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Not a sound was to be heard within the large echoing halls of the main museum building, save for the gentle chorus of muffled snores from the balding on-duty security guard who dozed fitfully in the small kiosk which sat to the right of stone-arched entrance hall.
A well-thumbed novel was propped precariously upon the top of his rounded belly, an old pair of steel—framed reading glasses sliding in a gradual descent down the bridge of his pudgy nose. A half-drunk mug of cocoa, rapidly cooling in the chilly evening air, sat next to a bank of flickering CCTV screens which depicted the usual labyrinth of twisting corridors and glass display cabinets.
A fluorescent cleaning triangle was perched carefully in the middle of the floor as an overall-clad attendant whistled an out-of-tune ditty as they mopped meticulously from side to side.
The heavy steel door of the main exhibition corridor buzzed open immediately upon the presentation of an updated security pass, and the antiquated cleaning trolley rattled through with a dull clatter on the polished wooden floor.
The cleaning attendant paused in clear view of a nearby security camera– which, according to her previous recce of the premises, swept the exhibition cases in a 180 degree arc every 40 seconds– and offered the slightest of nods of the head to indicate that she was in position.
“About time.” Jason Haynes muttered accusingly as his dextrous fingers ghosted swiftly over his laptop keyboard, infiltrating the museum’s security network with a stream of code, successfully overriding the existing programme and issuing a lockdown command to the main circuit.
The CCTV screens fizzed momentarily with static before turning jet black.
A rattle of computer keys from Jason and a recorded loop of activity from the past ten minutes of CCTV immediately began broadcasting on the bank of screens. The instantly noticeable figure of the cleaner appeared to still be dutifully mopping the outer exhibition hallway; a typical scene which to even the keenest of observers would probably not even question why Nadia, the usual cleaner, was slightly behind her usual meticulous schedule.
It had not taken much to hack the company email system and inform the usual staff that they would not be required for the evening due to a private function.
“Medics One and Two, all clear.” Jason smiled broadly at his successful intervention. “Ten-minute lockdown period commencing now.”
Upon his command, the cleaner suddenly dropped her mop to the floor and promptly shed the baggy navy overalls and a cropped blonde wig with an evident look of distaste before stowing them safely upon the trolley. Clad in a skin-tight black bodysuit and swiftly donning a balaclava which obscured all but her dark eyes, she swiftly merged into the inky shadows of the corridor and rapidly made her way towards the securely locked circular display zone which housed the infamous blood-red, heart-shaped ‘Hertzig’ diamond, mounted upon a simple gold necklace setting; the pride of Holby Museum’s growing collection.
“Medic Two to Control- I’m in position,” Serena Campbell’s voice whispered excitedly, unable to keep the tremor of raw adrenaline from her hushed tones as she crouched low beneath the sweep of the lasers which criss-crossed the threshold of the locked circular zone, unable to quite believe what she was about to do.
“Medic One, do you read me?” Jason’s tones crackled impatiently in Bernie’s ear. “You should be in position by now. Remember, we now only have a nine-minute window before the backup generator cuts in and the CCTV feed restores itself.”
“Medic One to Control… little bit tied up at present.” Berenice Wolfe rolled her eyes in fond exasperation at the immediate stream of simultaneously whispered chiding that she received in her ear from both her partner and her nephew.
Dangling precariously in a climbing harness from the ceiling of the display zone, she made a mental note to never make a drunken suggestion of burglary in Serena Campbell’s presence ever again.
She should have known that the seemingly impossible mission would have proved irresistible to the vascular surgeon’s scheming mind, especially once she was acquainted with the reason that Bernie, the usually stoic trauma surgeon, had been nearly reduced to tears at the sight of the posters advertising the exhibition of the fabled diamond.
Serena Campbell was at heart, a scientist; a methodical researcher, dedicated in her endless pursuit of knowledge. She believed first and foremost in the sacred trinity of precision, method and, most importantly, prior planning, and had not left a stone unturned in her dogged plans to reclaim the precious Herzig diamond.
