Chapter 569: Bonnie and Clyde

Tuesday — December 11

Alliance Shipping and Logistics's main office was in Mayne City—a two-hour car ride from Harbor City. With their small team of four—Katherine, Damien, Amelia, and Styles—they parked the trailer van in an alley near the office. While they infiltrated in the middle of the day, the men from Maverick Security were also nearby to keep a lookout in case something pops up.

After planning their strategy last night, they decided to do it during lunchtime when there were fewer foot traffic inside. As much as they would like to do it in the evening, Damien's prior engagements only allowed them this time. And he didn't want to let Katherine be by herself or go out on a mission whenever he wasn't able.

Thus, their mission was about to commence in a few minutes when the clock would strike at noon.

Inside the trailer van, Styles and Amelia were busy facing the computers while Katherine and Damien were getting ready. Dressed in a brown knitted sweater and grey plaid A-line skirt, she fixed his tie, albeit poorly. He wore beige pants, a dark grey cardigan over a grey checkered dress shirt with a slim purple necktie. Both of them looked nerdy with their plastic-rimmed eyeglasses on.

Stepping back a little, Katherine gave him a once-over, and then she bit her bottom lip, slightly grimacing.

"What? Something wrong?" Damien wondered as he looked down to check himself out while unknowingly fixing the tie that she purposely did a lousy job on.

"Yeah…" She sighed. "You're too good-looking."

Even when he wasn't trying or when she purposely dressed him in clothes that were so unlike his usual ones, he still looked like a hunk. In fact, he looked like a tall, hot nerd.

At first, she opted for him to wear just the basic dress shirt, chinos, and eyeglasses, but then he ended up looking like Clark Kent when he's not Superman.

Thus, she added the cardigan and purple tie. Now he's a hot, cute nerd.

Damien didn't know whether to be happy or sad that he couldn't dumb it down. It was weird.

"Here are your trainee passes." Styles handed them IDs with their fake names on it and lanyards with the company's name printed on them.

The two wore the IDs around their neck, and Amelia pressed a button on their eyeglasses. In the next second, two camera feeds started running on the monitors.

Amelia turned to them and reminded them, "Just like what we planned, this will be an easy job—get in, get the records, and get out. We'll be your eyes from the outside." She handed a to-go cup to Katherine, which contained hot coffee. "Good luck."

Katherine gave Damien one last look and ruffled his hair slightly. He didn't style his hair and just let them fall, covering his forehead. "You're adorkable," she commented, and he shook his head, saying, "Let's get this over with."

Once they were done, they left the trailer van and headed towards the company, entering the building using their passes with ease.

Alliance Shipping and Logistics was a big company, but it wasn't impossible to get into. As per their research, they were supposed to look for a 'Mrs. Bell' who is part of the administrative office. The latter was in charge of the shipping, import, and export records.

The building had four floors, and they headed to the second floor where the records were kept.

Amelia spoke through their comms, "Bonnie, Clyde, once you land on the second floor, turn left and head straight to the glass door. That's the office."

Damien and Katherine took the elevator and followed Falcon's guidance. They looked at each other before knocking on the door. No one answered, so they pushed the door open and found the place empty. There were at least ten office cubicles inside, and they anticipated at least one person inside, but they met no one.

Entering the room, she quickly went over to the nearest computer, but before they could get closer, the door to the office opened wide.

"Can I help you?" asked a woman in her late thirties. She looked frumpy but friendly, and the I.D. on her chest said: Frankesia Bell.

Damien, who was the closest to the woman, quickly acted on his feet. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Bell. I'm Clyde, and this is Bonnie. We're the new trainees from Mrs. Thompson's office. We're sent here to retrieve some records? She said she's going to need it for the meeting tomorrow."

Mrs. Bell looked at them both. "Oh, I didn't know we had new trainees… Are you talking about the latest shipments? Thompson sure had so many things to do that she needs two trainees. I can only wish…" The woman kept talking as she headed over to her cubicle, and Katherine and Damien followed behind.

"We brought you some coffee, Mrs. Bell. You've worked hard today," said Katherine as she gave the other the to-go cup.

"Why, thank you, dear." Mrs. Bell received it, and then she passed a folder to Katherine. "Here, I think this is what you're looking for."

Katherine and Damien checked the files inside, which contained a list of all the incoming and outgoing for the last two weeks. They looked at each other, and even though they didn't say it out loud, they both thought that it wasn't enough data. They had to get to her computer.

"Is there a problem?" asked Mrs. Bell.

"Not at all," answered Katherine in a chirpy tone. "But we were hoping to see records from the last few months at least? We're very new to this, and we thought it would be good to study and familiarize ourselves with the usuals and routines."

Mrs. Bell shifted her gaze between the two; then a small smile formed on her face. "You two are very diligent. Very well, let me grab some folders in the back." Then she turned and headed to a door in the corner of the room.

Katherine gave Damien a look. He immediately went over to the computer and slotted a pen drive in the system.

Styles, who had been waiting all this time, spoke through their earpiece, "Alright, give me a minute."

Katherine anxiously tapped her fingers on the folder in her hand as she kept her stare at the door where Mrs. Bell disappeared while Damien was behind her, standing and watching Mrs. Bell's monitor as Styles remotely accessed her computer. Damien couldn't catch up with how fast Styles was working. All he knew was that the computer genius was installing a hidden software program while simultaneously copying data.

As they were waiting, Katherine also took the time to scan whatever she found in the office. There was a schedule board on one of the walls where on-going and upcoming shipments were listed. She adjusted her eyeglasses and took time 'staring' at the board, enough for them to get footage to study later.

Because of the carpeted floor, they barely heard the sound of footsteps when Mrs. Bell came back with a few folders in hand. The woman waved the folders as she walked and informed them, "These are originals, and only copies are allowed out of this office, so you two—have these copied."

Mrs. Bell drifted her gaze, looking suspiciously towards her computer where Damien was. She didn't say anything, but her doubtful stare made him swallow. Katherine also started to get nervous.

"Done," Styles announced, his voice made the two breathe normally again.

Katherine coughed and without Mrs. Bell noticing, Damien stealthily removed the pen drive from her computer and placed it in his pocket.

"Thank you, Mrs. Bell." Katherine received the folders, and they walked over to the machine. There were at least fifty papers in the folder in which they were to pretend to copy. These were already unnecessary as Styles had managed to get access to the local database.

"Oh, no…" Amelia's worried tone alerted the two. "We've got company. I believe we have Shadow agents heading towards the elevator. You have to get out of there now."

Katherine and Damien swiftly exchanged gazes. They certainly did not expect this. But this only solidified their assumptions—they were definitely on the right track.

Then she gritted her teeth when she heard Styles adding, "Queen, you need to get out of there fast. It's Alicia. I'm sure you don't want to bump into her."