14.
Have you ever seen The Italian Job? You know where the hot Mark Wahlberg hooks up with hot Charlize Theron? And hot Jason Statham oozes hotness in every shot? Yeah, that one. Well, let me tell you something, they got the whole preparation for the job wrong. Because it looks way…hotter on screen than it actually is. First off, we don't get to do drifts on really cure Mini-Coopers the way they do. Second, there is no way on earth I am going to get ready for a job wearing nothing but a bra and shorts. And third… well there is no Jason Statham.
Instead, we have over-caffeinated teenagers, who are hormonally instable and mood-challenged, who are trying to pull a con on something that resembles Fort Knox. Only one look at the security of the so-called 'bishop's house' could make the best con artist cringe. Granite walls, protected by a blast-proof door approximately 20 inches thick, tons of alarms, surveillance cameras from pretty much every angle and machine guns triggered by breath-sensitive laser beams. And if that wasn't enough, there is a fourteen digit code that according to the information given by Uncle Leonard isn't known by anyone but the one and only Bishop Abruzzi, age seventy three, retired from preaching ten years ago to dedicate his life to understanding God's Word and protect The Sons' of Hermes secrets in his spare time.
"In my professional opinion, this place is a pass for a regular crew." Carolina's voice firmly announced in the silence that fell over everybody when the complexity of the security unveiled step by step.
"Good thing we are not a regular crew." Sebastian muttered mostly to himself, furrowing a brow.
"That is correct. We aren't. That's why we will be able to figure something out."
Good old Lina. Never jump to conclusions until every last bit of information hasn't been analyzed.
I kept looking at the blueprints and I couldn't help but feel that something was missing.
"William, are these the complete blueprints?"
"What do you mean?" he asked sounding genuinely confused.
"Something's missing." I said as I scratched my head. Ok, not a lady-like thing to do, but at this point, I needed a guy-repellent. STAT.
"What do you mean 'missing'? Are you doubting my dad? Because he would never give you false information."
"I am not saying that you dad was trying to lead us on the false track." I said through gritted teeth. "God, is it so hard to think, I don't know, wider? Look past personal implications? Not everything I say is a direct blow at one of you."
"What are you trying to say Nika." Sebastian said in a reasoning voice. "We are listening."
I exhaled and pointed at a particular spot on the prints.
"This is an old castle, early sixteenth century. Build under the Medici family. Doesn't that tell you anything?"
They all looked at me not unlike those bug-thingies in Man in Black.
"How do you know this kind of shit?" Christian asked clearly stunned with my knowledge of useless trivia.
"Because I read something other than Maxim magazine. But that's not the point. The point is that there is no way the Medici's build a castle and didn't add a couple of underground passages, just for the heck of it."
"How can you be so sure?" William asked in a doubtful voice.
"When you are as powerful as them, you are bound to have enemies. Who want to kill you. Ergo the need of an escape route. Preferably a secret one."
"There is no passage in here." William said after taking a glance at the prints.
"My point exactly. These blueprints are incomplete not because of your dad being a bad person but because they are too new. Whoever did them either consciously hid those passages from your dad or didn't think they were worthy of consideration. So what we do is find the original design of the castle and look for underground passages that connect with the library ideally or anything adjacent in the worst case. Lina, you're on it. Pam, I want you to have a look at them to and see if we'll have to blow up something."
"What do you want us to do?" Christian asked gesturing at him and his brother.
"Adam could take you to the actual castle so you could take some pictures and see how close you can get without arousing suspicion. Maybe search the grounds to see if there is a place where we can set up a mini-base. How much time is it going to take to get there?" I asked turning to Adam.
He furrowed his brow and thought about it for a second.
"If Sebastian gives me his jet, I can have them back by dinnertime."
I looked at Sebastian. He shrugged and said in a flat voice:
"It's all yours."
Adam's face lit up like a flash-bulb.
"Perfect. Let's go." He said to the brothers.
"Be careful, will you please?"
They laughed like three teenage boys going out clubbing instead of a clandestine mission. So young and careless.
"Will do ma'" Adam said in his most law-respecting citizen voice he could, but I could swear I heard him telling the Brothers that he was going to do some sort of triple twist on their way to Tuscany.
"That leaves me with the two of you." I said turning to William and Sebastian, who were standing pretty much shoulder to shoulder, but were doing an excellent job at completely ignoring each other.
