Going Once, Going Twice, Going Never.

XIV - What A Simp

5 days before the job

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"As you know, we have a difficult task ahead of us today, ladies and the non-binaries," I say loudly, to get our group's attention.

Blaise stops playing Minecraft on her MacBook, Cassandra stops killing fruit on her mobile, and Rey and Yuri stop stuffing marshmallows in Alby's mouth. I think twelve is quite a big amount.

Pandora and Ariadne abandon the scarring episode of Criminal Minds they had just been watching, while Dhara takes her bag of popcorn out of the microwave.

When did she even buy microwavable popcorn? How did I not notice we had a microwave in this house?

Kai drapes the blinds because our dear landlady was watching us again, Elara stops painting on her easel and wipes her hands on her painting jeans.

Monique comes to stand next to me at the head of the dining table to address everyone.

"The property auction at the auction house in three hours, and it's the perfect time to get into the camera room. The place we chose for the opening of the tunnel needs to be completely out of range, and the camera in that room has too wide of a scope, we can't create a blindspot," I say, and then proceed to take a sip from my can of Dr. Pepper.

"We're gonna have to remove that camera from the system entirely," Mon finishes my sentence, "And Blaise needs direct access to the security room to take away any evidence of the existence of that particular camera."

I turn to Rey and Dhara, "Suit up."

And then to Cassandra, "You as well."

Then Pandora and Alby, "You both prepare to send Alby in tomorrow as Maria Costa. We need to get that service cart as well," that reminds me, I turn to Minji, "Get our service cart well prepped, tomorrow and the day before are the only days we have, to get that cart into position."

I then face Monique, "I hope you've gotten all the equipment we need right now."

And then I address Kai, "Catch up on some sleep. I need you in top condition on job day."

"What about me?" Yuri asks.

"Get dinner ready for all of us," I smile sweetly.

****

I sit comfortably in my chair in the trunk of our truck, the outside of which is labelled, 'Suzy's Sweets.'

Yuri has way too many friends. What kind of a favour would a caterer owe her?

We are parked in the crowded parking lot of the auction house, next to an identical truck which was actually used to deliver sweets.

Monique sits in the other chair with a monitor in front of her, while the rest crouch in the remaining area.

"Here's the plan, once again. Rey, Dhara, your sole job is to get Blaise into that security room," I turn to Cassie, "I need you to distract whoever is in that security room long enough to get Blaise in and out."

I turn to Blaise, "You sure we can't  access their footage from here?"

Blaise shakes her head, "The system is too protected to access over public network. I need inside access. But I can get a view-only, to not raise alarm."

"Perfect, Mon, Ellie," I turn to the most trustworthy members of the crew, "Monitor the entire situation through the cameras."

Monique speaks up, "Everyone, test your ear pieces every time you enter a room. If you lose access, don't enter the room. Inform me. Capisce?"