SRM01-06: Lost and Found

It's a simple job. Something was stolen and someone wants it back. How complicated could it be? Part One: Lost and Found [284KB] Part Two: Player Handouts [428KB]

SRM01-06: Lost and Found - "The Perfect Crime"
Introductory fiction by Robert-Sean Harley and Eileen Heath

It was perfect, it was absolutely perfect, Edmundo Castellian thought to himself as he watched the security tapes for the fifth time. "I am so screwed" he said out loud as his mind raced for a possible solution.

He rewound the tape and watched it again. It showed him entering through the underground parking deck. He said hello to the security guard. A few minutes later he left the building in a car with superconductive black paint that was glowing white as the engine idled. Then he showed his pass to the guard. Just like that, it was gone. Billions of dollars of Aztechnology money. Billions and billions. Gone. And whoever stole it looked like him the entire time. He'd already analyzed the video. He magnified every part he could find. There were no extra wrinkles around his eyes where an actor might think no one would look. The voice pattern matched his perfectly. It was all too perfect. With that sort of perfection it could only be magic.

Well not entirely perfect. Whoever had done it hadn't expected him to pull an all-nighter before the meeting making sure every last detail was perfect. If the guard hadn't said "Welcome Back Mr. Castellian" as he entered he would never have suspected anything and spent the past hour weeping instead of hacking into the security database to see what had happened.

It was already 23:00. The new car was going to be shown off at a sunrise meeting. One of the marketing guys was trying to be clever. "Well, we're launching a new product based on the engine and we're calling the car 'the dawn' so why not show it at sunrise. It'll be symbolic. Impactful." It'll be a bunch of sleepy investors and board members wondering why they were dragged out of bed at the crack of dawn to watch a glowing car, thought Edmundo. Or it would have been. It had to be an inside job. When he found out whom, he'd make sure that person would wish he were never born. If he could just get through this he would make whoever did this pay. Oh how they would pay.

Edmundo looked out of the window of his office to the work floor. There was a multi-billion dollar gap right in the middle where the car ought to be. In his mind he started to hear a voice screaming. His voice proclaimed his innocence as the sound of saws entered warm flesh. Who was he kidding?! Once the car was found missing, he wouldn't be given the chance to proclaim his innocence. He'd just be taken by security to the lower labs. And that would be it. If he were lucky he'd be able to grab a gun from one of the guards and shoot himself before he reached the elevator. It was his responsibility, it was his neck, and most importantly it was his face taking the car. Even if it wasn't

He didn't even know where the car was. If he turned it on, whoever had it might know it was being looked for. Then anything could happen. The problem was even if he found, he didn't know how he would get it back. He didn't know people who could do that. He worked on electronics and theories. He was an engineer not a criminal. He didn't even kn-. But he did...now. Eduardo, was barely a shadow of a memory from his childhood. Would his brother give a damn about a brother he hadn't seen in ages? Oh please let him give a damn. As he reached for the phone he realized his hand was visibly shaking. He had to punch in the numbers three times before finally getting it right. Swallowing the lump in his throat he prayed to whoever was listening that his brother gave a damn about his life still. "Hello Eduardo."