Page 111 of Gave Proof Through the Night

“Evita.”

“For Eva Perón?” Ivy asks.

“Or Eva Braun,” I say. “It works double duty.”

Rue lifts a finger. “I like it.”

“Zoe.” I leave her for last because she’s been with me from the beginning and knows this job inside and out, just as much as I do. “Are we good with comms and cameras?”

“The latest tech, boss.”

“And Dale…”

Everybody looks at Dale. Dale looks up from his laptop, glasses sliding down his nose.

“You can sit in the van.”

His chest puffs up like I just handed him a medal. “Getaway driver. At your service.”

“We’re going three blocks,” Zoe says.

“The man in the van,” he quips. “With the plan. Eating flan… out of a pan.”

“If you don’t stop, I’ll lock you out,” Zoe says.

“Like a ban?” He smiles brightly.

Tanya just shakes her head at him.

“You’re an honorary member of our clan,” I say, and leave it at that.

For the rest of the day, we run logistics and go over the timing until it’s ingrained into our brains. Dale clears out the penthouse so there’s no trace of anything but what we’re taking with us downstairs. Then they go to the loft and sweep it clean, including breaking apart Tanya’s scale model of the Four Seasons, which Dale was sad to throw in the trash.

Ginger and Suri go find the hotel manager and harass him into letting them into the vault once more to retrieve Miss Capucine de Montfleury’s sacred perfume formulas. We don’t want any loose ends.

When early evening rolls around, Ivy does my hair and makeup.

“Stop fidgeting,” she says. “I need you to stop thinking for one hour. Just let me work.”

“I’m not thinking too hard.”

“You’re running the whole night in your head.”

“Am not.”

“You were mumbling numbers,” Suri says, while working on something with tools at the table.

“What’s that?” Rue asks.

“A retractable lightsaber,” Suri says casually. “I’m still not happy how the internal chassis is working with the housing. See?”

She picks it up and rattles it.

“I need to secure the blade base connector so it matches the interior hilt pins.”

“You had time to make an entire lightsaber?” Zoe cries. “From scratch?”

Suri just shrugs. “I’m neuro-spicy. My hands need a side quest or I lose power. Speaking of power…”