Redsnake

Jordyn sat cross-legged on the glossy wooden floor, back against a tall metal cylinder, a red rubber hose cascading over her shoulder to lay dormant in her lap. She busied herself tying off a brightly-colored balloon, fingers tripping over each other in an effort to resolve the tangle of ribbon and latex. Finally, with some difficulty, she knotted it and moored it to a rack of folding chairs wheeled out into the center of the gymnasium, where it bobbed up to join a depressingly small multi-colored bundle. She leaned back and sighed loudly.

"Twenty down, two hundred billion to go."

SLAM

The door to Shannon's room flew open, rebounding against the wall with a loud report. She started, phone slipping through her fingers, and looked up from where she lounged on her bed. She was tall and slender, hair long and blonde, wearing a snug blue crop top with fashionably ripped jeans clinging to her hips and tight white socks on her feet.

"Don't you ever knock?" she said, staring at the girl standing in the doorway, shorter and dark-haired and grinning like an idiot.

"Hmmm..." Shina pondered.

The burglar knelt at the end of a dimly-lit stone hallway, ear pressed against a stout wooden door, absorbed in process of probing its lock. Once she was through, there was nothing standing between her and the job of a lifetime. There was of course one detail that had made the venture the job of a lot of other people's lifetimes, and not long ones at that, but she had an ace up her sleeve for that eventuality. Probably.

Megan stirred at the sound of footsteps, but she was too exhausted to bother opening her eyes. It had been a long night already, and she didn’t have to check the clock to know it was far from over. The police had insisted on a patrol past her door every thirty minutes and a physical checkup every hour on the hour. It was an insane amount of bother, but at least it was all ending soon. Tomorrow – today, she thought blearily – she’d take the stand, and then there would be nothing left for anyone to fear. But for the moment, everyone was paranoid bordering on fanatical.