by Avery Brite
Panting, I grabbed the chair for support. Shakily Z turned around, a drowsy smile on his face. He kissed me on the lips as I sat on the chair. I could tell he still wanted release, and as he now carried my baby, the least I could do was give it to him. With both hands, I picked him up and sat him up on the counter. He squealed in surprise. I positioned myself in between his legs and swallowed his hardness all the way down. He grabbed my head as I bobbed up and down. It didn’t take long before his raspy breath started to hitch. With my hand, I stroked him and sucked on the head. My other hand slid between his legs and I put to fingers in him, his ass slick from our comingled juices. I did this until he cried out that he was going to cum. I pulled off in time for his orgasm to rip through his body and he came on his swollen stomach and chest. We both sat there basking in the afterglow.
“I say a shower, and then back to bed. I’m worn out already,” Z said sitting back up. Agreeing with him, I stood, and picked him up. Holding him close, I carried him to the shower where we could clean each other.
{13} – Zenith
A month later, on the day before the job, we sat and made last minute preparations. I could see in Cody’s eyes that he didn’t like the idea of me going. I really didn’t care and I had already told everybody so. I looked like I had swallowed a basketball, and I practically waddled when I walked. It wouldn’t be too much longer before little Lennon would be born, in fact, as much as he’s been moving around, I began to suspect he might be restless enough to try and come out early.
“Z, if things get hot, you won’t be able to run. What if you start having contractions right in the middle of it. We’ll need you clear headed,” Cody his yellow flecked eyes implored me to change my mind. I didn’t hate him for it. In his position, I would be saying the same thing, but without me, the entire thing would fall apart.
“He’s coming along, and that’s final.” Declan said, putting his foot down. I looked at him and he gave me a quick wink. He had my back and I couldn’t tell him how much I appreciated it. The more the baby bump grew the more doubts I had about going along, but they had no one else to get in that safe. I committed myself, for better or for worse.
“Listen guys, this obviously wasn’t part of the plan,” I said, trying to shift to a more comfortable spot. Even sitting down made my back hurt. “And it’s not my fault they pushed the delivery to the vaults back to the last minute. But we’re the best at what we do and despite the obstacles, we got this.” I tried to sound encouraging as possible. Doubts weren’t the only thing I tried to dispel, a cloud of negativity hung over us ever since we learned that the exhibit date was pushed back. At this point, I just wanted to get this over with so I could concentrate on the amazing person that would soon be born.
Tanner hadn’t said much since he arrived. We sat in the living room of the apartment, Tanner sipping at Declan’s beer, looked thoughtful, but remained quiet. My emotions being as erratic as they were, his silence bugged me.
“So Tanner, what do you think?” I said unable to take it any longer.
He took another sip of beer then looked at each of us in turn. “Well, I think that we’re in good shape. Thanks to Cody, we’ll be about as invisible as we can be. He has all the cameras and sensors ready to look away once we get inside and I’ve got the entire computer system ready to open any door to us with ease. Declan has the entire place mapped and planned so we know where to go and how to get it. The only thing we have left is for Zenith to get us inside the vault. I don’t see any problems.”
“One change,” Cody scratched his chin, “The original plan was to shift once we got out of the building. Z won’t be able to, not in his condition.”
“We can have a car waiting, that’s easy enough. Dump the loot in the car and we can do ‘car roulette’.” Declan said, obviously not concerned about the change. Car roulette was where you traded cars often and at random to throw off any possible trail.
“That’s what I was thinking.” Cody brightened up. “That falls under my responsibilities, I’ve got that. The rest of us can load the car, shift and bolt, while Zenith drives the car.”
They all looked at me, waiting for my answer. I shrugged. “Can I pick the car?” They all laughed and smiled. Whatever obstacles we had, they were no longer an issue.
“Well, let’s all get some rest and make sure our equipment is ready to go. Tomorrow night is go time.” Declan said. He stood up, signaling that the meeting was over. We had little else to say, but really, he could see that I had already started to get tired again. Naps had become my best friend lately.
***
The next night, Declan and I stood on the balcony watching the lights of the city in the cool night air. I had dressed in black stretch maternity pants and a black sweater. These were the best and most comfortable clothes I had. Declan wore black jeans and a t-shirt. I wanted to run my hands across this chest thorough the tight shirt, but I restrained myself. By the front door, we had two backpacks, one for each of us. Our tools were packed and we were ready to go.
There were the usual before-the-job butterflies but baby Lennon most likely caused most of these. We had gone over the plan so often that I could probably do this entire thing with my eyes closed. The others felt the same, and we were all anxious to get on with it.
“Are you ready, my love?” Declan asked, stepping back into the apartment. It was time.
“I am.” I said following him in. I had gotten as far as the living room when I stopped to grip a chair. A jarring pain shot through my abdomen and pelvis.
Declan noticed and turned to me. I told him I was fine, that Lennon had just become active. I lied because I knew that pain was a contraction. Not a big one, but enough to let me know that we needed to hurry or this baby would be born committing a major felony.
