Want, Ch.27: Secrets
Wanted
Chapter 27 (Secrets)
Secrets
She took the offered hand as the coach door swung open, stepping out into the light snowfall. Standing on the top step of her ‘chariot’, Vala’s eyes scanned up the length of the lavish bank before her. Just the outside made her salivate with the prospect of what could be inside, but she’d been around long enough to not let that hunger show on her face.
In its place she adopted a look of awe and amazement - she was the naïve daughter of some foreign diplomat, after all. Or so she’d made everyone believe for the past several weeks in the little mountain town. Never in her homeland had she seen something so grand and luxurious as this bank.
Actually, this place was pretty impressive for her true kind. Its outside spoke of promise for quite a score.
Allowing the young man to assistant her down the steps, Vala daintily stepped onto the snow covered walkway that ran along the outside of the behemoth building. A gust of wind swept up her long skirt, the biting cold ripping right through the thin fabric. She composed her face not to show the discomfort of it and thought of the practical aspects of her attire. The thinner the fabric, the easier it would be to rip away when the haste for escape was needed.
“Welcome to Grand Bank, Madame.” The young man still holding her hand said as the coach pulled away. Vala ignored his words, glancing across the street now that her view wasn’t obstructed. This time it was harder to keep her face a mask of innocence and wonder.
Leaning against a brick wall covered in all sorts of paper announcements, he watched her openly with a cigarette burning between his lips. There was no smile, no recognition visible in his blue eyes shadowed by the hood of his long coat. He could’ve been any everyday low life admiring the pretty thing across the street.
But she knew the truth - the messages hidden in his relaxed postured and slightly tilted head. This was going to be easy, he was thinking. All his trust was put in her now, like it had been so many times before. He was no low-life, she knew. He was a grand master of the work he did, a piece of art more beautiful than anything hung in any museum.
The poster on the wall beside him fluttered in the icy breeze, and sign that he wasn’t the only master at what he did. As he dropped his head to hide the smile that had come, Vala reached up and pulled the mesh veil in front of her face a little bit tighter. No need to make anyone think she even resembled the sketch of the wanted criminal seductress on the poster…
“Madame?” The young gentleman called to her in curiosity and she finally looked at him. Vala smiled sweetly, like she had no clue what was going on. She’d spoken little since she’d began playing this part - all the more to make her seem like she wasn’t local. “Shall we go inside?”
Nodding, Vala allowed the young man to wrap her arm around his and lead her towards the doors.
----
It hadn’t been difficult at all to get past the rather strong security and tellers to the back where all best riches were housed. The fake line of ‘contacts’ set up for her for this job was impressive - she would have to thank Jack personally when it was all said and done.
Vala only wished Daniel could’ve seen her, playing her part of innocent rich foreign girl flawlessly. She could just imagine his laughter at her faked bad English, complimented by some heavy, unknown accent, when the stuffy suited business men had been asking her the ‘important’ questions. Or when she’d ‘accidentally’ put her access card in upside down and all the men, trying to please the diplomat’s daughter, had rushed to assist her.
But now her acting was put to its finest test as the bank man who had won out in getting to work with her brought forth the deposit box tied to her access card. Vala fought the urge to breathe in deeply at the sight of the sparkling jewels. Apparently the real daughter these belonged to had seen them many times.
She struggled to keep her gloved hand from shaking as she pretended to examine the jewels. Sure, she’d handled her fair share of treasure in the past, but these pieces were exquisite! Black market buyers began to jump into her thoughts, and Vala battled her instinct to plot for the payoff. It was so hard when she knew the return for such a score was huge… all the people that could be helped from this job alone…
“Is everything as it should be, ma’am?” The bank man asked, sensing her slight change in posture and attitude.
Vala adopted a look of happiness, which wasn’t entirely faked, and smiled. “Yes.” Even that simple word she’d managed to inflect with her created accent. Her grey eyes, still hidden behind the mesh veil, dropped back to the jewels. Her heart rated quickened as she realized this was just one box in a room full of hundreds. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hold off years of instinct and crime for much longer.
Where the hell was her bank-robbing lover? The graceful animal that had turned her into quite the creature herself? He had made her lust this stuff, need the world of crime like she needed him. Wasn’t he supposed to be barging into the lobby any second now and finally letting her drop the façade?
She started to reach for the gun concealed beneath the flimsy skirt fabric. They hadn’t bothered to check her for weapons - what upstanding woman would be capable of being a criminal? He’d always told her she was a might impatient, and Vala was ready to agree with him.
Just as she was about to blow her cover without the proper backup, promising herself he wouldn’t be getting any sex for a while, shouting and gunfire came drifting into the room from the lobby. It snapped her out of her momentary weakness, and cleared her mind.
Vala yelped appropriately, dropping down as if to protect herself. The bank man took her performance for the real thing and held up his hand to silence her.
“Quiet - we don’t want them to know we are here!” He hissed at her, making his face as calm as his own terror would allow. She nodded quickly, clamming up like most obedient women would. The man nodded thankfully, and then made the move she’d been waiting for. He turned his back on her and slinked over to the door to try and see what was going on.
Silently, Vala reached under the skirt fabric and extracted her gun from where it was strapped against the inside of her thigh. Standing up, no longer feigning for anyone’s sake, she strolled the few short steps to where the man was standing.
“I knew those guys were thugs.” He said, not suspecting a thing. “I’ve seen them scoping out this place for two weeks now. It’s no big secret what kinds of things we house here.” He turned to look back at her. His eyes widened when he realized there was a pistol aimed right at his head.
Vala grinned. “No secret at all.”
