“Looks like the event has started,” Feint said from the bar. She pushed aside her bourbon and looked at Noel. Noel tipped his drink her way and finished off his second as well. He was likewise wearing a black jacket, white shirt, red tie, black slacks along with his famous top hat.
“Indeed. Where are you Echo?” Noel asked through a communicator in his lapel.
“I’m enjoying the slot machine with Joker. She is not very good at this,” she said and they heard a loud chorus of swearing.
“How is one good at a slot machine?” Noel whispered.
“You can’t be. It’s all luck. No skill involved,” Feint replied. “Joker’s just unlucky and needs to learn when to quit.”
“I’m not fuckin unlucky. This damn thing is rigged!” she shouted and then swore after hitting the machine. “Fuckin bullshit goddamn casino.”
Feint smiled shaking her head, “Echo we’re going to start our part of the operation. Meet us near the elevator.”
“Aye aye Fei,” She was sure that she was saluting again.
Noel and Feint clinked their drinks together finishing them and moved around the bar. Working through the lines of people they stumbled into a man. Or rather a man stumbled into Feint. It would have been fine except she felt his hand hit lower than anyone but Phase should ever be touching her.
Scowling she turned and grabbed the man by the arm and twisted it around sharply. He let out a strangled cry and Feint smiled at him. “You know you look drunk. But that was practiced.”
“Let go of me you crazy bitch,” he said then shouted again as Feint twisted harder.
“Noel what do you think? That looked practiced didn’t it?” she asked.
Noel was already staring at the man and there was a level of hate in his eyes. “You. I’ve seen you pull this stunt before. A young woman, much too young to know how to call you out on this,” he said and jabbed him in the chest, the shoulder and then just below the rib cage. The man lurched forward and Noel stepped around him.
“I’d let go of him if I were you,” Noel replied.
Feint did as he said and stepped aside just in time because the man started to vomit all over the carpet. The splash zone just barely missed their shoes. He tried to look back over at them and say something but another load of vomit changed those plans very quickly.
They left him to that and kept walking, “You know that guy?”
Noel shuddered, “In a past life he and I had a run in. It wasn’t a good time for me but the deal had to be done.” Feint frowned hard but Noel raised his head. “It’s the past. And this,” he motioned in front of him and then at her. “Is the present.”
Feint squeezed his hand lightly and he smiled in return.
Noel squeezed back and took a breath, “Sometimes I wish I had known you during my time in the lab.”
“You were one of us?” Feint asked for the first time entirely surprised.
“I was. A long time ago.”
“Do you remember what number you were?”
“58.”
“So you were the same line as Phase then?”
“It’s why we both of us are able to heal like we do. And our hair suffers as a result,” he ran his fingers through his hair.
“Yeah,” Feint grimaced at that and paused in front of the elevator. Echo joined them just as the elevator dinged onto their floor. The trio stepped inside and the moment they did Feint reached into her purse.
She pulled out a circular multitool and tapped the middle. A button beeped three times rapidly and she paused checking the corner of the elevator. She looked at the blinking light in the corner of the elevator and nodded. Flipping out a thin rod she picked the key hole underneath the button panel and after a few moments she popped it open.
Tapping the button, the elevator went down instead of up. “Can you sense anything Echo?” Feint asked.
Echo nodded slowly, “Barely. There’s too many minds up here to get a good focus down below us.”
“Then we’ll have to be ready once we’re down there,” she replied nodding.
When it jolted to a halt and opened they were opened into a long hallway. The lights were a dim yellow in here, the hallway itself somewhat narrow with red velvet floors. There were several doors along the hallway but it was the light at the end of the tunnel that caught their eyes.
Not taking too many chances Feint grabbed both their hands and thought quickly, “Is this room empty?”
“Yes.”
Feint nodded taking them forward and stepping through the door. The room was dark and Noel found the light switch immediately. It was a white room. Folding chairs stacked against the far wall. A dry erase board was in the corner recently wiped clean. “Alright Echo what can you sense down here?”
She closed her eyes already reaching out with her mind. The dull roar above her head was easier to ignore and now she could focus on the few that spoke and moved around them on this floor. “There’s about a dozen or so workers down here. Only about two or three of them are passing through.”
“Do you know how many are security?” Noel asked looking her way.
“The greater majority. I believe there is one technician among them,” She took a slow breath coming back to herself and rubbed her eyes. “We should take this slowly.”
“That’s why we’re the ones on the job,” Feint replied. She turned her phone around and pressed a button. A light projected out of it onto the blank dry erase board and showed the map of floor they were on. From the hallway it winded around the entire basement with about a dozen or so rooms. Some were heavily clustered together while there were a bunch of rooms like this that were off on their side.
“This is where we are I assume?” Noel pointed toward the room on the bottom right of the map and Feint nodded.
“Where’s the vault?” Noel asked.
“It’s not marked, so we’re going to have to find it.”
Noel made a noise in thought, “Or we can ask around.”
“Who’s going to talk to us down here?” Echo asked and then frowned. “You mean interrogating.”
“It’s an option,” he said chuckling. “But let’s work about where we need to go first.”
“And to get through the security,” Feint noted.
