They laid in their beds with their eyes open staring at the ceiling fan going around in circle over and over pondering the events of the day. Finally Tom broke the silence, “Jimmy are you still awake? I’ve been thinking about today. Is there anything we can do about my desktop and my PS3?” Jimmy whispered back, “I don’t know Tom. I heard your dad say something about it going to a bank warehouse where it will be stored for up to several years and then sold at an auction, unless your parents get a new loan policy with the bank that they can keep up with.” “A warehouse you say?” said Tom. “Yeah, a warehouse.” Jimmy replied. “Hey Jimmy what if we were to break into the warehouse and steal my computer and PS3 back?” Tom said. Jimmy somewhat shocked by this dangerous plan to get Tom’s computer and PS3 back said, “Tom I don’t think that’s a very good….” “Jimmy we have to try it. I don’t think I can live without it.” Tom said. Jimmy replied, “Uh ok I guess we could. It probably wouldn’t be that hard the bank warehouses have tons of windows around them, we could simply break one and squeeze through it. Although don’t they have security guards?” “No Jimmy, banks have security guards cause that’s where the money is, I don’t think the warehouse would it probably just has a bunch of couches and beds stacked up in it.” “Tom don’t they have multiple warehouses though? Once we broke into one they would have security guards placed at all of the other warehouses.” This statement made by Jimmy temporarily stumped Tom on his plan. Tom suddenly had the perfect idea. He grabbed his auto-stop charge mobile phone charger and plugged it into his iPhone. His iPhone immediately turned on. Then Tom said, “Jimmy open your window I need to sneak outside back over to my house.” Jimmy did not know what to think of this but opened his window and gave Tom a hand in getting up and outside through the window. He watched Tom run through his neighbor’s yard holding the phone and charger. Soon he disappeared into the darkness and all was silent.
Tom ran through the backyards of several houses until he reached his own. He crouched and walked around the side of the house below the level of all of the windows, which spilled bright light out onto the snow. As he went around the last corner he ducked back into the shadows. His heart pounding in his ears. 3 men were moving the large cabinet that was in his basement slowly out toward the truck. “Let’s take a break.” One of the men said and Tom heard two grunts of agreement. He peaked around the corner and saw the three men walking toward his porch where some cups and a large jug of water were located. While their backs were turned Tom tiptoed silently across the hardened snow. Then he heard one of the men say, “Ah, that was refreshing, now let’s get back to work.” Tom panicked and jumped behind the cabinet. The truck was so close but they would see him the moment he stepped out from behind the cabinet or even if he threw his phone and charger into the truck they would see it. At the last moment he opened one of the big doors on the cabinet and stepped inside of it closing it quickly but softly behind him. In a moment he felt the cabinet lift off the ground. Then it was set down again. He heard a worker say, “Henry you lazy piece of trash you gotta lift in the middle. Jeff and I can’t do all the work.” Tom heard what he guessed to be Henry reply to the worker saying, “HEY HEY I was lifting it was you that wasn’t lifting your side.” Another worker said, “Guys quit your arguing let’s just flip it upside down and have 2 people on the ends and 2 on each side. Hey James come over here and help us load this thing into the truck.” A moment later Tom felt the cabinet swing forward. The gravity pulled the doors open and he braced himself against the sides of the cabinet. With the doors open he watched the ground go by and awkwardly watched the four sets of feet walking on all side of him. Then the one worker over his head switched to a side and the cabinet went into the truck. Both doors had swung even farther out to the side and Tom now crawled along the floor as the workers pushed the cabinet into the back of the truck. The cabinet then got caught on something on the floor of the truck,  fearing that a worker would climb in and lift the front of the cabinet and see him he gently pressed his back into the top of the cabinet and lifted it over the object that had kept it from moving. Once the cabinet was in he heard the four workers walk back into the house to get more furniture and he lifted the cabinet enough to get out from inside of it. Then he placed his phone and charger in the drawer of a nightstand nearby. After this was completed Tom jumped out of the back of the box truck and ran at full speed down the dark street to Jimmy’s house. Tom had successfully placed a tracking device inside the truck with all his stuff. Once safely inside Jimmy’s house he fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning Jimmy awoke to the smell of breakfast cooking. He looked at the clock and saw that it was already 10:30 AM in the morning. “Wake up Tom” he whispered. Tom opened his eyes slowly and turned to Jimmy. Then both heard Mrs. Smith yell “Boys time to get up breakfast is waiting!” Jimmy quickly dressed and left Tom to go eat breakfast. Tom felt very tired. The previous night’s adventure had left him exhausted but hopeful. He sat up suddenly realizing that the truck was probably gone now. He arose and looked out the window to find that the truck was indeed gone. Tom now thought about his cellphone and charger in the back of the box truck. “Ooooouuuuuuuuuuaaaaaagggggggggg” his tummy grumbled at him for putting off breakfast. Tom quickly dressed and then went and sat down to a breakfast of pancakes with Jimmy. The boys ate breakfast alone since Jimmy’s father had gone to work hours before and both of Tom’s parents had also headed to work hours before. Jimmy’s mother had allowed them to sleep in since they had nothing to do today. After Jimmy and Tom had eaten 4 pancakes they both retired back to Jimmy’s room. Once inside Jimmy’s room Tom and Jimmy instantly looked at Tom’s phone lying on the floor in the corner. Tom grabbed it and instantly opened the find my iphone app. The devices began loading location and, to both boys satisfaction, the location of Tom’s phone popped up at the address of a warehouse about 2 miles from Jimmy’s home. “That’s where my desktop and PS3 being stored.” Tom said. “What’s our next plan Tom? I’ve never really broken into a warehouse before or stolen from any place.” Jimmy said. Tom replied “Neither have I but we will figure out something.” “Ding dong” the doorbell rang. Neither boy bothered to answer the door, after they heard Mrs. Smith’s footsteps going down the steps to the door. A moment later Lisa came striding into Jimmy’s room. “You boys take forever to get up. This is my third time walking over here and asking if you guys were awake. When your mom came to the door again I figured you guys were still asleep, but she told me you guys were in your bedroom Jimmy. Well anyway what do you guys want to do today?” said Lisa. “We are going to get my stuff back today Lisa.” Tom stated, with determination in his voice. Tom opened his phone and showed the location of his other phone to Lisa. Lisa shook her head. “Guys I don’t think this is a very good idea.” Lisa said with obvious doubt in her voice. Tom stared her up and said sternly, “Are you in or not Lisa? Are you afraid?” Tom added to his question mockingly. “No of course I’m not afraid!” Lisa said. “Good.” Said Tom. Jimmy chimed in for the first time and began laying out the plans for the heist. “We need a way to get down to the warehouse and back, otherwise the rest should be easy. We can take off the air ventilation vents on the top of the roof and crawl through the duct until we reach an opening. We should bring a rope to lower ourselves down to the floor since it’ll be to high to jump down and we will need to get back up to get out anyway. So really our only problem is transportation, especially on the way back in case we need to make a quick exit and hit the road.” “We can use the car my dad gave me and is helping me fix up.” Lisa said. Tom and Jimmy looked at each other and said “What are we waiting for? Let’s get our tools and go.” All three kids ran for their coats and shoes. Mrs. Smith puzzlingly watched Tom and Lisa walk out the front door followed by Jimmy a minute later with a rope, two small pry bars, a large pry bar, and a hammer. Once outside of the house Jimmy said, “Hey Lisa you’re only 14 though, my dad says you have to be 16 years old to drive a car.” Lisa said, “So what I have my permit and I know how to drive, I’ve been practicing with my dad.” This somewhat satisfied Jimmy even though he knew you had to have your parents with you to drive at the age of 14. Tom then asked Lisa, “So when did you get a car?” Lisa replied, “Just two months ago, my dad helped me buy it by paying for half of it as a late birthday present.” When they reached Lisa’s house she went to the side of the garage and typed in a number on a keypad that opened the garage door. Both of Lisa’s parents had already gone to work so there was only one car in the garage. “Whoa you have a Ford Bronco?” Jimmy exclaimed in astonishment. He ran his finger along the smooth black paint and stared at his reflection in the black tinted windows and gaped at the 35 inch mud tires that were on it. Lisa climbed into the driver’s seat and the two boys climbed into the Bronco from the passenger side. Tom climbed into the back seat since there was only two seats up front. Lisa reached into the glove box and pulled out a key and stuck it into the ignition. She turned the key and the Bronco fired up. She proceeded to put the car in reverse and back it out of the garage. Once out of the garage Lisa got out and closed the garage door and then ran back and hopped back into the car.
