Lights Out (10 page)

“How could you do this to Rob?” He asked almost in a whisper, all of
his energy was now ebbing away.

Lily moved her body so that she was fully facing Ryan. She tried to
ignore Ghost Face observing her now.

She rested her left hand gently on Ryan’s arm, testing the reaction.
He didn’t move. He was frozen to his seat.

“I had no choice, it was the only way to convince you to be involved.
Rob doesn’t know about my connection. He doesn’t even know who has taken him
and why. It’s for the best.” She paused. “Ryan, it was always going to be you. You are a faithful friend and you
have something that we need. I knew you would help us. I knew you wouldn’t let
your friend get hurt.”

“Don’t patronize me”, Ryan said, suddenly angry. “ This is not a game
Lily, you can’t play with people like this. This is serious stuff. Stuff that
gets you thrown into jail or killed.”

“It never was a game Ryan. I am, by choice, involved in this, from
start to finish, something that I would never expect you to understand, even if
I explained it to you. I’m sorry, but I need you to do this one thing”.

Ryan was struggling to stay calm. He wanted to grab her shoulders and
shake her, make her see that she was making a huge mistake, that she was
putting them all at risk. He wanted to just get up and leave, to go straight to
the Police and tell them everything. But he knew that he couldn’t do it. He
knew that he could never live with himself if Rob was killed at his expense. He
suddenly imagined his old life. His boring job, and his boring friends and what
he would pay to be back in boring England now. He would never complain again.

Ryan felt a cool distance between them now. No longer the warmth that
had been there earlier, or days before when they had been wrapped around each
other in his bed. All of that had now dissolved, evaporated the second her true
colours
had been exposed. He didn’t
recognise
this Woman before him. The calm exterior, the
serious face. She was all business now. He heard her talking again as she
pulled him away from his troubled thoughts.

“Ryan, the rules are
quite simple. Do as we tell you, and when it’s over, you can go back to your
life as though this never even happened.”

Ryan looked from Lily to Ghost Face and back again, incredulous that
she actually believed what she was saying.

“And you really, really think that you can get away with this?” He
looked at them both eyes wide waiting for their response.

“Yes, we do.” Lily said simply.

Ryan slumped back in his chair. He was silent for a moment, trying to
reconcile himself. He was about to agree to something so against everything
that he believed in, so that he in turn could save his friend.

“OK”, he said, now resigned. “ What do I need to do?”

“Lily will run through the plan with you now, it won’t take long,
then you will go back to your apartment and wait there until I come to collect
you in a few hours. Your phone, keep it close at hand, if I need to contact
you, I will call you.” Ghost Face gave Ryan a twisted smile. Ryan wanted to
throw up there and then and it took all of his concentration for him to keep
the bile down.

“Lily, the details.” Ghost Face motioned with his pale hand for Lily
to get started. She leaned down to her black Hermes bag sitting on the floor
next to her chair and pulled out a brown dossier.

“Now, you need to listen carefully”, Lily began as she leaned over
the coffee table and closer to Ryan. “We will guide you tonight, but you need
to understand exactly what is going to happen.” She folded out the file onto
the coffee table in front of them.

She sifted through the papers until she found the drawing that she
was looking for. Looking down at the paper Ryan scanned the image before him
and immediately recognized the plans of the bank’s ground floor and vault.

“OK, we only have eight minutes tonight, so we have no time to hang
back or pause, every member of this team has a job to do, including you, and
every second counts.” She looked at him seriously and he nodded back silently,
trying to focus on what she was saying.

“As soon as the lights go out across the City, the stopwatch starts
which Ghost Face is going to monitor throughout. We will all slip into the
entrance and the first hurdle is the door leading towards the vault entrance.
Here we will need you to swipe your card to get us all through.” Lily traced
her finger across the plans indicating to Ryan their direction.

Ryan stopped her before she could continue.

“What about the cameras and sensors? He said that you had everything
covered? How can we proceed undetected? He asked Lily.

Lily nodded expecting the question.

“As you know this is my field of expertise. Alongside developing the
new IP technology that replaced your CCTV cameras, we also developed software
that allows us to manipulate the images seen from a remote location. It’s
already built in to your system. It’s just that you are not aware of it. We
cloaked it. The video signal is digitalized, using a special decoder that also
contains an onboard web server. This acts as a network device, which allows the
images to be viewed through a routed network, but also through a web browser.
All this can be done in another location, and it’s all completely wireless. We
already have all of the footage that we need to send back through the system,
which will replace the real footage for exactly eight minutes. As soon as we
are done, all of the cameras will be switched back to real time as though
nothing ever happened. We can also remotely disable the motion detectors area
by area. The security officer on duty will be none the wiser, and it will
appear that we were never even there.”

