Chapter Text
Carefully, he put his black leather gloves on. His hands were sweating like never before. He had to be cautious, extremely cautious, as this was something of high importance, this was the biggest win of his life, this was the chance he had always been waiting for, this was his job, and he was gonna do it right. Besides, he had already been paid. It wasn't something you could give up on and just give the money back, oh no, this was something he had to do at all costs, mainly because he didn't have the heart to do it. After all, he was paid exactly 1,000,000$ for this, in cash. It seemed like the easiest thing in the world when he was told about it. Honestly, the only reason why he accepted the offer were the money. They looked so beautiful when presented in that silver case, all shiny and carefully polished. All of that was so wonderful and hypnotizing, as he had never seen that much money in one place never in his life. He said "yes" almost immediately, impulsively accepting the offer. All he had to do was get something and that's it, others would take care of it after.
He thought of everything that had happened since he took the job, all in one minute, as if after this it would all be over. His entire life flashed before his eyes and he bit his bottom lip. Everything was as silent as the night itself. This was it.
He reached forward and carefully took it in his hand, the small black box he was ordered to steal. Holding it with one arm close to his chest, his other hand trailed down to his belt, and clicked a tiny button. Instantly, he started moving, being pulled up slowly by a rope tied to his belt. He smiled victoriously. He won, he had it, it was in his hands, the money was all his, he won, he won...
Almost. As he was being pulled up, something fell out of his pocket and crashed straight on to the ground, making what sounded like the loudest noise on the planet. Instinctively he put his hand over his mouth and shut his eyes closed, hoping that no damage was done, that nothing would happen. It didn't. Everything was still the same, still silent.
He let out a sigh of relief and carelessly chuckled. Immediately all alarms got activated, ringing loudly all over the building. Oh shit.
- These things are voice activated?!?!?! - he exclaimed in surprise. He had to leave. Now. He clicked the belt button again and again, as if it was going to make it work faster. When he reached the top, he took the belt off and put it in his backpack, along with the black box. He put the ceiling lid in place, strapped his backpack on and crawled his way out of there as fast as he could. Good thing he was skinny, otherwise he wouldn't fit in these tiny vents.
He could hear loud footsteps below, people running, most likely security guards. He had to leave immediately. Crawling through the same vents he got in, in a few minutes he found the way out. This was it.
He put the black hood on to cover his face and jumped out of the vent straight into a big room. The first thing he saw was a sign. Engraved on a metallic plate, it was written in capital letters "Floor 28: Main Corridor 4". Two more floors to the top. How could he get there? He looked around thinking of a solution. On the left, an elevator! He smiled victoriously and walked straight into it, pressed the "30" button a couple of times and threw a punch at the tiny camera in the corner, breaking the lens.
It was kinda weird, to be honest. He stood so calm and collected in the elevator, enjoying the music he often found annoying, while all hell broke loose outside, alarms and guards all over the building, searching for him everywhere. He wondered: what was inside the black box? Was it so important, so valuable, $1,000,000 valuable? The box was small itself. Maybe there were diamonds inside, or a micro card, a USB containing precious files, maybe government data. Anyway, it wasn't his business. His job was done here, well almost.
The elevator stopped and its doors slid open. The place was dark, really dark. There was nothing there, except from the faint sound of ringing alarms and yelling on the floors below. He stepped out and switched on his flashlight, something he also had on his useful belt. He smiled. His mother gave him that belt as a gift two years ago, of course not for what he was using it, she had no idea. If she knew... Well, she didn't, only that mattered.
The flashlight didn't help much, but it was better than nothing. He managed to find a door, far on the right. It had no doorknob. Instead, it had a valve-like knob, which you had to rotate all the way around to open the door. He did it using the flashlight hand, because there was no way he'd drop that box now. The door was heavy, you had to push it open with your shoulder at full strength, after all, it was a rooftop door. It wouldn't make sense to be otherwise. Finally he walked out of that pitch black, suffocating building. A helicopter was waiting for him nearby, as he and his contractors agreed. He got in quickly and the pilot started the engine.
- You got it?! - he yelled over the noise.
- Yeah, I have it, let's go! - he answered.
- Good job, boy! - the pilot congratulated him and they took off. He could see so many police cars below, people running around in chaos, some TV reporter's vans, cameras, everyone was there, except him.
"Good job, man", he congratulated himself as the pilot did. He had really outdone himself this time.
***
Four hours later he'd delivered the box and got back to his place, of course after he'd dressed himself in his "normal job" clothes, a Starbucks barista. Pathetic. He smiled at the thought as he swayed the silver case around, that beautiful case. He gripped its handle tightly in his right hand though, giggling all the way to his apartment, a washed out place somewhere in a fucked up neighborhood in New York. He was gonna move out someday eventually, and these money would help him do it. Oh, what a happy day it was. He walked home quietly humming a song to himself, somewhere along the lines of "I'm rich, I'm rich...".
He put the key in and unlocked the door. He was greeted by an unwelcoming scream:
- Where the heck were you, Zayn?!