“We know that the robbery took place during the eight minute black out. It was all very well thought out and actually very clever.” He said with an awkward half smile. He pointed at the main entrance.
Lam listened and followed with interest.
“We did have a security officer on duty, we have interviewed him ourselves, but I’m afraid he was rather caught up in the moment, and spent most of his time watching the countdown outside. They must have hoped that would be the case, as they were able to simply walk past him unnoticed and enter through the first security door.” John walked Lam to the first access door.
“They would have needed a security card to access this door.” Lam asked this as a statement rather than a question, remembering the procedure from the fumbled attempt a few weeks before.
“Someone had a card.” John replied flatly. “We have the door access time at 20:00:09. Follow me and I’ll take you through to the next access door.”
Lam followed John silently down the short dull grey corridor stopping at the door entrance. This door was standing open while forensics dusted for fingerprints from around the doorframe, the main door and the keypad.
“This is the second door which then leads through to the main vault. This time they used a swipe card and a key code, of which they had both. The access time was recorded at 20:00:25.” John was about to walk through the door, when Lam stopped him.
“John, may I ask, should an alarm have been triggered at this point?” Lam said, motioning to the second door.
“That’s a good question, but so far they haven’t truly breeched security. Many of our staff members have access to restricted areas and have authority to come and go outside of normal banking hours. It’s normally limited to Managers and Directors and some of senior security staff members. Also considering that the swipe card and key code was valid, nothing would have raised an alarm at this point.”
“And camera’s? Can you see them enter on camera?” Lam asked.
John’s face stiffened slightly at the mention of the cameras. He thought for a moment before responding. It was the first time that Lam noticed that his normal calm exterior had a small crack in it.
“I’ll come back to that question shortly.” John replied stiffly, making it clear to Lam that she must wait for the answer. She told herself that she wouldn’t ask again until he was ready.
They stepped through the access door and continued towards the main vault. Lam looked up at the vaulted ceiling above them, she followed the lines of the stainless steel beams that framed the concrete up to its highest point. The simplistic architecture impressed her. Lam felt as though she was standing under the ceiling of a modern church for a moment, rather than a bank.
“It’s very impressive.” Lam said hearing her voice echo. “It’s a shame that it’s so hidden away.”
“Yes, it’s one of the bank nicest features. Only a few of the staff and our V.I.P clients get to come to this point.” John replied, glancing up at the ceiling.
They walked on until they were at the vault entrance. Lam noticed that the deeper into the bank they went to cooler it became, she wished she had worn something warmer.
They reached the huge steel vault door, which stood closed. Lam could see the silver dust from the forensics team that they had used to check for prints, still fresh on the door.
“This is our most sophisticated security access point.” John said. “We spent a lot of time and money developing this with a company in the Netherlands.” John proudly pointed to the small square screen positioned to the left of the large metal vault entrance.
“Once they arrived at this point, they would have needed two things. Firstly, a palm scan, followed by an access code.” John bent forwards and leaned in closer to the small screen. Lam leaned in until her shoulder was almost rubbing John’s. She looked at the screen.
“But it’s blank?” Lam said, feeling a little stupid at the obvious question.
“How can you punch in your code if you can’t see the numbers?” She asked.
“It’s very clever.” John stated. “This is the latest in biometric recognition. Every person has a unique palm print, similar to fingertips. The user presses their hand on the screen, and the ultrasonic technology scans and recognizes the print. Once the print is authenticated, which takes just seconds, then a back screen lights up revealing a touch screen keypad. It’s set up similar to your run of the mill touch screen, so it’s very easy for the user. Each user has a private access code, which we change frequently, however the palm remains the same, so the user always has to first pass the palm scan. It’s supposed to be fail safe, and ironically, I believed that was, except…” John trailed off and straightened himself up.
“Let me guess. They had both the code and the palm?” Lam stood upright facing John, she knew the answer already before asking the question.
“Correct. We have their access time as 20:00:56. They knew that they had a limited timeframe to get this done. They were very slick, under a minute so far.” John said, motioning to Lam that she must keep following him. They stepped through the giant metal vault entrance and straight onto the top of the tall metal escalator.
Lam stepped on behind John and they began their slow descent.
“You keep saying ‘they’?” Lam asked.
“Yes, you will see why when we get inside the holding room at the bottom.” John replied as he began to walk down the steps, too impatient to wait for the escalator to take them down to the bottom.
The forensics team were still hard at work when Lam and John arrived at the holding room. They had to stay close the wall to allow people to walk past them through the entrance, carrying boxes, lights and equipment, trying their best not to get in their way.
“We’ll keep this quick.” John said quietly. “I don’t want to tamper with their crime scene.”
“This is where things get interesting.” John pointed to an area just inside the holding room where Lam could still see piles of plastic wrapped notes, bonds and gold bullion piled neatly in various sections of the brightly lit room. It looked exactly as she imagined it would.
