17
I’d been freelancing for about four months when the Ayaka call came in.
Deke and I had just finished our fourth job together, but he was out of touch for two weeks on a gig that didn’t involve me. I was hanging around this tedious New Jersey casino town, aimlessly losing myself in cheesy entertainment. Once you’ve learned to pillage banks, stage magic gets lame. I can only stretch so long, read so many comics, and watch so many movies before that urge for excitement overpowers my good sense.
And—I admit it. I wanted to show Deke how much I’d learned. Prove I was ready to work on my own.
The job broker said he needed someone who could slither through a building’s crawlspaces and render the security system harmless—not disable it, that would set off alarms, but make it keep reporting
