Thieves
Chapter 13 - The Big Coup
They were standing in front of a big store, a jeweler. Jack pressed his face against the barred windows of the two story building, scanning the dark insides. Sis stood in the human's shadow, pressed against the wall. The streets were dark and empty, only illuminated by a few torches. In the night no one could make out that Sis was accompanying Jack and not his slave, still it was best to stay close.
"Okay," Jack spoke, giving the doorknob a silent test - it was locked, "shop's closed 'n' empty." He took a step back and looked up the front. "And the owner is sleeping," he added, satisfied that the windows weren't illuminated.
"Wait," Sis interrupted him, "there are still people in there?"
"Of course! Did you think they'd leave their most valuable belongings alone at night, or carry all of them around the town? The shop owner is sleeping in his apartment upstairs. Now come," Jack said and Sis followed him, through a narrow gap, behind the building into a slightly wider alley, only consisting of the backsides of houses. The moon shone only scarcely around the roof edges into the alley. Dozens of clotheslines, spanned between houses and hung with tatters long forgotten, covered them from views. In the middle of the walkway a groove carried the district's waste and filled the cool night air with a sharp, musty smell.
The back of the jeweler had a sturdy, thick wood door next to a small window that was, even for Sis, too tiny to slip through. Jack peeped into the window. Sis couldn't reach up that far and even the human had to stand on tiptoes to see something.
Jack signaled for Sis to come closer, "Can you hear something inside?"
Sis pressed his ear against the door and listened. There were no voices and he couldn't make out any movements or steps. He tried harder, to see if he could hear something upstairs, but everything he could make out was the constant ticking of a few clocks - pocket watches most likely. He smiled for a moment, proud of his accurate hearing, before shaking his head to Jack.
"Okay," Jack said, pulling out some fine metal tools, "I guess I don't need to tell you that we need to be quiet in there. Just don't move too much, don't touch anything and let me do the work. You just need to concentrate on your task," he instructed.
Sis nodded, "Got it. What shall I do?"
"I need to concentrate in there," Jack said. "You have to watch my back. Keep an eye on the entrance, both, front and back. And hear if someone is coming or moving upstairs." Sis nodded understanding. "If you see someone, don't hide or anything. Just scram. Use the moment and get out. Don't wait on me. We'll meet where I left the backpack. All right?"
The fox nodded again. Now Jack made use of the small instruments. He inserted the picklocks into the lock and began doing... what he was doing. Honestly, Sis didn't know how two metal rods could open a locked door without the key, but eventually the door clicked open.
Jack opened the door only a crack and looked inside, then he gestured to Sis, "You hear something?"
He pushed an ear to the slit, but couldn't hear anything else than the ticking watches.
Jack glanced a last time into the back alley before both entered the house. Once inside, Jack leaned the door closed. It was hard for the human to see in the dark interior, but Sis had, due to his keen fox eyes, no problems navigating the room.
They seemed to be in an office of some sort. The room was rectangular and divided in the middle by a big book shelf. One half was the office, with a big desk, countless drawers and dressers and a lot of stuff like parchments, files, books, framed paintings on the walls, figurines and other decorations. The other half looked like a working place. Four desks in the middle were stuffed with fine instruments, big lenses in long brass swivel arms, a few candle holders and small scales. One wall was lined with big apparatuses, pedals on the bottom and grindstones on top. The other wall held a shelf with numerous small drawers, in front of which a scale stood, much bigger than the ones from the desks.
Through an open door, in front of which, hidden in a small niche, the steps went up, was the shop. Sis could only make out the general forms of the counter and some vitrines. The fox's ears once again scanned the surroundings before he whispered, "So, where are the jewels?"
Jack pointed to a massive cabinet behind the desk. He went to work on the lock while Sis, hidden to his snout behind the desk, observed the doors and pointed his ears upwards. When he heard the click of the lock and the cabinet's door being drawn open with a low squeak, he looked behind him and his eyes went wide.
"What the hell, Jack," he whispered down to the human. "How the hell are we supposed to get in there?" Behind the cabinet's door stood a massive, metallic, black steel safe.
"Just let me do this," Jack whispered back, "and keep an eye out."
Sis turned back. Behind him, he heard Jack work with the massive object. He felt nervous. He knew this was wrong and he just wanted to get over with it and be out of here. He pressed the thought aside and focused on his task - the whole building was still dead silent. Suddenly he heard the, by now all too familiar, sound of a strong bolt being opened behind him. He turned again and made even wider eyes.
