I Opia (20 page)

“That way,” Blaine said as she pointed to the side of the house.

Vince nodded and pulled the truck around to the back of the house.

“There! That’s the building with the cars!”

Vince again nodded and backed the truck up to the doors of the large building that housed the cars.

“We have to get in the house first. Let’s get the painting and then the keys. That seems to make sense, don’t you think?”

Vince just nodded in response and opened his door and got out. Blaine did the same.
Really?? Still not a word? What a diva!

They walked toward the house on the same path that Blaine had walked with Bob and the Hunters. She went to the back door of the house and pulled out her tools.

She looked at Vince, “I am assuming it is okay for me to get us in?”

He just nodded.

She rolled her eyes at him and began to work. Within minutes, she had jimmied the lock and opened the door. She shook her head.
This is almost too easy. It never ceases to amaze me how much people depend on their alarm systems to protect them and leave the locks of doors so vulnerable.

Vince followed Blaine into the house. Over her shoulder she said, “Follow me, the painting is in the main dining room.”

Vince couldn’t help but look around and appreciate the wealth that was dripping from the walls and the furnishings.

Finally he spoke his first words to her in two days. “Looks like you might have had a good idea. This just might work.”

Blaine almost blurted out “
Really? I mean really? ‘Might?’ Like I have any bad ideas
! She quickly decided against responding. Just having him talk to her again was a relief. She couldn’t risk another bout of silence. Instead, she looked straight ahead and said, “Well then, let’s get busy.”

They entered the dining room. And there, just as Blaine remembered, was the Monet. Vince unfolded the velvet sleeve that would encase the painting. They carefully held the painting on each side. Vince nodded and together they lifted it from the wall. Gingerly, they worked together to place the painting in the velvet sleeve.

Blaine realized she was sweating.
I hope that at some point I get used to this and won’t be so nervous!

Vince was able to carry the painting alone. They made their way to the back door through which they had entered. He carefully placed the painting down and leaned it against the wall.

“Okay, next.” He said.

She led him down the hall to the study. He whistled under his breath when they entered, “Geez, this is incredible.”

She looked at him and smiled. “Can I say I told you so yet?”

His eyes narrowed. “Nope. Not until I see the cars.”

“Fair enough.”

She looked around and found the button that Fred had used. She held her breath and pushed. The bookcase moved and revealed the safe. She opened her bag and grabbed her earphones and her handheld device and began to work. Unlocking the combination was trickier than she thought. She couldn’t quite seem to get the last number of the combination to click. Vince began to shuffle in nervousness. She shot him a look and he froze realizing that he was annoying her.

It took a full 20 minutes for her to finally open the safe. She was almost panicked by the time she heard the last click. As she opened the safe, the two partners sighed in relief.

Blaine looked over at Vince. He checked his watch and flashed her a thumbs up sign. He grabbed his phone and began to video Blaine removing the keys from the safe. As she removed each one from its designated hook, she called out the car listed on the tag and then placed it in order on a dowel rod. This was the fastest way they could figure out how to remove the keys and be sure all were placed back in the same order minus the sets to the cars they needed.

“Ready?” she asked him as she removed the last set of keys.

He turned his phone off. “Ready.” He responded.

In total it was 45 minutes before the garage doors opened to reveal the inventory. They had approximately another three hours and 15 minutes before the guard would check on them. At least that is what they hoped.

As the garage doors opened, Vince let out a breath, “Wow. I mean wow. You have really hit the mother-load.”

“Now, can I say I told you so?” Blaine asked smiling.

“Yea, now you can definitely say it. I am impressed.”

The plan was to remove the cars on the list—it would take careful coordination. It would almost be a Rubik’s cube maneuver. Cars would be driven out of the way, while the ones they needed loaded on the truck. Then the cars not on the list would be placed back in the garage almost exactly where they had been. The difference would be that that when they were finished, the cars would be spaced a little further apart so as to hide the fact that five cars were missing.

The pictures from Blaine’s date night had captured the configuration of the garage. Vince had used the photos to detail the layout of the garage and the cars. He had then detailed the order in which cars would be moved with some loaded and others carefully replaced in almost their original place. They had pre-planned every step.

Executing the plan was painstaking. They talked through each step at every car while Vince consulted his diagram. The plan was going off without a hitch until Vince came to a 1967 Ferrari. He froze in his tracks.

Blaine looked at him puzzled while she brushed the sweat off her forehead, “What’s up Vinny? Come on, we are almost finished. That car is not on the list. Hurry up and move it out of the way so we can get going.”

“Well, it sure as hell should be on the list. How did I not notice this in your pictures? Why the hell would we leave this? Do you know how valuable this is? This is a 1967 Ferrari 275GTB/4*S N.A.R.T. SPYDER. We gotta take it.” He said almost reverently, still staring at the car. Still not moving.

“No! We do NOT gotta take it! You know the rules. Holy crap! Are you having some kind of brain fart? Is this revenge for my accepting this deal without asking?” She shook her head in confusion.

“No, I am not having any kind of brain fart, Miss We Will Deliver In a Week Without Telling My Partner. Miss Now We Will Follow The Rules. It is just that Eric would love this! He doesn’t ask for much, but he loves Ferraris. And this is vintage and a rare one. He has been so depressed and so upset with my long hours that I just know this would please him.”
And please me even more.

“Are you fucking kidding me? We are standing in the middle of the largest heist we have ever pulled off with the biggest pay off we have ever had and you want to take an extra car for your queen? Really? I mean really?”

