Fast Fingers...

[Isolde]

Desiree nodded and let out a soft laugh.
"Story of my life, handsome," She joked back to him,"Just when I'm about to land a big one, he slips the line."

Shaking her head she tilted it to look up at Marcus and added,"I guess I am just going to have to start using better bait."

Sobering, she leaned in close and asked,"Have you seen all the security precautions around here? The US Mint should be so well protected. Still, if any one could pull it off it would be our lady."

She paused, losing her train of thought. She was close to him and the smell of his cologne had pushed whatever thoughts she had out of her head. Standing back and mentally shaking herself she muttered,"I have GOT to start getting out more."

[Edited by Isolde on 12-31-2000 at 12:21 AM]

 

[Angelus]

Marcus looked down at Desiree as she said something about the security of the place but found that he could not concentrate on anything except for her. All that he wanted to do was take her into his arms and kiss her deep and hard on the lips. He then shook his head, trying to clear those thoughts away and said, "Well at least the security around this place is good, should be no problem for our lady though."

Desiree laughed lightly when he said that and he looked down at her, "What did I just say that is so funny?"

 

[Isolde]

Desiree laughed again.
"That waitress really got to you didnt she," She said, feeling a tug in her chest at the thought,"I have never seen you so off track before. Though I cant say I blame you...she IS very pretty."

"Yes, the security is very good and so was the security in the store itself a few days ago. I think you are right about this, Marcus. I also think that I am going to be shelling out some heavy cash to a certain contact of ours."

Shrugging, she said,"Oh well, if we can catch her, it will be worth it. Then you can find your next obsession."

She was looking at the waitress who was standing in the middle of a group of men as she said it. "Like he already hasnt," She thought to herself.

 

[Angelus]

The waitress Marcus thought I had forgotten all about Mac. He turned to Desiree and said, "Yeah, catching her will stop this obsession that I have with The Devil but I think that I already have my next one."

He looked down at her with a smile but saw that she was looking elsewhere. He didn't mind it in the least, just having him near her was enough from him. The only problem that he was having was that it was distracting him from the one thing that did matter that night, catching The Devil.

 

[Isolde]

Desiree swallowed hard. "....but I think that I already have my next one." She found her heart dropping at his words.

Looking up at Marcus and giving him a half smile she said,"Listen, I have to take a trip to the powder room before this thing starts so if you will excuse me..."

Moving faster than was neccessary she rushed off to the ladies room and pushed open the door and stepped in. Breathing a sigh of relief as the door shut behind her, she was also glad to note that no one else occupied the room.

She looked around. The place was more luxurious than her whole apartment and the thought that that seemed a bit screwed up crossed her mind before she stepped up to the mirror and reached in her evening bag for her lipstick.

She didnt really need a touch up but she had to have some excuse for leaving that upruptly. As the lipstick touched her lips, she got a good look at herself. Face flushed, eyes wide and her breathing erratic.

God, she was a mess. Capping the tube she threw it back into her bag with more force than she should have. "Get ahold of yourself, girl," She said to her reflection,"There has to be a better explanation than the fact that you have fallen for that hard headed, arrogant loner." Her reflection looked back and seemed to say,"So what is it."

Sweeping her hair back from her face with her hand she groaned. There was only one thing to do. Monday she was going to have to go into Captain Harrison's office and ask for a change of partners. Neither Marcus or the Captian should be surprised with the request-it would just be another turn over of partners to them and no one would ever have to know.

She would then be out of his life except for seeing him around the station. "And I wont have to see him tripping out with that waitress of his." Damn, where had that thought come from? This was crazy. He was still the same person that irritated her day in and day out-nothing had changed. But she knew she was lying to herself.

Staring hard at her reflection, she said sternly,"Missy, you are first and formost a cop. And you have a job to do. Now get out there and do that job and dont let anything distract you from it!"

Grabbing her purse from where she had laid it, she headed back for the door.

