“This is Officer Gerard Dunn! Suspect has been spotted running west of the room!”

Everyone looked up and faced the chief. Everyone waited for his order.

“What are you waiting for?!” he exclaimed before charging out of the room. Everyone followed his lead as they sprinted through the hallway.

“Officer Dunn! Where are you!” the chief had called out on the radio.

“I’m currently engaged in a” the officer had begun before stopping abruptly.

“Engaged in what?” the chief called out. “Officer, respond!”

All that was heard was static over walkie-talkie. Everyone was at the edge of their toes as they waited for a response, sprinting through the maze of twists and turns that made up the Tower of London. The only information they had was that the suspect was heading west.

Suddenly, the voice began again. “I’m engaged in a-AH!”

“Officer! Are you okay?!”

All that was heard over the walkie-talkie was it being dropped to the floor. No bang or any loud noise. Just a fall onto the ground. And after that fall, only static could be heard coming through the channel.

“Shit!” the chief exclaimed. It expressed all their frustration and confusion. What had exactly happened? He opened the walkie-talkie and began to give orders to the Army Reserve, making them monitor all possible exits and the entire perimeter.

When he had finished orders, he was irate to find that an officer carrying a backpack had joined the chase late.

“What is this, school? Where the fuck have you been?” he asked in anger.

“E-exploring the other hallways, sir!” he responded in distress. “I came as soon as I got the message.”

“Useless,” he muttered as they went through the hallways again. As they approached the exit, they saw no signs of the thief. They turned the last corner with eager anticipation. This was it! Either they would catch the thief running away or the Army Reserve would be outside with them in handcuffs. There’s no way for someone to outrun the officers of the nation.

But, when they turned the hallway, a nervous feeling crept into their hearts as they saw no one in the hallway. There were no signs that someone had been running through, no opposing footsteps or opened doors.

All they could do was hope that the Army Reserve had caught them. None of them saw the irony in their statement. The cops resorted to optimism instead of the thief! No one doubted for the tiniest second that maybe they had gotten away. The implications of that thought were too much for them to handle.

As they reached the end of the final hallway, they pushed open the entrance door. With a loud creaking, the doors swung open. Immediately, they were faced with the Army Reserve pointing their guns at them. Upon seeing their identity, their weapons were set down.

“Where is he?!” the chief demanded.

“No one left the building,” one of the men said.

“You mean to tell me that the thief was running through the west hallway just to stay?! No, there’s no way. He had to have left!”

The Army Reserve man was intimidated by the stern and loud voice of the chief. “M-maybe some of the other soldiers caught him.”

“They would’ve radioed it in if they did,” Charles pointed out calmly, trying to deescalate the situation.

The chief was breathing in and out at a rapid pace. Never in his life had he been more confused or infuriated. It was as if the thief had turned invisible. Apart from Officer Dunn, they spotted no one in the west hallways. Furthermore, the Army Reserve, who had been monitoring the entire perimeter, reported seeing no one leave.

As the chief stood there, the officers whispered among themselves.

“Chief, what are we going to do?” Charles asked. “We’re losing valuable time.”

“I need to think!” the chief exclaimed as he closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. Time was of the essence. All the officers knew this, so they had to find the thief or risk international ridicule.

They had no other threads to pull, leaving the only one they had. The plane ticket.

As that realization sunk into the chief, he jolted his eyes open.

“Alright, we’re going to set up a cage operation. No one within 3 kilometers will enter or leave without being thoroughly screened and monitored. Furthermore, I need a team to check as many people as possible in this area for anything suspicious. And lastly, I need a team at the airport to screen every passenger! I also need people going into the museum with thermal cameras to see if he’s hiding out!”

“That’s too many people to check,” the officer who had arrived late pointed out. “Scotland Yard doesn’t have that many resources.”

“Scotland Yard doesn’t, but the country does,” the chief replied. “This is an attack on the nation! The Army is at our disposal!”

“That’ll take too long to coordinate,” Charles said.

