* * *
As soon as they were in the bank it was obvious that they weren’t alone. Johnny held up his hand for everyone to stop. He brought out his eye piece and looked through it. He had to fiddle with the edges and shift the settings around slightly to detect body heat.
“Would you hurry up!” Ackers insisted through the ear piece. “Knowing our luck they heard the door ‘open’ and are all making a hasty retreat.”
Johnny could detect heat signatures coming through the floor.
“They’re all in the basement,” he declared as he looked down at the ground through his technological gadget.
“There are two sets of stairs and an elevator leading down,” Vinnie said beside Johnny as he consulted a schematic of the building. “I suggest we split up. I’ll wait up here, of course, as mission specialist.”
“I’m the mission specialist!” Ackers screamed from out of everyone’s ear piece.
“Yes, thank you for reminding us,” Johnny said as he held his ear in pain.
“Alright then, everyone split up and converge on the Chip,” Ackers continued, almost repeating exactly what Vinnie had just said.
Johnny and Nancy made their way to one set of stairs, Big Petey and Red walked toward the other.
“I guess I’ll guard the elevator. Probably not the best time in the world to be using elevators anyway,” Vinnie said as he glanced at his departing teammates.
“Nancy, make sure you stay behind me. We don’t know what to expect down there,” Johnny said as he held out his hand protectively while peering into the darkness of the descending stairs.
“Seventy-Seven,” Nancy replied.
Johnny turned to look at her.
“What?”
“When we’re on a mission, my name is Seventy-Seven,” she replied with a mild tone of annoyance.
She shouldered past him and started to creep down the stairs. Johnny shook his head and followed after her.
On the opposite end of the building, Big Petey and Red were going down the other flight of stairs.
“What do those do, anyway?” Big Petey asked nervously as he looked at the four square grenades that Red was still holding.
“Have you ever known me to tell and not show?” she asked.
Big Petey shook his head.
“I spent an extra amount of time making these. It should be a neat surprise for everyone when they go off,” she smiled wickedly.
“I just want to know. Every time you throw one of your homemade grenades, something different happens. Should I stay near you when you throw them? Should I run away from where you throw them, or should I run toward where you throw them?” Big Petey was tripping over his words trying to get an answer out of Red.
“You’re not nervous, are you?” she asked.
Big Petey quickly shook his head, and then realized there was no point in hiding it. He started nodding quickly.
“Big Petey is nervous of a little fireworks?” she asked playfully.
“People I can handle, you can pick them up, throw them, smash them. But the things you make scare me to death,” he admitted.
“Good,” she said as they walked down into the depths of the building.