As Kevin went on about his newest project for us, I stopped listening.

"Why are you making us do this now?!"  I finally burst.

"Excuse you?"

"Look, we're going too hard too fast.  Luke's was a violent crime, on top of my picking spree the cops will be getting off their asses.  Doing anything right now is twice as risky."  He stopped and seemed to think about what I had said.

"Mitch, the next time I want your opinion on something."  He pulled the pen from his pocket.  "I'm going to use this.  Am I understood?"  I wasn't sure how to respond so I kept quiet.  He wouldn't listen either way so I might as well excercise self preservation.  "Excellent, now, where was I?"

"You were telling us why we're doing this."

"Ah yes, thank you Jessica."  Kevin glanced at me quickly, making sure I'd stay in line.  A small part of me took solace in knowing he thought I was unpredictable.  "A certain...former partner of mine will be staying in the Ander's Hotel tonight.  Among his posessions will be one item of particular value, to me that is."  He paused to make sure we were all listening.  "Unlike Luke's unfortunately, you won't have a day to prepare.  He's here for the night and on a plane tomorrow morning.  How you obtain the item is of course up to you, ideally I would like him to board that plane still believing it is in his posession but, well I won't be picky this time."

"What even is it?"

"An astute question Nathan, thank you for asking."  Kevin's smile of fake pride was sickening.  "You will specifically be looking for an SD card.  Most likely kept in a phone or camera.  This particular card however, doesn't contain any video data."  After telling us a few more details, like the mark's check in time for the hotel and his room number, Kevin gave us all a picture of who we would be robbing.  "Now you don't have much time left to prepare so I suggest you get going."

We didn't wait to be told a second time.  Once outside the school, everyone crowded around me, something I was growing accustomed to.  Jessica was the first to speak.

"What's the plan Mitch?"

I was busy rubbing my eyes and groaning. "Ugh, this is so far out of my comfort zone!  Hell, knocking over a corner store was a stretch!"  I sighed and let myself start thinking.  "Ok, first we need to get into the hotel, scope out our accessibility."

"Yea, but The Ander's has a no minors policy."

"Correct Nate, which means you clearly are a minor.  Is anyone nineteen plus?"  Riley raised her hand.  "Cool, I have an ID that says I'm twenty two."

"Why?  And how?"

"When I was ten I overheard my dad talking about fake IDs, I told him I wanted one, he got me one, for some reason he added four years to it.  Got a problem with that Nate?"

"Get off my back dude!"  His response caught us all off guard.  "I'll admit I still hate every aspect of this, but what I hate most is that damn pen...so right now Mitch you're just someone full of resources and contacts that can keep Kevin from ever using it."

"Awesome!"  I clapped as Nate stepped ever so slightly on to my side.  "We're making progress on all fronts today."  Nate just rolled his eyes. "Ok Riley, you and I are going to go in as a couple.  We'll say it's our anniversary or some cheesy shit.  Our mark is on the sixth floor so we get as close as we can to that.  Ideally we run into him and ask him to take a picture of us or something, swap camera and or phone with him, and check for the card."

"What about the rest of us?"

"Trent, you Jessica and Nate will recon the surrounding area.  Getaway routes, hiding spots, the works."  They all knodded agreement.  "If Riley and I can't get the card in a handoff, we loot the room.  According to Kevin, our guy will be conducting his business at night so we'll have some time, but not a definite window."

"Make sure when you pick the guy, you get one of his room cards."

"Nice call Riley, thank you.  Of course the real problem comes into play if both of those plans fail.  We're aiming for zero detection here but failure isn't an option."

"What are you going to do if that happens?"

"Whatever I have to Trent, but as little of it as possible."  I knew he didn't like my answer because I didn't either.

Everyone went home to change and prepare, knowing to meet at a local landmark near the hotel.  I arrived last.

"What's with the Bluetooth?"

"Constant contact.  I never want to be out of the loop, so when we get started, four way conference call.  Hope you all have minutes."

"You don't exactly look like the type to be wearing one of those though dude."

"Aready taken care of Jess."  I took one last look at my crew.  "We good?"

"Not good, but ready."

"Works for me."  Setting up the call was awkward, but after a few minutes we had all four phones linked up.  As Riley and I walked towards the hotel doors I noticed her outfit.  "You look good."

"Thanks, you said we'd be pretending to be celebrating so I went with it.  You're looking sharp too, hun."  I was initially taken back by the pet name, until I realised she was getting into her character.  I thanked her as I pulled at my collar.  This black button-up may look good but today was too damn hot for it.

"This parking lot is tiny," I heard Nate over the headset.  "Plus side, he can't leave in a hurry."

"You think he's got his own car for one day?" Jessica asked.

"I would, I definitely wouldn't trust a cab to drive me to my illicit dealings."

"Good," I interrupted.  "We're assuming our guy has a rental, I like it, keep the chatter coming, but a little more quietly eh?"  Riley bumped my arm as we neared the doors.  "Going silent for a minute guys."  I hit mute on the earpiece as I opened the door for Riley.  The lobby was nice, as long as I could look past the pretentious nature anyway.  This was definitely a place you stayed at to spend money, not sleep.  I walked to the clerk quickly.  She glanced up and then back down after seeing my earpiece.  "Hi, sorry it's just a hearing aid."  She looked at me with a little disbelief.

