Linus tucked his head down and tried to disappear. Clearly it wasn't working as he could still feel the glares of the rest of the team bearing down on his head. Yen's hand had swollen like an indignant pufferfish and though it didn't have eyes, it seemed equally accusatory.

As usual, Danny spoke first, "All you had was one job, one task. If I say stay in the van, you stay in the van. Cause if you lose your focus for one second in this game, someone gets hurt."

Yen began his own contribution in the form of some very angry sounding strings of Chinese (or was it Cantonese?) even as the Mormon brothers combined their petty rage to target someone other than each other.

And Linus tried very hard to become Superman and turn back time.

Or the Invisible Man. Whatever works.

For it seemed, though Linus was adept at lifting things from pockets and tables, breaking and entering remained outside of his skill set. As he was a superb runner, this wouldn't have been a problem normally. If Linus had chosen to disobey orders a minute later, the pinch would be theirs and his excellent running capabilities would have allowed for even a messy escape. But as it stood, they had driven to California in the dead of night only to be fucked over by Caldwell Jr's supreme lack of timing. Leaving them paying for gas, the Malloy brother's copious amounts of 'necessary road food', a wounded greaseman and no pinch to take home.

By now, the Malloys had forgotten about the whole problem.

Basher was pissed.

Danny looked on the combusting side of stress.

Yen was certain that at least half of the obscene number of hand bones he had were broken.

And Linus wondered what life was like for a very small creature, like a mouse or bumblebee that stayed out of everyone's way and never had to worry about pissing off its friends.

It wasn't until they had nearly reached Vegas that Basher broke the silence, grabbing all of their attention.

"I could try and call in a favour. I know a bloke from England who could wipe the power just as well, we worked a couple jobs in Europe, Barclays and Danske. He won't be cheap as that pinch was, but he can be here quick and we won't have to change the plan."

Danny halted his glare at Linus to turn to Basher, "You sure he'll come?"

"I don't see any reason why he wouldn't, he likes seeing creative jobs and this one's pretty nutty. Besides, he owes me for taking the Metropolitan job last minute."

"The Met? You guys took the Met?" Linus' voice only cracked a little.

"Yeah, mostly from the Asian collections, but I think he had a couple boys going through the Greek and Roman side."

"The Met?" Just a bit of a squeak.

"That's what I said, innit?"

Linus had a firm grasp on his vocal chords now, "I thought that job was a rumor. I went in after and they had all the pieces on display."

"Probably put up imitations for visitors. No one quite likes to announce they've been robbed."

Danny spoke up again, "And how fast did you say he could be in Vegas?"

"Fast as he needs to be."

"And you're sure he can do the job?"

Basher gave a small chuckle, "He works magic."

Basher's friend did not answer the phone the first, second or even the ninth time. Nor was there ever a message left on his voicemail. Somewhere past the point where Virgil could count the calls on his fingers, a voice answered the phone in an buzzingly annoyed sort of tone.

"Hey, it's Basher, you on a job right now?"

The voice muttered something back to the Brit.

"No. Don't need that. Listen, I got in a bit of trouble over here. Thought the crew had it covered, but this young git blew some of the prep."

A buzz.

"Nah, real new, still working out the ropes, be quite a set of hands once he learns to work with a team."

A question.

"Oh, yeah, some good raw talent. Just seen him do some casual shite, for fun, yeah? But real good. You interested?"

Linus perked up in the back, seeing if he could listen in. He didn't typically get complimented and new business was always better than working the subway all day. Commuters were the most boring people to walk the planet.

"Could see for yourself if you come down. All we need is a quick problem solved. We were gonna use a pinch, but since we can't use anymore we got to find an alternative method of wiping out some power for a maybe a minute. Can you do it?"

The voice hesitated before speaking once more. Basher deliberated over it as if the voice had posed a difficult math problem, turning it over in his mind before replying.

"Vegas. The take of three casinos in one vault. Ridiculous security. It's a pretty wild plan. You'd have to be nearly strictly... traditional for this job. You could use whatever you want for the blackout, but if you felt like hanging around during the rest of prep... They don't- know you. Except for the Met thing."

The man on the other side of the line says something fast to which Basher replied, "Kanagawazas!" And laughed loudly. Then hung up.

"He'll do it?" Danny queried.

"Eh, we'll see. He'll at least come to visit, drink and see Linus make a few lifts."

Danny let out a quiet groan he thought no one else heard. In the back of the van, Linus lifted his head and puffed out his chest a bit like a rooster, corner of shame now effectively forgotten.