Free Bank Job by James Heneghan Page A

headboard, hands behind his head, eyes swiveling from Tom, up to the ceiling and down to me on the beanbag near the door.
    Tom put down his Sudoku and cracked his knuckles.
    Billy flinched.
    â€œSo what’s the plan?” Tom asked.
    â€œWe hit harder. Instead of robbing from just one teller we rob from all of them.”
    Tom and I were stunned into silence.
    Tom was the first to speak. “And how do you propose to do that?”
    â€œSimple. This is how I see it shaking down. Tom, you’re still our handoff man. You wait in your usual spot down the street. But this time Nails and I go in together a few minutes before closing time. She’s got a disguise too. As soon as we’re in disguise we go into action. I yell for the tellers to put all their money on the counter. I pretend I’ve got a gun. Nell goes along the counter with her shopping bag and scoops up all the loot. Then we both run for it. The cash and disguises go into Tom’s backpack. We all separate. SkyTrain escape as usual.”
    Silence. My heart went numb. I would have to go right in there, into the bank, and scoop up the money.
    â€œWon’t work,” Tom said after a while.
    Billy’s eyebrows shot up one sixty-fourth of a centimeter. “Why not?”
    â€œI dunno. It just seems crazy. Way riskier too, with more people in the bank knowing there’s a robbery happening. Before, only the one teller knew it was a robbery. With this new idea there’s way more chance of being caught. And I don’t like the idea of a gun.”
    Billy blinked. “But there won’t be a gun.”
    Crack-crack. “I know, but I don’t even like the idea of a pretend gun.”
    Billy looked over at me. “What do you think, Nails?”
    It was hard to think with a numb heart. “It could work, I guess,” I said after a few seconds.
    Billy smiled.
    I was astonished. Those words came out of my mouth? What was happening to me? Was I catching Billy’s buccaneer fever? Was I becoming addicted to excitement? Was it because I would do anything for us to stay together? Or was I just trying to please Billy?
    I thought I knew the answer. I said quickly, “But I agree with Tom.”
    Billy’s smile disappeared. “You do?”
    â€œTom’s right. It’s too risky. We could get caught. And I don’t like the idea of a gun either, even if it’s not real. What if someone in the bank has a gun and they think we have guns? Wouldn’t they shoot us? If we’re disguised, they won’t know we’re just kids. They would just shoot us, thinking I’m a disguised dwarf. Besides, I couldn’t do a thing like that, scooping up the money. I’d have a heart attack.”
    Billy shrugged, disappointed. “Okay, forget about it.”
    I hated letting him down.
    Tom said, “I’ve got a suggestion for improving our getaway. It’s the handoffs. I think I should be waiting round a corner instead of on the same street as the bank.”
    Billy mumbled, “Oh yeah?”
    Tom said to Billy, “Right now, if someone sees you put the money and disguise in Nails’ shopping bag, they will watch where she goes and then see me. The whole idea of having a second handoff is so that won’t happen.”
    â€œSo what do you suggest?” Billy asked.
    â€œThat I be hidden from sight around the corner from the bank. Nails leaves the bank, walks to the end of the block, turns the corner, makes the handoff. Anyone watching from the bank won’t see anything.”
    â€œGood idea, Tom,” said Billy. “Nails?”
    I thought for a second or two. “I like it, but it still doesn’t solve the problem of taking big risks for small amounts of money.”
    â€œI say we carry on,” said Billy. “Small amounts will add up to big amounts. We’ve just gotta keep going.”
    â€œWe’ve made almost three thousand so far,” said