Lonely Thieves

Act V, Part IX

Norah's Side (April 14, 11:30pm)

Norah and Ingrid took cover under a staircase as gunshots rang throughout the Hayasaka villa. Raven, hiding behind a bookcase, fired back at Kaname Hayasaka's men while Ingrid provided cover fire. Kaname herself remained standing on the stairs as her men began to corner the three intruders.

"Looks like you let your conscience get the better of you, Ingrid!" Kaname taunted. "You should have tried to get in their way, but you had to play the just cop, didn't you? Don't worry, I'll make sure to tell Grandpa how you ungratefully forgot everything he did for you and betrayed him in his time of need!"

Waving sarcastically at her cousin, Kaname ascended the stairs with a couple of her soldiers as guards, while the rest continued to pin Norah and the others down. Ingrid leaned out from cover to fire, only to learn that she had fired off her last bullet.

"I'm out of bullets, Raven. What do we do?"

"No problem," Raven called out as he pulled something out from behind his back and threw it at the soldiers. "Close your eyes!"

In the next instant, a great light flooded the room, blinding the soldiers who had not reacted to Raven's warning in time. As they panicked from the loss of sight, they were unable to stop Raven, who quickly incapacitated them with stun bullets that rendered them unconscious. The soldiers collapsed to the ground, and were motionless. Norah and Ingrid waited for a moment, then left their cover once they realized the coast was clear.

"Who was that?" Norah asked once they had regrouped. "Your cousin?"

Ingrid nodded. "She never really cared about working, but I guess she couldn't refuse an order from grandfather."

"It's likely she was sent here to retrieve the will the moment Tom Hayasaka found out about the theft of the ruby necklace," Raven suggested. "It wouldn't be the strangest idea."

'If that's the case, then why didn't you use that flashbang earlier?" Norah asked indignantly. "You could have gotten her to tell us where the damn thing is in the first place."

"But now we can just follow her to see where the will is hidden. It might take too long to drag the answer out of her, after all."

"I guess that's true. I don't like it, though."

"Come on, let's get going. We need to find her before she finds the will."

The three ascended the stairs and found a number of rooms on the top floor, all bedrooms. It was surprisingly roomier than Norah had expected, especially when she considered it was only a villa.

"How many people could live here at one time?" Norah wondered. "Hayasaka sure likes to spend money on pointless things."

Ingrid pointed out the master bedroom, which sat in the center of the floor with a door ajar. "Look, she's already inside."

"Think she's found it yet?" Raven asked.

"If Grandfather's told her where the will is, then it's possible. Still, depending on the security, knowing where the will is won't necessarily mean she'll be in and out."

"So you want to wait until she has the data containing the will in her hands?" Norah seemed perplexed. "I can't imagine how we're going to time that in any way."

"It's easy enough," Raven remarked. "Stay by the stairs. No matter what, don't make a sound that'll alert the people inside, alright?"

Raven leaned forward and pressed two fingers up against his temple. Norah noticed his eyes glow a pale green. He stared intently into the gap in the doorway, and slowly approached the master bedroom. When he made it to the door, he hugged the wall, took out his phone, and messaged something. Norah felt her phone vibrate softly in her pocket.