“He is not a queen. He is an extremely sensitive human being and he has been feeling neglected and down. For God’s sake woman, you have us working day and night like there is no tomorrow. There has been no “we” time. This car would make up for that. I know it would.”

“’We’ time? I think I just threw up in my mouth. You get him this car, and hell, you are going to be making up for lack of “we” time for the rest of your life? What next? A damn house? Jewels? Eric is a bottomless pit. If you are trying to use things to make him happy, there will be no end.” With that, she started to get into the next car on the list.

“Blaine . . . .please . . .” Vince pleaded as he put on his saddest face. “Seriously, I will never ask for anything else. It is just that this will make my life so much easier. This one, small thing.”

“Small thing? Vinny! For craps sake, I have no idea what that car is worth, but I am smart enough to know this is no small thing. Not to mention it is a total and I mean TOTAL violation of our agreement! Taking an extra car for Eric is has the potential to backfire on us. What are you going to do when he tells everyone? How do you keep a car like that a secret? For crap sake, we live in the same town as the Hunters!”

“Blaine, I swear, I will never ask for anything else. Ever. I have never asked for anything before. It is just that he has been on my ass for months about my workload and the fact he has nothing to show for it. We took that one small trip, but I had to work even then. Please, please let me have this,” he pleaded with earnest.

Blaine again wiped the sweat off her forehead and rolled her eyes, “Well, first of all, I thought being on your ass was his job. Second, if you do this, IF you do it. WE are done. Swear. Partnership over.”

Vince just stood and stared at her—his eyes pleading.

“Holy crap, Vinny, get a grip” she said. “Don’t make me the bad guy in this deal. Honestly, if it were something that could be hidden or if we weren’t in the same town, I would consider it. But Vinny, it is a car. A flashy, fancy, expensive one-of-a-kind car. It is Eric. Flashy, fancy, expensive one-of-a-kind Eric. Those two things have the potential to bring us down. Think about it. What will he do when you’re in prison?”

He stood back and looked at her and she noticed the tears in his eyes, “You’re right Blaine. You’re right about all of it. I am sorry I was mad. I should have trusted your instincts. I just lost my head for a minute. Thanks for always looking out for me.”

Blaine refused to show how touched she was by his sudden display of emotion. “Look, no thanks needed. After this we will take some much needed time off. You can take him on a trip. You will have enough money to buy him anything and to take him anywhere. We just have to pull this off. And for crap sake, we can’t just keep standing here arguing.”

He hugged her “Got it B. Let’s get back to work.”

When they finally rolled the last car into place, it had been 3 hours and 40 minutes.

Blaine looks at her watch, “We gotta get out of here.”

Vince looked at his watch and nodded in agreement. They closed the garage doors behind them and then reentered the house. They quickly made their way to the study carrying the dowel rod that held the keys for the cars left in the garage.

The safe was still standing open just as they had left it. Blaine took the dowel rod of keys and said, “Ready.”

Vince hit play on his phone and the video of key removal began to play in reverse order. They would pause and check as they transferred each key set from the dowel rod to the safe.

After they were certain the keys were in the order they had found them minus the five that belonged to the cars they had taken, Blaine closed and relocked the safe. Once again, sweat was rolling down her back and off her forehead.
Holy crap. I can only imagine how menopause is going to feel.

Blaine and Vince made their way through the house to the backdoor. Vince picked up the painting and they made their way to the truck. Once the painting was securely loaded, they closed the doors to the truck. They double-checked that the locks to the back door and to the garage were securely fastened.

Vince fired up his laptop and worked furiously for a moment. “Okay, the security system will rearm in 5 minutes. Ready to roll?”

“Very ready. Let’s get out of here. It has been a long day.”

They had just pulled out of the gate when a security car pulled up and blocked them from exiting. Luckily, Vince was able to pull the truck out far enough that the gate was able to close behind them.

He looked at Blaine, “Well, at least the system is rearmed. Now what?”

A short pudgy guard got out of the security car and Blaine quickly saw it wasn’t her friend Gary.

“Damn, we killed too much time. There has been a shift change,” she whispered to Vince.

“Better do your thing.” He said under his breath as he smiled at the guard. He didn’t roll down his window—he left that to Blaine.

Again, she unzipped her uniform just enough to show her cleavage and jumped out of the truck.
Damn, this is like a groundhog day. I have to do this all over again.

“Hello officer! You must be Gary’s replacement. We are sorry we took a bit more time than we thought. That darn house is just so big and I get confused. Poor Mitch has to put up with me.” She said as she batted her eyes.

Since the guard was just about eye level with her cleavage, she worked it for all it was worth. “Plus, it is just so darn hot,” she said as she wiped the sweat from her neck and chest.

“Well, I just was checking. Gary said you guys would be outta here by now.” He said while trying to look as official as he could while staring at Blaine’s cleavage

“So sorry for the inconvenience. It’s all my fault. We are ready to roll now.”

There was an uncomfortable pause.
Shit! This guy is going to be a hero!
thought Vince.

Then suddenly the guard said, “Alright. Move on then.”

Blaine smiled, “Thank you so much. You guys are so professional. It is just great.”

She walked backed and climbed into the truck and waved as Vince put the truck in drive. And with that, the partners of iOpia, Inc. breathed a sigh of as they left the neighborhood of the Hunters’ with a truck loaded with five of the most expensive cars ever made and
Les bords de la Seine à Argentueil,
a Monet of extreme value.

It was five weeks
before Blaine saw Charlotte again. Blaine listened intently to Charlotte as they teed off for their regular game of golf.