“We’ll keep her safe, big guy,” Henn says.
Jonas hugs Henn. “You’re a fucking genius, man. I can never thank you enough for all you’ve done.”
“Hey, man. We’re family now.”
They slap each other’s backs and when they pull apart, Jonas looks determined.
“You got this,” I say. “You’re a fucking beast, bro.”
“Fuck yeah,” Jonas says.
“Fuck yeah,” I reply.
“Fuck yeah,” Henn echoes. “Wow, I feel somasculatedright now. Is this how you guys feel every fucking day? Wow.”
We all laugh.
I look at my watch. “Okay, bro. You better get your ass to the airport. Keep us posted. We’ll be ready all day tomorrow. Just give us the word and we’ll head to the banks.”
Our threesome walks over to the girls, and after the five of us have completed every possible permutation of hugging and whispered goodbyes, Jonas and Sarah waltz out the door, bags in hand and determined expressions on their faces.
“Good luck saving the world, guys!” Kat shouts to their backs.
“Holy crappolaaaaaaaaaaa!” Sarah shouts, just as the door closes behind her.
They’re gone.
Henn, Kat, and I look at each other in a shared daze for a long moment.
“Holy shitballs,” Kat finally says.
“Big shit going down in little China,” Henn says.
“Or little Ukraine,” I add.
“Shit just got real,” Henn says.
“Fo shizzle pops,” Kat says.
Henn exhales, filling his cheeks with air like a blowfish. “Welp.” He looks at Kat. “I guess we’d better take your photo for your Oksana passport, huh? If Jonas and Sarah call upon us to save the world tomorrow, we’d best be ready.”
Forty-One
Josh
“Okay, Kitty Kat,” Henn says, his eyes bugging out. “There’s nothing to stress about. I’ve already shaved years off Oksana’s age on all the banks’ systems and I’m gonna swap your photo for Oksana’s on the accounts using photo identification. Tonight, I’m gonna check and recheck all the passwords and codes on every account, too, just to make sure everything goes off without a hitch tomorrow. Oh, and I’m gonna infect the bad guys’ devices with malware to block their wifi at the flip of a switch too—just on the off chance they try to log into their accounts while we’re in the middle of making the transfers.”
“How many Americanos have you had today, Henny?” Kat asks.
“Why does everyone always ask me that?” He chuckles. “So are you ready to get your photo taken, Oksana?” He motions to the door of Jonas and Sarah’s suite. “I think we should head down to the casino and look for a white wall as a background.”
Kat steals a glance at me, and there’s no mistaking what she’s thinking about.“Sure thing,” she says tentatively, still looking at me. “How long do you need me?”
“Just a few minutes. Shouldn’t take long once we find a good backdrop.”
“Is there any hacker-stuff you could do first, before taking my photo? Maybe for about an hour?”
“Um. Sure. I can certainly work on my malware for a while. And I’ve got a little research on the Secretary of Defense to do for Jonas.”
