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     Nate thought about the options laid out in front of him for a long time.  It seemed like the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get the treasure was gnawing at him, but he wasn't sure if he could handle being stuck with his ex for so long.

     As he ran his fingers over the postcards in his hands delicately as he pictured his brother's voice reading the words out loud to him.  Wish you were here, bro.  There's a whole world you haven't seen, but you will.  I promise.

     Amanza wouldn't say she was startled by Sully's phone ringing, but it was also unexpected.  Her stomach sank as she saw Sully's smile twitch.  "Hey, kid.  What took you so long?"

     Sully hadn't known Amanza for long, but he prided himself on having picked up such a chameleon of a woman.  Finding her was just a bonus, as she was inseparable from Sam, who was the person Sully was truly after at the time.  The girl was beautiful, and elegant and moved like a monstrous wave in the vast ocean.  And in that ocean, she possessed the power to become anybody she wanted.  Therefore, the term chameleon in this sense is literal.  Amanza could disguise herself pretty well, blending into any crowd.

     She met them on the sidewalk outside the building where the auction for the second cross would be held; she knew the story too well just from Sully talking about it.  She quickly brushed through her bedhead, so her hair was voluminous from the curls she had the day before.  She figured the more casually she dressed, the better, so she slipped on some cream-colored fuzzy joggers with a matching cropped tank top as well as some worn-down sneakers.  Her brown eyes were covered with dull but large sunglasses, a hot cup of coffee in a paper cup as she walked slightly behind the boys.

     "There's an auction coming up," Sully explained to Nate.  "Biggest collection of Spanish Renaissance art and artifacts anywhere this century.  One of those items is La Cruz de la Hermandad.  Only it's not a cross.  It's a key... a key that unlocks the chamber where the Infamous 18 hid their gold."

     "Very cool, but the legend said there are two keys, one for the captain and one for the crew, so no one man could steal the gold by himself," Nate countered.  "One key doesn't do us any good."

     "You ever get outside when you were a kid?  I mean, how do you remember all this shit?" Sully asked.

     Before Nate could answer, Amanza interrupted them.  "Duh, he stores it all in his ginormous head!"

     Sully chuckled.  "Only one thing: I already have the captain's key.  Second one's in there.  The Augustine...it's an auction house.  It's very exclusive, but I got us on the list.  Look, all I need you to do is kill the power during the auction.  That'll trigger the main alarm, and then I can do my thing."

     "Okay.  And how am I supposed to kill the power?"

     "Well, shit, that's up to you.  I mean, you got to bring something to the equation.  I'm not cutting you in for fun," Sully said as they slowed to a stop on the corner.  Amanza also slowed down and took a sip from her mocha, pretending she was waiting for the light to turn green or something, but mostly keeping her eyes peeled.  Someone had to play lookout, especially with Dumb and Dumber as her partners.

     "Actually, that's a good point.  We haven't spoken about my cut yet.  I assume we're 50-50, right?" Nate asked.

     "Fifty-fif...?  On what, the gold?" Sully retorted, shocked.

     "Yeah."

     "Are you high?" Sully asked, still shocked.

     "I wish I was," Amanza butted in.  "Also, I'm right here.  I am also in on the heist.  Just to be clear."

     "You are?" now it was Nate's turn to be confused.  He whipped around to take his first full glance at her since they had begun trekking down the sidewalk.

     Amanza nodded.  "You didn't think my only job was to recruit you, did you?"

     "I did actually."

     "Oh, well, the second part was to cover your ass and look good while doing it," Amanza retorted, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

     Sully raised an eyebrow upon hearing their bickering but shook his head.  He knew better than to put himself in the middle of them, and just let their emotions play out.  It was better than a full-fledged fight anyway.  Besides, he had more important things in his head.  "You know this has been years of my life?  You get ten percent, and that's me being generous."

     "Wow.  That's awfully generous," Nate sarcastically retorted.

     Sully didn't like that too much.  "What are you gonna do with that kind of money?"

     As Nate opened his mouth to speak up again, Amanza beat him to it.  "Hopefully buy a new wardrobe."  When he turned to look at her, she just raised her eyebrows, daring him to add something else, but he restrained himself.

⚔

     "You still working on the tie?"

     Sully entered the dimly light room, which was quiet until he said something as Nate stood in front of a large oval mirror working on his tie.  "I just can't figure out the length.  I just keep making it all fat."

     "Come here."

     Nate reluctantly allowed Sully to help.  "You know what you're doing?"

     "Yeah, my dad was a Navy man.  I could do this one-handed with my eyes shut," Sully said.

     Amanza lurked just right around the corner, the zipper on the back of her strapless, low-cut cocktail dress she had chosen for the night half-zipped.  It was a shade of deep plum, dark enough to compliment her tanned skin, but the blonde wig she spent an hour fixing up made her look like a different person.  Chameleon.

     "You served, too, didn't you?  Dishonorable discharge."

     Of course, Amanza had known about Sully's past, it wasn't like he tried very hard to hide it away.  She did her own research on him the second he approached her.  Even if she was the one who technically approached him first.  By stealing his wallet.

     "Hey, you did some homework, huh?" Sully asked, slightly impressed, even if he would never say it.

     "Of course I did," Nate said back as Sully worked on his tie.

     "I flew helicopters.  I was preserving some artifacts from a museum in Baghdad.  I was over the max load weight, crashed pretty hard.  They got all upset, kicked me out.  Bit of an overreaction, but what are you gonna do?"

     "You say "preserving," but you mean looting, right?" Nate asked, a glint of something in his eyes as one gently twitched.

