Lesotho Promise: The Heist

Part II of the Trilogy (Scroll down for Part I)

Sadusky: Well, we have the usual; guards and video monitors. Then, there’s an inch of bulletproof glass, beyond which is an army of sensors and heat monitors that will go off if someone gets too close even with a high fever.
Gradski: We have Sergei for those. Electronics is not a problem.
Sadusky: I never said it was a problem. But wait till you hear the whole thing. The room has two-feet-thick concrete, steel-plated walls, same goes for the ceiling and the floor. The door is solid steel, a foot thick and happens to be locked with a 128-bit encryption code that changes every minute, coupled with biometric access-denial systems. Every guard has a trigger to the emergency alarm with him and once it’s triggered, the response time of the secondary unit is approximately 10 minutes.

Sadusky: We can hack into the surveillance feed from the cameras and corrupt it, but it’s useless if we can’t get into that room. I need you to understand the gravity of the situation. Breaking into something like this requires very comprehensive planning, with like a dozen contingency plans.
Gradski: We did the job in Naples. It was more secured than this.
Sadusky: Naples was different and we planned for 4 months before the job. Right now, we don’t have time for that. Face it Gradski, we need more people on the inside.
Gradski [takes a deep breath]: Who do you suggest?

Meanwhile, somewhere in the dark alleys of Georgetown, Washington, D.C....

Jack: Gomez, listen to me. I will get you the money. You don’t need to do this. Give me 48 hours.
Gomez: What’s gonna happen in 48 hours, amigo? You have been pulling this off for almost 2 months now. I need my money now!
Jack: I don’t have it now! But I swear I can get you the money in 48 hours.
Gomez: How?
Jack: The DEA(Drug Enforcement Adminstration) just got hold of a consignment that belonged to Russian mob. Stash worth a couple of million at least.
Gomez: What about it?
Jack: You know my buddy Ian in the DEA, right? He is handling the transfer of the stash. You know how these transfers work. The real worth of the stash is calculated after the transfer of the stash to the DEA office. A few thousand worth of stash gets misplaced. No one notices. Easy money!
Gomez: I am done taking crap from you.
Jack: Gomez stop! Think! What worth am I to you dead? Give me 48 hours and I will get you your money. You know you can always track me down later and kill me if I don’t get your money.
Gomez: You screw up this time, and I will paint this wall with your brain.

Gomez lets Jack go with a time frame of 2 days. Before Jack can call Ian, he gets a call from Ian…

Jack: I was just about to call you. It’s urgent.
Ian: I have something for you that’s far more important than whatever you have for me. Back entrance of the RFK stadium, in 20 minutes. Don’t be late.

Jack meets Ian….

Jack: What is it Ian?
Ian: They got to me.
Jack: Who?
Ian: The Russians.
Jack: What? You can’t let them take the stash man! I am counting on it for my life!
Ian: It’s not the stash. It’s something much bigger and they want you.
Jack: What? Why would they want me? What did you tell them Ian?
Ian: Nothing man. They knew I am good friends with you. They just want to talk to you.
Jack: I am not going to talk to those sons of…. You listen to me, get back in your car and go home.
Ian: Too late for that Jack. They are already here.
Jack: Ian, you son of a gun!! God darn it!!

Jack turns around and finds Sadusky and a couple of his goons standing behind him…

Sadusky: We just want to talk Mr. Carter. It might just save your life. Will you be kind enough to accompany me?

Jack is left with no other choice. Sadusky and Jack leave for the Russian hide-out in a van.

Jack: What do you want from me?
Sadusky: We need a small help from you. We need you to provide us information about an investigation that your agency will undertake in a few days.
Jack: You want me to be a mole. Do you realize what that means….. A mole inside the FBI. I would never do that.
Sadusky: Relax Mr. Carter! You will get your reward for this. Calm down and think about it. You can make them all go away….. Gomez, Klansky and all the other crooks who want to slit your throat, because you owe them money. We will even pay-off Gomez for you.
Jack: Seems like you have done your homework. But even if I agree, I cannot just interfere with any investigation that is not under my jurisdiction.
Sadusky: It will be under your jurisdiction, believe me.
Jack: What exactly do I have to do?
Sadusky: You have to inform us about every single detail, every single lead that the FBI has about a certain robbery.
Jack: Robbery? What are you guys planning to steal?

Sadusky throws a photo in front of Jack…

Jack: A Diamond?
Sadusky: The Lesotho Promise.

Jack: That’s a big stone. But why would I be assigned to this case. I am a detective in the FBI. I don’t work on jewellery thefts.

Sadusky: The stone is owned by a South African Corporation. It is being brought to Washington for an exhibition-cum-sale event, as a part of the new US - South African trade agreement. It is on display at the 'National Museum of African Art' at the National Mall. It’s not just a 20 million dollar stone; it’s a sign of South African trust. And when it disappears, it would be your country’s honor that would be at stake. So believe me when I say, your department would be the one handling this investigation.

Jack: Even if you do steal this stone, don’t forget, you are in Washington. The FBI headquarters at Pennsylvania Avenue is at stone’s throw from here. Within minutes the whole city would be swamped with officials. You can’t get away with this.

Sadusky: That is exactly why we need you Mr. Carter. Oh! Before we carry on with the details of your new assignment, how is your wife, Mr. Carter? I hear blood transfusions cost a fortune.

