Ben Mezrich - Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History

It had to be the strangest getaway in history.

Thad Roberts tried to control his nerves as he stared up through the windshield of the idling four-wheel-drive Jeep. The rain was coming down in violent gray sheets, so fierce and thick he could barely make out the bright red traffic light hanging just a few feet in front of him. He had been sitting there for what seemed like forever; a long stretch of pavement serpentined into the gray mist behind him, winding back past a half-dozen other traffic lightsall of which hed had to wait through, in exactly the same fashion. Even worse, between the lights hed had to keep the Jeep at an agonizing five miles per houra veritable crawl along the desolate, rain-swept streets of the tightly controlled compound. It was unbelievably hard to drive at five miles per hour, especially when your neurons were going off like fireworks and your heart felt like it was going to blow right through your rib cage. But five miles per hour was the mandatory speed limit of the compoundposted every few yards on signs by the roadand at five miles per hour, once you hit one red light, you were going to hit them all.

Thads fingers whitened against the Jeeps steering wheel as he watched the red glow, willing it to change to green. He wanted nothing more than to gun the engine, put his foot right through the floor, break the speed limit, and get the hell out of there. But he knew that there were cameras everywherethat the entire getaway was being filmed and broadcast on more than a dozen security consoles. For this to work, he had to stay calm, obey the rules. He had to appear as if he belonged.

He took a deep breath, let the red glow from the traffic light splash across his cheeks. Only a few more seconds. He used the opportunity to toss a quick glance toward the passenger seatwhich didnt help at all. Sandra looked even more terrified than he felt. Her face was ivory white, her eyes like saucers. He wanted to say something to calm her down, but he couldnt think of the words. She was pretty, with blondish-brown hair; even younger than Thad, barely nineteen years old. Maybe not the ideal accomplice for something like thisbut she was an electronics specialist, and she had practically begged to be a part of the scheme.

Thad shifted his eyes toward the center seat between them, and almost smiled at the sight of his girlfriend crouched down beneath the dashboard, her lithe body curled up into a tight little ball. Rebecca had jet-black hair, cut short against her alabaster skin, and she was even prettier than Sandra. She had just turned twenty. But as young as she was, she was the only one of the three of them who didnt look scared. Her blue eyes were positively glowing with excitement. To her, this was beyond thrillingreally, James Bond kind of shit. Looking at her, Thad was infused with adrenaline. They were so damn close.

And suddenly he was bathed in green as the light finally changed. Thad touched the gas pedal, and the Jeep jerked forwardthen he quickly lifted his footmaking sure the speedometer read exactly 5 mph. The slow-motion getaway continued, the only sounds the rumble of the Jeeps engine and the crackle of the rain against the windshield.

A bare few minutes later, they came to the last traffic lightand again, of course, it was red. Even worse, Thad quickly made out the security kiosk just a few yards to the left of the light. He could see at least two uniformed guards inside. Thad held his breath as he slowed the Jeep to a stop at the light; he kept his head facing forward, willing Sandra to do the same. He didnt want to have to explain why he was at the compound, past midnight on a Saturday. Thad was counting on the fact that neither of the guards would be eager to step out into the rain to interrogate him. Even so, if one of the guards had looked carefully, he might have noticed that the Jeep was sagging in the back. In fact, the vehicles rear axle was bent so low that the chassis almost scraped the ground as they idled at the traffic stop.

The sag of the Jeep was one of the few things that Thad and his two accomplices hadnt planned. A miscalculation, actually: the safe that Thad and the two girls had hoisted into the back of the Jeepless than ten minutes agoweighed much more than Thad had expected, probably close to six hundred pounds. It had taken all three of them and a levered dolly to perform the feat, and even so Thad had strained every muscle in his back and legs getting the damn thing situated properly. Thad was just thankful that the Jeeps axle hadnt collapsed under the weight. As it was, he was pretty sure that even a cursory inspection of the vehicle would be enough to blow the whole operation.