Den of Thieves (BL)

The night had finally come. The job was simple on paper—steal the Graff Pink diamond from Lanet. Beau had gone over the plan countless times with his team. Everyone knew their role, and everything was set.

Taking a steadying breath, Beau entered Hotel Mirina. He'd seen his fair share of luxury, but this place was on another level. "Straight out of Top Billing, with just the right amount of bling," he muttered into his earpiece, his gaze drifting up to the enormous chandelier that shimmered like it was made of stardust.

"The only bling we care about is on the 60th floor," Ariel replied, far too chipper for someone who wasn't risking their neck tonight. Beau could almost hear her bouncing in her seat, monitoring from the car.

Toolbox in hand, he straightened his shoulders and strolled toward the front desk. He slipped into his role effortlessly—another repairman doing another night's work.

"Good evening," he said with a professional calm. "We got a call about a broken elevator."

The receptionist's brow furrowed as her eyes swept him over with suspicion. "A broken elevator? Nobody told me about that."

Beau shrugged. "Well, either Mr. Lanet lied to me, or you—"

She cut him off quickly. "Mr. Hines? He didn't mention anything to me."

"Look, miss," Beau leaned a little closer as if they were conspirators. "I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be too happy to come back to find the elevator still out of order."

Her confidence faltered. "But... it was working just fine. He used it just a moment ago."

"Oh, was it?" Beau arched a brow and walked toward the elevator. He pressed the call button. The doors began to slide open—then jerked and jammed halfway. Perfect timing. He turned back toward her with a nonchalant shrug.

"Well, what do you know," he drawled. "I guess it really is working fine. Imagine if Mr. Hines got stuck in there. Couldn't be me explaining that to him."

The receptionist bit her lip. "Well...," she began.

"Ma'am," Beau cut in smoothly, softening his tone like he was speaking to a nervous kitten. "Let me do my job. I'll take a look here, check the door up there to make sure it's not sticking, and we'll both keep our jobs tonight. How's that sound?"

There was a long pause as she considered it. "Okay, okay. May I see your ID?"

"Of course," Beau pulled out his forged ID and passed it to her. She studied it briefly before jotting down some details.

"Alright, Mr. Black. Here's your key card." She handed it over with a polite but stiff smile.

Beau flashed his most charming grin. "Please, call me Danny."

Once she turned her attention back to her screen, he slipped toward the elevator. The jammed doors groaned as he squeezed through the narrow opening, toolbox still in hand. With a quick press of the up button, he activated his earpiece. "Alright, Teddy, I'm in. Do your thing."

A mechanical hum filled the small space as the jammed doors suddenly slid shut, smooth as butter. "Gotcha," Teddy's voice crackled in his ear. "Elevator's yours, Mr. Black."

Beau sighed. "Oh please."

"Sorry, I can't help it." Teddy chuckled. "You've got a ten-minute window before the new guard shift realizes something's off with the cameras."

"Copy that." Beau tapped the key card against the reader, and the elevator began its smooth ascent toward the penthouse. "Stanz, you think ten minutes is enough for you?" he asked, addressing his partner, who had taken the unorthodox route of scaling the building.

Stanz's smug voice crackled in. "No offense Mr Black, but not everyone's as slow as you are, sweetheart. I'm already up here enjoying the view of this palace."

The elevator dinged softly as it reached the penthouse level. Beau stepped out cautiously, the room nearly taking his breath away. Lavish didn't even begin to describe it—marble floors, walls of glass, and gold accents screamed elite. His eyes immediately fell on Stanz, who sat on the sweeping staircase as though she were the lady of the house.

"I hope you didn't break anything." Beau pointed a knowing finger at Stanz, his expression flat.

She rolled her eyes with an exaggerated sigh. "You're lucky you came in when you did. I was about to."

"If you two are done fooling around," Nova's irritated voice cut in through the earpiece, "the safe should be in his bedroom, behind the nightstand."

"Nova, always so tense," Stanz teased with a grin, clearly enjoying herself.