The safe, now open, was stuffed with gold and jewels. On the lower shelf a leather bound, worn book on top of a stack of documents, lay next to an enormous amount of gold coins, all finely put together in equally high piles. On the middle shelf three big, fat, massive gold bars sat stacked and leaned against the side. Next to it two wooden boxes, padded with silk, stood upon each other. One filled with golden rings, chains, necklaces, medallions, brooches, cufflinks and earrings and the other one with all sorts of gemstones. Red, green, blue, white.... One particular big one, Sis recognized as amber. He had never before heard of, let alone seen, so much different kinds of gemstones. On the upper shelf three boxes, similar to the ones containing the gems, held golden, finely manufactured pocket watches. One was filled with two pretentious colliers, bedded on a dream of red silk. The main brilliant of the left one was almost as big as an egg. The sight was overwhelming.
Jack turned and smiled at the open mouthed fox. "Neat, huh?" he whispered.
Sis only nodded. While Jack took what they needed, Sis scanned the rooms once more. Apparently they needed not much. Jack only took a pair of brilliant earrings, a golden ring, one golden necklace with a gemstone pendant and one of the white stones from the box on the second shelf.
"Why don't you just take everything?" Sis demanded in a low whisper.
Jack held up the index finger. He was right, thought Sis, There would be time for that later, but now he had a job to do. Once more he took a look through the office, listened for movement and once more he couldn't see or hear anything. He turned again to Jack, who had just picked another one of the white stones. But rather than to pocket it he placed it in the compartment with the red stones. Sis found the action odd and would make sure to ask about it later, but first things first, they needed to get out of here.
Jack closed the safe again and all the wealth disappeared behind two finger's breadth of steel. He wiggled the picklocks and the bolt snapped back, safely locking the treasure again. He made a similar act of closing the cabinet again as well, then stood and made sure they were still undetected before leaving. At the back door he too made sure to silently let the lock slip back into place. Sis couldn't understand why he made such a show, now that they had what they wanted.
Sis and Jack followed the alley's groove for a while, before Sis spoke up again. "So, why didn't you just take everything? Or at least a bit more?" he wanted to know.
Jack chuckled, "Foxy, what do you think would happen, when I'd take everything?" Sis thought, but didn't find an answer. "Within the day the whole city would know. Everyone would look for the booty. The guards would be sniffing everywhere and every way out of the town would be guarded. No fence, within miles, would dare to buy the stuff from us," he explained.
"But they won't do this, because you only stole a little from them, or what?"
"Yes. For two reasons." Jack held up one finger, "One: They're more likely to notice just a few missing things later, than an empty safe. Just enough time for us to be gone. And two:," he brought up the second finger, "Had I stolen their whole gold, they would try everything to get it back, but for only a few things.... They wouldn't ruin their reputation for that. Hell, the owner might even think he was stolen from one of his workers, or not notice it at all, with some luck."
"Hm-hm," agreed Sis. His thoughts still lingered between gold and diamonds in the safe. Suddenly he remembered what Jack did, just before he locked the safe again. "Why did you put one of the white stones to the red ones?" he questioned.
"Ahh!" he remarked, "Foxy's not only got good ears, but good eyes too, huh?" Jack smiled widely and searched for a cigarette. "I'll tell you," he said, putting the cigarette to life. "These jewelers are persnickety. They always count and list their stuff before locking it away. So, let's say you're done with a day of work and you count twenty reds, seventeen blues, twelve whites, and so on. The next morning you check again and everything matches, 'cept you only got eleven whites. What do you think?"
"I'd think I've been robbed," Sis answered.
"Right," Jack confirmed. "Now imagine you check everything and you only got ten whites. Quite the persnickety jeweler you are, you check again and find the white one at the reds. What do you think?" he asked again.
"...that I've misplaced the white one?"
"You are one smart foxy, ya know that?" Jack mocked him again.
"I am no foxy!" Sis barked annoyed.
Jack leaned over him and took a proving look, "Yes, you are." He took the cigarette from his mouth and puffed a white cloud out laughing. "Anyway, This whole trick might not work at all, because, as aforementioned, jewelers are persnickety. But chances are, it might just give us enough time to leave and get the stuff sold. Being a good thief is about the small things."
At the end of the lane, Jack halted. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the booty of the night. "You still know where we left the things?" Jack asked. Sis nodded. Jack couldn't resist the thought that his constant nodding was a little tic of the fox. A cute tic, he thought. "Take this and go back. Wait there for me," he said and put the little treasure into Sis' paws.
"Where are you going?" Sis wanted to know.
