Chapter 4

Atlas

I raised my head from my cards when Tessa slid into the seat next to me. She curled into the seat her legs drawn under her. I smirked when I saw the mnm packet. I turned my attention back to the interview Art was conducting, the interviewer raving about our overnight success.

"They'll be the first magicians in history to get laid" came the loud exclamation. Tessa giggled next to me and I raised an eyebrow at her. She just smirked at me, and then ran her gaze over me. I swallowed nervously as she rested her head on my shoulder, soft curls brushing against my jaw. All I could think about was that truck ride, her body pressed close against mine, as we hid underneath the piles of Euros.

"I got it!" she exclaimed, grabbing the paper from the printer. Her curls bouncing as she jumped up from her chair. I reached for the paper in her hand, reading it over and over. "The Credit de Republican de Paris should be more careful with their records" she said in a bad French accent. I chuckled at her as she snatched the paper back, skipping over to jack and falling into the seat beside him. "Think you can replicate that?" she asked pointing to the signature on the back of the credit card pictured. "No problem" drawled Jack, grinning at her.

"Excellent" I clapped my hands together. "Now we just have to target the truck."

"One step ahead of you Danny" laughed Henley from in front of the computer. "Everything is in position. Now all we have to do is wait til it gets dark."

"What do you think?" Merritt smirked, standing in the doorway in his newly acquired police officers uniform. "Do I make a convincing officer of the law?" The others laughed while I looked him over for flaws. "Perfect" I replied "Now that's taken care of. Jack have you got everything ready?" I look to the youngest horsemen. "Yeah good to go" he smirked. "Right now Tessa, Henley, you guys will go underneath, stick the guard with a needle and i…"

"No nuh uh" Henley cut in. "You know I don't do needles. I'm not doing it Danny" she insisted shaking her head. "What? You wait til now to tell me. We need you two in there, you two will fit in there no problems. You're an escape artist! Tight spaces are your forte and I need to be ready on the outside in case anything goes wrong. We have to stick to the plan. We only get one shot at this. "

"You do it then Danny, I'm not being with needles, and I'm definitely not stabbing some stranger with one." she was adamant. I sighed placing my head in my hands. "Henley we had it all planned out, it needs to go off without a hitch. Someone needs to be outside, to signal Jack and monitor everything."

"I can be outside and signal Jack" She replied evenly. "and you can stab the guard with the needle" she finished. "Everyone else fine with that?" she asked the other horsemen, who all agreed. I sighed, why did she have to be so stubborn.

"Quickly come on" Tessa tugged on my hand pulling me around the corner with her. "Henley can only distract them for so long" she muttered. I hurried along behind her as we weaved our way through the labyrinth of trucks, trying to locate the right one. Suddenly I heard footsteps approaching; I quickly pull Tessa behind one of the Trucks, sliding a hand over her mouth. Her eyes lock with mine and I place a finger over my lips, asking her to be quiet before removing my hand.

I peered around the corner of the truck, watching as the heavy set guard slowly made his way towards the exit. He rounded the corner and let out a breathe in relief. We'd have to move quickly, scanning the numbers on the trucks I reached behind me for Tessa only to snatch at empty air. I spun around in circles searching for her. She couldn't have been caught? Surely there would have been noise, yelling, footsteps, alarms, something if someone had spotted her.

"Danny" I looked around hearing her voice, before finally spotting her two trucks down. "Danny! Come on!" she hissed, waving her hand frantically. I raced towards her as she began pulling on the doors, my hands overlapped hers as I helped her pull the weighted doors open.

