Hope you all are enjoying the story so far. Lots more to come and I have a few ideas up my sleeve
*Evil chuckle*.
Stay fabulous. Btw all the names are from people I know, and I love all them very much.

Jess if you're reading this:
To my mockingbird,
Daddy loves you.

Chapter 2

The car journey was full of stopping and starting due the police checking into every window to try and find their mystery thief.

They wouldn't.

But at least they tried.

God bless them.

"It's cute when people try to catch me." Jak thought.

They only check the faces so it was unlikely that they would see the hundreds of thousands of dollars that was stashed in the boot.

Matt smiled politely and they drove on, unnoticed. Normally Jak could go at least 2 days without sleep but the car journey was relaxing and the darkness of the night tricked his body into feeling tired so he had rested with his head slumped against the window.

When he woke up morning was just on the horizon. His neck was aching from the awkward position he had fallen asleep in.

"Morning" Matt said.
He had driven all through the night but the lack of sleep seemed to have no effect on him.

Jak sat up straight, an aching pain in his back.

He looked in wonder at the tall, towering buildings that rose
into the clouds, piecing the skyline.
"Welcome to New York " Matt said, trying and failing to hold back a smile at the familiar scene of busy streets and yellow cabs.

"Why are we here?" Jak asked.

"Well I'm assuming you've accepted my job offer , as you did just get into a car with me and drive to New York, so I was taking you to your new accommodation".

"I never accepted that job" Jak said
"Hell, I don't even know what the damn job is!"

"Yes, but let's be honest , would you really have come all this way just to turn the job down?"

Matt's eyes never left the busy road but the tone of his voice made it sound that he was looking directly at Jak.
His voice invited confidence without demanding it.

After a drive (Jak had lost track of time) they arrived at a fairly tall skyscraper, but compared to the others it was a little girl in a family of teenage boys.

They parked the car outside and walked into the reception.
There was nobody there and the room was completely silent.
Jak followed Matt to elevator near the side of the room.

Matt looked directly at a small red dot at his own eye height "BBJ 27" he said in a clear voice. He waited . "Welcome Matthew" said a robotic voice from the monitor by the red light, the elevator opened.

Jak smiled. The voice sounded like a cheap knockoff version of Siri.

Both Matt and Jak walked in. "Voice recognition" Matt explained "Requires correct retina scan and the correct voice password. The future..... Is here".
He sounded like a real estate agent.

"What does BBJ 27 mean?" Jak asked.

"Long story, maybe I'll tell you one day. But there's a time and a place for stories."

And that was the end of that.

Once they had reached the top floor the elevator doors opened.

"Matthew!!" A chorus went round the office ,the voices were glad he was back.

"Have you got the new kid?" said a tall dark skinned man. He looked like he could handle himself in a fight.

"Yep " He smirked.
"Meet Jak"

Matt stepped out of the way and Jak gazed at the four very different people that were in front of him.

"Right" said Matthew rubbing his hands together, "time to meet the crew"
Matt walked up to the end of the line of people and held his hand out with a flat palm. He moved his arm to a new person each time he introduced them. He looked like a game show host.

"First contender,
Jess, aged 16. She's the friendly little girl that knows just what to say and makes everyone feel good on the inside. She's also pretty good in a fight so she can fend off all the horny teenage boys that love her".

"Hi" Jess said smiling
"and just coz I've had a few boyfriends doesn't mean they love me" she shot Matt the evils.
Matt just smiled back.

"Next is our helpful neighbour hacker who can do anything when it comes to computers, except take a decent selfie. Ooooooohhh snap!"

Matt was proud of himself for thinking of that one.

"Name's Ewan. I'm 15" he said as he shook hands with his new colleague.

"Last but definitely not least is Mike, aged 16"

Jak was expecting a simple head jut followed by "Sup" but Mike leaned in for what can only be described as a ""bro hug"".

"And as you already know my name is Matthew, aged 15".
Jak was surprised. He looked about 17 and his height was taller that the average man.

"I'll give you a tour." Ewan said, "this place is pretty hard to navigate".
Him and Jak both walked up to the elevator ,Ewan looked into the red dot. "Ghosts" and the elevator opened. As Ewan walked in and pressed a button with the label "Jak's Room"

Jak asked "why ghosts?"

"Because I'm a ghost in the system and I can get in and get out without anyone ever knowing I was there"

Jak could only find the one  response.

"Oh"

and nodded his head.

They arrived at a floor that was contained a king sized bed and a plasma television of the wall.
There was a cupboard and and door that Jak suspected lead to an en-suite.

"It looks slightly empty but you can add posters or personal belongings or a desk or something"
Ewan explained
"make your self at home"
Ewan left the room and walked to the elevator.

"When you want to come up and we can explain about the job offer, just look into the red light and say your new password ,make it something rememberable".

And with that he left. Jak looked around the room , it was empty but he didn't really know what to fill it with. The only thing he had in his safe house was a bed , his phone and a cork board he used to pin up info about his next heist!

When Jak had looked around and when he was content with his new room , he left and walked up to the elevator and stared into the red light.
He thought about what he might what as his new password. He had no real attachments to anything. His family was virtually nonexistent.
He had no happy memories from the children's home. The rest up until now was a series of complicated heists. The first random word he could muster was "Lemon". He had no idea why but he did like the sound of that. He looked into the bright light and said "Lemon"

The computer was silent for a moment (and Jak honestly thought that the computer was judging him) and then in its robotic voice,

"Welcome Jak, I hope you will enjoy your new accommodation"

And the elevator opened.

Jak rode up to the first floor and as the doors opened he silently examined the 4 people stood I front of him. The small girl with shoulder length black hair, her short height and cute little face gave the impression of her being younger. The hacker with pale skin and thin rectangular glasses with golden frames , the type that you could expect to see at grandma's house. He had some spots and his hair was colourless and almost greasy. The tall black boy with a stubbly beard, he had very thin hair. A friendly smile but incredible strong arms. He dressed and looked like he should be older. And finally Matt.
He had long (ish) blonde hair and a mature face. He sounded slightly British. He was wearing a suit but Jak doubted he always dressed like this.

"So" Matt said rubbing his hands together,
"the job offer .You see we work for the government and when they need to do a job that they aren't skilled or qualified or crooked enough to do they call us in".

"Give an example of one of these jobs" Jak said suspiciously,

"Say sneaking into a drug gang and beating the shit out of the leader".
Mike said , a smile on his face as he clicked his knuckles and remembered the sweet bliss of beating a heartless thug into a pulp

"Or taking out a dirty rogue agent
who was plotting to kill the president".
Jess said , and Jak wasn't sure if she was being serious and this was really an event that had actually happened.

"I'd be happy to live here, happy to do jobs and you seem like nice people, but the police will be after me from the heists and I really, really don't want to go to prison."

"We were all criminals before we got here". Jess admitted,
"You'll be forgiven for any crimes you have committed and for the ones you will probably do for the job" Matt said. This got Jak's attention.
"Murder, arson, robbery. It's all cool."
Ewan said,
"So I can keep the money from the heists?" Jak asked

"Yes WE can " Matt said stressing the we part "all money attained shall be split in half , half for the government, half goes to the building account.
This means you can order all the stuff you want using the buildings account."
Jak nodded , he like the sound of finally being able to enjoy all the money, instead of using it to hide and get more money.
"Right" Mike said "feel free to explore the building" and with that the group disbursed.

............................................................