Nine Ladies Stealing by I. M. Mee

Computer security expert and genius hacker Nina Zielinski is laid off from her job with J. C. Pace-Mulligan, one of the world’s largest banks, when they decide to hire an outside contractor to do the work. Not one to go quietly, Nina decides to get back at her ex-employers by hurting them in the only way they’ll really feel it–financially. She comes up with a plan to stage a giant heist hitting the Heinlein Building in Los Angeles, a building that not only houses the West Coast headquarters of J. C. Pace-Mulligan, and a cash rich branch of the bank, but also the largest gold and jewelry exchange in the Western US and a pair of bond dealers.

Nina’s lover, FBI agent Caitlin Halloran, has misgivings about Nina’s scheme but loves her too much to do anything except help her, so she quits the Bureau and helps Nina put together an all-female heist crew. Their first recruit is gymnast and dancer turned burglar Taylor McKenzie, a legendary thief nicknamed “The Ghost” who has never been caught. Using Taylor’s contacts and Caitlin’s FBI files, they add six more women to their team:

-Angela is an expert on electronic hardware and security technology who will work with Nina to defeat the elaborate security systems in the Heinlein Building.
-Elissa is an explosives expert and safecracker
-Hanna is a daredevil motorcycle and auto racer who will be the team’s designated driver and risk-taker
-Julie is a former champion kick-boxer and MMA fighter who is the “muscle” on the team.
-Lynn is the team’s “scrounger” who gets all the equipment they need, from trucks for transportation, to power tools, to weapons, to Elissa’s explosives
-Rebecca is an impersonator, con artist and seductress who will infiltrate the staff of the Heinlein Building to give the team someone on the inside.

Nina and her crew get support from the husband-and-wife team of Tom and Michelle Hartzell–they provide front money, he is a fence who can dispose of their take, while she is a forger who will create new identities for the nine women.

But even if Nina’s plan is as foolproof as she believes, things many not be easy for her team. Gavin Richards, the VP of J. C. Pace-Mulligan who manages their West Coast headquarters, and Steve Matusiak, the head of security for the Heinlein Building, are not going to let them just walk in and take all the money, gold, and so on that they want. Meanwhile, heist artist Nick Csonka, who likes to think of the Los Angeles area as his personal territory, has gotten wind of their plan and has hired the three Barbieri brothers (mean lugs with no compunctions about hitting a girl) to help him stick Nina’s crew up–after the job has been pulled, of course.

tags (add tags): action, caper, crime, heist, suspense

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posted: 09/09/2015 by Arutha comments | results | vote