"Time to go," Devin said reaching behind him to grab the duffel bag from before. A quick glance showed that it was five minutes to ten pm, which according to Tino would be the best time to go in. I don't know why we trusted his judgement so much, but I trusted Devin.

Inside the bag, there was a change of clothes only. It was meant to carry the money we were about to steal. Devin was going to steal it while I waited. He'd given me the revolver I'd fired earlier and it sat beside my leg in the front seat of the car.

Although he was a good enough marksman, he decided to go with the knife he had earlier but tucked the gun in his waist as a backup.

But, if he'd come into combat, he wouldn't want guns going off to alert the whole neighbourhood.

I, on the other hand, believed he'd be safer if he kept it armed in his grasp but I suppose his reasons were justified.

"Do you remember the plan?" I questioned.

"Yes, Darius. Get in, get the stuff, get out without being seen. It isn't hard" That was his failed attempt at reassuring me, but I knew better.

This mission was dangerous. He could get killed before even getting into the house, I thought, while skipping through the camera frames. When I didn't respond, he got out of the car and slung the bag over his shoulder.

"Nothing is going to happen to me Darius, I promise," he said.

"You can't promise that," I didn't bother looking up.

He sighed heavily and slammed the door, then he took off towards the bank of the waterfront.

I watched him climb up onto the five-foot wall then dive into the dark eerie stillness of the water.

I took out the phone and dialled the number of the phone get had. I would wait until I could see him before pressing send.

A few minutes passed and nothing. I was tempted to call in to check up but I couldn't risk blowing his cover.

I changed the laptop screen to the camera to the back of the house where Devin would possibly come up. Then the phone buzzed. I answered it immediately and Devin's voice crackled over the line.

"Hey, I'm out of the water. I'm ready to go in"

"Wait where are you? I don't see you"

"Are you forgetting that if you can see me, they can too? I have to stay out of camera shot at least until I can sneak in. You just tell me where not to go"

"Okay I don't see anyone out back there's a lot of light. Try going in on the right side where the tree cast a shadow. You are going to have to climb".

"Okay. Got it."

The line went dead for another 5 minutes. I scanned the cameras to find him, I couldn't.

He must still be climbing in the blind spots. None of the guardsmen seemed to be alerted by anything. Everything was okay, so far.

"Ok Darius, I'm in."

"Where exactly?" I replied.

"I'm on the third floor, in an empty bedroom I think. It's dark, lights are off."

"Okay, uh," I said skipping through the third-floor cameras. They all showed hallways of closed doors.

"I don't know which room you're in, try cracking open the door a little"

"Okay"

I found the camera showing the main hall of the third floor. I saw when a door on the right cracked open ever so slightly. No one would detect it unless they were looking for it.

"I found you," I said, a little too excited.

"Why don't you shout a little fucking louder Darius?" he whispered in annoyance.

"Sorry." Even though I couldn't see him, I knew he was shaking his head at me.

"Where do I go?" he asked.

"Okay good news is that the room seems to be close to his office, it should be down the hall, turn left and it's the double door at the of the hall"

"Darius are you sure?"

"Yes, I am sure Goddamnit!" I whisper shouted, with a hint of annoyance I'm my voice. He trusted Tino but questioned me.

I wasn't really sure, but I followed the path of the cameras using clues such as paintings on the wall to identify where I was, virtually.

"Is there anyone in there?"

"No," I said skipping to the office camera.

"And is there anyone on the floor? Or anywhere around"

"No, you're all clear"

"Okay, I'm going out."

The door on the right opened wider and Devin slipped out, blade in hand. He checked both directions before moving.

He'd put up his hood and kept his head down so I couldn't see his face. He slid the blade into his pocket and walked passed the scope of the camera.

I quickly skipped through to the next camera to catch him at the end of the hall. He lifted the phone.

"Darius, this hallway is a bottleneck, how the fuck am I going to get out if I get trapped?" he whispered.

I skipped back to the office camera again.

"There's a door to the right inside the office. I don't know where it leads to. But if things go south hopefully you can hide in there."

He sighed. He dropped his hand with the phone and I saw him visibly take a deep breath as if he was preparing for anything.

