A Second Heist

Jesseye pat the legs to to create a drum roll, "Whoop whoop! Onward and outward!" she shouted excitedly. They were finally leaving! It was finally time!

Her black friend in the driver's seat shook her head. "Pipe down, Jess." She mothered.

Jesseye frowned and abstinently crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, yeah. Sure thing, mom." She scoffed at the word while pulling her dark hood over her scarlet head. At least she wasn't blurting their plan out to the world. She may be more confident than when Shane proposed the idea, but it didn't mean she lost her wits.

Shane zipped up his jacket, looped the ends of his mask over his ears, then tossed his hood over his head. Only a few minutes later, He nodded at Jesseye. The experienced thief slung his bag over his shoulder and hopped out of his van. Like well trained puppy, Jess trotted behind him until they reached the mansion's side door. At that point he halted and held his arm across Jesseye's chest. "Wait." He commanded, glancing up to a camera angled at the door.

She nodded and leaned against the wall. What techno-trick was he gonna use this time? Turns out, none! He picked up a large rock and threw it at the camera. She had to hold back laughter. The metal dented and sparked. "Nice." She whispered then proceeded to the door, unlocking it like he taught her.

He smirked lightly under his mask,"Wasn't hard," impatiently her watched her work over her shoulder. The door clicked and he reminded her of the next security measure, "First camera to the left. Get low and stay quiet."

Jesseye nodded before sneaking into the house. Truthfully, this was more scary than the last time. Tighter security meant less area for error. Atleast she wasn't the one with the difficult job. Shane, since he still knew far more than her, took the task of hacking into security then the camera system. It was definitely a step up, but not too difficult of a jump for someone new to robbing homes like Jesseye.

Shane rushed to the covered box and quickly snapped the lock, flipping the casing up. Snap! Sweat rolled down his face as he worked as fast as he could to attach the high dollar decoding device. Agh, watching the thing sift at hyperspeed through numbers was always gut wretching when they had under a minute before the damned thing called the cops. Beep! Beep!... beep.. he bit his lip.

Just one more and they were home free. The numbers were pulsing now. 10, 9, 8, 'why are they red?!' Jesseye thought fearfully. 7, 6, 5,... beep!! Both criminals exhaled a large sigh of relief. "Got it." he mumbled his graditude, nearly forgetting that he wasn't alone.

"Thank God," she breathed a whisper.

He cleared his throat and nodded, "We're good to go." He told her in a low tone, quickly shoving his equipment back in his bag. Forgetting that she had a mask on, Jesseye tried to smile nervously through it. She sighed as she walked slowly and silently through the house. Something about this didn't feel right. Wasn't stealing a part of the big ten? But what about her restruarant? she tried to reason against the small, quiet voice, in her head. Shane was right. This was the only way. And it was just one job, right? Bringing her back with a pat on her back, he looked towards the stairs. "You wanna spilt up?"

She shrugged, unknowingly holding her arms over her chest, "Sure, I'll find the jewelry." She answered with none of her usual vigor. He nodded and started upstairs, knowing there was some sort of gun safe.

She sighed then disappeared into the house, navigating through her mental picture of it to the master bedroom. Why was her heart so heavy right now? Ultimately, she thought she knew why. These extra few weeks had only made the crush, which she had been so desperately trying to ignore, so much worse. It was to the point where her chest physically hurt with longing for him. But, this wasn't the time. That was the problem.. it was *never* time; not as long as she had this dream.

Jesseye shook her head and refocused on the mission. The house had been purchased by the current family a few years ago, so the schematics -- which Shane had her memorize last week-- were still rather fresh. Finding the loot should be easy enough. She might've whined at the time, but now she was grateful.

After jogging through room after room, Shane smiled when the office -- the location of his large safe. The man dropped his bag and yanked open the zipper. Man, did he love a beautifully packed doufle. It was so easy to grab his stethoscope and place it on the safe's lock. The sleek silver lock couldn't help it now! Twisting, twisting, Shane listened carefully for the first click. It was tedious and time consuming, but believe it or not, his favorite part of the gig.

