The Great Heist

Chapter One

The Lusail Iconic stadium was a madhouse. 

Presently, its 105 m x 68 m (344 ft by 223 ft) grass pitch was nothing short of a crime scene from a mystery flick with the current buzz of activity. Everyone from standard security personnel at the stadium to stewards, and the smart-looking police officers and their counterparts from other Qatari Intelligence agencies—mainly, the Qatar State Security had one thing, or the other to attend to at the moment. 

This had been the new normal in the stadium ever since The World Cup Trophy had been pronounced missing by FIFA Officials. And had lasted for about thirty minutes, or so, with each and every one of the men responsible for security and policing present here at the stadium being thrown into total restiveness. 

Things happened really fast after the smoke incident. Men from the Rescue Police Department—otherwise known here as Al Fazaa— heavily dressed and equipped as stormtroopers had stormed the scene, joining with the stewards and the stadium security personnel to evacuate at once the high-profile targets present at the arena. The list began with the Emir of Qatar, the FIFA President and his retinue of high-ranking FIFA officials, and other powerful Heads of State. Followed by the crowds—women and children first—before men as it was protocol. 

Neck-deep in the onerous task of ensuring the safety of lives and possessions at the stadium, none of the men had noticed the World Cup Trophy was being moved from its place on the pedestal before its actual disappearance. Even those that did, hadn’t a cause to worry then since it had been with the stewards, which as it appears at the time was also standard protocol.

It was not until much later that the real tragedy struck. When the FIFA officials, who after an overdue time of expecting the trophy to return to their care declared it missing. 

All hell had broken loose then. Every stadium security personnel and policeman trained men as they were had been tossed into instant action, fanning out, and covering every ground of the stadium in search of the missing trophy.

Security protocols have been set in place almost instantly. The stadium itself had been placed on lockdown. Stop and search of the spectators within the walls of the stadium had been initiated as well. After being searched, spectators have been advised to exit the stadium proper via a single entrance.

After a long time of searching and combing through most of the sections of the stadium, a police posse eventually stumbled upon a hole in the wall in one of the dressing rooms. Further searches by the same team of policemen had yielded the discovery of the hole in the wall linking to one of the malls in the Stadium’s shopping complex.

The search continued much afterward. Better yet, a wider search net had since been cast by the stadium securities to apprehend the suspects responsible for the disappearance of the World Cup Trophy. 

But, unfortunately, all those efforts put in by every one of these men had yielded nothing of worth so far. 

In other words, the World Cup Trophy is still very much missing, and yet to be found.

                                           ***

Outside the stadium was no different. 

In fact, the precinct around the football stadium, which features major facilities such as the circular plaza, shopping centers, car park, and the wide pedestrian concourse that extends outward from the water was crowded with an overflowing mass of crowds. 

Among these are policemen and stewards, who coordinated searches at major strategic points of the ground. The scrum of reporters and their mobile trucks pooling around the area closest to the Police line. And also, the stern-faced military policemen stationed within the stadium’s perimeter, who were on red alert, and looked ready and set to bring down even a fly at the slightest detection of threat.

Amidst the crowds of tastefully dressed men of the press and their collection of trucks affixed with satellite dishes pointing skyward was willowy, palish-complexioned Liam Nielson, dressed in a long, knee-length beige down jacket and blue denim jeans. Young, reedy Liam Nielson was having the longest streak of luck for a day in his career as a field reporter for the BBC One Channel. 

As a fresh-off-the-boat Communication student from England’s prestigious Oxford University, his wildest dream had been realized two years earlier, when he had been recruited as a junior staffer in the English Giant broadcasting firm. 

Liam had worked from the background as a content creator at the BBC StoryWorks in his first year as a recruit at the Beeb. There he created engaging custom content for the BBC’s global creative content division alongside several others. 

Having struggled in that division for some time, he had applied internally for a job at the editorial department of BBC Radio 5 Live but had gotten instead the position of a secretary. The job had come with the description that his work was not limited to clerical duties alone, but also covers writing, typing, and editing news and sports content, which he can never take credit for.