"William, I want you to go and look for possible ways of contacting that Bishop and maybe even stage some sort of diversion. I prefer entering without extra fuss if that's possible."
He nodded sharply and took a last look at me, almost as he was trying to say something but couldn't quite work up the courage to do it. Then he left abruptly, leaving me and Sebastian completely alone, in the huge dining hall, filled with the golden sun-light.
"You and I, we need to talk."
Do you know what are the four most dreaded words by the entire male population? The words that trigger every self-defense jerkiness that exists in a guy? You know what I'm talking about. It's the infamous 'we-need-to-talk' phrase. Guys automatically assume a break-up is coming their way and duck immediately. Coming to their defense, I can say that girls can be real bitches sometimes. Well, actually girls are bitches all the time, they just hide it well. Mimicry and shit.
Anyhow, I expected Sebastian's reaction when I dropped the W-bomb. All according to the standard scenario: wide eyes, open mouths, hurt expressions. And the irony was that I actually wasn't dating him, so technically he didn't have a reason to be afraid of a break-up. If I were Pavlov, I would have said that it was some sort of reflex, developed over time, as a survival skill. My biology tutor would have been very proud of me for finding n applicable example of the authenticity of the evolutionary theory.
"This whole thing is got to stop." I said looking at the forest that was spreading right in front of us.
"What thing?"
I laughed humorlessly. Now I was supposed to be the tutor? It was always Sebastian who explained how things worked relationship-wise. Not an easy task to complete as it turned out.
"I don't know Sebastian. And believe me; it would have been much easier if I did. But there is one thing that I know for sure: I'm tired of it."
We stood there silent for a moment, the wind playing with my hair and gently kissing my face.
"You're tired of us?"
He said it so quietly that for a second there, I thought that it was the wind messing with my hearing.
"Are you tired of us Nika?" he asked again, more pointedly this time.
I looked at me feet and noticed that I really needed a pedicure. Weird right? The things you notice at the most inopportune moments?
"Answer me!" and he grabbed both of my arms and spun me to face him and his glowing eyes. And that's when I snapped.
"Sebastian fucking Nottingham, take your hands off me! I am not your fucking property for you to toss me around! And FYI, there is no US! This whole 'us' shit ended almost a year ago, when you, the man-whore you are, decided to have a fucking quickie with the hot secretary! During a job! On my birthday! So yeah, pardon me if I am not exactly feeling you for the moment!"
I was out of breath by the time I finished my little speech, but it felt good. He deserved it, and for the first time in days, I had the upper hand.
"Are you done yet?" he asked tentatively.
"Not even close, Sebastian."
"Can I at least say something in my defense?"
I almost chocked on my own saliva, so ludicrous that sounded, coming out of his mouth.
"Defense? Sebastian, you broke my heart. You broke my fucking heart, and then you stomped on it and now you are trying to patch it together, when there are nothing more than dust particles left out it." I took a step closer and looked him in the eyes. He was in hurting; I could see that in the way his eyes got darker, almost black and glistering with tears. But it was good. It was the right thing to do.
"Sebastian, we had magic. Pure and absolute bliss."
"I know what we had."
"You do? Really? Well, would you care to enlighten me?" I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
"I made a mistake. It happens."
"It doesn't."
"But it does. People lie, they cheat, they ignore all the laws and they obstruct justice. Because that is human nature."
"Sebastian, what you did wasn't 'human nature'. That was you dick talking. Very loudly might I add."
"Please…"
I stopped him, before he could talk his way out of this.
"No. You've said enough. I want you to stay away from me. I want you to help me do this con, and then forget about me. It is the least thing you can do."
"Don't I at least deserve the benefit of the doubt?" he asked in a pleading voice.
I looked at him, really looked. Probably for the first time in ages. Without the blitz and aura of his wealth surrounding his entire being. Just a lonely boy, who was taught how to play a game of hearts at a very young age, and now he's finally found his match. And for some reason, I didn't feel the usual pang in the chest when I took all of him in. I actually felt…clean again.
"I am done Sebastian. We've lost it all. Our love, or whatever it was for you, is now gone. You've lost me."
I expected him to say something, to try and charm his way out of this, get the last word in, but… he didn't. He just closed the distance that was between us and for the last time cupped my face in his hot palms.
"Are we finished?" he asked in the voice of a Death Row prisoner, just before execution.
I gently took his hands away and let them drop by his sides.
"We are, Sebastian. We sure are."