“Yes, but that security was never developed for people quite like us,” Echo replied going toward the door. She pressed one hand against it and took a slow breath. “The coast is clear for now through here.”
“Let’s go.”
Unlocking the door, they stepped through quickly and Feint made a point to close the door softly. The hallway, on closer inspection was wide enough to push carts through. The walls had a wave and swirling pattern going straight up. The lights were a soft yellow over all of them. The three of them definitely stood out aggressively so getting caught wasn’t an option.
Echo led the three of them her mental net cast out far. With Feint and Noel behind her she could see where she was going but also loosely saw where the other works within this floor were going. Most were stationary and the few that were moving around weren’t near them yet. She also couldn’t pry into someone’s mind and see where they had to be going so lose lose.
Though as they walked she suddenly held up her hand making them stop and pointed toward what looked like a wall. She touched it gently, tracing her fingers across it until she found a chunk of wall that didn’t seem correct. Pressing it hard she slid it up and the wall tile disappeared revealing a set of buttons. “This is a service elevator. Mainly for employees.”
“How’d you know this was here?” Noel asked.
“Because there are some people coming down it now. We should take a position to hide soon.”
Feint scowled, “You know you can lead with that right?”
“My bad,” Echo smiled quickly. “I think I have this one handled. No hiding or aggressively knocking people out required.”
“You better do it quickly,” Noel said as the elevator dinged.
The two workers came down wearing a uniform that they had seen a few times. Simple blue vest, black pants and shirts with white gloves. One of them had a massive cart in front of them and pushed it off the elevator and into the hallway. The cart itself had a few different plastic boxes that he could see were lined with wrapped stacks of money.
“Can you believe they’re really hosting another one of those rich get richer parties?”
“I thought it was to help fundraise for that building that got taken down.”
“Come on. You can’t really believe that.”
“What do you mean?”
The other shook her head, “That money just gets moved around. No one deserving of it ever really sees it.”
“Come on that can’t be right.”
“Trust me. It is,” the other worker said swishing her hand back and forth. “If they’re lucky they’ll get like a thank you note and some compensation for service.”
“They at least got the pension.”
“Yeah there’s that. Bet they’d love to have this.” She tapped the cart he was pushing.
“Man I’d love that. But don’t let the boss hear me say that.”
They wheeled the cart past the service elevator and down the hallway continuing their conversation. But they walked right past the trio of thieves standing stiff and at attention as they moved. Noel and Feint held their breath the entire time while Echo had her eyes closed and finally opened them once they had gone far enough away.
“What did you just do?” Noel asked slowly looking at her.
Echo let out a breath and glanced at him saying, “Something very difficult but effective.”
“They didn’t even see us,” Noel followed where they went and finally shook his head. “That cart. We should follow where they’re going.”
“Indeed,” Echo replied. “Feint can you give me a hand?”
“Of course,” Feint took her hand and felt Echo squeeze it hard as they walked together forward. Noel took the lead keeping an eye on them at the corner of his eye but made sure to listen out for the others in front. They weren’t following the path that he saw on the map.
They were going toward one of the side rooms that was off the beaten path. He wanted to ask but heard a keypad getting hit. They kept going a few times after entering it wrong before finally hearing the proper ding. He raised his hand hesitantly but Echo had stopped Feint beforehand.
“I believe that the vault isn’t in one location,” Echo thought his way. “But instead split among a trio. And this pair has access to one of them but they can only deposit the money.”
“They have to count their money at the end of the day somehow,” Noel said.
“Well why don’t we ask them?” Feint replied and nodded at Noel. “Your area of expertise am I right?”
Noel slowly took his hat off and smoothed his fingers through his hair, “Indeed.”
Replacing the hat, he walked forward and the way he moved was different. Replacing the aloof and confident stride he normally wore now he walked like a leopard on the prowl. The quickness of his steps, the smoothness of his gait, and the way his focus turned just to those two workers.
He turned the corner and it opened up to two paths, both were divided by a wedge of a wall. The one on the right he remembered from the map that would just spread out into floor at large. But the small room was definitely not on the plans. The door was still hanging slightly open and he could see lights flickering behind it.
As he approached the door he heard some minor squabbling about the correct way to enter the password. He heard a loud clanging, likely the cart being dumped forward. He walked into the room and confirmed his suspicions, watching the cart was yanked back onto its wheels. One of the pair was leaning on it but Noel was more concerned with the room itself.
The room was a small square with the usual dim lighting, some carts wiry carts around but the focus was the massive wall in front. It was almost like an ATM. There was a keypad built in the wall with a digital display. But right next to that keypad was a large vault door complete with a locking wheel that was still hanging open. Instead of a pile of money or anything like that. Instead it was just a chute that went into the wall.
“Always hate dumping this stuff.”
“It’ll build your arm strength at least.” She let out a grunt and shoved the vault door closed.
“Fascinating, Mind if I give it a try?” Noel asked walking in.
“Yeah sure after we get another cart,” one said offhand looking at their partner but she was looking back at Noel. Noel moved quickly kicking the legs out from under one of them and pinned them under his shoe. He jabbed them twice in the chest and turned his full attention onto the other who almost started shouting before he moved.
