Mercier guffaws at his brashness. “Mr. Bellinger, I think you will find the job I’m getting ready to propose will more than satisfy your requirements of ‘bigger and more exciting’.”
I can’t help but sit up a little straighter at this proclamation. Could this be what we’ve been waiting for? Is this what the insurance consortium got wind of and hopes to take Mercier down with?
Silence hangs in the air, increasing the dramatic effect of what Mercier is about to reveal. He clears his throat before saying, “The job I have for you two, if successful, will most likely go down as the greatest and most lucrative heist of all time.”
“And you want just Saint and me to do it?” I have to ask. “Because if we’re doing something big, I envisioned a large crew.”
“In my opinion,” Mercier drawls with a flourish of his hand. “Involving too many people is dangerous. Chances of leaks or getting caught increase. Besides, I believe you two—along with the strategy William has devised—have all the skills necessary to pull this off.”
Again, Mercier goes silent, as if he’s building up major expectations. Saint and I wait him out, refusing to play that game.
Looking over to William, Mercier gives a slight nod.
Rising, William picks up a remote control and aims it at the wall to our right. A soft whirring noise emits from the ceiling, then a screen starts to slowly lower. Another tap of the remote lights up the screen to reveal the picture of a building.
I recognize it immediately. “You want us to rob the Diamond Warehouse?”
I’m not sure how much Saint knows about Paris’ jewelry district, but the Diamond Warehouse is famed for the diamonds and other jewels it contains. It’s never once crossed my radar as an attainable goal because with that much wealth congregated in such a small area, the security has to be unbreachable. In my opinion, at least.
“I believe it is doable,” Mercier says.
I study the picture on the screen. The warehouse holds a massive walk-in vault for people to store their valuables. While it isn’t limited to diamonds or other jewels, my understanding is probably ninety percent of the contents are such. There are also offices within the building for diamond resellers and wholesalers, as well as private jewelers. It’s like a “bank” for jewels with office space.
William points the remote at the screen as he walks toward it. The front of the warehouse disappears, replaced with schematics of the building.
“The warehouse is simply laid out,” William explains. “Two floors. The bottom floor is completely open. It houses the vault and a handful of management offices. On the second floor, there is rental space for buyers, wholesalers, and jewelers along the perimeter. There are armed guards on the interior as well as an individual guard in front of the vault. Motion sensors are spaced out in intervals along the interior. Cameras, too. There is no effective way in and out of the building via the doors or windows as they’re all equipped with glass-break sensors, tripwires, and motion detectors.”
“What does roof access look like?” Saint asks.
William’s smile is greedy. “That’s exactly where you’ll go in.”
He clicks again, bringing up several photographs of the roof. “Access to the air vents is easily attainable. You can reach the roof from the building next to it with an easy jump.”
“Thank God,” Saint mutters. “Thought you might have us parachuting in or something.”
It breaks the tension a bit. We all laugh, but yeah… glad we’re not doing that.
Mercier rises from the leather chair behind his desk. He moves to stand by William, crossing his arms as he stares at the screen. “Getting you in the building should be easy. Saint… it’s your job to deal with the interior sensors and cameras.”
“Not a problem,” he replies, and it won’t be. He has access to a tech genius at Jameson who can create any type of gadget required. Plus, Jameson has big-time government sources. He can get whatever we need.
Mercier nods at the screen, and William clicks the remote again. A picture of the vault comes up—taken at a distance from within the warehouse—and it’s massive. At least two-thousand square feet if I had to estimate, constructed from thick steel.
“How do you have so much intel?” I ask Mercier, because this is not information found on Google. “If we’re going to rob this place, we need to know what we’re being shown is trustworthy.”
Mercier’s appreciation of such a blunt request is clear. “I’ve had an inside man renting space and posing as a jeweler for the past year. He’s been in the vault several times because he rents a lockbox. This is accurate and up-to-date information.”
Accepting his explanation with a nod, I study the vault, noting it has a series of three combo dials. Not impossible but certainly not something I’m going to be able to crack quickly. William pulls up a different picture, this time taken from inside the vault. “Once you take care of the guards and Sin cracks the multiple combos, each interior lockbox can be popped with a lock-pick gun.”
This doesn’t surprise me. People often focus on the safe or vault as the primary means of security. They’re so confident the outer shell is unbreachable that they don’t bother with anything more than simple locks on the boxes, believing no one could make it that far.
But then I notice something else.
Hurrying to the screen, I point to the interior hinge on the vault door. “This is a magnet-plate alarm. When the door closes, the magnets connect, which activates the alarm. The door opens, the magnets break connection, and the alarm sounds. They’re usually set in conjunction with business hours. For example, a bank would have them engaged during non-business hours as an added layer of protection against nighttime thieves.”
“Even if you crack the combo, the vault door is designed to stay closed during non-business hours?” William asks.
“We’d have to rob it during the day?” Saint warily asks.
“That’s impossible,” I state with a shake of my head. “No, we’ll have to do it at night. But I’ll have to drill… right here. Scope it and remove the entire magnet plate. See how it’s screwed in? If I can remove the whole plate without the magnets breaking contact, the alarm won’t be tripped. It would be an incredibly delicate procedure. Risky, but it’s the only possibility I see.”
Mercier chuckles as he squints at the magnet. “I knew you would be invaluable to this team, Sin.”
I ignore the compliment. This job, which had already seemed impossible, just became exponentially more stressful.
Saint rises from his chair to get a closer look. After he examines what I’d indicated, he asks about the guards.
“Shoot them for all I care,” Mercier says with a nonchalant shrug.
“Yeah,” Saint drawls, crossing his arms. “Thought we had already established that we don’t murder people during our robberies. Too risky.”
“But this isn’t just any robbery,” Mercier counters. “This is the heist of all heists. There aren’t any more after this. You’ll be so rich you’ll be able to buy your own private island and never have another worry in your life. Hell, you’ll have enough money to buy a new conscience.”