The Great Art Heist

Riding the Rails Never Fails

Shannon's POV:

I may have oversold how much we'd love stowing away in a train car, but at least it's a break from all the chaos we've been through in the last twelve hours.

Nolan: "Man, this is fun, isn't it? Riding the rails hobo-style. You ever see, um, uh, 'Sullivan's Travels'?"

Hartley: "No, I haven't. And no, it's not, all right. Cough it up. Where are we headed? Where's the third egg?"

Nolan: "All right, fine. I've been thinking about this a lot, and we can't tell you."

Hartley: "What do you mean you can't tell me?"

Nolan: "It's not so much of a 'can't', it's more of a 'won't'."

Hartley grabs Nolan by his jacket and dangles him over the edge of the train while holding me back with his other arm.

Hartley: "Take me to the third egg, Booths."

Nolan: "You wanna do it? Do it. You can't, can you? 'Cause even though you're running around with us playing the thief, you're not a real bad guy, Bubba."

Nolan lets his arms go limp at his sides, and just before the incoming train on the other tracks can hit us, Hartley pulls him back into the car.

Nolan: "Let's get something straight right now. That was terrifying. Look, it's not that I don't care about you. It's that I don't care about anyone besides Shannon."

Hartley: "See, that's another thing. What was all that back at the bullfight? Why did Sotto Voce call her 'Ms. Miller'?"

Me: "It's my maiden name."

Hartley: "Ok, but whose voice was that? I didn't see the hologram, but I'm guessing he's the answer to why you became a crook."

Me: "Have you ever heard of Arthur Miller?"

Hartley: "There are about a million men named "Arthur' or 'Miller. You're gonna have to be more-"

Me: "The Trinity Killer."

Hartley: "Yeah, but...Wait, are you saying he was your...?"

Me: "No, he was my uncle."

Hartley: "No, he only ever had a sister; she died when they were kids."

Me: "Not entirely true. After she died, his parents adopted a little boy, my dad, to cope with the loss and deal with their original son being such a major letdown."

Hartley: "But the files say his main focus was his kids. Why would he...?"

Me: "Because he could. And because I'd offer myself up in place of them so they didn't have to be so afraid anymore. They were good kids. They didn't deserve any of that. One day, I threatened to tell people about what he was doing to us, and before I knew it, he'd convinced my parents to send me to a boarding school. So, as part of my cliche teenage rebellion, I started stealing to save enough money to leave ASAP. I was pretty good, but I needed some assistance in some areas. Funny enough, that's what I got the day I met Nolan.-*to Nolan*-I still don't know how you figured out I was a thief."

Nolan: "Well, you looked, and still do, look like a hot super spy, so I took a lucky guess."

Me; *laughs* "Anyway, not long after we teamed up, people started noticing us, and the police put out a public description of their profile of who did our crimes. Arthur concluded it was me and 'set me straight', as he put it. But before he could finish his lesson, Nolan stepped in and somehow scared of a guy at least 2 feet taller than him.-*laughs*-After that, I started staying over at his place when I didn't want to deal with Arthur and his petty acts of 'revenge'. But with me gone, his kids got the brunt of his temper. So, I ratted him out to some guy on the force named Dexter, and no one saw him after that. But I didn't know he was gone yet, so I took what I stole to a pawn shop, gave the owner half the money so they would keep quiet, and ran away. I haven't seen my family since, but I know they're safe and vice-versa, and that's all I need.