Koodles4you: I love you and your reviews, even if you threaten me:D Your the only one who reviewed my last chapter so you get a special note from me at the begining of the story instead of the end! I'm gald you love Jim so much. This chapter is one where they start working as their criminal selves. I hope you like it.

12. Tequila

"There's me little trickster!" Exclaimed Jim, at dinner that night. I grinned impishly at him. "Whatevah made ya want to trick yoah friend?"

" Its all in the name I guess," I joked.

"Yoah name?" asked Drake.

"Yeah. Loki is a Scandinavian name meanin 'trickstah god." (A/N I know Scandinavia is a group of counties, but I wasn't sure which one Loki came from.)

The two men exchanged glances and began to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"The name suits you," said Jim, a grin still on his face. I didn't comment on that one. I never had liked the name cast upon me as a child. It was almost like a curse, telling me what my fate would be.

"So I takes it dat you two have plans tonight?" I asked, changing the subject.

"We're meetin with our employers."

"Do you need me tah come?" I asked.

"It would be best if ya didn't. If they were evah tah leak information about us, I wouldn't want 'em labelin you as part of the team." Told Jim.

"But ya will tell me what 'appens when you get home right?"

"Yes Loki. And I suspect we'll need yoah help."

I cleaned up the dishes while Jim and Drake went out to their meeting. When I was finished I got very bored, and trying to read a book was too painful.

I searched around the room for something to do and my eyes fell on a piece of paper and a pencil.

Sitting down, I began to draw nothing in particular. An hour later, a picture was formed on the page. I had never drawn before, or even had access to a pencil and paper, but looking at my picture, it seemed almost real.

There was a newsboy waving a paper in the air, buildings of New York towering behind him. The wind was blowing through his hair, and his mouth was wide open, I could almost hear him calling the headlines.

"Friend of yoahs?"

I shrieked and jumped up from my chair. I was very annoyed as I faced Jim, who was laughing at me. I hadn't heard him come in.

"Nice picture," Said Jim, cheekily.

"How'd the time go?" I asked, not amused with him.

"We've met as much as we need to, we are ready to strike. Want to help framing a man foah fraud?"

"Fraud and trickery is what I do best." I said, winking at Jim.

I took a deep breath as I marched into the bank. My character was Miss Anders- that's right, Anders like my brothers first name.

Ms. Anders owned a great deal of money and wished to deposit it into the bank. I was to refuse to hand it over until I talked with the manager.

So my job was to pretty much march into the manager's office, hand over my money, and get out. Drake had gotten a job at the bank and he and Jim would do the rest.

A clerk crept in front of me and eyed my finely dressed figure. I ignored the sleazy clerk and continued walking. The man clamored after me and touched my arm.

"May I assist you ma'am?" he asked, in a nasally voice.

"No. I wish to speak to your manager. I have a matter of some importance to discus with him."

The man looked reluctantly at me, but I continued to stare up at him. The man was probably only 5'8 or so, but yet he was still taller than me.

He obviously looked down on me, and wouldn't let me through, so I knew a bit of intimidation was needed in order to win.

I reached up and began to slowly stroke my ear.

Stroking my ear was a trick I had learned when I was twelve. I had been punished for one of Anders crimes and was sitting in a corner. Anders had come up and was grinning cruelly at me.

I began to stroke my ear, and next thing you know it he's getting all nervous, and goes running out of the house.

The clerk began to fidget until he finally cracked. "Alright, follow me." I smiled and took my hand away from my ear.

That trick worked every time.

Since I was getting close to my objective I began to feel nervous. As I was led past the rows of desks, my attention was caught by a young guy probably around 26 or 27, arguing with a clerk.

He turned around and I recognized him. With his face smooth, Jim looked younger than I would have guessed. He winked at me reassuringly and turned back to argue more with the bank clerk.

I held my head up high and continued walking. I felt calm knowing that Jim was near by.

I was led into an office where a man was sitting at his desk, smoking a cigar. He was probably in his fifties, and he had a big gut of a stomach.

" Are you the manager?" I asked, strutting past the clerk.

The manager smiled and stood up.

