It Happened One Heist

The Gift

The night watchman at the Countess H. Duke's estate hadn't anticipated a break-in of such strange proportions.

Jeremy Hawthorne's hero-for-hire business wasn't picking up any clients, so he had to find a day job (or night-job, in this case) as a regular security guard.

Such pedestrian work was beneath a genius such as himself, but he had to pay the rent on his one-room apartment somehow.

At the very least the safety of such a vast treasure trove was in his hands.

The Duke family had collected numerous artifacts from around the world that their gallery was like a museum in itself, only open to the obscenely wealthy who could afford to buy them at the next auction.

Jeremy scanned his flashlight along the glimmering jewelry from India, and it was only then that he realized how messed up it was, his boss hoarding all these gorgeous treasures for herself. Maybe after his shift he would go home and rethink his life...

The alarm bell rang. An intruder! A break-in! Time to go into action.

He rushed to the room where the alarm was coming from, and at the doorway a horde of tiny, screeching ninjas pounced on him, laying several blows to his face, stomach and shins. He'd have thought they were little people had they not also slapped him around with their tails.

He had fallen over when he finally looked up and spotted their ringleader, a tall fellow in black darting away from the now empty glass case and back up towards the skylight from hence they came.

The man in black whistled. The tiny ninjas stopped pummeling Jeremy and scurried up to join him.

By the time Jeremy got to his feet, his shins still aching from the attack, the thieves were gone and a glass case had been left empty with only a clean hole where they had broken in.

The rest of the estate's security staff caught up with him and Jeremy gritted his teeth. Not one week on the job and already he was going to get an earful from his boss if not fired.

Out in the boathouse near the mansion sat a speedboat nestled between two of the Duke family's multiple luxury yachts, where Maggie and Bates waited for the ninja horde's return.

"It has been a while, don't you think?" stated Bates.

"Don't worry," Maggie reassured, awaiting at the wheel. "They've got this."

Soon enough, the black-clad horde and their master surfaced from the water behind the boat. They hopped on and Bates weighed anchor.

They could hear sirens coming up from outside the boathouse and Maggie carefully pulled out before putting the boat in full-throttle out to sea.

The passengers braced themselves as Bates spotted the flashing lights of police boats behind them.

Those lights got smaller and smaller until they were well into international waters, far from the authorities' reach. Maggie slowed the boat down to a reasonable speed.

"Allow me, ma'am," Bates offered as he took the wheel.

Since Lord Monty Fiske had finally given up his dangerous obsession with mystical monkey powers, Bates had agreed to return to his old master's employ, although the monkey ninjas took some getting used to. At times it was like managing a herd of children, but he supposed it would be good practice...

Maggie sat down, rubbing at her swollen stomach. She was now six months pregnant with her and Monty's first child.

Monty finished toweling himself off. He sat down next to Maggie and reached into his satchel.

"Happy anniversary, my dear." He had stolen for her an iron bracelet embedded with a large sapphire and slipped it onto her wrist.

Maggie smiled. "Oh, Monty. I love it!"

"While I was there I also found this." He took out a small stone statue.

"A hippo-woman on crutches?" Maggie observed.

"Taweret, an Egyptian goddess said to watch over expecting mothers."

"Oh, I love it, Monty." She kissed her husband. "I don't suppose she would've helped when we were having trouble conceiving..."

"Hmm..." Bates adjusted the rearview mirror and looked at his employers. "I don't suppose you intend to keep doing this after your child is born."

Monty and Maggie glanced at each other.

"Maybe once a month or so," answered Maggie. "Why?"

"Oh, no reason. It's just I can't imagine keeping up this kind of lifestyle while raising a child."

"Nonsense," Monty disagreed. "She'll learn some very useful skills, will she not?"

"'She', sir?"

"Oh, we haven't told you?" said Maggie. "It's a girl."

Monty proudly put his hand where she was swelling. Their baby had only begun kicking a few days ago, and usually in the late night hours when Maggie was trying to sleep.

He proudly rested his head where he felt their baby kick hard. Already a martial arts master like her parents.

They had already agreed on a name for her.

Molly Fiske.