Keep The Car Running - Part 8
Part 7
Gabe had slept peacefully for the first time since had been dropped in Atlanta. He was sure if had been because of the sex or the fact Greta was sleeping beside him, but he had finally fallen asleep without a problem and hadn’t woken up randomly.
That wasn’t until there was a knock at his door the next morning, followed by a rather awkward “Ummm... morning guys.”
Gabe and Greta picked their heads up to see Butch standing in the doorway with droopy eyes, his hair flying in all directions and his hand gripping onto a cup of coffee like his life depended on it. “Glad to see I’m not only one who had an interesting night.”
Greta rolled her eyes at Butch as she pulled her blanket up to her chest. “What is it, Butch?”
“Well, I wouldn’t usually be up this early considering it’s my day off, I have a hangover from Hell, and a bruise coming in on my leg thanks to some drunk asshole who tried to pick a fight with me and bit me after he hit the floor, but Amanda Palmer came knocking at the front door ten minutes ago, holding onto a set of blueprints and proclaiming eureka and saying that she needs see Gabe.”
“I’m assuming she found Pete’s money, then,” Gabe said, rubbing out his eyes.
“That’s a bingo,” Butch said, taking a very long and slow sip of his coffee. “You better come downstairs and talk to her or she might explode. Better put some pants on first though.”
Butch turned to exit, but Gabe sat up and called after him. “Hey Butch, can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” Butch responded, sounding a bit confused. “What is it?”
“What’s with the Black Widow?”
Butch fell silent as he reached over and touched the back of his right shoulder. He sighed and shook his head. “Some other time, Gabe. That is something we don’t have the time for right now.”
Before Gabe could say anything else, Butch had turned and was already heading down the stairs. Greta sat up beside him, tilting her head curiously. “What was that about?”
“I have no idea,” Gabe said, shaking his head. He then looked over at Greta. “You regret last night yet?”
She looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully, then shook her head before pecking Gabe on the cheek. “Nope.”
“Think we should talk to Amanda and figure out the great mystery of where Pete’s hiding his money?”
“Probably.”
“Want to try and find our clothes first?”
“Yeah, that’s sort of important.”
----------------
“I don’t know if it’s absolutely genius or just plain stupid. Either way, I am impressed.”
“Spit it out, Amanda,” Gabe said, running his fingers through his hair as he sat down at the kitchen counter. Greta was coming in behind him, heading for the coffee machine, but it was obvious that Amanda was waiting on no one before she started talking. “Where is Pete keeping his money?”
“Well, I asked some friends and some clients about the guy. The word ‘douchebag’ got thrown around a lot, but not a lot of info about where his money might be. That is until I started talking to one guy who works part time in the housing department at Georgia Tech and he mentioned hearing rumors about this Pete guy paying some kids in the Georgia State dorms to keep some of his money hidden away in their room back in 2006 when Tech and GSU used to share housing...”
“Amanda, I really hate to interrupt,” Greta said as she stirred her coffee, “But what does this have to do with anything?”
“This has a point. I’m getting there.”
“Then get there. Please?”
“Okay, well long story short,” Amanda said, pulling out her roll of blueprints, “is that Georgia State sold their dorms to Tech in 2007 when they built their fancy housing in downtown. Which happen to have much bigger rooms. And since Pete had already gotten to know people at Georgia State...”
Gabe’s eyes widened as he felt his brain fire up. “He paid them to keep all of his money hidden away in a room.”
Amanda nodded as she unfurled the blueprints. “I checked around and called up some favors, but all signs point to room 1232 on the twelfth floor of Building B being listed as occupied, but the rest of the floor thinking it’s vacant. Like I said, I’m not sure if this Pete guy is a genius or an idiot, but I am officially impressed.”
Gabe looked at the blueprints curiously. “So... I guess we go in, take some of the money, call up the Campus Police and inform them of some ‘illegal activity’ on campus and get out before they realize we were there.”
“Easier said than done,” said Butch. “If there’s anything Cass bitches about the most, it’s how annoying it is to get her friends to visit her in the Commons. They either guard the place tight or they just like to be annoying.”
Amanda just kept grinning as she pulled something out of her bag. “Well, as I told Gabe, never underestimate the power of Amanda Palmer.”
On the table, she laid out two white cards and a gold key. “Two access cards and one master key. It’s good enough to get you in just as long as you dispose of them on your way out.”
Gabe looked between the keys and Amanda, his head still reeling from all these revelations. “Amanda, I should be asking so many questions about where you got this, but right now, I could kiss you.”