"Yes I am. I'm Arnold Straus, and you are?"

"C-Camilla Anders," I stuttered.

This man, our target, was Madeline's father! I really didn't want to hurt Madeline, but thinking about it, I realized I wasn't really hurting her, just her father. What kid ever cared about their father any way? I never did.

" And how may I help you Ms. Anders?" asked Mr. Straus, pulling up a chair for me. I sat down and looked at him from across his desk.

"Well Sir, quite a large amount of money has been entrusted to me, I must find a place that I can trust to store it."

"I can assure you Madame, that in this banks care your money will be safe. How much are you thinking of depositing?"

"Oh about half of it I think. That would be 5,000 dollars."

"five thousand!" Mr. Straus choked, "I now see why you want them safe. Here, you may even put your money in my personal safe box."

Mr. Straus produced a key from his suit pocket and unlocked a cupboard in his desk. He reached in, and pulled out a metal box with a lock on it. He also unlocked this, and pushed the box towards me.

"Will it be safe in there?" I asked, inspecting the box.

"Perfectly. I will transfer it to the safe room myself."

I smiled, and pulled out a bundle of money.

When Jim had first given me the wad, I had been shocked. Never before had I seen so much money. I was told that half of it was counterfeit and the other half was given to us by our clients.

I set the money into the safe box, and Mr. Straus closed the lid and locked it again.

"Very good Ms. Anders. And I hope that soon you will entrust us with your remaining five thousand."

"I will consider it. Thank you for your help Mr. Straus, you've put my mind at ease."

I shook his hand, and quickly excited his office. I would have run out of the building, but it would cause a scene so I slowly left the building.

Outside, Jim walked up beside me and took my hand.

"I didn' say you'se could hold me hand," I said flatly.

"Yes, but its cold out, I'm just warming it up."

"I'm wearing cloves you moron."

"Well I'm not, so I'm warming my hand up." Replied Jim.

I looked over at him for the first time, he was smiling at me, and without his beard he looked extremely handsome, and I couldn't help smiling back.

I told him how my job went as we walked home together, and I let him hold my hand.

Things were quite for a few days as Drake continued to work for the bank. He combed his hair and wore a suite and everything. I found this most entertaining, but it was evident that he did not.

One afternoon Drake came rushing into the house excitedly. It was hardly ever that you would see him actually show his excitement, so we knew he had something pretty important to tell us.

"Straus is embezzlin!" He blurted out.

"What!" Jim leapt into the air and started whooping.

I had no idea what was so darn great, so I spoke up. "I hate ta interrupt, but what's embezzlin?"

"It means he's been stealing money from dah bank." Exclaimed Jim.

"And that's good' cause?" I was still confused.

"cause we don't gotta frame him anymore. We just gotta expose him. It means it's easier for us and we still get paid!"

I realized how great our circumstances were and I jumped up to Jim's arms and he swung me around.

"Drinks on me!" Jim called out.

We went to a bar that night to celebrate, and I showed the boys the real way to drink tequila.

Late thee next morning- and each of us with a splitting headache- we worked out our next course of action.

After discussing things, we decided that I wasn't needed for the next part, and Drake, as a faithful employee of the bank would report Mr. Straus.

Before Drake went out, we packed up all our things incase we had to leave quickly. We figured that once Arnold Straus figured things out, he wouldn't be to happy with Drake.

Drake came home late the next night and very tired. He had spent most of the day answering questions for the police about Mr. Straus.

This was very risky business, because if the bulls looked in the right places they could discover that Drake himself was a criminal.

He did find out that in order to get my $5,000 (actually $2,000 minus the counterfeit) we would have to wait until the end of the week.

We wanted that money, so we sat tight for the week to wait things out.

...and thats my next chapter. I hope you liked it. Just a few notes right now.

1. My friend who has been reading my story told me that when Jim first appeard i said he had a beard and it gave the impression that he was old. So in the story i've shaved his beard and he is probably in his late 20's.

2. I have truly tested the' stroking ear' trick on my brother and it has worked both times. I'm sure it has a 85 chance of sucess...maybe more. Try it for yourself.