Run: 2026-09-23-01M36VN3W81NDRYSW1PGQ6RFYE

Molly spread the blueprints across the hood of the van and tapped the cake table with a pencil. "Right. Here's the layout. Front entrance is a no-go. Every parent in the tri-state area is going to be guarding that door like it's Fort Knox." "Parents," Bill scoffed. "They see right through you. I got knocked back from a bouncy castle last week." "That's because you were trying to crawl in through the deflation valve at a five-year-old's party, Bill. That's not a heist. That's an arrest record." "Fine. What's the play?" Molly pointed her pencil at the garden entrance. "Side gate. We go in through the garden while the magician does the show. He's booked for forty-five minutes. That gives us a window of—" she checked her watch—"twenty-three minutes once we account for setup and the parents getting lazy and going for the prosecco." "Twenty-three minutes for how many presents?" "Forty-seven gifts on the table. I counted from the window yesterday." "You counted presents through a window?" "I stood on a recycling bin in the alley. A woman asked me if I was a clown and I said yes. She said great, go around to the garden." Bill squinted at the blueprints. "So we slip in through the garden, grab the presents during the magic show, and disappear." "That's the dream." "What about the kids?" "The kids are the problem. Kids have no manners, no boundaries, and they will absolutely see you steal a bicycle and tell every adult within a hundred yards." "So what do we do?" "We don't steal the bicycle. That's amateur hour. We steal the wrapping. All of it." Bill stared at her. "We steal the wrapping paper." "We steal the wrapping paper and the ribbons and the bows and every bit of tape. Then the parents unwrap them and find nothing inside." "But… there will be things inside." "Not if we unwrap everything first, steal what's valuable, and re-wrap the boxes with the original paper. The gifts go back on the table looking untouched. By the time anyone notices, we're three towns away splitting a blender." "What if the paper tears?" "We use a heat gun and a seam ripper. I already broke into a haberdashery supply store and got the equipment." "You robbed a haberdashery." "I robbed a haberdashery for supplies. There's a difference." "Is there?" "Legally? No. Ethically? Absolutely." Bill rubbed his face with both hands. "This is insane." "This is your bread and butter, Bill. You love insane." "I love simple. I love sneaking in a window and sneaking back out." "You once tried to steal a car with the owner in it." "He was sleeping!" "And that's the mentality I need. Now, the party starts at two. The magician goes on at two-fifteen. The presents are on the east table behind the balloon arch. Do you know what a balloon arch is?" "It's an arch. Made of balloons." "It's a structural catastrophe and an affront to God. Stay clear of it. If it collapses on you, there is no extraction plan. You die under balloons at a children's birthday party and I don't visit you in prison." "Noted." "One more thing. Cake table is off limits." "Why?" "Because the cake is shaped like a dinosaur and frankly it's too beautiful to steal." "Copy that." They shook hands over the blueprints and got in the van.