The air tasted of desperation and stale ambition. Danielle chewed her gum with a rhythmic snap, lowering the binoculars with a satisfied smirk. “I saw them leave for vacation. Trust. Those bitches swim in money.” We were positioned across the street from the governor’s mansion – a monument to wealth and security. The news had plastered his departure for a coastal retreat, and Danielle, improbably, was right for once. We’d accumulated enough from previous scores to live comfortably, even luxuriously, for a while. But the temptation, the sheer audacity of this target, was… compelling.
“Alright Fin, you take the rear with Que. Dani, garage entry. I’m going to take the upstairs route, hit that balcony. I know I can get in there. If there’s a door lock or alarm system, I can disable it. That top-floor window is probably unlocked. These white rich people are stupid as fuck.” A chorus of nods acknowledged the plan. The division of labor was clean, efficient.
We moved across the street, shadows blending into the darkness. Each of us carried a firearm, a knife tucked into a boot, and a small vial of sedative – a precaution from last week’s Beverly Hills haul. We’d liberated the vials from a surgeon’s house during a late-night raid. It was a last resort, a way to subdue anyone unexpected without the mess of killing.
I began scaling the house, fingers finding purchase on the stucco. The balcony window was our entry point. I swung a leg over the sill, pushing upward, and the window slid open with a soft *pop*. A silent chuckle escaped my lips. Stupid rich motherfuckers. I hauled myself into the bedroom, adrenaline surging.
Then I saw her.
A girl, seated at a laptop, headphones clamped over her ears. She wore a school uniform—navy blazer, crisp white collar. Catholic school, maybe. She looked my age, seventeen, eighteen. Stunning. She glanced at her screen, then turned around. Her eyes locked with mine reflected in the laptop screen. She screamed.
The sound cut through me like a shard of glass. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Without thinking, I pulled the syringe from my pocket. A quick jab to the neck. The sedative would take effect within seconds. Her body slumped, her head falling to the laptop. Goodnight, sweetie. The weight of it settled over me, a cold dread. It never got easier.