The better part of the day was spent in the basement of Trent's house. I was a little unsure of just how to teach someone how to do what I could do, let alone three others. Trent didn't really need the practice, as kids I had shared a lot of my dad's lessons with him, sometimes even just hours after learning them myself. Riley, Jessica and Nate on the other hand, all worked differently. Jess was a natural grifter, or face as I often heard it from Ray. She appeared to have zero inhibitions or reservations when it came to talking to people, or even contacting them physically. She used this to her advantage and could easily work into a favourable angle on me to pick anything she wanted. The problem was clearly in her confidence while under pressure. As soon as she got a hold of a wallet, watch, phone...anything, she would immediately lose her cool and drop her pick.
Riley was on the other end of the spectrum, her laserlike focus guided her straight to her target, and after some dynamic practice she could even lift off me while maintaining pace. I couldn't help but think she had the potential to be better than me, if only her focus wasn't also her weakness. I noticed that after choosing her pick, Riley would turn off her reactions to anything she deemed unnecessary. Admittedly it was a skill I envied, but at the same time this could be a serious problem on a real mark. I imagined her being run into by other pedestrians, or worse, getting greedy and taking her first chance as opposed to her best.
The girls must have been aware of their synergistic talents, because they truly shone as I was taking Nate through some paces. I wasn't as all surprised by his inability. While we were goofing around, Nate showed promise. Walking to Trent's I had moved my wallet around my pockets as the others tried to pick me, but Nate always aimed true with every attempt, even when I made efforts to move the wallet when I was sure he was looking away. Now though, as I was telling him to imagine me as a real mark, his morality was getting in the way. Just like the genius he probably was, Nate didn't see pickpocketing in the moment, like one needs to. He saw it five steps ahead, when his mark wouldn't be able to pay for something important, or when the heirloom watch once gifted by a dying grandfather, was now sitting in a pawn shop display case for twenty five bucks.
"Alright, let's take five," I waved Nate off. "A guy can only get felt up so many times in one day." I had hoped to get more laughs than I did, Nate was clearly demoralised. Jessica soon went over to him and asked him if he was ok while hugging him from the side. The action surprised me a little as she still registered in my mind as the piss in your cheerios bitch I had always thought of her. Nate tried to talk tough but ultimately admitted to feeling inferior to her and Riley. During this Trent and I were talking shop, trying to plan for anything else we might have to do for Kevin. Then, in my peripheral vision I saw Riley in her zone, creeping towards Nate and Jess. "Dude," I interrupted whatever Trent had been saying. "Check this out." The tone of Jessica and Nate's voices had shifted to something more positive, but I didn't hear the words. Riley had zeroed in on Nate, as Jessica moved him around in ways that seemed innocent she opened up perfect opportunities for Riley. Soon she had not only lifted Nate's phone, wallet and keys from various pockets, but she replaced them in different ones. When satisfied with her work she immediately departed and called to her partner.
"Hey Jess, you thirsty?"
"Yea kinda."
"Trent, you got anything to drink?"
"Water and the soy milk my mom keeps buying even though no one drinks it."
"Good enough for me." The two of them went upstairs and I soon heard water running.
"What do you think?" Nate sounded incredibly innocent as he asked. As if he sought validation in my response.
"I don't know what to think. I was trained to do this every day, for years." Nate shrugged at my response, clearly not what he wanted to hear. "Riley and Jess seem pretty good for day one, but they're still making a lot of mistakes, ones we probably won't be able to fix for a couple weeks." He tensed up as I praised the girls' skill, but relaxed as I offered the criticism. "Hey, what gen is your phone again? I'm thinking I should upgrade soon."
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"Oh yea? The G6 is pretty coo...what the hell?" As Nate went for where he believed his phone to be, only to find his keys, his expression became hilariously clueless.
"Back right." I told him simply. Immediately he checked all of his pockets and returned the objects to their respective homes.
"When the hell did you?"
"Mitch did you fucking ruin it?!" Riley yelled at me from the stairs as she and Jess came down with a round of glasses between them.
"The two of you made him your bitch, I couldn't let you rip him apart like we all know you would have."
"Oh come the fuck on!" Nate began pacing. "Really?! That whole you'll get it eventually bit was just a way to mess with me eh Jess?"
"No, I just saw a way to kill two birds with one stone."
"And that's all I am to you guys, all of you! An idiot to practice on and dead weight to drag around!"
"Oh shut the fuck up." My nonchalance appeared to have defused him. "We're not patronising or victimising you, or whatever you want to call it. We all have inherent talent here, even you. It's not actually hard to do, it's hard to master." Nate was still seething. "The only difference is how much of a good guy you are Nate."
"Not this crap again," he groaned.
"I'm not done!" I yelled louder than I wanted to. "I mean it. You were clearly raised right." He nodded slightly, despite being unclear about where I was headed with this. "Your moral compass genetically points north, you can't do much about it and that's not a bad thing. Riley and Jess are a harder read, but the gravity of the situation with Kevin has fortunately allowed them to ignore certain things they were taught as kids." By now Nate had received a glass of water and was drinking it slowly. "Me, well I don't really point anywhere anymore, I just turn it off when I need to. And Trent, well he learned from me, and I learned from the best." Grabbing my water, I took a long swig. "It's fine that you are the way you are. Every crew needs someone to keep them in check, and we have two." Everyone kind of looked around as to who else I was referring to.
"He means me," I knew it wouldn't take my friend very long to figure it out. "I can keep up with him on a thieving level and you Nate, you'll question everything we do, whether it's necessary, if maybe we can take half instead of everything, so on, so forth. Kevin's...whatever power he has over us is going to make us get greedy to avoid ever feeling that again. You need to make sure you're the one person who doesn't get that way."
Everyone was silent after the speech. No one really knew what to say. Finally, my patience wore out. "May as well peel out, we've been at this for almost three hours. I have no idea what our next assignment is going to be, but we're a thousand percent more ready for it than were for Luke's." What I said made enough sense and everyone grabbed their things to file upstairs. Nate and Jessica ran to catch a bus that they saw reaching a stop nearby, while Riley waved goodbye and started walking the other way.
"Thousand percent huh?"
"Well, nine eighty five for sure."
"Take care man."
"You too, seeya tomorrow."
Walking home all I could think about was how well the girls worked together. It seemed flawless. They would need loads more practice to work that well, and that fast on a real mark, one they hadn't been examining for almost two hours. All the same I kept coming back to what it could be like with someone running interference for me, the way Jess did for Riley, and the fact that I ranked Riley near myself, with the possibility of even being better. As long as Kevin didn't have us do something insane like rob a bank, I was confident he'd never have reason to use that pen again.
As I was coming down from the high of imagining never being burned again, I noticed my phone buzzing as I received a text, from my mom.
"Where are you?"
"Walking home from T"
"OK going to be long?"
"Nah, maybe 10...why?"
"Ray is here, says he wants to catch up."
"Cool"
It was anything but cool, I was immediately worried. He would undoubtedly ask whether or not I managed to sort things out the other day. Admittedly it was a flimsy excuse, but he was one of few people I had trouble lying to, most liikely from dealing with my dad's crap for years. The remaining ten or so minutes of walking were spent thinking of what exactly I would tell him when i got there.