Chapter 48 – The Killer and the Thief Part 1
[Hannah, Age 20]
[Earth]
Hannah cautiously walked through the streets of the warehouse district under the cover of a moonless night. She made her way from shadow to shadow as she stepped deeper into the territory of a Russian arms dealer who controlled most of the gun running on the eastern seaboard.
Alexi Kuznetzov.
He had started his takeover of smaller arms dealers about ten years ago after being stationed in the US as a diplomatic official from Russia. Since then he had consolidated and supplied most large weapons deals east of the Mississippi. As a thief, Hannah had been making his life miserable for the past year, sneaking into various outposts and stash houses to steal money, jewels, whatever else of value she could find. But this location was going to be her biggest score yet.
Hannah crept around a large warehouse, counting the guards on nearby roofs and dodging regularly scheduled patrols of guards who were trying their worst to hide the fact they had SMGs hiding under their coats. She had spent the past week watching the patterns of patrols, incoming and outgoing trucks, and general site hubbub, so her movements were precise and timed with practiced efficiency. She melted into the shadows of the towering buildings as she moved behind the warehouse to the loading docks.
Box trucks were moving in and out with a frequency that some would describe as extremely suspicious for 1am. The dock was alive with activity as people loaded large unmarked wooden crates onto the waiting trucks. Each truck was filled with a driver and an armed passenger as they sat idling, engines quietly humming in anticipation of a journey. Several armed guards walked the dock “facilitating” the work, shouting out orders to the equally armed dock workers.
Excessive. Hannah thought to herself. But, I guess when you work for an arms dealer, everyone gets a gun.
Hannah turned her focus to a truck parked on the far end, freshly loaded and ready to move. There was nothing obvious to give it distinction from the rest of the fleet, but to her trained eyes she could see the telltale signs of a reinforced body, bullet proof glass, and a set of run flat tires. This truck was special. She didn’t know why, or particularly care what was being loaded in there, it was all too large for her to steal anyways. Also, it wasn’t what she was after.
The only reason this truck was important to Hannah was because it was the only one with a consistent schedule. Like clockwork it would return at 8AM where it would remain parked for the entirety of the day, untouched by anyone. Then come evening, workers would load it up under heavy supervision. After that, at about 1AM exactly a driver would get in the truck and disappear into the night to make its mysterious late-night delivery before returning at exactly 8AM the next morning.
The only reason this truck was important to Hannah was because she had cut its brake lines several hours earlier.
At 1AM on the dot Hannah watched with nervous excitement as several dock workers slapped the back of the truck to let the driver know it was good to go. The driver put the truck in gear and quickly pulled out, turned down the back alley picking up speed, and drove straight into a neighboring warehouse with a loud crash. Several dock workers and their guards jumped down to investigate the unusual event.
Hannah was on the empty dock in seconds. She glanced at the cameras on the outside of the building as well as the ones that were on every corner of the dock, careful to move through their blind spots as she made her way through the door and into the warehouse proper. She immediately hid behind a large shelf stacked high with more unmarked wooden boxes. Hannah let out a small sigh of relief.
First part done, she thought with a glance at one of the boxes that was partially open on the bottom shelf. She peeked inside.
Ak-47s. A lot of AK-47s.
The warehouse was alive with activity and seemingly unaware of events happening outside. She peaked out around the shelf, listening to the sound of forklifts moving, orders being shouted, and workers talking as they loaded and unloaded different crates. She glanced upward at the scaffolding that ran atop the warehouse ceiling. Armed guards with rifles stared down below, watching the workers like hawks.
Now for the fun part.
Hannah slinked and moved through the busy warehouse like a shadow. She was the ghost who haunted your peripheral vision, always out in the open, but still hidden in plain sight.
She danced between towering crates that turned the warehouse into a wooden maze. She fell in silent step behind a trio of workers as they moved on to their next station – none the wiser of her presence - till she disappeared behind a pile of packaging supplies. For every action that took place in that warehouse, Hannah had an equal and opposite reaction that moved her deeper into the belly of the beastly warehouse, completely undetected. The camera’s that lined the ceiling no doubt caught her, but they never truly saw her. She blended into the nightly activity of the warehouse with a perfect undetectable grace as she silently crept her way towards the front offices.
