Chapter 1 Part A

The first five pages of "Robinless", Ethereal learns of a new mission

Chapter 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The thick fog that accumulated over the great sand dunes on the coast of Oregon with the rise of dawn felt so isolated. The waves crashed against the shore; kissing the sand and then exhaling. I concentrated to mirror the oceans breathing with my own, inhaling and exhaling with the waves. I wanted to take off the small black combat boots that hugged my ankles, to dig my toes into the sand and smell the sea salt. Growing up in Florida, I always knew when we neared the beach, the essence of salt revealing the presence of the magnificent ocean. The scene was serene, and the cold water seemed like a mirage, at any moment I would be running far away, or drowning myself. My hand finds the small pocket in my jeans, which incases the suicide pill

“If you go down, only you go down.”  Sly’s voice echoes in my head. Not that any of us ever got caught, or probably would get caught.

“Ethereal.”

Almost immediately I hear Sly’s voice behind me and turn on my heels to see him standing on a mountain of sand in front of me. His hands dug into his pockets, his reddish-brownish hair flying with the breeze, his blue eyes digging into me. He was once beautiful to me, but not anymore. He runs down the sand dune and approaches me. I’ve always wondered what his real name was, after all the long nights and romantic fights I thought he would tell me. But that is the first rule; never give away your identity. He was Sly because he could escape anything. More relevant, he was the master of deception. I was Ethereal because I was transparent; I was the thief who always got away. Sly always made the plans, organized how and when and where and why.

Marionette got us anywhere we needed to go; she was the manipulator which mainly meant she entertained CEO’s in the bedroom. She appeared on the horizon, jogging with her Dog Zeke trailing her, his tongue flapping in the wind. Marionette was tan with golden blonde hair, always in perfectly spiral glamorous curls. She had perfect curves, and hour glass figure every girl wanted.

Firewall, the hacker, emerged from the other Horizon diminished in the thick fog. He had dark skin, and one of his ancestors was part of the Black Panthers. He always wore black rimmed glasses, and despite the rules, a smart phone that looked like a watch. His girlfriend, Morph, walked closely behind him. She was the acrobat, capable of getting anywhere with her flexibility and strength.  She was dark skinned, and petite. She always wore her chestnut hair back in a small bun.

Brute stood next to me, he was not hard to miss. His muscles were prominent, but not freakishly huge. He has brown hair that always remained in a buzz cut. He wore a navy blue shirt that flattered his skin. I always wondered whether or not he and Marionette ever hooked up or not.

There were other members of our team, but the six of us were the best of the best, and although I’ve worked with Censure, Gravity and Treason for years, I was drafted three months ago for this squad, which Sly conveniently named, the “Robinless”. We were a team of six master robbers; all playing out a child fantasy of Robin Hood (quote our name).

It was never exactly my dream. I went to college for Legal Studies, and unfortunately, never passed the Bar Exam. This is ironic, that I wanted to be processes criminals but now I am pursuing one. I finished my A.A. before I finished High School at the local community college. I took summer classes, almost 18 credit hours a semester to finish as early as I could. For nothing, for almost 5k in debt. Yet, that didn’t matter anymore. My first identity was nearly a dream, a nightmare.

Sly clears his throat. “Ethereal, did you get it?” We stand in a circle, my eyes following Zeke’s panting mouth.

“What the hell do you think I am?” I say, digging under my coat and pulling out a manila folder, handing it to Sly. He unclasps the metal brackets and removes the four file copies. His eyes scan over them, then hands them to Firewall.

“See if you can breakthrough their financial credits, and open up a duel account with one of these files.” Sly says. A small mission, it only took a week. Marionette slept with the janitor and slipped the keys to Sly, who made copies and passed them to me, who went into the building after Firewall hacked the security cameras, made a few copies of the financial passwords, and left in five minutes. We would score about a million until the idiot accountants realized they were missing about one percent of gross income. The money was going to an orphanage in Chechnya that was bombed by rebels last week. A million would restore the orphanage, in Mongolia, and ship the children, and supply food for the next decade, all awhile American girls worry if their new pedicure matched their prom dress. Sly begins to speak again. “We have a new mission, the biggest yet. We need to meet in private, diligently, for a few weeks to work out all the details. Here’s the jest; Jason Tao. We’re going to Portland.”

He hands us each a small slip of paper with a date, time and address. Jason Tao was the inheritor of his recently deceased father, who became the mass producer of domestic drones, selling them to chipping companies all over the world. Jason Tao had more money than the combined countries of South America.

“Start doing your research,” Sly says before turning and smiling at me. “Especially you, Ethereal.” 

Author's Note

First draft please enjoy :)