It was amazing, she had found, exactly what you could purchase with a fair degree of anonymity on the internet.
It was only when Bernie had found herself scaling the roof of the museum in the dead of night and cutting a hole in the metal roof of the central chamber that she had possibly begun to think that the attempted jewellery heist was possibly well past the conceivable realms of madness.
The Hertzig diamond had belonged to her late father, a gift bestowed upon him from his travels in the far East as a Colonel in the British Army which he had set in a necklace for his wife upon his return to England. Upon his unexpected death, the beautiful gem had mysteriously vanished from the Wolfe family home, resurfacing several decades later in the private collection of one Richard Southlands, a supposedly close friend of the family who, upon request, was able to produce supposedly authentic documentation which supported his claim that the aged Colonel had sold him the diamond several years prior to his death.
When Bernie had learnt of the exhibition, knowing that Southlands had finally been persuaded to loan the gem to the museum in return for an exorbitant lending fee, it had become the sole thought which had occupied her mind, an obsessive hunger which had consumed her every thought, right up to the point where a worried Serena had pulled her out of theatre mid-operation, concerned about her distracted behaviour and uncharacteristic lack of focus.
Several bottles of wine and half a packet of nervously-smoked cigarettes later that evening, Bernie had finally confessed the entire tale.
“So you see…” she had mumbled glumly, addressing the swirling contents of her glass, “It just can’t be done. Southlands has the diamond, my father’s diamond, and that bastard will never let it go.”
“And you’re going to let it go without a challenge?” Serena had raised an eyebrow at Bernie’s uncharacteristic lack of fight.
“Trust me, they’d be prising it from my cold dead hands if I had it… we’ve tried absolutely everything over the years to get it back… every option available.” she had muttered grimly, “It’s the only thing that my father truly cherished out of all of his possessions.” She took a deep draught and set the glass down somewhat finally.
“But I don’t have it. So that’s that. Southlands wins…little shit.”
“Well, let’s just see about that…” Serena had set down her glass thoughtfully and patted Bernie reassuringly on the arm. “I may need to talk to my dear nephew first…I may be talented at many things, but jewellery heists aren’t exactly top of my glittering CV. We may be in need of a little more technical expertise on our side if we’re to do this properly.”
Bernie’s flabbergasted expression at her partner’s unplumbed depths of deviousness, almost comical in its wide-eyed shocked innocence, accompanied her resolution to never underestimate the lengths that Serena Campbell, vascular surgeon and hardnosed businesswoman extraordinaire would go towards achieving justice for her loved ones.
“You mean; we’re actually going to steal it?!”
“Medic One!” Jason’s exasperated tones cut into Bernie’s recollections. “We’ve got seven minutes. Hurry up!”
“Right… sorry…” Bernie pursed her lips in concentration and aimed her crossbow at the wall, firing an accurate shot just above the range of the security camera and embedding a metal hook into the brickwork which she carefully tested with her full weight. Satisfied with her handiwork, she leant forward and attached the clip from her harness to the newly anchored wire, slowly winching herself into exactly the right position, like a giant spider ready to pounce upon the glass dome which encased the glittering fly in question.
“Medic Two, I’m opening the main doorway now. Lasers are deactivated, but the pressure pads on the central line of flagstones are not, so do be careful not to trigger the alarm system.” Jason continued to direct the amateur mission from the safety of Serena’s kitchen.
“Thank you, Control.” Serena slid carefully beneath the metal hatches as they lifted with a whir of machinery. She grinned unabashedly at the sight of her lithe girlfriend who was currently dangling from the harness, her athletic frame also clad rather temptingly in skin-tight black attire.
“You know, I could get used to seeing you like that, Wolfe…” she murmured appreciatively as her eyes raked over Bernie.
