Continuing from Part 1.....
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Removing the bread from the tip of her sai, Jules kept the weapon away and walked towards the counter. Pouring hot water into her mug, she filled it almost to the brim and dumped a tea bag inside.
'Earl Grey again?' Ben's voice called out, implying that he'd had his eyes on her after the little stunt with the sai. Jules shook her head and smiled. 'How did you know?' Not like she didn't know how he knew. She drank Earl Grey every morning.
'Please,' Ben shook his head. 'I might not be as good as your mom and dad, but I am observant enough to know that's what you drink every morning. Idiot,' this was under his breath. Jules caught it and pretended to take offence. 'Hey, back at cha.'
'Brat.'
'Backatcha.'
Ben thought hard. 'Donkey.'
'Backatcha.' Jules took a sip from her mug. The tension between them was now gone. Ben groaned. 'Don't you have any other lines?'
Jules smiled. 'Don't need to. "Backatcha" works pretty much most of the time. Look, time out. I really need to get started on my work, okay?' she grabbed her mug. 'I'll see you in a bit.'
Ben cocked his head. 'Julie?'
'Yeah?'
'What happened last night?' Ben asked. 'Where were you?'
Jules thought a while. 'Maybe someday, I'll let you know.' She headed up the stairs to her room. Closing the door behind her, she set the mug down on her sidetable and plopped down onto her bed. Ben's question about her whereabouts last night rattled her. Her entrance last night was either very obvious (which wasn't possible--hey, she was a sucessful thief after all, managing to steal stuff others tried and failed to steal) or he was a better agent than she thought he was. Yeah, that was probably it.
The reason why Jules couldn't come out with a proper excuse to answer Ben was because she herself wasn't sure. She'd snuck out last night, traisping around her neighbourhood, and had fun just being alone. It was quiet at night, and with everyone sleeping, it seemed so peaceful. She was suddenly reminded of an event three years ago...
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3 Years Ago....
'And again, why are you stealing my mark?' Jules frowned in annoyance. Her partner was just as irritated. 'Gee, I stole your mark? More like you stole mine!' he shot out. Jules raised an eyebrow. 'There's no need to get so pissed off, Andrian.'
'Oh really?' Wyatt Andrian frowned. 'Then what do you suppose I do, Electra?'
They were crouching on the balcony outside a hotel room, hidden by the darkness of the night. Upon meeting Wyatt Andrian, youngest master thief, Jules had introduced herself as Electra, not daring to use her middle name, just in case anyone who knew her parents found out about her as well.
Jules was grousing. The target was hers. Hers, dammit! And now thanks to the timely--Not!--interruption of Mr. Andrian over there, she had to share her credit. The target that day was Kalein Rothbart, owner of Rothbart Jewels, who was staying in the town's most expensive hotels situated by the seaside, The Diamond Treasure, owned by his partner Miguel Rodriguez. The two were going to host a 2-day exhibition on the different diamonds and gems that were found around the world.
It was there that Jules was planning to swipe the Evelyn gem, a large diamond found in Rothbart's mines, which he named after his daughter. Somehow the Andrian guy decided that the Evelyn gem was his mark as well, and he started messing up her plans.
She was doing perfectly fine when security came in and arrested her just as she was about to blow the vault in the hotel safe, where the diamond was kept. Well, okay, she couldn't blame them; she was planning to steal diamond anyway. But then she realized that she'd been caught because of Wyatt Andrian's glitches [apparently he cut the wrong wire, setting off the alarms instead of shutting them down.] Even then, she could still take care of herself. She was just on the verge of taking out the two goons that guarded her when Mr. Cocky came in and rescued her like some freakin' damsel in distress! Now that stung.
After escaping the goons, the two thieves decided to work together to get the gem: 50-50 for each of them. Eavesdropping on Rothbart's conversation with the Head of Security, they found out that for safekeeping, Rothbart was going to keep the diamond in the vault in his usual room--one of the Presidential Suites on the fifth floor, complete with balcony, hot tub, and a marvelous view overlooking the sea.
Dumping their bags and equipment behind a large bush some distance from a section of the sea directly under Rothbart's suite, the thieves took only the necessities: Wyatt, a couple of handguns, ammo, and some other electronic devices to break the safe; Jules, her sai, quite a number of sharp, silver handled knives and, as back up, a SIG P226. Both wore bulletproof vests under their clothes. Using a rope, Jules and Wyatt then proceeded to scale the wall to Rothbart's suite balcony five floors up, the balcony being the easiet and least protected way in.
So here they were, crouching outside the balcony, shielded by several potted plants. It was the perfect hiding place. Rothbart never comes out to the balcony just in case there was a sniper waiting for an opportunity to kill him, and they probably weren't expecting any company, considering the lack of guards to guard the place.
'Electra,' Wyatt hissed. Jules turned around. 'What?'
'Nothing,' he shrugged. 'Just wondering: why so quiet?'
Jules shook her head, but stopped and pointed. 'Hear that?'
Someone was rapping on the door. Inside the room, Rothbart, who was having a soak in the hot tub after depositing the gem, quickly pulled on a robe, and hurried to answer whoever it was. Opening the door, he saw a waiter pushing a trolley with some plates on it. 'Room service, sir,' he explained. 'You ordered the lobster pate with the Caesar salad and wine?'
Rothbart nodded. 'Yes, just leave it here.' He gave the waiter a tip. 'Thank you.' Closed the door behind the waiter. Looked around before pushing the trolley into the bathroom. Closed the door behind him again. Wyatt blinked. 'He eats, he drinks, and soaks in the hot tub at the same time? Doesn't he have anything better to do?'
Jules resisted rolling her eyes. 'Come on. We can go in now, steal the gem, get out of here.' She opened the screen door and entered, Wyatt right behind her. 'Wait,' he held out a hand as they passed the door to the bathroom. Jules frowned. 'What now?'
Giving a soft chuckle, Wyatt crept to the door and locked it. He grinned at Jules, who threw her hands up in the air, half impressed, half exasperated. 'Can we turn to the situation at hand now?'
'Of course,' Wyatt said, pulling out a small device from his pocket. Attaching the device onto the safe door, he pressed a button and there was a soft click as the safe door opened to reveal the Evelyn diamond. 'There you go,' he whispered, pocketing the gem. Jules was now indignant. 'Hey,' she hissed. 'I thought we said fifty-fifty!'
Wyatt gave her a roguish smile. 'I guess I lied.'
'You little--'
Then they heard it.
An unmistakable rapping on the bathroom door. 'Hey, someone, let me out of here!' Rothbart yelled through the door. Silence for a moment. Then a loud slamming sound from the bathroom. Alarms came on. Rothbart started laughing like a maniac.
'Shit!' Wyatt cursed. 'He had a panic button installed in the bathroom of all places? Doesn't he have anything better to do?'
But the worse was yet to come. Suddenly it seemed that someone was trying to crash the front door down. 'You inside! Open up!'
'Help me!' Rothbart, hearing the commotion, decided to join in. 'Secure the Evelyn gem!'
Panicking, Jules hesitantly looked out the peephole in the door. She saw what was coming and immediately ran back towards Wyatt just as half the door broke open. 'Gee,' she said sarcastically. 'They've got a freaking battering ram!'
Both thieves exchanged looks. 'Crap!'
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