Ryan sat motionless for a moment whilst he arranged his thoughts.

“So when the cameras were
down a few weeks ago during the attempted breakin, that was on purpose?” Ryan
asked looking directly at Lily.

“Yes, it was a trial run that didn’t quite go as planned.” Lily said
dryly, shooting a fleeting glance across the table at Ghost Face.

“So your company is actually a total front? Incredible!” Ryan blinked
in disbelief. They had all been fooled. The bank. John McIntyre. Rob and of
course himself. All of them had been sucked in by her charms and her clever
lies.

“So what is it exactly that you plan to do?” Ryan asked, now curious.

“We plan to steal $20 million USD in $100 dollar bills.” Lily stated
simply. She looked across at Ghost Face. He was amused, enjoying himself at
Ryan’s expense.

“Is-is that all?” Ryan asked, surprising them both. “I mean, if you
are in the vault and you can pull this off, is that all you think you can get
out? Why not more?”

“It’s a very good question”. Lily said.

“We have a lot of factors against us for this one. We have an
absolute eight-minute time frame in which to carry this out. We have four men,
people that we have used before that we know and trust. They are professional,
discreet and strong, and we are not going to be greedy. Greed is often the
thing that catches a person out, or causes a plan to fail. If you get lost in
the moment, take just that little bit more than you intended, then you stop
following the rules, and you open yourself up to problems.”

“Are they just going to carry the money out in bags? Ryan asked.
“Casually walk out of the bank’s entrance with $20 million dollars. How’s that
even possible?” he asked.

“How much do you think $1 million USD weighs?” she said, looking at
Ryan.

“I have no idea?” He said truthfully.

“It weighs just 10kgs, in $100 dollar bills. It’s easy to carry. We
know that the bank stacks the notes two ways in the vault. We expect to find
them either in stacks of four, measuring just over 1ft high, or they will be
sitting in stacks of six, measuring just over 20cm high. The stacks are wrapped
in plastic and bound. All of these factors have been included in the total
weight calculation. Of course whichever way that we find the stacks, it will
still come to a total of 10kgs in weight.” Lily paused allowing Ryan to take
everything in.

“So we have calculated that we have our four men, and you, to carry
the money.” She gave Ryan a brief smile.

“Me?” Ryan spluttered, “I thought I was your code and palm guy”.

“Well, yes you are, and
the extra muscle. It has to be five guys in total to get the value that we need
out. You will all carry 40kgs each in duffle bags that have special weight
bearing back straps on them.” She said.

“We’ve worked out all the ratio’s. The average Chinese or Asian man
is around 5ft, 6” tall with an average weight of 70-80 kilos. So based on their
weight to height ratio and the theory that everyone can in fact carry 50% of
their total body weight, means that if the four Chinese men that we have
selected can do it, then so can you. You are taller, and weigh heavier than 80
kilo’s, so for sure you can manage it.”

Lily continued. “Stealing the money and getting the money out is not
a problem. It’s getting past all of the security and into the vault, and that’s
where you come in.”

“We have the first door which requires a swipe card, then the second
door to the vault entrance, requiring the same key card access but with
additional key code, then there’s the main vault entrance. This is where we’ll
need your palm imprint and key code. Once we are inside, then we only require
your key code to gain entrance to the gate to the holding room, and once we
have that, then our men will do all of the loading.” Lily finished.

“You still haven’t told me how you plan to get the money out once you
have it?” Ryan asked.

“You’re right. I haven’t.” Lily said. “You don’t need to know
everything at this stage.”

“Once we get out, we will
be long gone before the bank even realizes that they have been robbed.”

“And you think you can achieve this all in eight minutes?” Ryan said,
not sure if he could even believe this himself.

“Yes, I know we can.” She said, confident in her reply, “We’re
ready”.

Lily took the dossier from the table and closed it, then slipped it
back inside her bag.

Ryan was impressed with her confidence and knowledge. She had thought
of everything it seemed, but he still doubted that they could pull it off in
that timeframe, even if they did manage to get through all of the security,
there were still so many things that could go wrong.

Ryan looked across at Ghost Face. He had stopped watching them a
while ago, allowing Lily to explain the plan to Ryan without interruption from
him. He now sat sideways with his legs crossed, casually looking out of the
main window towards the 7 Eleven store across the street.

