“Shouldn’t be fuzzy like that,” Sammy said, zooming out.
Cindy bent down as the camera closed in on Shantou’s finale. Shantou smiled and flicked her snake tongue.
Cindy put her hand over her mouth. “Oh my God. See that?”
Sammy turned off the tablet. “We should invite her over to take care of our rat problem.” She would’ve usually gotten a laugh from her.
Cindy just smiled, staring vacantly at the disappeared screen. Jonathan didn’t need her for the second day in a row. He was losing business to another skin joint. Sammy wondered in a town of this size, how could he lose money to a skin joint across town?
Cindy plucked at Sammy’s hair. “Want it styled like Shantou’s?”
“You going to fork my tongue too?”
Cindy shook as if catching a chill.
Cindy had been trying to get Sammy to wear something from her growing collection of makeup. She’d say, “Just a little goes a long way.”
Cindy pulled Sammy’s hair up from the back. “We could try something else.”
“You might want to do it for people who’ll pay, especially with toupee Johnny’s business going down the crapper.”
“Johnny will figure it out.”
“Maybe Igor’s sister’s cat can get him a couple of dead rats to fill out that toupee.”
“A lot of girls will lose their jobs if the club folds.”
“You can get another job, Cindy. You like nice clothes. Get a job in one of those stores.”
“They got bots to do that.”
“I hate those bots,” Sammy said, thinking back to the last time she’d gone to one of those stores. “The bot always takes me to the pre-teen section where some snotty kid whines about some stupid thing.”
“They always get my size right, one time even discouraged me against a dress that made my hips look wide.”
“Damned bots,” Sammy said, picking up the red ball with a tuft of a fuse.
“What’s that?”
“Some kind of firework.” Sammy pinched the fuse. “Hey, do you want to light them off? It’s starting to get dark.”
Cindy grinned wide, looking like a kid with a present.
Sammy snatched her coat off the back of the chair and grabbed a lighter. “Come on. We’ll go in the back.”
Cindy raced ahead, down the steps and to the back door. “It’s locked.”
Sammy fished out her picks. “Igor’s so paranoid.”
“I never get tired of watching you do that.”
Sammy could tell it was a new lock by how easily the pins dropped. When the last pin fell, the door swung open, sending Sammy tumbling through.
Cindy offered her hand. “You okay?”
Sammy nodded, brushing away dirt from the fall. “Didn’t expect that. Igor must be laughing somewhere.”
Most of the courtyard was cluttered with strewn junk. About thirty feet from the door, the space opened up. Two chairs were side by side, facing out.
Sammy held out a sampling of the fireworks for Cindy to choose. “Which one do you want to see first?”
Cindy looked them over as if she were picking a card in a game of three-card monte. She tapped the tube.
“Looks like a good one,” Sammy said, fetching the lighter from her pocket. She stood the tube on its end and lit the fuse. It sparkled at first, and then a red ball popped out, tipping the tube over. A green ball popped out next, firing right at their feet. They leaped away from it, but the tube spun again and sent a yellow ball at them.
Cindy giggled, grabbing Sammy’s hand. “This thing’s got it in for us.”
They laughed as they jumped over the shooting colored balls.
Cindy escaped onto a chair, waiting for another ball that never came. “Is that it?”
“Looks like it,” Sammy said, pulling out the little red ball with a fuse and showing Cindy. “This one next?”
“What does it do?”
Sammy shrugged. “I think it explodes.”
Cindy nodded.
“I’ll roll it away so we don’t blow up the building.” Sammy lit the fuse and tossed it. It bounced, wobbling away. The hissing fuse fizzled as it came to a stop.
Cindy looked back at her. “Is it a dud?”
Should she get a stick to poke it? White smoke puffed out, turning more into a spray and filling the courtyard.
“It just makes smoke?”
“Could be a dud.”
“It’d be nice if it exploded and confetti came out.”
Sammy felt for another red ball. “I can try another one.”