Soon they were on the road and Tom began giving Lisa directions to get to the warehouse. Jimmy noticed how high the Bronco really was for the first time as he looked down at the driver of a pickup truck through his sunroof. The driver stared in awe as the large black Bronco slowly went by. After driving for about ten minutes they reached the warehouse. Lisa parked the Bronco in the parking lot of an auto shop across the street since the Bronco didn’t stand out as much when it was next to all the other trucks, and wouldn’t cause any suspicion.
The three got out and looked at the warehouse across the street. The large grey warehouse building was about 3 stories high at the top of the roof, which sloped up the sides and rounded out at the top. At the top every ten feet or so little squares stuck out, these were the vents that the children would use to get in and out of the warehouse and bypass the guard at the front. Jimmy gave a pry bar and the rope to Tom and a pry bar to Lisa, and he himself took the hammer and larger pry bar. Lisa went around the the doors on the Bronco and locked them. Once this was done they were ready to begin the heist. They walked across the street cautiously. “Lighten up guys, if we look like we’re gonna rob the place they might call the authorities.” Tom said with uneasiness. “You’re right.” Agreed Jimmy. Lisa simply nodded. Lisa was very uneasy since she had never done anything close to this bad in her entire life, but she didn’t want to look like a sissy in front of the boys. The three kids walked behind the snowbank to the side of the building. Then one at a time they ran up the steep roof arches that curved down into the ground. Once all were at the top they went straight for the grate in the middle of the roof. Placing their pry bars on all sides and pounding them in with the hammers they began to pry on them. The grate was firmly in place though. “It won’t budge.” Tom said in frustration. “We’ll never get into this warehouse at this rate.” Lisa said. Jimmy had an idea. He began hammering at the sides of the grate until they bent back far enough to reveal the inner edge of the grate. Now he put the large pry bar in between the grate and the siding and began prying on it. After a couple seconds of prying on it the screws in the siding gave way and the grate fell out. Lisa caught the grate before it slid off the roof. Jimmy stepped inside the grate which only went down a few feet and then became flat. The duct was about 3 feet by 3 feet and the three kids could easily crawl through it at a medium pace. After crawling for about 20 feet they came to an opening in the duct. Jimmy looked down through the slots in the grate. They were in the very middle of the warehouse. From this point they could see down into some of the main isles. Jimmy also noticed with dismay that there were several people inside a room on the far side of the warehouse, and two people roaming up and down the isles. He whispered the news back to Tom and Lisa, “Hey there are two guards down there walking the isles.” Jimmy saw Lisa’s face turn pale. Tom however did not seem to be moved in the slightest way by the news. “Okay. I guess we’ll just have to make sure we are extra quiet then.” Tom whispered. This was enough for Jimmy to continue, he crawled about ten more feet and found that the duct split off to both sides. He went down the left side and motioned with his hand for Tom and Lisa to follow him. The three kids crawled to the end of the side duct and peered out the the vent. They couldn’t see any security guards wandering around the warehouse from the vent. Jimmy slowly twisted the vent until it released. Then he sat in the opening holding the vent unsure of what to do with it. It was too big to pull through the hole and store in the duct, but if he dropped it they would be found out for sure. “Tom, bring the rope.” Jimmy whispered. Tom crawled to the opening with the rope. “What are we going to tie off to?” Tom asked. “That’s a good question.” Jimmy said. They had not thought of this earlier. “I think it is only maybe seven feet down to that top shelf. I’ll try jumping.” Said Tom. Then he readied himself and jumped. He hit the top shelf of the storage racks, which ran the length of the wall and were about 8 feet wide. Jimmy held the vent down as low as he could and Tom grabbed it and set it down on the shelf. Next Jimmy jumped. Lisa looked at the drop with wide eyes. “Common Lisa it’s not as far as it looks.” Jimmy said encouragingly. Tom had already begun to tie off the rope one the stub of post that stuck up on the top shelf. “You’re not afraid are you? You’re turning chicken Lisa.” Jimmy said tauntingly. This was too much for Lisa she jumped and landed on the edge of the platform leaning dangerously over the edge. Jimmy grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. Lisa was out of breath and lightly shook. The storage shelf they were on was about thirty feet off the ground. Tom barely noticed Lisa’s close call and had finished tying off the rope. He silently disappeared over the edge, Jimmy peared over and watched Tom lower himself to the ground below. Jimmy went next. Lisa needed no encouragement to come down the rope she was already on it before Jimmy let go of it at the bottom. Jimmy and Tom crouched and peaked over the stuff on the floor at the security guards which were stopped on the far side of the warehouse. Once Lisa reached the ground they carefully and quietly made their way down the isles closer to the guards. When they had closed the distance to two rows between them and the guards, they noticed that they weren’t actually guards, rather just warehouse workers. One of them had a clipboard and they seemed to be assessing a pile of stuff, probably making an account of the stuff from another house. At this moment it occurred to Jimmy that they might not have unloaded all the stuff