Chapter Twelve

Part Three

The Transfer

They waited. And waited. And waited. It seemed to Danny that the more they waited, the more the chances of them getting caught were. Lily reassured him that some of the jobs she had done in the past had included several days of waiting in one spot. Danny, however, was not that patient. And neither was Rusty.

He was used to quick precision. Smash and grab. In and out in a matter of minutes, not hours.

Lily laughed at him as he twitched uncomfortably, wanting to do something other than sit and wait. "This is killing me," he whispered to her.

She leaned her head in close to him so they could talk without the others hearing. Not that it was a private conversation, but… "A little longer. Hollings is probably just freaking out, is all."

"Yeah, that's all," Rusty mocked. "He freaks out, gets cold feet, and doesn't move the money. Then the guards come to, armed and angry, and we all get five to fifteen for breaking and entering, and probably twenty to life for everything else."

Lily laughed again. "Hollings may be a lot of things, but he is not one to stand by and let his reputation crumble around him. If he doesn't send the money, he's going to get outed by Frank's news contact."

"He doesn't know that."

"No, but he does suspect that there was more to your little visit the other night. Other than his best interest, of course. A couple inches and you would have kicked him in the head."

That finally made Rusty crack a smile. "Sorry about that."

"Already forgotten," Lily brushed off. "Whether I forgot it due to forgiveness or a concussion is a different matter."

Laughter passed through his lips. She was getting to him.

Suddenly, as Rusty tilted his head to look her in the eyes, Lily became very uncomfortable. It might have been from the fact that she had been sitting on the same spot on the floor for about two hours. Or it may have been from the fact that Rusty seemed to be looking right through her soul, instantly reminding her that - although she had gotten the sign that he still felt the same way about her - he was still technically with Isabel.

Even though she broke his gaze, he continued to seer through her with his intense gaze. "Lily?" he questioned, thinking that he may have done something wrong.

"I have to pee," Lily announced loudly, jumping up.

Danny raised his eyebrows. "Now? Couldn't you have gone to the bathroom before we broke into a bank?"

Lily rolled her eyes. It was like she was six-years-old all over again. "Yes, I could have if I had to go then. There's a bathroom right down the hall outside. I'll just be a minute."

"We may not have a minute," Danny argued.

"We have a transfer!" Livingston exclaimed, his voice cracking as his fingers glided across his keyboard once again. "Cracking the code… rerouting the transaction…completing the transfer…just another minute…uh oh…."

Lily and Danny whipped around at the same time, the same expression set on their faces along with the same angry body language. Rusty would have smiled to himself if it weren't for the feeling of extreme panic radiating off of Livingston as he blankly stared at the computer screen.

"What?" Linus asked, leaning over his shoulder.

"This is not good, this is not good," Livingston chanted over and over.

"What's not good?" Rusty demanded.

"The money is being sent is encrypted code. I don't know what this means…."

"What do you mean encrypted code?"

"To disguise the money… Each number seems to mean a different number… I just don't know how…" Livingston jumbled, frozen by fear.

"So what?" Linus asked, his hands on his hips.

"If we don't figure out the code - the cipher to the code - then the money can go right past the account we've set up to its original destination. The account we set up was expecting… oh it just wasn't expecting this," Lily bit her fist. "Slimy bastard."

Rusty jumped to his feet. "Worse, the system would detect our attempt and promptly alert the alarm system in the computers, which would alert the authorities." He pivoted towards Livingston. "How long?"

"Because the amount being transferred is so much, about two minutes."

Danny grabbed Lily's shoulders, and intense glare desperately calling for her help. "Think, Lil. Is there something you can tell us that can help us crack the code."

Lily shook her head violently, tears reaching the corners of her eyes. "No… I… I…."

"A minute thirty," Livingston informed.

"Think, Lily!"

Rusty put a hand on Danny's chest, pushing him away from what looked like a frightened Lily. "Sports scores."

Yen began speaking wildly in Rusty's direction, but Rusty fended him off.

"No, look. The 76ers had a game on today, the score was 46-45 in the third quarter…." Rusty pointed to the first sequence of numbers: 4645. "That must stand for the 3 in the three hundred million…."

"One minute and counting."

Lily grabbed Livingston by the collar of his shirt and tugged him backwards. Rusty quickly took his place and began typing as fast as his fingers would allow.

"Thirty seconds," Danny warned.

"Shut up," Lily snapped, hitting her father on the shoulder.

"Fifteen seconds," Linus chimed. Lily shot a menacing glance in his direction.

"Almost done…" Rusty informed. A bar appeared on the screen to inform him that the transfer was almost complete. Numbers ran down the opposite side of the screen, Rusty trying to keep up with them.

Five…

Four…

Three…

Two…

One…

- - - - - -

Lily closed her eyes, sinking back against the door as she closed it. Rusty was already in the kitchen, rummaging through her refrigerator for something to eat. When she had invited him up, he only accepted because he didn't want to wake Isabel up. Or so he said. When she had invited him up, she knew he wouldn't - couldn't - refuse.

She pushed herself from the doorframe, finding it particularly hard to move her legs. It felt like anvils were attached to her ankles, weighting her down and pulling her further back with ever step forward. It was her conscience, she knew, but she still reminded herself to lock the door. Just in case.