“Well, I’d tell you to start, but you’re not my type.”
“I don’t think you’re his type either,” Butch said, taking a sip of his coffee. “What do you think, Greta?”
Before Greta could say anything, Gabe had leaped out of his chair. “Greta, don’t answer that, finish your coffee and get dressed. We have work to do today.”
----------------
The thing about college campus security is that it's never exactly air tight. Sure, the staff may go out of it's way to enact new security measures, but there's always going to be a few holes, whether it be with the students or someone in the housing department owing a money launderer a favor...
"You guys at the turnstiles?"
Gabe adjusted the backpack on his shoulder as he looked at the turnstiles ahead of him and Greta. "Getting there, Amanda," he said into his phone.
"Okay, as soon as you get to them, just swipe the card against the little black box. It'll unlock the turnstiles and get you into the courtyard."
Gabe nodded, signaling for Greta to follow them. "You know Amanda, I don't understand why you're the one giving us directions."
He heard Greta groan at that as she began to match his stride. Amanda seemed unfazed. "Because I'm the one with the blueprints?"
"Yeah, but you could have just given it to Butch."
"Oh, he's here too. I have it on speaker phone."
"Besides Gabe," Butch said suddenly, "You know I'm shit at reading blueprints."
Gabe opened his mouth to speak again, but he felt Greta yank the phone from his hand, putting it to her ear. "Gabe will call you back when he can focus."
She then hit the END button and handed the phone back to Gabe. "Okay, how do we get in again?"
Gabe pulled his access card out from his pocket. "Amanda says we just swipe these on the black boxes and the turnstile will unlock."
Greta nodded and pulled her card out as she strode over to the turnstile. With a swipe, there was a hollow click from it. She smirked at Gabe as she pushed her way in. "Easy enough."
Gabe shook his head as he followed her actions. As he passed through the turnstile, he pulled out his phone and dialed Amanda. It didn't take her very long to answer. "You in the courtyard?"
"Yeah, what next?"
"Well, you need the cards to get into the front door. Once you're in, you make a left and then a right. You'll have to swipe the card again to get into building B, but after that, you won't need it anymore."
"Any security cameras in the building?"
"In the elevators, but not in the stairwells. The ones in the hallways are pretty spaced out, so you might be okay."
"Thanks Amanda. We'll call you if we need anything else."
He hung up and placed the phone back in his pocket. "Alright Greta, follow my lead."
Going through college property is always a bit tricky. One misstep can lead to getting caught and questioned by a campus police officer for two hours. A good portion of the time though, people really don't seem to notice.
Or care.
Greta swiped her card against white box as soon as they reached the front door. She grabbed a hold of Gabe's hand as the door popped open. "Now what do we do?"
"Amanda said make a left, then a right," Gabe said as he walked into the lobby with Greta. There were students milling about, some ducking into sets of doors on the right, and some walking down a hall to the left. He tugged at Greta's hand, following them.
"Yeah, well that's all well and good, but what about us?"
Gabe looked at her as they walked down the hall. "Are we really going to have the relationship talk here?"
"Well, where do you want to have it?"
Gabe looked up as they reached the end of the hall, pulling towards the right. "Well, we have twelve flights of stairs to climb," he said in a hushed voice. "We can talk then, I guess."
They walked in silence as Gabe swiped his card at the Building B door. The locks popped open with a loud clank and he pulled the door, pulling Greta in with him. As soon as they were in, he stopped suddenly. "Shit, Amanda didn't tell me where the stairs were."
"Maybe they're past that doorway on the left," Greta suggested as she pointed to a metal door on the left.
Gabe looked over, blinking in silence. "I knew that."
Greta just shook her head as she dragged Gabe towards the doors. "You were always so lost without me."
Gabe groaned as Greta swung open the door to the stairwell. "Really? We're going to get into this now?"
"Twelve flights of stairs..."
Gabe looked up at the stairs and sighed. "You seemed perfectly fine with us last night."
"Yeah well, I don't regret that," Greta said as she began to climb the stairs. "But there's a difference between basically admitting I still have feelings for you and forgiving you for abandoning me in Monaco, then officially breaking up with me by letter a month later."
Gabe fell silent as they passed the second floor. "My cover was blown and I had to get out as quickly as possible, but I'll admit, I could have done better on that."
"Could have?"
"Okay, I should have."
They ascended another two flights of stairs in silence before Greta turned to him again. "What you said last night... about me being the only person that mattered to when all you had was your job... Why couldn't you say that then?"
