Crushed (24 page)

Sophie had been forced into hiding as a "secret weapon" of sorts. All eyes would be focused on Robert, who was a known thief. While he was busy dealing with the guards, Sophie would deactivate the security system. It had been too difficult to hack from outside the house, so they hadn't had another choice. Cleo had provided a solution for this problem as well, requesting that she personally check over Slavsky's security for her guests' protection. While this might've been reason for Slavsky to suspect her, Cleo had a way of persuading him to get what she wanted.

Disguised as luggage, Sophie would be carried along with them until they reached the security room. Robert was to drop her off, and from there she was on her on. In many ways, they were all on their own. Robert didn't have a clear plan about what he was going to do after entering the vault either. Cleo would be busy distracting Slavsky while they operated. Should something go wrong, they were ultimately screwed.

It had taken much convincing from Robert for her to go through with such a reckless mission. His strongest point was the proof that all his missions were done through improvising. Even his more elaborate plans had been crushed by difficulties, which he continually reminded her.

She still felt nervous, but she felt herself gradually slipping back into her focused self. Robert had lifted her out of the car along with the rest of the luggage. She suspected he was carrying her into the house. Sophie was positive it was him from the gentle way in which he carried her. Anyone else would've thrown her around, not knowing she was hidden inside.

Checking her clock again, she noticed there was only ten minutes left. The security room would be the first stop on the tour.

Her heart accelerated for a brief moment before she forced herself to calm down.

"I can do this." She mouthed to herself, clenching her fists tightly. The anxiety was enough to kill her, as the ten minutes felt like years.

Finally, she felt herself hit the floor. The voices around her had been muffled since she'd been loaded into the car, but she distinctly heard them begin to fade away. The hallway must've been clear, as Robert hadn't alerted her to anyone around.

Just like she'd been taught, she skillfully unzipped the duffle bag from the inside. She rolled out smoothly, quickly stretching to reawaken her body. Discarding of the bag in a nearby trashcan, she took in her surroundings. The hallway was long, and ornate. The floor beneath her looked like marble, and the door in front of her was made of solid mahogany. She stepped towards the door, pressing her ear to the wood. The sound of voices on the other end wasn't unexpected.

Pulling out her taser gun from its' holster in her belt, she softly knocked on the wood. Thankfully, the security guards were lazy enough to assume that it was Cleo again. They didn't bother to check their cameras before opening the door.

Despite being absolute monsters in size, Sophie disabled them in seconds. They were almost too heavy to drag back into the room, but she managed to shove them inside. Her next job was to erase the footage of herself from the camera feed. This was easy enough, as she'd had more than enough training in how to do so. Next, came the viruses. Hidden in a pocket of her belt were various flash drives. They hadn't known how many systems would be working within the room, but thankfully they'd brought enough.

Sophie planted the drives at their stations, feeling accomplished that everything had gone as planned. She even remembered to disable the hidden camera positioned in the back of the room, which Cleo had informed her of. For individuals in Cleo's circle, this extra camera was insurance in case something like this happened. Had it not been mentioned, Sophie would've been caught.

Her next task was to put her earpiece in place. It was the first time she'd worked with one, but Robert swore it wouldn't be a problem. Cleo had made sure to find them the best of the best.

"It's done." She whispered as she clicked the switch on.

Robert was ready on the other end. "Good, darling." He whispered back.

"Are you in the vault?" Sophie hadn't expected him to reply, which only meant that he was alone.

"You're surprised?"

"You just work quicker than I thought." Sophie kept her voice low. "The guard's will change shifts in twenty minutes. That's less time than we thought." She'd noticed the sheet of shift-times on the wall.

"I told you there's always something that can go wrong." Robert's voice was at normal volume, which Sophie figured either meant he was safe, or very cocky. "I need you to meet me outside the vault."

"Sounds impossible, but I guess I don't have a choice."

"Have a little trust in yourself. I figured out our escape route."

"How long do I have?" She whispered, already heading towards the door.

"Ten minutes."

"Don't lie." She hissed, as she slipped down the hallway. She'd already memorized where she was headed. "No one's that good. It's impossible."

"I enjoy doing the impossible. If it was easy, it wouldn't be worth doing."

Sophie thought of a million different curse words in her head, but she kept them to herself.

The trip to the vault took less than three minutes when she was sprinting. The mansion was so big she didn't see another soul along the way.

To her immense surprise, Robert was already waiting on her when she arrived. Her mouth dropped open when she saw the file in his hands.

"I thought if I said five minutes you might pass out in admiration." He winked, grabbing her arm to lead her away.

"You didn't tell me it would be this easy." Her voice was accusing.

He smiled down at her. "Slavsky's guards were chosen for brawn rather than brains. The guide that was supposed to take me to pick up Cleo's fake info was easily convinced that it was located where our target was. It was simply a stroke of luck."

"So there was no need for me to come." She was insulted she'd worked so hard for something this easy.

"The games not over yet." His face grew serious. "We still have to escape."

