Part Two

Danny stood outside of the large, brownstone building in Manhattan. It was different scenery for him. He was used to seeing lights flashing and hearing the chime of slot machines echo, even though it was the middle of the day. This was much more different than that. Thank God they weren't staying here long, because he wasn't sure he could handle hearing all the cars honking all the time. Then again, the cars didn't really bug him. He had lived in New York once. With Tess. Before. He didn't really want to think about all that anymore.

Rusty was standing inside the brownstone, leaning against the front desk while snacking on a hoagie he had swiped from the kitchens. He spotted Danny immediately, almost rushing to his side. Together, they walked to the elevators and entered without saying a word. Once the door closed, Danny reached for the button towards the penthouse apartment, but Rusty cut him off and slammed a fist down on the emergency button, causing the elevator to jolt and a bell to start continuously ringing. He ignored the ringing, outrageously confused about what was happening. "What the hell is going on, Danny?"

Danny shrugged at him, "I told you."

"No," Rusty shook his head, taking another deep bite from his hoagie before continuing. "You called me this morning and told me you'd be here, right after Lily got done telling me that you weren't going to be here. Conning your own daughter, Danny? Now that's just bad taste…"

Danny dropped his bags, realizing that the bell was going to be ringing for a long time if he didn't start explaining everything. "I was really hoping to do this in front of everyone else, Rusty." Rusty didn't move an inch, not even his expression, telling him that it would be better if his right hand man was in the loop. "Alright, fine. His name is Marc Hollings, banker extraordinaire."

"New York?"

" Financial District."

"Right."

"So, anyway, I've got someone on the inside who tells me that Mr. Hollings has an off-shore account in Tahiti set away for himself."

"Skimmer?"

"Hell…yes… this would be the biggest job we ever pulled."

"But?"

"But, he's planning on emptying that account soon. And, before I forget to mention, this is going to be a nearly impossible job. Not to mention… my last."

Rusty nodded, finished the last bite of his hoagie, and whipped his hands. It was always impossible. Always. In the end, he always ended up with a large chunk of change. So it could never really be that impossible. And Danny had been claiming that every job they did for years would be his last. He did attempt to try to settle back into society, but they all knew how that turned out.

"Hollings is a big believer in technology, so his security system is outrageously complex The tricky thing is, he's planning on going on "vacation" in about a week, so we have to hurry but still be as on-point as always."

Rusty accepted his answer, hitting the emergency button again and preparing himself for the jolt when the elevator started up. "And your person on the inside? Lily?" He said the words trying to imagine her in a suite, sitting behind a desk at the bank while typing away at a computer. It wasn't that hard to imagine, surprisingly.

"She's wearing herself out, I know. But she's been vital in all of it. She came to me with the idea, actually."

Rusty bowed his head, rubbing the back of his neck. "She's not you, Danny." As he replayed his statement in his head, he was reminded of how sickly she had looked when she confessed the same thing to him.

Danny nodded, picking his bags up as the door opened. "Which is why I came even though I told her I couldn't. Everyone here?"

"See for yourself," Rusty responded. The elevator opened to the penthouse, and Lily's voice rang out in the air.

The group circled around, pulling up chairs and moving the furniture into a semi-circle of sorts. Linus, Basher, Frank, Virgil, Turk, Livingston, Saul, and Yen looked up at her with the wide, greedy eyes of a child. "Looks like Dad has told you about the big pay-out, right?" Lily smiled weakly, placing her hands on her hips. "Well, I don't know all of you, so let me introduce myself. I'm Lily Ocean, and this is my home. Now, I pulled a lot of strings to get you guys rooms downstairs so don't push your luck. Don't go all rock star on me… you break it, you bought it."

Linus casually glanced around the room, then slowly raised his hand as if he was in grade school again. "Um… where's…"

Danny interrupted him, throwing his bags onto the marble floor. "Reuben isn't coming, because he doesn't know we're here. And no one is going to tell him. Not until I call him and talk to him first. Got it?"

Lily genuinely smiled at him, relieved at his intrusion. "We think that Reuben needs a little more time off to fully recover, is all," Rusty added.

Danny put an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into her father almost like she was too tired to hold herself up anymore. "All the shovels are safely locked away, right?" he whispered.

