Hi, 'nother ocean's fic here. Hope you enjoy it. Naturally, I do not own anything associated with Ocean's 11, 12 or 13 and am certainly not making any money from it. Or anything else, as it happens.
i
There were always people coming in and out of the house these days. Everyone was busy with their own part of the plan and Danny was almost certain of what everyone was doing, though what Yen and Turk wanted with five bags of ice was beyond him. He was pretty sure it was something to do with Livingstone's card shufflers, since the three of them were gathered around three of the ice bags and several packs of cards, arguing. The temptation to get closer and eavesdrop was tempered by the simple knowledge that he quite probably didn't want to know. He wasn't worried, anyway -Livingstone had promised them he'd get it done, and in all the time he'd known the man, Livingstone had never once failed to deliver.
He turned out of the room to answer his phone. "Yeah."
"Danny, this place is a shit-hole."
"OK" he said slowly "Where are we at?"
"I'm serious man, at least I get to walk out after this is done."
"Virgil…"
"It'll get done, no worries. Just telling you." The call cut off. Danny stared at it for a moment. That had been a little odd. Still, he figured it was probably nothing to worry about. Not yet, anyway. If it turned into a thing, then they would worry.
He turned back into the room. It seemed Turk, Yen and Livingstone had finished their argument – Livingstone had disappeared into his room with the ice. Maybe he should get some sort of explanation, but it was bound to give him a headache.
There was a loud bang from Livingstone's room. The door was flung open and a cloud of smoke appeared, followed by Livingstone himself. "Nothing to worry about, nothing at all." he babbled. "Uh, is there a fire extinguisher in the house?" Turk, who had run off at the first sign of smoke, reappeared with one and dived into the room, followed by Livingstone and Yen. Danny considered following them, but figured they probably had it covered.
"No, don't spray that." Livingstone yelled. There was another bang, and then silence.
"Shit." Yen's voice.
Danny looked over to Rusty, sitting at the table in the corner. They exchanged a long glance, before Rusty grinned, shrugged, and vanished back behind his piles of blueprints.
Apparently they weren't worried.
ii
Saul had been in and out at all hours, conducting research and practicing his character. To Danny's unvoiced amusement, Linus had been following him 'surreptitiously'. To be fair, Linus' ability to tail someone had improved tremendously over the years. Unfortunately, Saul's ability to spot a tail had had considerably more years to improve, and, somewhat unfairly, Danny had found himself the recipient of a long lecture about the propriety of having a team member followed. His argument that he actually hadn't asked Linus to do anything of the kind had pretty much been disregarded.
Somehow, the lecture had escalated into an argument, and now Saul had gone out to dinner, taking Yen, Frank, Turk and Linus (who had somehow escaped any kind of culpability in the matter) with him. Apparently both Saul and Linus wanted to 'try their voice out in public'. Frank, Turk and Yen had just wanted good Greek food. Danny very pointedly hadn't been invited.
He wasn't even sure exactly what his motive in having Saul followed was supposed to be. He certainly wasn't sure why Linus seemed to want to hear Saul say "Hello, I'm Kensington Chubb" twenty times an hour.
"He's trying to learn 'the technique'" Rusty said, without looking up from the latest versions of the plans.
"So he can -?"
"Yeah."
Danny paused, watching Rusty scrabble through the mountains of papers in front of him. "I suppose –" he began eventually.
"Got to be." Rusty answered, and that was that.
He could explain it all to Saul later.
iii
Basher of course hadn't been seen in the house for some time, since he was stuck down a hole. The last time Danny had seen him, he'd been complaining about lights, though - if Danny were to be absolutely honest with himself - he'd only caught about one word in three. When Basher got going, well, it was easier to understand Yen. He should have taken Rusty along with him. Technobabble was one of Rusty's languages. Spending any length of time with Basher, Livingstone or Roman always made him feel old and ignorant, though he'd never admit it. Rusty would never let him forget it if he did.
Without any sign of a pause, Basher had moved from complaining about the lighting on the drill head to complaining about Linus not getting him his shopping. Danny had only escaped by promising to send Turk down with whatever Basher needed.
When he'd got back, Rusty was rubbing absently at his eyes, and apparently measuring the edge of the plan in front of him.
"Basher might be getting a little stir crazy." Danny said, casually.
"Get him a portable TV."
"You think he'll get a signal down there?"