Gabe sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I guess I just didn't know how. When my cover was blown, I didn't know how to keep a relationship with you without compromising you. I figured that letting you go was the best option for you."
"Well, you know what they say about letting someone go..."
"They always come back around and bite you in the ass?"
Greta smirked as they hit the landing for the eighth floor. "Something like that."
"Well, I might not mind you being back in my life as long as you don't bite."
"I make no such promises."
Gabe looked down at her, reaching over to take her hand. "You can be a real bitch sometimes, you know that?"
"Yeah," she said, squeezing his hand as they passed the tenth floor landing. "But if I remember right, you told me that was part of my charm on our two month anniversary."
He just rolled his eyes as they hit the twelfth floor landing. "You ready for this?"
Greta nodded as she let go of his hand and adjusted the backpack on her shoulder. "How much are we taking from him again?"
"Just enough to make Pete realize he's missing money," Gabe said, opening the metal door to the twelfth floor. "Which should hopefully fit in what we got..."
"And how much are we keeping for ourselves?"
Gabe looked down at Greta in disbelief. "Are you serious?"
Greta just blinked. "What? Why not steal from the asshole who's kidnapped and sold girls into slavery? It's only fair."
Gabe shook his head as they walked into the hall, looking up at the security camera less than a yard ahead. "We'll talk about this later."
Always keep an eye on where the security cameras are relative to your location. If they're spaced out far enough, you may be able to sneak out unnoticed by anyone who may be watching.
Gabe and Greta quickly walked down the hall, counting the numbers of the rooms as they went. Greta then came to a stop in front of 1232. "You have the key?"
Gabe nodded and reached into his pocket, fishing it out before handing it to Greta. She then looked up at him as she took it. "Are we sure they aren't in there right now?"
"No, but is that ever a problem for us?"
"Don't get too cocky now," Greta said, placing the key in the lock and turning. "We've come too far to get taken out by some punks illegally occupying a dorm room."
The door opened with a loud click. Greta pushed it open, removing the key and ducking inside. Gabe followed in, closing the door behind him and looking around the apartment. Except for a few scattered papers and open doors to the two bedrooms, it looked like no one had been living there at all. "Okay, where to start?"
Greta took the backpack off, placing down on what Gabe assumed was supposed to be the dining room table. "I'll start with the kitchen, you check the closets."
Gabe nodded as he began for one of the bedrooms. Before he could even get in the door however, he heard Greta gasp. "Gabe, you better come look at this."
He backed out of the doorway and into the kitchen, where Greta was opening cabinet doors feverishly. Inside all of them were several stacks of cash, spread out all over the kitchen. Before Gabe could respond, Greta quickly ran over to the refrigerator and opened it. It seemed empty at first, but a quick pull at the vegetable drawer revealed even more money. Greta just shook her head in disbelief. "Why doesn't this guy have an offshore bank account like normal scumbags?"
"I think he does," Gabe said, swinging his backpack off his shoulder and handing it to Greta. "But he must cash it all to stash it away in a lot of hiding places. He's not the first person I've seen do it."
"Well, Amanda has a point. He's either a crazy genius, or extremely paranoid and stupid," she muttered as she opened the backpack and began to stash the cash in the fridge away.
"Probably a little of both," Gabe said, exiting the kitchen and going over to the dining room table to grab the other bag. "Keep emptying the kitchen. I'm going to check for other hiding places."
"Roger that," Greta muttered as she kicked the vegetable drawer closed and slammed the backpack on the counter. Gabe returned to searching through the bedrooms for other stashes of cash, tossing what he could find into the open backpack.
No matter how well you think a job is going, it's essential that you do it as quickly as the job can possibly allow. Because you never know when the people you're hitting up will be back. It might be sooner than you think.
Gabe had just cleared out the second bedroom when he heard the loud click of the apartment door. He froze in his place in the bedroom as he heard the voice of Jon go, "Hey, who the hell are you?"
Greta said nothing, but Gabe could hear her pulling out her gun. "Don't move. I don't want to have to shoot you."
"Neither do I, Honey," said Ryan's voice, "But I'll do it anyway."
Gabe slowly backed out of the bedroom to see Greta aiming her gun at Ryan and Jon. Ryan had his own aimed at Greta. Jon looked shocked when he saw Gabe, but Ryan just sneered. "Figures, Pete's new golden child is the one trying to rob him blind."
He pointed his gun at Gabe, who held his hands up and walked towards Ryan. "Yeah, but he isn't going to know about it..."