I, on the other hand, was holding my breath. He went towards the double doors with quick steps.

Then a thought crossed my mind, How do we know that it's open?

Devin placed his hand on the door handle, then he checked behind him. Then he slowly turned it. The door opened slowly. And I let out a breath I wasn't aware I was still holding.

He stepped inside and closed the door it behind him.

"Darius"

"Yes I'm here" I took a deep breath.

"Okay according to Tino, the safe is going to be behind the big painting of the city over his desk".

He went towards the black and white night scene of Berlington City

He checked behind the painting, probably to see if there were any tripwires for an alarm.

I guess there were none as he promptly lifted the painting from the wall, revealing the door to the safe and a little black knob and a keypad for opening it.

"Keep a lookout okay, I'm going to try to open it" It had occurred to me then that I was only focusing on Devin and not keeping an eye on the rest of the house.

I was supposed to have his back and I was failing.

"Okay," I said splitting the screen in two so I could watch Devin and skip through other cameras.

"You're still clear," I said.

"Good but keep looking."
I did as I was told.

A glance at Devin's side of the screen showed me that he was attempting to open the safe.

He wore black gloves that delicately turned tapped the keypad. I was left out of the conversation that dealt with the finer details of the operation. I wasn't sure if whatever password Tino gave him was even right.

He entered four numbers then turned the black knob. It swung open. I saw him pull out several envelops and start to scan them.

"D? we have a problem" I heard him muffle over the phone.

"What? What did you find?"

"It's what I didn't find. There's no fucking money in here."

"What do you mean there's no money?"

"I mean I opened the fucking safe and there's no money. Just some envelopes and a stupid key"

"Key? Key for what?" I questioned as if he'd know.

"I don't fucking know D!" he said a little too loudly for someone who was supposed to be stealthy.

"Did you at least find the envelope Tino wants?" 

"Yes! But we came here for 200 grand and I don't see shit." He was starting to get frustrated. He started to look frantically around the room, opening drawers, rummaging through them and closing them forcefully.

"Devin?"

"What?!" he snapped.

"Someone's coming."

"Who's coming?"

Two men were headed up to the third floor. At first, I only saw their backs, one of them was much taller than the other with short kinky hair and wore a black tracksuit. The shorter man, from behind looked a little more ragged. His jeans looked stained and he wore a green windbreaker.

I skipped to another camera that allowed me to catch them as they turned to go up another flight of stairs. The taller man had dark cool skin and walked with ease. I recognized him from reading about him in the newspaper but I'd never seen him in person.

The shorter man had a much lighter complexion, a very light tan. I recognized him easily. Even if the lion tattoo on his neck wasn't visible, I'd have known it was him. He walked with a little more agitation as if he was slightly tense. Immediately my palms started to sweat.

"It's Fitz, and... Juno." I told Devin. We're dead.

"Juno, the fu-"

"I don't know but they are going up to the third floor. You gotta get out. Back to the room." I instructed.

"Not until I find what we came here for." He was too determined to find something that wasn't there.

He kept opening and closing drawers. Then he grabbed a black sack from one of the drawers he opened. He looked inside, then shoved it into his front pocket.

He stuffed a brown envelop into his back pocket and proceeded to put the place back in order.

"Where are they now?" he asked hurriedly as he put everything back in order.

"They are already coming down the way you came. It's too late, get in the room!"

Devin went towards the door at the end of the hall and tried to open it but it didn't budge.

"Oh fuck!" I said to no one. If they catch him, he's as good as dead. I'm going to watch my brother die. The thoughts sped through my mind.

"Shit no!" I watched as they approached the double door. The taller man, Fitz, stopped to check his phone before entering. Juno kept checking behind him and staring into the camera. Each time he did, I could've sworn he knew I was watching him, and he was watching me. My stomach churned with nervousness.

The time Fitz took to check his phone, gave Devin the seconds he needed to slip the key he found in the door and slide in, undetected. Devin closed the door as Fitz opened his.

I wiped the sweat that formed on my brow on a chilly night.

"That was too fucking close," I whispered to myself. Devin had ended the call so I couldn't even ask him what was in the room. I could call him, but that was too risky. It was just a waiting game now.

I had to sit and watch, while my brother was in danger.