Beloved Burden - MileApo

Chapter 17 ~ choices ~

It was a few days later when Phil finally asked Richie to patrol floor 59 and in an effort to keep Tan safe and out of the way he had sent him out with the armoured vehicle again. 

Now that the big day had finally arrived, Richie couldn't help but feel anxious, he just wanted it all to be over, he wanted to get his money and leave. 

Kiri and Kan had arrived the night before and they were presently in the penthouse with Chit. Only Chit and Phil knew that they had arrived because Kiri insisted on being present when Richie was caught in the act.

Chit had set up the link to the concealed camera so all they could do now was watch and wait and Kiri's IT people had fixed the system so that if anything tried to get in, it would allow access up to a point but not let them get any further, the clients data was safe and that was the important thing.

They had to allow access so far or the person or people who Richie was working with would know they had been rumbled and it would make it harder for them to be traced and apprehended.

Richie went to his office to retrieve the thumb drive and placing it carefully in his pocket he walked towards the elevator to go up to the next floor. In his heart he knew what he was doing was wrong, he wasn't a bad person just desperate but his deep rooted hate of the wealthy overshadowed his ability to reason.

He had studied the floor plan upstairs on the days when he'd worked in the surveillance room and he knew there was a blind spot, that's where he would insert the drive then he just had to wait until he got confirmation from Chai Son.

The plan was to walk in there, do a walk round to make sure the coast was clear then insert the drive before continuing his shift as normal, it would look too suspicious if he walked off the job.

There would be questions asked and of course he would plead ignorance then after several days he would resign saying he had found a better paying job elsewhere before disappearing for a few months. He hadn't told anyone about his mother so they couldn't trace him through her, it wasn't the best ever plan but it was all he had.

Richie walked out of the elevator on floor 59 and straight into the office where the servers were all whirring away, it was like something out of a sci fi movie but he hadn't been through all this shit to admire the technology. 

At this point, Kiri, Chit, Phil and Kiri's security went down a floor and waited outside the offices while more security were upstairs watching the webcam, as soon as they gave the signal, Kiri and the rest of the guys would go in and arrest Richie.

Meanwhile Richie was walking up and down the aisles, he passed the blind spot and made a mental note of the place where he would insert the driver then he continued to walk around the large office, up and down, up and down before starting again from the other end.

Soon he reached the blind spot again and this time he walked into it and out of shot of the cameras. It was now or never so taking the thumb drive from his pocket, he wiped his prints off it with a tissue before looking around for the usb port.

ah, there it is, he thought as he reached forward to insert the drive, his heart was pounding and his hands were clammy,

"you don't have to do this Richie" a deep voice spoke behind him making him jump, he hadn't heard anyone approaching.

"I have no choice" Richie said.

"we always have choices Richie" a reply came back at him.

"turn around slowly" Chit said, his weapon aimed at Richie.

When Richie turned around he came face to face with Chit, Phil, and a tall man wearing a dark suit and three other guys who looked like security but he didn't know them.