Upon entering the master, Jesseye rushed to the bathroom and flicked on the light. Where was the jewelry box? She scoured in the shelves, the drawers, above the toilet. Nothing. Shane had made it seem like it was out in the open... and it clearly wasn't.

After around 10 minutes his safe popped opened. "Yes!" he exclaimed softly to himself. Rifles like these could be sold for a pretty price on the black market. Chuckling lowly, Shane carefully loaded his doufle with as much guns and ammo as it could hold.

Jesseye tried the closet last, swiping loads of expensive clothes aside. Instantly the feisty woman broke into a grin under her mask -- a shining mahogany box. "Yes." She snickered lightly as she drew it to her chest and onto the floor. Before loading her goods, she couldn't help fingering all of its precious contents: beautiful necklaces, earrings, and rings. Oh how some of them sparkled.

They reconvened at the forayer, "What'd you get?" a rich male asked.

Jesseye smirked at him under her mask, "I'll show you when we get in the van," she assured him with a bit of haughtiness holding up their taunting note for the police. "One final touch." with gloved hands, she placed it on the owners's glimmering granite countertop.

His partner then cackled while sauntering victoriously out of the house. "What about you?" She asked smartly. "Steal my heart?" She couldn't help asking with a slightly pessimistic laugh.

Shane couldn't help smirking and leaning towards her ear. "No, but I could if I wanted to." He pulled with a wink.

She scoffed. Her skin itched with desire, but she kept her cool, "Oh you tease." She whispered, her voice containing such unusual flirtatious heat to it.

He tugged on one side of his mask to give himself more room to breath. Fearing what her tone might suggest, he decided against quipping back. She was already too much unlike herself at the moment. Thankfully, her usual bubbly personality emerged once they hopped back in the van,"Woo!" She chuckled and ripped her cloth mask from her face and tossed it forward.

Shane smiled but shook his head, gently setting his bag down then himself. "Alright Jazz. Get us out of here."

The black woman laughed, "As if I'm not already."

While they bumped down the road, he took the opportunity to remove his black gear. "Kay," he began once he was ready, "What'd you find?" He asked his partner.

Jesseye wiggled in her seat as she snickered wildly,"Lil bit of everything." She unzipped her bag and plucked out a handful of jewelry,"A couple expensive necklaces, bracelets.." she listed, rotating her wrist to catch the different lights through the front window. She froze when one item in particular dazzled her," A few rings..." she mumbled the last word, momentarily mesmorize with a rich ruby one.

He smiled at her softly and commended her with a nod. "You did good." he secured his doufle to one of the metal rails behind Jazza's seat then moved to her side. He wanted to say more, compliment her more, but he couldn't quite form the words. What was holding him back?

She cleared her throat and carefully set the crimson ring back into her smaller bag,"And, y'know," she combed through the jewelry to reach the bottom.

"What?" Maybe he could show her? Maybe if he held back that ring he could convey to her that...

"An envelope full of cash." She grinned as she handed him her prize. Her eyes shined with joy. He opened it and looked approvingly through it. "We're climbing Shane. Climbin!" She roared in laughter, stomping her feet on the van floor. She was really coming along. Maybe she didn't need his help after all. She recovered after a few minutes and looked up front, "We gotta take a count after today, Jazz!" She yelled excitedly.

He nodded, sneaking his arm around her shoulders. "Yeah," he said rather calmly, "I think we'll just need one more hit like that and we'll be good." He said with a smile. Her eyes watered. They glanced back and forth between his arm and his face. She seemed confused so he clarified, "You're gonna get that restaurant, Jess." He said with a smile.

She leaned back and pulled her hair free,"Ya think?" She asked breathlessly, combing nervously through her scarlet locks.

He nodded. She wiped her eyes, letting out a low husky chuckle.

"I can't wait to see it." He said, looking fondly down at her and squeezing her shoulder. Confusion once again clouded her mind. He grinned at the bag of expensive rifles across from him. Did that mean he was...? Or was it just until then he'd be gone? "We're set for a while with all this. Gotta work on finding places to sell."

Jesseye took that as a yes. She couldn't stop smiling, leaning her head against the blacked out window, "This is amazing." She whispered, gripping the straps of her bag tightly.