Thieves’ Games

Thieves’ Games prologue: Daniel

Spoiler:

Thieves’ Games Chapter One: Menor

Spoiler:

Thieves’ Games Chapter Two: Work
By Loreic
Daniel woke up to the mixed sounds of his alarm clock and the TV. He reached out and slammed the off button on the alarm a check the time; it was eleven thirty five. The news was on and was going over the people who turned one hundred while a jam company advertised in the background. He got up, stretched and went to go make himself bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast. The news was now going over recent heists that happened last night. A thief named PokerFace stole a scepter that was part of the British royal family, apparently it was on exhibit. Daniel just watched the news until about twelve forty two. He didn’t have anything else to do and it was good to keep up with the current events. Daniel got off the couch and head off to work, which was only a few blocks away.
On his walk to the bar Daniel could tell thieves were big in this town, as he passed by windows almost every one of them had TVs which were broadcasting something or other about thieves, (even a game show where the contestants are give a description about a thieves’ gear and what they’ve stole and are asked to guess what thief it is.) he almost showed a smile of smug joy on his face, but he quickly hid it. He couldn’t let any bit of his real personality show; he thought of the world as one big movie that he was an actor in, though he reveled at the idea of finally showing his true colors as a thief.
When Daniel got to the bar the manager was waiting for him at the front door and he didn’t seem too happy.
“You’re late” he said in the voice a bolder grinding against a mountain. Daniel looked over at the clock and it said one o’ five.
“I don’t think five minutes is really something to-“Daniel was cut off before he could finish.
“Use your head kid!” he barked like a lawyer, “This is your first day meaning you should have been here at least ten minutes before we opened!” Daniel was taken back by the manager’s strange logic.
“I’m sorry, but you never sa-“once again Daniel was interrupted.
“Common sense kid, that’s why I’m the boss and you’re the trainee,” the manager said with a respect for himself. “Now I guess I need to show your helpless self around the bar,” he stated with the voice of a gritty gym teacher. Daniel couldn’t believe this guy it also now seemed strange that a business type guy was running a bar; most bar managers worked up front like the rest of the staff. Daniel then was given a tour around the bar, which taught him almost nothing since he already scoped out the place yesterday; the only thing new he learned was the location of the different kinds of alcohol and where the different glasses. “And that’s how you get a drunken person to buy the more expensive beverages.” the manager was finally done with his money making speech and left Daniel just standing behind the counter as he closed his office door.
It was only three o’ clock so the business was equal to that of ice-cream parlor during the late fall. Daniel had already got the motions of cleaning the drinking glasses etched into his brain when the women from yesterday walked into the bar. When she saw Daniel she seemed very amused at him being there, and Daniel could tell by the look in her eyes that the boss barking orders was the only restraint on her laughing at him. Daniel decided to save himself witty comment by speaking with one first, “I can only guess you’re his first victim,” he said with an amused face cloned straight from hers.
“Now I wouldn’t put it that way,” she said with a scowl,” Daniel could tell she was the type who’ll give sarcasm to people, but doesn’t take others that well. For quite a bit there was no business whats so ever. “Did he get you with the religion trick?” she questioned him in an almost bored manner (Daniel couldn’t blame her about being bored; only one person came so far and he already left)
“Yes he did,” Daniel said with the tone of someone remembering something that ticked him off during the distant past, “how about you?”
“I told him I’m Catholic,” she said while looking down at the mug she was cleaning, “after I said that he told me that I had a six day work week.
“So you lied about your faith to get another day off?” Daniel asked with authentic confusion.
“No, I really am Catholic.” said with some impatience while looking up from the mug, “He never asked if I was an active church member though.” A small light lit up in Daniel’s head, he completely forgot to introduce himself.
“Sorry, but I’ve completely forgotten to introduce myself,” he said apologetically, “My name is Daniel Wenders,” he said while holding out his hand.
“Megan Coaler,” she said grabbing his hand with a firm grip, “I was waiting to see how long it would take to ask,” she said in a voice that strangle combined the feeling of being warmed up to and being treated coldly. At this point more people started coming, so they finished up their conversation and got to serving. The bar had two TVs; one hung from the semi low ceiling like the ones at schools and seemed to always have a sports game up, the other was at the end of the counter and always had the news on. The news was going over a case of brutal killings that popped recently. Daniel paid no heed, but some of the people at the bar took this with quite a surprise, completely ignoring the football game on the sport TV.
“Can you believe it!” one man said within a conversation, “There hasn’t been a murder case like this in over six years!” Daniel wanted to know more about the shock of the event.
“Isn’t this a city of crime?” he questioned the man while leaning over the bar in true bartender fashion. The man looked over at Daniel and gave a small amused laugh.
“You’re new in town aren’t you?” he asked but then continued, “The ‘master’ thieves usually drive down other cases of crime, including armed robbery.” When Daniel heard this he could guess why, but he continued the conversation.
“Why is that?” Daniel asked.
“These thieves have some sort of unspoken moral code,” the man said, “any crime that breaks their style is taboo to them, and if they cross paths with those kinds of criminals they’ll go out of their way to tie them to a lamp post.” Daniel already could picture himself doing that. Daniel looked back at the news broadcast about the serial killer. The police force had made the connection the murders were done in similar style, severe head trauma then a huge rip from the tailbone to the neck. Daniel looked away; he couldn’t stand to look at the murder scene any longer and went back to cleaning a mug someone was finished with.
The clock struck one and Daniel was getting his stuff together to leave. He looked over and saw that Megan wasn’t getting ready to leave and that the bar was still kind of busy. “What time does this place close?” Daniel asked Megan.
“It closes at three o’ clock” she said with a small yawn, “as you see you come and leave three hours before me.” Daniel said his goodbyes as Megan want to deal with the growing drunkard crowd. Daniel walked down the streets of the city; a park was in-between his apartment and Joe’s Bar. While passing a pond he looked down at his reflection; he didn’t see himself in the image of the pond. The person he saw was just average Joe bartender.
When Daniel got home he slumped on his bed a watched as the news taunted him with a broadcast about Jackal (an apparent thief). Eventually he just had it; he threw away the earlier plan of lying low and took out his encrypted computer and started looking up the nearby museums. He picked his target and got to work. The possibilities seemed endless, even to the point of infinity! That’s when the idea struck him, his thieves’ name. He got to work on making the calling card of a serpent eating its tail; the end result was about the size of the average hand. He put on his suit in an abandoned restaurant and ran toward his targeted museum. He passed by the same pound that he passed by earlier and paused to look in. This time he saw a smug thief looking back at him with a kind of bastard intellect; he saw himself for the first time ever. He saw himself, Ouroboros, The Infinite Thief “While I suppose I should get to work.” he cackled at himself amusedly and then ran off to the Fredrickson Museum; his first main target.