Just a few weeks ago, I could stay in hotels without having to use a credit card under a fake identity, but now I was already back in the habit of it. Well given that the credit card was never mine, maybe I never really changed. I leaned on the balcony and looked out at the resort we managed to get into. I looked at the balcony next to mine and saw Bentley intensely tapping away at his laptop.
"Where's Murray and Sly?" I asked loud enough for him to hear from across the small gap between our rooms.
"Murray went down to the buffet and Sly is who knows where, but I'm sure he'll be back soon."
"How have you been Bentley? I never really got the chance to ask." I watched as he was meticulously inputing codes at such high speed.
"Not too bad. I've just recently started working on the field and it's not as bad as I thought it would be. It's still scary, but it's okay."
"I'm sorry." Before I could really think about it I was apologizing for leaving them. Bentley glanced up at me, but returned his gaze back onto his laptop. He gave a wry smile.
"It was bound to happen sooner or later. Whether you stayed or left, I just had to step up to the plate. But there's no doubt that it'll lift the burden of most things with you back." I smiled, nodding along and admiring his reassuring words. "Why did you choose to come back in the first place?"
"Sly found my hotel room back in Paris. He said he was coming back from taking recon photos. He wouldn't tell me what was going on, but that I should come back and see you guys."
"That guy," Bentley snickered,"I don't think he has ever stopped thinking about you since you left."
I tilted my head in confusion. I leaned my head on my hand and probed the subject further.
"What makes you say that?"
"He doesn't really know how to delete browser history. He watched clips of your musical online, and on top of that he listened to the original cast recording of your musical thousands of times."
"But didn't he come to see me perform on multiple occasions?"
"Actually we all saw you once, by his suggestion. During your tour, whenever we were nearby working on something, he'd always disappear right after a heist. I'm telling you, you got some gears going on in his head."
I gave him a look, understanding the connotations behind what he just said and he just smiled and shrugged. It was just a guess, but Bentley's guesses are rarely wrong. I refused to let myself hope for anything or have expectations. I was still hurt, but for the sake of ending Clockwerk once and for all, I'll set it aside. Perhaps we'll both gain some sense out of it and just carry on as childhood friends. It was sad yeah, but it was just best to move on.
I pushed myself back from the railing and headed back into my hotel room. I picked up my phone and saw several missed calls from Skylar and Brennan. I had already listened to all of Skylar's voicemails, but I couldn't bring myself to call him back. I wasn't sure if he would yell or if he would be calm and understanding of my choice. I believed in more of the former, but I could dream right? Brennan texted several times just asking where I was and if I was okay. He didn't press any harder after that.
The more I thought about it the more I felt bad. I even considered calling Brennan to pick me up for a second. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind. I set my phone back down and decided to leave my room to explore the resort.
It was beautiful. Probably one of bests we snuck into. I didn't see Murray when I passed the buffet, so I guessed he probably went back up to hid room. I still didn't know where Sly was and I suddenly felt the need to try to look for him. I went up to the highest floor, taking in the view I could see from the windows as I stepped off the elevator. I looked around for stairs to the rooftop, and luckily enough I found them. When I trudged through all of them, I finally made it to the rooftop.
Closing the door behind me, I scanned the area, and I found Sly's hat just by the rooftop door. I picked it up and looked around once more, but didn't find Sly. That was until I saw him on the roof of the rooftop door, sitting up and looking down at me.
"Took you long enough." He said before he laid back down.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were expecting me." I answered, climbing the ladder I found on the side and stepping up to him. I stared down at him. He had his eyes closed and he was using his arms as support for his head. "You look rather relaxed."
"Not in the slightest. Bentley hasn't cracked down on where our next target is yet." He said that all with his eyes closed. I decided to set myself down beside him and lie down as well. The sky was orange with hints of red all around. The sun was taking its time to set, but it was quite the sight to see. A shame that Sly wasn't looking at it too.
"Then why are you up here in the first place?" I asked him.
"Just to think, pass time, maybe talk."
"What's there to think about?"
"Apologizing properly. I never gave you enough time to just be upset and let you think."
"I think you apologized enough. I don't really want to talk about it. It's done now."
He turned his head to look over at me.
"No hard feelings?"
"Nope. It's been two years, I should be fine by now."
"No romantic feelings either?" He sat up and leaned over a bit to look down at me. I looked him right in the eyes and paused for a minute to think.
"You can dream." We both laughed a bit, but Sly still seemed to be a bit lost."There's no room for romance in either of my lines of work."
Sly turned back to look at the view beyond us.
"You somehow became more uptight when you weren't going against the law."
"It's still running away though. I need to be cautious of my own actions."