When she made it into the kitchen, Rusty was sitting at the island as he shoveled food into his mouth with a fork. Rusty's stomach was something that never failed to amaze her.

He heard her walk into the room, felt her slip her arms around his neck as her head lowered onto his shoulder. He couldn't sense that it was not a loving embrace, however, but a way to make him sit still and concentrate on what she was going to say.

"We have to talk."

He dropped his fork, hating those words. As much as he wanted to rip himself away and run down to his own room, he couldn't bring himself to move away from her touch. Not after all he had gone through, all he had realized.

"Okay, let's talk," he responded instead, trying to keep himself calm as she breathed against his neck.

"We're in a hole, Rusty."

"I can see where you would get that from, but…"

To his dismay, she backed away from him and took a seat on the counter. "I need to know, Rusty… I mean, I think I know, but I need to hear it from you… what do you want?"

"If you know, then why do I have to tell you? You know me, Lily. You know me better than anyone. Why should I have to confirm it for you?" Rusty truly didn't want to say it, and he was kicking himself for it. Why couldn't he just open up to her? Why couldn't he lay down what he thought in front of her so she could make her own decisions? Why couldn't he tell her he loved her?

"Damn it, Rusty!" Lily cursed, looking away from him. "I need you to tell me because I know that you feel the same way I do. You have to… you just have to. I have to hear you say it because you can't do this to me again. I need to hear it from you because you're still with her!"

Rusty reached out an took grip of her shoulders. "I'm with you, Lily. Right here, right now, I'm with you and not her. Doesn't that say something?"

Lily slowly shook her head. "No, nothing, because there's still a woman downstairs who loves you, who's waiting for you to go to her. If you hang onto that, you're hurting her and you're hurting me."

Rusty sighed, feeling the food he had been eating making its way back up his throat. He paced himself, forcing words. "I'm here, Lil. I want to be here."

"The fact that you can't even break up with her lets me believe that I was right when I said that you loved her…"

He wanted to break down and tell her everything he had been thinking about for the past couple days, but found himself incapable. It just wasn't like him to be lost for words. Worse, it wasn't like him to be sick to his stomach. He felt her slipping through his fingers again. She was about to run, and he didn't think he could say anything to stop her. Not yet. He just wasn't ready.

But he had to do something. He wouldn't let her run away from him again.

His fingers traced the line of her jaw, directing her chin upwards so she would have to look him in the eye. "What can I do to make you believe that that part of my life is over? What can I do to make you happy, Lily?"

Lily pulled away from him. "We're in a hole, Rusty. The first rule of holes is: when you find yourself in one, stop digging."

Rusty sat silent, contemplating. He rose from his chair, stood before her, and leaned forward so his forehead was pressed against hers. "How about I get you a shovel. We can fill in the hole together."

It was what she wanted to hear, although encrypted. She smiled, not realizing that she had started crying. Lily slid herself to the edge of the counter so she could wrap herself around him. "Don't tell my father you're giving me a shovel," she joked, and was pleasantly surprised when he understood.

He leaned in to kiss her, but she pulled away. Rusty sighed, dropping his hands - balled into fists - on to the counter. "You're going to make this difficult, aren't you?"

Lily smiled, her lips grazing his cheek. "I'll only make it as difficult as you let me, Robert."

"So then what do we do?" Rusty asked, immobilized in place as her teeth pulled at his earlobe. He was pleasantly surprised that she remembered.

"Tomorrow we start filling in the hole."

"Tomorrow?"

Lily's smile grew sly as she lithely lowered herself from the counter, careful to make sure her body staid in contact with Rusty the entire time as she walked around him. "What's a few more inches, huh?"

Rusty laughed nervously, suddenly feeling like a thirteen-year-old virgin as Lily reached around and placed her hands on his thighs. She slid her palms inward, her smile growing wider as she felt his pants growing tighter. Rusty looked up towards the ceiling, feeling a surge of pleasure he had not felt in a long, long while. "Lily…"

Lily's fingers played at the inseams of his pants. "You want me to stop?" Her palm cupped the bulge in his pants, coaxing a moan past Rusty's lips as she erotically rubbed him.

Rusty suppressed the moan from growing into a scream. "No…Yes…. Yeah, I think you should… you should stop."

Surprised, she took a step backwards. "Oh."

He could feel the rejection in her voice, but could not overcome the instant arousal she had given him. In theory, she should have stopped. He didn't want her to, but it was only right and fair to both her and Isabel. "Lily… its not that, its…"

Lily smiled, shaking her head. She did understand even though he had yet to explain, but it was still a blow to her ego. "I get it. It's okay."

Rusty reached out, taking fistfuls of her hair as he drew her into him. She craned her neck upwards to catch his lips on top of hers as Rusty lifted her. "Rule number one of holes," he explained, unable to remove himself from her.

"Right. Rule number one," she confirmed.

Lily knew that he was never going to leave if she didn't do something. She pried herself out of his arms, almost unwillingly. The hardest thing Lily ever had to do, she resolved to herself, was pushing him out of the door.