Alpha's Thief

Prolog: As the full moon hung high in the sky, the night lived. The creatures of the night rebelled against the air of sleep, seizing the opportunity to revel in their true nature. While they reveled, someone lurked at the Emerald Bank. The thief clung to the shadows silently as they made their way inside the building. Normally, the building was heavily guarded. This night the guards were nowhere to be found. The only thing standing in the way was the security system. Watching the place for months studying places of weakness had paid off. There was an airshaft that dipped down right above the security control panel. After climbing to the roof and shimmying through the airshaft, they dawned their infrared goggles. They dropped a rope and slowly lowered it down through the lines of lasers. Once near the control panel, it was time for the security system. With the insert of a cable into the system’s own hidden port, a device was used to download a virus. The system overrides with a self-destructing virus causing all alarms to go down. The time starts ticking down, leaving eight minutes before the system would repair itself and go back online. The device was unplugged quickly before the thief moved on. Seconds ticked away as the thief made it to the targeted portrait. The painting was a life-size portrait of a man with black hair and striking brown eyes. With a push from a gloved hand on the painting swung open to reveal a secret door. The disarmed keypad lock on the gate put up no resistance as it opened into a large cage-like housing. Finally, there it was. The jewel sat in its described cradle in the middle of the room. When a quick and steady hand, it was swapped with a ruby of the same weight. The jewel is slipped into a bag and walked right out the front door just before the alarm is reset.    ***