Quickly, he reached over and twisted the gun out of Ryan's hand. He then twisted around to get a hold of Ryan's arms and then elbowed him in the nose twice. He felt Ryan's body slump over onto the ground. Gabe let go and Ryan pinched his nose to staunch the bleeding. Jon just looked on in shocked silence, frozen in his place.
"Okay," Gabe said backing away from the both of them and signaling for Greta to put away her gun. "Listen and listen good. When Pete asks you what happened here, it wasn't us. You never saw Alexander here. You never saw the faces of who robbed you before they knocked you out..."
"And how is he going to believe that," Ryan asked, looking up at Gabe with disgust.
"Like this," Greta said nonchalantly as she came up behind Gabe.
Before anyone could say anything else, Greta quickly reached over to Ryan, pressing what looked like a black brick against his shoulder. The familiar electric sound and the way Ryan convulsed before falling over onto the linoleum as she pulled it away answered all questions of what it was though. "You brought a taser?"
"Yes," Greta said, reaching over to Jon, who fell over like a sack of potatoes once she was done with him. "I never leave home without it."
Gabe just rolled his eyes. "Okay, zip up the backpack and call the campus police. You have the number Amanda gave you?"
Greta nodded as she pulled out her cellphone. "You gonna call Amanda for a quick way out?"
"You know it."
He walked off towards one of the bedrooms as Greta dialed and put the phone to her ear. Before he closed the door, he could her Greta say in a shaky voice, "Hello, I would like to make an anonymous report... I think something bad is happening in the room next to me... It sounds drug related..."
Gabe slammed the door to help her cause as he pulled out his own phone. Once again, Amanda picked up right away. "You got the money?"
"Around half a mil," Gabe said, "But Pete's boys showed up. Greta took care of them with a taser I didn't know she had..."
"That might be a problem if you guys are getting back together," Butch said loudly from the other side of the kitchen.
"Hush," Amanda said sternly. "Is she calling the campus police like you guys planned?"
"Yeah, we just need a way out so we get out before the police think we're involved."
"Well, there's another stairwell exit at the opposite end of the hall," Amanda said studiously. "It should take you directly into the courtyard. I still need one of you to dump the cards and the key down the chute though and that's closer to the way you came in."
"I'll do it. It's probably better if Greta and I leave separately anyway. Less suspicious."
"Good man. I guess my work here is done."
"Thanks Amanda, I owe you one."
"You owe me more than that, but I'm glad to hear it anyway."
He could hear her laughing a little bit as she hung up. He quickly stashed his phone in his pocket, zipped up his bag and tossed it over his shoulder. When he opened the door, he saw that Greta had hung up and was dragging Ryan and Jon towards the living room. "We need to get out now."
"Amanda give you an escape exit?"
"Yeah," Gabe said, "You're going to hit up the stairwell on the opposite end of the hall and leave through the courtyard. I'm going to toss the keys and leave the way we came."
Greta's eyes widened a bit. "You sure that's a good idea?"
"I'm sure," Gabe said. "We'll look less suspicious then."
Greta sighed and nodded as she handed over her access card and the key. "I'll go first. I'll get my car and meet you at the curb. Be careful on your way out."
"Same to you," Gabe said, leaning over and kissing Greta on the head. She gave him a tiny smile as she walked back towards the kitchen. Quickly, she picked up the backpack, slung it over her shoulder, trudged past Gabe without a look and went out the door. Gabe breathed out as soon as the door closed and took a seat on the couch.
The few minutes you wait after someone before taking your own exit out are some of the longest minutes of your life. You never know how long is too long or how long is too short. Will the police show up in the time it takes for you to wait before you leave? Will one of the guys that was tased wake up long enough to exact their revenge for being tased? Though, most likely, they will continue drooling into the carpet...
Gabe checked his watch, seeing that five minutes had passed. Quickly, he stood up and gathered his backpack, stepping over Ryan and Jon. As he swung it over his shoulder, he opened the door, pulled up a chair to prop the door open and exited the apartment, keeping an eye out for the trash chute.
As soon as he spotted the door for the chute, he heard the elevator open and what sounded like the static of a police radio. Quickly, he ducked inside the trash room, letting the door close behind him. As the police officer walked by, Gabe walked to the trash chute. He turned the knob and opened it up, tossing in the cards and key. As they hit the sides of the chute, he let the hatch go and quickly exited the room. He could see the police officer entering room 1232 out of the corner of his eye before he turned towards the stairwell door, leaving the twelfth floor hall to figure out what just happened on it's own.
