and Sifa found themselves walking through the hallway leading to the auction hall. The hallway connecting the auction hall to the service corridors was their route out.Then they would make their way out through the kitchen.

A pair of guards rounded the corner. Their catering uniforms were drenched in sweat and would not work as disguises. They waited for them get close enough then Sifa dropped low, sweeping the first guard’s legs out from under him. The man hist the floor hard. Brayo lunged knocking the second unconscious with a precise elbow strike. They ran off towards the corridoors.

Back outside the balcony guards were distracted by the fireworks. They reached for their radios but only heard static. Ali took that moment to get to the service tunnel and opened the security panel and connected his laptop to one of the ports bypassing the reboot sequence and forcing a manual lockdown delay.

By the time the balcony guards recovered, Ali, Shiko, and Eazy were already gone.

Ali’s laptop beeped.

“Ah, shit! I misread the calculations, they only have about three maybe four minutes at best. Should we warn them?”

Eazy blew out a thin trail of smoke. “Nah. That’ll just make them nervous. They’ll get it done.”

He lit another cigarette. “Sasa tuungoje.”

FURTHER INFO FROM CHAPTER

Sasa Tuungoje – Now we wait