Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
ELENA
The vinyl booth squeaked as Elena’s mental state shifted for the third time in as many minutes.
One moment she wanted to throw something at the wall just thinking about David's smug face.
The next, her stomach twisted with the sick realization that she might have to pull Miguel from his school, move to a cheaper apartment, start over somewhere else at forty-one.
Then she would look across the table at Finn, and everything would feel a little lighter.
She was exhausted from the emotional whiplash.
"You folks ready to order?" The server appeared with a notepad.
"Burger and fries," she said without looking at the menu. "And a Coke."
"Same," Finn said, handing back the menus.
Elena looked out the window at the Seattle rain. "The thing that gets me is how obvious it all is.”
Finn said nothing, just waited.
“Anyone with a single ounce of humanity understands what he’s doing is wrong.”
Finn nodded. “He keeps pushing the limits of his power. So far, it doesn’t seem like there is any.”
Their drinks arrived. Elena stared into her Coke. "I feel like I am failing at everything. The research needs me. Miguel needs me. And I can’t do both well, so… I’m just failing at both.”
Finn shook his head. “Yesterday, you left work early to spend time with Miguel. Then you came back for Eric’s final assessment.
And by the way, he’s doing amazing, thanks to you.
Then you went home for a movie night.” He touched her hand for a moment.
“In my eyes, you’re doing the absolute best you can. ”
“That’s the thing, Finn.” Elena had to pause for a moment, careful to not let her voice crack. “That was one day. If I try to do that every day, something is going to suffer. The research or my relationship with my son. No, my best isn’t good enough.”
Finn looked out the window. “Your best is more than enough. David and the board… they ask too much of you.”
Elena nodded. “I used to wonder why the last two lead researchers didn’t last. It’s becoming pretty clear.”
Finn tilted his head. “I didn’t know about that. What happened to them?
Elena shrugged. "I don’t know all the details. I just know that they weren’t at the Institute long. Only four years between the two of them."
Their food arrived, two identical plates of burgers and fries.
Finn looked at his food and leaned forward.
"Look, I know I can't fully understand your situation.
I'm twenty-six. No kids. Just getting started.
I have way less to lose." He paused. "But here's what I see: they've been dictating your life.”
He waited until she looked back at him. "What if you started calling the shots?"
Elena shook her head. "But how? David makes all the decisions. He has all the cards. All the power. Even the other board members do what he says."
Finn took a drink, thinking. “But you don’t have to. And, the way I see it, there’s one source behind all of your problems.”
“David Turner.” Elena said, her voice lower.
“Exactly.”
Elena nodded thoughtfully. “You’re saying we kill him.”
Finn nearly choked on his drink. “Good lord. We’ll call that Plan C.” He set down his glass. “But if it comes to it, yes. I will help you slaughter him.”
Elena frowned. “It can’t be Plan A?”
Finn smiled despite himself. “Let’s consider our legal options first.”
Silence took over as Elena picked at a fry. She looked up. "They can't all have gone on shitty dates with David Turner," she said.
“What?” Finn asked, looking thoroughly confused.
"The other directors, I mean. They can't all have rejected him and he retaliated with sabotage."
A smile tugged at his mouth. "The odds of that can't be that high."
Elena's expression sharpened. "Nope. Something made them fail. Or someone."
Finn nodded. “We should probably eat before the food gets cold.”
Elena picked up her burger and took a bite. It was delicious. "God, this is so much better than foam."
Finn froze with his burger halfway to his mouth. "What?"
"On my date with David, I mean. We ate foam," Elena explained.
"You ate... foam?"
"Sí. I didn't care for it, Finn."
Elena held back a smile as she watched Finn scratch his head. Something about this was breaking his brain.
“Was it like, whipped cream foam?”
"No. It was salty. The server said something about ‘deconstructed lasagna’,” Elena explained matter-of-factly.
Finn may as well have been scratching his head with both hands at this point. “I have so many questions.”
“We can go there for our next dinner. They’ll answer all your questions. It was only $100 per person.”
Our next dinner. Elena realized what she just implied and decided she didn’t care. She wanted a next time.
