12 Chapter 12 - Robbing Them Blind

Mikael directed his attention to the building the blind group came from and leaped to the top of the building before moving to a nearby skylight. He leaned down close as he peered inside to see a large open warehouse like interior with pallets of plastic wrapped bricks of a white substance and rows of tables where groups of individuals seemed to be packing and wrapping them before placing them into backpacks all while a group of armed guards patrolled the interior. He watched as another group of blind individuals walked into the building before handing off their backpacks which were then emptied onto a table spilling rolls and stacks of dollars over the surface before they went on to receive on of the stuffed packs and left the building again.

Mikael watched for another couple of minutes as he waited for the workers collected the money before handing them to a guard that then delivered it into a back room. Mikael covered his face with his neck gaiter before he slowly opened the skylight and dropped inside landing softly onto one of the beams that made up the rafters. He wrapped the surrounding shadows around his form as he slowly crossed the warehouse towards the back room. He looked around as he took in his surroundings in greater detail. There was an air duct that led from the back room up to the roof, too small for a person. The windows that dotted the upper sections of the walls were blacked out and barred. The back room itself had only a single window that looked out into the warehouse and only the single door leading in.

Mikael expanded his awareness over the building as he kept track of the guards movement before he then dropped out of the rafters as he drew on the force to slow his descent. As he landed soundlessly on the top of the room Mikael kept low as he waited for a guard to turn away from the door before he swiftly dropped down and entered the room. Inside the room was a single table where a tired looking man was putting the money through a bill counter. The man yawned before he looked in Mikael's direction. The man seemed to lean in closer and stared before he started to mouth something.

"What the f-" Mikael burst into motion crossing the room and clamping his hand over the man's mouth preventing him from making another sound.

"You will tell me where the money goes after it leaves this place and who is in charge of your organization." Mikael ordered as he pressed his will into the man's mind. He watched as his eyes glazed over before he started to speak.

"The money is taken to the Golden Tiger restaurant on the corner of 12th and 5th where it is kept in the basement and Madame Gao is the one in charge of our business." The man spoke in an even tone.

"Good. Now shut your eyes, in 10 seconds you will open them again and you will remember nothing of this encounter. This was merely a hallucination from exhaustion." Mikael told him as he moved back towards the door. The man closed his eyes as Mikael peeked out the door. Once he was sure no one was looking he stepped out and leaped back on top of the room before leaping up again pressing off the wall to get back into the rafters and out the skylight.

"Ugh, the Hand. Guess the blind workers should've given that away. I suppose I would've crossed paths with them sooner or later." Mikael said as he began making his way towards the address he was given. Within a few moments Mikael soon found himself staring at the outside of a Chinese restaurant with a large ornate sign with the words 'Golden Tiger' in gold letters.

"Well what do you know. I was planning on trying this restaurant out eventually, guess that plan is out the window." Mikael mumbled to himself as he then leaped onto the roof of the restaurant before dropping silently into the back alley behind it. He approached the back door and once he was confident no one was on the other side he pulled it open and entered the building. Inside looked and smelled like the typical Chinese restaurant with the smell of spices and herbs hanging in the air. Mikael slowly walked through the hallway before quickly ducking behind a cart as he heard motion coming from one of the doors that looked like it led into a cold storage room.

The door opened as an asian man dressed in a suit walked out with a briefcase before heading out the back door. As he passed by Mikael quietly slipped past beneath the man's field of vision and to the other side of the cart as he quickly stopped in his tracks before turning around. The man looked over the seemingly empty hall for a moment before he finally turned and left through the building. Mikael waited another couple seconds before he quickly moved towards and entered through the cold storage door.

Had he not seen the man come out with a briefcase and suit Mikael would have just believed the room he stood in to be like any ordinary storage room. Hanging racks of meat as well as racks containing a variety of different frozen ingredients decorated the cold interior. Mikael called on the force as his body began to heat up to fight off the freezing air as he started to search the room. As he walked around its perimeter he noticed one of the shelves loaded with only lightweight items seemed to stand a centimeter off the ground being held only by the bolts securing it to the wall. As he examined it closer he could just barely make out a small seam along the wall obscured by the cold mist that filled the room and realized that there was a lever disguised as one of the supports of the rack. With a twist and push of the hidden lever the wall opened up into a set of descending stairs and Mikael cautiously began to make his way down.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs he found stacks of bills sitting on tables secured behind iron bars and in one of the corner on the ceiling he saw a small camera that looked over the bounty. Mikael reached out his hand as he forced his will into the camera's circuitry hoping to manipulate it to his will but in a matter of seconds he watched as it burst into sparks.

"Ah shit, that wasn't what I wanted. Well I'm sure I'll get the hang of it one of these days." Mikael said as he quickly willed the stacks of money through the bars before he started to make his way back up the stairs with a floating mass of money while leaving an empty and barren room behind with no trace of his presence. Mikael hummed a tune he remembered from one of the cantinas on Nar Shaddaa as he cautiously peaked his head back out of the storage room and into the restaurant. Sure no one was looking he left through the back door before leaping up to one of the rooftops with his loot levitating behind him.

As he stood on the roof an idea popped into his head that brought a smile to his face. He quickly took one of the loose bills from his loot and pulled out a pen before quickly scribbling something onto it. He quickly moved back inside the building and into the storage room and tucked the bill into the seam of the hidden door before leaving again just as quick. He landed back on the roof and started to make his way home money in tow just as a group of cars pulled up to the back of the restaurant and a group of people rushed into the building.

While Mikael was stashing his loot temporarily in his room after having checked for any trackers on the way home, the restaurant was in chaos. The group of people had charged into the restaurant and down the hidden stairway in the cold storage room. They group froze in place as they took in the sight of a cleanly stripped room once filled with stacks and stacks of money. One of them snatched a bill that floated down the stairs behind them and began trembling before he screamed out and threw the bill to the ground in rage. What seemed to make him even more furious as he started trying to stomp the bill into the ground was the fact that the bill simply drifted softly down as the scribbling on it was clearly visible.

"The Foot Clan was here."