The only one who seemed to be watching was the man on the moon. Vinny occasionally believed that there was a man on the moon watching him but tonight he didn't care and besides the moon was thousands of miles away. The man in the moon could stare at him all night long for all he cared.
The Gadget Man cruised his Tacoma truck along while playing his favorite Michael Jackson song "Smooth Criminal". Gary Bowman's tidy bungalow seemed to be isolated compared to the homes flanking the forlorn narrow street. A child's big wheeler sat in the front lawn covered in Power Ranger stickers.
Before getting out of the truck Vinny glanced at his watch. It was 3am and he just wanted to do what he had to do and then go home and get some sleep. He had spent nearly an hour on the phone earlier with Bridget doing the late night pillow talk thing.
All the lights in Gary Bowman's home were out and that was a good thing. Vinny expected that and knew the vainglorious prison guard had to be at work by 7am. The Gadget Man did his homework. He even knew about his son Evan and that explained the big wheeler in the yard. Evan lived with Gary's ex-wife Linda but Gary got to have his little buddy stay with him every other weekend.
Vinny cut the smooth quiet engine and took a moment to assimilate the plan. Dressed like a cat burglar, and reeking of cigarette smoke, Vinny held the keys two inches from his face and smiled with delight. Jeez, he was getting good at this. The keys remained stagnant not making the slightest jingle and Vinny was impressed that the shaky hand syndrome was gone. Not only that but his heart rate was normal and not racing like an Irish race horse.
Coalescing with the darkness in his complete black attire, Vinny skittered alongside the truck and reached in the back and pulled out his tools. The huge duffel bag looked like something a hockey player would be lugging around. The heavy end abutted the ground as Vinny set foot on Gary Bowman's property.
A bright sensor light turned on and nearly blinded him. Vinny quickly dropped the duffel bag and raced directly towards the sensor light as fast as he could. Wearing black leather gloves, he carefully unscrewed the bulb until it went out. He surmised that the sensor light had only been shining for maybe 10 seconds before he tended to it. Get in and get out, He thought to himself, Gotta do what the dice say.
The Gadget Man went for his trusty screw driver and dexterously removed the screws from Gary Bowman's doorbell. When he completely removed the doorbell all that was left was two wires in a spacious socket. Doorbells were not nearly as sophisticated as people thought. When you push a button to a doorbell all you're basically doing is completing a circuit.
Vinny rummaged through his duffel bag until he found an exact duplicate of the doorbell he just removed. Except of course the doorbell he was about to install had been modified and had a Bravo pager attached to it making it possible for the doorbell to ring without the button being pushed. The whole booby trap idea was a crapshoot but if it panned out just right law enforcers would talk about it for all the years to come.
Within minutes the new duplicate doorbell was installed and it was time for the hard part. The hole in the ground. Terra Firma.
Vinny reached in the bag and pulled out a battery operated drill the size of a jackhammer. The enormous quiet drill had a 3.5 foot spiraled screw that dug holes in the ground with accurate precision. The Gadget Man positioned himself roughly 10 feet away from the front door of the bungalow and began drilling a hole in the grass setting the drill on the slowest speed to make less noise. By the time he was finished he was standing before a 3.5ft symmetrical hole 5 inches in diameter. It felt like someone was patting him on the back as Vinny took a brief few seconds to admire his handy work. The perfectly bore hole looked just like a hole on a golf course other than of course it was a lot deeper.
The Gadget Man frantically pulled on the 3.5ft homemade metal object that had scales running down the side and a piece of sod exactly 5 inches in diameter at the top. Vinny positioned the front face of the object facing the front door and carefully shoved the device into the ground. Next he pulled a black trash bag from his duffel bag and gathered up all the loose dirt and rocks from the digging of the hole.
By the time it was all said and done it was nearly impossible to tell that something was lurking inside the ground. The piece of sod on top of the device blended in perfectly with the rest of the yard.
Vinny packed all his tools into the duffel bag along with the trash bag full of small rocks and dirt. Moving quickly like a stray cat, he loped back to the Tacoma and tossed the duffel bag into the back of the truck.
When he had the truck in gear and was about to let off the brake he suddenly remembered something. Shoot! He almost made a costly mistake.
Vinny jumped out of the truck and ran towards the sensor light. As he screwed the bulb tight again he thought to himself. Maybe, just maybe, I'm becoming a professional.