The rest of their Saturday was spent poring over blueprints of The Met and gathering supplies. The Hope Diamond would be on display for one week only and that started the following Monday. They decided that Monday during the morning would be too risky and night time was off limits because of the night guards.
They chose the last hour of business to steal the diamond. The guards would be busy changing shifts and the guides of the museum would be occupied with closing exhibits. With the research done Elliott knew that there was a woman that ran the exhibit where the Hope Diamond was kept. According to her badge, her name was Elizabeth Peterson. Elliott's alias of James Allen Faraday would distract the lady with some random questions to get Mozzie inside the exhibit.
The time came for the plan to be executed and everything was going fine. James aka Elliott was distracting Elizabeth beautifully. Elliott was dressed to the nines. His dirty blonde hair was slicked back, and he wore a Fedora, black accented with a feather. His suit was black and pressed to perfection complete with an expensive set of cuff links he had lifted last year from a yacht party.
"Elizabeth, what's a pretty lady like you doing working here? You should be a model," James cooed, his fingers were caressing her hair and he held her gaze with an intense stare.
Elizabeth giggled shyly, "I'm working my way through grad school."
With sleight of hand, James plucked Elizabeth's badge and handed it off to Mozzie in janitor garb as he passed by.
Mozzie pulled out a burner phone and quickly dialed the number for The Met to have Elizabeth called to the office. She would be distracted by tracking down who called her and that would give Mozzie and Elliott twenty minutes to lift the diamond and escape.
"So far, we are on plan," Elliott said as he donned his black gloves. The Hope Diamond was set in the middle of a large sized case with a brilliant white light that made the diamond glitter beautifully. The case had a pressure system that alerted security if the air pressure in the case changed in the slightest. There was no way around not tripping the system so everything had to be timed exactly.
Elliott dropped to his knees to use the laser glass cutter. They needed to cut a hole big enough to reach in and get the diamond. Elliott was hopeful that the pressure wouldn't change until the glass was removed. He held his breath while cutting the glass. Luckily, for him he was right, and it didn't go off till he removed the piece of glass. That gave them three minutes to remove the diamond and disappear.
Elliott tucked the Hope Diamond into the suede pouch and hid it in the inner pocket of his suit jacket. "Let's get out of here. The guards are on the way." Mozzie insisted. He had repacked the laser gun and placed it inside his janitor coveralls.
There was a smile of giddiness on Elliott's face as he and Mozzie exited the museum with the rest of the tourists. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't see what was waiting for them outside the doors.
The special White-Collar division of Crime was just beyond the steps. "Play it cool, Elliott. Let me do the talking," Mozzie coached.
"Wait, we don't even know that they are looking for us. It could be anyone." Even with the words leaving his lips Elliott knew this wasn't true, but he would do his best not to get caught. There was too much riding on this. Selling the diamond meant that he got to see the world as he had planned. He wasn't going to let some special division seize it from him.
Time Elliott and Mozzie hit the steps the cops were on them. The infamous Peter McCulley was there. Elliott had been warned that he was the best detective in the business and to be wary of the places he stole from because of him.
"Hand over the diamond and put your hands in the air," The NYC police officer had his gun aimed for Elliott and Mozzie. Slowly, the two raised their hands. Elliott couldn't speak. He was utterly shocked at how this had turned out.
Later that evening in his cell Elliott was going over the details, trying to make sense of how everything went wrong. What was it that stood out from the heist? Elliott mulled over every little detail.
It was just too easy. That was for sure. Everything went off without a hitch. Scene by scene Elliott logged the events. Was someone in on it? Did Mozzie set him up? At this point in time, everyone was an enemy.
Elizabeth was the key to the puzzle. She was a plant and she knew exactly who Elliott was. Her word spread to Mozzie that The Hope Diamond was at The Met. Mr. Thatcher, her boss, wanted Elliott off the board so the big-ticket heists would be his. Elizabeth played the game beautifully
Weeks went by on the inside and slowly Elliott was building a plan. He was going to break out and find out who had done this to him. He was tired of people taking advantage of him his whole life. He had his sights set on retrieving that diamond and he wouldn't stop till he had it in hand. He was morphing from being a casual thief to becoming a bold one. He was tired of barely getting by. He would visualize this plan until it became a reality like the one he came up with to escape at age sixteen from Washington.
He didn't need anyone else. Just Elliott. Elliott would take care of himself. It's all he could rely on.