Finn’s eyes lit up in a way that made her chest feel warm. “Absolutely not. I know an Italian place that serves legitimate lasagna. We can go there.”
They ate in comfortable silence for a bit. Then the weight of everything set in again. “I’m going to get fired, Finn.”
“We’ll figure something out. Even if we have to rob a bank.” Finn offered.
Elena looked at him with playful anger.
“How would you do it?” Finn asked.
“Rob a bank?”
Finn nodded.
Elena thought for a moment. “Well. First off, I’m not killing anybody.”
“Jesus, okay. So no machine guns?”
“Absolutely no machine guns in my crew.”
“So you have a crew?”
“My crew is me. One woman crew.”
Finn laughed. “Lone wolf, huh?”
“Right.”
Finn leaned in, serious. “But how are you going to pull it off?”
Elena leaned in as well. “Simple. I’m crawling through the air vent that goes directly from the women’s bathroom to the vault.”
“The vault has a vent?”
She tapped the side of her head. “Every vault has a vent. That’s basic architecture.”
“Is it though?”
Elena feigned frustration. “Oh, I’m sorry. Are we here to talk about bank architecture or are we here to talk about my heist?”
“Sorry. I’ll get back on topic.”
Elena nodded, pleased.
“There’s a lot of money in a vault. How are you getting it all through a tiny air vent?” Finn asked.
“I would do little trips all afternoon. Back and forth from the vault to the bathroom.”
“All afternoon?”
“I’m a hard worker,” Elena said simply.
“What if someone tried to use the bathroom?”
Elena had to think about that one for a moment. “I’ll just put up a sign about how the toilet is horribly clogged.”
“Horribly clogged. That might just work.”
Elena leaned back, satisfied. “It would. I’m a professional, Finn.”
“You’ve thought of everything,” he said as he made a show of clapping his hands.
“Your turn. How would you do it?”
Finn looked out the window, deep in thought. “Have you seen Ocean’s Thirteen?”
“Maybe? The heist movie?”
“Yep, the third one. The most brilliant heist I’ve ever seen.
” Finn leaned in and lowered his voice a bit, as if careful to not let anyone else hear classified information.
“Danny Ocean and his crew simulated an earthquake under the streets of Las Vegas. It disrupted the casino’s state-of-the-art security system, allowing them to walk in and take everything. ”
“So you’re going to simulate an earthquake.”
“Correct.”
“And how exactly will you do that?”
“That, Elena, is the advantage of having a crew. I’ll have my crew handle that part.”
Elena covered her face with her hand. “Let me get this straight. Your plan is to plagiarize a movie heist?”
“It’s a good heist! I would be Danny Ocean.”
“You’re not George Clooney, Finn. And you don’t know how to simulate an earthquake.”
Finn threw up his hands. “How many times do I have to say this? I would have a highly specialized crew that—”
“You’re terrible at this,” Elena interrupted.
Finn was still laughing when Elena noticed their server was hovering for what was probably the third time. She checked the time. “Oh my God, we’ve been here for almost two hours.”
Finn looked surprised. “Have we?”
Elena breathed in the cool night air as they stepped out of the diner. She felt lighter than she had in weeks. There was still some anger hiding beneath, but it felt different. It was focused now, like she knew what to do with it.
“Oh, you should know,” Elena said as they walked toward her car. “Miguel is expecting you to come over soon to play that zombie game.”
Finn smiled. “I wouldn’t dare refuse King Miguel’s summons.”
Something warm settled in Elena’s chest. She opened her mouth to respond—
And then Finn’s hand found hers.
And it was just… easy. His fingers laced through hers like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Elena’s breath caught for just a moment. Then she squeezed back.
That's when she saw it. The BMW idling at the nearby intersection. The window rolled down, and she saw him. David Turner. He was looking directly at her. At them. At their joined hands.
Elena's first instinct was to let go, to step away from Finn, to protect them both from whatever David might do with this information. But then she looked at David's face through the windshield. The satisfaction there, like he'd just been handed another weapon.
Elena met David’s stare one more time, holding his gaze until he looked away. Then she squeezed Finn's hand tighter and kept walking.