Legendary // H.S

11.

'Nothing better to do

When I'm stuck on you

And still I'm here

Trying to figure it out'

*

Harry

6 months ago.

London at the end of summer is the best time to be in the city. People are back at work, uni or school. The streets aren't lined with drinkers every time there's a heatwave. Quiet returns, and it allows me to think again. It's easier to get the job done, too.

I've been trying to get myself back in the game, trying smaller projects while we continue working on the bigger ones. I need to prove to myself that I can do what Dad never did. The greatest heist in history, and it will be me that did it, not him. He'd be turning in his grave if he knew.

It's always been a skill of mine to work my way around tricky situations. My mind is quick at figuring things out. From a young age I've had to pay attention to the tiniest details, constantly watching and listening. Any piece of information is vital. Dad knew it and so did I, it's what he ingrained in me. That's not the only thing that stuck with me because of him, though. I knew he was satisfied watching me from the burning gates of hell, knowing that I was still just the broken kid that he conditioned. No one else needed to see that, but I was aware of it all the time.

This was a chance to prove him wrong. Every other heist leading up to the Cullinan was just child's play, including this. A menial task, but one to refine my skills.

Robinson & Co. The sign above the door had recently been cleaned; I'd watched it be done the other day. I knew when the shop opened, who worked what shifts, and when would be the best time to attack. We've robbed a few places in the Hatton Garden area before, this will be a walk in the park. It's a smaller store compared to others around it, but the jewels on display were enough to indicate that they housed some of the best diamonds in the capital.

Every day for the past three weeks I've watched shoppers pass through those doors. Businessmen, couples, those hoping that they're jewellery is worth anything at all but usually walking out with a look of defeat at the news that it's not. There's a pattern in who frequents it. There always is with places like this.

I can tell it's more respected than some of the others in the area, not caring much for commercial awareness but rather focusing on the quality of their products instead. It's a family business, the original owner's great grandson now running it. There is a total of 5 other employees. Two women and three men, but from what I can tell the men are only in on a part time basis, considering the women are working every weekday. The men usually cover weekends or the odd shift when one of the women can't. It's usually the manager that passes her shifts on to them.

She's blonde, has a curvaceous figure, and her name is Cathy Johnson. She's been working there for around 4 years now, having joined after working for a larger company in Brighton. Johnson lived alone with her 6 month old son, after going through divorce shortly after he was born. It's easy to find this sort of information out, public records are never fully secure. Louis and George were able to crack into them within 10 minutes.

George joined our ranks two years ago. He's only 20 years old, and little too obsessed with Louis, but it's never stopped him from doing a good job. He's young, sure, but the kid knows what he's doing. Taught himself everything he knows after getting bored in school. Of course, there is the small detail that his mum thinks he's at uni, but he dropped out around the time that I found him. He was working on some coding to override the university's system when I saw him. Just sat in a café hacking into the switchboard so he could make it seem like he was still a student there. I watched him across the room as he did it, working so quickly that I thought he'd never do it. But he did. I couldn't help but approach him.