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Post by skybright on Nov 18, 2006 22:28:56 GMT -5
On the Thursday night before the Newland Gallery was slated to open its new jewel exhibit, the members of the resistance gathered for a meeting in the basement of Our Lady of Refuge. Daws arrived early, with Veeru Patil in tow -- she had taken a trip to Queens to pick up Jai's research on the gallery and the exhibit, and Veeru had come back to the City with her.
"Well," Father Rick scratched his chin thoughtfully, "I do have to admit, I like the thought of hittin' Tiernan while he's about a hobby of his. Makes it a sight more personal."
Daws grinned. "Padre, that sounds almost malicious."
The priest raised one eyebrow and grinned in return. "Even men of God have our malicious moments, Daws."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 18, 2006 22:43:40 GMT -5
Knowing that his information was important to the meeting, Henry Casselton made a particular effort to be early.
"You owe me," he said to Daws with a smile as he reached the bottom of the basement stairs. "The featured artist this week at the Newland Gallery was some sort of feminist environmentalist activist. I've had less enjoyable afternoons... but not many."
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Post by skybright on Nov 18, 2006 22:48:55 GMT -5
"Ouch." Daws pulled a sympathetic face and shook her head. "Sorry, Henry. Sacrifices for the good of the cause, and all that."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 18, 2006 23:18:49 GMT -5
"Hello, folks." Sid Rosenstein clumped down the stairs, with Alex, Miriam, and Grace in tow. "I hear we're supposed to do a job without blowing anything up for a change."
"Technically, Proteus only asked that we don't get anyone hurt," Henry rejoined. "I was a little worried about the art--but after visiting the gallery, I'm rather less sympathetic."
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Post by skybright on Nov 18, 2006 23:30:52 GMT -5
Daws laughed. "Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't get some of the stuff they call 'art'." She shrugged. "Guess it's not just my woefully incomplete cultural education at work, after all."
"Perhaps not," Veeru interjected, "But it would probably be best to avoid destroying things anyway, if we can do so. There is less chance of anyone getting hurt in the destruction that way."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 18, 2006 23:39:51 GMT -5
"Besides, not everything in the gallery is hideous," Henry remarked brightly.
"Good old Casselton," remarked Major Vance's voice from the stairway as he entered, with Handy and a contingent of his own people behind him. "If it isn't more than three thousand years old, it's modern junk. Evening, all."
"It looks like everyone is here," Miriam observed, looking around. "Or are we expecting Proteus to show up too?"
Handy, meanwhile, had broken into a broad smile and sidled forward to greet Grace, claiming a seat beside her. Vance rolled his eyes at the pair.
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Post by skybright on Nov 18, 2006 23:50:02 GMT -5
"So far as I know, Proteus isn't planning on showing up." Daws shrugged broadly. "Then again, he's not exactly the sort to let me know all of his plans, either."
"We may as well get started." Padre said. He cleared his throat and waited until everyone had settled in to semi-quiet attention. "Evenin' everyone. I suppose by now word's spread around a bit, and you know Tiernan's planning on a jewel heist this coming week.
"This is mainly a meeting to share what information we've got betwen us -- and to see if we can come up with a plan of attack." He nodded at Henry. "Mister Casselton, I suppose you can lead us off with what you've learned."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 19, 2006 0:14:49 GMT -5
"Well, the layout of the building is fairly simple," Henry began, rising. He gestured to help illustrate his explanations. "The public gallery is an L-shaped space, taking up the rear and one side of the building. The other part of the building is offices and so forth. I'm not sure, but I think their storage area is in the basement.
"In any case, the ceiling of the gallery is cluttered with a lot of that bulky, exposed air-conditioning ductwork that some interior designers these days seem to think is trendy. It occurred to me that might be a useful place for an ambush... though of course I don't know how that could fit in with avoiding casualties.
"As for security... as a collector myself, I had a chance to talk to one of the security guards about that without looking too suspicious. They have alarms on all the windows and doors, of course--and they also have those sensor beams that trip alarms installed in all of the cases. Those are made of shatterproof glass, by the way."
He shrugged. "Those are the main points I can think of. If you ask me anything else, I'll tell you what I can."
