The Royal Contract

He adjusted his hat, lowering it to his face as he tried to hide his face in the dark. Then, he fixed his coat to fight the chill of the night.

He remained in the shadow, obscuring himself from the passersby. He did not want anyone to notice who he was, pretending to be just smoking in the corner, minding his business.

"Where are you?" He mumbled as he blew on his cigarette, letting the smoke create a cloud around him. "What is taking you so long?" He asked again, slightly impatient.

However, his eyes never wavered as they focused on a building on the opposite side of the road. He watched the entrance like a hawk, not wanting to miss anything.

But he slightly looked away when the owner of the building came out with his security following him to his car.

He could see that the guards were securing the place. They should not notice his presence. Although his disguise was great, he still could not take his chances of being discovered.

Finally, he watched the car pull away from the driveway, together with the security detail. He slightly stretched his neck, ensuring they were far enough before moving toward the building.

"About time." He whispered, throwing the remaining cigarette on the ground and grinding the remaining ember until he had extinguished the fire before going straight to the main door.

He still had to be careful because someone else could still recognize him despite his uniform clothes and the beard he allowed to grow that covered almost half of his face.

"Good evening." He greeted the security guard assigned to the main door. "The traffic in the..." He tried to make conversation, hitting on a spot that could elicit a response from the big man with the gun.

"And the nerve of that man, waving his money on small people like us." He pretended to have a buff with a rich man, which caused his delay.

"I hope you taught him a lesson or two." The man nodded his head as if sympathizing with him.

"I would have, but the police showed up. Now, those fools charged me with the disturbance." He said, showing his disdain and contempt. "Luckily, I was able to work my charm, ending up with just a warning."

He quickly waved his identification card, allowing the bigger man a glance at his information, but not enough to check the details.

With confidence and a friendly smile, he had achieved his first task, to gain the trust of the only man that could prevent him from entering the premises.

"Ok. Go ahead." The man even pointed him to the elevator doors, allowing him to finish his late delivery. "Just be quick."

He saluted before rushing inside the elevators. Once inside, he tapped on the highest floor, using a card he had taken from an employee earlier without his knowledge.

One thing he had learned at a young age was to pick some pockets, pick some locks, and open secured vaults. A skill that every petty criminal should know.

When the doors opened on the last floor, he quickly exited, still using his hat to hide his face from the cameras.

From those watching on those cameras, he was just someone delivering a package. He could see a few more employees finishing up with their work, but most had already left for the day.

He stopped over the table further on the other side of the room, targeting her as the recipient of his delivery. He needed an excuse to go to the end of the room.

"Excuse me." He caught the young woman's attention, finding her the easiest target, unlike the other workers in the massive room.

"Yes," She smiled at him, seemingly clueless about his real identity. That was a good sign.

The last he needed was someone to speak his name and divulge his secret. He had to be careful before he blew his cover.

"I have a delivery for you. If you could sign here." He handed her a clipboard, indicating a number where she should put her signature.

"Thanks." He smiled at the girl before handing over the parcel that had chocolates inside. "I think it came from your secret admirer." He added, making it more mysterious.

He could see the interest in the girl as her smile widened. "By the way, can I use your restroom?" He pretended he needed to pee. But he was only using the distraction not to get noticed.

Soon the other employees gathered around the girl, wondering who had sent those boxes of goodies. He knew his ploy would work like a charm, knowing all too well how to manipulate the female population.

He always joked about it with Mike, saying it was a gift. Knowing what women wanted was something he was good at.

Once inside the restroom, he knew there would be no cameras in that area. Quickly, he jumped on the tiled sink and uncovered the ceiling cover.

He had studied in detail how the layout of the building worked, so he knew his way around it. He just needed to transfer to the other room without being seen.

"Damn. It is going to be tight." He thought as he looked at the small space of the ventilation system. But he still believed he would fit in there.

Immediately, he squeezed his way inside the small hole and worked on moving along the narrow passageway.

Of course, it was not easy.

He had not done any of this for a long time. He paid people to do this for him. But unfortunately, he could not ask anyone else to do this job for him.

If he wanted this job correctly done, he had to do it himself. That had always been his father's motto as to why he had to train for everything back when he was a child.

Before he could command someone else to do something, he should know how to do it first. Everything he did had to be perfect so that he could also ask perfection from his men.

"Ouch!" He bit his lips before he created more noise. He accidentally bumped his head on the metallic surface, causing him a slight pain and more of a discomfort.

But he still continued to crawl his way to his exit. It did not take him long as he counted his way to the next door.

"Aah!" He sighed when he finally exited the narrow square hole. Carefully he set himself straight, stretching his cramp muscles.

But he knew he had no time to waste as he immediately worked on finding the safe of the lawyer of this company.

He was not part of the board, but he was the most trusted man of Mr. Alfred Rosley. And he was keeping most of his books and secrets in this office.

He just needed to find them. Then, he could use those as his leverage to get what he wanted. He would not let these men ruined him without a fight.

But now, he knew that Haley must have seen the news. He could only imagine what she thought of him. He could only wonder if she could forgive him, especially if he planned to put her father down. B Besides, from his other sins.

"Cameras," He looked up but could not see one. "Great!" He doubted the boss would want cameras inside their private chambers.

Quickly, he searched his brain for possible hiding places for his vault. He had to move quick before anybody suspected anything.

He only had a few minutes to perform his task. After that, they would start coming after him. Then, they would discover what he was doing.

"If I was him, where would I put it?" He pondered as he roamed his eyes around the room, scrutinizing

each tiny space.

It could be an object out of place, or a place where it would seem unlikely. But whereever it was. Gerald had to find it until something caught his eyes.

He found a small crack on the wall, just on the other side of the desk. He almost missed it, but it was there. Slowly, he pushed the tiny slab, and the small wall quickly opened. Behind it was the vault.

He could only admire the handiwork, but still, to a untrained eye, it was easy to miss. But he knew most of the trick in his book.

"Now, to crack it open." A challenging part of his task, but with his handy decoding machine, he had the box opened in record time.

He always believed in finding the right tools for the job. Although skills were handy, but with the latest technology in hand, nothing could go wrong.

He quickly took out the papers, quickly scanning the title heads. Then, on the bottom part, he found what he was looking for.

"Damn, I am still good at this." He patted himself on the back. But the show was far from over as he grabbed the papers and shoved them inside his inner jacket pocket.

Then, without second thought, he closed the vault, put everything back in place, hoping no one would notice anything until he was safely out of the building and away from this place.

Then, he climbed to the ceiling again, relocking the portion where he had passed through and hastily crawled back to the bathroom before anyone noticed what he had done.

With a few more minutes to spare, he returned to the woman at the desk, beaming at her while patting his stomach, silently telling her it was a success.

But, of course, she would only think he used the bathroom for something else. Then, he whistled while going down the elevator until he had reached the ground floor.

It was almost home stretch as he saw the main door. All he had to do was cross it. But he noticed something was wrong as soon as he walked across the lobby floors.

Did he blow his cover?