 

[Angelus]

Marcus watched Desiree as she practically ran to the ladies room and knew instantly that he had done something terribly wrong. You fucking idiot he thought you have fallen for your partner. You know that it is wrong so snap out of it. She will probably want to get as far away from you as possible now, congratulations you are an idiot.

He walked over the bar and asked for a large glass of Coke and after paying for it sat back and watched the crowd, wondering what to look for. But all that kept on popping into his mind was Desiree's face, he knew at that instant that he was in trouble.

Just then there was a bell tone and everyone started to walk towards the main auction hall. Marcus sat there for a couple of seconds and then thought Oh shit, what a time to lose a partner

 

[Isolde]

Desiree opened the door just as the bell to signal the start of the auction started ringing.'

"Shit!," She said to herself,"If I blow this both Marcus and the Captian will have my head. Both of them want to catch this jewel thief more than anything else."

"Whereas all you want is....," A voice echoed in her head before she cut it off. "Dont even think it," She said in response and hurried towards where she had left her partner only to discover him not there.

"Damn," She muttered,"He must have gone in already." She was about to follow the crowd when she caught sight of him at the bar. The moment she did all her resolve faded away. He did look good in that tux.

Mentally gritting her teeth against anymore intrusive thoughts, she walked over to him and flashed a smile.
"Okay, all ready to go. Sorry if I held things up."

 

[Angelus]

"Good, you take one side of the room and I'll take the other, that way we can look out for our lady." and I can concentrate on police work he didn't add.

Both of them walked into the room and split up with Marcus walking over to the left side of the room and Desiree walking over to the right. Marcus then stood against one of the walls and watched everyone and everything that happened as he calmly sipped his Coke.

Just then a thought about Desiree slipped into his mind and he tried to shut it out, Concentrate you idiot, The Devil is in this room!. He shook his head and then began to scan the faces, trying to find the one person that didn't fit and the only answer that he came up with was himself.

 

[Isolde]

Desiree gratefully separated from her partner and forcefully got her mind back on track.

She scanned the faces around her. It had to be a woman, that much they knew but other than they were on thier own.

She tried to search each female in the crowd but her gaze was always pulled to the waitress. She didnt even know her name which was probably just as well. Right now she didnt like the woman and she didnt trust herself not to use her position as a cop to get at her.

"Oh stop it," she told herself and broke off her gaze to look elsewhere around the room. Then another thought broke in. "What does a ghost look like?"

 

[Angelus]

As he scanned the room Marcus thought that he recognized a face. He looked again and then he remembered her, it was a face that was hard to forget, that of the waitress Mac. She was sitting next to Earl, chatting away and laughing at some obviously stupid rich joke.

The auction then started and the first item, a very rare painting by Monet was brought out. The bidding started at a furious pace and soon was up to a quarter of a million. Jeez Marcus thought these people have more money than they have sense or brains. It was then that he saw someone get up off their chair and watched Earl as he walked out of the room, following his every move.

He then decided to follow him, to see what he was up to. He walked out of the room but when he got out into the main area he saw that it was deserted there was nobody there.
"God damn it, how the hell could he just vanish!" Marcus said before he turned and walked back into the room.

The first thing that he noticed was that two more people were missing, the waitress was one of them and more importantly so was Desiree.

 

[Tyriel]

8:17pm - Razor schemes

Razor glanced down at his watch, as it clicks over to 8:17pm. He sat quietly in the corner, away from Mac, keeping a keen eye on the two coppers. Damn shame that she's a cop. Some piece of work that. he thought to himself as pulled his mobile out from under his jacket. Marcus Thompson eh... wonder what his partner's name is continued the internal monologue as he keyed in Earl Holloway's number. A few seconds later, Earl excused himself from Mac's present and wandered away from the auction room to answer his phone.

The two coppers were obviously not here to get involved in the purchases. It was not going to be easy to make any moves with suspicious eyes surveying the room. But neither the Devil nor Razor was gonna let such matters hinder their plan. A grin appeared on Razor's face as he watched Marcus disappear from the room to follow Holloway. Predictable. And as planned, Mac departed for the lady's room at 8:19pm, and with her Marcus' partner.