“So what now?” Ryan said to Lily.

Ghost Face turned himself back towards them.

“ You leave after me, in five minutes. When you get back to your
apartment
go
through your wardrobe and pull out
anything black. You need to be covered from head to toe. Your shoes need to be
soft soled, nothing too noisy on the marble floor. We’ll provide the headwear.
We will come and collect you when it’s time, then you will simply do as we tell
you.” He said.

Without another word, Ghost Face stood up and walked out of the café
without looking back.

Ryan turned to face Lily. Ignoring Ryan, she raised her hand and
waved towards one of the waiters. Once she grabbed his attention she made the
‘bill’ signal with her hand and dug her hand into her bag to find her purse.

“So that’s it?” Ryan said, feeling deflated and out of control.

“That’s it Ryan.” Lily replied simply.

“What do you want me to say Ryan? At the end of the day there are
some things that you just have to do. For me, this is one of them.” She then
threw two crumpled hundred-dollar bills onto the coffee table to cover the
drinks.

“You’d better go now”, Lily said looking at her watch.

Ryan stood up from his chair, and started towards the door, then
turned again to look at Lily.

Before he could say anything, Lily said; “I know you’ll do the right thing, that’s
why I chose you.”

With nothing left to say, Ryan turned towards the door. As he stepped
into the street, the entire hustle bustle surrounding him disappeared. All that
he could think about was the night ahead. He didn’t know how he was going to
get through this. But he knew he had to. Rob was relying on him, and he had to
save his friend. Ryan made the short journey back to his apartment to prepare
himself.

AUGUST 8: 7:40pm

Ryan looked impatiently at his wristwatch. It was 7:40pm.
They had to be here soon
, Ryan thought.

Not able to stay still in one place, he finally switched on his TV
and
a live
news feed promptly came up on the screen.

Ryan watched as the bubbly local female news reporter stood in the
central business district surrounded by thousands of people waiting to witness
the lights of the city go out. She was commentating on the event, talking to
the camera, giving out facts about the Lights Out campaign and the history of
some of the buildings that now acted as a dramatic backdrop. The camera panned
out so that Ryan had a clear view of the masses. The sheer number of people was
astonishing. People stood shoulder-to-shoulder, adults and children squashed
together. He could make out the odd Police Officer in the crowd, but it would
be impossible for them to monitor everyone tonight.

The camera zoomed in again to the reporter who now had her hand on
her earpiece and was pressing it hard against the side of her head, struggling
to hear
herself
think as the sound of thousands of
voices and jostling crowds began to get the better of her.

Suddenly the image flicked back live to the news studio and Ryan
switched off the TV.

No sooner had the TV been silenced, then Ryan felt the faint buzz of
his phone vibrating in his pocket, followed immediately by his familiar ring
tone. It suddenly sounded so inappropriate, the happy little tune. He quickly
pressed the call button to silence the sound and placed the phone to his ear.
Finally Ryan listened to the voice that he had been dreading all evening.

“I’m at your front door and we need to leave now.”

Ryan clicked off his phone and made his way to the front door.

This is it
, he thought to himself.
I can do this
. He told himself as he shook his limbs, from his
hands to his feet like a boxer might do before a fight, in an attempt to give
himself some much needed confidence.

Ryan took in a deep breath and opened the door to be confronted with
the pale cold face of his fate. His skin looked even more ethereal than it had
that afternoon and almost glowed under the hallway light. Ghost Face looked
Harper up and down.

“Do you have everything you need?” he asked. Ryan nodded and patted
his pants pocket indicating the security pass and raised his hands to show his
fingertips in an attempt to lighten the mood. Saying nothing more, Ghost Face
motioned for Ryan to follow him.

They quickly descended the back stairs to the ground floor and
stepped into the quiet car park. It was completely empty, unusually so, with
the exception of the black Mercedes with it’s engine quietly running. At first
Ryan thought that perhaps everyone had gone down to see the lights go out in
person, but as Ryan sat back in the leather upholstered seat, and tried to make
himself
comfortable, he realized what was wrong. As
the car pulled away, leaving the building lit up behind them, he looked back to
where
Mr
Wu, the caretaker, normally sat and for the
first time since he had lived there, his seat was empty. Fearing the worst,
Ryan sat immobile, with only the turmoil in his head to keep him company, as
the true realization of what he was involved with finally dawned upon him.

