Con Me

A Story by Bhavana

All her life, Alana (Ali) Sicasa has been a con artist. She's a sarcastic, intelligent girl who would make a perfect actress if she ever got into Hollywood. She has the ability to fool anyone and ever

CHAPTER ONE

Sweat dripped down my forehead as I picked at the little wires in the security system. In frustration, I blew my bangs out of the way and pushed my hair out of my face. I vowed to never leave my hair out again. I tried to remember what Ash had told me about the wires. The hot weather was getting to my head and I couldn’t seem to recall whether he had told me to cut the purple wire or the yellow wire.

I groaned in exasperation. It was almost 95 degrees F outside; way hotter than New York City’s usual chilly days. I was inside the Museum Of Natural History on West 79^th Street, trying to unlock the security system and get through to the main artifact of this week: The Golden Foot of Ra. This wasn’t what I normally would go for, but Ash needed money, and he asked me to help him out with this one thing as he needed to be elsewhere today.

I usually went for something at a higher level of risk. I liked the adrenaline rush that came through every time I ran away. Usually, I would finish something as simple as breaking the code on a security system in less than fifteen minutes at most. Today however, I wasn’t in the right mind to finish this mission quickly. Maybe it was because of the weather. Maybe it was because of my mood. But mostly, I think it had to do with the fact that I was wearing a scarlet red ballroom dress.

When Ash asked me to do his work for him, I agreed because of two reasons. One, he was like the brother I never had. He was always there for me and in a way; he was like my best friend. Two, I actually owed him due to how much he aided me in my missions. So, I decided to accept his request. However, I did not know beforehand that it would result in me wearing a ballroom dress.

You see, I’m not a huge fan of dresses. To put it simply, they piss me off; especially when it comes to doing things like breaking into a museum to steal something. Today, there was a grand opening for the new artifact. Many celebrities, Very Important People, and rich men and women who didn’t have anything better to do have come to the party. To make sure I didn’t look out of proportion, I was forced to wear a dress. My original idea was to wear a pair of flexible leggings and a baggy top so I felt comfortable. Unfortunately, my opinions didn’t matter in this position.

I reminisced my evening as I continued my work on the security system. After I had entered the room full of people, my goal was to meet the Statues and Sculptures Curator to get the code for the new room that contained the object I was planning on stealing. I had swished my way through the crowd and slowly glanced around, trying to find the young man in charge. I soon located him and made my way towards the bar, where he was sitting on a bar stool.

I sat down gracefully and said to the bartender, “One Flirtini please.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Curator glance at me and my odd choice of drink. I pretended to be looking around the room and when I met his eyes I smiled gently.

He returned the smile and said, “Hello. How are you today, beautiful madam?”

“Quite fine, kind sir and you are?” I replied with a light smile.

“Excuse me for not introducing myself; I am Shen Saunders, the Statues and Sculptures Curator at this Museum. May I know your name, madam?” He asked politely.

I quickly made up a fake name. “It’s Pauline Winters. I’m impressed by your occupation, how long have you been working here?”

“About three years. What brings you here tonight?” Shen replied.

At that time, the bartender handed me my drink. I reached out to take it, and I sipped at it before replying. “Well, I’m here for the same reason everyone else is here for. I wanted to take a look at the new artifact. Actually, I’m a journalist. I write about old artifacts that have been found.” I made up a story to go with my name so I didn’t seem suspicious.

“Wow, that is a great occupation for a young woman like you. You seem to look like you are very good at your job.” I could tell he was flirting with me now. I decided to play along. I needed to do whatever it took to get to that artifact tonight.

“Thank you for your kindness, I’m sure you are even better at doing your job.” I winked playfully.

His smile widened, “I find your choice of drink very… um, what’s the word? Right. Peculiar. I find your choice of drink very peculiar; do you mind telling me why you chose that?”