Party time. he thought, as he slipped into the shadows, the busy auction continuing on in the background.

 

[Tyriel]

Aside: Before the auction - obtaining the code

Razor handed the glass of wine to his father.

"Thanks." said Victor Steiner, gratefully accepting the goblet from his son's hand. "Karl, you stay here for a moment, I want to show you some of the diamonds Earl Halloway wanted me to sell for him. See if it's the real deal. I'm gonna go upstairs to the vault to get it. You stay right here alright?"

Razor nodded. Fool. he thought, as he watched his father disappear from the crowd, the glass of wine in his hand. As soon as his father was out of sight, he gestured Mac over.

"Having fun?" he asked, gently laying his hand on her waist, pulling her near. Almost cheek to cheek, he whispered to her once more - "Dad's gone up to the vault. I coated his glass with fluorescent powder. In my left jacket pocket are a pair of polarized sunglasses. When you get to the vault, put them on, the four digits on the pad should show. Shouldn't take you long to pick the code then." Razor felt Mac's hand slipped under his jacket, her delicate fingers brushing over his pecs.

"I'll catch you later sweetheart." grinned Razor, planting a soft feather-like kiss on Mac's lips.

 

[LittleRedDevil]

Before he could leave her, Mac slipped her other hand into his coat, pulling him close. To anyone who might notice it looked as though she coping a feel. She was actually slipping his high tech gizmo into her purse.

She pressed closer, her lips moving near his ear, "Are you sure this is going to work?" She thought she felt him shiver at her whispered words.

"Very sure. I've never been more sure of anything in my life. I'll see you at the car." he pressed his lips to the side of her neck and was gone. She felt cold at the withdrawl of his body. She had to shake herself mentally. This was no time for her body to turn to pudding.

She slipped out of the room, and into the ladies room. Those cops made her nervous. She had only come close to getting caught once, and that was enough for her. She glanced at her reflection. Her cheeks glowed rosy red, and her eyes sparkled. Mac convinced herself it was because the kill was so close, but she was lying to herself. She didn't give herself time to ponder anything. She had to get into place before the lights went out.

 

[Isolde]

Desiree smiled as she saw the waitress excuse herself and leave. "Now, I wonder just what you are doing," She muttered to herself. She took a moment to try and examine why she was following the girl-proffessional or personal-but then she told herself she was a cop and followed all leads.

Keeping behind her, Desiree followed close enough to watch her every move but not close enough to alert her that she was being followed.

The woman went into the restroom and Desiree sighed and rolled her eyes. All that stealth to find out that the woman was answering the call of nature. "Crap," She said-frustration evident in her voice and she half turned to go back to the auction. Then a small voice inside stopped her-her intuition had kicked in and she turned back to the door of the ladies room.

She asked herself a question she had asked earlier in the evening. "Just what IS a waitress doing at a function like this?" That question dug at her and she slipped into a niche that afforded her a view of the bathroom without giving away her position.

"Lets just see if we can answer that question," She said, a smile playing about her lips.

 

[LittleRedDevil]

When Mac exited the bathroom, a prickle of apprehension raced down her spine. Someone was watching her, she could feel it. Time for a little damage control. She wandered away from the stairs and away from the auction, looking at all the art work she had already seen.

"Oh my," she breathed, "This is lovely. Maybe Victor will give us something like this for a wedding gift." her laugh was almost ditzy. "No, Victor Steiner would give something much more impressive to his daugher-in-law."

Razor would probably kill her for the lie, but it covered why she was here. A little nobody waitress couldn't get in, but the future daughter-in-law of a multi-millionare, that was a different story.

Mac continued her journey, stopping now and then to admire art work, and carvings, making silly girlish comments. It was almost time for the lights to go out, and she still didn't know how she was going to get up those stairs without the eyes following her.

