Avarice

[photo by Unsplash.com]
His name was Raviolis, Raviolis Mackintosh and his job was being one of the best art thieves in the world.He specialised in stealing priceless works of art, jewels paintings and damn was he good at it. The total worth of things he had stolen over the past decades amounted to over millions of dollars so he went into retirement as the bounty on his head was getting a bit too much and that was bringing lots of unwanted attention. As his pops always said don't bite off more than you can chew or something like that he didn't really remember, as it had been a while since pops died.
Unfortunately this time he didn't really have a choice since the price of this heist was the world's most expensive ring which cost about three hundred million dollars because the ring was actually crafted from diamonds and the gem on it was one of a kind gem that only one of it had ever been found. Normally this priceless work of art would never have been sold but it seems the owner was looking for money for some reason or another but who knew what goes on in the minds of rich people and he didn't really care but if he could pull this off for the organisation that gave him the job would give him a 40% cut and with that amount he would be able to live comfortably for the rest of his life. Ha the thought of that made him break into a large grin.
Well it was time to prepare for the heist. The ring would be sold in an auction house in London and he had already scouted out the grounds of operation and the next step would be getting his equipment ready. Walking down the stairs to his basement he pushed the hidden lever at the side of the door which resulted in the left wall swinging open and there laid all his equipment that he hadn't used in a while, his facial disguise printer, which allowed him to make a copy of a person's face that he had already scanned and the person this time would be one of the managers of the auction house where the ring was going to be sold. He had snuck into the man's state of security penthouse suite up the day before yesterday and scanned his face while he was sleeping and he also took some pictures too, that had been really funny. His other equipment where there too, his lazer cutter, smoke bombs and other things needed for his wonderful job. So gearing up Raviolis prepared for the heist that was taking place tomorrow he had already hashed out the plan for the heist and all that's left was to bring it into fruition.
Raviolis stood on the building opposite the auction house getting prepared for his late night infiltration. Some lights in the building were left on no doubt people getting ready to go home. Normally infiltrating the building would have been a monumental task as apart from the state of the art security systems installed in the building there were over twenty guards each one fully armed to the teeth with the latest gun versions patrolling along set routes around the building. But unfortunately for them he wouldn't be coming from the gate or would they ever notice him because having infiltrated this building once he already knew the layout like the back of his hand.

