A Heist in the Family
"That's where you grew up? Like, seriously?" Corrin's voice buzzed in my ear as my family's estate came into view in the moonlight. She continued, her voice getting more overwhelmed with each sentence, "The pictures showed that the house was big, but I didn't expect a damn compound."
"Focus," I calmly returned over the radio and pulled the ripcord to deploy my parachute. The sound of air rushing past me was overtaken by the ripples of the fabric that unfurled above me. My descent abruptly stopped as the parachute fully opened. Forty meters away Corrin's deployment was equally as successful. I checked my watch for updates. 800 feet to go and a heart rate of 180.
"Is...is that lake inside the fence? What the actual..."
"Focus," I shot back with more force than before. My watch beeped, warning me of an increased heartbeat. "Keep the comms clear until we land."
"Roger," she replied subordinately.
Everything had gone according to plan up to that point and I didn't need either of us making a mistake. I quickly scanned the grounds surrounding the villa. Still clear. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and counted to ten in my head as I exhaled, focused on lowering my heart rate. The combination of adrenaline from the parachute jump and what we were going to attempt was making me nauseous. I needed to shake that before we got to the house.
The beeping on my watch stopped. I opened my eyes and checked my watch. 160 bpm and 300 feet. I scanned the area below us one last time to check for danger and spot our landing.
"Grounds clear. Spot landing." Short callouts leads to short responses. In any high risk scenario an understanding in communication is key.
"Roger clear. Fountain spotted. Landing north," she quickly acknowledged my callout and identified her intent to land north of the fountain.
"Roger north. Landing oppo." Despite Corrin's vastly superior experience in jumping and never having witnessed her miss a landing, I informed her of my intent to land on the south side of the fountain. No intel is bad intel.
We continued our descent towards the driveway that surrounded the fountain outside the front of the main house. 100 feet. 75. 50. 20. I pulled the brake handles as hard as I could and lifted my knees to put my body in a squat position. The parachute slowed my descent for just long enough to not break my legs upon touching down on the paved road.
"Contact," I hear in my ear. Through the cascading water of the fountain I saw Corrin quick-release her parachute from her harness.
"Roger contact. Advance," I returned as I detached my parachute and headed towards the small staircase that led up to the main door. My partner's experience was evident as she summited by the time I got to the first step.
Corrin stood still and starred at the control panel to the left of the large, ornate doors. "Problem, sir. It requires a key card."
"Or a fingerprint," I said as I pushed past her and placed my thumb down firmly. The door clicked and I smiled. "I knew I would still be in the system."
"Wait," she confusedly asked as I pulled the door open, "how are you still in the system? You said you hadn't been here in 13 years."
"16, actually. I told you, I have a man on the inside." As we crossed the threshold and entered my childhood home, I felt all of my nerves and stress disappear. "We should be clear from this point. Remember, take nothing. We are here for one thing and one thing only." I clicked on the flashlight attached to the parachute harness still attached to my torso. Corrin followed suit. "After all, it rightfully belongs to me."
I did my best to keep my focus on the mission at hand and not on all of the memories that were rushing back into my mind as I walked the halls that I spent the first 20 years of my life in. Whether my refusal to look around was meant for Corrin to not get distracted or for me to not have an emotional breakdown was unclear.
"Here it is." As I approached the bookshelf that stretched from floor to ceiling, I couldn't help but notice Corrin's eyes were scanning for something shiny that would have been worth the hefty price I had promised her. She was going to be disappointed in me, but at least she would get paid.
I grabbed hold of a tree-shaped bookend on a middle shelf and pulled. It would have been indistinct to anyone else, but knowing the infatuation my father had with Isaac Newton it seemed fairly obvious. A loud click and release of air came from behind the shelves.
"What was it that your family did again?" Corrin asked. Her words didn't even register with me as I kept my focus on the shelf that was now opening out towards me. I took a step back as the room began to fill with light from the hidden room behind.
The silhouette of a figure emerged in the light and walked cautiously towards me. It stopped directly in front of me, the beams of our flashlights danced across its face. Corrin gasped and I heard her draw her gun from her hip holster.
"Stand down, Corrin," I shouted the moment I heard her unsnap her holster, but I quickly changed my tone as I raised a hand behind me, palm open out towards her. "It's okay. This is what we are here for."
I locked eyes with the young man and felt both relief and that nauseous feeling coming back.
"Echo?" I asked, my voice catching in my throat halfway through.
"Hey, Prime," he said with tears welling up in his eyes. "I can't believe you're here. Thank you."
I put my arms around him and pulled him in to my chest as my eyes began to well up. "It's going to be okay. You're safe now. Corrin, this is Echo. My..."
"Clone," she said under her breath. Her eyes wide, mouth agape, and her arms slumped down at her side.
