Patterns - An Academy Story

Movie Night, Part 2

North's POV

"Oh, man, Jason Statham always plays a badass. We should watch Transporter next."

"Are you kidding me? She already drives like a badass. She doesn't need more lessons. Come to think of it, she could probably give him lessons."

"Can you imagine the amount of surveillance they had to do to pull off a job like this? Three months of prep work. Shit. The three weeks of surveillance we did on that big job last year was bad enough."

I really hope Sang didn't mind the running commentary going on during the movie. They weren't loud or obnoxious about it, but half of my fucking brothers treated movie night as an active participation event. Especially in the beginning of the movie. I was used to it, but it could be a bit much if you weren't. I looked down at her, sitting next to me. She was so cute, sitting there with her legs tucked under her.

"Four minutes to crack the safe. Think you could do it in that time?"

"That safe, not sure. Uncle could."

"Let's be really obvious, people. Pass out walkie talkies and have your computer open to a building diagram while you're in plain sight. On a fucking boat. People could be looking out their windows."

"That guy is such a prick. 'I'm sorry John, but I think that's Charlie's call now.' "

"Man, those guards are fucking stupid. There's no way a speed boat would carry the weight of the safe, let alone the weight of the safe and the gold."

"Underwater safe cracking. That's badass."

"There is no way those underwater vehicles would be able to carry that much gold."

"Kota, how many ounces in each of those bricks?"

"400 Troy ounces. Each brick would weigh almost 27.5 pounds. At today's spot price for an ounce of gold, they'd need approximately 67 bricks to equal $35,000,000."

Pink Floyd. Classic song. I couldn't help but tap my fingers to the beat. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sang moving her head and mouthing the lyrics: New car, caviar, four-star day dream, I think I'll buy me a football team. She liked classic rock, too? I smiled at the thought, relieved she didn't just like classical shit. I wondered if she'd want to go to a concert with me.

"How you doing, Sang?" I asked quietly, leaning in towards her head. She looked up at me, and amused look in her eyes.

"I'm good. Earlier I might have said fine, but after John's explanation of what fine stands for, I'll stick with good," she replied with a smile. "I keep picturing him now as President Snow though, not a charming thief."

"I know what you mean. He's a great actor, but he'll probably be remembered for those movies the most."

We turned back to the movie, but I could feel the heat coming from her body as she sat next to me. She was warm, smelled nice. I wanted to reach over and pull her into my lap and hold her. I wasn't sure what was coming over me, but I kinda liked it. I looked over at Si. His eyes flicked down to Sang and then back to mine and he grinned and nodded. Yup. The feeling was contagious.

***

Victor's POV

"That guy is so screwed, messing with the Ukrainian mob. Come to think of it, we never saw the guy from the golf cart again; the one who said he told the big guy, Skinny Pete, that he saw one of the bars with the Balinese dancer on it."

"Well, they were conveniently questioning him at a scrap yard. Not convenient for him, of course."

"Intermission time," I called out as I stood up and stretched. "Sang, what kind of pizza do you like?"