(Few minutes later, after sneaking through his pre mapped route he was standing on the the stage that would be used for the auction, he prepared his various traps and tools that would assisting him in this heist, sure the place would be checked for exactly this type of stuff but he had some high end cloaking devices that were one of his favourite tools which had helped him an innumerable number of times.
An hour later he was done with setting the stage for what would definitely be his greatest heist. Just thinking about the cash he would get from this made him a bit sober because he absolutely couldn't mess this up as the organisation that gave him the job would definitely silence him to save themselves, so no screw ups were allowed.
The day of the heist had finally arrived. Raviolis was a bit anxious but years of doing this had toughened him so it was over quickly. He was in a hotel three blocks over watching the auction house from a room he had rented this morning. "Oh there's the manager, it seems I'll have to knock him out and borrow his clothes". Raviolis muttered to himself.
Two hours later after enjoying a lavish breakfast it was time to move. Quickly crossing the street he walked towards the auction house merging with the small crowd that would be either participating or simply just watching the auction. He sat at one of the seats at the back close to the restroom entrance, and after waiting for the auction to start and progress a bit he sneaked off towards the restrooms.
Bringing out his tool kit he opened up the grate that was above one of the toilets.This grate ironically led to the managers office and he had been wondering who was the idiot that designed this building. "Well maybe they never expected anyone to sneak through here, '' Raviolis thought to himself as he was crawling all the way to the manager's office. He silently opened the grate and dropped into the room. Immediately he landed he pressed the button to release the sleeping gas he had already planted there the night before and then wore his gas mask and pressed another button that released an EMP wave scrambling all the cameras and other electronics in the room. In a few seconds every one in the room was asleep including the manager, his secretary and what seemed like clients probably here to auction some stuff out. After he was sure everyone was asleep he brought out a device and on pressing the button it released a humming sound sucking up all traces of sleeping gas in the room so as not to leave any trails. Raviolis walked towards the manager and began undressing him then he swapped out the clothes for it.
"Heh, this will look really funny when someone finally comes in'', he snickered to himself.
After wearing the polymerized face of the manager and double checking everything was in order, he walked out of the room and flagged down an attendant "Go tell Michael to begin with the auction i'll be there in a moment", "Yes Sir, I'll do that right away" the man responded. Micheal was the assistant manager of the auction house. "It seems the voice change device still works properly after all this while". He internalised
Making his way towards the hall where the auction would be taking place he mentally prepared himself for this, nothing could go wrong nothing must go wrong. Entering the hall Ravoli was amused at how much money was put into this hall. The chandelier was gilded in gold, the red persian rug that covered most of the room must have caused a fortune. It looked like a really nice idea would be a really nice idea to walk on it bare footed. Chairs were neatly lined up in orderly lines, air conditioners were situated at intervals across the hall giving the hall a cool and relaxed atmosphere. People were already seated and the hall was packed full to the brim, no doubt due to the ring that was to be auctioned. One of his people, well the manager's people, climbed up onto the stage. He was the auctioneer and he would mostly be in charge of the auction. A pretty lady wearing a blue gala dress stepped onto the stage from the back wheeling a cart that contained the first auctioned item of the day.
An hour later it was time for the ring to be auctioned. To spare you the details, the ring was eventually sold for around five million dollars, probably bought by some rich tycoon who had more money than brains. Well it didn't really matter who got the ring, his job still remained the same, to steal it. After the auction was concluded Raviolis moved to the manager's office, initially he had planned to steal it during the auction but the tight security present made him shift it. Raviolis waited till the auctioneer brought up the ring and everyone was relaxed while in the meantime he entertained the client who had brought the ring, He was also tempted to steal the money too but it would be going straight to the auction house's bank and besides he could easily be traced with that amount of cash. The auction brought forward the box, placing it on the table and opening the complex code that had been used to lock it. All of them seemed relaxed but it was to be expected given where they were. The ring was revealed the body was made up of glittering diamond that had been somehow shaped into a ring shape and on top the unnamed gem, it was purple reminiscent of an amethyst. The purple was rich in colour and the insides sparkled as if stars were trapped in it. This was the opportunity he had been waiting for, rummaging through the drawers of the table as if he was searching for something. Raviolis put on his gas mask and pressed the button in his hand that released sleeping gas that swept throughout the whole room knocking out all its occupants. He quickly pocketed the ring in his coat pocket and left the office. Moving towards the toilets he changed into the security uniform that he had prepared and left there the night before in preparation for this. Keeping his head low, he walked out of the building across the street into a phone booth. Sliding the panel on the roof of it that he had tampered with he switched into normal civilian clothes that he had kept here. walking back out he stealthily blended into the crowd and tried as much as possible not to draw attention to himself. The drop off point for the ring was three blocks over and so far everything seems to have been going well and at this rate he was going to be rich. Forcing down a grin he sped up his walking a bit excited to be done with this. As Raviolis was about to cross the street he felt a stinging pain at the back of his head and then saw the world gradually turn grey as he fell flat on his face with blood pooling around him. His brain didn't even register how he died. About a kilometre away on the roof of a building a sniper spoke into his comms "seems we got our man, preparing for extraction of the package" he was a special ops agent under the british government and had been tasked with assassinating the elusive criminal. The ring had been planted with a chip which led to Raviolis disguise being seen through. He had been marked for death awhile ago but because of his retirement he was able to stay under the radar for a while but it was obvious that he would be gunning for the ring so an elaborate trap had been set for him. Thus ends the tale of Raviolis, one of the best art thieves in the world.

Thanks for reading.