Less than ten minutes later the car stopped two blocks from the World
Asia Bank. It was as close as they could get. The streets were packed with
thousands of people, all waiting to see Hong Kong plummet into darkness for the
first time in history. People were laughing and chatting, children perched high
up on their parents’ shoulders squealing and pointing, couples arm in arm,
waving at the hosts of TV cameras now set up.

Ghost Face walked quickly and with purpose, pushing Ryan slightly
ahead of him so that he could keep him close. When they got within twenty
meters of the bank entrance, Ghost Face guided Ryan off to one side as they
slid unnoticed behind a pillar and waited. People were pushing past them, Ryan
felt elbows and shoulders brush past him as they jostled and shoved to find a
better place to observe. Ryan started scanning the crowd. He suddenly became
aware of several other people wearing dark clothes around him and wondered if
they were part of the team. He couldn’t see Lily yet, but he knew she’d be here
soon. He noticed several uniformed police officers slowly moving around groups
of people, occasionally talking on their radios to each other. His thoughts
quickly wondered what his chances would be if he now made a run for it. But
then as soon as the thought entered his mind, he dismissed it immediately.
Images of Rob’s beaten face vividly pushed their way into Ryan’s head. He
wouldn’t let him down.
What if it had
been him?
Ryan mused. Rob would have done the same for him, of that he was
certain.

Appearing out of nowhere Lily gracefully arrived wearing the same
head to toe black as he and Ghost Face. She tiptoed in her flat black shoes and
lightly kissed Ryan on the cheek, as though in some other life they were still
a normal couple. Ryan flinched slightly and Lily looked at him apologetically.
“How are you holding up?” She asked.

“I’ve been better.” Ryan stated truthfully.

“Are you sure about this?” He asked one last time, in case by some
slim chance they could simply walk away.

She smiled her dazzling smile at Ryan, but this time it was lost on
him. Her magic no longer worked. He had been so blinded by her in the
beginning, but now it was plain and clear to him. Here he was, standing at the
entrance of the Asia World Bank, waiting for the city lights to go out so that
he could help these people, whoever they really were, steal $20 million US dollars,
so that he could save his friend. His normal life as he knew it was well and
truly over.

Ryan leaned in to Lily.

“I need to ask you something.” He said.

“Anything.” Lily responded.

“Are you involved with the Triads?”

Lily smiled a crooked half smile to Ryan.

“Sort of.” She replied. “One day I’ll explain it all to you. For now,
let’s just get this done.”

Ghost Face moved in closer to Ryan and Lily and tapped the glass face
of his watch with his finger. “It’s almost time”, he said. The three of them,
led by Ghost Face began to weave themselves between the throngs of excited
people toward the banks entrance.

Lily paused to speak to Ryan. “As soon as the lights go out, I’m
giving you a mask to wear. Put it on straight away and follow me, stay close”.
She said turning back and working her way through the last few onlookers.

They arrived at the entrance, still surrounded by people. Ryan looked
around him, his eyes still scanning the crowds for policemen or security guards
to make sure that they hadn’t been noticed. It was unlikely, he concluded.
There were too many people for them to watch. Ryan looked at Lily’s all-black
attire and noticed that she was wearing black cotton gloves. He leaned in and
tapped her on the shoulder. “Where are my gloves?” he whispered into her ear.

“Oh”, Lily smiled nervously. “You noticed that. Look I’m sorry Ryan;
it’s part of the plan. We can’t afford to leave any fingerprints behind. But
for you, well, we need your fingerprints to get us through to the vault. It’s
unavoidable. Which means that you can’t wear gloves.” Lily said, her tone quite
matter-of fact.

Ryan’s pulse was now racing. He could feel the thud of his heart and
thought that at that moment it may actually burst out of his chest. He hissed
in to Lily’s ear; “This was NOT part of the plan. I’m already doing everything
you have asked. When this is over everything will point directly toward me!”
Before Ryan could wait for an answer from Lily, he suddenly felt a hand push
him in the small of his back. He turned to see Ghost Face behind him, pushing
him gently, but with enough force to direct him closer to the bank entrance.

“Enough talking” Ghost
Face told them both, “We are counting down, fifty seconds”, He spoke into an
earpiece that Ryan had only just noticed. “Everyone get into position. Harper,
you stay with me.” Ghost Face said.