Part 9
Gabe had slept peacefully for the first time since had been dropped in Atlanta. He was sure if had been because of the sex or the fact Greta was sleeping beside him, but he had finally fallen asleep without a problem and hadn’t woken up randomly.
That wasn’t until there was a knock at his door the next morning, followed by a rather awkward “Ummm... morning guys.”
Gabe and Greta picked their heads up to see Butch standing in the doorway with droopy eyes, his hair flying in all directions and his hand gripping onto a cup of coffee like his life depended on it. “Glad to see I’m not only one who had an interesting night.”
Greta rolled her eyes at Butch as she pulled her blanket up to her chest. “What is it, Butch?”
“Well, I wouldn’t usually be up this early considering it’s my day off, I have a hangover from Hell, and a bruise coming in on my leg thanks to some drunk asshole who tried to pick a fight with me and bit me after he hit the floor, but Amanda Palmer came knocking at the front door ten minutes ago, holding onto a set of blueprints and proclaiming eureka and saying that she needs see Gabe.”
“I’m assuming she found Pete’s money, then,” Gabe said, rubbing out his eyes.
“That’s a bingo,” Butch said, taking a very long and slow sip of his coffee. “You better come downstairs and talk to her or she might explode. Better put some pants on first though.”
Butch turned to exit, but Gabe sat up and called after him. “Hey Butch, can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” Butch responded, sounding a bit confused. “What is it?”
“What’s with the Black Widow?”
Butch fell silent as he reached over and touched the back of his right shoulder. He sighed and shook his head. “Some other time, Gabe. That is something we don’t have the time for right now.”
Before Gabe could say anything else, Butch had turned and was already heading down the stairs. Greta sat up beside him, tilting her head curiously. “What was that about?”
“I have no idea,” Gabe said, shaking his head. He then looked over at Greta. “You regret last night yet?”
She looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully, then shook her head before pecking Gabe on the cheek. “Nope.”
“Think we should talk to Amanda and figure out the great mystery of where Pete’s hiding his money?”
“Probably.”
“Want to try and find our clothes first?”
“Yeah, that’s sort of important.”
----------------
“I don’t know if it’s absolutely genius or just plain stupid. Either way, I am impressed.”
“Spit it out, Amanda,” Gabe said, running his fingers through his hair as he sat down at the kitchen counter. Greta was coming in behind him, heading for the coffee machine, but it was obvious that Amanda was waiting on no one before she started talking. “Where is Pete keeping his money?”
“Well, I asked some friends and some clients about the guy. The word ‘douchebag’ got thrown around a lot, but not a lot of info about where his money might be. That is until I started talking to one guy who works part time in the housing department at Georgia Tech and he mentioned hearing rumors about this Pete guy paying some kids in the Georgia State dorms to keep some of his money hidden away in their room back in 2006 when Tech and GSU used to share housing...”
“Amanda, I really hate to interrupt,” Greta said as she stirred her coffee, “But what does this have to do with anything?”
“This has a point. I’m getting there.”
“Then get there. Please?”
“Okay, well long story short,” Amanda said, pulling out her roll of blueprints, “is that Georgia State sold their dorms to Tech in 2007 when they built their fancy housing in downtown. Which happen to have much bigger rooms. And since Pete had already gotten to know people at Georgia State...”
Gabe’s eyes widened as he felt his brain fire up. “He paid them to keep all of his money hidden away in a room.”
Amanda nodded as she unfurled the blueprints. “I checked around and called up some favors, but all signs point to room 1232 on the twelfth floor of Building B being listed as occupied, but the rest of the floor thinking it’s vacant. Like I said, I’m not sure if this Pete guy is a genius or an idiot, but I am officially impressed.”
Gabe looked at the blueprints curiously. “So... I guess we go in, take some of the money, call up the Campus Police and inform them of some ‘illegal activity’ on campus and get out before they realize we were there.”
“Easier said than done,” said Butch. “If there’s anything Cass bitches about the most, it’s how annoying it is to get her friends to visit her in the Commons. They either guard the place tight or they just like to be annoying.”
Amanda just kept grinning as she pulled something out of her bag. “Well, as I told Gabe, never underestimate the power of Amanda Palmer.”
On the table, she laid out two white cards and a gold key. “Two access cards and one master key. It’s good enough to get you in just as long as you dispose of them on your way out.”
Gabe looked between the keys and Amanda, his head still reeling from all these revelations. “Amanda, I should be asking so many questions about where you got this, but right now, I could kiss you.”