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Post by skybright on Nov 19, 2006 0:17:17 GMT -5
Daws frowned thoughtfully. "Does the building have any entrances besides the front one -- any that you saw?"
"And as for the security guards," Veeru spoke up, "If you noticed what firm they work for, Jai may be able to find out how many of them work at the gallery on any given day."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 19, 2006 0:31:28 GMT -5
"Well, the gallery is an old building that was clearly never meant to have so much security," Henry remarked. "And there are also fire regulations, of course. Besides the front entrance, there's an emergency door at the side. On the other side, where the offices are, I could see from the outside another small door--but apparently it's not in use. There were pallets and the like stacked up against it."
He turned to Veeru. "As for the security guards, I take it they're hired by the gallery directly. They seemed rather easygoing--one of the three I saw spent ten minutes commiserating with me about the artwork. But they were armed."
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Post by skybright on Nov 19, 2006 0:36:05 GMT -5
"Oh, of course they were." Daws sighed. "Well, if they work for the gallery that may mean they're not as highly-qualified as guys from a franchised firm would be -- or it could mean they're good enough not to need a firm behind them to get jobs. Either way," she shrugged, "They're going to be just as much a factor in us pulling this off as Tiernan's goons are."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 19, 2006 0:44:15 GMT -5
"They do have guards overnight," Henry admitted with a frown. "I heard mention of a night shift."
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Post by skybright on Nov 19, 2006 0:50:20 GMT -5
"And night is most likely when Tiernan will strike, is it not?" Veeru asked.
Daws nodded. "Major Vance doesn't call the guy Nocturne for no reason, V."
"Speakin' of which," Padre raised an eyebrow at Vance, "Your people found out anythin', Boyo?"
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 19, 2006 1:04:25 GMT -5
Vance gave Father Steele an insolent half-smile, but there was frustration beneath it.
"Not much, Pop. Tiernan must be keeping his plan to his inner circle. They've been doing some special exercises or training down in the tunnels; that's all my insider has found out."
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Post by skybright on Nov 19, 2006 1:07:25 GMT -5
"And we're as much to blame for his bein' cautious as anything is." Father Rick replied with a frustrated shake of his head.
Daws shrugged and turned her attention back to Henry. "What about security cameras? What's the setup with those?"
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 19, 2006 1:32:20 GMT -5
Henry smiled. "Thanks for reminding me. I did pay attention to those. There were about a dozen of them. I marked them out while I was pretending to take notes on the ghastly sculptures." He withdrew from beneath his coat a brochure that contained a simple visitors' map of the gallery, on which he had marked the camera locations.
"Of course, considering what I've heard about the Gray Lab business, I don't imagine you'll have too much trouble with those," he added.
Alex made a face. "We're talking about this thing like we're the ones planning to break in, not to stop somebody else from doing it."
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Post by skybright on Nov 19, 2006 1:36:07 GMT -5
Daws chuckled. "Hey, the more we know about how we'd hit the place, the more we can maybe figure about how Tiernan would do it. Besides, we're gonna have to avoid those cameras just as much as if we were breaking in."
"That does raise the question," Padre frowned, "Of how it is we're planning on stopping Tiernan's men without the use of violence."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 19, 2006 23:37:52 GMT -5
Vance sprawled back in his chair and shrugged. "That beats me."
Handy fidgeted. "Well... maybe we could swipe the jewels before Tiernan can get to 'em... then sorta return 'em anominously, you know?"
The Major gave him a withering look.
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Post by skybright on Nov 19, 2006 23:43:47 GMT -5
Daws frowned thoughtfully. "It's not a terrible idea, actually. But there's an awful lot that could go wrong with it -- and getting caught red-handed at a jewel heist will do none of us any kind of good."
"What if we could get Tiernan's men caught red-handed, instead?" Veeru suggested, "By somehow alerting the police once they have broken into the gallery?"
Daws scowled. "You're making the assumption that New York's finest are actually capable of bein' useful, V."
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Post by Jordanna on Nov 20, 2006 0:06:51 GMT -5
"Besides, as we've argued about before, we can't let the police catch on to Tiernan," Miriam observed unhappily, folding her arms. "Even letting a handful of mutants get taken in for breaking and entering would definitely lead to trouble."
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