The Stormiest of Storms, Sleepiest of Slumbers

A thunderous earthquake woke Val up from her slumber.

My fucking beauty sleep! She looked around to see that Coach wasn’t there. And Bread too… Coach was probably out on his super early, crack-of-dawn morning exercise run. Bread? She didn’t really know. It was probably better that way.

Her head ached and her ears were ringing, but she made her way to her phone and checked the local news. What even was all this loud noise about?

A gang war?

Just some word of mouth gang war… There wasn’t much more information about what was happening. I got woken up for this? Kill me now… She started to go back to bed, but then her eye lit up with a thought—

The Grand Heist!

This was perfect! A literal chance of a lifetime. She had learned of a location for a potential heist a few weeks back. If successful, the payout was going to be absolutely psychotic. But she never actually had the intent of carrying it out. Because to most, it was an impossible task to even enter its vicinity.

That all started to change over the past few weeks. Things began to deteriorate much too drastically for her taste. She was running dry of coin, and the rent required to keep the gym afloat was piling up like bones at a butcher shop.

The biggest reason for her change of heart, however, was because of Bread. And the reason for that was tied directly to why this location was nicknamed the legendary Grand Heist by her fellow thieves.

The place was a mansion known for its lack of human security. No guards or any kinds of hired guns. At first glance, it seemed too good to be true—a literal walk in the park. But that wasn’t including the fact that it was notoriously famous for containing the most technologically-advanced, deadly, cutting-edge security systems in the entire city of Novus Lokris.

Simply put, there was no human security because they were inferior. Compared to all the autonomous drones, chemical detectors, and advanced biometrics, a simple human body—however cybernetically advanced—couldn’t quite compete. Surveillance cams were just a given at that point. The icing on top of all the other life-threatening defense systems in place.

And to that, Bread’s new ability was perfect. If he could somehow disable parts of the mansion’s security measures, the place was like an all-you-can-eat buffet for thieves! Like a house with open doors!

But that plan had backfired. Now Bread probably hated her.

She wasn’t intent on giving up though. With or without him, she was going to make this work. She needed the money. And this gang war?

It was the perfect storm.

With all the attention going to that fight over on the other side of the city, she’d have less attention to deal with. Even if an alarm did go off, it would take longer for any police force to arrive on time.

The residents themselves were a different story altogether. It was apparently owned by some rich guy who was never home for his wife and kid. Tough luck. She was going to take the one thing they valued most—their family heirloom.

Supposedly, it was an original hardback book of a famous author she had never heard of. But that didn’t matter. She didn’t need to know what it was she was stealing. All she needed to know was the value.

Without Bread, she honestly didn’t know how it was all going to play out, but she had never failed a heist before. This wasn’t going to be her first; she wasn’t going to lose again. So as not to miss her chance, she snatched up her holophone and lightly packed a few things into her bag that she thought would be helpful. Then she was off. She quickly made her way towards the door until she was stopped by a certain silhouette.

It was Bread.

“What do you want?” She brushed his stare off with nonchalance and feigned a slight annoyance. “You’re not stopping me.”

“I know.”

“You know?” What did he know? “I don’t… follow.”

“I want to help.”

“You’re really not here to stop me?” What was he planning?

“You were right. I was immature.”

“You’re—I thought…” She stumbled through her words. “Okay…?”

“Take me with you. I know you’re going somewhere.”

She didn’t have it in her to push him out of the way like before. She tried to squeeze past, but he stubbornly blocked the exit. He spread his arms wide apart and stared back with piercing conviction.

She didn’t get it. What was he thinking?

…

They positioned themselves in front of the luxurious gate of the mansion, hiding within the blind spot of the cameras. Val turned to Bread—

“Can I trust you?”

Bread nodded.

“Do you promise?”

He nodded again.

“Okay.” She could test his resolve later. What mattered more was the heist. She had to investigate the area as best she could before she went in.

The place was decorated in fancy, golden pillars and marble, seemingly influenced by ancient Greek architecture. But there was still an air of modernity behind the material choices and the building techniques. It had a lot of entrances and glass panels for enhanced stylistic flair. And the place was completely isolated from the public eye, gated away like some rich private community. Little did they know, all of these features would greatly aid in their escape later.

The only building within the private area was the mansion. Almost as large as any famous boxing venue found within the city but stacked up thrice. And to Val, this was perfect. That just meant there were no other buildings to worry about.

“Can you shut it down through that?” She gestured towards the gate keypad.

Bread nodded and got to work. Within seconds, he was done. Just like before. The gates slid open without a single hitch in the system.

It was always so fascinating. He was like a can opener for doors. But as soon as she had finished that thought, drones started raining from the sky. She watched as the highly advanced flying objects all started to crash into the cement below. And then the biometric gates lost color. The security cameras went dark. Everything around her started to shut down.

Immediately, she realized. Bread hadn’t just managed to kill the power to a few doors. He had shut down all the mansion’s security measures. Somehow, he had even kept the interior lights turned on. As if he specifically knew what to switch on and off to not alert the residents inside.

He was literally navigating the power system. He wasn’t just turning things off. He was pinpointing specific electrical components, and deactivating them with finesse only seen in experienced grid hackers. The intuition he had for his first try on something so large-scale was impressive. It was as if he’d been doing this for years!

Bread had just made this opportunity much more possible. She couldn’t throw this chance away now. She promptly made her way through the winding and convoluted brick pathway, decorated with genetically modified, opal roses. It was hard to ignore, but she wasn’t here to sightsee. Motioning for Bread to follow, she finally arrived outside a thin glass panel to the mansion interior.

“Stay here,” she whispered into his ear. “I’ll be back.”

“Why can’t I come?” he asked.

“Because I said so.” He was still young. The physical part of this heist was off-limits to anyone not proficient in this kind of stuff. “You already did your job, Bread.”

Bread pouted. It didn’t seem like he liked that answer, but it had to do for now. This wasn’t the time to argue.

She unlocked the latch to the panel and jumped inside. It was a kitchen. There were thousands of pots, pans, and utensils dangling from the ceiling.

Her final goal was on the fourth floor. She had to sneak through as if she were being wary of landmines. In wealthy houses like these, they always had dormant, wireless alarms lying around everywhere. If there was any time to be careful, it was now. Because a single buzz and she was out. The heist would be over.

Stepping carefully over each floor tile, she made her way into a hallway. To her left, there was a staircase going up to the top. She pulled out her holophone to pinpoint the location she had mapped out previously using information she had bought from a data broker. Then she started to climb.

It was a hike but nothing compared to all the cardio she did for boxing. With each step, she gained more and more motivation. She was going to succeed and make enough to sustain their lives. All she needed was that book.

Up the steps, she climbed. Up to the highest floor of the mansion—floor number four. She was close. Just a few more stairs…

And then she heard a scream.