“Well, I’d tell you to start, but you’re not my type.”
“I don’t think you’re his type either,” Butch said, taking a sip of his coffee. “What do you think, Greta?”
Before Greta could say anything, Gabe had leaped out of his chair. “Greta, don’t answer that, finish your coffee and get dressed. We have work to do today.”
----------------
The thing about college campus security is that it's never exactly air tight. Sure, the staff may go out of it's way to enact new security measures, but there's always going to be a few holes, whether it be with the students or someone in the housing department owing a money launderer a favor...
"You guys at the turnstiles?"
Gabe adjusted the backpack on his shoulder as he looked at the turnstiles ahead of him and Greta. "Getting there, Amanda," he said into his phone.
"Okay, as soon as you get to them, just swipe the card against the little black box. It'll unlock the turnstiles and get you into the courtyard."
Gabe nodded, signaling for Greta to follow them. "You know Amanda, I don't understand why you're the one giving us directions."
He heard Greta groan at that as she began to match his stride. Amanda seemed unfazed. "Because I'm the one with the blueprints?"
"Yeah, but you could have just given it to Butch."
"Oh, he's here too. I have it on speaker phone."
"Besides Gabe," Butch said suddenly, "You know I'm shit at reading blueprints."
Gabe opened his mouth to speak again, but he felt Greta yank the phone from his hand, putting it to her ear. "Gabe will call you back when he can focus."
She then hit the END button and handed the phone back to Gabe. "Okay, how do we get in again?"
Gabe pulled his access card out from his pocket. "Amanda says we just swipe these on the black boxes and the turnstile will unlock."
Greta nodded and pulled her card out as she strode over to the turnstile. With a swipe, there was a hollow click from it. She smirked at Gabe as she pushed her way in. "Easy enough."
Gabe shook his head as he followed her actions. As he passed through the turnstile, he pulled out his phone and dialed Amanda. It didn't take her very long to answer. "You in the courtyard?"
"Yeah, what next?"
"Well, you need the cards to get into the front door. Once you're in, you make a left and then a right. You'll have to swipe the card again to get into building B, but after that, you won't need it anymore."
"Any security cameras in the building?"
"In the elevators, but not in the stairwells. The ones in the hallways are pretty spaced out, so you might be okay."
"Thanks Amanda. We'll call you if we need anything else."
He hung up and placed the phone back in his pocket. "Alright Greta, follow my lead."
Going through college property is always a bit tricky. One misstep can lead to getting caught and questioned by a campus police officer for two hours. A good portion of the time though, people really don't seem to notice.
Or care.
Greta swiped her card against white box as soon as they reached the front door. She grabbed a hold of Gabe's hand as the door popped open. "Now what do we do?"
"Amanda said make a left, then a right," Gabe said as he walked into the lobby with Greta. There were students milling about, some ducking into sets of doors on the right, and some walking down a hall to the left. He tugged at Greta's hand, following them.
"Yeah, well that's all well and good, but what about us?"
Gabe looked at her as they walked down the hall. "Are we really going to have the relationship talk here?"
"Well, where do you want to have it?"
Gabe looked up as they reached the end of the hall, pulling towards the right. "Well, we have twelve flights of stairs to climb," he said in a hushed voice. "We can talk then, I guess."
They walked in silence as Gabe swiped his card at the Building B door. The locks popped open with a loud clank and he pulled the door, pulling Greta in with him. As soon as they were in, he stopped suddenly. "Shit, Amanda didn't tell me where the stairs were."
"Maybe they're past that doorway on the left," Greta suggested as she pointed to a metal door on the left.
Gabe looked over, blinking in silence. "I knew that."
Greta just shook her head as she dragged Gabe towards the doors. "You were always so lost without me."
Gabe groaned as Greta swung open the door to the stairwell. "Really? We're going to get into this now?"
"Twelve flights of stairs..."
Gabe looked up at the stairs and sighed. "You seemed perfectly fine with us last night."
"Yeah well, I don't regret that," Greta said as she began to climb the stairs. "But there's a difference between basically admitting I still have feelings for you and forgiving you for abandoning me in Monaco, then officially breaking up with me by letter a month later."
Gabe fell silent as they passed the second floor. "My cover was blown and I had to get out as quickly as possible, but I'll admit, I could have done better on that."
"Could have?"
"Okay, I should have."
They ascended another two flights of stairs in silence before Greta turned to him again. "What you said last night... about me being the only person that mattered to when all you had was your job... Why couldn't you say that then?"
