Taken by the Greek Billionaire(5)

She keyed the numbers in one by one, careful to make sure she got them exactly right. Her hands were steady, the thin gloves almost unnoticeable. She congratulated herself again for resisting the leather.

Once all the numbers were keyed in the safe gave an audible click before swinging slightly open. Penny pressed the sleep button on her tablet and placed it back into her waist bag, careful to zip it tightly in.

After all our planning, all those years feeling helpless…. Penny opened the safe slowly, almost nervously, and when it was at its widest arc almost gasped. There was far more in there than she’d expected, and this wasn’t the only safe in the house! She’d gone for the smallest one, the one he might not notice empty for a while. Less risk but still plenty of reward. How the rich live, she thought, disgusted all over again that one person could have so much whilst others had so little. Well today she’d change that, readdress the balance ever so slightly, and then Rachel and Lyra could do the same.

Carefully Penny took her torch out of her bag and shone it into the safe, outlining piles of money, papers, and velvet bags that she was sure held jewelry. The light outlined something else as well, two thin laser beams criss-crossing the entrance diagonally. As expected. With one hand tilting the torch she removed her own laser, the special one she’d had to break into Mr. Grope-my-cleaners-Smith’s summer house to afford. Right in the centre point…. She lined it up, popped the torch into her mouth and then pressed its button slowly. Her own beam merged with the other two, scattering them. Quick as a shot, Penny’s arm went into the safe. She grabbed the nearest bundle of cash and turned off her laser. The beams in the safe merged again.

Penny looked over the cash pile in its vacuum pressed bag, taking up a significantly smaller space than it would normally have done. Judging by the thickness and taking into account the bag, she suspected there was about a hundred thousand and it was then that her hands started to shake slightly. To hold so much money in her palms! To think what this money was going to do in the end! It was unbelievable.

She took a steadying breath and opened one of the side compartments of her bag. The cash went in there, barely fitting. Torch back in her mouth, she eyed the safe again. Even with her own special laser it could take maybe two or three assaults before the safe’s lasers blanked out completely. That would trigger the alarm, which would bring most of the Met screaming through the doors.

Carefully she repeated her actions until another hundred grand was in the opposite side pocket—barely fitting even in its compressed state. Stunned to have so much money on her, Penny bit down on her lip, wondering whether to try a third assault. It was touch or go as to whether the beams would take it or activate their silent alarm.

Be safe. Be careful. We’re counting on you.

Rachel and Lyra’s words echoed through her mind and Penny heeded them. Tempted though she was she knew she had enough. About twenty grand too much in fact. She tucked the laser back in her bag, closed the safe, and set about re-screwing the keypad.

Was there time to put all the glass figurines back in place? Penny eyed them by the torch light and frowned. She had to. Otherwise he’d know immediately. Hadn’t she gone for this safe in the hope he wouldn’t realize for a while? Not putting the glass people back would negate that, and she might as well have gone for one of the bigger safes.

She picked up the first one, some sort of Nymph and placed it on the table in front of the safe. It was so tall it reached halfway up. Then the next and the next…there were about a dozen in all. Each depicted some sort of mythical creature and their considerable assets, each shielding the safe in their own way. They were probably worth a bomb and Penny was tempted to take the one showing three sisters. They looked eerily like her, Rachel, and Lyra. She held the figurine in front of her, the torch light shining off its angles, enchanted by the workmanship.

Nope. Too big to carry and besides they’d never be able to sell it.

She placed it on the remaining space on the table instead, took the torch out of her mouth, and secured it in her bag. A weird sort of calm settled across her now. She was still amped up on adrenaline of course but now that the worst was over she could feel her body anticipating the end. Once she was out of the house it was done. Her biggest score in all her twenty-five years. Outwitting one of the richest men on the planet. She almost wanted to laugh but shook her head instead. Just a few more minutes….

She turned to leave, exhaling slowly to steady herself as she did so, only to be halted by an odd dragging sort of sound. She paused before stepping forward, only then realizing that was totally the wrong thing to do. The edge of her waist bag, where the compressed hundred grand was stashed, caught the third sister, the one that looked just like her.