 

[LittleRedDevil]

OOC: Going away for a few days, don't let it get to out of control without me.

 

[Isolde]

OOC: We promise it wont...what is the thread without The Devil eh?

IC: Desiree's jaw dropped to the ground. She couldnt believe what she was hearing. It explained why the woman was here certiantly and Desiree felt almost stupid following her now. The real Devil could be getting ready to rob the place right now all because she had a fit of jealousy.

There, she had said it. She was jealous of how Marcus obviously felt about the waitress. At that thought her eyes flew open and she put her hand to her mouth. Oh, no...Marcus. This news was going to kill him. She could tell how much her partner had fallen for this woman and her heart dropped at the thought of how hurt he was going to be when he found out.

She knew she should be happy at the news that the woman had been taken out of the picture but all she could think about was how it was going to affect Marcus. She was also torn about whether she should tell him now or wait...she wanted to be the one to tell him-she would rather the news be broken to him gently than he find out like she had.

She had been distracted with her personal thoughts for just a few minutes but, when she looked up, the woman was gone. "Probably gone back to her fiance," Desiree thought,"I have got to find Marcus."

She pulled herself up short. "No," She corrected herself,"You have got to get back in there and start acting like a cop, damnit!" She reentered the auction room-her heart a bit heavy at the thought of the news she was going to have to give her partner later on.

 

[Angelus]

Marcus followed Earl closely, wondering where he was going. As he watched Earl and saw how nervous he was he knew that something was going to go down. Earl walked over to the door to the basement with Marcus following close behind. When he reached the door to the basement he thought it odd that Earl was no where to be seen.

He must be down in the basement and I have to find out why, Marcus thought as he walked through the door. As soon as his foot touched the top step the lights suddenly went out and Marcus said the one thing that came to his mind, "Shit."

Just then he heard a noise behind him and started to turn but before he could he was smacked in the back of the head and he fell down, unconscious.

 

[Isolde]

Desiree slipped back into the auditorium as the auctioneer was holding up a beautiful necklace for bidding. Her eyes slid along the rows of people and she noticed that several people were missing namely, the waitress, the jewler's son, Earl Halloway and her partner.

"Damn, damn, damn, damn," She cursed at herself,"You idiot! You are supposed to back up your partner not let him go trapsing off to get hurt. You are not a rookie for heaven's sake...now stop acting like it!"

Just then the lights went off and she could hear the excited and fearful voices around her moments before the auctioneer came over the loudspeaker.

"Ladies and gentlemen," He said,"Please remain calm. We are checking out the problems with the lighting right now and they should be back on shortly."

"Yeah," She thought to herself,"But what will be missing when the lights come back up?"

She made her way slowly out of the auditorium-following the wall by feel. "This is a hell of a time to lose your partner, Ashton," She said to herself as she reached the doors and exited into the dark lobby. She had to make it to the safe where the real prizes were for she knew The Devil was not going to go for the smaller pieces-they were a waste of her time.

Trying to remember what the lobby looked like and the layout of the place-she headed towards the stairs and the safe. "Marcus, please do not do anything stupid and get yourself killed," She muttered under her breath as she begin to climb.

 

[Angelus]

Marcus groaned loudly as he opened his eyes but all that he saw was total darkness seconds before he heard a voice, "Good night cop." and someone smacked him hard over the head, causing a little trickle of blood to go into his eye.

 

[Isolde]

Desiree paused-frozen as she thought she heard noises coming from one of the side doors-the one leading to the basement. She was about to put it down as imagination when she heard it again.

Moving off of the stairs and to the basement door, she heard a thud and a voice. A man's voice and it sounded vaugly familiar. "Good night, cop," The voice said and her heart lept into her throat. "My god, Marcus," She thought and wished she had her gun. Damn evening bags.

Kicking off her high heels, she picked one up and walked quietly down the stairs where she saw two forms one bent down on the floor and the other standing over the first with a blunt object raised for another hit.

