Heist

“Search him again”, said the jeweller. The security guards made Vikram take off his clothes and they repeated the entire process which consisted of metal detectors and even an X-ray machine. Vikram had never expected such a big room at the back of the jewellery shop with all this equipment. Also, he hadn’t considered all this when he had made his plan.

 

While one of the guards studied the X-ray, another went through of all his clothes and wallet. Even after this second attempt, they were unable to locate what they had been searching for.

 

A Rs. 2,50,000 ring had just disappeared. Vikram had been the only customer in the shop at that time. He had come to buy a ring and had even looked at that particular exquisite piece, dismissing it as it was out of his budget.

 

“Sir, he doesn’t have the ring”, said one of the security guards. There were always three security guards on duty at any time of the day.

 

“I don’t believe this !”, said the jeweller. “One of you stay with Vikram here, while the others search the entire room. Check the carpets, under the tables, chairs, everywhere! I want this ring found right now!”

 

“Yes Sir!”, said the guards in unison. Two of them made their way to the larger room out front where all the various items of jewellery were on display. Along with the assistants, they started performing a thorough search of the entire room.

 

“May I wear my clothes now? “, Vikram asked the Jeweller.

 

“You may not! Keep standing like that”, said the Jeweller.

 

Ten minutes passed and the ring had still not been located. The jeweller muttered a few cuss words, complained about his staff being complete idiots and decided to go out and search for the ring himself. The security guard was the only other person in the back-room now. He took pity on Vikram and let him wear his clothes.

 

“Don’t you have CCTV cameras?”,Vikram asked the security guard.

 

“No”, replied the guard.

 

“That’s too bad”, said Vikram.

“Actually, we’re getting them installed day after tomorrow”, said the guard. Vikram sighed. This information was not new to him. In fact this was the key piece of information that had made him choose this particular day to execute his plan.

 

Vikram sat there for almost two hours. By then he knew the entire family history of the Security Guard and why he had been forced to take up this profession. That was one thing about Vikram. People always opened up to him and told him all kinds of stuff. He was just really good at filtering out important stuff and using it for his own benefit.

 

Finally they let Vikram go. He stepped out, checked the time in his new watch and smiled. In all the excitement, the Jeweller had not noticed that Vikram had stolen his Rolex watch. He will probably realise it later when he finds the ring, which Vikram had slipped into the Jeweller’s back pocket.