Brian Freemantle - Charlie Muffin U.S.A.

Even though it wasn’t his suite, Chambine took the role of host, formally introducing the group to each other. The responses were polite but equally formal.

‘No doubt you’d recognised each other before today?’ said Chambine.

‘Nearly everyone,’ said Bertrano. Realising the reason for the question, he added, ‘There’s been no contact.’

‘I’m glad.’

‘It’s obviously something big,’ said Saxby. ‘Nobody’s laying out fifty grand for nothing. We didn’t want to do anything to foul it up.’

‘It is big,’ admitted Chambine. ‘There’s a particular market for what we’re going to take.’

‘What is it?’ asked Bertrano.

‘Stamps,’ said Chambine. He waited for the surprise to register, but there was no reaction from anyone, and once again Chambine congratulated himself upon the selection.

‘What sort of stamps?’ asked Boella.

‘A very special collection,’ said Chambine. ‘Used to belong to the Russian Tsar.’

‘We’re not to know who wants them?’ asked Beldini.

‘No,’ said Chambine, intent on the response to the refusal. Once again the group remained impassive.

‘Is the collection on show?’ asked Bulz.

‘Palm Beach,’ said Chambine. ‘The exhibition opened three days ago.’

‘So you know the security,’ said Petrilli, investing the organiser with the same expertise as the rest of them.

‘Rotating staff of twenty uniformed people. Ten plainclothes, as far as I can establish. Display cases possibly wired and ten swivel cameras and two fixed mountings,’ said Chambine.

‘What about the person in charge?’

‘A stumble-bum named Pendlebury. No problem. And there’s some kind of Englishman attached to the insurance company. No problem there either.’

‘Staff at night?’ asked Saxby.

‘Three-man night shift. No one actually on duty in the hall; they make half-hourly checks.’

‘But the cameras will be kept on?’ asked Petrilli.

‘Of course,’ said Chambine.

‘How do we overcome that?’ said Saxby. ‘Block the supply?’

‘No,’ said Chambine immediately. ‘It’s wired so that if there’s any interruption to the power, a battery-operated alarm sounds…’

From a briefcase he took plans and drawings he had made during the time he had been at the Breakers. While he laid them out, Boella poured coffee. They huddled around and behind Chambine as he laid the papers out.

‘Here,’ he began, indicating a camera at the top of the drawing, ‘is the biggest risk. It’s one of the fixed cameras and it’s equipped with a fish-eye lens, giving it cover of almost all the chamber. That’s the one we hit first…’

‘How?’ demanded Saxby.

‘Simply by going in with twelve cloth covers, which we shall tape over each lens.’

Saxby laughed at the simplicity, but Bertrano said, ‘It would still be impossible to avoid some of us being photographed, if only for a few minutes.’

Chambine nodded. ‘That’s why this first camera is important. It’s the most dangerous.’

He indicated Bulz and Beldini.

‘You two will go in first. You’ll wear black track suits and black hoods.’ He pointed to eight red crosses on the plan. ‘Those are the permanent lights. I want them shrouded as soon as you enter. That cuts down the photographic quality enormously… you…’ he pointed to Bulz ‘… will do that. While you…’ he nodded to Beldini ‘… will go first for this fixed camera, then criss-cross the floor, covering first the camera to the left, then the camera to the right…’

He turned back to Bulz. ‘… as soon as you’ve shrouded all the lights, you hit this other fixed camera at the other end of the room. That’s not a fish-eye, so we can afford to wait.’

He sat back from the plan, looking at the two men from Los Angeles.

‘I’ve got exact measurements of the room,’ he said. ‘And measurements, although obviously they’re only estimates, of the camera and lighting equipment placed around the room. I’ve hired a warehouse in Orlando and had duplicate equipment delivered there yesterday. After this meeting, I want you to take these plans and build a facsimile of the camera protection. And then practise. I want to come here three days from now and see you two extinguish those lights and cameras in under five minutes.’

He stopped, waiting for their comments and hoping no one would attempt a joke at the proposal. The six other men stayed serious.

‘Anyone see any problems?’ he demanded. It was a test he felt necessary.

‘It won’t work,’ said Bertrano. ‘The room is bound to have smoke sensors as part of the normal fire precautions. And if we have cloth over the lights for longer than a few moments, they’ll smoulder and set off the alarms.’

‘Right!’ said Chambine, smiling. ‘The timing is three minutes to get the cameras covered, then another two to remove all the cloths. We’ll need the light anyway to see what we’re doing.’

‘Is the exhibition at the Breakers?’ asked Petrilli.

Chambine nodded.

‘Big hotel with a full night staff,’ continued the man from Philadelphia. ‘Getting out isn’t going to be easy.’

Chambine went back to his plans, drumming his pencil against the drawing of the exhibition hall, which was uncluttered by any markings of lights or surveillance equipment. Only the positions of the display cases and the windows were shown.

‘Here,’ he said, encircling two windows at the top corner, ‘are the two windows overlooking the car park. There’s just a veranda and a section of lawn in the way. The windows are wired, obviously, but we can bypass that. The ground lights are a problem…’ He gestured to Saxby and Boella. ‘… you two will never actually enter the hall. I want you both outside, behaving like ordinary visitors. You’ll be there to warn us of any sudden attention that might come from outside. But before that, you douse these.’

He produced another drawing, showing the outside lighting.

‘But you won’t put out the section near the exhibition hall first. I want it to look like isolated fusing. And I want to create a diversion. I want some by the pool and near the drive to go first. And then those which might worry us.’

He paused, to impress them with the importance of what he was going to say.

‘Getting the timing right for the lights is as important as the practice that you’re all going to do in the warehouse. If one light goes out at the wrong time – or doesn’t go out at all – then there’s no way we’ll get away with it.’

‘Do we do it from the actual fuse box?’ asked Saxby.

Chambine shook his head. ‘We’d never be able to guarantee getting to the boxes on time. And it’s impossible to find out without actually testing which fuses operate which set of lights. We’ll have to cut the ground cables. It won’t matter when they discover what’s happened: by that time the collection will have gone anyway.’

‘We won’t be able to practise that,’ said Boella.

‘I know,’ said Chambine. ‘It means you and Saxby coming to the hotel before the robbery. I would like to have avoided that, but there’s no alternative.’

He looked at the others in the room.

‘They’ll be the only ones,’ he warned. ‘I don’t want any chance of recognition… any indication of us being a group.’

‘What’ll we do?’ asked Saxby.

‘Make no contact whatsoever with me,’ said Chambine. ‘Just appear to be ordinary visitors. Use the bars, the pool if you want. Even the golf course. But give yourselves the opportunity to isolate the cables leading to the lights I’ve marked and work out how they’re best cut. I want a complete plan prepared before I return to the warehouse to see the rehearsal with the cameras.’