“We know that they have taken something in the region of 150 million Hong Kong Dollars, that’s about twenty million US dollars in $100 dollar bills. It would be impossible for one person to carry. That’s how we know that there must have been a few people to help carry the money out, we estimate at least five, for that amount, and it’s likely that they would have all been men, it’s a heavy load.”
John continued. “What amazes me is how fast they were. They would have used the escalator to carry the money up. That makes sense. Then they would have to open the vault door by going through the palm scan and access code procedure again. From here I’ve hit a wall. I’m almost one hundred percent sure that members of the public would have noticed people with large bags leaving the Bank. The bags would have been big and cumbersome and it would have been high risk for them. They would have been very exposed at that moment, especially as they pushed through the crowd.” John paused for a moment.
Lam picked up the thread. “You mentioned earlier that a palm scan was used for the entrance into the vault. We should be able to pull prints relatively quickly through our system.” Lam said.
John fell silent for a moment. Lam watched as the mask that John had been wearing so well up until this point, showed more cracks. His face fell and he sighed heavily as he realized that he couldn’t avoid the subject any longer.
“Detective Lam, I’ve been skirting the topic. But I’m sure you’ve realized by now that to get this far into any bank in the World, it would have to be an inside job. I believe your men have sent the prints from all of the keypads as well as the palm scan back to your lab for processing. The Police have already requested a full staff list and everyone has been briefed and they are waiting upstairs to be interviewed. Well almost everyone.” John said somberly.
“Is someone missing?” Lam shot back, curiosity was now starting to get the better o
f her.
“Actually we appear to have two staff members unaccounted for, and I’m starting to get a little concerned.” John said.
“Who is it?” Lam demanded, her tone polite, but firm. “We need to find whoever it is to rule them out of the investigation.”
John nodded.
“It’s Ryan Harper from RSG and another staff member from the retail sector of the bank, Robert Black. Harper didn’t show this morning, which is highly unusual for him. He’s very prompt and would normally call me if he were running late. We know that Harper and Robert Black are good friends, so we tried to contact Robert to see if he knew where Harper might be, but we’ve been unable to contact him also. Everyone else is accounted for.”
Lam could sense the disappointment in John’s voice. It was bad enough to have a robbery on your own turf, but to have an inside job was even worse, especially if you liked the person responsible.
“OK”, Lam said, processing the information quickly. It was time to ask about the cameras.
“Even though it was dark, we must be able to see security camera footage?” Lam spoke quickly now; questions were popping up in her head faster than she could ask them.
“This is another problem, it seems that whoever did this, new exactly what they were doing. It’s incredibly sophisticated. All of our cameras show…” John paused not sure how to explain. “Well, they show absolutely nothing.” John shrugged his shoulders, still unable to believe it himself.
“They were upgraded recently, and have been working perfectly, we test them every day.” John said, making sure that Lam knew that they followed procedure. “We have looked at the footage from all of our camera’s and in particular the camera’s that show the route that we have just taken, no-one comes in, and no-one leaves. It looks like business as usual; we don’t know how they managed to do it. It’s as though the money just got up and walked out on it’s own.”
An uneasiness crossed Lam’s face. She thought back to the day when the Chinese man was shot and killed after his poor breakin attempt. Then the simple realization hit her. The camera‘s that day were not being fixed, they were being rigged.
She’d been so fixed on finding out who the old man was that she hadn’t even seen what was right in front of her.
“Oh, they’re clever.” Lam said, shaking her head in disbelief. “So clever.” She said, her voice almost a whisper. Then she looked up at John and gave him a broad smile.
“Which company did you use to upgrade your camera’s?” She asked John, who was deep in thought.
He looked at Lam for a moment, and tried to follow her train of thought. Then slowly the reality flooded over him in a sickening wave.
“Oh my God, we’ve just spent hundreds of thousands on this system.” His words almost stuck in his throat as he spoke. He imagined having to stand in front of the board of Directors to tell them the news. He had been right to fight the change in security Companies, but of course they had known better. They had brow beaten him until he finally agreed, and so the contract went to RSG. But Ryan had surprised him, tricked him into liking him. He’d taken him in, wanted him to be his protégé.
Now he felt like such a fool. He thought he was a good judge of character, but he had been played all along. John felt nauseous as he silently worked through everything that Ryan would know about the bank. He oversaw every camera placement. He knew every code, and every sequence; he had access to every part of the building. Ryan Harper was a bank robbers dream accomplice.
Lam watched the emotions on John’s face change as the truth sank in.
“This has been a well planned robbery.” Lam said gently. “Had it not been for the fact that they had a small hiccup during their practice run, we may never have known about it. Now we know that they had access to camera’s and inside help.” Lam continued, beginning to feel more hopeful.
“We need the name of the company that you hired for the camera’s. We will find them, and then we will find who did this.” Lam stated confidently.
John glanced at his watch. “I need to prepare everything to address the board.” He said to Lam. “Will you keep me updated? I’ll make sure that you get the name of the company and everything that you need. I hope we can put this to bed quickly.” He gave Lam the same half smile, but this time it looked a little more hopeful, Lam thought.
