2. Break Entry

My mind was filled with paranoia as I listened closely for any sound in the eerie silence that filled the summer night sky. It was the type that made breathing loud to the ears, one I wasn't accustomed to. The ever present chirping crickets in the slums whenever darkness sets in had gradually became a norm to me.

And now, two hours away from Willow, in a neighborhood filled with gigantic Villas, I stood alone, crouched under a tree.

"Now." Max's voice reached me through the earpiece plugged into my left ear. He is one of Fox's men and my partner for this operation. Being a hacker came in handy when breaking into the heavily guarded house.

"Right."

Snapping on my black leather gloves with my duffel back secured tightly over my back, I drew the hood to my hoodie over my face and ran upto the fence at the back of the mansion in front of me, taking cover under the trees.

The electric fence currently disenabled was easier to climb up here than the solid smooth walls of the side fence.

Securing one foot above the other, I hauled myself to the top, avoiding the barbs, and managed to breach the fence with only a few cuts in my palms.

"All cleared. Head straight to the building."

I darted towards the building looming ahead and went around for the screened patio at the back.

I was much at ease now with the fear of setting off the alarms gone. Covering the glass in duct tape, I grabbed a chair by the pool and smashed it on the glass. The tape had lessened the sound of glass shattering, which had been my aim.

According to my resources, the owner and his family were on vacation when the item was shipped in, hence the lack of security in the house rendering it empty, still, I prefer working as silently as possible.

"Breaking in. Checked."

"Good. Search for the Master bedroom. That's the stone's location." Max directed.

I was more on the alert inside the house than outside. If anyone happened to be around, the noise will draw their attention.

Starting with the main floor, I picked lock after lock on each bedroom door I came across, hoping to find the master bedroom, where the gemstone is said to be kept.

"Can't you check the system and tell me where the room is?" I asked, but no reply came.

"Damnit."

My guess would have been the study because why not? A safe is where people usually keep important stuff like those. And I doubts there's one in a bedroom. But my informer was sure it was in the master bedroom, which they had failed to pinpoint. It would have made my work more straightforward and less likely for me to be caught. So I carried on my fruitless search.

The amount of expensive items littering the house is enough to tempt any law-abiding citizen to commit crime, and they were all displayed in plain sight. If only I could grab an item or two, I would have enough money to pay off Fox and move out of Willow. But I knew things wouldn't be as easy as that.

Thus, I focused on my target, which I came across after the third room on the second floor.

Using the small flashlight to navigate the dark room, I first headed straight for the walk-in closet. The double doors caught my eyes the moment I stepped in with their glamorous design. If the gemstone were anywhere in this room, it was bound to be the closet– that was locked with a password.

"Great."

I cursed under my breath, punching in random digits until I was asked to try again later. A minor panic seized me, expecting some strange alarm to start blaring at my stupidity. When nothing happened, I realized it was only barring me from messing with the pads again.

I turned my attention to the next place, the bedside drawers. I would have asked Max for help and see if he could crack the code, but he haven't been replying me over three minutes ago.

So I looked around, but apart from the socks and packets of condoms, the drawers were bare. I threw the offending items in the air out of anger and watched them fall on the bed and around.

I eyed the closet again, supporting my back against the bed as I slid down to the floor amidst the mess, wrecking my brain of any numbers that could serve as the owner's password. I flashed the light randomly around the room, looking for other places the box could fit when the lights shone on a card discarded on the ground.

It was a random card, and I had no idea what to expect when I crawled under the desk by the balcony door to inspect it.

I might be petite, but even I couldn't fit under a sturdy table without effort, which resulted in a flower vase on the top toppling to the ground.

"Shit." I hissed, startled by the loud noise. I was only lucky the house was empty. All that trouble for a stupid business card with Andrew De Loughrey written in bold with gold ink.

Well, what did I expect, to find a card containing his password lying on the ground?

I snorted, turning to leave until I spotted a drawer hidden under the desk. It was locked, but that didn't stop anyone. It certainly didn't stop me.

Inside the small confinement was a black diary... And a wooden box, just as I remembered from the photo. I nearly cried in joy.

I might have journeyed for hours to come here, preparing for the worse, but finding the stone and returning successfully seemed almost impossible.

But luck was on my side.

"I take it you found the gemstone, yes?" Max's voice startled me again.

"Yes. Where have you been?"

"None of your business. Haul you ass out and over now. The job is done."

Cradling the box in one hand, I moved around the table, glancing through the glass balcony doors, I froze. Then blinked again.

"Something just moved in the garden. Did your cameras caught anything?"

"No, there's nothing here. The house is empty. But if you stayed any longer, I'm leaving."

Dismissing the shadows moving through the trees as trick of light, I hurried out of the room. I ran back the way I come from, without even putting away the gemstone in my bag.

I was on the first floor, almost at the broken glass door when I heard voices.

"Surround the house and leave no entrance unchecked. Whoever the intruder is, we can't let them escape." A person, mostly a guard ordered examining the broken door.

I duck behind a table as more shadows ran passed outside the windows, flashing lights inside the house.

"Shit! shit! shit!"

"Are you out yet?"

"Dafuk? I'm surrounded! Why the hell didn't you tel-"

"Over here! Something just moved inside."

"Shit! I'm fucked."

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