A week later, Gradski and his team go through the final plan…

Gradski: Sergei, do you have all the equipments you need to get into the surveillance feed from the cameras and hack into their systems?
Sergei: Yes, but the fail-safe mechanism would allow me to control the cameras and sensors for just over 20 seconds.
Gradski: That’s more than enough. Isn’t it Mr. Springer?

Springer: I… I don’t know. I will try my best.
Gradski: Mr. Springer, no one cares about your 'best'. I want you to replace that stone within those 20 seconds. Let me explain you how this works. You need to move around the glass windoa for around 20 seconds, examining the sensors, in such a way that we can create a loop-back recording for that duration. This loop-back would be played on the monitoring screens of the museum guards during the time when you swap the diamonds. So while you are swapping the stones, it would appear on the cameras that you are still checking the sensors. The motion sensors would also be down during this time. We would be in complete 2-way, audio-visual contact with you all the time during the operation. So, you need not worry. We will guide you through, just in case you try to do something ‘stupid’.

Springer: What about the guard at the door? What do I tell him?
Gradski: Tomorrow, during visiting hours, my men would purposely trigger the heat sensors a couple of times. This would result in a complain to be filed in Chrome Securities to check the sensors. I hope you have been working closely with your lead technician lately, as was instructed to you. As you are already aware, your lead technician and his crew would be in New York City tomorrow. Testing the sensors comes under your domain so you would be the obvious choice to check them.

Gradski: The Corporation you work for; Chrome Securities is responsible for the Security of all the museums and galleries in the National Mall. Is that correct, Mr Springer?
Springer: Yes.
Gradski: Good. So, when you get the real stone, I want you to go to the National Museum of Natural History, which is close to the National Museum of African Art. You will then go to the 1st floor water-cooler. There is a small niche, at the back, on the left bottom corner of the water cooler. You will keep the stone there. Here is a picture of the water-cooler. It’s needless to say that we will be watching and hearing you all along Mr. Springer. Don’t grow a brain.

Springer: I would have a special clearance for the African Art museum, where the diamond is, but how do I get inside the Natural History museum at 8 o’clock in the night?
Gradski: You are a Chief Engineer of the company that designed the Security of this museum. I am sure you can think of a reason. And do not worry, Sergei here would erase all records of your visit to the Natural History Museum, where you will temporarily hide the diamond, until we pick it up tomorrow. All you have to do is get inside, do your job and get out without raising any eyebrows of the guards present.

Springer: But, why wouldn’t I be the prime suspect after the robbery.
Gradski: Relax Mr. Springer. There would be not a single trail of your involvement in any of this, I assure you that. We have taken every step to protect you from the suspicion and expect you to do the same for us. Once we get the stone, the transfer would be made into the new anonymous account created at the bank in Cayman Islands. Sergei would provide you the User ID and password for the same. Remember, no suspicious activities till we get out of this country safely.
Gradski: Sadusky, give Mr. Springer the fake stone. In less than 48 hours you are going to be filthy rich. Goodluck and Godspeed Mr. Springer.

Next day, at 11:00 pm in the night, it’s all over the News. The Lesotho Promise has been stolen. But there is no mention anywhere about a fake stone being found in its place. Reports said that it just vanished. One moment it was there in the video cameras and next moment it disappears into thin air…….. literally, it disappeared into thin air. That’s because that fake stone was no stone. It was a special compound prepared using camphor. Camphor has unique properties, it looks crystalline; add the correct ingredients and you can make it shiny and reflective, almost like a diamond. It's sublime; a little heat and it evaporates into thin air. There was a small battery powered heater inside the crystal. Sadusky switched ON the heater through a remote transmitter at 10:30 pm. and that’s exactly when the diamond disappeared. It was a very good plan and exceptionally well executed. But it wasn’t over. They were going to be chased by the elite in the field of investigation. Springer was grilled for 24 straight hours by the FBI. But the Russians were really good at covering tracks. Springer was released, but was prohibited from leaving the country and was under 24x7 surveillance.

But the plan didn’t turn out as perfect as Gradski thought it would. Everything went as per the plan, except for one small hiccup; the stone that Gradski’s men recovered from the back of the water-cooler at the Natural History Museum turned out to be fake! As it appears, Gradski wasn’t the only one with a fake stone. Springer had a fake diamond too; a dummy piece he got from Chrome Securities. Chrome Securities had many dummies to test the motion sensors and other aspects of security. So, when Gradski and his team are watching Springer hide the diamond behind the water cooler, little did they suspect that Springer had managed to foil his master plan with a much simpler one. Gradski realized his mistake; for someone to be a chief engineer in a multinational corporation, Springer lacked confidence and was nervous all the time. Springer pulled off the nervous-engineer-lacking-confidence with much finesse and managed to fool everyone till they realized how confident and clever he was.

Now Springer was constantly under the surveillance of the FBI, that meant two things; he had hidden the diamond some place other than his home and the secondly, there was no way Gradski could extract the location of the diamond from him, without catching the attention of the FBI. Springer had pulled off a rabbit out of the hat and Gradski could just look at it with disgust. But Gradski was always prepared for failure. That's why he had got hold of Jack; his contingency plan.

To be continued..........