Plan B

Chapter 3: plan B

“I have a plan,” Mike said

“What plan?” Manson said

Now Mike looked around if anyone was with him, there was nobody around where he stood. Mike gave a detailed summary of the new plan via a cell phone call.

After much explanation, Mike asked, “Do you understand?”

“Yes, I do,” Manson replied through the phone.

“Alright, see you tomorrow at the venue,” said Mike

“Yeah, see you there” Manson replied

Mike hung up and went into the house.

The main day came, Mike woke up memorizing his strategies for the event, as he sat on the bed. Pearl woke up beside him, still feeling sleepy. Pearl got out of bed and kissed Mike.

“Today is the auction party right?” Pearl asked

“Yeah It's” Mike responded

“What time is it again?” Pearl asked

Mike turned to the calendar hung on the wall close to the bed, where he Marked the date and time, confirming the date and time, Mike turned to Pearl.

“It's umm… today, Saturday by 6:00 pm,” Mike said

“Okay I will be ready by then,” said pearl

Pearl walked out of the room, to check on Roy, her son. Immediately she left, Mike pulled out the tuxedo that Manson gave him from under the bed, to confirm the status of the clothing, Mike wrapped it neatly, he looked at it

“Yes! We are ready” Mike said

Mike returned the package tuxedo under the bed.

Mike stood up and left the bedroom still in his pajamas.

“Good morning” Roy greeted Mike, his father, and Roy was holding the book, Mike, his father, gave him

“Good morning champ! I see you are reading this morning” Mike said

“Yeah, I finished the first chapter last night,” Roy said happily

“So what chapter are you on?” Mike asked

“I'm on chapter two” Roy replied

“Okay, so what is the title of chapter two” Mike asked

“Umm… I think (Roy opened the book to confirm the name of the chapter) it is The Plan B”

“Wow! Plan B! Why is it called Plan B?” Mike asked

“Because, in the first chapter which is “The Plan” John Tom, tried to investigate the culprit but something stood in his way, so he had to decisive another plan which is plan B” Roy explained

“Impressive! Keep it up champ!” Mike said

Roy Went back to his seat and continued reading the book while Mike went to the kitchen where Pearl was preparing breakfast, to get a glass of water.

After breakfast, Pearl went to work but Mike stayed home with Roy.

The Time came for the event, Pearl was back early, and they both dressed up and were ready to leave when…

Pearl asked, “Are we going to leave Roy in the house alone?”

“Don't worry, he is going to be fine, he is not a kid” Mike replied

“Mike! He is 14 years old, he is not yet an adult” Pearl responded

“Okay..okay, I will be home early. Besides, what can go wrong? Roy is not a rascal or some stupid kid” Mike said

“Yeah… I know, okay let's go” Pearl said

Mike and Pearl exited the bedroom, where they were discussing, and went to the sitting room, where Roy was seated that evening.

Pearl gave Roy a peck and said “Okay dear, your dad and I are going to an event, now listen don't go out, call me if you need anything, okay?”

Roy nodded.

Mike came from behind and said “All alright, Champ! We are going now, stay safe, alright?” Mike said

“Alright Dad” Roy answered.

“That's my boy!” Mike said and he gave Roy a fist bump and Mike and Pearl left the house leaving Roy alone in the house.

Mike and Pearl got to the event a bit late, when they got there, they saw a lot of wealthy men and women with their luxury. Pearl marveled but Mike wasn't because he had something else to do.

As Mike and Pearl stood near the red carpet that was rolled out for the wealthy, Pearl still in admiration, they heard…

“Beautiful isn't it?”

Mike and Pearl turned to see who said that, and surprisingly, they saw Manson standing behind them.

“Oh! It has been a long time!” Pearl exclaimed in surprise

“Yeah! It has” Manson replied

“The last time I saw you was like months ago, So what are you doing here?” Pearl asked

“Umm… I am part of the Butlers for the event” Manson answered nervously as he turned and looked at Mike.

“Wow! Even Mike! Such a coincidence” said pearl

“Yeah it is” Manson replied nervously

As Pearl was about to say another word, she heard her name “Pearl! Pearl!” Pearl turned immediately and saw someone calling her from the other side of the Red carpet, pearl waved

“Umm… Excuse me that is my colleague, Clara, from work, who invited me to be her plus one, I have to see her, so see y'all later” Pearl said

“Yeah, we have something to do similarly” Mike replied, showing Pearl the tuxedo wrapped in a bag.