"Really?"

"Yea, a friend suggested it about a year ago, now no one can tell.  Plus, added convenience if anyone calls me."

"That's a good idea, my nephew is really self conscious about his.  I'll have to remember that.  Anyway, how can I help you two?"  After handing back our IDs and my credit card she smiled wide.  "How long are you looking to stay?"

"Just one night."  Riley beat me to it.  I was glad.  I didn't want to do all the talking.  "And do you have anything on the sixth floor?"

"Hmm, yes.  It's mostly empty.  May I ask why?"

"Our lucky number, we met on the sixth, and a bunch of other cheesy reasons."  I was surprised.  Riley was weaving together a backstory I hadn't thought of yet.

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"Oh how cute, well 606 is taken unfortunately."

"That's fine.  As long as we have a balcony to see the moon from."  The clerk fawned over Riley's fake affection once more and entered us into the computer.

"Enjoy your stay."  With that she handed us our cards and directed us to the elevator.

Inside the elevator I congratulated Riley on her deception.  She responded in kind about my hearing aid lie.  As we stepped onto the floor and turned, I couldn't believe our luck.  The mark was right in front of us, leaving his room.  Without thinking, I walked right up to him.

"Excuse me, could you take our picture quickly?"  He agreed with a smile.  After snapping a half dozen or so Riley, suggested we take one more, with him, to commemorate his kind gesture.  By this point I was floored.  Riley was in tune with me, providing perfect angles to let me work.  As she raised the camera I had snagged his phone and dropped his wallet on the floor.  As he walked away I quickly grabbed one of his room cards and called him over.  "Hey guy, you dropped your wallet!"  He thanked me and left in a hurry.

"What are you doing?"  Riley asked as I walked over to the room we had been assigned.

"The computers are linked to the door locks.  If we never enter our room it will look suspicious as fuck.  That and I want to see what I just spent two hundred and twenty bucks for."  We checked out the room for a few minutes and I made a mental note to remember the place.  Expensive as it was, this was definitely somewhere you went to treat yourself, and someone else.

"Hey check it out, There's a not shit wine in the minibar."

"Oh yea?  How much?"

"Eighty dollars?!  Sheesh!"

"Well it wasn't my credit card."

"Oh yea?  Does Clarence Davies drink red wine?"

"He's more of a whiskey and Coke kind of guy."

"Hey how's the gang doing?"

"Oh crap." I immediately unmuted the headset.  "How we looking down there?"  I got a collective finally, before Jessica told me she saw the mark leave the building.  "Yea, the swap was a success.  Checking his phone now, didn't see a camera."  Inspecting the phone I didn't find any memory cards.  "Shit, well, plan B."  Riley put the wine away and we headed to the mark's room.  It looked identical to our own, it was untouched, save for a few used towels.  "This isn't looking good."  The two of us searched what we could but ultimately we had nothing to look through.

"What now Mitch?"

"I hate to say it guys...but plan B was a bust.  All we have left is..."  I let myself trail off, not trusting myself to say it out loud.  I would have to interrogate this guy.  I didn't trust myself to do it.

"Well you're not doing it with just the two of you!"  Came Trent's voice.

"I hope not dude...I have an idea.  Come on Riley, and be ready to make those adorable girlfriend eyes again."

"What the?"

Heading back to the lobby, I approached the clerk again, somewhat sheepishly this time.  "Excuse me?"

"Oh hello, do you need something?"

"Just an answer to a question.  See, as hard as we tried to keep this a secret,"  I pointed between Riley and myself.  "A few of our friends found out and want to come crash the party for a bit."

"Oh that's fine, as long as you don't disturb any other guests I don't see why.."

"They're technically underage."

"Technically?"

"They're eighteen.  I'm guessing the policy is fairly stringent so I didn't want to risk it."  She thought about it for a minute, I sensed she wouldn't allow it.  Then Riley chimed in.

"Please?"  She pleaded.  "They're the friends who helped us meet in the first place!"  That did it.  Once again Riley had wooed this woman over.

"Well as long as I see that they're eighteen, I wont stand in the way of something so special."  Riley squealed happily and kissed my cheek, a level of acting I wasn't aware I should maintain.

We left to meet the others outside.  We walked around the block together to avoid any suspicions from the clerk.  When she checked everyone in, she sent Riley and I a wink.  We hurried to our room.

"Damn this is swanky!"

"Jess...did you just use the word swanky?"

"What about it Nate?"

"Easy!"  I commanded.  "We don't have time to screw around.  Now, either I missed a pick, and I don't miss my picks...or the card is somewhere on the guy that I can't pick."

"Is that even possible?"

"Yes, there are few places I can't...or won't reach."  Everyone snickered a little.  "So here's the plan.  Trent and I wait in his room, we jump him when he gets back and we call you guys.  From there...we get the card, we leave, end of story.  Questions?"

"Yea, what do we do?"

"Enjoy the room, like Jess said, it is pretty swanky."