Gabe sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I guess I just didn't know how. When my cover was blown, I didn't know how to keep a relationship with you without compromising you. I figured that letting you go was the best option for you."
"Well, you know what they say about letting someone go..."
"They always come back around and bite you in the ass?"
Greta smirked as they hit the landing for the eighth floor. "Something like that."
"Well, I might not mind you being back in my life as long as you don't bite."
"I make no such promises."
Gabe looked down at her, reaching over to take her hand. "You can be a real bitch sometimes, you know that?"
"Yeah," she said, squeezing his hand as they passed the tenth floor landing. "But if I remember right, you told me that was part of my charm on our two month anniversary."
He just rolled his eyes as they hit the twelfth floor landing. "You ready for this?"
Greta nodded as she let go of his hand and adjusted the backpack on her shoulder. "How much are we taking from him again?"
"Just enough to make Pete realize he's missing money," Gabe said, opening the metal door to the twelfth floor. "Which should hopefully fit in what we got..."
"And how much are we keeping for ourselves?"
Gabe looked down at Greta in disbelief. "Are you serious?"
Greta just blinked. "What? Why not steal from the asshole who's kidnapped and sold girls into slavery? It's only fair."
Gabe shook his head as they walked into the hall, looking up at the security camera less than a yard ahead. "We'll talk about this later."
Always keep an eye on where the security cameras are relative to your location. If they're spaced out far enough, you may be able to sneak out unnoticed by anyone who may be watching.
Gabe and Greta quickly walked down the hall, counting the numbers of the rooms as they went. Greta then came to a stop in front of 1232. "You have the key?"
Gabe nodded and reached into his pocket, fishing it out before handing it to Greta. She then looked up at him as she took it. "Are we sure they aren't in there right now?"
"No, but is that ever a problem for us?"
"Don't get too cocky now," Greta said, placing the key in the lock and turning. "We've come too far to get taken out by some punks illegally occupying a dorm room."
The door opened with a loud click. Greta pushed it open, removing the key and ducking inside. Gabe followed in, closing the door behind him and looking around the apartment. Except for a few scattered papers and open doors to the two bedrooms, it looked like no one had been living there at all. "Okay, where to start?"
Greta took the backpack off, placing down on what Gabe assumed was supposed to be the dining room table. "I'll start with the kitchen, you check the closets."
Gabe nodded as he began for one of the bedrooms. Before he could even get in the door however, he heard Greta gasp. "Gabe, you better come look at this."
He backed out of the doorway and into the kitchen, where Greta was opening cabinet doors feverishly. Inside all of them were several stacks of cash, spread out all over the kitchen. Before Gabe could respond, Greta quickly ran over to the refrigerator and opened it. It seemed empty at first, but a quick pull at the vegetable drawer revealed even more money. Greta just shook her head in disbelief. "Why doesn't this guy have an offshore bank account like normal scumbags?"
"I think he does," Gabe said, swinging his backpack off his shoulder and handing it to Greta. "But he must cash it all to stash it away in a lot of hiding places. He's not the first person I've seen do it."
"Well, Amanda has a point. He's either a crazy genius, or extremely paranoid and stupid," she muttered as she opened the backpack and began to stash the cash in the fridge away.
"Probably a little of both," Gabe said, exiting the kitchen and going over to the dining room table to grab the other bag. "Keep emptying the kitchen. I'm going to check for other hiding places."
"Roger that," Greta muttered as she kicked the vegetable drawer closed and slammed the backpack on the counter. Gabe returned to searching through the bedrooms for other stashes of cash, tossing what he could find into the open backpack.
No matter how well you think a job is going, it's essential that you do it as quickly as the job can possibly allow. Because you never know when the people you're hitting up will be back. It might be sooner than you think.
Gabe had just cleared out the second bedroom when he heard the loud click of the apartment door. He froze in his place in the bedroom as he heard the voice of Jon go, "Hey, who the hell are you?"
Greta said nothing, but Gabe could hear her pulling out her gun. "Don't move. I don't want to have to shoot you."
"Neither do I, Honey," said Ryan's voice, "But I'll do it anyway."
Gabe slowly backed out of the bedroom to see Greta aiming her gun at Ryan and Jon. Ryan had his own aimed at Greta. Jon looked shocked when he saw Gabe, but Ryan just sneered. "Figures, Pete's new golden child is the one trying to rob him blind."
He pointed his gun at Gabe, who held his hands up and walked towards Ryan. "Yeah, but he isn't going to know about it..."