“Try the stick one?”
Sammy examined it through the mist. “It looks like it shoots up in the air, a kind of rocket.”
“Then what?”
“Guess we’ll see.” Sammy placed the stick between two bricks and lit the fuse. The little rocket pierced a hole into the mist, sailed high, and crackled into a small starburst.
Cindy leaned back, looking up. “That was nice.”
Sammy nodded. “I like that one the best unless you like getting chased by glowing balls?”
Igor stood by the back door. “What is this! Are you starting fire?”
Sammy rolled her eyes. “It’s just some fireworks.”
Igor marched up to Sammy. “You make smoke like fire, so if drones do not see that, they hear explosion?”
“It was one little rocket, and it didn’t exactly light up the sky.”
“Who says you can light fireworks by building? Who says you open back door?”
“You think you own this place? You’re just a squatter like us.”
“Sam, Igor is just saying we have to be more cautious,” Cindy said, her tone soft. “We’re not exactly in a legal building.”
“She is the smart one here,” Igor said. He turned back and yelled something in Russian to his sister standing by the back door.
His sister looked up at the smoke drifting off like an escaping ghost. She spun and stomped away.
Igor sneered. “I come looking for you with great opportunity. Now, I am not sure I should tell you.”
Cindy put her hand on Igor’s arm. “We’re sorry, Igor. We won’t do anything like this again.”
What was she apologizing to him for?
Igor patted her hand. “I wish you were the thief. It’d be easier to deal with you.”
“You want me to steal something?”
Igor nodded. “It is great opportunity. It’ll help you, you, and me.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you got the order wrong.”
“Help me?” Cindy asked. “How?”
“We should start by asking how it will help him,” Sammy said. “That’ll really tell us how good this opportunity is.”
“Once a stupid girl, always a stupid girl. You get the loaf and I get the crumbs.”
Sammy sighed. “So what’s this great opportunity?”
“Johnny needs you to steal something for him.”
“Her Johnny?” Sammy asked, pointing to Cindy.
He nodded with a big grin. “I convinced him you are good thief.”
“Do you know what he wants her to steal?” Cindy asked.
Sammy snickered. “Yeah, a new head for business.”
Igor’s lip curled. “He wants her to steal Xanadu’s secret to making the psychedelics.”
“He wants me to steal a recipe book?”
Igor scowled. “If it is book, then yes.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to hear him out, Sam,” Cindy said. “If it’ll save his business, he’s got to pay you good money, right?”
Igor nodded. “Be smart for once and listen to her.”
“How do I know he’ll pay?”
“Johnny pays all his debts,” Igor said. “Ask anyone.”
Why her? He didn’t like her and thought she was a kid; now he was asking her to steal something to save his miserable business?
“Well?” Igor asked, eager like a dog waiting for a treat.
“Don’t like it. Can�
�t he get somebody else to do it?”
“He is honest businessman. You think he has list of thieves to call?”
“He doesn’t even know what I’ve got to steal. What’s with that?”
“Johnny has ideas. We will talk.”
“You hear what Johnny has to say,” Cindy said. “If you like what he’s offering, then you do it.”
Sammy never liked to agree to something she wasn’t sure about, but in Johnny’s case, she looked forward to saying no to his face. “I’ll hear him out.”
Igor’s sneer melted away. “Smartest thing you said all day. We will leave for club tomorrow at noon.”
Chapter Seventeen
_____________________________
Sammy, Cindy, and Igor walked into the club, darkened and tomb-like in contrast to the sun-spilled day. A lady in her thirties with big boobs and bigger hips greeted them.
“Janine,” Cindy said, rushing ahead to embrace her.
“Working today, hon?”
Cindy shook her head and turned to Igor. “This is Igor.”
Igor had his creepy smile going. “Do I get hug?”
Janine shook his hand. Her practiced smile held, but the brightness in her eyes dimmed.
“And this is Sam.”