Sneaking in through the back dock was her easiest point of entry. The front entrance was all locked doors and heavily armed guards which ruled it out as a viable option, plus they would never expect her to come at them from a busy and well guarded dock.
She made her way undetected through the chaos of the warehouse until she was forced to stop by a door she couldn’t ghost her way through. There was one entrance to the office suites at the front that required keycard access. She squinted at the armed guard who leaned against the wall, a bored expression on his face and a keycard dangling off his belt.
This was her one hiccup. She preferred to go undetected, leaving no trace. It made for a better story and a more impressive resume in her mind. But sometimes these things were unavoidable.
A forklift came whizzing by her hiding place, carrying an oversized load of wooden crates. Hannah took this opportunity and pushed over a small nearby crate.
Whoops. She mused to herself.
The crate crashed to the ground, spilling out hundreds of rounds of ammo, but more importantly catching the attention of the bored guard. He yelled something incoherent at the fleeing forklift driver and Hannah took slow steps back, blending into the limited shadows of the poorly lit warehouse.
The guard moved to the fallen crate to investigate the damage when Hannah gave a muted “Pssst” from the shadows. He turned around, gun raised, taking slow tentative steps towards Hannah’s hidden spot between two enormous crates.
Hannah put three muffled shots in his chest and dragged his body deeper into the darkness which hid her.
Fuck, this guy is heavy, she thought with a strained grimace as she shoved him into one of the empty crates, sliding the lid back over.
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She waited for a long minute, unsure if anyone was paying attention to the cameras that undoubtedly saw her. She watched the guards patrolling the scaffolding above, leaning over the railings to stare down, their posture radiating boredom.
Doesn’t look like anyone saw, she thought to herself, a small victorious smile creeping onto her face.
Hannah palmed the keycard, swiping it over the lock and opening the door half an inch to peer inside. No guards.
Hannah pushed inside and climbed up the stairwell inside to the second floor and another locked door.
She opened the second one, poking her head out into the hallway of the front office suites. Hannah quickly ducked back inside as a guard patrol rounded the corner at the far end of the hallway. She pulled out her gun and pushed herself up against the wall of the stairwell.
Hannah had the blueprints of the warehouse and knew the paths through the front offices like the back of her hand. What she didn’t know was how many guards or what their patrol schedules were like. At least for inside of here.
Based on Alexi's other operations, her best guess was five-armed guards. Two patrol units that worked in pairs, plus one additional, who guarded the door to her target.
Hannah’s breath stilled as the guard patrol walked past the door to the stairwell and down the hallway, rounded a corner and disappeared out of sight.
She moved into the empty hallway, turning to follow the patrol.
The offices were simple. Gray carpet, boring white walls, and obnoxious bright white light from the ceiling that gave everything a pale look. No blending into the shadows here, so her best best was to move quickly and quietly till she could get to a semi-secure room.
She peeked around the corner that the patrol disappeared behind to see they had come to a stop in the middle of the long hallway. They guards were talking to a different armed guard who was leaning against a wall next to a large set of out of place double doors.
Her target was inside the room behind those doors.
Luckily, she didn’t have to go through the front door. Hannah peered around the corner, watching as the two patrol guards left, leaving the man guarding the door by himself. Hannah watched for 10 minutes as the man tried, and failed, to stay alert. Leaning back against the wall he slowly began to tuck his chin and close his eyes. Not asleep likely, but definitely not alert to the world around him.
Hannah silently crept to the neighboring office, the door right in front of her. She pulled out her lock pick set and had the door open in half the time it took her to pull out her lock picks. She carefully shut and locked the door behind her as she moved into the office.
It was a simple office that showed signs of little to no use. There was a desk, a filing cabinet, and a couple of chairs. Hannah doubted that 90% of the offices in here existed for anything more than show.
Hannah walked along the neighboring wall to the office she was trying to sneak into. She dragged a chair up to a small return vent that was shared with the office next door and peered through. No one was inside.
Hannah gave the wall a few testing raps of her knuckle. A small smile slid on to her face as a hollow sound rang out.
These cheap shitty warehouses are all the same she mused to herself, pulling out a small drywall saw from her pack. No insulation, no reinforcement, just a shitty office thrown up for show. She spent the next ten minutes quietly sawing a Hannah sized hole through the wall, stepping through with a victorious smile.