His first breakthrough came when he took an interest in a story involving a series of murder cases in Oxfordshire, a town in southern England and northwest of London. ‘The McClusky case’ as it was famously known to the public, which he ran and did background investigations on for several weeks did not only make the headlines of every major broadcasting station throughout England but sent shock waves through the United Kingdoms as a whole.

The story, which had given the police the edge to apprehend the suspect responsible for the murders had made him an overnight success. And as such, had earned him the spot of a junior field reporter at BBC One—BBC’s flagship network. 

Further successes didn’t follow until three months later when he was assigned the position of a field reporter for BBC One’s live coverage of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. That had been the biggest break of his life at that point. 

As it is now, things were about to get even better. Liam Neilson was just about launching his career straight into the stratosphere with the most anticipated piece of news of the century.

Who would have believed a small boy from the small inland county of Berkshire would be reporting live from the biggest event in the world, within just two years at the BBC? he thought proudly for a moment. Who exactly would have believed such?

Shaking off the thought and others like it, Liam Nielson stared into the focus of the camera a few feet away. Puffed out a few shaky breaths as he readied himself to unload on the millions watching the BBC One channel from across the world the news that would echo down the history book as one of the world’s greatest tragedies.  

As he bided his time, he couldn’t help but wonder why he was feeling apprehensive. Nor could he miss how the fingers of his right hand wrapped around the handle of his Rode Reporter Omni Dynamic XLR microphone had become shaky all of a sudden.

Could this have resulted from the weather? Or, from my anxiousness? He wondered to himself for some time on the spot, coming to an agreement with the latter in a heartbeat.

“We’re go in three…, two…, one!” The voice of his videographer from the spot across him, prompting him with a count of his fingers pulled him from his short absorption.

Gathering his thoughts, Liam ignored his inner trepidations, gave his videographer a subtle nod of acknowledgment, and began. “Hi, this is Liam Nielson reporting live from the Lusail Iconic Stadium in Qatar for BBC One.” 

He sucked in a breath before droning on, “Fifteen minutes after a bomb went off some five hundred yards from the Lusail Arena, the much-awaited World Cup final match between England and Brazil has been suspended indefinitely. This comes right after the 18-karat gold World Cup Trophy has been declared missing. The Trophy valued at around £16 million in today’s gold market was declared missing by FIFA Officials immediately after the smoke incident resulting from the heavy use of flares and smoke grenades in the arena. Which has been explained by the authorities as a smokescreen employed by the perpetrators of this crime to carry out their despicable acts.”

There was a brief pause before he continued. “Police and other Law enforcement agencies have since risen to the challenge, placing the Arena and everything within a two-mile radius of it on total lockdown, while also, initiating a stop and search for the spectators.”

“Here’s an exclusive, exclusively for our viewers at home,” he said with a tightly drawn face before he added, “I have it from a reliable source that the police had discovered a hole in one of the dressing rooms in their search through the stadium. And we have reasons to believe this giant hole found by the police fed into one of the shopping malls in the Lusail Arena shopping complex. From this, I think it’s safe to assume for now that, the World Cup trophy may have left the Lusail Iconic Stadium already. And that I tell you is a possibility the authorities are not ready to consider as yet. However, the big question now remains; where’s the World Cup Trophy, and who are the masterminds behind its disappearance?”

The loud whirr of a patrol helicopter high up in the sky drowned out his voice for thirty seconds, or thereabouts.

When his voice finally returned over the microphone seconds later, the camera had panned away from him, and now laterally covered the Bell 407GX patrol helicopter doing a flyby in the distance. “What we just saw now in the Lusail skyline is a patrol helicopter. And from the look of things, it appears the hunt for the World Cup Trophy may have just begun.” 

Watching his videographer bunch his hands into a fist as he signaled for a wrap, he quickly added on a final note. “That will be all for now on BBC One’s live update from the Lusail Iconic Stadium. More updates to follow within the hour."