Foolish Gold

-Capital Crocus, outside the office of J&G, 12:30 A.M.-

Wearing her full Hidden Blades panoply that made her one with the nigh, Stiletto crouched in a dark alley waiting for her chance to infiltrate the office of J&G in order to find something incriminating that she could obtain for her client Richmond Ayres LTD. The latter was in the process of negotiating a settlement with J&G and was deeply dissatisfied with the arrangement. The client wanted something that could help tip the scales back in their favor and the assignment was given to Stiletto. Her job was to infiltrate the office and photograph anything incriminating that she could find.

Stiletto watched the simple four-story building like a hawk and waited for the right time to move. That time came when an inattentive security guard left the front double doors wide open after swiping his keycard. Stiletto rushed in behind him and slipped through the doors unnoticed by anyone on the inside or outside.

-Inside J&G office, first floor-

Stiletto watched the security guard who had so graciously granted her entry step into a break room and talk with another guard about a TV concert given by someone named Marina Renault. The sound of a violin drifted from a TV as Stiletto sneaked past the receptionist's desk and through the cubicle farm behind it. There were no security cameras or security lacrimas anywhere, an omission which she found curious. The infiltrator did not complain because that oversight made the job a lot easier.

Stiletto quietly opened the door to the stairwell and entered it with no one the wiser.

-J&G office, fourth floor-

Stiletto listened for the sound of security guards on patrol and did not hear any, so she quietly shut the door to the stairwell and sneaked through the cubicle farm until she was looking at the open office of one Elliot Gold. Stiletto remained in place to listen for security or Gold himself coming to lock the office. She waited for three minutes before making her move. When she did, she slipped into the office without anyone seeing her.

-Inside Elliot Gold's office-

Stiletto sneaked over to the large mahogany desk with a day planner sitting in the middle of it and a desk lamp perched in the upper right corner. What immediately drew her attention was a sliding desk drawer that she slowly and gently pulled open. Sitting side-by-side were four pieces of paper that detailed expenses, but these were no ordinary expenses. They were expenses that Gold had racked up at high-end clubs and at lavish parties across Fiore.

Of particular note were his bar tabs that ran into the 30,000-Jewel range in Boomslang and three other clubs and the assorted expenses of fancy suits purchased in Capital Crocus itself and fancy sports cars that he had bought in Motor City. Stiletto read on and saw that he had paid for all of this by embezzling money from J&G. That was exactly the kind of information that the client needed.

Stiletto brought out her small digital camera and dutifully took pictures of each page, then zoomed in and took more pictures of each page until she had captured every last transaction in clear detail, making sure to save each image to the SD card. She reviewed the photos and found them to her liking. The client was sure to find these images useful in swinging the negotiation in their favor. Stiletto put away the camera, gently pushed the drawer closed and made for the back window, which was left open to let the night air in. She got onto it and quietly made her way down the fire escape until she reached the alley below.

No one had seen Stiletto enter or exit the office. She had left no footprints or fingerprints. She was in and out of the office in roughly ten minutes and had not been recorded on any security devices because there were no security devices present. Now to make her getaway and deliver the evidence to the client. Stiletto silently disappeared into the alley and made her way to the client's office across the city to deliver the evidence.

-Across town, outside Richmond Ayries office-

Stiletto took out the digital camera's SD Card and sterilized it with a special cloth to remove any fingerprints or other traces that did not need to be left behind, then placed the card into a plain manila envelope. Stiletto used the special cloth to sterilize a special address label that would ensure the client got the envelope with the camera. She then put it on the envelope and dropped it into the dropbox slot that was not monitored by human, magical, or electronic eyes.

Stiletto put the label paper into a pocket along with the camera and then slowly disappeared into a back alley with no one the wiser. No one had seen her deliver the envelope and she had left no fingerprint or footprint evidence. Stiletto disappeared into the shadows and exited the city. No one ever knew that she had been in Capital Crocus.

[Word Count: 868]
[Total Word Count: 868/500]