Venice; Money Heist [2]

Aikido

BIENVENIDOS

AGAIN

Laughter ripples through our ranks, and those of us who have already gone through this with the Professor exchange knowing grins. Robi and I try hard to stifle our giggles. I glance over my shoulder at Helsinki, who's sitting just behind me. Up front, Tokyo sits on the right, and Denver on the left. Behind Denver is Monica, with the guy with the moustache sitting behind Tokyo. Robi sits behind the moustachioed guy, and I'm behind Monica. Helsinki, who's grinning mischievously at me, is behind Robi, while the beanie-wearing guy is behind me. The guy in the turtleneck sits beside and behind Helsinki, and the grim-looking man, who didn't even give us a nod, sits behind him. He's at least as tall as Helsinki, with broad shoulders. If I weren't so twisted in the head, his stare might intimidate me—but fortunately, that ship sailed years ago. Still, I can't deny that he's incredibly attractive. Hallelujah...

Our eyes meet, and my breath catches at the sight of his blue eyes.

"Well, most of you already know the rules," the Professor's voice snaps me out of the moment. I feel my face flush at the thought that I was staring at him and he caught me. I slowly turn back to face forward, trying to appear calm, and focus on Sergio. "But since there are some new faces, I'll remind you." At this, I notice all my friends turning around to get another look at the newcomers. "First of all, there will be no personal relationships." He glances at Lisbon, who's standing beside him, and flinches slightly. I give him a look that says, "Are you serious?" before Robi and I exchange a knowing glance. "All right, that rule's been..." Denver's laugh cuts him off. He clears his throat, clearly embarrassed, before continuing. "The second rule is that we're not allowed to use first or last names."

"Professor," Nairobi interrupts him. "Let's cut the bullshit. How are we breaking into the Bank of Spain?" Everyone looks at him eagerly. He moves behind the model and, with a smooth motion, pulls the cover off.

"By making a lot of noise."

***

MADRID, D-DAY

...And what a noise we made. As the saying goes, "If you want to achieve greatness, you must be ready to put in the work." Said and done. Nowadays, wars start with bombings. So did ours. Three massive blimps flew over Madrid, emblazoned with the Dali mask. That day, in Madrid, it rained over 140 million euros. That was our way of saying, "We're back." Remember Plan Chernobyl? It was a desperate plan from our last heist, meant to create chaos by raining money down on Madrid so we could escape if everything went wrong. Chaos was exactly what we needed now...

"The blimps are programmed to reach specific coordinates, and once they get there, their doors will open. After that, they'll fly within a 250-meter radius, releasing bills at 40-second intervals for 50 minutes," the Professor explained as he walked between the rows of thieves toward the model of the Bank before turning to face them. "Imagine on that day, the money raining down will be like manna from heaven. In total, we'll release 140 million euros."

Denver blows a raspberry and looks around the room. "It ain't cheap going into the lion's den, right?"

"Shut up, Denver, and listen," the brunette a few rows behind him snaps, rolling her eyes. This was about her brother—no price was too high. She exchanges a frustrated glance with the Latina beside her, unaware that one of their own has been staring at her since the meeting began.

"They call you and all of us Robin Hoods," the Professor addresses Denver.

"Not all of us," the new black-haired member of the group, still staring at Venice, interjects.