[Test bit] Heist

[weemadando]

This is a test of a new style and setting. Feedback appreciated.



5th Avenue, New York.
11:52pm

The street is filled with police vehicles, their lights strobing along building walls and the denuded trees of Central Park as officers huddle in groups, seeking cover from the bitter winter wind. Behind the barriers a meagre crowd of spectators watch, eagerly awaiting some new development. A pack of reporters gather at a point on the barrier where a press liaison officer prepares to give an update. Overhead, moving in and out of vision in the cloudy skies several helicopters make slow circuits of the site, both police and TV seeking out points of interest.

"Still nothing?" Detective Paul Sachs voice betrays his frustration. He didn't like any part of this call. He'd been prepared to write it off, until the first responders had gone in and not come back out. Now, with the site cordoned off and the area filling up with tactical teams, fire units and the goddamn press he could feel the pressure bearing down on him. Barely forty, his hair is all gone - baldness from bad genetics and stress took most of it and the razor took the rest. His long winter coat is darker grey now from the brief shower of sleet, his round, slightly pudgy face darkened by the ever worsening news.

"Not a peep. No contact from anyone inside." The tech was keenly watching a dozen camera feeds across three monitors while also checking telecoms status and alarm reports on a fourth. "That alarm line is still reporting as active, but the alarm stopped microseconds after it was originally triggered. Local mobile networks are getting hammered now, but there was no sign that anything at the time that should have stopped the original mobile alarm either."

"So it's a slick crew in there? High end technical expertise and access to potentially restricted equipment?"

"That'd be my best guess. I mean, there's got to be camera spoofing because we aren't seeing anything on these feeds. Not the guards, not our responders and definitely not the robbers. They might have brough in a signal jammer to hit the wireless spectrum locally - those are controlled, but there's more and more knowledge of how to make them coming out, especially as guys are coming back from Iraq."

"What do you mean? You think there's a military connection?"

"The kind of sophistication to build a jammer that blocks a mobile network enabled alarm system like this one isn't rocket science, but for it to also detect and block police radios as well as the museum's own radio repeater network while not interfering with civilian communications? That's exactly the kind of thing that we use in our anti-IED efforts overseas."

"Great, so our working theory is that we've got highly trained combat veterans as our perps? This is going to go over brilliantly when I give ESU their next update. Let me know if anything changes." Paul steps down from the command truck onto the street. What a goddamn nightmare, he thinks as he looks over the sea of flashing red and blue at the enormous facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It takes a few attempts to get his cigarette started as he fumbles the lighter or lets it's flame waver too long, distracted by his thoughts. He slowly walks over to the staging area chosen by ESU, watching the controlled chaos around him. Officers rushing back and forth, some with official errands, most with coffee and hot food. The sound of helicopters overhead and buzz of many overlapping conversations. It was calming in a way, the chill of the air, the soothing hit of nicotine and that constant hubbub. He indulges himself for a moment and stands, quiet in a small empty patch amongst the chaos before pushing on to the briefing.

"ESS-2 listen up, Detective Sachs has updated info." The ESU officer in charge was Lieutenant Vinh, a third generation Vietnamese immigrant with an excess of energy that his tiny body never seemed quite able to contain. Sachs had worked with him on a few occassions and never had any problems with him - Vinh, for all of the hubris that sometimes came with ESU was a solid leader of his men and more often acted in a subordinate, supportive role, rather than demanding to take over duties every time. Some of his men were gathered around the converted Fire Engine that was serving as their headquarters while a few others were perched around the area trying to see through the museums with their assortment of gadgets.

"It's not good news I'm afraid. Our techs are saying that this is a really sophisticated crew with a high degree of technical knowledge. The troubling part is that this knowledge apparently is most commonly found amongst our counter-IED task forces." Sachs knows exactly what's coming next. The ripple of swearing and sudden change in postures reflects the thoughts of the men. It's one thing to kick a door in and take down an unsuspecting drug dealer, but it's entirely another to go into a massive building like the museum trying to hunt down a group of trained soldiers who know you're coming. "It's not necessarily military, it could be intelligence or civilian contractors with access to this or just a well read heist crew."

