As soon as I made my way to the staircase that led to the basement, raw intuition told me to pull up my turtle neck to hide my face up until the bridge of my nose.

I'm getting paranoid, curse Riki for explaining the mission so many times I got nervous. 

I stopped in the middle of the stair way and waited for a minute, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness so I could see better. I quietly found my way to the storage room Riki pointed out to me.

'Storage room on the furthest east side of the house.'

I stare at the two doors that are exactly beside each other.

I let out a long, inaudible sigh, then press on my ear piece, "Yo, which door is it?"

For a while, I didn't hear any response. Just when I was about to ask again, Takuto's voice rang from my piece: "...signal is being interrupted! Someone's expecting us...ckly...out of there!"

Lillie: "...Understood."

I look at the two doors, a group of people could be waiting for me right behind one of them. I turn away from the doors, thinking to quickly go back the way I came in from.

I couldn't say anything more into the transceiver since whoever's down here might hear me and I could startle them. Or maybe, just maybe, Takuto's freaking out, and it's just because the signal in the basement is weak.

We don't have a lot of time nor chances to do this, I can't back out now. That's right, from the moment I joined the Black Foxes, is the moment I promised to never leave art trafficking alone again.

Besides... It could be emotionally depressing for the guys, I mean, they've been in this way longer than I have. 

A picture of Riki's concerned face as he carried me through the hospital halls came to mind. Bits and pieces were still missing, but I know I can't go without making sure whether or not this is a trap.

I stopped in my tracks. You know what, call me stupid, Takuto, Riki, Kenshi, Hiro, and boss, but I'm going in.

Riki: "...ere are you?!"

I ignored the voices in my transceiver and went up to the door on the left. By pure chance, it happened to be a food storage closet, which means the door on the right must be where they stored the painting.

Takuto: "How come you're not listening?! Get...there...ght now! kshhh...."

The sound of static blurred over his voice. 

I stood in front of the right door, checked to make sure there are no alarms or triggers to any sort of booby trap. I tugged at my clothes once more before very slowly opening the door.

To my surprise, the room was empty expect the podium in the middle with a painting set on it. 

I flashed my ultra-violet wave flashlight around the room. Nope, there were no laser beams. This is strange, all that panic from the guys and then this easy?

I slip my feet across the floor in a testing manner while I advance towards the podium. I glanced back, there wasn't anything behind the door nor anyone or anything outside.

I might as well speed up the process so I can get out of this creepily large basement fast.

I was about take both sides of the frame and pick it up, until I laid eyes on it.

These strokes... they're not the artist's usual style. And the signature, the artist always stroke past the first letter with the final one, but this one didn't.

Riki's POV

Takuto: "Where the heck is she?!" 

Everyone were already on the van, all but waiting for Lillie. The three of us stare intensely at where she entered the mansion, hoping that she'd be running out of there any second now.

Takuto was still typing furiously on his laptop and working around with his gadgets. After a few seconds that felt like hours, he told us to be quiet, "I hacked into another transmitting signal coming from inside the building."

"What's going on?"

"I don't know! That thief was just about to take the painting with her, then she suddenly dashed out the room!"

"Crap, she realized it was fake! Call all the forces to secure all exits before she could get out of the house!"

Before anyone could stop me, I pushed open the car door and sprinted towards where Lillie should be coming out from.

'Call all forces'  The voice echoed in my head. There's only one answer who those people are now, they're the cops.

This was all a set up.

I desperately try to call out to her from my ear piece, but just as Takuto had warned her before, the signal is now completely cut off by techies from the police's side.

That idiot! Why didn't she just leave when she was told...!

It's possible that any telecommunication could be monitored, so I can't call anyone at the moment. 

I swear, if something is to happen to her--

"Over there!"

At someone's shout, I hide myself within the garden in my back yard that I know all too well. That's right, I have the advantage of knowing every nook and cranny of this mansion.

I follow along with people's movements as quietly as I could in the yard, until I see a big fight going on at the back.

I know she's well-trained and all, but there's no way she can handle twenty professional police men unarmed. Heck. They have guns.

"I can't believe the 'Black Foxes' have been a girl all along!" 

"Don't let your guard down, there might be more than one."

This is my chance. 

Two minutes later, I drag the bodies of the two policemen into some bushes, and put one of their uniforms over my shirt, then push the cap down to hide my face as much as possible.

I see some people begin to slip their hand to their belts for their stunner, or even gun.

Welp, I gotta move fast. 

She nearly kicked me in the gut twice before I even got the chance to get close enough to her to whisper, "Don't move."

She must've recognized my voice, thank goodness for that. Before anyone could see that split second of softening in her guard, I pin her arms behind her back and put a pair of handcuffs on her.

"Let go!" She did a good impression of struggling while not actually putting force in her arms. 

I can see all the people around me visibly relax, thinking they've finally caught at least one member of the black foxes. 

It got easier when half of the force went back into the mansion to check if anyone else was around. The other half went to patrol, which leaves four people taking her to the police cars parked nearby.

Let's just hope the rest of the guys and us share the same understanding that they might drive the van that way.

The officers chatted amongst themselves while throwing in a taunt here and there, it's good that they still haven't seen her face, and she's closing her red eye, giving them at least the false impression that she's blue-eyed, so later on they wouldn't have much detail about her.

Lillie's wrists relaxed in my hold and she hung her head, pretending to have given up. My eyes scan the area over and over again, we were getting closer and closer to the police cars, but the van isn't anywhere in sight yet.

I guess it's too much to expect them to take the cue so easily without any communication devices. I squeezed her wrist, hoping that she might understand my distress. But she mistakeningly took it as a sign of comfort, her wrists relaxed more.

She trusted me. Everybody always trusted me to have a plan B no matter what, and always planning it again and again in my head until I could recite it backwards. But right now, I've got no plan whatsoever.

I rushed out without thinking when I heard the voices on the transmitter. For once, I didn't know what to do, but I had to do something.

As the police cars slowly zoom in while we inch near it, I let out a shaky breath, finally settling my resolve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August 8, 2016

😛