The Thief and the White Knight - 9

"This is our best bet for getting inside," Pia said, tapping the plans she'd gotten for the building. It had taken a day to obtain them, and the security information for the building and the office they were interested in. Then she'd gone over everything with a fine-toothed comb to find the best ways to enter. After doing that, she'd paid a personal visit to confirm her plans.

"Damn, this place is more secure than Fort Knox," Tito muttered.

"Not too surprising, it houses a lot of high-priced legal firms and there are pricey jewelry shops on the second floor. The office we're hitting belongs to an attorney who works for some very dubious people according to what I found out. He's also a noted collector of Civil War memorabilia, including the papers we're looking for, my contact said."

"Why keep them there?"

Pia shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe he feels they're safer there just because of the security on the place. Maybe someone's tried to steal them before, even the man who hired me: actually, if that's the case, probably the man who hired me."

Tito continued to study the plans then shook his head. "Damned good thing it's you leading this expedition, not me. I'd end up in jail before I got past the first level and I don't think that would sit too well with Harry."

"So you haven't told him."

"He'd chain me up and throw away the key if he even had an inkling about this," Tito replied with a snort of amusement.

"If it was to the bed—" Pia grinned.

"Not our thing, thank you very much Ms. Kinky."

"Not mine either," she admitted as she went back to gathering up what she needed to take with her.

"Question," Tito said, turning to watch her. "When you do get the papers you're still not going to know who wants them because you'll just be handing them over to your contact."

"That's not a question, that's a statement." She chuckled when he flipped her off. "And technically that would be the case, but I'm going to tell my contact that I want to be in on the delivery and he'll get the papers then, not before."

"Pia, that's asking for trouble."

"I'm not planning of being visible, just there so I can follow whoever picks them up."

"You like living dangerously, don't you? I think we need to discuss that idea further but not until later. We should get going now."

Pia cocked an eyebrow then nodded.

* * * *

"Whoever invented fire escapes should get the thieves medal of honor," Tito whispered.

"Quit chattering and get the first steps down," Pia grumbled as she handed him a telescoping rod with a hook on the end.

"Clever. Much easier that climbing on a dumpster, assuming that was even a possibility in this case." He extended the rod, snagged the bottom step and pulled. The section slid down with barely a sound, much to his relief. "Dopo voi, la mia signora," he said with a bow.

Pia rolled her eyes as she started up the fire escape, stopping just before she reached to first landing to disarm an alarm that would have alerted the security people that they were there. Three stories up, she took care of another one and the last one just before they reached the roof.

Tito followed silently, watching for signs of anyone entering the alley.

Once on the roof, Pia crossed to the small structure housing an entrance to the building. "Relax, have a smoke, this is going to take a while," she told Tito.

"Don't smoke, not sure I can relax, but I'll go over there and twiddle my thumbs."

"Clown," she said with a small smile before setting to work.

It took a bit longer than Pia had planned to breach the security on the door. The information she'd obtained had neglected to mention a couple of items but that wasn't surprising. Unless the people working for the company responsible for setting up security were rank amateurs, they never let everything be known. No website was totally secure as even the government had discovered a time or two, much to their regret. She always used what she found out as a guideline, nothing more.

"We're in," she said finally after beckoning Tito to join her. "There are security guards patrolling the building and they don't do it on any planned schedule so that will be our next hurdle." She passed him the plans for the building. "I marked storage and maintenance rooms with an 'X'. Undoubtedly they're all locked but getting through those will be a no-brainer. Just stay close, keep your ears open for footsteps and the elevators, tap my shoulder if you hear something and above all be quiet."

Tito nodded. "I can do that, and unlock the doors if you need me to."

She smiled at him. "I know, I trained you well, grasshopper."

"You did, Mistress Po," he replied, pressing his right fist to his left palm as he bowed.

"Idiota," she muttered as she opened the door and stepped onto the flight of stairs leading down.