“Would you like this gift-wrapped miss?” The clerk asked.
“Please and thank you.” Replied the slender, green-eyed teen. She was dressed casually in a pink tank top and denim Capri pants. Her long red hair was pulled back from her face by a simple black elastic band but still managed to fall over and cover part it. She had matching bands on her throat and left bicep. As the clerk turned to wrap her purchase, she activated the throat mike hidden in her choker and sub-vocalized: “What’s the sitch, Wade?”
“Two cameras cover the display floor.” Wade’s voice came to her through the small ear bud attached to the elastic band holding her hair. “I can link into the recording system and loop them while you’re in, but we’ll need a beta unit somewhere in the store.” They had come up with the beta unit about a year and a half earlier; it was basically a small Kimmunicator with limited function and range.
Leaving a beta was no problem she always carried at least two whenever she was planning a job. Wade continued; “The floor is rigged for pressure, but only in front of the two doors and the safe. No alarm beams… no electrified fences… no motion sensors… Heck you’d think they want someone to take this stuff.”
“How do I get in?” the teen asked, without moving her lips.
“Ventilation system,” came the quick reply. “Bypasses both entrance pressure plates and you can drop down right in front of the big safe.”
“Do you need to see anything else?”
“No.”
Kim gave the clerk a big smile as he returned with her gift-wrapped earrings. She “accidentally” dropped her purchase and bent over to retrieve it. While the clerk was hurrying around the counter to assist her, she stuck a small beta unit to the underside of a display case.
Kim strolled into the Bueno Nacho and looked for Ron. He wasn’t in their usual spot but she could see Rufus at their table with his tail moving in the unmistakable “I’m eating a Naco” wag. She spotted Ron at the cheer squad’s usual table flirting with Hope and Marcella. She sometimes missed the old goofy Ron, but she figured if she had never dragged him to Francois, he wouldn’t be nearly as reliable. Besides, if it kept Bonnie out of her face, it was worth it. She was also glad he had taken to carrying a backpack so he could still carry Rufus with him and not mess up the line of his pants. She had missed the little mole rat while Ron was trying to figure that one out.
As she slid into her seat, she noticed Bonnie walking toward the restaurant. “Rufus,” she whispered, “Bonnie alert!” She may not care for the girl but Ron was her partner and she needed him injury free tonight, a condition that was in jeopardy if Bonnie saw him with any of the other cheerleaders.
Rufus popped up and took a quick look around for Ron, spotting him several tables away. The naked mole rat plunged across the restaurant, spilling people and food as he went, climbed up Ron’s leg and torso to grasp the boy’s face firmly between his paws. “Bah-nee” he chittered. Ron planted a quick kiss on Hope’s cheek and gave Marcella wink before sauntering over to where Kim was sitting. Bonnie’s line of sight had been blocked by the chaos of Rufus’ dash. Ron paused to check his reflection before sitting down. He nodded to himself. The ‘New Ron’ looked good.
“KP!” He said, picking up a fresh Naco.
“Ron.”
“So, are we on for…? What?” Ron paused, the Naco halfway to his face. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Are you going to put the whole Naco in your mouth?”
“The Ron man’s hungry!”
“Uh-huh, hun-gree.” Agreed Rufus.
“The Ron man is a disgusting…” She paused, watching Ron’s attempt to give her puppy-dog eyes. It really was a pathetic attempt. She was about to tease him with a detailed critique of his failure when she caught a glimpse of blue and red out of the corner of her eye. Instead, she seemingly relented. “Okay Ron,” she sighed. “Go ahead and shove the whole thing in your mouth.” Ron was quick to oblige and almost choked when Bonnie showed up at the table just as he triumphantly finished pushing the last bits in.
Kim barely managed to keep a straight face at Bonnie’s look of horror and Ron’s food muffled sputtering. “That’s your man, Bon-Bon.” Kim said mischievously, “Dontcha just love him?” and was rewarded with a glare and a quick retreat from the stuck-up cheerleader. “Honestly Ron, I don’t know how you can bring yourself to kiss that girl, much less…” Kim’s voice trailed off. She sat up and leaned in toward him, her eyes burning, “I swear, if I ever find out you didn’t use protection with her, even once, I… I… I’ll… I don’t know what I’ll do!” She frowned. “But you won’t like it.”