Quickly, he reached over and twisted the gun out of Ryan's hand. He then twisted around to get a hold of Ryan's arms and then elbowed him in the nose twice. He felt Ryan's body slump over onto the ground. Gabe let go and Ryan pinched his nose to staunch the bleeding. Jon just looked on in shocked silence, frozen in his place.
"Okay," Gabe said backing away from the both of them and signaling for Greta to put away her gun. "Listen and listen good. When Pete asks you what happened here, it wasn't us. You never saw Alexander here. You never saw the faces of who robbed you before they knocked you out..."
"And how is he going to believe that," Ryan asked, looking up at Gabe with disgust.
"Like this," Greta said nonchalantly as she came up behind Gabe.
Before anyone could say anything else, Greta quickly reached over to Ryan, pressing what looked like a black brick against his shoulder. The familiar electric sound and the way Ryan convulsed before falling over onto the linoleum as she pulled it away answered all questions of what it was though. "You brought a taser?"
"Yes," Greta said, reaching over to Jon, who fell over like a sack of potatoes once she was done with him. "I never leave home without it."
Gabe just rolled his eyes. "Okay, zip up the backpack and call the campus police. You have the number Amanda gave you?"
Greta nodded as she pulled out her cellphone. "You gonna call Amanda for a quick way out?"
"You know it."
He walked off towards one of the bedrooms as Greta dialed and put the phone to her ear. Before he closed the door, he could her Greta say in a shaky voice, "Hello, I would like to make an anonymous report... I think something bad is happening in the room next to me... It sounds drug related..."
Gabe slammed the door to help her cause as he pulled out his own phone. Once again, Amanda picked up right away. "You got the money?"
"Around half a mil," Gabe said, "But Pete's boys showed up. Greta took care of them with a taser I didn't know she had..."
"That might be a problem if you guys are getting back together," Butch said loudly from the other side of the kitchen.
"Hush," Amanda said sternly. "Is she calling the campus police like you guys planned?"
"Yeah, we just need a way out so we get out before the police think we're involved."
"Well, there's another stairwell exit at the opposite end of the hall," Amanda said studiously. "It should take you directly into the courtyard. I still need one of you to dump the cards and the key down the chute though and that's closer to the way you came in."
"I'll do it. It's probably better if Greta and I leave separately anyway. Less suspicious."
"Good man. I guess my work here is done."
"Thanks Amanda, I owe you one."
"You owe me more than that, but I'm glad to hear it anyway."
He could hear her laughing a little bit as she hung up. He quickly stashed his phone in his pocket, zipped up his bag and tossed it over his shoulder. When he opened the door, he saw that Greta had hung up and was dragging Ryan and Jon towards the living room. "We need to get out now."
"Amanda give you an escape exit?"
"Yeah," Gabe said, "You're going to hit up the stairwell on the opposite end of the hall and leave through the courtyard. I'm going to toss the keys and leave the way we came."
Greta's eyes widened a bit. "You sure that's a good idea?"
"I'm sure," Gabe said. "We'll look less suspicious then."
Greta sighed and nodded as she handed over her access card and the key. "I'll go first. I'll get my car and meet you at the curb. Be careful on your way out."
"Same to you," Gabe said, leaning over and kissing Greta on the head. She gave him a tiny smile as she walked back towards the kitchen. Quickly, she picked up the backpack, slung it over her shoulder, trudged past Gabe without a look and went out the door. Gabe breathed out as soon as the door closed and took a seat on the couch.
The few minutes you wait after someone before taking your own exit out are some of the longest minutes of your life. You never know how long is too long or how long is too short. Will the police show up in the time it takes for you to wait before you leave? Will one of the guys that was tased wake up long enough to exact their revenge for being tased? Though, most likely, they will continue drooling into the carpet...
Gabe checked his watch, seeing that five minutes had passed. Quickly, he stood up and gathered his backpack, stepping over Ryan and Jon. As he swung it over his shoulder, he opened the door, pulled up a chair to prop the door open and exited the apartment, keeping an eye out for the trash chute.
As soon as he spotted the door for the chute, he heard the elevator open and what sounded like the static of a police radio. Quickly, he ducked inside the trash room, letting the door close behind him. As the police officer walked by, Gabe walked to the trash chute. He turned the knob and opened it up, tossing in the cards and key. As they hit the sides of the chute, he let the hatch go and quickly exited the room. He could see the police officer entering room 1232 out of the corner of his eye before he turned towards the stairwell door, leaving the twelfth floor hall to figure out what just happened on it's own.
Part 9