Kale looked up as he noticed Wei-Li making her way down the hall, hoping to see Geoff right behind her, "Here's our girl, hand me you're card." he said in a low voice to Connor.  His fingers found the ident card in his pocket and he waited for Connor to hand him his.  Once in hand he slipped both of them into his back pocket - easily accessible to Wei-Li.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:43, Mon 24 July 2006.

As Geoff was handed back his ID card, he managed to fight the urge to sigh in relief. He hated having to do things in a way that was so sneaky. He would rather have come in, guns a-blazin' and making all manners of noise, but he knew that wouldn't have worked. It just made him nervous to have to rely on tactics he was unfamiliar with on a job. I he didn't understand how it worked, he didn't quite trust it to work.

But it had and he walked by the guard with a grin, slipping the ID card back into his pocket as he walked into the museum. He looked around the museum in awe, looking at the pieces of art with a smile on his face. Not out of any newfound appreciation for art, but because he could only imagine how much this stuff would go for if sold to the right people. They could make a fortune!

But that wasn't what they were here for. That was a depressing thought to him, but he figured that at least they were here to steal something. Some good old-fashioned crime, or the prospect of it, always cheered him up. So, with that thought in mind, he moved to some paintings to feign interest in them while he slowly and windingly made his way to where the others were, making sure that he looked to be interested only in the paintings and nothing else. Which wasn't that hard because he couldn't make heads or tails of some of them. Art. Go figure....

Connor slipped Kale his card, all the while droning on about the art...it sounded like he was a professional...which, Connor supposed, he was. He hoped, however, they'd be out of earshot soon...he was growing tired of rambling...

Wei-li followed the tour brouchure, moving from feature to feature.  As she moved to the Hand Written Manuscript of 'The Unification war, why the Independents failed' She passed Geoff, picking his pocked as she moved.

She knew she had to be careful.  If she wasn't she'd be picked up on by security.

The second 'theft' was eaiser.  Kale had made it impossible for her to not get them on the first try.

Once the pick ups were done, she began the second phase: planting them.  The first was easily slipped into a stroller as she fawned over the toddler refisuing to ride in it.

The next ID went to a man who looked like an opera singer, the next to an aristocratic looking man and the last to a matron monitoring three small children.

She thanked them all mentally for being on her guided tour.  When she was done, she walked to a water fountain and took a drink.

Once Wei-Li had slipped the cards out of his pocket Kale turned his attention back to Connor - trusting Wei-Li to do her part.  He nodded his head in mock interest, "That is interestin', they got more like that?  Upstairs maybe?" he said.  It was Connor's cue that it was time for them to head towards the elevator.

Connor nodded.
'Why yes, the more interesting pieces are upstairs...if you would follow me please..." Connor led them towards the elevator.

Geoff had to admit that he was impressed with Wei-Li's skills. He hadn't even noticed she had picked his pocket until she had gone on past and he shoved his hands in his pockets to find it gone. He continued to peruse the art and history that only served to bore him until he noticed the captain and Connor moving on out of the room towards the elevators already. Geoff gave them some time to get ahead of him and then casually made his way after them, always making sure to look suitably interested in some statue, painting or other such thing he passed.

Wei-Li simply continued to follow the self tour, knowing it would take her upstairs evenutally.  This also let her watch to make sure the others didn't attract attention.

So far, everything was going according to plan.

Kale slipped into the elevator, glad to find it empty and waited for the others to join him, he glanced down at his watch as a voice came over the PA system.

"Attention the Gallery D'arte will be closing in 10 minutes.  Please make your way to the exit.  Thank you for coming and have a wonderful evening." the message was repeated in Chinese and Kale watched through the doors as people began making their way out.  The others better hurry before it was too obvious that they were not leaving.

Wei-li contued her tour switching to page two, the next floor up and looked at the markings on the map, 'realizing' that to get there she would have to take the elevator.

She moved along without seeming to hurry, fading from sight on the cameras before joining the others.

Connor joined him and looked around, making sure no one was around to listen in.
"Almost showtime captain...you ready?"

"Always." Kale responded.  Looking up as Wei-Li, Connor, and Geoff made it onto the elevator.  It didn't appear that anyone was watching them so he hit the 'door close' button.  "Alright, let's do this." Kale said, he looked up at the ceiling and then at Wei, "Here, I'll give ya a boost, you'll need ta pop the door up there open an' we can climb on out." he squatted slightly and held his arms out to help Wei-Li get up high enough to open the hatch.  Then they could climb up on top of the elevator - wait for the museum to close.