Beau shook his head, already used to this. "Let's focus, please," he led the way toward the bedroom.

Lanet's room was the definition of luxury—polished mahogany furniture, cream-coloured walls... The nightstand wasn't hard to find. It sat beside the massive bed like a jewel box waiting to be opened.

Beau crouched down and moved the nightstand with a grunt. "Safe's exactly where you said, Nova."

Stanz let out a squeal. "Oh my god, look at this baby!"

Beau stared at her like she'd lost her mind. He would never understand how she managed to get so excited about breaking into things. To her, it was more art than crime—the tougher the challenge, the brighter her eyes seemed to shine.

"Seriously? It's just a safe." 

"What? Don't look at me like that!" Stanz shot him a smirk as she knelt by the safe, pulling out her tools. "This is advanced tech. Do you know how many people get the privilege of cracking safety boxes like this? It's beautiful."

Beau didn't respond, only shaking his head as she connected a small chip to the front of the safe and brought out her Pad.

"Alright, Nova, this one's tricky," she got serious. "We get two tries. Screw it up, and we set off the alarm."

"Understood. Sending you the first code," Nova replied. 

Stanz's fingers danced over the Pad's screen, inputting the codes Nova fed her. A bead of sweat formed at Beau's temple as he watched, though Stanz's expression remained as cool as ever.

"Come on, come on," she muttered under her breath.

For a long, agonizing minute, the only sound was the faint hum of the safe. Then, with a series of clicks, the mechanism unlocked, and the door shot open.

"Ha!" Stanz grinned triumphantly. "That's how it's done!"

"Thank you, sweetie," she purred into her earpiece, though Nova's unimpressed scoff was audible on the other end.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get cocky. Hurry the fuck up, you two."

Inside the safe, were several glittering jewels. But at the centre of it all, locked securely behind a protective glass case, sat the Graff Pink diamond—flawless, mesmerizing, and worth a fortune.

Beau's gloved fingers hovered over the contents. Normally, he would clean out the entire safe without hesitation, but this time was different. Lanet. The man deserved a little game, a game of fetch and Beau couldn't resist the urge to play.

"We're only taking one thing." Beau said confusing Stanz who nodded reluctantly.

As soon as his fingertips grazed the protective glass encasing the diamond, a faint sound started buzzing. It was soft at first—almost unnoticeable—then it turned into a high-pitched drone that made his stomach drop.

"Shit," Stanz hissed. She already had her tools packed, ready to bolt. "That's our cue to get the hell out of here."

"Uhh, guys," Nova's urgent voice cut in through the earpiece, "you might want to move. Go east—there's a set of emergency doors. Keypad entry. Code's 36592."

Beau let out a frustrated huff as they raced toward the door. "Who the hell puts a code on an emergency door?!"

"Someone who doesn't want people like us in his home," Stanz shot back, her tone annoyingly cheerful. Clearly, she didn't share his sense of irony. It was an emergency door, for god's sake.

"Great. Just great," Beau muttered under his breath.

Reaching the keypad, he punched in the code. The door clicked open with a heavy thunk, revealing a narrow flight of stairs leading both down and up toward the roof.

"Quickly," Nova's voice crackled in his ear. "Six floors down. I'm waiting in room 532."

"Six floors?" Beau repeated, already regretting every life choice that had led to this moment. But there wasn't time to complain.

Heavy footsteps echoed in the stairwell above them. The sound bounced off the walls—sharp, heavy boots that screamed security and possibly police. 

"Come on, Stanz, hurry it up!" Beau hissed.

"I'm trying!" she shot back, breathless, her boots thudding against the metal steps as they descended.

Beau risked a glance down the stairwell. His stomach turned when he spotted at least half a dozen guards two floors below—heavily armed and moving fast. The gleam of weapons caught the dim light, and their boots pounded like war drums against the stairs.

"Shit," he muttered under his breath.

A voice roared from below. "You there—STOP!"

One of the guards had spotted them. The unmistakable sound of safeties clicking off followed.