We met the others outside of a small diner near the museum. From here, we could walk to the rear entrance of the Rumfoord unnoticed. I bobbed along, hiding all the urges to grimace as my contractions hit. They were still pretty far apart, and as long as we kept to our timetable, Lennon could hold off until we made out with the loot.
The original plan had us sneaking in side entrances and disabling cameras just before we passed them. With the sudden upgrades and system changes, Tanner and Cody had to come up with a different plan. They hacked the systems, and looped a replay of empty hallways to play on the guards monitors. The original plan had us in an out without a single trace, but this new way would be more heavy handed, would need clean up later, but it allowed us to get in and out without immediate notice. We had an upside, as in a shorter route in and out. Our original route had been blocked off so now we would take a back exit that gave us quicker access to the stairs.
At one in the morning, there were only two guards on duty. One stayed up front, watching the camera, another would make rounds. As we stood at the back emergency door, we had twenty minutes before the guard was due to come around again. Tanner had a tablet ready, punched up the schematic of the building. He tapped a number of blinking dots and nodded at Declan.
“Okay, emergency doors are unalarmed until I turn them back on again,” he whispered. Declan used the key card we had stolen from the bank to open the door. We all slipped in and stood in a dim room, dusty and echoed. This unused storage room would be our best in and out, plus being near the stairs helped.
“I’ve already set the cameras and the only motion sensors I’ve turned off are the ones along our route. Anything more might raise suspicion.” Cody informed us.
“What about down in the vault?” Declan asked.
“Those couldn’t be turned off without alerting everybody under the sun, so I had Tanner silence them. No audible alarms will go off, but as long as they don’t look at the alarm log, we’ll be long gone before they figure it out.” Cody said, looking a little cocky. I suppose he earned it.
“Good. Let’s go.” Declan led the way. Single file, we took the stairs, our footsteps echoing painfully loud around us. Two floors down we stopped a
t a heavy door. I inhaled loudly once, the sound of it bouncing off the walls. Everybody turned to look at me, but I just waved it off. I saw worry in Declan’s eyes. I winked at him, lying to him that I was all good.
The key pad on the door was no match for Tanner. He plugged a ribbon connection from it to his tablet and we watched as numbers screamed across the screen until it clicked. By the time Tanner had it unlocked, Declan had the manual lock picked and open. We walked into a hallway lit only by red exit signs. Each of us had our low light flashlights and small circles of light lead the way. The hall turned a sharp left to another door. Tanner and I undid the locks while the others readied their loot bags.
Once inside, I found a light switch and turned on the light. To say our breath had been taken away might be an understatement. Everyone else was in awe of what they saw, I, on the other, had had been hit with the biggest contraction yet.
The room, not much bigger than Declan’s massive living room, held so much that it took a minute to process. Along one wall, rolls and rolls of parchment and art sat in racks. Another wall hung shelves of ancient weapons and tools. A long locked case held a stack of dusty books that would probably crumble at the slightest touch. Metal carts full of lesser jewels and gems scattered around. All this was to be in the Romanian Royal exhibit.
“We all know what we came for,” Declan warned, “Stick with the plan.” Immediately he went for the books. His buyer would be a very happy bibliophile. Cody went through the rolls of paintings to pick the ones needed, while Tanner and I went to the vault. The door took up nearly an entire wall. I’m sure it left some banks envious of its size. Just as Declan had said, it had two locks on it, one a manual dial, the other electronic.
Tanner plugged his tablet in and immediately started tapping it to milk out the combination. I eased myself down on my knees, ignoring my growing discomfort. I put my sensitive coyote ear to the door and my sensitive fingertips to the dial. Slowly I turned it, trying hard to divert my attention from Lennon’s restlessness to be born to the work at hand.
As I turned the dial, waiting for the first tumbler to fall, a rhythmic thudding vibrated through the door. I shot a dirty look at Tanner and hissed, “Will you stop that.”
He stopped tapping the door with his fingers. “Sorry.” I went back to work. Behind me Declan and Cody filled their bags. After two minutes, I heard Tanner’s tablet beep and something clicked inside the vault door. His part had completed, now they were waiting on me. So far, I had three of the five numbers required to open the door.
So lost in concentration at finding the last two numbers that when my next contraction hit, I groaned at the pain, forgetting that I was trying to hide it. Declan immediately put a hand on my shoulder but I waved him away as the fourth tumbler fell into place.
“Are you okay?” Declan asked. The other stood around him, looking at me, their faces all matching Declan’s worry.
“This kid wants to come out, like now. I’m think that we’re going to have to rendezvous at the maternity ward afterwards,” I tried to make light of it, but honestly I began to worry. Without giving them the chance to say anything, I returned to my work. Tanner, god bless him, started handing out the empty bags we needed to fill once the vault opened. He did it to get everyone back on task and not worry about me.
Long seconds passed before I heard the last tumbler fall. I pointed to the large wheel and scuttled out the way. Declan helped me up while the others opened the vault. He wiped the sweat from my brow and put a gentle hand on my stomach. “How soon?”
“Real soon.” I whispered. “We should hurry.” He leaned me up against a recently plundered display case and ran into the vault. I peeked in and couldn’t believe what I saw. The entire inside glittered and sparkled. They scooped jewelry full of diamonds, gems, and history into their bags. Bejeweled dresses made of rare silks were removed from their display forms. Artwork was slipped into metal tubes. Delicate parchments were carefully tucked away.
