Author's note: Thanks a bunch for the amazing reviews! It took me quite a while to update because I'm a) suffering from writer's block, b) working on other projects on I know those are no excuses to delay the posting of this chapter, so please forgive me! Also, the dialogue here may not be very smooth and repetition of words may occur at an alarming rate. So sorry for all the glitches! I promise I'll get to the real agenda in the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own only Andie Ocean. (Is this necessary for all chapters?)

Chapter 3

"You – have – a – daughter."

Danny's smile was becoming fixed and awkward. He did not know how many minutes had passed since he announced the news. The most disbelieving of them all had to be Rusty. They never kept many secrets from each other.

Except for that Europol agent! An indignant voice screamed in his mind. Danny silently yelled at it to shut up. The whole ex-lover thingy was history, down the drain, out of sight, out of mind! He struggled to remain calm and natural.

"Yes, I'm his daughter. I'm Andie," Danny cast a surprised glance at his daughter, who eyed him back as if to say, "I can handle this myself!" That expression reminded him of his equally indignant wife, Tess. He looked away and smothered a smile.

"Andie Ocean?" Linus ventured first, holding out his hand and smiling tightly, "Hi, I'm Linus."

That started a chain reaction, as losing was not in men's nature, and one by one the Rat Pack introduced themselves eagerly to Danny Ocean's daughter. Rusty however drew Danny aside and said heatedly, "Why didn't you tell me that you and Tess have a daughter?"

Danny's eyebrows rose. "Are you angry at me, Rusty?"

Rusty pursed his lips and said cautiously, "Well, sort of."

"Look, Rusty," Danny licked his lips and placed a hand on his best friend's shoulder, "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. It wasn't easy getting her here, I'm telling you. She's - " Danny cast a look at his daughter, who was done with the men and was looking intently at them. "She's a hacker. The best, I assure you. She learnt it all from Massachusetts."

Rusty grinned wryly. "Then why is she stuck on the wrong side of the law? She should be in a cubicle of some legit company specializing in all those techno crap like, I dunno, programming games for the PC?" He laughed gruffly. "How did she get here, Danny? How?"

Danny narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Because I know my daughter well. I know that if I blow her cover to her mother, she'll never get to pull heists again."

Rusty rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right, whatever."

"Something wrong, gentlemen?" Danny jumped in surprise and stared at his daughter, marveling at how good she was at creeping up on people.

"Andie," he greeted her crisply. His daughter ignored him and kept her unblinking eyes locked on Rusty, who was obviously not giving in to the glaring game they were playing. Danny slowly backed away, sensing that he would not want to get involved in one of Andie's catfights. She was good at it. A pro.

"Hey Danny! Where's our tea?" Frank called out and was joined by the others.

Danny laughed and said, "Don't worry pal, I've given some thought to it. Come on, let's check out the café several blocks away from here."

The walk to the French-styled café that Danny meant was riddled with laughter and manly banter. But Andie was not part of the group, oh no, she was a woman. The odd one out. The outsider, the stranger. She walked behind the group in silence. And her walking partner, her father's best friend, was not helping to lighten her mood.

She glanced at him and opened her mouth to strike a conversation, but shut it instantly. From up ahead, Danny glanced behind occasionally to check on them. After a few glances, it was becoming evident that the two were not going to get along well.

Andie eyed him again and said uncertainly, "So, I'm, uh, Andie."

He glanced at her, then he cast his eyes down again. "Rusty," he muttered.

"Is there something about me that you dislike?" Andie decided to get straight to the point. She hoped her patience would not wear out so easily.

"No."

"Then you're mad because my dad didn't tell you about me?"

"No."

"What's your problem then?" she said loudly, a little too loudly to draw attention from Linus Caldwell. He looked back at them, then lowered his head when Andie Ocean jogged up to the front beside him.

"Andie," he called out as she went past him. She waited for him and smiled. "Hi, Linus, right?"

He smiled tentatively and nodded. "Uh, yeah." His heart was beating like crazy. He had never seen a more beautiful woman than Andie Ocean. Such honeyed brown eyes and such a brilliant smile!

She fell into step beside him and stuffed her hands in her jean pockets. "How did you, uh, come to get involved with us?" Linus ventured first. He was not good around women. When it came to dealing with the opposite sex, his confidence was lower than average. He tried to appear normal and comfortable with her presence, but that proved to be harder than he thought.

How does Rusty Ryan do it?

"I didn't ask for it," Andie said and sighed. "If I had my way, I would be stuck in a cubicle doing what everyone expects me to do: program software." She laughed in a way that carried hints of Danny in it. It was simply charming.

"You sound as if you're forced to be here," he responded. Andie looked at him sharply in the eye. "Well, he is my father. We're . . . helping each other out."

Linus could not help but grin. "From Tess?"

Andie laughed in that Danny way again. "Looks like we're already getting along well."

Andie Ocean had no idea how much it made Linus Caldwell's day.

"What're we stealing this time?"

Danny gave Virgil Malloy a vicious grin and Andie had to smother a smile. "You have no idea, Virgie. This is the big one, I know it is. It'll be the heist of the decade."

"I thought Benedict was the heist of the decade," Basher said, annoyed.

"Okay, okay, so nothing can compare to that," Danny countered with a sip of his cup of tea. "But, hey, we need the money, right? If we can pull this off with no strings attached, it should be a huge success."

"It's that huge, huh?" Rusty said with a grin on his face. "Don't worry, we're not about to let you down."

"I know, that's why I called you guys back. It's just like the old days: we sneak in, get hold of the loot, and split it up. Everyone's happy, everyone's good."

"So are you saying that this'll be our last ripoff?" Linus said, bringing up the subject they've been dreading. They sighed and fell deathly silent. Linus immediately felt responsible for spoiling the mood.

"Come on, guys, we're Ocean's Eleven!" Frank boomed loudly. "We're the thrill-seekers, the men brave enough to try their luck on the wrong side of the law," Andie coughed and cleared her throat but Frank did not take note of it. "Our adventures ain't gonna stop here. We're survivors! We're the Indiana Jones of our time!"

The Eleven grinned at each other and chorused together, "Aye, aye, sir!"

"So are we game for another big adventure?" Rusty called, his mood somewhat cheered.

The table erupted in laughter and shouts of "Yeah!"

Danny glanced at Andie, who sat beside him. She was quiet, too quiet for his liking. He placed a hand on hers. "Pumpkin, are you okay?"

Andie laughed shortly and said, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you game?" Rusty turned his intent eyes on her. She looked up and met his testing gaze. "You know once you've sworn allegiance to us, there's no turning back," he added softly.

"Quit it, Rust! You're giving her a hard time!" Basher laughed.

"No, it's – it's okay," she said. This was it. The final threshold. What would her mother think if she had joined her father's band of thieves permanently?

All eyes were on her, and she was fully aware of each one, especially Rusty Ryan, who seemed to enjoy the task of testing her loyalty. Finally she broke away from his gaze and searched for a pair of eyes she could feel comfortable with. Her gaze fell on Linus, and she smiled, "Yeah, I'm game."

How was it?