I stared at my drink and slowly stirred it, pretending to think about my answer. In reality, I knew exactly what I was going to say. I lowered my eyes and looked at him from underneath my eyelashes. “I like the Flirtini because it expresses that although I look very serious, I can be alluring and... playful, if you will.”

I knew the instant I replied that he had fallen for my tricks. I had done this so many times before that I had literally lost count and now it came to me without putting forth the slightest amount of effort. “Yes, you really do seem interesting.” Shen paused and looked around the room. I wasn’t perfectly sure what he was doing, but I knew I would find out soon.

“Ms. Winters, would you like a secret tour of our new artifact?” Shen whispered quietly, but I heard him anyway.

“Really? Would you do that for me? I would be thrilled to get a tour; this is like an opportunity of a lifetime!” I whisper-yelled, knowing this was supposed to be kept a secret.

“Of course, Ms. Winters. Follow me.” He made a move to get up. As soon as he did, I threw myself at him and gave him a long hug, knowing this will make him even more attracted to me. His eyes widened and when I finally let go, and he stuttered a little before turning around to walk to the room in which the Golden Foot of Ra was located.

When I was sure he wasn’t looking, I grimaced and dusted off my body, not wanting any of his germs on me. This is all for you Ash, I thought silently.

I followed Mr. Saunders as he made his way through the ballroom, waving at a few people he knew here and there. According to Ash, the artifact was located three rooms left of the ballroom. I knew what my plan was, so I quietly walked behind Shen.

I glanced around as I walked, trying to see if there were any security cameras around. Of course, they were bound to be cameras in a very popular museum, but I found the need to check anyway. I glanced around as discreetly as I could.

Ash had already told me what to do when it came to this point in the mission, although I was pretty sure I could pull it off. We arrived at the room in concern which held the famous Golden Foot of Ra. I looked at Shen as he pulled out his keycard and swiped it through the little hole on the door. I heard a series of metal clicks and then the door swung open. I trailed behind him as Mr. Saunders went into the room and then the door once again swung shut.

I looked around the room, and the Foot of Ra instantly caught my eye. It was a deep color of gold and it shone in the lights of the room. It was a beautiful sight, and I would have loved to have it for myself. Unfortunately, Ash was going to get it this time.

“Oh my God. That must be one of the prettiest sights I have seen in a long time. Am I allowed to touch it?” I asked Shen. I would have gotten rid of him by now, but he needed to answer some of my questions about the security placed on this artifact before I let him go.

“It’s great that you like it. However, it probably wouldn’t be the best idea to touch it. You see, there’s an electric charge running all around the edge of the sculpture. The voltage is so high, that if anyone tries to touch it, they will either be paralyzed for the rest of their life, or they will experience a stroke and die.” Shen explained to me in full detail.

“I have a few more questions, do you mind answering them for me? They’re a little confidential, but I need to write them in my journal if I want popularity.” I pouted, twisting a lock of my hair slowly.

He glanced at my fingers and my lips before his eyes moved back to mine. He sighed. “Okay, I guess a few questions won’t do any harm.” He gave me a small smile and I returned mine with extra happiness, although it was all unreal.

“Okay, my first question is…” I paused, thinking of a good question to ask. “Let’s suppose someone DOES get past the current and steals the Foot of Ra. How would they be able to exit this room?”

I already knew this information, but I just needed to make sure I was right. Shen rubbed his neck. I could tell he was processing whether or not he should reveal this information to me. I blew my bangs out of my face and frowned slightly, easily conveying the message that I was getting annoyed so Shen would hurry up with his answer.

It wasn’t my fault; I was on a tight schedule. He glanced up and saw me frowning and he replied almost instantly, “There’s a trapdoor located exactly 10 steps away from the statue. It’s the only way to get out of this room without alarming the whole museum if you don’t have a keycard. It leads directly underneath the front of the museum where there is a small elevator that takes you to the foyer.”

"But, that's the only way out of this building - the foyer. So, if anyone does try to steal the Foot of Ra, they aren't getting anywhere! They will be in our hands as soon as they exit the foyer." Shen completed his speech with a triumphant smile.