“Leave that to me, but I need teams out right now,” he said as he clapped his hand to emphasize the importance. Everyone looked at each other as the chief walked away and began to make calls to more powerful people in the line of command.

“Operation Cage with me!” the same officer shouted out in an attempt to take initiative. He raised his hand as a small group of people swarmed around him. Seeing an ample number, he began to walk away to begin the operation.

“Airport screening with me!” Charles declared in the same manner. Another group had formed before they hopped into a vehicle and began to head to London Gatwick.

Other smaller groups formed with a mixture of Scotland Yard officers and Army Reserve officers. In a frenzy, they went to do their established roles. Every second of inaction was a second that the thief had to disappear.

Most of the officers looked at the crowd that were still collecting the fallen money on the floor. A crowd that large was both a risk and a logistical nightmare.

What if the thief had gotten into that crowd?

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

That was a thought that crossed all their minds. It would be impossible to identify anyone in that crowd, making the thief virtually invisible.

----------------------------------------

Arriving at the airport, it was anything but quiet. All flights were grounded, leading to angry and rioty customers. From the outside, you could see big lines forming near the front desks. Accompanying every person was luggage either on their backs or their side.

“Why are the flights grounded?!” One passenger demanded. “And why aren’t we allowed to leave?”

“Sir, please calm down,” the clerk demanded. “The government has declared a state of emergency. At this moment, we don’t have any other information other than an order to ground all flights.”

“I paid hundreds of dollars for first class and this is how I get treated?”

“Sir, there is nothing we can do about the flight. The best I could do is offer a $100 compensation.”

“I should be on my way to see my family right now!” the passenger screamed out. The people near him had covered their ears due to the volume of his voice.

The clerk sighed as he continued to try and calm down the one of hundreds of unhappy customers. It wasn’t just this one clerk; all of the airport staff had been trying their best.

The only thing that helped the situation were the people that were glued to the TV screen. The headlines that followed were Raining Money and Army Reserve Deployed At Tower of London. There was no official statement on the situation, but the anchor could only speculate what was going on.

“Our best guess as of now is that this is a marketing scheme, however the cards dropped aren’t branded. Our only clue is the unique Joker design,” the anchor said. Appearing on the broadcast was a picture of said card. A man in a green hood drawing a bow. He was looking into the distance and smiling.

“Wait,” the anchor said as she pressed her ear. “We’ve just received an anonymous tip from a source in Scotland Yard that there has been a theft!”

The whole airport turned their eyes to the screens. For a small moment, all voices ceased as they listened for the words that followed.

“The Koh-I-Noor diamond has been stolen!” The anchor exclaimed. “And as of now, they have no idea where the thief is!”

“Are we about to witness the largest heist in history?” The news anchor asked. “And will they catch the thief? One that seemingly has millions of dollars to spare and has eluded the police.”

“Is that why our flights have been delayed?” One person asked. This sparked a wave of people asking various questions to the clerks. It was odd really. If the news just found out, then the clerks know as much as you. But sadly, critical thinking is a skill many lack. Now the question is if you, the reader, have figured out my plan. Do you lack it? I’ve left clues for you to follow, so as you read on see if you can figure it out.

Moving back to the story, Charles was not having a good time. The announcement coincided with him entering the airport. As a result, he was swarmed by the mob of frenzied people.

“Step back from us or you will be arrested!” Charles yelled out. Yet it wasn’t loud enough for everyone to hear. Many did move, but the few that didn’t were met with a taser. Needless to say, Charles was not playing any games.

With the help of airport security, they were eventually able to go to a more private room.

“I’ll skip all the formalities since time is of the essence,” Charles began. “Were all flights successfully grounded?”

“All except one that was taking off when we received the announcement,” the head of security said.

“That’s fine. They wouldn’t have been able to get here in time anyways.” Charles said. “And no one has left the premises?”

“No, no one has left,” he said. “All exits were monitored by security as well as security cameras. No one left.”

Charles nodded his head as he took out the ripped ticket. “This was found at the scene. Do you have any idea which flight this may be?”