Janine bent down to Sammy’s height. “How are you?” The pitch of her voice was high as if Sammy were all of ten, wearing pigtails and a pinafore dress. “Is this your kid sister?”
“No, she’s a friend.”
Igor chuckled.
Sammy sneered. “What are you laughing at?”
“You dress like boy. What do you expect?”
“We’re here to see Johnny,” Cindy said. “Really them. I’m just tagging along.”
Janine shifted her gaze from Igor to Sammy, looking as if she was trying to figure out the reason for the visit.
“They might be able to get something for Johnny to turn things around.”
Janine tapped Cindy’s arm. “We all know what that is.”
“Yeah, brains,” Sammy said under her breath.
They followed Janine to a roped-in section of tables. She unhooked one of the ropes and waved them through.
“VIP, Janine?” Cindy asked.
“They’re VIP if they can help turn the club around.”
Igor sat tall in his seat. Sammy slumped down next to him, and Cindy needed a nudge.
Janine clipped the rope closed. “I’ll get Johnny.”
“I like the view,” Igor said.
“Feel like fenced-in cattle.”
“Sam, these are the best seats in the club. They’re reserved for only the best clients.”
“She appreciates nothing,” Igor said with a slight curl of the lip.
Sammy rolled her eyes. Uncle Danny used to say power and envy were what stirred the soup. “It’s a con to make people with money feel special, and people like Igor envious. Can’t have one without the other.”
“And who are you? The one who sits on the sides and sneers?”
Sammy patted his arm. “I just feel pity.”
Igor yanked his arm from her.
Sammy chuckled. Cindy paced in front of the table. “You can sit down, Cindy. The chair won’t fling you over the stupid ropes.”
“Johnny didn’t ask me to come, Sam. I’m just tagging along.”
“I’ll tell him I wouldn’t be here without you. Sit down.”
Cindy sat, perched on the edge.
Sammy cupped Cindy’s hand. “If he says anything, I’ll put a fork in his toupee.”
“He’s very sensitive about the hairpiece.”
“How do you think the rats feel?”
Igor huffed. “This was mistake.”
“The only reason Igor’s here is to make sure he gets his fee.”
“I am here to help. You will need much of that.”
Cindy rose and waved at a big-bosomed girl sashaying around the tables. “That’s Ginger,” Cindy said, sitting. “She’s one of the dancers.”
Sammy thought of the pug at the hardware store. She figured the dancer had a bigger bite. “From what I’ve seen, none of them look as good as you.”
Cindy wiggled in her seat and swatted the air.
“Ask Igor. He’ll tell you. He’s an expert in skin joints.”
Igor looked Cindy over with a dreamy smile. “Very nice and smart.”
Sammy handed Igor a napkin. “Got some drool on your chin.”
Igor glared at Sammy. “Others not so nice.”
Cindy wrung her hands. “Feel like I’m better than everybody else sitting here.”
Sammy chuckled. “That’s the whole idea.”
“She knows everything.”
Sammy sat up, searching the club. “Where is this guy? I should charge him by the hour.”
“You have plans? Want to burn down building?”
“It was a dud firework, Igor.”
Igor shifted in his seat, not quite letting go of his sneer.
“I hope you can get whatever Johnny needs,” Cindy said. “I’d hate to see all these girls lose their jobs.”
“They won’t lose their jobs. They’ll just get hired in the other place. There’s no shortage of…guys like Igor.”
Igor tilted his head toward Sammy. His upper lip seemed to have permanently curled. He noticed Jonathan walking in front of the stage and turned to all smiles. “Let me do the talking.”
“Are you going to do the stealing too?”
Cindy stood, looking slightly flushed. “Hi, Johnny.”
“Looking great, doll,” Johnny said. “Could you be a hon and get me some coffee? Anybody else want anything?”
Igor said he’d take a coffee, and Sammy shook her head, peeved at Cindy for acting like a dog getting kicked off Johnny’s lap.
“She is very good thief, Johnny. She will get you what you need.”
