Free Cloak Games: Thief Trap by Jonathan Moeller

at a time. First, I had to steal the tablet from McCade. I had to avoid McCade’s security and the strange man in the sunglasses, whoever or whatever he was. Then I could worry about other things.
    Yes. One problem at a time. Easiest thing in the world, right?
    It was a long time before I could stand up again.

Chapter 4: Dance
     
    The time to the Conquest Day gala flew by.
    Conquest Day is on July 4th, at least in the United States. It’s different in other countries. In Russia, it’s on the anniversary of Red October. In the United Kingdom, Conquest Day falls on the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. It’s on July 4th in the United States because that was the day three hundred odd years ago that the High Queen executed the President and Congress on live television.
    I spent the time preparing. 
    I kept up my façade at both Duncan Catering and EZClean Cleaners, helping to make appetizers and cakes in the morning and cleaning houses at night. The next time the EZClean crew went to McCade’s mansion for its weekly cleaning, I volunteered to do the art gallery and the library. Since both tasks were so unpleasant, the shift supervisor accepted without complaint. That meant I was alone in the library for a few moments. The security men had checked us over thoroughly, complete with metal detectors. A vacuum cleaner set off the metal detectors, but that was to be expected. 
    Which meant that the small duffel bag I concealed in the vacuum’s cylinder was not detected. Halfway through vacuuming the library, I used my levitation spell to float to the top of the high shelves on the first floor of the library, in the corner where none of the cameras reached, and duct-taped the bag on the top of the shelf, out of sight from the floor and the second-story balcony. 
    The week after that, I used my levitation spell to float up and check the duffel bag again. The bag had not been disturbed, and I was confident that it would be there on the night of the gala. 
    Better and better. 
    At Duncan Catering Company, I got myself assigned to the crew scheduled to serve the food at McCade’s gala. We would take one of the company’s big white vans to the mansion, and I had noticed that while the security men always screened the workers, they never bothered to check any vehicles in the utility garage. That was a mistake, because it meant the duffel bag I taped to the bottom of the van would not be noticed. 
    When I wasn’t working at one of my two full-time jobs, I prepared in other ways. A printer that could print an intricate holographic design like McCade’s party invitation cost upward of fifteen thousand dollars. I wasn’t about to spend that much money, and computer equipment like that had to be licensed with Homeland Security. So I found a print shop, broke in one night, and borrowed their printer to print the invitation. Once I finished, I used a magnet to wreck the computer’s hard drive. The unfortunate owners would assume that the computer had crashed, which in turn had messed up the printer’s page count. 
    Hopefully they had good backups. 
    Once that was done, I spent the rest of my time going over the plans to McCade’s mansion, committing them to memory, and practicing the spells I needed. I also made contingency plans in case the job went sour and I had to run for my life. I had a storage unit out in the edge of Wauwatosa, not far from the freeway, and I stocked it with canned food and other supplies if I needed a place to hide. Of course, if the job went really bad, and if I was taken prisoner, Morvilind would use that vial of blood to kill me and dispose of any evidence of his involvement. Or McCade’s security people would just shoot me on the spot. The money I had left behind for Russell might help James and Lucy…but if they could not find another Elven noble willing to treat his frostfever…
    Well. That settled it. I just had to get in and out of the mansion alive. Easy as pie, right?
    The biggest