"After you" I whispered, helping her up into the back. She reached her hand towards me, helping to hoist me up. She grinned up at me, "Were in" she giggled hair falling in her eyes as she started running her fingers along the floor, searching for the trap door. "Not over yet" I added wryly, helping her search for the edge. The benefit of the trap door was it is undetectable on the floor so the guards wouldn't notice, unfortunately that made it hard for us to find as well. "Where's the escape artist when you need her" whispered Tessa, I rolled my eyes and glared at the floor. Doors slammed outside the truck and Tessa swore, her movements becoming more frantic as she searched for the edge. "Come on, come on" I muttered as footsteps followed. "Gotcha" Tessa breathed, pulling the door open and sliding down below. I grinned and slipped down after her. "Ow. Danny" she exclaimed as she pulled herself from beneath half of me. "I thought you were coordinated" she muttered rubbing her arm and scowling. "Sorry" I replied, reaching up to pull the door closed over us, pulling twice once it was closed to make sure it was secure. "Have you got the needle" she whispered, he breath close to my ear, I turned my head to look at her. We were nose to nose, her eyes wide, curls brushing against my cheek. I nodded, not sure how to make my voice work. Just as I was about to reply the truck door opened above us and the added weight of a guard make the truck tilt slightly. Tessa braced her hand against the wall of our hiding place, jumping slightly as the first stack of euros was slammed down on top of us.

Tessa twitched beside me and I turned my head as much as I could towards her. She looked back at me and bit her lip. I smiled, knowing she was nervous. I was nervous too. There was just too many variables that could go wrong in this plan, too many things out of my control. What if Merritt was late? Or the driver took a detour, or if something stupid happened like one of them sneezing and giving them away before the drivers could be distracted. Not to mention the blonde haired distraction lying beside me. Every line of my body was touching hers, the small space was both a blessing and a curse. I loved being this close to her, normally I'd purposely make excuses to get this close to her, but at the moment it was killing me. I could feel her, her shoulders moving slightly as breathes, her curls brushing against my cheek, every nerve on my body was burning from her touch. She looked back at me, a small smile playing on her face as she reached for my hand, interlocking my fingers with hers.

It felt like only seconds before the sound of muffled sound of sirens filled the air. Tessa turned to me mouthing 'show time' I smirked back before pulling the needle out of my sleeve. I watched as a pair of boots made their way around the stack of notes, lifting hand through the crack, until the boots reached me, just enough ankle showing for me to stab the needle into hi flesh. The security guy falling to the floor with a solid thud. I reached for the handle pushing the hatch open. I breathed a sigh of relief when it opened, Tessa giggling beside me as a waterfall of stacked euros came down upon us. i sat up, pulling Tessa with me, as the doors to the truck opened up. "Hey boys" Tessa laughed as Merritt reached a hand out to hoist her up. I sat there numb for a few seconds, missing the warmth of her hand in mine. "Careful Danny" Henley whispered in my ear "If you keep staring at her like that, she might actually know you like her" I glared at Henley before standing up. Henley simply laughed before throwing stacks at Jack to put into bags. We moved quickly, Merritt standing as guard/look out. Before I knew it, the money was safely packed in the car with the flash paper acting as the perfect replacement. Tessa's voice drew my attention. "Want to do the honours?" she asked jack, holding up the card and identical ticket stub. "Be my pleasure" he grinned, jumping and dropping the paper threw the stacks.

Tessa nudged me, drawing me out of my thoughts, I turned to her and smile handing me a handful of brown mnm's. The first time I saw her meticulously sort and colour code her mnm's I was curious. It wasn't until I watched her flick the brown ones to the edges that I laughed. Her head had whipped up and she had smiled sheepishly at me. "What they're pointless anyway" she remarked before telling me I was welcome to them. After that it was tradition that I got her brown mnms. I smiled and ate my handful.

As Art chattered away about gas masks, I felt Tessa curl into my side her voice low , "What if it doesn't work?" she whispered.

"What? Not worried are you?" I smirk down at her, trying to assure her with confidence. "What if he doesn't go for it?" she mumbled, looking up at me as worry filled her eyes making her forehead crinkle. "Look at him" I reassured. "I'm surprised there's enough room for everyone and his ego in here". She giggled as she watched Art mime putting on a gas mask. She leans back into me relaxed by the fact that Art is so self-assured he believes he's actually the one pulling the strings here. As Arts interview draws to a close she sighs and dramatically pulls herself out of her seat. "Showtime" she grins before she floats down the aisle to Henley and Merritt.

