Run: 2026-09-29-01M3P2J85CEGX2PVX0C5G49Y4W

Molly pressed the binoculars to her eyes and sighed. "Seven-year-olds. Bouncy castle, a clown, and a pile of presents the size of a Buick." Bill lowered his sandwich. "Are we sure about this? Last week we robbed a jewelry store. Now we're robbing Braxton, who turns seven." "Braxton's parents spent four hundred dollars on a cake shaped like a excavator. Those people can afford to lose a few presents." "That's the moral high ground you're standing on? Cake?" "It's a very expensive excavator, Bill. Now focus. Here's the plan. You go in as the pizza guy." "Why me?" "Because you look like someone who's delivered a lot of pizza." Bill glanced down at his shirt. "That's fair, actually." "While you distract the parents, I'll slip in through the side gate, grab the presents, and load them into the laundry cart." "What laundry cart?" "The one you're going to steal from the neighbor's porch." "When did this become my job?" "When you stopped arguing about the pizza thing. Keep up." Bill chewed thoughtfully. "What about the clown?" Molly lowered the binoculars slowly. "Kevin is a problem." "You know his name?" "I've done my research. Kevin has been to four of these parties this month. Rumor is he never breaks character, even when he's alone. Even in the parking lot." "That's terrifying." "That's professionalism. Which is why you'll keep him busy." "Me? With the clown?" "Ask him to make you a balloon animal. Ask for something complicated, like a giraffe. Those take forever." Bill swallowed. "And if he asks me to do the magic trick where I pick a card?" "Then you pick a card, Bill. Be a team player." A rustle came from the hedge beside them. Both thieves froze. A small boy in a paper crown and a dinosaur costume peered out at them, holding a juice box like a weapon. "I heard everything," he said. Molly cleared her throat. "Braxton, buddy, hi. We're, uh, landscapers." "You said laundry cart." "Very big lawns," Bill offered weakly. Braxton narrowed his eyes. "I want forty percent." Molly blinked. "Excuse me?" "Forty percent. Plus the excavator cake. My cousin Dylan got me a Lego set I already own, and I want it gone." Bill leaned toward Molly and whispered, "He's better at this than we are." "Thirty," Molly said to the boy. "Thirty-five, and I'll distract Kevin." "Deal," said Bill instantly. "Please take Kevin." Braxton spat in his palm and held it out. Molly stared at it for a long moment, sighed, and shook it. "Kid," she said, "you're going places." "I know," said Braxton, and marched back toward the bouncy castle like a tiny warlord.