The new room didn’t match the motif of the rest of the office building. Someone had heavily decorated this office. The walls were painted a deep dark blue, lined with art she imagined Alexi had had gained through illicit means. The floor was a rich mahogany, covered with large cozy rugs. A bar made up the entirety of one wall opposite two small couches that surrounded a large tv on one end of the room.
Hannah walked over to a large desk that took up one side of the room, and then looked past it at a large painting that hung on the wall behind it. It was some knock off Rembrandt.
Hannah’s heart was beating nervously as she stepped up to the painting.
I did it, she thought to herself with a smile.
Now was the easy part. All she had to do was break into a state-of-the-art safe that she had spent the past six months and all of her money learning how to crack and she would be five million dollars richer. As soon as she found someone to fence the diamonds, that was.
Alexi was infamous for only dealing with diamonds. Originally, Hannah had assumed he kept them at his tightly guarded mansion, but that mission had proved a complete waste of time. Hannah only made it out with a few thousand dollars and several pieces of “imitation” jewelry.
After more research, she found out where he really kept them. He had a slew of warehouses in the packaging district, and Hannah had been monitoring each one. This was the only one he stayed at. It was also the only one that had enough guards to rival Fort Knox.
Originally, she figured the heavy security was due to it being a weapons packaging and distribution warehouse, and that was definitely part of the reason. It was also because this was where he kept his diamonds.
Hannah pulled down the painting from the wall, revealing a large built-in wall safe behind it. She stared at it for a long moment.
This was a different safe.
The safe she had spent months researching, learning how to crack, was gone. It had been replaced by something with a digital keypad and a retinal scanner.
When the hell did he replace it? Why did he replace it? Did someone sell me out? Hannah had spent most of her money getting the information on exactly what sort of safe he kept in here. She clenched her teeth in anger.
If that piece of shit informant sold me out-
An explosion interrupted Hannah’s train of thought. Why the hell are things exploding?
The explosion rang out from somewhere down below immediately followed by a cacophony of gunfire.
I’ve got to get the hell out of here.
Hannah looked around first at the door, then at the Hannah size hole in the wall. No windows made for shitty options.
She sprinted across the room just as the office door swung open with force. Five men in full tactical gear brandishing SMGs pushed into the room, followed by a sixth man in a well-tailored gray suit.
Hannah froze as she felt red targeting lasers hold her in place. She slowly turned her head to stare at the man whose office she was occupying.
Alexi was tall and had a menacing scar covered face that seemed to be the stereotype for arms dealers. His face went from anger, to shock, to a menacing smile as recognized what he perceived as a lack of threat in the office.
“Well well well…” He mused, taking slow steps towards Hannah’s frozen form. “Finally, I can get some answers.” He said, grabbing Hannah by the neck and slamming her against the wall. He pulled out a gun from his waistband and pressed it to her temple, his grip on her neck slowly choking the life out of her.
“Who the fuck do you work for?” He roared, fixing Hannah with an icy stare.
“I… Don’t…” Hannah tried to say, but his grip around her neck tightened with every word.
“Don’t fucking lie to me! Tell me now. Who are you working with? Who is attacking me?”
Hannah’s mind raced.
Of course, of all night’s, this had to be the one that some asshole attacked the warehouse and ruined her job. Was someone else trying to steal the diamonds? Did her informant sell the information to multiple people?
That’s it, that dick informant just made it to the top of my “to kill” list. Hannah grimaced as Alexi slowly strangled the life out of her, unsatisfied with her unresponsiveness.
Her eyes darted around the room as the edges of her vision went black. A red faced Alexi stared back at her, and his five guards kept their weapons trained on her.
She looked past the group as a shape materialized in the doorway behind them.
Someone else.
A man about her age now blocked the only exit. He was clean cut with brown hair, a strong jaw, and dangerous eyes. She’d argue he was handsome, but with her brain gasping for air it could have been a trick of the mind. He was out of place in the world of tactical armor and fine suits. He wore a tight fitting floral Hawaiian shirt, like the ones you might find at a tourist gas station that he only buttoned up half-way. In his hand he held a small Makarov pistol he had probably taken off one of the guards.
What concerned Hannah the most…
…the man was drenched head to toe in blood.