"But given the circumstances Detective, you'd support the idea of a military trained crew inside?"

"Given the apparent professionalism and sophistication, I think that it's a reasonable assumption that whoever is inside is very competent. And given that they haven't attempted to make contact at all and we've seen nothing from inside via the camera feeds you guys jacked - they've planned and executed perfectly so far."

"Except for the part where they set off the alarm." Comes the wry observation from one of the snipers somewhere above them. A few chuckles come from the group at that.

"Detective Sachs?" A patrol cop call from nearby, a tall, grey haired man with a serious, pock-marked face in a rumpled work-out outfit stands behind him, "This is Oliver Gregson, Museum head of security, he just arrived."

"Thanks." Sachs motions for Gregson to join them, "OK, Vinh I need to speak to Mr Gregson, then I'll send him back here to go over any building questions you have."

"Sure thing Sachs. I'll request that ESS-1 and 13 also be dispatched."

"So, Mr Gregson -"

"Oliver, please." Gregson's voice is calm and modulated, Sachs notes. A man who isn't stressed or concerned right now. Or is used to hiding such reactions.

"OK, Oliver, I'm Detective Paul Sachs, currently in charge of this. How much do you know so far?"

"I got the automated notice about ten forty. Alarm reported. Nothing particularly unusual about that." Sachs nods, false alarms at high security locations aren't exactly common, but sensitive alarms, tired and forgetful night-watchmen and the occassional overly ambitious, and usually drunk, burglar certainly accounted for their fair share. "So I tried to call the control room on site to see what was happening. No answer. Then I got the follow-up call from the monitoring centre letting me know that they hadn't been able to reach anyone on site. That's when I got worried."

"What time was that?"

"No more than a minute later. We have very strict schedules for these scenarios."

"OK. So you've had no contact with anyone inside the building?"

"None at all," Gregson looks at Sachs with a look of resigned acceptance, "I'm assuming that you still have no word from your first responders?" Sachs picks up on the unspoken question.

"No. But we haven't had reports of gunfire, no signs of blood or bodies either." Sachs pauses and points over to where the first patrol unit had arrived and made entry through a small service entrance. "That entry there - is that where our responders would usually go?"

"It is. That's the closest entrance to the onsite control room."

"How long ago was the most recent police response?"

"Two days ago, Tuesday - that was in hours though. Someone taking offence to a Rousseau on behalf of the voices in their head. Out of hours, we've had a few recently. Four in the past two weeks."

"Is that unusual?"

"It's a higher number. But I hadn't thought it worrying, especially with this weather. Temperature differentials, storm debris, snow covering sensors and guards hurrying to sneak back in after a smoke and fumbling on keypads with cold fingers."

"None of them were suspicious?"

"Detective Sachs, it's my job to be suspicious, much like you. We reviewed all of these events and found that there was nothing concerning about any of them. Two of them were even put down to issues with the new alarm system." Sachs head snaps around.

"New alarm system?"

"Yes. We completed installation last week. A new discrete circuit with external connection, complementing the existing systems."

"And let me guess, that's the one that we got the alarm through tonight?"

"It was," Gregson nods sagely, "So, I assume that you believe that whoever is inside had somehow disabled the existing alarm systems, but hadn't been aware of the new system until it engaged?"

"That's about the extent of it." Sachs pulls out another cigarette and gives Gregson a would you mind? look. "But for them to identify and isolate a new alarm system in the same second that it activates. That's a pretty remarkable piece of work."

"Or coincidence Detective. They may have already been in the process of isolating it when it was activated."

"The level of skill required to isolate your alarm systems without triggering tamper alerts - I assume it has to be pretty impressive?"

"A competent engineer or electrician with the schematics and time could figure it out. On site, without prior knowledge? I'd expect there'd be some specialists who may be capable of doing it under those kind of conditions. Plus there is always the unpleasant chance that we may have a member of staff with significant debts that we are unaware of or with their family tied to chairs in a warehouse." Gregson swallows heavily, "You'll pardon my coldness on this, but experience tells me that the human angle will generally be much more reliable than any technical one on this front."