Wei-Li smiled, but shook her head before climbing into Kale's hands.  In stead she knelt on one knee and nodded at Kale to do the same.

Once he did, she stepped gently onto his upright thigh and then stepped onto his shoulders and set to work.  Pushing the hatch cover to the side, she pulled herself up.

She gasped as she felt a slight twinge in her side and finished climbing up.  Once she was situated she braced herself against the cable and leaned back in upside down for the others to hand her a rope.

Connor handed her the rope and held his hand up for her to wait a moment.
"While you're up there, be extremely careful...the one thing the blue prints did not lay out was the inside elevator shaft...no telling what, if at any, security measures were taken..."

Kale raised his eyebrows and cast a slightly worried look in Connor's direction as he cautioned Wei-Li.  The man hadn't mentioned any security in the elevator shafts, Kale had assumed that he knew that there were none and he was none too happy to hear that they didn't actually know.  This was the type of thing that made it so his pland didn't go smooth.  Although, so far no alarms seemed to have gone off.  "You got that Wei?" he asked, pulling on the rope to make sure it was secure.  "Everyone up, I'll take the rear."

The elevator gave a small jolt then and started moving upwards.  Someone on a higher floor must have hit the button, he looked at Connor and Geoff, "An' I'm thinkin' we should try ta move a bit quick like." he added, they needed to get on top of the lift before those doors opened, he didn't care to try and explain why he and his crew were climbing through the ceiling of the elevator to no museum goers.

Wei-li tied off the rope in a bowline then did her best to help where she could and stay out of the way when she couldn't.

"No security here," she added. "So as long as we're quick and quiet here... should be fine."

Geoff had been quiet since they got into the elevator. He was really not liking this one bit. The whole being quiet and stealthy thing was usually not his way of doing things and his discomfort with it was showing. He had no guns, no knives and no prospects of getting any sort of weapon so he was not happy. Still, he had a job to do so he would be quiet about it, even if he did look quite displeased with everything in general.

When Wei-Li went up and then sent the rope down for them to climb, Geoff was eager to get up and out of the elevator. He, as it was known, was not a fan of small enclosed spaces for too long and so getting up and out of the elevator sounded like a good idea to him. So he moved first to climb up the rope. "I'll go up and then I can give ya both a hand up to get us up there faster.", he remarked as he gripped the rope and climbed up through the open hatch easily enough. He positioned himself crouched beside the opening, ready to give the captain and Connor a hand up, really more set on just pulling them up by the scruff of the neck if it would get them up there faster.

Connor grabbed onto the rope after Geoff and made his way up quickly...just because he was a technology whiz didn't mean he didn't keep in shape. He cleared the way for Kale and looked at the others."Alright...time is of the essence..."

Kale nodded to Geoff as he suggested climbing up first, "Whatever, just do it an' do it quick like." he said, probably a little more shortly then neccessary.  His eyes were watching the numbers above the door as they climbed upwards and Connor pulled himself up as well.  The elevator stopped just as Kale grabbed hold of the rope and half climbed and was half pulled through the opening, he shut the hatch just as the elevator doors opened to admit museum goers into the elevator.  He breathed a small sigh of relief as he looked up at the others.

The elevator shuddered slightly and then began descending with them sitting atop it.  It stopped on the ground floor and did not move again.  Kale held up a finger, they had to be absolutely silent.  He glanced down at his watch, they still had a little while before the museum was completely shut down and everyone but the night watch was gone.  Nothing to do now but sit and wait.

After what felt like forever - but was only a few minutes Kale whispered instructions, "Alright, time to move out.  Wei and Connor back through the latch and to the security room.  Geoff and I will work on getting me up to the 6th story." with a slightly pointed look he turned to Connor, "Now time is of the essence." he said, lifting the hatch.  They didn't have much time at all.  Kale had to trust that Wei-Li and Connor would be able to get into the security room and disable the alarms before Geoff got him up to the 6th floor.

Connor nodded and tugged on Wei-Li's arm.
"You heard the captain...let's move..." Connor dropped down through the hatch and hit the open door button, waiting as the thing opened and then he dahsed out, heading towards the security room...he held up a hallway short...waiting for the guard to leave for his brief break...and giving Wei-Li a chance to catch up.