from Tom’s house yet, and it could still be in the back of the truck. “Tom, what if they haven’t unloaded the truck with the stuff from your house yet.” Jimmy whispered quietly to Tom. An expression of exasperation came over Tom’s face and he said, “You could be right. However if they have unloaded it how are we going to find it in this place, it’s huge, and each shelf goes up 3 or four floors.” Tom said. “Well maybe if we wait awhile they will put that clipboard down. It’s about 5 minutes to noon so they will probably take a lunch break sometime soon.” Jimmy said. Lisa spoke up for the first time and said, “Yeah let’s just wait them out and take a peek at that clipboard.” Tom nodded and they crouched in silence and watched the workers rummage through the piles of stuff and mark down what was in the pile. A couple minutes later they watched both workers step out of the pile through their pens and clipboards on a table next to the pile and walk down to the room at the end of the main isle. As the door opened they heard a radio playing music loud and clear, “gucci gang gucci gang gucci gang” Bang! The door shut. Tom, Jimmy, and Lisa stepped out from behind the isle and walked over to the pile of stuff. Looking at the pile a little bit closer they noticed that the pile of stuff was all from Tom’s house. Tom instantly jumped into it and started looking for his stuff. It took him only a minute to find his phone, mobile charger, and PS3 but he couldn’t find his laptop anywhere. Jimmy and Lisa were also going through all the stuff strewn out on the floor. Tom looked the shelves next to all the stuff on the floor and noticed that his family’s TV and one of their beds were on the second shelf. He looked on the first shelf for anything from his house but saw nothing. All the stuff from his house was on the second shelf. “Hey Jimmy give me a boost so I can reach this second shelf.” Tom said. Jimmy ran out from the pile and grabbed Tom’s foot and lifted him up. Tom was able to reach the edge of the shelf with this extra height and pulled himself up onto the shelf. Once on the shelf he saw the whole shelf was full of stuff from his house. He immediately began going through all the stuff. Then he saw a movement in the corner of his eye that made him cringe. He saw the door open and one of the workers stepped out. The worker was moved slowly and patted his belly. He looked very content. He leaned out over the side of the shelf and snapped his fingers to get Jimmy’s attention. Jimmy looked up and instantly got the message, grabbed the PS3 and ran at top speed around the corner of the end of the row of shelves. Tom snapped his fingers again, whispered, “Lisa.” as loud as he could to try and get her attention. She did not respond to his snaps and whispers however. At the last moment he slapped his hand on the side of the frame that held the shelves together to make a resounding bong throughout the warehouse. This caught Lisa’s attention and she crawled under the large cabinet that Tom had been in when the workers loaded it into the truck. This piece was on the edge of the pile. Tom looked back at the worker, who was surprised by the sound but didn’t look like he suspected anything. He came around the corner and picked up his clipboard and pen and went over to the pile of furniture. He did not go immediately to the cabinet thankfully but Tom knew it would only be a matter of time before he inspected it and made to make a note of. He noticed that Lisa knew too when he saw her head poke out from underneath the cabinet which had one end resting on the floor and the other end resting on a bed frame. While Tom was watching the guard from his hiding spot on the second shelf he felt something pull tight around his foot. He reached down to untangle it and felt his computer mouse on one end. He lifted the object that the cord went under and felt around. Then he felt a box, his computer, he quietly pulled it out. His joy was overwhelming at finding his treasured computer. He felt alive again with his computer in his hands. He felt like he needed nothing in the world. He peeked out of his hiding spot and saw that the worker was still busy with other stuff and had not ventured to check out the cabinet. Then Tom heard a light ping sound go throughout the warehouse. The worker looked up but shrugged. “What could that sound be?” Tom thought. He looked behind him and saw Jimmy holding the PS3 between his legs and using only his arms to climb up the rope. He watched as the PS3 started to slip out from between Jimmy’s legs and then Jimmy used his legs to throw it onto the second shelf. This time it made a thud sound. Tom twisted his head around and peered through some furniture at the worker. He appeared to be puzzled by the all the odd sounds being made in the warehouse but continued with his work anyway. Tom turned around again and watched as Jimmy made it to the top shelf with the PS3 between his legs. The next thing that happened had Tom’s heart pounding. The worker took a coffee table from pile that had its legs taken off and went over to Tom’s spot. A second later he saw the coffee table slide under the object in front him and smash his toes. Tom gently stepped onto the table top and grabbed stuff around him and pulled the table in with himself on it. After this he watched with horror as the worker went over to the cabinet that held Lisa. Then he heard a loud thud from behind. As he looked behind him he heard a second loud thud. Then he saw Jimmy pointing towards the door and waving his arms frantically. Tom made a subtle waving motion to show Jimmy he got the message, the message being that somebody was near the door. Tom now had second thoughts of staying in the warehouse any longer. “Lisa can take one for the team. It’s okay if she gets caught and charged with robbing a bank warehouse. At least it won’t be me or Jimmy.” Tom thought.