Although my facial features showed signs of impression and surprise, inside I was laughing my head off. What Shen didn't know was there was another way out of the museum, and that would be my escape route tonight.

"Impressive,” I said nodding my head up and down with a smile.

Shen smiled so brightly, that I thought the lights actually flickered for a second. "Thank you, Miss. Winters."

"Well, I don't want to put you through much trouble, so I only have one question left." I said, twirling my hair once again. Ash always says I'm a heavy flirter, but I recognize it as one of the qualities necessary to become a thief. The question I was about to ask was purely for my amusement. I already knew what I was going to do; yet again I was just asking to see if Shen would reveal something so confidential just to get to a girl.

"Go ahead, Miss. Winters." He smiled at me.

"Suppose you were the thief... How would you get past the electric current?" I asked Shen as I glanced towards the Foot of Ra from the corner of my eyes.

"Miss. Winters, I'm not sure if I can discuss that information with you. I believe it is a violation of the museum's code of conduct. Please forgive me." Shen said apologetically.

I pretended to look sad and upset. "It's alright, Mr. Saunders. I completely understand. No one has ever revealed this information to me; I thought I could finally get a break in my journalism and get some really good information. I guess I won't be achieving my dream anytime soon... Thanks for all your help Mr. Saunders; I hope you have a very nice day." I smiled sadly and turned around, ready to walk away.

"Wait! Ms. Winters, I will give you the information you need!" Shen yelled to get my attention.

I mentally pumped my fist at my awesome acting skills before turning around and looking at him from beneath my eyelashes. "Will you really do that for me, Shen?" I asked in a quiet voice.

He smiled widely at me. "I would do anything for you, Pauline." He said softly.

In my head, I was raising my eyebrow at him. What an idiot. He would do anything for me? He hasn't even known me for more than an hour!

I looked down at the ground and whispered out, “Thanks.”

He smiled. "Okay, so if I were the thief, what would I do? That was your question right?" Shen asked me.

I simply nodded. He looked around him as if he was trying to make sure no one else heard that he was about to violate the code of conduct.

"What many people don't know, is that there is a security alarm located right here in this room. Since I know where it is, I would first break into it and lower the electric current until it isn't as harmful."

Now that was something I didn't know.

I knew there was a security system in this room; Ash told me where it was located too. I just didn't know that we were able to lower the electric charge.

I nodded, looking interested, and waited for Shen to continue.

"After that, I would destroy the system so that when I grab the Foot of Ra, the security alarm wouldn't ring. And then I would just escape through the elevator. But of course, I would never do any of this stuff, so it isn't much valuable information anyway." Shen said.

"Wow. You have an amazing plan Shen." I walked up to him and touched his forearm. Bam. And he was flattered. He glanced at me and started to lean in closer. I just patted his arm and turned around, glancing around the room one more time.

I could hear Shen huff out in annoyance behind me. After all, he had been hoping for a kiss, and I obviously had not given him what he wanted.

"Well, Miss. Winters. I suggest we leave and get back to the ballroom. The exhibit will be open in about 2 hours, and we don't want to be in here before everyone else." Shen explained.

I, however, shrugged it off and said, "We're staying here, Shen."

I turned around to face him and he raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean, we are staying here?" He asked.

That's when I pulled out my mini gun from a small, secret pocket in the midst of my dress. "Hands up, Shen. Where I can see them." I threatened.

Unlike the many guards or managers I had done this to before, Shen's eyes widened and he instantly raised his hands. I could see the fear in his eyes as he stood there, whimpering like a scared child.

"Wh-what do you want? Who are you?" He said fearfully.

"Oh come on now, Saunders, who do YOU think I am?" I asked him as I rolled my eyes.

How stupid could this guy get? He needed some serious help. And he was scared of a tiny little gun? This thing couldn't even blast up a bottle of glass properly!

"Um. Err. A police officer?" Shen asked doubtfully.