Ryan shook his head to try to remain focused on the job at hand, he
tried to push all other thoughts and questions to the back of his mind, but the
panic still managed to seep in, as the realization of what they were about to
attempt finally dawned on him. A cold shiver ran through him as he looked at
the main door of the bank.
This is it
,
he thought.

Everyone else surrounding Ryan was now a blur, he just looked at Lily
and waited.

“Thirty seconds” Ghost Face said quietly so that no one next to him
could hear him talking.

“Twenty seconds”, he spoke again to the invisible team.

Lily spoke into her mobile phone to another invisible person. “Ready
to switch the camera’s in ten, nine, eight….”, she continued the count down,
all the time looking for a signal from Ghost Face.

“Five, four, three, two, now.” She flicked off her phone immediately
and zipped it securely in her top pocket.

People around them started to become noisier and more excited, slight
pushing and movement started around them as people strained to see the big
screens around them, or to get a better view of the buildings. In the distance
Ryan could still just make out the bubbly Chinese news presenter getting ready
for the big countdown, the cameraman was poised waiting to film the event.
Everyone now gazed up at Hong Kong’s famous city lights.

Then suddenly the countdown began. People all around Ryan were
chanting as loud as they could, the noise was deafening; “Ten, nine, eight,
seven “. Ryan felt Ghost Face push him once again in the small of the back and
guided him swiftly through the remainder of the crowds until they were almost at
the door. He could see the security guard at the entrance, also transfixed and
chanting like everyone else.

“Four, three, two, one. “

Ryan blocked out the sounds around him and counted the final few
seconds in his head. He was as ready as he would ever be.

Suddenly Hong Kong sank into total darkness, every single light was
off, every street light, ceiling light, wall light, signage, building light,
all gone.

Pulling on the balaclava that Lily had given him, it took Ryan a few
seconds for his eyes to adjust to the pitch dark. To his left he noticed four
other people slip in silently behind him. The invisible team that Ghost Face
had been talking to, Ryan assumed.

Leaving behind the roar of the cheering crowds, seven people dressed
from head to toe in black, walked inside the Bank’s public entrance moving past
the guard unnoticed. Everyone blended into the black background. Only the green
fluorescent emergency exit signs could be seen flickering above doorways,
letting off a dull green glow around them.

Quickly everyone moved towards the first locked entrance. Ghost Face
guided Ryan to the door. Ryan had his card already at hand and he quickly
swiped his card through in silence. Immediately the door swung opened, giving
them access to the next area. The door closed behind with a small click as the
door locked itself again.

With Ryan now at the front, they made their way to the next door,
which would lead them to the main vault entrance. Ryan could hear his breathing
inside the balaclava, it sounded loud to him. He began to feel trapped inside
the fabric and was desperate to pull it off. It was making his face hot with
his own rapid breathing. He was sure that everyone else could hear him. He took
a few slow breaths and gathered himself. They’d got this far.

They arrived at the second door. This time it required both the card
and a code. Ryan punched in the familiar code on to the keypad and swiped his
card through again. A tiny green light flashed and the door sounded with a
click, telling them that it was open. All seven people filtered through and the
door closed silently behind them.

Ghost Face tapped his watch and motioned with his hand that they had
only seven minutes left. They all nodded in unison, no one making a sound. Now
they were in a much larger space with a modern vaulted ceiling that rose
impressively high above their heads. The dull green glow from the exit signs,
mixed with the blackness made it feel eerie to Ryan, like visiting a church in
the middle of the night.

Directly ahead of them was the entrance to the actual vault. Ryan had
been here so many times. He knew that once this door was open that his job was
almost done, and then the invisible team would start their work. Ryan quickly
walked to the security pad next to the vault entrance. This time the access was
more complicated. It involved Ryan punching in a code onto the unlit flat pad
that bore no numbers, the sequence and position was all from memory, followed
by the final hand scan, all on the same blank pad. This, Ryan knew, would all
be logged into the main security network. There would be no doubt, when John
McIntyre would later investigate the security breech, that he would find that
it was Ryan Harper that had entered the Bank’s secure vault on this night. Ryan
tried not to think about it as he quickly and quietly did his part. Once the
access was confirmed he simply stood back a waited. A second later they all
heard the giant steel reinforced vault door clunk and click as it slowly opened
before them. Once the vault door was fully open, they were greeted by a narrow
escalator that dropped down deep into the main belly of the bank. As soon as
Ryan placed his foot on the first metal step, the escalator started to move.
Soon all seven of them had stepped onto the escalator and following Ryan’s lead,
walked swiftly to the bottom.