Meanwhile on the other side of the warehouse Jimmy was becoming worried over Lisa’s situation. He remembered where she was and knew that if she didn’t get out of her spot sooner or later the second warehouse worker would come back, and then they would find her because there was no way she could sneak passed both of them. Jimmy watched with relief as the worker behind the door suddenly turned around and walked back out of sight. Jimmy decided he had to do something while he was gone to be ready for him if he came back. He scanned the warehouse for some way to impede or distract him so he could give Lisa some time to escape. As he scanned the warehouse he saw that the top shelf adjacent to the door had several items sticking dangerously out over the edge. Jimmy had one of the worst ideas ever, but he decided it was worth it. Getting a running start he jumped from shelf 3 onto shelf 2 of the next row over, barely making the jump. “That was a close one!” Jimmy thought to himself. He climbed to the third shelf. This time he had very small area to get a running start in but he ran and jumped again this time with extra force. This time he was able to grab the edge of the third shelf with his hands and hoist himself up. He was now in the middle row. This row was taller than the other two rows on either side of it, so Jimmy climbed up to the fourth shelf. Slowly and carefully he made his way along the top shelf to the end next to the door. His judgement of the furniture hanging over the edge was correct he found when lifting gently the whole thing almost fell off. Jimmy was barely able to pull it back into place. He thought to himself “Good lord those lazy workers didn’t secure anything on the top shelf they’re lucky this stuff hasn’t fallen off and killed somebody below.” He looked over the edge at the 32 foot drop and inwardly shuddered.

Tom watched the worker rummage through more stuff in the pile. Tom had his computer in front of him ready to leave his hiding spot as soon as he got the opportunity. He wasn’t sure if he should make a run for it and leave Lisa, or try and save her. He thought of the computer in his hands, he had obtained his objective. The battle raged on in his mind. He weighed the odds back and forth in his mind, he had a good chance of leaving undetected if he left now, and his chances of helping Lisa escape were very low. Then he froze, he watched as the worker walked slowly over toward the cabinet. Suddenly Tom decided he couldn’t leave Lisa, he had to distract the worker. Impulsively he shoved his computer out of the cabinet, which although meant to distract the worker landed perfectly on his head. Tom looked out of his hiding spot in shock. The worker lay flat on his stomach computer parts all over him. “MY COMPUTER!” Tom thought. He hopped down off the shelf and proceeded to the cabinet. “Lisa common it’s safe let’s go.” Tom said. “Okay I’m crawling out.” Lisa said. Then Tom heard the door open, followed by a huge crash. Tom looked back and saw a huge pile of furniture in front of the main door going into the warehouse. Lisa was out from under the cabinet by now. “Okay Tom let’s grab your computer…….. YOUR COMPUTER TOM!” Lisa said. Tom replied, “Don’t worry about it Lisa it doesn’t matter.” Then they ran for the rope on the other side of the warehouse. Tom looked up and watched with shock as he saw Jimmy jump from the top shelf of a row of shelves to the row that the rope was attached too. Once Lisa reached the top Tom started climbing. Then suddenly the rope starting moving up and he reached the top a moment later to find Jimmy and Lisa pulling the rope up.