"What if you had someone to look out for you."
"I already have you guys, and Skylar if he isn't completely mad at me."
I sat up with him, and he gave me a confused look.
"I thought you talked to him." I shook my head, look down at the resort, people slowly retreating back inside to rest, others coming out for an evening swim.
"He made that life for me because he hated our thieving reputation. I don't blame him for not understanding, and at the same time I guess I was missing something too." I looked back at him and he was already looking at me.
For a few short moments we were just looking at each other. Sly had a different look in his eyes, despite us not seeing each for only 2 short years. He seemed to have changed a lot, maybe more than me. I gave him his cap, and he took it and placed it back on it's rightful place on his bedhead. He set his gaze back on me and smiled.
"You're a bit more mature, but still the exact same." I laughed.
"I could say the same for you."
We talked about everything that night. It was like I had my best friend again. We talked about my career, gossiped a bit about the other actors and actresses, the heists I missed, the corrupt baddies they've always seemed to find themselves up against. We talked into the night, and I fell asleep somewhere in between all that. I woke up the next day back in my bed. I sat up and I looked around and found nothing else had been touched. I laid back down thinking about the night before. The weight that I felt when I left, and when I liked Sly, suddenly disappeared overnight. I could breathe again. I smiled looking over at the sunrise before getting up to hit the road once again.
"Illegal spices? Are they cooking up a mean curry or what?"
I woke up to Bentley bringing up information he'd found on the next Klaww Gang member, Rajan. The road to India wasn't exactly short.
"Well he started as a young child, eventually earning him a spot in the Klaww Gang as his operation grew." Bentley elaborated. I sat up from my slumped position in the back of the van.
"He's pretty stuck in his head. 'Lord of the Hills'?" Sly said putting his arm over the front seat and looking back at Bentley.
"He tries to convince others of his royalty, but it's mostly just to convince himself." Bentley said clicking through different windows of his research on his laptop. "He'll be holding a lavish ball in his newly purchased 'ancestral' palace. His reason? To show off his latest acquisition; the Clockwerk wings."
"Oh, that'll be quite the haul." I said, trying to imagine how we'll manage to lug it back with us without raising suscpicion. "Does Rajan think the wings will be bringing any kind of prestige? I mean there are probably nicer things out there."
"Well, maybe they will. But they're also bringing me." Sly said from the front seat, and I could hear the mix of determination and excitement in his voice. He was serious yet at the same time he wanted adventure. I had missed so much, but seeing everyone get ready for a big heist like they always used to made me feel so much better.
By the time we found a hideout, we were rushed to work. Bentley already had an idea where to start, so he sent out Sly into the field almost immediately. I sat down at the table beside Murray and Bentley was already underway with Sly's break into the palace. When Bentley turned off his mic and binocucom view, I leaned onto the table and scanned the blueprints he already obtained.
"Why the rush?" I asked looking back up at him, as he was following the tracking on Sly's binocucom and glancing at the blueprints and guard schedules in between.
"As I had anticipated, we have arrived just hours from the start of the ball. Since tonight is the only night to get them, we gotta move fast."
"Oh well, I love a challenge." I leaned back in my chair, already excited to get back onto the field. Bentley gave me a torn look.
"I don't think we can just have you get back on the field immediately. We're going to have to ease you in with some simpler tasks, but given that you're a quick learner, it shouldn't take that long."
Bentley shortly returned back to Sly's mission, urging him to take pictures of the guests to see who we were dealing with. I understood what Bentley meant but I was still skeptical as to what Bentley meant by simpler tasks. I could fight and I could still do many things I've done before. I sat up as Bentley asked Sly to return back to the Safehouse.
"What exactly can I do then?" I asked as he turned away from his computer and back to the table as we awaited Sly's return.
"I believe I can turn the situation to our advantage. There's no doubt that there's something you'll be able to do." Bentley said reving up the projector for a quick briefing.
"I can still fight and I can still climb, Bentley." I pushed further just to see if he could cave in and tell me.
"I know, but it's not just me worried for your safety. We're all worried." He glanced over at Murray, when I looked at him he was nodding along.
"Don't worry Marie, The Murray has got it covered." His rambunctious attitude was contagious. He held his hand out for a high-five, and when I tried to return it with just as much strength as him, I could've sworn he was going to snap my arm off. He was laughing, and I couldn't help but laugh a long.
"Is there a party going on in here too?" Sly asked, stepping into the hideout.
"Nope, just a briefing. Hurry and settle yourself in." Bentley said, stepping up to the other side of the table where the projector screen. Sly settled himself right beside me, ready to listen in on the plan.