Insightful Skeletons

"You ready?" Shane asked over his shoulder, working quickly to hack their small town's museum back door security keypad.

Jesseye nodded. She was. They'd spent over a month making then study it. He carefully pushed the door in. Dressed in black, shaded by the night, the two theives crouched along the wall. Her heart beat wildly with each step. A billion thoughts of how this could go wrong pulsed through her brain. This was so much more than they'd ever done.

But at least she knew the plan, or atleast she should by now. She gulped and dug her nails into her palms as she crept down the hallway. Each tap of her foot sounded so loud against the black tiles, sprinkled all grey. Did she still have time to stash her shoes somewhere? But oh, they wouldn't have time to grab em! Once they got the money, they had to GET.

She rounded corners a corner then held her arm out at a sound. "A guard," she whispered in explanation. Being seen wouldn't do them any good either. She felt his breath on her hand and bit her lip. 'Pay attention!' She yelled at her brain, pulling her arm back robotically.

Waiting for the guard to walk past, she realized her creepy surroundings. Shadowed dinosaur skeletons glared at the theives, darkened plachs echoed knowledge of things long past, plastic bushes tickled her back. Minutes passed begrudgingly. Hyper realistic cavemen that bore into her very soul. Did they know doing this wasn't exactly 'right' either? Could they see the guilt already pressing on her heart? No, no! Of course not. How on earth could it take him so long to return to his stankin' post?! These men were fake, thoughtless-- plastic or oil-- they didn't know anything about God or her plan. And it didn't matter. They'd all be happy after this.

"One down, two to go." She huffed and they continued on.

Shane's dark solliwet of a head bobbed. "Camera 8." He whispered, pointing towards it. "Follow me." He ordered in a low voice before lowering onto his stomach. She followed suit, crawling past the last exhibit. He stopped. Jesseye sucked in a breath. A camera had to be pointed towards them. They needed to time this perfectly or-- Jesseye didn't even want to think about it. She just followed Shane. *He* was the mastermind in this.

He peered around the corner then shoot back behind the wall. "Guard 2." Was that worry in his voice or was it just her imagination? Mercy, she sure was. But their goal was in sight, their money boxes were close in hand.

She gulped when Shane dashed across the hall. Jesseye immediately got to work on the locked automatic door while he kept watch. She bit her lip in an attempt to keep focus. Sweet Jesus, why was she so shakey? This wasn't her first time picking a lock! But now she could barely get the stupid pin in. There! There. She felt something click inside. Now to.. Yes! She released a breath of relief and nodded at him to pull it open.

"Well done, hotshot," he whispered. The one camera in the gift shop rotated their way. She barely dropped fast enough.

"I've got this." Jesseye tried to sound assured and confident. It didn't quite work. But hopefully he didn't hear it. The ticket booth was by the front desk-- just a couple turns from here. "You get the ticket money," she whispered an order. "I've got this." She tried to flash him a quick smile from under her mask.

"Good." He nodded. She watched him wait for the camera to turn again and dash across the hall. Jesseye army crawled through the assorted racks of dinosaur themed history trinkets. The dusty, white speckled tile floors felt cold on her belly. She thanked her history of breaking out of foster homes now. Sneaking around to avoid CPS wasn't too different from this. They rehomed her a few times, but she'd only gotten better at her craft... Keep quiet when the big baddies round the corner, sneak through here, snatch a little something there.

Jesseye rounded the counter. But back then, it'd been to sur-- Her eyes widened like baseballs. --vive! She *swore* for a second angels sang from the shadowed register. In immediate contradiction to her thoughts, a certain verse flashed in her mind. 'Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.'

She shook her head. "After this," she whispered in response. That's exactly what she planned on doing with her restaurant-- honest work so that she might have something to share with anyone in need. But, this dishonest work needed to be done in preparation. More determined than ever, Jesseye picked the register in a matter of minutes only to find... nothing. Her blood ran cold. There was no cash. What was she going to tell Shane? Maybe if she, maybe if she doubled back..?

She started to sneak out of the gift shop, but of course, her boyfriend was already waiting up for her. And they didn't have *time* to double back.

"Shane, I--" oh she could almost see the disappointment in his eyes. She crumpled her black bag to show the lack of cash.

"Nothing." he said for the both of them. Was he angry? Oh she wished they didn't have masks on.

"I'm, I'm so sorry. I--"

"It's fine," he said, voice low with what she prayed wasn't irritation, "You tried. I gotta back up plan." His gentle grip on her forearm relaxed her trembling heart. She nodded. He wasn't mad. He glanced over his shoulder before taking lead, "We'll just take a different way back."

The slow tap, tap, tap of the three museum guards' footsteps were nearly deafening. Waiting for them to pass was torturous. Jesseye gulped. Was she right to trust him? This wasn't one of the passages she had mesmerized. What if--? No. No. That was just the nerves talking. He'd never serve her up to a cop.

*&^%$#*&^%$#*&^%$#*

Shane smiled when they came up to a specific exhibit. The only one that wasn't *just* plastic. It, was, in fact, one of the most popular during the day-- the pre-historic stones and gems. Some of this ancient stuff would no doubt be worth thousands if they could bypass the heat signatures. Or, they might even be able to ransom the museum itself. But that was normally a last resort, if no one bout their treasure from the online black market.

Shane shrugged and set his bag down in front of the sensors. 3 minutes, or the system would alarm the security that it was being tampered with. He smirked at his hacking device. It looked something like a large pager, but it did the job way better than he ever could on his own wits.

"Got my 6?" he asked her between punching in commands. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jesseye nod then lean against the wall with her arms crossed. He held back a scoff. So tuff.

"Always," she whispered. There she was. His sweet Jesseye. Who ever she was before this business was long gone. He was just glad she never tried to butt-in to this side of it.

-----

Sweat poured down the side of his face as he worked. The three minutes were almost up. What if he couldn't get it? What if a guard started their wαy and saw him? He knew how Jesseye often zoned out. A couple more seconds and-- Shane released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

A hand held his shoulder. He almost shrugged it off before comprehending that it was just Jesseye. "Nice job, handsome," she whispered to him before creeping past him into the exhibit. Nodding, he closed the door after them. He could almost hear her smile. She was impressed too easily. He wasn't *that* good-- just had lots of practice. His dad had him breaking into places or ordering his blood money paid from the ripe age of 13. But of course... she didn't know that.

Shane swallowed at the sound of her soft, muffled laughter. He let her bag the valuables: fossils, gigantic rubies, ancient stones that looked like emeralds. "Got em." Shane zipped up her doufle bag for her. How could she trust him this much? How easily he could over power her, knock her out, then just... leave.

He lugged it over his shoulder and straightened. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and whispered, "Good job, Jess." as they walked towards the exit. "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," she said softly, giving his covered cheek a peck. He knew without a doubt that she had to be grinning like a cat right now. Unconsciously, against his will, Shane's guard lowered. The job was done. And they were almost out.

"Hey!" a foreign voice yelled.

The Criminal Couple bolted into action. Together they sprinted through the twisting halls, past the dinosaur exhibits, to the nearest door. Shane snatched his crow bar from his back, popped the door open, and shoved his girlfriend out. "Go!"

"But I--"

"GO! I'll be right there, promise."