Kale watched as Wei-Li and Connor disappeared down the hatch then turned to Geoff as he pulled the rope out of the small bag he was carrying.  Wire would have made him feel a hell of a lot more secure - but his wire and hook pulley was sure to have set off the metal detectors when they'd come inside - so rope it was.  He squinted up into the darkened shaft, "See that there?" he said to Geoff, pointing up into the blackness at a bar that stretched along the side - there was one on every floor.  From the schematics he'd looked at earlier it should bear weight. "Think ya can get this here rope up over it." Kale secured a weight to the end to give Geoff something to actually throw.  "The higher up the better." if Geoff could hook it around the third or fourth floor bar then he could pull Kale up and he could stand on the small ledge and toss it up to the top bar.

Geoff watched as Connor and Wei-Li made their way down the hatch to do their part of the job, a part of the job he was glad he wasn't in on. Far too subtle for his tastes, after all. Not to mention it seemed the one more likely to go wrong. Though he wasn't all that clear on how his part of the job would go either, if he was honest. Still, nothing to do now except hope that things go right.

He looked to the captain as he brought out the rope and asked him if he thought he could get the weighted end up and over the bar he pointed out. Geoff looked to the rope and then up to the bar again, looking thoughtful for a moment as he tried to figure exactly how far up he could throw it and still be accurate. He nodded and looked to the captain with a grin.

"Well, Cap'n. I'm pretty sure I can get it up onta the third bar up there. The fourth one I'd be reachin' fer an' it'd only be a fifty-fifty chance I'd get the rope over. That fine ta ya?", he said as he took the weighted rope from the captain and looked to him for the okay before doing anything.

"That works." Kale said and watched as Geoff tossed the weighted rope up.  His aim was good and the rope looped over the bar and Kale caught the unweighted end as the other end fell back to the top of the elevator where they were standing.  He only hoped that he'd be able to toss it up high enough to reach the 6th floor.

He quickly secured the rope to himself and turned to face the wall so he could use his feet to help pull himself up the shaft.  "You got a good hold on that - I'll not take kindly ta ya droppin' me down the shaft." Kale said, his tone was flat but there was a slight spark of the old Kale coming through.  He looked up and prepared for Geoff to help pully him to the third floor.

Geoff grinned as his aim proved true and he manged to throw it over the bar he had aimed for. He watched as the captain began to secure himself with the unweighted end of the rope as the weighted end landed back on top of the elevator. Geoff took that end in his hands in preperation for what was to come.

He smiled wryly to the captain's remark, even though his tone was flat when he said it. It was the closest the captain had come to his old self since the business with Rhaef so Geoff would take it. "Aw, c'mon, cap'n. Have I ever dropped ya down an elevator shaft 'fore? Naw. Not once. So why start doubtin' me now? I mean, tha's not ta say ya won't get smacked inta the wall every so often, but them's the breaks, ya know?", he remarked with a light chuckle as he began to pull the captain up as was his part of the plan.

Kale cast Geoff a slightly wry look - it went without saying that they'd never been in an elevator shaft before so of course he'd never been dropped down one.  "Just keep it nice an' steady." Kale said, "An' let's keep the bumpin' inta walls at a minimum."

With that he braced himself and began being slowly lowered up the wall.  Using his feet he kept himself steady.  It was slow going but eventually he'd made it to the  third story ledge - although ledge was a term he used loosely, it was barely three inches wide and Kale could really only get his toes on it.  He wrapped his left arm securely around the bar.  "Give me slack." he called down to Geoff and began pulling the weighted end of the rope back up towards him.  This was the dangerous part.  If he fell Geoff wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it.  'Course ever job was dangerous.  This was no different.

Kale grabbed a hold of the weighted end as it came up and leaning out into the shaft, still holding on tightly with his other arm he set his sights on the sixth story bar.  He wasn't as confident in his ability to toss the end up as he had been in Geoff's - especially from his position here, not really any good footing to be had.  He pulled his arm back and took aim, throwing as hard as he can.  The weight hit the bar with what was entirely too loud of a sound for Kale's taste, but miraculously bounced up over it as it came down.  Kale let out a small sigh of relief.

"Looks like that's it, pull me up an' we'll see 'bout gettin' us a fancy stamp." he said, getting ready for the second ascent and hoping Connor and Wei-Li were doing their job.