With a rush, she headed for the attacker-her shoe heel comming down on his head. With a grunt of pain, the man, out of reflex, threw his elbow back and into her ribs causing her to loose her wind and crash into the wall in back of her.

Stunned for a bit she could not grasp what was going on but knew she had to get up before the guy got his second wind or she and her partner were dead.

 

[Angelus]

OOC: I can't do a thing, I am pretty much dead to the world so to speak.

 

[Isolde]

OOC: Ok..I was thinking you were half conscious. Sorry, my bad.

IC: The figure above her swung the weapon aiming to crash down on Desiree's head. Her relexes told her to move and, luckly her body obeyed.

Ducking to one side, she kicked out her foot and swept the man's feet from under him. She heard him drop with a very satisfactory thud on the ground. Springing up she looked over to where Marcus lay. "God, please let him be breathing," She thought and then she felt herself floored from a slap in the face.

"Damn," She thought as her head reeled from the force of the slap,"Keep your mind on your work, girl. You arent going to do either of you any good dead."

As the man went to swing again with the weapon, Desiree rolled and caught his legs with hers as she did. He fell, just missing her body. She quickly rolled the other way and was on top of him, her elbow in his windpipe, her breathing hard from the exertion.

Looking closely at him in the gloom she recognized Earl Halloway and she growled at him.
"You had better hope my partner is still breathing and in pretty good shape, asshole," she said pressing down on his windpipe so that he made choking, gasping noises,"Or you are not going to be able to live to regret what you have just done. I will see to that personally."

It must have been the pure anger in her voice or maybe he sensed how much she ment it as it was fueled by her new feelings for Marcus. Whatever it was, the man just lay there looking at Desiree with fear in his eyes and not attempting to move an inch.

"Now, I have to incapacitate you...it says so in the cop's handbook. But I dont have any handcuffs so I guess I have to go with plan B." With that said, Desiree picked up the weapon, which happened to be a blackjack, and swung it at Earl's temple. Earl's body went slack under her and she smiled. She knew he was going to have a hell of a knot there when he woke up.

Rolling him over, Desiree knew she needed to tie him up in case he came to again but she did not want to go stumbling around in the dark looking for something. Sighing she reached up and tore the straps from her dress off from her shoulders and used one piece to tie his hands while the other was run though his bonds and tied to the water pipes just to the side of them.

Satisfied with her work she now turned her attention to Marcus. Kneeling beside him, she turned him over gently-running her hands up and down him from his legs, across his chest and to his arms checking for any damage. Finding none, and feeling his heart beating as her hands went over his chest, she heaved a sigh of relief.

Next she put her hand up to his head and felt blood. Not good but it could have been worse. "We have to get him out of here and to a hospital," She thought,"The hell with The Devil. The Captian can pour on the heat all he wants but I wont let anything happen to Marcus."

Gently she took hold of his shoulders and shook him. "Come on, partner, let me see those beautiful eyes of yours." When he did not stir she spoke a little louder. "Come on, Marcus dont you die on me...I wont let you, damnit, wake up!"

 

[Angelus]

Marcus' eyes slowly opened when he heard Desiree shout out his name, he looked at her and put his hand to his head. He instantly regretted it though and felt as if his head was going to explode. Marcus looked up at Desiree with concern and said, "Hello there beautiful. We seem to meet in the weirdest places, don't we."

Desiree just smiled at him but when he started to move she put her hand firmly onto his chest.

 

[Isolde]

"Oh no you dont, Partner," Desiree said as she gently pressed him back down to the ground,"Not until you agree that we are going straight to the hospital to get you checked out. I am sure you have at least a slight concussion."

When Marcus opened his mouth to protest, Desiree held up her hand to silence him.
"The Devil can wait. You dont honestly think that tonight is going to be her last heist do you? And I will take care of the Captain." "Again," She added silently but did not say it.

"I will have to because I am pretty sure you are going to be staying the night in the hospital."