The head of security carefully took the ticket and began to inspect it. It only displayed the flight information on the ticket, yet it was ripped at about the quarter mark. “UA1” he read out.

“There’s about 15 flights currently grounded that have their flight number starting with 1.”

“So how many passengers are we talking about?”

He clicked his tongue as he began to estimate. “Maybe six hundred?”

“Six hundred people?” Charles repeated in exacerbation. All the head of security could do was nod his head.

“Okay, begin to screen everyone and check their luggage. The thief has to get the goods out of the country somehow.”

“Alright sir,” the chief of security said. “I must warn you that it’ll take a while. Furthermore, we need more resources to watch the exits.”

“The army will be arriving here shortly,” Charles reassured.

“Okay,” he said. “Shall I use most of our resources on this than or have them keep guarding the exit?”

Charles had to think about it. The longer they waited, the bigger the chance was that the thief would’ve escaped. But if they didn’t guard the exit, then the possibility of him slipping out was very real. After all, I had evaded ground zero.

This decision weighed on him like a ton of bricks. Picking the wrong one meant that the nation’s jewels would be lost.

It took him five minutes to come to a decision. “Better safe than sorry. Keep monitoring the exits until the military arrives. My team will assist in the screening.”

The head of security nodded before leaving the room. Charles began to pace the room as he tried to clear his head. There was simply too much going on, too much pressure and too little time.

He couldn’t help but feel as if he was the one that was trapped. A small chuckle escaped him as that thought came into his mind. Who would’ve thought that the officer would be the one who was trapped instead of the criminal. In this case, time didn’t favor him.

With a final shake of his head, he opened the door to leave the room. As he twisted on his handle, his walkie-talkie buzzed.

“Charles! Do you copy?” the chief asked frantically.

He brought up the walkie-talkie inches away from his mouth. “I copy.”

“We’ve been tricked!” the chief exclaimed. The world seemed to zoom out for Charles as a loud buzz began to form in his ear.

“What do you mean tricked?” Charles asked.

Suddenly, another voice could be heard. “The person that made the report wasn’t Officer Dunn!”

“What?” Charles asked. “That’s not possible! It came from his walkie-talkie. If it were a fake one, then the real one would’ve responded.”

“Well the real one is waking up in front of me!”

Unbeknownst to Charles, the camera in the room was pointing straight at him. It had been watching him ever since he had entered the room. Their private conversation wasn’t so private after all.

“They’re onto us.” I said as my attention diverted from the laptop. I looked at the driver and passenger seat of the car.

“It took them that long?” Blake asked. “Man they need to step up their game.”

“Pride happens before the fall,” I told him.

“Wow, I didn’t take you for a Biblical person Zack,” the driver said with a chuckle.

“I’m not; I just know a few things,” I grumbled.

“You say that, but you’re constantly taunting them,” Blake said. “The hypocrisy is crazy.”

“I’ll listen to your opinion right after you steal the Crown Jewels.”

“Well, in a sense, I did.”

“No, I did all the hard work and planning so I stole the Jewels.”

“Whatever,” Blake said, giving me the finger. I dropped my jaw playfully. “How far are we?”

“About four kilometers mate.”

“I’m American, please change to miles,” I deadpanned.

“2 and a half miles,” Blake said. “Roughly.”

I couldn’t help but grin. I’d actually done it! I pulled off the impossible! Robbing an entire nation!

A warm feeling passed through me. A feeling of joy. People say that revenge won’t satisfy you. Those people are wrong. It brought me immense joy.

“2 and a half miles,” I repeated.

“It’s too late for them,” Blake said. “They’ll never catch up.”

I slightly nodded my head as I peered out the window. Staring at the serene oceans, I reminisced on the events that had led up to this joyous moment.

Yet I couldn’t shake off an odd feeling. It was an ominous one, one that was a prelude to something bigger. Reaching into my pocket, I took out a small piece of paper.

‘Now what exactly are you?’