Jonathan looked at Sammy with mild disinterest. He pulled the chair back and sat down. “At least she’ll be the last person they’d expect.”
“Yeah, that’s me, ‘the least expected.’”
Igor flashed her a phony smile, patting her hand a little harder than she’d like. “We know you need the formula for the new psychedelic. Can you tell us anything more?”
“I know they make it on the premise.”
Igor leaned forward. “Don’t they need special equipment to do that?”
Jonathan nodded. “Nobody else does that.”
“So what do you want her to steal? This equipment?”
“The equipment I can get. I need to know how they’re making it.”
“And what would that be?”
Jonathan shrugged. “It could be a computer, an interface, or even a sheet of paper.”
Igor nodded, looking as if he was thinking up another question.
Cindy came by with a tray of coffee and placed a cup in front of each of them. “It’s hot cocoa,” she whispered to Sammy.
Sammy squeezed Cindy’s arm and took a sip. It was pretty good for a skin joint. “So what am I going to steal again?”
Jonathan leaned back, sipping his coffee. “I’m sure Igor can find out.”
“Me?”
“Xanadu is run by the Russians.”
“There are many Russians in city, Johnny. I do not know all of them.”
“At least you know the language.”
Sammy thought Igor’s slice of the loaf just got a bit bigger. “How much do you plan on paying for this information, providing Igor can find out what I have to steal?”
Jonathan rocked in his chair. “I can pay as much as a thousand dollars, but it’s got to work.”
Sammy laughed. “This place must already be in the crapper if that’s all you can afford.”
“I’ve weathered worse things, and I’ll weather this too. Even if you steal the right thing, there’s still a lot of equipment I have to buy.”
“You must’ve gone from A to Z and back again before deciding to talk to me. What happened to the others?”
&
nbsp; “There were no others. Igor is the only Russian I know, and he likes you for the job.”
“I’m not going to do it for a thousand bucks.”
Igor put his coffee down. “It is a little low, Johnny.”
“All you have to do is talk Russian to a few of the guys who work at Xanadu. All she has to do is walk into the place pretending to sell Girl Scout cookies and swipe the plans. She’ll make a couple of hundred on the cookies alone.” He grinned, slurping down his coffee. “I’ll go fifteen hundred. Split it any way you want. Not bad for talking to the Russians and pretending to sell cookies.”
Sammy wanted to tell him what he could do with the cookies. “Five thousand, and every time you mention cookies it goes up another thousand.”
Johnny shifted his chair away from the table. “I’m not giving five thousand bucks to some kid.”
“Then get someone else to do it. Hire a kleptomaniac Girl Scout for all I care.”
Johnny took a sip from his coffee, puckering his lips. “I’ll go as high as two thousand. That’s my final offer.”
She had to at least make five grand for her first heist. “Let me make it simple for you, Johnny. Five thousand is the starting point for me. If the job is hard, then the price goes up. That doesn’t include two hundred for expenses to check it out.”
Johnny gave her one of those you-got-to-be-kidding-me looks.
“As soon as I walk away, the price starts at six thousand.”
Johnny shifted in his seat. “Go to hell.”
A couple of the girls were on the stage. One held the pole, leaning back suggestively. The other took her turn and twirled around it. The flat-chested girl among the big-bosomed might just be Sammy’s hell.
“Johnny, if I may,” Igor said, leaning over the table. “You’ll only have to pay us if we get you what you need. Isn’t that worth the price to save your business?”
“There’s equipment I have to buy. I don’t know how much that’ll cost.”
“So you try to cheat us? You think I want to help you? This place can go down the crapper for all I care.”
Johnny spun, knocking his coffee on his lap. He jumped up and stormed off.
“Do you even know how to be nice?” Igor asked.
“He was trying to cheat us, and you know it.”
Igor took a sip of the coffee. “You still could be nicer.”
“I didn’t spit in his face at the Girl Scout cookies remark.”
The Girl Thief Page 8