I can't believe the security here. You would think that the most important building we have would be fortified. But no. All they have are a few sloppy guards and cameras that can be easily avoided and overridden. This has got to be the easiest heist in history.

8:18 pm. Two more minutes till I'm on the move again.

Lights! The guards are coming. I ducked back behind the statue. The guards walked past without a single glance in any direction. Are they blind?

Ok times up. I slipped out from behind the statue and up to the doors. The alarm was easy enough to turn off too. The doors slid open and closed without a screech. At least they maintain the building well.

The inside was dark but that wasn't a problem. I had memorised the whole building. The hallways, every room, stairwell and cupboard. All were engraved into my mind.

However, I still pulled out my night vision goggles. I wasn't stupid enough to forsake my sight.

I counted my steps as I went. Thirty. Turn right. Six. Up ten stairs. Five steps around the corner. Ten up. Five around. I continued this another nine times, where I then hit the top floor. Seventeen steps. Turn left. Open the door. Twenty-three. Turn right. Fourteen. Open the door.

And now to collect the Files.

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I’m not sure I made the right choice. I could have asked. The Queen might have let me in on it. No way would she give me access to something so few people have access to. Yeah my ancestors found this place but I’m just a kid. Barely an adult. They wouldn’t think I could help with anything. And it’s not like they would be inclined to trust me with it anyway.

I wouldn’t even be able to tell them how I can contribute anyway and if I get results I won’t be able to tell them how. It’s not like I can just say that I’m breaking almost every law to find all the information I wanted. I can’t tell them that I have been doing it for years already either.

But maybe this will just end me in even more trouble. Maybe it’s not worth it. I’ll definitely at least be going to jail for a few decades for just stealing the Files. Let alone everything else I’ve done. And I probably won’t even find anything to move this along. I certainly won’t find the person who’s caused the mess Bolerdowpal is in.

I should go and put them back tonight. I should forget that I took them. And that I thought I could make a difference.

No. What am I doing? I can’t doubt myself. I will not take them back. I will use the Files to find out more things. I will use all of my resources. No matter how long it takes, no matter what happens, I will not give up.

Bolerdowpal will be a haven once more.

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"You called for me?"

Erin was staring out the window, looking at the glittering city below. Her body was tense. Probably from whatever it was that caused me to be summoned.

Her oak desk was missing one of its usual stacks. There were still piles littered all over but one was missing. Maybe she moved it. But that would be useless, she goes over it every spare moment she gets.

"I have an assignment for you."

"An assignment?" She never gives me assignments. The other Heads give them and she has to approve them but she always said that she never would. That there was nothing she needed to know other than what the others have us do. That there shouldn't be anything else. Something was most definitely wrong.

"Someone has stolen the Files. The A and D Files."

My jaw almost dropped to the floor but my training allowed for that not to happen but it would never be enough to wipe the shock from my face.

This explained a few things. She didn't move that File, a thief came in and stole it. This was bad. So so bad.

"If the Files have been stolen then all those details will be released. It will be even harder to stop the Attacks as soon as that happens."

"Correct. That is why I am tasking you, not one of your subordinates, to retrieve them and the thief. You may not harm them, as usual, but do whatever you must to get them back here. You must not let anyone get so much as a whiff that this has happened! When you bring them you will then question them. I also want daily reports."

"Of course." With those two words, she gestured for me to leave.