John shook her hand. It wasn’t the same firm handshake as before. This one was more gentle and felt rushed.
“No problem. I can walk myself out. You go ahead.” Lam motioned toward the exit, and stood and watched as the security Director walked quickly up the moving escalator taking two steps at a time with his long legs, until he reached the top, and then he was gone.
Lam started to walk back toward the exit leaving the forensics team behind her. Her mind was now at full speed as she started to arrange her thoughts and plan her strategy. She really needed to speak to Chow. Lam pulled out her cell phone and checked the bars. There was no signal in the vault.
When she reached the top, she had to weave between the throng of police officers and bank officials to get to the exit.
She checked the signal strength again when she reached the main doors, and it showed all six bars. She quickly dialed Chow’s number and held the phone to her ear. She let it ring a few times, switching it off when it clicked to his answer phone.
Where is he? Lam thought, irritation starting to creep in. Just as she was about to try it again, one of the Police Officers came over to her.
“Detective Lam, the Chief is looking for you, says it’s urgent, can you go back to the station immediately.”
“Great!” she said under her breath. “That’s all I need”.
She thanked the Officer and walked out of the bank entrance and straight into a wall of TV camera’s and journalists.
Chapter 17
10:00am
It took Lam longer than she thought to get through the throngs of reporters all wanting the latest on the robbery. Eventually after so many ‘no comment’s’ they had started to trail away to wait for the next poor victim to exit the bank.
As Lam walked back to her desk, she heard a familiar voice from the end of the corridor.
‘Laaaam” the voice roared behind her. Lam didn’t need to turn to know that it was the voice of her boss. She immediately turned on her heel, and gave him her best smile as he walked towards her.
“Chief” she said brightly.
“Lam, you’re a hard woman to track down. Come into my office for a minute.” He walked ahead of her, striding at a fast pace, making it hard for Lam to keep up without breaking into a slow jog.
Chief Inspector William Lau was a larger than life character, both physically and famous for his booming voice. He’d been in the Police Force since he was a young man, and worked his way through the ranks to Chief Constable and finally Chief Inspector. He knew everyone in Hong Kong, from the top politicians, lawyers and fellow senior officers to all of the top Doctors and Bankers.
Lam respected him greatly, and liked him. But he was well known for giving his Detectives a hard time. Lam sensed that she was about to get one of his infamous lectures.
Settling himself into his large black leather office chair he leant forwards onto the desk with his elbows and waited for Lam to sit down before starting.
Lam pulled up a wooden chair and sat across the desk from the Chief. She had always liked coming into his office. It was a basic room, not perhaps what an inspector should have. She looked around at the nondescript grey carpet, the big solid dark wooden desk with turned legs that faced the door, and across at the window with the partial view of a tree and the car park below. In the corner of the room on top of his grey filing cabinet sat a plant that looked as though it needed a good watering, and a red silk wall hanging with Chinese script. What she actually liked was the fact that he always had the most up to date pictures of his family in frames sitting on his desk. No matter how tough he was, she would always sneak a look at the pictures and reconcile her
self that his bark was far worse than his bite.
“Lam, I have some bad news.” The Chief said somberly.
Lam was surprised by the catch in the Chief’s voice. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair, a dark dread starting to rise up in her stomach, she let the feeling flow over her and then she waited for him to continue.
The Chief fought with his emotions for a moment catching Lam off guard.
“What is it Chief?” Lam prompted gently, suddenly afraid that one of his beloved family members had died.
When the Chief eventually spoke, his voice was grave and serious.
“It’s Chow”. The Chief lifted his eyes and looked straight at Lam.
Lam felt the shiver run down her spine. She hadn’t expected this. The Chief continued.
“His body was discovered early this morning in an alleyway, next to a 7eleven store over in Tsim Sha Tsui district. One of the early morning staff went to take the rubbish bags out and found Chow’s body slumped next to the dumpster. He didn’t have any ID on him when they brought him in, so it took a while to identify his body.”
Lam sat back stunned. She’d been so cross that Chow hadn’t answered his phone, and now she knew why. He couldn’t.
“How did he die?” Lam croaked the question, blinking back tears that were threatening to tumble out onto her cheeks.
“His throat was cut. He would have died instantly.” The Chief leaned across the table and touched Lam’s hand.
“I’m sorry.’ He said sadly. “He was a good kid.”
Lam stiffened at the Chiefs touch and hardened her face as she suppressed the tears. She wouldn’t allow herself to cry in front of the Chief. Taking in a few slow breaths she managed to contain the pressure in her chest and the lump in her throat. She straightened herself in the chair.
“Why Chow?” she said almost in a whisper.
“We don’t know yet”, the Chief responded, now back to his normal self.
“We’ve done a bit of digging around. All that we know so far is that a young Chinese man came into the station yesterday asking for you, Chow met with him instead. An hour later he left the station and didn’t tell anyone where he was going.”
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