Jason merely cleared his throat to remind them of his presence. “Haven’t you got a burglary to commit, Auntie Serena? Even though it is merely a reclamation of property belonging to Bernie, it definitely still counts as breaking and entering, not only to say–”
“Yes, thank you for your input, Jason...” Serena muttered swiftly as she set about attaching a set of powerful suction pads to the outside of the glass dome and watched Bernie winch the dome clear to reveal the glittering gem in all its heart-shaped glory.
Serena rummaged in her pocket and tentatively sprayed the aerosol around the stone, double-checking for the presence of any laser beams which they may have overlooked in their preparation. Satisfied that all security devices had been breached, she reached forward and carefully lifted the necklace in her gloved hands, surprised by the weight of the polished set diamond in her hand as she carefully slid it into a bag which was strapped around her waist just as Jason issued a two-minute warning.
Bernie squinted slightly in concentration as she lowered the glass dome back into position and hastily begun the long ascent back towards the small circular hole in the ceiling. With every gruelling tug on the nylon rope which propelled her skyward, she thanked any listening deity for having the self-motivation to maintain her levels of military fitness following her departure from the army.
Bernie’s feet cleared the roof and the unclipped harness ropes were hastily pulled through the hole just as Jason warned them of the thirty second gap until the backup generator kicked into life and rebooted the CCTV systems. She collapsed onto her back, chest heaving with exertion as she allowed herself twenty seconds to recover; hands trembling with adrenaline as she hurried towards the metal service hatch which she had scrambled up, and made her way towards the rear of the building.
Serena swept from the room and huddled in a small alcove as she fought to scramble back into the voluminous overalls and don the blonde wig that she had been wearing before shedding her disguise for the first time.
“Control- All clear!” Serena whispered triumphantly into her headset as she pushed the rattling trolley towards the main atrium once more.
Jason smiled at his laptop as he spotted his aunt reappear simultaneously on the CCTV images from where she had occupied ten minutes previously.
“Perfect timing.”
“Night, Gary.” Serena flashed her most stunning smile of thanks at the security guard who had briefly stirred at the loud beep from the restarting monitor to his right. She slid her security pass across the desk and walked nonchalantly towards the main exit.
A bleary mumble of thanks greeted the return of her pass before the beleaguered guard returned to his customary slumber.
A distant low growl from the hired sport scar permeated Serena’s hearing as she attempted to walk along the dimly-lit backroad to the prearranged meeting point with her pounding heart threatening to break through her ribs and escape from her chest it was thudding so wildly.
The stolen jewellery felt as heavy as a lump of lead in her pocket.
Bernie sped around the corner and pulled up sharply in front of her, headlights blazing angrily into the murky gloom of the dingy street.
“Nice work my darling, I could quite get used to the criminal lifestyle!” Serena hopped into the passenger seat and met triumphantly claimed Bernie’s lips in a searing kiss.
“Now, let’s get out of here before anyone notices it’s gone!”
Five minutes later, following a swift change of clothes and some equally hair-raising driving on Bernie’s part as she threw the Porsche unforgivingly into the tight bends of the narrow backstreets of Holby, they quietly re-joined the luxurious champagne reception event which was being held in aid of raising funds for the trauma unit in the boardroom of Holby City hospital.
Their subtle exit earlier in the evening had scarcely been noticed by the assembled benefactors, certainly a brief enough absence to still provide a solid, reliable alibi for their evening’s movements, especially as Serena chose that precise moment to firmly affix her most charming smile to her lips and set off in search of a likely target to squeeze for an extra donation to the trauma bay.
Bernie watched her partner-in-crime moving effortlessly around the room and working her distinctive brand of magic with a broad smile upon her lips. She smirked contentedly to herself, still in a state of disbelief at the evening’s antics as her slender fingers reached downward and protectively cradled the blood-red diamond which now hung in pride of place from a long chain around her slender neck.
She would never underestimate the broad scope of Serena Campbell’s enviable range of capabilities –legal or otherwise– ever again.