My gaze follows her as she falls into the seat next to Henley, the three of them soon giggling like school girls. I mentally run through the plan again, checking and double checking for possible flaws. I smile satisfied that nothing will go wrong and begin sizing up Art once more. Tessa's laughter rings through the plane, a little too loud, the signal that everyone was ready. Showtime.

I strolled down the aisle, brushing off Jack as I came to stand in the doorway facing the small giggling group. "Uh, hey guys we've got a show to prepare for" I stated. Tessa nudged Merritt's leg and he rose, walking towards me smirking. "Oh, no ,no, no" I spoke, turning away from Merritt, hands raised, to get Arts attention "You're not doing that thing to me".

"What thing?" Merritt asked, his voice laced with fake innocence as he stalked towards me. "I'm just looking at you".

"No you're not" I cut in "I've been watching you for a year. I know all your little tricks" I smirked, making air quotes around 'tricks'.

"Ohh I would not say that if I were you" Tessa sang out, watching as Merritt drew himself taller. We definitely had Art's attention now.

"Is that what they are to you? Tricks?" He asked. "Yes there gimmicks, tricks, Barnum statements, reading the eyes and body language. I get it" I finished, smugly.

"If it's that easy why don't you do it?" he challenged. "Why don't you try Henley?" Henley laughed, ducking to sit next to Jack. "Leave me out of this" she shook her head. Merritt grinned, "What about you sweetheart?" He asked, throwing an arm around Tessa. "Yeah Danny, do me" she teased. I shook my head, "No you're too easy" I smirked, "I'll do Jasmine" I placed a hand on Arts assistants' shoulder.

"No" came a deep voice from behind me, "Do me". I spun around to face Art, reclined in his seat. "Yeah do Art" Merritt nodded in agreement.

"This'll be fun" stage whispered Tessa as she moved to sit with Jack and Henley. I squeezed past Merritt to face Art who looked up at me, "I warn you, I can be difficult to read when I want to be" he said smugly. "Just stay with me" I replied, shifting to pretend to be nervous. "Okay, okay. You were a real tough kid, a real kind of rapscallion" I began, watching as Art smiled, I nodded, "You had a real tough dog, a real brutish breed. I want to say Ben the bulldog?" I asked, letting my face fall as Art laughed.

"Actually I was a prissy little tot, with a big fluffy cat named Snuffles" he chuckled. Causing the group to burst out laughing. I turned and punched the overhead rack in an attempt to hide my smirk. One down, one to go. It was almost too easy; Tressler took any opportunity he had to prove he was top dog. "Oh that's real good" Merritt added between chuckles. "Come on, even I could do better than that" Taunted Jack, causing Henley and Tessa to giggle and agree.

"Come one, one more time, one more time" I pleaded. Henley cut in "He could do way better" she added pointing to Jack. I shook my head. "Family, let's do family" I interrupted, leaning down to look at Art better. "You had an uncle on your mother's side" I trailed off, as if I was searching for words. "He had a real masculine name, like a real kind of salt of the earth, like a real stick it to you..." I watched as Arts grin grew, he thought he was ahead, like he was in control of us. How little he really knew.

I sucked in a breath, "I'm gonna say Paul? Was it a Paul Thompson?" I asked, staring at Art before I raised my hands and stepped back. "Okay you know what, I got nothing" I trailed off. "Nearly there" Art chuckled. "Really" I asked surprised. "Yeah" replied Art leaning in closer, 'my uncle's name was Cushmin Armatidge".

"Really?" I asked in disbelief, "your childhood was snuffles and Cushmin Armatidge". More laughter before Art cut in again "I certainly hope tonight's show is going to be better than this". I smirked; tonight's show was definitely going to be better, well maybe not for Art. "Don't worry, it will be".