“Time,” Cody called out, looking at his watch. Everybody stopped and closed their bags up. Declan looked around the room, I could tell he took a mental inventory, making sure everything that needed to be purloined had been. We needed to make sure all our clients were happy or it would all be for naught.
“How are we looking on our exit time,” Declan asked Cody.
“If we leave now, we will have plenty of time,” he said shouldering his bag to help Tanner shut the vault door.
“Are you good?” Declan asked as he took my hand.
“Yeah I’m just…oooohhh!” Another contraction hit me like a truck and my pants suddenly got wet. The three of them all looked at me.
“Shit, shit, shit!” I grit my teeth. “This is happening. My water just broke.” I shouldn’t have come. Now I’m jeopardizing everyone, especially our baby.
“Are you serious?” Tanner asked rolling his eyes. “Well shit, this seems fitting. Let’s have a baby during a robbery.”
“Tanner,” Declan growled a warning to his friend.
“What? I’m excited. This is the most epic job ever.” He said scrambling over to help. Colby grabbed a thirteenth century tapestry of some long forgotten battle, and put it on the concrete floor as they lowered me down.
“There should be a water fountain in a nearby hallway. I’ll get water.” With that, he disappeared. Declan cradling me and telling me that it will all be okay.
“You guys need to go, the window to exit will close and then it’ll be nearly impossible to get out undetected,” I strained between the growing surges of pain.
“We’re not going anywhere,” I heard someone say, but not sure. My world began to swim as I felt the pressure of the baby move into position. Any minute now, he would come into the world. I tried to keep my cries of pain quiet, but it got harder and harder. Tanner gently placed a rolled up cloth between my teeth to bite down on.
“You got this my love,” Declan whispered in my ear as I began to push.
{14} – Declan
If the security guards up front had been paying attention to the monitors, they would have seen three dark shapes, loaded down with bags. Accompanying them, shuffled a hooded figure caring a precious bundle close to their chest. The guards were not pay attention to their monitors because Tanner turned on one alarm after another in the upper most halls of the Rumfoord to distract them. As Zenith carefully slipped into the back seat of the Buick that Cody had preparked for our getaway, Cody and I quickly dumped the bags into the trunk, shifted forms and scampered off. Tanner put his tablet away, slid behind the driver’s seat, and drove off with all of our precious cargos. The most precious thing sitting in the back seat and brand new to the world.
I trusted Tanner, with not only our gains, but also my heart. He would take good care of both Z and Lennon. They had two stops to make, trading cars before we would meet them at the hospital. Cody and I ran as cougar and coyote for most of the way to a pre arranged spot where we had hidden clothes and a phone. As I dressed, I called our shifter-friendly obstetrician. I told him about Lennon being born a smidge early and that we would meet him at the hospital in less than an hour.
Lennon came into the world beautiful and healthy and lungs that could shame an air raid siren. He was perfect and I knew that Z would keep him safe. Despite my protests, it was Zenith who argued that we keep with the plan and not go directly to the hospital. He maintained that it did Lennon no good if his parents wound up in jail.
Once at the hospital, Cody and I found a bench outside to sit on, the coldest part of the night settling around us. We had made a clean getaway, no one would even know that about the heist until morning, but still I worried. I worried about if there might be too much exhaust filling the inside of the getaway car, if the brakes might go, and a million other things. I shook my head as I realized that this would be my life now, worrying about all the things that could go wrong. Cody perked up as he heard the rumble of a Honda in bad need of a tune up.
Before the car could come to a
shaky halt in front of us, I already had the door open. Zenith sat there, a tired smile on his face. Lennon slept against his chest. My heart swelled with more love than I ever though possible. I touched the smooth skin of my son’s cheek and his bright blue eyes opened to look at me.
“Dropping off one set of precious cargo, and now to drop off another,” Tanner said with a big grin. I thanked him and helped my family out of the car. “Call me when you’re done with the doctor. Uncle Tanner wants to make sure everyone is healthy.”
I smiled so wide it could have broken my face. Cody replaced Zenith in the car and they drove off in a blue haze of exhaust. I sat Zenith down in a waiting wheel chair and quickly wheeled him inside. Dr. Jensen would already be waiting to check our new bundle of joy.
{15} – Zenith
The fragrant Mediterranean breeze played with the corner of Lennon’s blanket. The movement broke me from my light doze. The two of us lounged in a chair on the deck of our chateau. The view of the canals that ran through Sète were calming. The fisherman, coming in with their catches, lulled me with a sense of normal life I had never known. That ‘normal life’ I looked forward to. Lennon moved in his sleep, his little eyes scrunched shut.
I looked down at my amazing little man. Perfect in every way, he reminded me every day how lucky I had become. Looking back at my life before he was born, it seemed empty and lonely. Never had I imagined I would be sitting in an idyllic village in southern France, babe in arms, and with the love of fantastic man. Life could not be better. Well, the knowledge of having executed one of the biggest robberies in decades did make it a little better.