Billionaires and Brilliance

Chapter Thirteen- Fifth Degree Theft Is Fun

Ryan stared up at the front of the abandoned firehouse. Cars honked distantly in the night, but the street that she and her girlfriend stood on was empty. Down the road, a rusty street light flickered but other than that there was nothing illuminating them.

Harley shook her spraypaint can, the ball inside clinking. She pressed the top of the can and released a stream of black paint, covering the first window. She walked along the length of the building, covering large patches of the walls, including the non-boarded windows, in darkness. Ryan followed close behind, shaking up her can and spraying a design on top. Soon, blood red eyes were staring off the firehouse at the girls, who capped their cans and shoved them in a bag.

"Looks good," Ryan decided.

They darted into an alley and went to the old firehouse's back door. Ryan kicked it open and they entered, shoving it shut behind them. The room they entered was large. Chunks of debris were scattered around the ground and spiderwebs hung from an old ladder. There were two chairs tipped over on each other next to a metal staircase that led to a loft above. On the opposite side of the staircase was the firepole, looking ghostly in the dusty night air.

Ryan looked around in awe. "This is awesome."

Harley nodded, walking around slowly and staring at everything. "Yeah. Jasper will love this."

"Let's look at the loft," Ryan said, giddy. She grabbed Harley's hand and they dashed up the steps, smiling as they looked around.

The loft was half the size of the bottom floor, lined with lockers on the back wall. There was a bed with an old metal frame on the right wall. It had a mattress and old blankets thrown over it but there was no pillow. Empty cans and old papers were strewn beneath.

"Oh yeah. This is perfect."

"Great. Let's go rob a zoo."

***

Anthia tossed her rehearsal bag haphazardly into a red cushioned theatre seat and meandered backstage. The stagehands were running around, pulling ropes to hoist set pieces into the rafters, draw curtains, and swivel lights. Music was playing from someone's personal speaker. It was the new Broadway cast recording of Heathers the Musical. The people working were singing along or tapping their feet, and Anthia found herself humming to it, as well, as she went toward the dressing rooms. Today was a dress rehearsal, so she was going to spend even more time than normal at the theatre.

The stagehand that had talked to her the other day, Rachel, stopped her on her way. "Wait, I need to show you how we're going to do the scene where Audrey II grabs you."

"Oh, okay," Anthia said, turning around and following Rachel to the stage. She was dressed in a black shirt and black leggings, the uniform of all the techies. A headset was on her, and she bent the microphone away from her as they stopped in the wing of the stage. "You'll be here before your entrance and we'll strap you into a harness system before you go on. Don't worry, you'll barely even notice it's on."

"Will it show with my costume?"

"No, it'll go under your dress so just come over here in shorts and a tank top and bring your dress so you can put it on afterward." She walked onto the stage towards stage left. "Alright so here's your mark," she pointed to the spot where Anthia was supposed to stand. "We'll be up there," she pointed to the rafters above the stage where techies were switching ropes and pulleys, "by the automation control systems in case something goes wrong. Don't worry, it won't, but just in case we'll be up there. You're going to lean against this table while you do your dialogue with Audrey II. The costume team is putting slits in your dress so that one of the techies, who will hide under the table, can clip the cables to your harness through the slits. So Audrey II will attack you and when Seymour pulls you away from her, he'll unclip the harness and the rest will go on normally. Okay?"