Thanks for reviewing! They really helped to inspire me to write some more chapters. I think what caused my writer's block on this story before was not wanting to write the actual heist. But here goes...

Scorpio's Eight

Chapter Twenty Three- Fun and Games Till Someone Gets Hurt

Jason drove the black windowless van around the access road to the lake behind Sonny's home. Zander sat in the passenger seat. Spinelli was in the back with his laptop open. Lucky was next to him, he rolled his head from side to side on his neck, loosening his muscles as he went into working mode.

The van was dead silent.

All the men in there knew they were doing this job for one reason alone: the thrill of getting away with it. They were risking their freedom, their chances to be with the women they loved, and their very lives because they were addicts.

And their drug of choice was thievery.

(Hey now, all you sinners
Put your lights on, put your lights on
Hey now, all you lovers
Put your lights on, put your lights on ) ( Santana)

Jason killed the engine and asked "You jam the signal for the security, Jackal?"

"You know I did, Hitter."

Jason nodded and looked at Zander, "You good to go?"

"I'm good."

To Lucky, Jason asked "Romeo?"

"Good."

"Then lets do this thing."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Sonny didn't bother knocking on Carly's door. He rushed inside her cottage in the woods, in a panic, with his gun drawn.

Her breathless words, from when she phoned him, ran through his mind. "Someone's in my house..."

His dark eyes darted around the living room. It was empty. He heard a soft whimpering sound coming from upstairs and ran toward it at full speed.

(Hey now, all you killers,
put your lights on, put your lights on.


Hey now, all you children
Leave your lights on, you better leave your lights on)

XXXXXXXX

Todd spied through the window of the cottage. He saw Sonny bound up the stairs. As soon as the mob boss was out of sight, Todd slipped into the house. He wore all black and a mask over his face. He carried a gun and a black canvas bag filled with everything he would need to get rid of this nuisance of a man once and for all. Maybe he could be back in Llanview in time to eat dinner at The Palace.

Briefly, Todd wondered if anyone else was in the house? He didn't particularly enjoy the idea of having to end another life just so that Blair would be satisfied that Sonny had paid for disrespecting her, but at this point, he wasn't about to let an opportunity pass to get rid of Sonny when he was unprotected by guards. If someone else was in the house, it would just be their unlucky day.

Todd started up the stairs.

(Cause there's a monster living under my bed,
whispering in my ear.


There's an angel, with a hand on my head,
she say I've got nothing to fear.

There's a darkness living deep in my

soul.


I still got a purpose to serve


So let your light shine, deep into my home.
God, don't let me lose my nerve
Lose my nerve )

XXXXXXXXX

Jax had done a lot of ruthless shit in his life. Slept with women just to get corporate secrets out of them. Ruined the companies of old men who were mere weeks away from retirement. Watched sharks in the business world cry over losing all they worked their whole life for, while Jax smiled

and counted his cash.

But never had he been party to murder before now.

As he sat in his hotel room with Lois he found his mind would not stop imagining what Faith would look like after she was dead. How much blood would there be? How quickly would she turn cold? What had ever made him think he could do this?

He kept drinking and trying to picture piles of glorious greenbacks but over and over he saw the blonde laying lifeless. Still he had his mind made up. Faith had to die. She would not let them take even a fraction of the money in Sonny's account, no she didn't work that way. Surely she had plans to kill Ned or blackmail him into giving up his share. Jax wouldn't be pushed aside so easily. She had to go.

"Its time I tell you the rest of the plan, Lois."

For a long moment he stared into his glass and didn't go on.

She snapped, "So tell me already. God! I hope you are up to this, Jax, cause honestly I put all my faith in you. Its been me and you for years now...in our own way...and if you can't do this...if you let me down now I don't think I could ever forgive you or-"

He cut her off, "You want this to work, then you're going to have to do everything I say, exactly as I say, no matter what you personally feel about it," Jax said in a cold voice. He was gaining control again, fighting back the little voice in his head that was his underused conscience. "And if you can't do that then get out now, while you are still able. Because this next part, Lois, it's only for the big dogs."

She smirked, "Ruff, ruff."

XXXXXXXXX

Anna was pressed against the stone wall that surrounded Greystone.

She had night vision binoculars out. Moments earlier she had heard the dogs- five pit bulls- barking and then growling. That noise had quieted now and she knew that Zander had drugged the animals. He always handled that part of a break in because he was the quickest on his feet. She watched as the guards outside the front gate scattered when an device was tossed from a car that drove by. It exploded. But Anna knew it was all flash and not anything that could have injured anyone. The bomb Skye made for the crew would be used to break into the vault where the painting was stored.

The lights in the mansion went out. Anna spotted a man with a rope climbing off the roof and down toward the window of the master bedroom. No guards came running. They must have responded to the secondary diversion that Jason and Lucky were responsible for creating. Both men would be long gone by the time the guards realized they had been lured into a trap and that the garage where they thought they saw a man dart into was filled with an odorless gas that would knock them all out.

Anna knew it was Robert repelling off the roof- dressed in all black with a large canvas bag hanging around his neck-that Luke was talking to him via walkie talkie and Luke made sure no cops got wind of the commotion at this mansion tonight. He would divert their attention by making sure they responded to false calls across town.

It was time for Anna to go in. Mac would be pulling the car around the back and getting past Robert's crew to be waiting for her when she came out with the painting. And she planned to get that painting from Robert. He deserved to lose for making her miserable this last year. Then, and only then, she might forgive his stubborn old ass.

She scaled the wall, crept across the lawn- past the passed out dogs- and tossed a metal claw up to the second floor ledge so she could climb the wall. She got inside the master bedroom less than five minutes after Robert's small bomb went off, blowing a hole in the wall and revealing the panic room where the painting was stashed.

Anna rolled into the room, ending up near the bed where she had some cover from Robert, who pulled his gun out at the sight of a black clad figure in the room.

With a smile, she raised her head so he could see her, and said "Now, is that anyway to treat your wife?"

XXXXXXXX

Sonny found Carly laying on the floor of her bedroom, crying softly. Her face was bruised and bloody. Her arms had huge black and blue marks where it looked like a man had grabbed her and shook her hard. She wore only a white slip.

He kneeled down. "Hey, I'm here. You're okay now." Sonny brushed her hair out of her face.

She choked out "You came...thank you..."

She looked at him, her eyes filled with so much pain you would think she had been near death. There was no way, even if Sonny made it out of here alive, he would ever think Carly had been playing him- the emotion in her eyes in that moment was too raw. He bought her act with his every breath.

The look she gave him started out fake, but it changed into something real when a masked man stepped into the room and put a gun to the back of Sonny's head.

(God, don't let me lose my nerve
Lose my nerve

Hey now, hey now, hey now, hey now

hey now, hey now, hey now, hey now )