I literally shook my head at his innocence. “And to think I thought you wouldn’t be getting any more stupid. How could you not understand? I’m here to steal the Foot of Ra, you ignorant idiot! All you were thinking about was flirting with me… Do you not realize how valuable the information you gave me is? It’s stupid managers like you who can’t protect a simple object from being stolen.” I was pissed off.

Although it was to my advantage that he helped me out with the information, I was infuriated that others would be blamed for one idiot’s incompetence in the field of work.

“You’re here to steal the Foot of Ra?! But, but you seemed so�"” Shen started, but I cut him off.

“Innocent? Yeah, of course I seemed innocent, you disgusting pig! All you wanted was to get with me. Did you ever stop and think of asking me for my journalist ID? No. You didn’t. So now you’re going to suffer.” I laughed at him as his eyes widened in excessive fear.

One more minute and I swear a new type of phobia would be invented �" fear of me! I laughed to myself. It really looked like Shen was going to develop a phobia of me seeing the way he was sweating way too much and had his eyes closed, as if he was too scared to look at me.

“What exactly do you mean by suffer? Are you going to kill me?” It looked like Shen’s eyeballs would pop out of his head soon. That’s how petrified he looked.

“Calm down for a second, will you? I don’t have any reason to kill you. In fact, you gave me information that I didn’t have before.” I smiled widely at Shen. He looked away from me and grimaced, looking slightly guilty for his treachery to the museum.

“Well, Shen. I would absolutely love to continue talking to you, but unfortunately I have something to do, if you know what I mean.” I winked at him as I walked backwards to the far corner of the room; my gun still aimed at him. Eh, he didn’t know the gun didn’t do s**t… What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, I guess.

Still aiming the gun, I sat down near the corner. I reached into my mini pocket and fetched a pair of plastic gloves. After throwing them on, I punched the wall in the spot I knew the security machine was located.

“You know where the security system is located? But-but I didn’t even tell you that part!” Shen stuttered out like the coward he is.

I rolled my eyes and gave him a look. “Oh come on, Shen. Give me some credit here, will ya? I’m a professional con artist. Of course I would figure everything out before even stepping foot inside this museum!”

I looked back at the machine and then I realized something Shen had said; the only way to get out of this room was to use the trapdoor, unless you have a keycard. I almost gave myself whiplash as I turned towards the spot at which Shen was standing a few seconds ago… Except he wasn’t there anymore.

I saw him scrambling for the doorway and I got up off of my position on the floor and ran like no tomorrow. I was known to be a good runner, so I got to the entrance to the room before Shen did.

I threw my right hand across the entrance and breathing hard I said, “Not so fast, Speedy McSpeedster. You aren’t going anywhere until I do what I need to do here. Give me your card.” I paused with my left hand extended, waiting for Shen to hand over his keycard. When he just stood there and didn’t make a move to get his card I yelled, “NOW!” I glared at him and he whimpered before reaching into his tuxedo to get his keycard.

“Listen here, Shen. If you’re a nice, sweet man who obeys my commands, I’m sure nobody will get hurt.” I said with a nice smile. Then I turned on my full glare as I said the next sentence, “But, if you’re going to plan stupid, pointless escapes, I might just have to be an evil, little girl. Are we clear?”

Shen grumbled out a “Yes” and I made my way back to the security machine. I opened up the box and instantly found the dial that turned down the current. I remembered that a certain amount of voltage was enough to make someone unconscious for a while without letting them die or have permanent damage done to them.

Now I had the perfect plan. I turned down the voltage to the amount needed to shock someone slightly and closed the security panel. I motioned for Shen to walk over and he did so very reluctantly.

“Okay. So, all I need for you to do is to walk over and touch the edge of the statue. That’s all.” I explained to him. Shen however looked at me like I was mental.

I gave him a look. “What? Do I have something on my face?” I asked sarcastically.

“You want me to commit suicide? Are you crazy?!” Shen asked in disbelief.