"I just got one more thing to do," he said around his cigarette. "And make sure no one sees you, this time. I don't wanna have to find you in this place." And with that he trotted down a different street, leaving the fox behind, his paws full of gold. He stuffed it into his pants and returned to the dark gap, where they had left the backpack.
The place was even darker now, in full night. Hadn't he known the pack was there, he wouldn't have seen it. He sat atop it, in the dark shadowy corner, so that no one could see him. He took the gold out again and rolled it in his paws, hoping it would be enough to buy the equipment and the vixen. If it wouldn't, Sis thought, it was because of Jack. Being a good thief, nice and good, but if he wanted he could have taken more. And where to hell did he just go?
Sis shook his head. He trusted him enough that he believed he had a good reason to do so. He couldn't deny that the human was quite smart. If he needed to do something, it is best to let him do it and not get in the way. So Sis stored the gold again and waited.
***
The wall, surrounding the property, was no big deal to him. Likewise was it easy for Jack to avoid the single watchman, who patrolled the gardens. This district of the town was considered rather safe, so the safety measures on private grounds were quite low. The public areas, though, were constantly patrolled by guards.
He had left the fox behind, because this job was something else than breaking in a jeweler. Jack had to admit, Sis did a good job for his first burglary. And he had sharp eyes, even noticed the thing with the misplaced gem. He sure was a smart fox. But, stealing from a guarded place was still a level too high for him. Not that Jack wouldn't think the fox capable of it, but the risk was too high. Also, would he be seen by the guards, he could tell them a story; were he alone. But accompanied by a fox? In this area?! That would be too suspicious and would only end in too much questions.
He had finally reached the servant's entrance and was preparing his picklocks. The room behind the door, the storeroom, should be empty at this hour. And it was indeed silent inside. The whole building was asleep, he had seen from afar. The whole building, except a lightened chamber at the other end of the mansion. But this wouldn't be a problem, he thought. Probably only the housekeeper, reading at a late hour, or the kids staying up too long.
The lock clicked and Jack entered the storage space. It was dark, the room had no windows, and the air was dry and filled with the smell of hanging meat. There were also a barrel of potatoes, cheese wheels, big enough to weight more than Sis, onions, flour and sausages. This must not only be a regular storeroom, but also the food storage of the house.
Despite the fact, that he didn't came here to steal provisions, he stuffed his bag, but only on the way back. His usual stuff was already heavy enough, and he needed to be quick and silent.
The next room was the kitchen, closed at night. From there he would come into the dining hall and then into the hallway, in which his destination lay. Knowing a contact man was a good thing. An expensive one too, but, he wouldn't break into a house this size, without knowing where to go.
The dining hall was empty and unlit, as was the hallway, except for a torch in the entrance hall that cast long shadows down the corridor. Jack heard for movement, voices, but couldn't make anything out. Having Sis' ears here now would be a blessing. However, he needed to hurry.
Since he couldn't hear or see anything, he decided that if someone were there, he too wouldn't see or hear him. Jack's object of desire lay in the other direction anyway. Still it would be possible that a servant walked the halls. Again: he needed to be quick and silent.
As Jack stood in front of it, a medium sized painting with a decorative, gold covered wooden frame, it was a disappointing sight, boring even. Only a fruit bowl was depicted on the picture. A few bananas, an apple, pears, oranges, something that looked like a shrunken pumpkin and some grapes, decoratively adorned by some leaves and vines, placed on a golden platter.
'Heaven's Gifts', the contact man had said it is called. He had said, he didn't know what the painting showed, but it would be the only one in the hallway, so it wouldn't be too difficult to find. When thinking about heavenly gifts, Jack had something completely else in mind than a heap of stuff that grows on the earth. He couldn't understand why someone would pay as much for this as the contact man had promised.
Anyway, he took the painting carefully from the wall and wrapped it into the blanket he had taken from the backpack. A quick glance and the hallway was still empty. Only the torch at the other end of it still flickered.
It's about time to get out of here, Jack thought. He didn't want to let the foxy wait for too long. He had a good hideout, yeah. But, on the other hand, that barn wasn't too bad a place to hide either. On top of that, they still had something to do after this.
So he sneaked back through the dining hall, the kitchen and the storeroom, stuffed his bag with some ham and a bottle of wine to celebrate the successful job with his foxy and closed the door behind him. The watchman had just turned around a corner, so Jack glanced over the wall, into an empty street and climbed over it, the wrapped painting under his arm. Now he only needed to leave the district without being seen by a guard and the deed would almost be done.