Comments and feedback are definitely appreciated!
Chapter 27 (Secrets)
Secrets
She took the offered hand as the coach door swung open, stepping out into the light snowfall. Standing on the top step of her ‘chariot’, Vala’s eyes scanned up the length of the lavish bank before her. Just the outside made her salivate with the prospect of what could be inside, but she’d been around long enough to not let that hunger show on her face.
In its place she adopted a look of awe and amazement - she was the naïve daughter of some foreign diplomat, after all. Or so she’d made everyone believe for the past several weeks in the little mountain town. Never in her homeland had she seen something so grand and luxurious as this bank.
Actually, this place was pretty impressive for her true kind. Its outside spoke of promise for quite a score.
Allowing the young man to assistant her down the steps, Vala daintily stepped onto the snow covered walkway that ran along the outside of the behemoth building. A gust of wind swept up her long skirt, the biting cold ripping right through the thin fabric. She composed her face not to show the discomfort of it and thought of the practical aspects of her attire. The thinner the fabric, the easier it would be to rip away when the haste for escape was needed.
“Welcome to Grand Bank, Madame.” The young man still holding her hand said as the coach pulled away. Vala ignored his words, glancing across the street now that her view wasn’t obstructed. This time it was harder to keep her face a mask of innocence and wonder.
Leaning against a brick wall covered in all sorts of paper announcements, he watched her openly with a cigarette burning between his lips. There was no smile, no recognition visible in his blue eyes shadowed by the hood of his long coat. He could’ve been any everyday low life admiring the pretty thing across the street.
But she knew the truth - the messages hidden in his relaxed postured and slightly tilted head. This was going to be easy, he was thinking. All his trust was put in her now, like it had been so many times before. He was no low-life, she knew. He was a grand master of the work he did, a piece of art more beautiful than anything hung in any museum.
The poster on the wall beside him fluttered in the icy breeze, and sign that he wasn’t the only master at what he did. As he dropped his head to hide the smile that had come, Vala reached up and pulled the mesh veil in front of her face a little bit tighter. No need to make anyone think she even resembled the sketch of the wanted criminal seductress on the poster…
“Madame?” The young gentleman called to her in curiosity and she finally looked at him. Vala smiled sweetly, like she had no clue what was going on. She’d spoken little since she’d began playing this part - all the more to make her seem like she wasn’t local. “Shall we go inside?”
Nodding, Vala allowed the young man to wrap her arm around his and lead her towards the doors.
----
It hadn’t been difficult at all to get past the rather strong security and tellers to the back where all best riches were housed. The fake line of ‘contacts’ set up for her for this job was impressive - she would have to thank Jack personally when it was all said and done.
Vala only wished Daniel could’ve seen her, playing her part of innocent rich foreign girl flawlessly. She could just imagine his laughter at her faked bad English, complimented by some heavy, unknown accent, when the stuffy suited business men had been asking her the ‘important’ questions. Or when she’d ‘accidentally’ put her access card in upside down and all the men, trying to please the diplomat’s daughter, had rushed to assist her.
But now her acting was put to its finest test as the bank man who had won out in getting to work with her brought forth the deposit box tied to her access card. Vala fought the urge to breathe in deeply at the sight of the sparkling jewels. Apparently the real daughter these belonged to had seen them many times.
She struggled to keep her gloved hand from shaking as she pretended to examine the jewels. Sure, she’d handled her fair share of treasure in the past, but these pieces were exquisite! Black market buyers began to jump into her thoughts, and Vala battled her instinct to plot for the payoff. It was so hard when she knew the return for such a score was huge… all the people that could be helped from this job alone…
“Is everything as it should be, ma’am?” The bank man asked, sensing her slight change in posture and attitude.
Vala adopted a look of happiness, which wasn’t entirely faked, and smiled. “Yes.” Even that simple word she’d managed to inflect with her created accent. Her grey eyes, still hidden behind the mesh veil, dropped back to the jewels. Her heart rated quickened as she realized this was just one box in a room full of hundreds. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hold off years of instinct and crime for much longer.
Where the hell was her bank-robbing lover? The graceful animal that had turned her into quite the creature herself? He had made her lust this stuff, need the world of crime like she needed him. Wasn’t he supposed to be barging into the lobby any second now and finally letting her drop the façade?
She started to reach for the gun concealed beneath the flimsy skirt fabric. They hadn’t bothered to check her for weapons - what upstanding woman would be capable of being a criminal? He’d always told her she was a might impatient, and Vala was ready to agree with him.
Just as she was about to blow her cover without the proper backup, promising herself he wouldn’t be getting any sex for a while, shouting and gunfire came drifting into the room from the lobby. It snapped her out of her momentary weakness, and cleared her mind.
Vala yelped appropriately, dropping down as if to protect herself. The bank man took her performance for the real thing and held up his hand to silence her.
“Quiet - we don’t want them to know we are here!” He hissed at her, making his face as calm as his own terror would allow. She nodded quickly, clamming up like most obedient women would. The man nodded thankfully, and then made the move she’d been waiting for. He turned his back on her and slinked over to the door to try and see what was going on.
Silently, Vala reached under the skirt fabric and extracted her gun from where it was strapped against the inside of her thigh. Standing up, no longer feigning for anyone’s sake, she strolled the few short steps to where the man was standing.
“I knew those guys were thugs.” He said, not suspecting a thing. “I’ve seen them scoping out this place for two weeks now. It’s no big secret what kinds of things we house here.” He turned to look back at her. His eyes widened when he realized there was a pistol aimed right at his head.
Vala grinned. “No secret at all.”
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