Rusty shrugged "Then get him a DVD player."
Danny moved round to look over Rusty's shoulder. He could read the blueprints, but he couldn't see what Rusty saw. "You found - ?"
"No."
"Then I should - " he nodded towards the door.
"Yes."
He paused. "Goodnight, Rusty."
He was halfway towards the door before Rusty yawned "Goodnight, Danny."
iv
There'd been no change in Reuben in all this time. It wasn't in Danny's nature to give up on anyone, but he couldn't help but think that if Reuben was going to get better there would have been some sign of it by now. And that made him want to get Bank more than he'd ever wanted anything before.
There was shouting coming from downstairs. He pushed open the door and saw Turk, Frank, Livingstone, Linus and Yen gathered around a mini-bar, exchanging money.
"Alright, alright, fifty says he gets stuck" Frank was saying.
"No way in hell, it's a different shape" Turk made a vague gesture.
"I think, maybe, if it's a question of cubic space, the fridge is larger than the bag was." Livingstone said, hesitantly.
Yen rattled off something in Cantonese.
Livingstone turned to Frank. "I'll definitely take that action."
"Guys, do you think we should really be betting on this?" Linus asked.
"Yes." Frank and Turk said, simultaneously.
Yen said something else in Cantonese. Danny heard Rusty sniggering from his desk in the corner, and moved over.
"What's going on?" he asked quietly.
Rusty was holding one plan upside down and comparing it to three others. If Danny didn't know for a fact that Rusty always knew what he was doing, he'd be wondering right now. "They're betting on whether they can fit Yen in the mini bar."
"Oh." Danny considered this for a moment. "Is that a new part of the plan?"
"Not to my knowledge." Rusty looked up from his blueprints. There were dark circles under his eyes.
"You look like shit."
"Thanks." There was a pause. Danny felt he was being studied like a mark. "You OK?"
Damn Rusty. "Yeah, just…." he nodded towards the stairs.
"Yeah." Rusty agreed.
"Yeah."
v
Two o'clock in the morning and Danny couldn't sleep. He'd had a long and complicated discussion with Tess over the phone. When this thing began she'd been supportive, when he'd finally got round to telling her anyway, but as time went on, their conversations had become more and more strained. He was pretty certain that Rusty was dealing with his situation by not calling Isabel at all.
Thinking that he might as well go and see if there was anything good on TV, he headed downstairs. Turk, Linus and Livingstone were huddled round the TV, apparently playing a game on a PlayStation that Danny was almost certain hadn't been there that afternoon.
"Get that zombie fucker! Three o'clock! Three o'clock!"
"I can't fire! I can't fire!"
"I think that you should have selected extra ammunition at the beginning of the level."
:Oh man, he's totally eating your brains."
"That's it, I'm dead. I'm completely dead."
"Hit R2 already."
Danny's eyes flickered sideways. Rusty was still working. He looked as calm as ever, if a little exhausted. Danny was probably the only one who would have noticed the tightly clenched jaw and the silently drumming fingers. Neither was a very good sign.
"OK, that's it, intervention time." Danny announced loudly. He had the dubious pleasure of hearing both Linus and Livingstone yelp. Apparently they hadn't heard him come in. Rusty looked up at him, but didn't say anything, so Danny grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet.
"Come on," he continued cheerfully "Time to get you some fresh air -"
"We're in Las Vegas," Rusty pointed out, not moving.
"- daylight -" Danny deliberately pretended he hadn't heard the interruption.
"It's night."
" - and pizza!" he finished, almost gleefully.
"They deliver." but now Rusty seemed happy to be dragged to the door.
As they left, Danny heard Linus ask "How are they going to get pizza at this time of night, anyway?"
He turned sideways, and saw Rusty grinning. "Oh, there are ways. If you're determined enough."
He smiled back. "There always are, aren't there."
Hey there, you've reached the end of this fic. I am now going to proceed to do something that I really hate to do - ask for reviews. The only reason is that my previous Ocean's fic has, at the time of writing, 75 hits and 1 review. Those are bad statistics, from my point of view. This is clearly not your problem, and I feel pathetic for asking, but I am concerned that people are either starting and giving up on my fic, or just aren't liking enough to review. So, if you could spare the time even to just tell me that you read it all, that'd be great. Otherwise - thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, and keep your eyes open for more fic coming to an internet near you.