CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE HEIST (Draft 1)

After some thorough examination, Gio concluded that it was best for Scarlet and Flame to enter the building from a vent that led to a dark alleyway, thus, making it unlikely for them to be seen. 

Scarlet pulled out a screwdriver and loosened the screws, allowing them to remove the grille and access the vent. Gio directed them towards the file room over their earphones. 

However, when they reached the vent that led to the room, the grating was bolted. Possibly to ensure no one broke in. 

Flame groaned and spoke into his earpiece, "G, it's blocked. Is there any other way we can get in?" 

"Let me check!" Came his friend's reply. After a while, he answered, "Flame, there are only two ways to get into that room: through the vent or through the door. I see something else too, but I'm not too sure what it is." 

Scarlet frowned, "Isn't there always a guard on watch outside that door though?" 

Flame checked his watch, "There's 3 more minutes until the next guard arrives." 

They heard Gio tapping away on his laptop, "Guys, if you want, I could switch off the surveillance cameras while you handle that guard." 

Scarlet grinned, "Sounds to me that my sister's experiments might prove useful after all." 

After switching to a tab which displayed the live surveillance footage of the police station, Gio played around with a few buttons and turned all the cameras monitoring that area off and even deactivated any trip wires or traps. 

Little did he know, the officer who was meant to be observing the footage had woken up from his brief nap just as he had done so and was immediately alerted. 

He grabbed his flashlight and headed towards the file room, which was on the other side of the police station, just as the next guard, who had just come in for his shift and was unaware of what was going on, arrived there. 

The constable who had originally been keeping an eye on the file room left when his replacement arrived. When he was out of view, Flame and Scarlet dropped the smoke bomb at his feet, almost instantly knocking him out. 

They dropped down from the air vent, feeling quite proud of themselves, although their facial expression was very hard to distinguish because of their respirators and the thick smoke, which, fortunately for them, didn't set off the fire alarm as Gio had disarmed them as well. 

The officer, who had originally been observing the CCTV footage, arrived and, unfortunately for Scarlet and Flame, had donned a mask on because of the visible smoke. 

"What are you doing here?!" The officer coughed. Despite having worn a mask, it was a regular one, and not strong enough to prevent him from inhaling the fumes. 

"Pick the lock and get in," Scarlet ordered, pulling a hairpin from under her beanie and handing it to Flame, "I'll handle him!" 

"What?" Flame was baffled as Scarlet charged towards the officer. He watched her in fascination and surprise as she dodged his attempts in capturing her and sneakily stole his mask, causing him to inhale the smoke entirely and drop to the floor. 

He shook his head and turned his attention back to the lock. He'd picked locks a million times before, when he'd break into his aunt's study to try to find old pictures of his mother. 

He expertly unlocked the door and kicked it open. His eyes widened at the sight of tall cabinets, each and every one of them full of files, but his attention was quickly drawn to a safe which was encased into the wall in front of him. 

He had a strange feeling it contained what he was looking for. 

He treaded towards the safe when Scarlet walked in behind him. He whispered, "A six-digit code..." 

Scarlet spoke into her earpiece, "Guys, can you think of any possible combinations?" 

Gio, Blaze and Chloe looked at each other. Chloe glanced towards Gio, "My father doesn't usually use any particular passcodes or anything, but when he's talking to Ms. Speed, I always hear them refer to the 15th of August 2009. Some huge criminal incident that occurred apparently. They never talk about any other date." 

"It's true! I've heard them talk about it a thousand times!" Blaze gasped. 

"That's the day my parents died." Came Flame's wavering voice from the computer. 

Gio frowned thoughtfully. He typed the date into his laptop and spoke, feeling sympathy for his friend, "Flame... that's not the day your parents died... That's the day your mother disappeared and was claimed dead." 

Scarlet's eyes widened and she turned to Flame, who shivered. He reached out to the safe and typed in the numbers 1-5-0-8-0-9 with trembling fingers. The red light turned green, and they heard a click. Flame watched fearfully as the safe opened ajar. 

A singular file was kept inside. He took it slowly and gently held it in his hands when, suddenly, Gio exclaimed, "Flame! Something's happening!" 

Gio's computer began malfunctioning and the girls shrieked. The cameras returned to normal, and the smoke detectors were reactivated, setting off the fire alarm. Blaze and Chloe shared a strange look and ran towards the edge of the building which looked down towards the station, leaving Gio to his devices. 

Flame and Scarlet began to panic, searching hopelessly for an escape route as the officers rushed over. Flame stepped to a side and tripped over an invisible string that set off an alarm. Thick metal walls dropped down all around them, trapping them in the small room. 

Flame began breathing heavily when Scarlet eyed the vent that was bolted. It wasn't blocked by a metal wall. Maybe– 

She jumped up and climbed one of the file cabinets to reach the vent. 

By the time Flame noticed where Scarlet was, he saw she had removed her gloves and sprung open the grille. 'Wasn't it bolted?' He shook his head, reminding himself that it was not the right time to ask questions. 

With her help, he climbed into the vent, and they both escaped the room, just as everything had been deactivated and the officers burst in. 

Meanwhile, Gio growled quietly as he attempted to unstick his finger, which was visibly glitching at the sudden contact with the screen, and trying not to make Blaze and Chloe look his way. 

He finally succeeded and fell back, short of breath, doing his best to recover. 

He glanced at the laptop and back at Blaze and Chloe, who were still leaning against the roof, trying to get a better view of the commotion. 

He'd finally managed to deactivate the alarms, but at what cost? He heard drumming in his head, his pupils were dilated and appeared to be malfunctioning like his computer had, his heart thumped wildly like a wild animal trying to escape his chest. 

The only thing that brought him a sense of calm was that his friends were safe. But soon enough, they would discover his secret, and he didn't know if he wanted that...