Pearl left Mike and Manson and went to go and see her colleague, Clara.

Mike turned to Manson and said “You almost blew it”

“Sorry, I get nervous when I am asked questions that I don't want to answer” Manson replied

“It's okay,” Mike said

“I can not believe I am joining you to do this… This… Thing” Manson said, talking to Mike in a sotto voce manner as they walked into the event Hall dressed as butlers.

“That is what best friends do, they support each other,” Mike said

The event started, with the opening of the orchestra playing melodious tunes. Mike and his colleague, Manson served the audience alongside other butlers, they were not recognized as intruders because none of the Butlers had ID, Mike and Manson just put on the red tuxedos as other butlers did.

As the event went on, Mike and Manson kept serving the audience including police Commissioner Reynold and billionaire Andrew

Manson came from behind and whispered into Mike's ear “It is here”

Mike turned and said, “It is show time then!”

Mike and Manson stopped serving, Mike went to the kitchen while Manson went to the control room. Mike got to the kitchen and from there he went to the VIP backstage entrance while Manson got to the control room and no one was there.

The diamond necklace arrived and it was kept in a glass box and covered in a red veil, it was taken through the VIP backstage entrance, followed by two security men and one Butler escorting the package.

The diamond necklace escort got to the door leading to the stage but they saw a man at the door.

The butler escorting the package asked “My good sir, can you excuse us we have to deliver this to the stage”

Mike replied “Oh! Yes, but I wasn't told that a lot of people will come on stage with the package?”

“Yeah, but you see we have…”

“Yes I know you have to deliver this,” Mike said as he cut in the butler's statement

“But look give me the package and you guys wait here and I will deliver it to the stage, it is just protocol,” Mike said

The butler agreed and gave Mike the package, which was the diamond necklace in the glass box, covered with a veil. As Mike was about to leave the butler asked “And who are you, sir?”

Mike turned and said, “Oh! Sorry, my name is Shelby” (showing them an ID card). The men approved and Mike took the package to the stage.

The music dies slowly as the auctioneer alighted the stage to begin the auction, Mike followed suit with the diamond necklace package veiled and he kept it on a pulpit. Mike went backstage assuring the butler and the security escorts that he had delivered the item, but they left with such false assurance.

As soon as the butler and escorts were gone, Mike left his position. As Mike walked through the event kitchen into the main hall, mistakenly bumped into a lady, Mike turned to apologize and he was surprised

“Jane! Is that you?” Mike asked surprisingly

“Oh! My gosh! Mike! Long time! Where have you been?” Jane asked, Jane Andrew is the daughter of billionaire Andrew and Mike’s former classmate.

“I have been around, I see your dad is auctioning the diamond necklace,” Mike said

“Yeah, I see you are serving on this occasion, and it is like you coming from backstage,” Jane said

“Yeah I am but can we talk later because I have work to do” Mike said, Jane agreed and excused Mike.

The moment the auction began, the auctioneer welcomed the audience to the auction reception with warm and flattering words, Mike stood by a corner watching the event unfold its surprise with a smile on his face. Pearl, Mike's wife, path him from behind, Mike turned to her.

“It's getting late, I think I should be heading home to be with Roy,” Pearl said

“Okay dear, but wait for me outside, I will be leaving also,” Mike said, giving her a warm hug, and Pearl left the event Hall and waited outside.

As the auctioneer was about to unveil the diamond necklace, the lights went off and Came back on, causing anxiety among the audience, and everyone, including billionaire Andrew and Commissioner Reynold, was shocked to see that the diamond necklace was gone.

Mike smiled, looked up at the control room, and left his position heading towards the exit door but the door was blocked by policemen conducting a mass search of people leaving.

Mike changed direction and went towards the second exit door but it was blocked by policemen searching for people leaving Mike wanted to turn back when he heard

“Stop! Right! There!” a police officer orders, noticing the suspicious movement of Mike, three policemen come from behind, surrounding Mike.

“Sir, we have to search you,” one of the policemen said.