She nodded, then took a seat with the rest of them to listen while he repeated the agenda he had just explained to Rusty. She was aware that Rusty was standing over her, his arms crossed. He was acting like he was listening, but he wasn't really mentally in the room. She knew him that much, at least.

"… so what we have to do is get hold of that money right after he makes the transaction. We have to beat him to it."

"Why can't we just take it from the account in Tahiti?" Saul asked, looking up under the rim of his bucket hat.

"Technically the money doesn't exist yet. He actually has a series of accounts set up, each holding roughly five million. Total, about 300 million, since he's been doing this for so many years. He's planning on transferring the numbers and turning it into money to his account under a false name at his own bank – unrecorded, of course – then take it from there. Once the transaction is made, we'll only have a couple minutes to bypass the security system – randomized, moving lasers everywhere, several different safe combinations, etc. – and hack into his computer to get to the money. It's extremely risky, and the possibility of a long prison sentence is likely, if not expected. But it'll be huge."

Yen spoke, Rusty answering his question first. "It's a challenge, but it's completely worth it. From the way Danny described it to me earlier, it seems like this guy has a couple charity accounts that he's been skimming from. Several are charities for children. Sick kids, needing the money to fulfill their last dying wishes." He paused, finally realizing what Danny's real reason for this job was. He wouldn't let the others know, of course. "If you won't do it for the cash, do it for the kids."

In this line of business, a certain amount of greed was involved. Although Rusty felt he made a touching enough speech, the promise of an estimated twenty-seven million payout each was enough to persuade them the first time through.

"God damn if we aren't modern day Robin Hood's," Turk chuckled, Virgil rolling his eyes at his brother before initiating verbal combat.

Lily waited until all the room keys were handed out and all the otherse left before admitting, "Robin Hood my ass. Take from the rich and give to yourself, is more like it." Both Danny and Rusty glared at her, making her throw her hands up and add, "Not that I mind all that money…you know…"

Danny took a seat next to her, Rusty off putting chairs back where they belonged as a gesture of goodwill towards her. "We'll give money back to the kids…" he agreed.

She nodded, falling back into her plush couch cushions.

Danny finally got a chance to look around the place. Marble floors and countertops, real cherry wood walls, large bay window with long, flowing drapes depicting beautiful city scenery. "You're not doing bad for yourself,"

She nodded again, "Yeah, but I'm no Danny Ocean."

"No. As you keep reminding me," he smirked, taking the glass of gin Rusty was handing him. The tone in his voice made her unconvinced, but she didn't press the matter. She was just too tired.

Rusty reached out to hand Lily a glass, but she had fallen fast asleep on the couch. Swallowing the glass for himself, he took a seat opposite Danny and scowled in his direction. "Danny, what the hell is going on?"

"Why do you keep asking me that?"

"Because I know you, and right now I know you're being sneaky as shit," he spat, downing the glass he poured for himself. He winced as it traveled to his stomach, then continued. "Lily has never done a job with us before. Why now?"

"It's her job."

"No, Lily is more of a cat burglar, if anything. Mansions, especially. I mean look at this place, it's dusted with diamonds, antiques, paintings. You think she got here with months and months of planning and using up all the money from the last job hiring a experts and a team to pull this off. No chance in hell."

"Okay, so maybe I did a little research." Danny leaned back in his chair, finding the more he sat the more comfortable he was getting. Hell, he might have to move in with her.

Rusty scoffed. Normally Danny and him got along swimmingly, real peas in a pod. But whenever Lily was involved, it all crumbled. Danny had been thrilled when he and Lily had gotten together. Rusty was supposed to take over his position when Danny finally decided to completely settle down one day, not like that was ever going to happen. Now, Lily and Rusty were no longer in the cards and he was trying to morph his daughter into what he had molded into Rusty. Still, it was better to just smile and let family matters work themselves out. For now.

They talked in hushed tones, letting Lily get all the sleep she could. They talked about small details, like the laser laden bank floor, to the several combinations they were going to need to get into the several restricted areas they were going to need. Unfortunately, they hit a snag when it came to timing, and concluded that a set plan could not be cemented on that issue. They would just have to wait, and watch. Simple enough. Any other topics they were having a problem with, they decided to sleep on it and readdress it in the morning.