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Jazz points to the manager’s office and then to the vault. We’re planning to have the manager open the vault for us, and that’s when we expect theunder duressalarm to go out, when the manager keys in the code. Tank and Van will be there with Jazz, and they’ll pack and run the cash.
“And I’ll move between the vault and the floor,” I finish up, “making sure everything runs smooth. No casualties. No problems. And remember, timing is everything.” I look around at them. “Things haven’t run smooth for us, these last few jobs. But this one will, right?” I pause for acknowledgment, but the unenthusiastic response makes me repeat myself. “Right?”
“Right, Cap,” Van says firmly, and the others chime in with more conviction. Van might be pissed off with me personally, but he’s pro enough to back me when he needs to, and I’m grateful for that.
But as I look around the table, I feel compelled to say something more. “Listen, anyone who wants out, say so now. I won’t think less of you, but I don’t want anyone on the team who’s not a hundred percent in.”
Silence greets my offer, until Van says confidently, “We’re in. All of us.”
Everyone nods at his words, but I find myself glancing at Max, who gives a nod of his own. I wish I didn’t find that so reassuring.
“Each of us do our part, we’ll be in and out in two minutes tops,” I go on. “Anything goes wrong, we know what to do. Right?”
Honeybee answers for all of them: “Count on each other.” I try not to smile at the fierceness in her voice. She sounds like an aggressive cheerleader.
But as we continue discussing the specifics of the plan, I worry that somethingisgoing to go wrong. It’s partly the tension between Van and me, and partly the fact that every damn job we’ve done as a crew recently has run theoppositeof clockwork.
Max seems to be the only one who picks up on my mood, though, watching me when he thinks I’m not looking.
I’m looking, alright. I’m wondering if Van is right, that I should keep the Castellani out of things.
Apart from Van, the crew has accepted Max. Even Tank, who previously scowled at him constantly, has started making time for him. Max’s cool head under fire during the armored car heist made an impression.
I watch him still as we break up, and he goes back to work with Tank. I’ve kept Max clear of the tech table since hestolea bunch of it, although Rook and Giddy tend to go over to ask him questions all the time.
Honeybee approaches him now, her usual smile a little dimmer than usual. She’s struggling with her part in the plan. She’s agile and stealthy, so the acrobatics are no problem. But after she’s done that, she’ll rejoin us on the floor. Getting her to hold a gun, bark at people, make them obey…
When I first recruited her, after watching her as a street performer at Venice Beach for a few weeks, she was eager and reassuring. She was living on the streets back then, so when she said she could play mean, I believed her.
Girl doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, though.
She sits down to help clean the firearms, Tank just raising an eyebrow at her as she chatters at both him and Max. “Max,” I hear her saying a few minutes later, “you ever done any stage work?”
“Stage work?” he repeats, with an astonished chuckle. “Uh, no. Can’t say I have.”
“You’ve got great presence,” she says wistfully. “I wish you could lend me some.”
“Presence?”
“You’re always so sure of yourself, it makes everyone else believe in you, too.”
Max keeps polishing a barrel for a moment while he thinks that over. “Honeybee, let me tell you a secret,” he says softly, so that the chuckleheads in the corner don’t overhear. Sometimes they tease Honeybee a little too much, and I come down hard on them when they do, but I’m glad Max keeps their conversation private. “If you don’t believe in yourself,” he goes on, “no one else will. You want some advice?”
“Yes, please,” she says at once.
“First, stand tall, lift that chin up. Maintain eye contact. That alone can make a world of difference.” Max touches her chin, making her bring it up a little higher. “There you go. Next, remember that what you’re saying is important. When we get in that bank, believe me, every person in there will be a giant set of ears. No one will want to miss a word. They’llwantto know what to do to stay safe. You tell ’em; they’ll follow.”
When I was younger, and I visited Dad in prison, he used to say the same when he crowed to me about the jobs he’d pulled off.
All those folks, all they are is a big set of ears, soon as they’re under threat.
And I found he was right, in the few bank jobs we’ve pulled off as a crew. Nothing big. Regional branches, testing the waters. We only moved back into the city once we were confident. And then things started to go wrong…
“Okay, but…” Honeybee bites her lip. “But what if someone…doesn’t? Doesn’t listen, or doesn’t do what I say?”
“Then I’ll be there to back you up, or Rook will, or Giddy. But you remember, our aim is that no one gets hurt. So you just stay true to your principles and the vows you made to your Family,” Max advises. “You hang on to those, act with honor, everything will be okay.”
“Thanks, Max,” Honeybee says, her voice already sounding stronger. Her smile returns to its usual brightness.