Ron was a bit stunned; Kim seldom unleashed her Kimness in his direction. He took a few moments to collect himself, fix his hair and finish swallowing the Naco in his mouth. “KP, you’ve got the Ron man all wrong.” He said, trying to sound nonchalant, “Bonnie’s a cheerleader. The head cheerleader. I’m dating the head cheerleader. Do you know what that does for the Ron man’s status?” Ron finally noticed this line of conversation was doing nothing to ease the glare and trailed off. “Anyway, if Bonnie will date me for a while, maybe I can date more of them.” He looked over to where Bonnie had joined Hope and Marcella, “Maybe more than one at a time…”
“Keep dreaming Bucko, but do it on your own time. We’ve got plans to go over.” Kim pulled the Kimmunicator out of her pocket and set it up on the table where she and Ron could both see it. “Hey Wade, how’s it looking?”
“Hi Kim,” came the computer genius’ reply, “It’s looking good. I’ve tapped into the taping and storage for the display area. I’ve already edited today’s visit to remove the time when you planted the beta unit and I’ll be standing by to rerun a loop of the empty store while you’re both inside. The safe is not on the electronic system, so it must be a mechanical lock. That’s where you come in Rufus.” He paused to watch the naked mole rat’s ‘I’m the creature’ dance and turned to Kim: “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.
“Wade, we’ve been through this before, when someone reneges on a favor, there’s only one way to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Kim’s eyes burned again. “No one backs out on a favor they owe me. At least, no one gets away with it.”
Wade and Ron glanced at each other, trying to think of something to say that would return Kim to her normal chipper mood. Fortunately, Monique chose that moment to make her ever so fashionable entrance and the conversation turned to clothes.
Wade paid little attention to the conversation at the table as he was contemplating Kim’s demeanor. The fiery teen hadn’t always been keen on vengeance. During the summer after their sophomore year, Kim had gone on a rescue mission near a resort her family vacationed at. Kim had tried to call in a favor from the owners of the resort and they had been unable to help her.
Kim had never told Wade any details of the mission or how it had ended but when their junior year started Kim was a little less forgiving, a lot more calculating and wanted nothing more to do with cheerleading. The past two years hadn’t changed her attitude, although Ron had caught Kim practicing cheer moves on several occasions. Whenever they asked about it she would either change the subject or just glare until they did.
They had pulled their first revenge job, as he thought of them, during the Thanksgiving holiday that year. It was at the same resort. Wade was surprised by what Kim had done and even more surprised when Kim had presented him with a portion of the sizable profits. He had been able to hide his share easily in the maze of cyberspace and electronic banking. When Kim asked him to do the same for Ron, he obliged; so they wouldn’t go through another Naco check incident.
The resort was out of business before Christmas. He hadn’t spent any of the money, but he hadn’t reported Kim’s actions to the authorities either.
Ron got dressed for the evening’s activities. For a few weeks after Kim had taken him to Francois’ he had tried to keep the “New Ron” look at all times. But after accompanying Kim on a few missions, but he soon discovered three things:
1) Pockets are essential.
2) Rufus hates being shoved into the bottom of a knapsack during a high-speed chase.
3) Pleather doesn't breathe.
So, during missions he reverted to his traditional jersey and cargo pants. Kim had promised him that this was going to be their last revenge job and he knew that she was always true to her word. It was probably for the best, he didn’t like the way her Kimness came out when she was pissed off. Besides, Wade had already stashed nearly a half million dollars somewhere for him to collect after he graduated. Though he had already gone one round with wealth and had come completely unglued, he thought he was ready for the next one.
While discipline was not something that came easily to Ron, with Kim’s help, he believed he had mastered the ability to control his impulses. He paused for a moment; thinking about the surprising way that Kim had distracted him from the money after that job at the resort, then quickly gathered up his tools and headed for the rendezvous.
Many thanks to an excellent Beta reader, ShegoSoup, for helping me keep the characters and the demons in my head in line. If you like pirates, ninjas and ninja-pirates you should check out her story “Swashbuckled.” If you don’t like pirates, ninjas and ninja-pirates, what the hell is wrong with you?
Next time:
Chapter 2- The Gracious Heist
Kim, Ron and Wade pull their last revenge job
Kim/Ron ship stuff
Angst