     "Well, if I didn't take 'em, somebody else would've," Sully said, like that explained everything.

     "You asked for that."

     "Thank you."

     "Would now be a great time to ask if anyone has seen my shoes?" Amanza cut in by turning the corner and entering the room to stare both boys in their eyes, pretending like she hadn't just heard every single thing uttered from their lips.  Sully had finished Nate's tie, so he stepped aside to get a better look at her.

     "Uh..." Nate drawled.  "The ones by the door?"

     Amanza slyly shook her head.  "No, the black ones with the little strap.  And the little sparkly bow."

     Nate's lips twitched into a smile for a split second.  "You still have those shoes?."

     "Yeah, well, they go with everything," Amanza sighed, turning her back to him.  "Finish zipping me up."

     Nate caught his breath as he glanced at her half-bare back, unevenly tanned skin revealed to him by surprise.  Still, he brought his fingers to the tiny zipper and gently pulled up.  Finally, only her shoulders and arms were left seen, which was still a lot in his opinion.

     "Manzy, you left the shoes over here!" Sully, who they hadn't realized had stepped away so that he could give them their own space, but they acted like they were the only two in the room anyways so what did it matter?  It wasn't his fault they were so goddamn suffocating the way they carried a thick cloud of tension with them everywhere they went.  He hadn't yet complained of it, knowing it was his fault for recruiting them both, and neither would hesitate to remind him of that.

     "Thank you," Amanza ran a hand through the blonde wig, and Nate could then see something glittery flash at him — a diamond ring.  Real or not, it was impressive.  It was then that he realized she wore a matching necklace, which was thick enough to be seen on a second glance, but still elegant enough to be worn with a cocktail dress.  "What do you think about the hair?  This is my second attempt ever at a wig."

     "You couldn't look any more gorgeous, honey," Sully replied kindly without looking up from the bar area he'd set up on his countertop.  

     Nate, on the other hand, could disagree plenty.  Sure, she'd figured out how to lay the wig perfectly and style it around her round face, but this wasn't the epitome of beauty.  It was all wrong, it was fake, and most importantly, it wasn't really her.  Hell, he'd seen her running barefoot from nightclubs, chucking sparkly heels at his face and that image surely came closer to genuine beauty than her current getup.  He knew this was just a cover for the auction, she was his backup after all, but he'd much preferred her with her natural hair (he'd even settle for it unbrushed) and the way she usually did her makeup was fine — the soft iridescent glitter that laid atop her eyelids took away from the natural sparkle in her eyes.

     Amanza knew that he was being nice, and yet she still smiled in contentment anyways.  Even if he was lying, sometimes it was nice to hear a confidence boost.  Lord knew she needed it.  "Thanks, Sul."  She began raking her hair into a low bun as she walked towards her shoes, slipping them on with ease.

     Nate's eyebrows furrowed.  "You're not going to wear your hair like that, are you?"

     Amanza turned, confused, relaxing her arms and dropping them lower.  "Yes...?  What are you now, the hair police?"

     It looked like he swallowed a large lump in his throat.  "You look better with your hair down."

     Had this been any other man or any other moment, Amanza would have nodded and agreed.  She didn't know what she was thinking anyways, going for such a classy look, but she knew how much Sully had riding on this night.  One small step out of line and the whole operation was done for, meaning that recruiting Nate would have been a waste of both of their time.  It wasn't her style at all — Nate was right about that — but she'd have to really try for them.  She wasn't cut into the deal just to not bring anything to the table anyway.  If she didn't use her skills to their full potential tonight, she didn't have anything else.  His face softened as she huffed.  "I don't think you're in any position to be talking about my hair, Drake," she turned on her heel to the bathroom, where she'd find everything she'd need for tying her hair back in there.  Hopefully.

     Sully tried (and failed) to hide laughter involuntary coming up his throat as he saw Nate's dumbstruck face the second Amanza turned her back to him.  "Hey, as long as you don't bring that energy to the auction," he shook his head, bringing a glass of nearly done vodka to his lips.  He must have been sipping as he watched them converse.  "And what's with the cat?" Sully asked.

     "Oh, the cat?  She's just for you," Nate clarified, dead serious.  The cat had been very calm and collected, only waving its tail around when Amanza was in the room, liking her voice the most out of the three.

     "What?"

     "Yeah.  Your life seemed super sad," Nate shrugged.

     "No, no, no, I'm not gonna keep this thing.  They're gonna shit all over my floor," Sully said, a little upset that he'd been tricked over for a small prank.  The cat let out a small meow as Sully spoke as if it were talking back to him.

     Amanza came out of the bathroom with her hair fully done, a combination of a thin coat of hairspray and something reminiscent of Heavenly by Victoria's Secret (Nate knew she'd most likely swiped a bottle or two) floating above her.  Two thick pieces from the wig stuck out like a bang, curled loosely so they hung over her shoulder, but the rest was combed back into a knotted bun that hung at the nape of her neck, leaving her shoulders and back exposed in that dress.  Catching Nate's eye, she grinned widely, logging the look on his face as one of disagreement, which only made her happier.  "Ta-da."

     "Very good, you clean up well," Sully turned to Nate.  "Doesn't she clean up well, Nate?"

     Nate nodded with a small sigh.  "Yes, good job."

     Amanza smiled at her job well done, but quickly aimed for her bag by the door and set of apartment keys.  "Remember, I'll get there first, and you guys don't know me, okay?  I'll do my lap and meet up with you guys by the bar.  Or maybe I won't.  Don't wait up for me," she said as she slipped out the wooden door.

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