As we left, Trent immediately called into question my ability to do this safely.  I tried to reassure him, but barely reassured myself.  I made a point of avoiding violence, he had become something of a bodyguard due to that.  After entering the next room we took opposite spots next to the door.  Me in the closet and him in the bathroom.  It seemed to take forever, despite only a couple hours going by.  At first we tried to make conversation but the tension was too much.  I wondered what the other three were getting up to.  Then I heard it, the beep and click of the door unlocking.  I couldn't guarantee the mark wouldn't use the closet or bathroom so I took my only chance.  I tackled him hard from the side and tried to throw him forward.  It sort of worked, then Trent dove on top of him, mashing his face into the floor.  Grabbing a towel, I wrapped it around his head as Trent maintained his pin.

"Get something to tie this guy already!"

"With what?!"  Just then I saw a lamp on a side table.  It was much harder to tie up someone who doesn't want to be tied up than I anticipated, but I eventually got it.  After gagging him properly and making sure the guy was under control, I texted the gang.  "Showtime."  The guy's eyes widened as he saw three more borderline kids file into the room.  I slapped him across the face to get his attention back.  "Please make this easy.  All I want is an SD card."  He muffled through the gag, as if asking for it to be removed.  "Give me any reason to...and I break your face."  Trent pulled the hand towel out slowly.

"That card is the only thing keeping me alive right now."

"You're assuming we don't just kill you and rummage through your stuff, this is just quicker."  Trent took the words out of my mouth.  It was a little unsettling.

"You're kids!  You wouldn't even know how!  Let alone have the guts!" He spat in my face.  I wasn't sure how to reply. Then Jessica came from behind me.

"Oh yea?"  She pulled a knife from her back pocket, something that scared me a little.  Tipping our victims head down she ran the dull side against his neck.  "Carotid artery, jugular vein, trachea...unconscious in a minute, dead in another.  Makes a bitch of a mess though.  She flipped the knife so that the blade was pressed to skin.  "We might be seeing who has what guts in a second alright."  Her delivery was haunting, and it worked.

"Fine fine!  Jesus!  The inner pocket on my right side, it's in there."  It was hard to fish a tiny card out of the tiny pocket of a restrained person, but I finally had it.

"Now what?"  I wasn't sure who asked.  I was too busy making a call.

"Hello."

"Big man...I did something stupid."

"Well, you certainly have your mom's attention span."

"Can it, you can beat me up later.  Right now I need a quiet kit."

"How quiet?"

"Silent, and forever if you can."

"I don't have the supplies."

"I have two Little Annies and five eyes...that work?"

"That works.  Where?"

"The Anders, now."

"Seeya in ten."

"What the heck was that?"

"Our way out."

Ray showed up in ten minutes like he said.  Coming right up to the room he sighed at what he saw. "What the fuck Boss?"  He sent us away as he got to work.  We all went to the bedroom.

"What's he doing?"

"Don't ask questions you don't want answered.  Now here's our story.  The mark attacked the girls.  So Riley, Jessica, we've got to mess you up a little bit."

"Mess us up?"

"A couple hits, just enough to bruise, more would be more convincing but..."

"What else?"

"Two of us, I'm thinking me and Trent defended you two, knocked him down.  Nate, you were in the hotel room with Ray."

"You have a criminal past Mitch..." I punched Nate's shoulder as he said my name.  "I'm just as likely to defend them."

"Maybe, but Riley and I checked in as a couple.  I'm in this fight regardless."

"If he wants to brawl I'll sit out."

"Fine...oh and one more thing, make sure your stories are all a little different.  It's easier to believe if we all remember a few things differently.  As long as the main point gets through, that's all the cops will care about.  Now for the shitty part."  Jessica and Riley braced themselves.  Riley was especially tense.  I didn't blame her.  This was so far from what I was hoping for.  Trent and I just stood awkwardly for a second, not quite sure how to hit someone so that it wouldn't hurt too much but still make a mark.

"Man up and fucking do it!"  As Jess called him out, Trent backhanded her across the face, the sound sickened me.

"I can't...I can't do this."  I walked out to see Ray finishing up.  The mark's arm was tied off and a needle was sticking out.  I heard a few more blows land behind me.

"Good to go?"

"Good?  No, but ready."  I ran him through the story and we positioned everyone.

After calling the police, as well as the hotel it wasn't long before the place was swarming with people.  A couple EMT's looked over the girls while officers took statements from everyone.  I feigned anger and fear as well as I knew how, and hoped everyone else was doing ok.  After a couple hours of hassle, of being questioned again and again, we were finally free to go.  Everyone went their separate ways, while Ray and I walked slowly together.

"Want to know how much that kit cost?"

"A lot."

"Little over a grand Mitch.  You're going to tell me everything."

"Ninety percent?"  He stopped.

"Everything Mitch.  That was serious.  They were not Little Annies, and you know it.  You're going to tell me, because of what you did to them."

"Ok, everything."  I was quiet for the rest of the walk to his car.  I hadn't seem him like this in years, and I'd prayed I never would again.  "I'm sorry."

"I'm not who you should be saying it to.  Did my time, money and effort at least go to a good cause?"

"I fucking hope so."