A Biker and a Thief (2 page)

              The plan was simple. When Tanner showed up to sell his latest haul, Reynaldo would mention a commissioned job he knew about. He'd push Tanner into doing it by down playing his expectation that Tanner would even want to do it with so much attention on him right now, followed up with whether Tanner could even to manage to pull off a job like this anyway. Knowing how cocky Tanner was coupled with the fact that he probably didn't have enough money to skip town and live the lifestyle he felt entitled to without pulling another job first, there wasn't much doubt about him taking the bait. The final sell would be Gigi posing as the buyer flashing around enough cash and wearing enough jewelry to have his mouth watering and leaving no doubt as to the genuineness of the job.

              It took a couple of days longer than usual for Tanner to show up at Reynaldo's. Long enough they'd begun to worry he'd acted smarter than they gave him credit for and beat it out of town. As it turned out they didn't have anything to worry about. In fact, he was so confident that he wasn't even concerned about the additional interest because of the dead store manager. He kept saying how it was the managers fault and bragging he was uncatchable. Reynaldo managed to control his urge to thump the guy and laid out the bait. Gigi played her part perfectly and reeled him in.

              The job they'd offered Tanner really was out of his league, enough so that he recognized he needed help and went looking for the best. He found him too. Jake took a bit of convincing, a larger share of the money and one condition: no guns, but at last he was persuaded to help Tanner pull off the heist of the century.

              The job wasn't just any old run of the mill jewelry store. They were going to rob Morton's. Morton's had been in business for centuries. They catered to the jewelry needs of the top 1% wealthiest clients in the world and were also one of the largest wholesalers for precious gems and precious metals. If that wasn't enough somewhere along the years they'd also become somewhat of a museum. Displaying several of the most valuable stones ever created, some of them priceless.

              Like many other jewelry stores today, Morton's relied too much on technology for their security. Because of this confidence in technology they were guilty of having only one employee open and close the store. It was Tanner's job to take advantage of this weakness. He'd approach the lone employee at closing time as they were locking up, force them inside the store and make them disable the door alarm. If this were a regular job he'd take what he could get from the cases while gathering the real treasure, intel on the security company he could use later to take the store for everything they had, with no one the wiser.

              This, however, wasn't going to be a regular job. Because of Tanner's current high profile status and the possibility that the priceless items they were after might be physically moved out of their reach if they waited, this wouldn't be a two part job. Instead of doing recon on the systems and coming back at their leisure after shutting down all the protections from inside the security company's own network they'd both go in and hacking of the security systems would happen on the spot.

              Tanner could probably have handled it on his own except it was well know that Morton's didn't just use the security company's safeguards but had several top caliber standalone security programs of their own. This is why Morton's was never considered a serious target. Tanner would work on the regular stuff but they were relying on Jake's more advanced skills to free what was theatrically titled "The Treasures of the Empire."

              When the night came everything went off without a hitch. Tanner secured the manager in a storage closet with tape over his mouth and a blindfold before letting Jake in through the back door. They got to work immediately. Tanner cracked his system and had most of the loot he was responsible for loaded into a bag by the time Jake bypassed the last level of security on the vault disguised as a display case that housed the Treasures. He was just zipping up the pack he'd filled when Tanner walked over gun pointing at his head.

              Jake looked up at him with a dumbfounded expression. Tanner just grinned. "Are you going to kill me?" Jake asked. Tanner just laughed, explaining he liked the idea of Jake doing his prison time for him. Scooping up Jake's computer bag he motioned for jake to go into the jewelers office. There he made him kneel with his hands behind his back then zip tied his wrists and ankles. "I'll call the police to come get you as soon as I'm around the block so you won't be tied up too long." Tanner told him as he stashed a few valuables into the pockets of Jake's windbreaker and dropped Jake's computer next to him. "Caught red handed" he noted as he surveyed his handiwork. Jake just shook his head at this pageantry and glared.

              "Do you really think they won't look for you? I obviously didn't tie myself up and don't you think they'll miss the merchandise that's not on me?" Jake asked.  

              "They won't find me" Tanner started to say but was cut off mid sentence as sirens filled the air and blue & red light flashed through the open door. Tanner ran out of the office trying for the back door just as the officers burst in.

              As soon as Tanner turned, Jake reached for the knife he had strapped to his calf and cut his ties. He quickly stipped off the windbreaker revealing the police uniform he'd worn under it. Funny how unobservant people were. If it had been him, he'd have questioned the choice of uniform pants and shoes for a robbery. He walked out of the office into the the chaos of uniforms and flashing lights and right out the back door. Nobody even looked twice at what he was carrying.

              Realization dawned slowly for Tanner as the officers opened the pack in front of him that should have been held the Treasures. Where he expected priceless gems set in exquisitely fashioned precious metals there was nothing but laffy taffy and suckers. He had intended to double cross Jake but Jake had crossed him first.

              Gigi was waiting for Jake at Reynaldos when he got there. Her nerves had been stretched thin and unable to help herself at the sight of him, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight as soon as he walked in the door. Wondering how he'd gotten so lucky, she knew who he really was and still wanted him, he returned her embrace and kissed her.

              Reynaldo being the gentleman he is waited all of five seconds before clearing his throat to break of the love birds and bring them back to the business at hand. The fence had already arranged the sale, so the merchandise was gone and they had cash in hand before even an hour had passed.

              "What now?" Jake asked Gigi "With your share you're a rich woman."

              With her hand in his and a smile on her face she pretended to take a minute to think it over before telling him she thought it might be a good time to take a road trip with a retired biker friend of hers. He laughed and kissed her again before offering her a ride back to her place so she could pack. They climbed on his harley and roared off into the night and into whatever adventure would come next.