The first place we went after leaving the casino floor was the employee locker room, where they had extra uniforms available in case there were any wardrobe malfunctions.

The team cycled through one at a time, taking all of the extras and leaving Maguire and myself no choice but to break into the lockers. Thankfully, this was significantly easier to do than breaking into just about anywhere else, and we were able to find attendant jackets easily. With those we could blend in just about anywhere without arousing suspicion by not looking like the security personnel. They even had their badges in their pockets.

“Seems fortune is in our favor today,” I whispered to Maguire as we slid the jackets on.

Once again, I used the compact to keep track of the rest of the crew so Maguire and I could stay back a distance. We walked confidently through the hallways, using the badges attached to the jackets to get through a few security doors on the way to the vault.

Of course, they had to find the vault first, which meant breaking into the security room. The badges only got the crew so far before the hacker had to get to work on the electronic lock. The security and surveillance system was state of the art, designed to effectively run itself, so more often than not, the room was empty.

It only took two tries for the hacker to gain access to the security office. They were into the system minutes later, able to see everything going on in the casino. I didn’t envy their job, guiding the rest of the crew to safety while also trying to figure out where the vault was. It was highly unlikely that the vault’s location would be marked on any of the maps, so the hacker had to figure out the context clues while also making sure the rest of the crew didn’t get caught. It made my brain tired just thinking about it.

That meant there would be a lot of wandering through nondescript hallways and exchanging quick, but polite nods with the actual employees. While this helped with some of the brain hurting, it also left me with no small amount of boredom mixed in with my attentiveness.

“Any idea what security looks like beyond this point?” Maguire asked.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“My guess would be a proprietary mix of tech and magic, along with some human security. I also highly doubt they have anything important kept anywhere obvious. Trying to find the vault is one heck of a gamble with more risk than reward.”

“That's why we are here.”

“Too true, too true. Looks like we are on the move.”

“Indeed we are. Finally.”

The crew slowly wound through the twists and turns of the halls, stopping at each intersection to get directions from the hacker. There were a few close calls with the roving pairs of security officers, but after an annoyingly long stretch of time, we made it far enough into the complex that I knew we had to be getting close to the vault. If any alerts were being tripped, the hacker would silence them. They would be able to do so with no issue until a rule was broken. Then things would get more complicated.

The signs were subtle enough that even I missed a few, but even Maguire could read them. Whoever set up the protections around the vault had done a truly amazing job. If the hacker hadn’t been hard at work in the security office, we would have been long since flagged as threats by one of the three systems set in place. Something in the floors tracked our movements, while the walls scanned us for weapons and the ceiling read our intentions. At least, I think that's what the ceiling was doing. It was hard to tell and I wasn’t overly concerned about it.

I was much more interested in where the crew was headed. One by one they ducked through a seemingly unremarkable doorway. Gesturing to Maguire, we did the same a few doors down the hall from them, and I continued to watch their progress through the compact. I did have to give it a few shakes to shift its focus to one of the crew members that was in the vault room, but once the image settled, I had a clear view of what was going on.

The crew was down to three. The smaller figure knelt next to the vault door while a taller figure stood behind them, arms crossed. A few feet away another figure, more masculine and muscular, stood watching the door. The safe cracker, the mastermind, and the muscle.

Maguire tensed beside me as we waited to see if this most vital step of the heist would go off without a hitch. If the safe cracker could pull this off, the heist could be a success. If they failed, it would all fall apart. A literal make or break moment, that probably wasn’t made any less stressful by the mastermind watching over the shoulder. They worked slowly, methodically, and I found myself starting to get a little bored watching them try and break into the vault.

After what felt like an eternity the vault door swung open, and I could finally let go of the breath I had been holding.

“And we are in,” Maguire whispered.

“Yep. Now comes the fun part.”

One by one the crew slipped through the door, and once the coast was clear we stepped out into the hall to follow.