Page 86 of Bad Habit
“Hey!” Keagan shouted from the kitchen. “About time you guys got here.”
I walked over to Nick, who was chomping down on his sandwich, and made one for myself. He might be my little brother in years, but there was nothing little about Nick. “You’re here.”
I clapped him on the huge expanse of his back. “That mean you changed your mind?” I added quietly, hoping the other Downeys wouldn’t hear.
He gave me a noncommittal shrug as he took another bite of sandwich.
“It’s a go for Saturday night.” Shane rubbed his hands together as he approached Keagan. “Everything set?”
“Let’s sit,” Keagan said, which we all knew meant the four of us sat, while he stood by the tiled fireplace, the unofficial CEO.
“You take care of security, Dill?” Keagan asked.
“Piece of cake.” My twin stretched his legs onto the coffee table. “Took about five minutes to hack into their system. I can shut it all down in seconds. The cameras, the alarms, all of it.” He took a bite of his sandwich.
“And how about what’s in the container?” I asked, then immediately wanted to bite off my tongue. Why did I care? I didn’t want anything to do with this job and was only at the meeting because of the snacks.
Chewing on his roast beef sandwich, Dillon pulled out his phone and stared at the screen, nodding. He licked mustard off the side of his mouth.
“Dill?” Keagan prompted. “The container?”
“Yeah. Got into the dockyard manifest system. Looks like the container’s loaded with high-end electronics. Just like Shane said.”
“Any clue on the shipper?” Keagan asked.
“A long trail of numbered companies that go in a circle,” Dillon answered. “Never seen anything like it.”
“You guys are nuts,” Nick said loudly. “This job is ten times riskier than anything we’ve ever done.”
“With a hundred times the reward! Do the math!” Shane leapt out of his chair and strode toward Nick. “You’ve got to do this, Nick. You’re key to the plan.”
Nick just grunted.
“Nick’s right,” I took a sip of beer. “We never do deals if we don’t know who we’re stealing from.”
Keagan ran his hand through his wavy hair. “Yeah… I hear you, but the web of numbered companies proves the shipper’s shady. It’s not like we’ll be hurting anyone who doesn’t deserve it.”
“That’s not my point.” And even if it was, our Robin Hood rationalization for stealing was getting old.
Sure, we only took from the uber rich and the crooked, but the poor we gave to—that would be us. Our actions were hardly altruistic, and it had never bothered me more than it had since I met Faith. Someone who did actual good.
“Who knows who we’re dealing with here, or what they might do if they come after us.”
“Mac! You haven’t been paying attention!” Shane’s voice rose, and his eyes opened wide.
“There’s no risk. They won’t come after us if we’re working on the inside. The job is set up to look likewewere ripped off.” He strode toward me, like he planned to attack. “And the guys taking the container, they think only me and Nick are involved.”
“I’m not involved,” Nick said. “How many times do I have to fucking say it?”
“You owe me!” Shane charged our youngest brother. He clearly had a death wish.
I jumped up, putting myself between them. Based on his eyes, Shane was high. Again. “Hey… Come on, Shane. Calm down. We’re just talking. We all need the details.”
“Why don’t you get a beer,” Keagan told Shane. “Looks like you need to even out a bit.”
Shane glared but did as Keagan suggested, grabbing a beer from the fridge, then leaning back against the counter as he chugged it down.
Keagan pulled me to the side of the room. “What’s going on? This won’t work ifbothyou and Nick bail.”