Leaping after the other worker he grabbed them by the throat and shoved him into the wall. He lifted him higher up and jabbed him in the joints quickly with his middle finger. The man started to shout but his voice went slack ad his limbs as well. Noel kept him up and stared at him, “Now. I believe you have some questions I want answer.”
“Who? Who are you?” she stammered and Noel was already shaking his head.
“Who I am isn’t important. This Vault. There’s three of them. Who else has passcodes to the other two?”
“What? How do you even know about that?”
“That’s not important,” Noel said. “Answer.”
“I can’t. I answer and I’m going to lose my job or more.”
“That is not my concern. Who else has access to these vaults and where are they?”
To emphasize his point he jabbed her in the neck and then covered his mouth. The pain that radiated through Noel’s closed palm almost made him drop the man. But he was a professional. Once the screaming stopped he lowered his hand slowly and met the widened eyes of the woman.
“What is your passcode inside this vault?” Noel asked again.
“It’s 538596,” Echo said as she and Feint entered the room. Feint closed the door behind them and walked toward the vault visibly impressed. “As for the other two who have the passcodes. They’re names are Hank and Joanna. He thought quickly while you were interrogating him.”
“Thank you,” Noel said to her then jabbed the woman in the chest and let go. She slumped forward and fell to her knees and then over in a pile. He did the same making sure the other was unconscious in seconds. “But that puts a wrench in our plans. We need two more moving parts before we can even think about getting into the vault.”
“Yes and no,” Feint replied. “We could get the codes to the vault and try and find this Hank and Joanna but we can take the risk and dive right in.”
Echo looked at her and raised her eyebrow. “We don’t know how far that tunnel goes. Or even where it goes.”
“No we don’t but I’m confident we can figure it out. I doubt it’ll be too difficult,” Feint adjusted the strap of her bag closer to her arm. She tested the vault wheel and tried to turn it but it was locked tight like she had imagined. So she went over to the keypad and tapped the numbers one by one and hit enter.
The screen flashed green and the door beeped. Noel walked past and spun the wheel and pulled hard. The door creaked as he opened it. The shoot was thin, almost like paper. It was big enough that if a child dived head first into it they could get to the bottom and that was really pushing it.
“Long way down there,” Noel replied staring into the darkness of the chute.
“Yes it is,” Feint replied peeking into the chute as well. She extended both her arms to the two of them and they both took her hands. “Ready?”
“Yep,” Echo replied.
Noel nodded slowly, “I can only assume so.”
“Don’t let go,” Feint replied and they jumped forward phasing through the metal, plastic and everything in between.
Feint had never really used her abilities for as long as she was going to. It felt like holding her breath for minutes instead of seconds. She held it and closed her eyes as they descended. It was pitch black as they passed forward, no light visible not even through the chute. Instead of an aggressive free fall it was just a slow float down.
She started to feel light headed in a muted way and her foot snagged on something in the middle of the phase that snapped her attention back. She wasn’t sure how she knew but she felt them pass through a solid wall and suddenly she knew that there was solid ground beneath their feet.
She let her power go like unclenching a fist and they tumbled forward across smooth floor. Feint let go of their hands and slapped her hands against the concrete taking huge breaths trying to get her bearings again. She felt Echo’s hand on her back but all she could focus on was the massive headache pounding between her temples.
“Easy Feint,” she mumbled. “What you just did wasn’t something any of us would have expected you to do.”
“Yeah. No kidding.” She managed to think to her partner and Echo smiled. “Where are we?”
Echo looked around them taking it in. They were in a giant octagonal cube of a room with rounded edges. It was lined with tall shelves almost like a warehouse. Each shelf had about a dozen or so plastic crates. Within each crate were bound stacks of money. There were so many crates within the vault that Feint couldn’t even begin to count them all. The wall where they came through and three others near it had openings for chutes and they heard a soft clunk as a crate came through. Between two of the chutes was a door that looked sealed shut.
Taking Echo’s hand, Feint got to her feet slowly and motioned to the crates. “Alright. This is a lot. A lot more than we guessed on the surface. Shocked they still deal in cash.”
“That’s how casinos operate,” Echo replied. “Cash changes hands and gets turned into chips. All circulated.”
“Where do you think that goes?” Noel pointed to the locked door.
“Probably right back onto the floor above. But carrying a bunch of these boxes is a fast way to get caught,” Feint said running her fingers through her hair quickly. She raised her phone and stared at where they were in correspondence to her old map and she couldn’t even confirm exactly where they were below the casino. At least not as clearly as she would have liked.
Noel walked toward one of the boxes and picked it up. Popping the tabs on both sides he lifted the top and took out a crisp stack of bills. A bundle of twenties, some neat, some crumpled, some written on and some dogeared to hell and back. But all of it was money. He tossed it back and clasped the lid back on.
“Now that we’re here. What do we do? Shove it in big sacks with a money logo on them?” Noel chuckled but looked to Feint.
She smiled back and shook her head, raising her hand she dialed through some of the channels before resting on channel 3. “Now Noel we do what we’re good at and improvise.”
The Harlequin Library 