Free Bank Job by James Heneghan

hypnosis. He’s charismatic, that’s what he is. Well I can resist him. It’s not a problem for me. But you, you’re…”
    I didn’t listen to the rest. I didn’t need any more of Tom’s criticism. Turning my back on him, I buried my hands in the suds and scrubbed the pots hard. I finished the dishes, and I was out of there.
    Billy talked to Tom. Charmed him. We were walking to the bus stop on our way to school.
    Billy looped one big arm round Tom’s skinny shoulder like Tom was the best pal he ever had. “You know, Tom, a hundred and fifty bucks isn’t all that bad. It’s more lettuce than I ever saw before we started this caper.”
    â€œBilly’s right, Tom,” I said.
    Billy said, “I know it’s a small amount compared to the ten thousand we need, but we’ll get there eventually. If we keep at it. If we don’t give up.”
    â€œSure we will,” I said.
    â€œBut…,” said Tom.
    Billy cut in. “It’s like playing in the top of the seventh and you’re a run down and the other side’s got all the bases loaded. What do you do? You don’t give up. You get in there and pitch, that’s what you do. You get in there and you pitch until you drop. It’s never over till it’s over.”
    Tom said, “Yeah?”
    â€œYou’re a good buddy, Tom. The kind of buddy I’d want on my side if things ever went wrong. You’re like a brother. All I want is for us all to stay together at the Hardys’, you and Lisa and me and Nails. We’re a family, right? The only family any of us has, right?”
    Tom said, “I guess…”
    â€œI believe it’s worth fighting for. You can’t let us down.”
    â€œWell, uh…”
    â€œTom?”
    Tom was back with us. The Three Musketeers once more.
    There’s charisma for you.

FOURTEEN
    APRIL 16
    Sunday afternoon brought a thin spring rain, the kind that came down like a mist and kept you indoors when you would rather be outside. Lisa had been busy all morning, painting with her watercolors and playing with Pumpkin, but now, just as I was about to join the boys for a meeting, she wanted me to play Scrabble with her.
    â€œHow come you’re always having meetings with the guys in their room? What are the meetings about? Why don’t you ever let me come?” She twisted a lock of her dark hair into a ringlet and blinked at me from behind her glasses.
    â€œI’ll try not to be too long. We’ll play Scrabble later, okay?” I grabbed my math book.
    They were waiting for me, Billy lounging on his bed and Tom working on a Sudoku puzzle on the floor. The window was open a few inches, and I could hear the whoosh and clatter of a SkyTrain on the tracks below. The noise never bothered the boys. They always slept through it. So they said.
    After our last bank disaster, Billy had come up with a new idea.
    That was what the meeting was all about.
    â€œIt’s a new MO,” he said and then waited for us to digest this information.
    Billy likes fancy crime words. MO means modus operandi , he’d explained to us, which is police language for method of operation. Billy said that criminals usually stuck with the same MO when they committed crimes, and only ever changed their MO when it stopped working for them.
    â€œWhy do we need a new MO?” asked Tom. “Because you were caught in the drug store?”
    Billy shook his head, smiling at Tom. “As I’ve said before, being caught is not important when they don’t find the loot on you. No loot, no case. No, what I’m getting at is the miserable take last time. A measly hundred and fifty bucks. Not good enough. It’ll take us years to reach our goal at this rate.”
    That’s exactly what I’d been thinking. “So what’s your plan, Billy?” I asked.
    Billy relaxed into his usual pose, lounging back against his