Heists and Vengeance

Thirty Two

Erin

Erin slipped into the busy kitchen unnoticed, watching as the culinary staff prepared for that night's dinner. She wasn't sure exactly when, how, or where she'd be able to slip in the food poisoning; she was hoping that the perfect opporunity would present itself, and soon. She was aware that getting caught this late in the game would be disastrous – but she did also know that stalling for too long was equally fatal.

She flattened herself against the wall as a chef buslted past her, barking out an order to a poor kitchen assistant, who quickly rushed to comply. She wiped the sweat off of her brow – the kitchen felt like a sauna – as she surveyed the room for an opening. It was hard to see much past the numerous staff members moving about, and the heat in the room was not helping her concentration levels at all. After a few seconds of reconnaisance, she zeroed in on a large pot of what looked like soup. She realized that that would be the perfect place to dump out the flask – it was probably going to be the appetizer for the meal.

She figured that she'd dump part of the liquid in there (it would be more than enough) and spread out the rest into other parts of the meal. That made the most sense – if for some reason a guest decided to skip the appetizer, they'd still get poisoned from another part of the meal.

Erin pushed off the wall – just in time, because she'd noticed another chef giving her an odd look. She slipped into the throng of kitchen staff and made her way towards the large vat of soup, picking up some bottles of sauces and jars spices on the way. She set them down in a line on the counter next to the soup, slipping the flask of food poisoning between them. Turning, she smiled at the young boy managing it – he couldn't be much older than her – and motioned that she could take over for him. The boy gave her a grateful smile and relinquished the spoon to her. Erin took over, mixing the soup, waiting for when no one around her seemed to be looking.

She grabbed a few of the sauces and spices and began shaking them in one by one. She had a vague idea of what she was doing – she'd watched her mother cook as a young girl, and had picked up some tips and tricks here and there – but was really waiting for a moment where she could nonchalantly pour in the contents of the flask.

Finally, about midway through the series of additions, she felt her fingers close around the cool metal of the flask. Keeping her expression neutral, she slowly unscrewed it, and tipped it over the soup. A split second passed, during which Erin panicked, wondering whether she'd somehow forgotten to flll up the flask. But then the colorless liquid began to pour out, and she let it flow for a few seconds before closing the cap and stashing it back into her pocket.

She fought the urge to glance around, as that would only make her seem more suspicious, and continued down the line of spices, sprinkling them in, making sure to stir well. She took the fac that no one pulled her away, or questioned her as a sign that no one had noticed.

Finally, she finished, and she stepped away, done with the task. She glanced around, and spotted a kitchen hand, and beckoned him over. She told him to watch the soup, to monitor it, and the boy nodded. Leaving the soup in the care of others, she strode away, hoping that the food poisoning would leave no taste, in case one of the staff decided to sample it. She'd tried to make sure that it would leave no trace, but there was no way to really test it in these conditions. For now, the only thing she could do was empty out the rest of the flask into other parts of the meal – without getting caught.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Erin had managed to dispense the food poisoning into the rest of the dinner, and was leaving the kitchen without having been caught. She strode down the hall, eager to put as much distance between herself and the kitchens as possible. She wasn't going to dare linger around, in case someone managed to put two and two together.