Sophie nodded, letting him lead her out of the mansion. Waiting outside in the long, winding driveway were two black cars.

"That's ridiculous." Sophie muttered under her breath. "Two cars? We have enough room to bring in two different cars for an escape, and I have to live in a duffle bag for a week?"

"Out of all the things you find could find unbelievable..." He scowled, tossing her the keys to one of the cars. She caught them reflexively.

"Why're we in a hurry?" She asked, grinning. "No one knows..." She was caught off by the sound of voices shouting behind her.

"I may, or may not have cause some trouble on my end." He replied.

"Do they know we have the file?" She whispered, her eyes widening in fear.

"They know we have something worth stealing. I replaced the file with a fake so it'll be a while before they figure out what we stole."

"Unless they catch us." Her voice was filled with fear.

Robert's face had turned serious. "Get in and follow me. Keep your earpiece in."

"What's the plan now?"

Robert was already opening the door to his car. "I'll let you know when we're on the road." He glanced behind him where the sound of shouting voices was growing louder. "If you haven't noticed, we're kind of in a rush."

Sophie nodded, heading for the second car. It didn't look nearly as fast as Robert's, but she figured it would have to do. Sliding inside she quickly started the engine. They'd arrived at the mansion just before dusk, and now everything outside was pitch black. The winding driveway led out to a highway, which would take them to a nearby city. Slavsky's property was immense, so it was a while before Sophie saw any signs of other houses.

Just when she thought they'd gotten away, she glanced into her review mirror to see a half dozen headlights come to life behind her. If she hadn't been driving alone with Robert along the highway, she wouldn't have been suspicious. There was no room to argue that the fleet of cars didn't belong to Slavsky's guards.

She sped up as she fixed the earpiece. In seconds Robert was on the other line.

"Can you hear me?" He asked.

"Yeah." She glanced nervously in her rearview mirror. "They're catching up."

"Don't worry about them, just focus on me. Whatever you do, don't lose my car. Do you understand?" His voice was fierce.

"Yes, Sir." There were a thousand things Sophie wanted to tell him, and more than a few were curses. Now was not the time, but she reminded herself to tell him her thoughts in detail in the future.

She soon found that following Robert was harder than she'd thought. He was going almost ninety miles an hour on a road which consisted entirely of curves. She felt like at any moment he was going to fly off the side of the road. His speed would've been more concerning if she couldn't see the rows of cars behind them growing ever closer. Slavsky had sent out his entire fleet.

"We're turning right up ahead." Robert sounded completely focused.

If he hadn't told her, she would have missed the exit, it was so close. She had to slam on the breaks to make the turn without flipping.

The exit led to a ramp which twisted into another empty highway.

"Where does this lead?" Her voice was tense.

"Don't worry about it. Just trust me."

Sophie realized she was going one hundred and ten miles per hour once they'd hit the straightaway. Robert was still a good distance ahead of her, going even faster.

"We didn't lose them." Her voice broke when she noticed the flashing lights behind her.

"Keep driving." He hissed in her ear.

"I'm not going fast enough!" She yelled at him, her anxiety building. This was not a situation she'd been trained to handle. The cars behind had fanned out in each of the three lanes and were approaching in a V-shaped formation.

"Get in front of me." He ordered, though he forced her to speed up instead of him slowing down.

She heard the car engine groan as she pushed it to go faster. In moments she was ahead of Robert, but he was riding her bummer, encouraging her forward.

"In two minutes there's going to be a split, you take the right exit, I'll take the left. If we're lucky they'll think you're me."

"Why is that lucky again?" She asked, voice shaking.

"They know I work for Cleo, but they don't know who you are. They'll want to go for the weakest link. Since Cleo's behind me, that'll be you."

"How are we going to lose them?"

"We're going to have to wing it." He seemed satisfied with his answer, and she knew enough about him to know he wasn't joking.

She could see the split coming up ahead and her heart jumped into her throat.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Her question popped out before she could stop it.

"Not at all."

"Did you have to give me some bullshit honest answer? I don't need the truth right now." She found that she was yelling into the earpiece out of sincere fear for him. Sophie knew he was reckless, but she hated how he had such a disregard for his own safety.

"Sorry, darling." Just as he whispered those words into her ear, they reached the split.

Sophie pushed the car to its' limit. Just like Robert hoped, most of the cars had followed him, leaving only one to chase her down.

"I have an idea." She said, noticing there was nothing but houses lining this road. She was forced to slow down due to the curves in the road, but that was also a blessing.

Before she could second-guess herself, she turned onto a new road. She didn't look back as she continued taking random turns, urging her car faster and faster. The car behind her had done a decent job of following, but it was getting harder to keep up, and Sophie knew it.

Instead of continuing the chase, Sophie did what she knew the guards wouldn't be expecting. She shot passed a neighborhood, heading for a house up ahead. As fast as she could manage she slipped up the house's driveway, into the open garage ahead. With one swift movement she cut the engine and the car lights, ducking in the seat.