The second installment of the series—each chapter should be readable as a standalone story, but start from the beginning for a little more continuity-cheers!
To Catch a Thief
The trouble with building of this size is the constant need for maintenance. By the time all of your routine checks were finished, preventive maintenance done, and problems remedied, it was time to start over. This meant a near steady stream of plumbers, electricians, welders, carpenters, roofers, health inspectors, Fire Marshalls, IT guys—you name it. Not only could no one know
all
of the workers coming and going, no one batted an eye at a stranger with a utility belt and hard hat walking with a purpose.
It was just that ability to blend in that James enjoyed. He was just another tradesman going about his business—orders from a department head that no one's heard of, nor thinking to question.
After striding purposely into the service corridor behind Barnes and Noble, James took a moment to orient himself. He pulled a PDA from his satchel and turned on a mapping feature that gave him a rough overlay of the building—a basic outline he did from memory after his visit yesterday. He would need a better schematic eventually, but this one would suit him fine for now. Looking around he noted the entrances to various shops and continued moving until he found an unmarked door. Pushing it open, James removed the latch keeper he had placed the previous day, to prevent it from locking.
First order of business was to change the lock and re-label the door. Anyone who was used to this being their hangout would simply figure management caught on to their spot and repurposed the room. James placed an orange construction sign outside the door and a high voltage placard on the door itself. After drilling out the old lock he placed a magnetic-swipe key fob for quicker access.
He looked around the empty hall; his first day on the job was going even smoother than expected.
Inside the break room he removed several wall panels to gain access to the electrical conduit behind—conduit that housed communication lines and closed circuit feeds for the entire building. He clipped a few wires and routed them through an adapter to his PDA. After syncing that with his laptop he was able to gain limited access to the building's intranet—the server that ran all of the communications for the building.
After an hour or so browsing through the network and diligently cracking into "secure" firewalls, James found the schematic he was looking for.
This mega-mall had been built on top of a cold-war era transit system—that much was a well known piece of trivia. The exact details of the system however, were still classified—classified as much as a multimillion dollar public-private partnership would allow, at least.
The builders had to tie their structure into the tunnel for stability. They knew about the tunnel and drew very detailed plans of it; they were even rumored to give it double duty as the communication hub. These plans showed exactly how and where those tunnels were accessible, and now James had them.
"Perfect," James crooned at his job well done.
He popped a couple of ceiling tiles and stored his gear in the overhead. He then changed into his business casual slacks and shirt and donned a pair of non-prescription glasses—thick coke-bottle frames that endeared him to Buddy Holly. It was time to go people watching again.
James wound through the service corridors until he got to the Forever 21 outlet. He entered and quickly assimilated into the crowd of people perusing clothing items. After spotting various girls and sizing them up for approach without luck, James finally came across two girls that seemed to be enjoying a carefree day—a bit too carefree, since they would periodically remove tags from clothing and slip them into their bags.
James approached the girls with his trademark confident swagger.
"Would you ladies please accompany me to the back of the store," James directed the teenagers sternly.
The pair looked at each other with wide eyes and quietly began slinking towards the back of the store. James walked closely behind the teens, a short curvy redhead and taller slim brunette. Red was wearing a short emerald-green sundress that contrasted her pale skin nicely. Her friend was sporting a striped, form fitting, long sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans. Each carried a large "purse," roughly the size of a beach bag, and undoubtedly hekd numerous articles of free clothing.
"In there," James directed the pair into the last changing room, "Bags down, backs against the wall."
The two girls obeyed and set their purses on the bench for James to rummage through. Now that they faced him, James could see Red was worried, flashing her blue eyes sideways at her partner for signs of reassurance. He friend just stared forward with her arms across her small but perky chest.
James fished out their pocketbooks and IDs, passed several fake ones and settled on their authentic licenses: Amanda, 5'3," red hair, 100lbs... 19 years old; Maria, also 19, brunette, 5'10"and 120lbs. He took a moment to silently appraise the young thieves before him.
Amanda continued to fidget; her boobs wiggled and threatened to spill out of her dress with each shift in her weight. Maria was much more collected, probably the instigator, and maintained a stoic look on her face.
"We were going to pay for that stuff, we were just holding it!" Amanda blurted out, earning a severe glare from Maria.
James simply held up his hand and threw the pocketbooks back into one of the bags. He took a short step across the small changing room to confront Amanda directly, "Hands up, legs apart," he commanded. Amanda nervously complied.
Starting behind her head, James massaged her scalp and neck with his large hands, moving to her shoulders and then under her arms. As he continued on his way down he leaned in close, breathing in her ear and smelling her lavender body wash. He cupped her breasts with each hand and felt her nipples poking through the strappy sundress. He gave each a slight swirl with his thumb before continuing down.
