The Steel Project

Juggle

Authors Note: Previous comments have said how great the characters are, but I actually have little to no more plans with those characters as they were needed to set up the story in the way I want it to go. The characters in these chapters however are vital to the story, and will remain as the main characters that I will explore through this plot. Also, I am unfamillar with job titles and ranks, and at the moment of writing, I was not in a position to research it so. I will, however, endeavour to do so later. I will also edit later, so this is just the raw writing tonight, ladies and gentlemen. I do apologise if anyone finds it boring in comparassion to the previous chapter. There has to be some degree of logic, talk, and sense behind the action to make it more intriguing and real. Just putting it out there before somebody complains. And yes, that means there will be more action. :)

I really do like opinions so comment away!!

Juggle

Canberra, 12.03pm

“They had one billion dollars!?”

“Yep.”

“And they were only found because one had been smoking some pot?”

“Yep.”

“And you only found out about this because the other guy ran?”

“Yep.”

“Otherwise this would have passed through their security?”

“Yep.”

“Well how did they get through the x-rays!?”

“We don’t know, Sir.”

“You don’t… know?”

There was augmented menace and emphasis on the last word of Detective Percy’s sentence. All of the faces in the room looked away awkwardly as Detective Percy stared at Hudson. He quickly calmed himself down realising that being angry was not going to solve the problem. He was a detective who had built himself upon his smarts. He would get through this.

“Lizzy,” Percy breathed.

“I’ll get her on the phone right away, Sir.”

Percy sat down in his office chair as voices drowned the room. Everyone was talking about this.

Hudson handed him a phone quickly.

“Lizzy?”

“Yes Percy?”

“We’ve got a situation… Two Australian me-” he was cut off by Lizzy.

“Yes, I know all about it. I did some background checks, and turns out these guys come from two different states. Andy Winderfall - he’s from Western Australia, where as Doug Cunningham comes from the south- Tasmania. Both come from poor families, no previous criminal history, unemployed, no wives, and no children.”

“Girlfriends?”

“I got nothing on Doug. I think I may have got something on Andy put I’ll need to get into his phone records to confirm it. I’ve got a whole file on the case. Wanna get someone to pick it up?”

“Actually, once you’re done checking the phone records, I’d appreciate your company up here. With the folders. I think you will add some value to our team.”

“But Percy… I’m only the tech-girl?”

“Be up here in 5.”

The line went dead and without another blink Percy handed the phone back to Hudson.

“What did she have?”

“We didn’t have a lengthy discussion on the matter, but she will be up here to inform us of everything she has dug up so far. Take notes people. We have two suspects: One residing in Tasmania, and another in Western Australia. Both are unmarried and have no children. One may have a girlfriend, but that’s to be confirmed. Both have no income, no job, come from poor families, have no previous criminal history, yet pop up in some American Airport with a briefcase stuffed with a billion dollars? How does this happen!?”

Percy was worked up. His frustration at the very real possibilty that there would be no leads, and no answer to this problem was building. The problem would loom over him that night.

There was a silence in the room.

“Come on people… theories?”

“Maybe they stole it and were attempting to hide in America,” spoke Hudson.

“One billion dollars? I don’t think so. And how did they get past luggage x-rays?”

“New technology?”

“We’ve never heard of any technology so advanced that it can cloak an entire briefcase full of cash,” whispered a woman called Raquel.

“There is something really unnerving about this,” Percy said to himself.

Suddenly the door creaked open to reveal a short woman in the doorway. She had long red hair that reached her waist, and she wore a blue floral dress with a denim waistcoat. She hardly looked the part of a 'tech-girl'. She held her laptop under one of her arms and a folder in her other hand.

"Come in Lizzy. Give us all you've got," spoke Percy, his voice loud and clear with her arrival.

Lizzy sat at the end of the long table that stretched in the middle of the room, setting up her laptop and taking out papers from her folder.

"This case really does have me  baffled to be honest. Okay, I ran checks on all the family to see if there were any 'hidden jewels' as you would say, of rich relatives, large amounts of money handed out in wills... but to be honest, these guys beat the bottom of the bunch. The largest I found was a thirty five thousand dollar cheque to Doug which was never banked, nore used."

"So basically... there is no way these guys could have acquired a billion dollars legally?" asked Hudson.

Lizzy raised a pencilied eyebrow and smield slightly.

"Not unless they some very generous friend."

"Have you got anything for us, or are you just going to riddle us with the knowledge that we may never crack this case?" growled Percy.

Lizzy looked up from setting her laptop up, a little shocked by the menace in his voice.

"Now, why would I do that?" LIzzy cocked her head. "I have got something. Those phone records..."

"He's got a girlfriend?"

"Not quite."

"Not quite!?"

"Just wait, will you Percy?"

Percy was immedietly hushed, a thing almost unknown for him.

"His phone records couldnt confirm the girlfriend, but it did show something else..."

"What!?" chimed Hudson and Perct, exchanging a furtile look before Lizzy's reply.

"He's been in contact with one number, almost fourty times in the last two months."

"And who would that be?" asked Hudson.

"I don't know."

"Well thanks a fucking lot!" shouted Percy, turning around and pushing his chair angrily. He had got no where.

"We will have to get New Zealand to hand over the details."

Percy turned around slowly to face Lizzy. She had her head cocked and an eyebrow raised cheekily. She knew his holes of frustration and had played it out.

"Fuck."

"This is getting serious," piped up Hudson.

"What part of one billion dollars makes you think it was comical hey?" replied Dawson.

Lizzy picked the phone Percy had talked to her on earlier.

"So... who's making the phone call then? Techy-Lizzy to the rescue or what?"