“Get a life, will you? Why the hell would I tell you to commit suicide? There’s no current anymore, I turned it all down.” I told him as I rolled my eyes at his stupidity.

“But still…” He trailed off, avoiding my eyes.

I sighed and slapped my knees as I got up from the floor. I dusted off my dress and grabbed the small pocket gun. “Now Shen, we discussed this before. You can do this the easy way,” I smiled and then my smile turned into a frown and I glared at him, “Or we can do this the hard way.” I pulled the gun so it unlocked the trigger. “You have ten seconds to decide my friend…Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, fi�"” I was cut off while counting.

“NO WAIT! I’ll do it. I will. Please don’t shoot me. See, I’m walking over there right now.” Shen cried as he walked over to the podium holding the Foot of Ra. He gulped a few times and stretched his hand out slightly. I was waiting for the impact. He stretched even more, and I got ready to turn off the electricity as soon as he touched it. He swallowed one more time, his Adam’s apple bobbing and he finally reached out his forefinger and touched the edge of the podium.

His body started to convulse slightly and his eyes rolled into his head. I shut off the electricity and watched as his body fell on to the ground. Perfect. The reason I did that was to have a suspect at the crime scene so it didn’t look like someone else was the instigator. Because electricity passed through his body, it would look as if he was about to steal the sculpture. I made my way back to the security system to try and turn off the security alarm.

I had gone through all of the events of my distasteful evening, yet my work on the security machine was still not done. It had been about half an hour since Shen passed out by getting electrocuted. That meant I only had about an hour to grab the sculpture and get the hell out of here. I sighed and decided I had to talk to Ash if I wanted to figure out which one of the wires to cut.

Lately, I had been lacking sleep, so nothing stayed in my brain for more than a day. I grimaced as I thought of the hastiness that had been the last few days. I dug my cellphone out of my dress and quickly called Ash.

The phone kept ringing over and over again but no one answered. I tried calling again, but I got to the same result. I huffed in annoyance and cursed Ash in my head. What the hell was I supposed to do now?

At that time, as if God was punishing me for cursing, I heard a series of locks being opened. My eyes widened in disbelief as I realized what was happening. Someone was coming in.

The door was about to open in thirty seconds. I completely froze, unsure of what to do exactly. My brain was fuzzing with the amount of energy running through it right now. I tried to retrace my steps, not knowing where I had gone wrong. Had someone seen me enter this room with Shen? If they had, wouldn’t they have come in sooner?

I didn’t have any more time. The door had already opened. I couldn’t even make it to the trapdoor in time. I was officially screwed. This would be my first time getting caught. A shadow stood there, near the door. I could tell it was a man. It didn’t seem like anyone else was there, so I wasn’t completely dead. I could probably tackle him.

The man moved into the room slightly. I still couldn’t get a view of his face because it was dark on that side of the room. He entered the room completely and the door snapped shut. Well, at least now I had a chance. I could probably threaten him with my gun. Realizing that that was the best option, I raised my gun at him and yelled, “Hands up! This is the FBI!” Honestly, I had no idea what came in to me to declare myself as the FBI, but I thought it would work.

Instead of seeing the man raising his arms up into the air, I was left with listening to loud, booming laughter that was oddly familiar. The man strode further into the room, still laughing. I gasped as I recognized his face.

The man pretended to wipe tears off of his face and stared at me with happy eyes and a wide smile. “You haven’t changed at all, Alana. You’re still the same, weird, funny girl I knew two years ago,” He said to me.

My mouth dropped open in a silent scream. Here I am standing in front of the one person I hate the most: Zayn Rivers, my ex-partner-in-crime. At first I was just surprised; then I felt happy that I saw someone who used to be one of my best friends.

Then I realized what a pompous jerk he still was as he winked at me and said, “Close your mouth before I am forced to put something in it.”

I was extremely thankful that this room is soundproof because that’s when I screamed so shrilly even bats could hear me and launched myself at the condescending idiot in front of me. Welcome to my life, everyone.