They took the subway down and, with their car fairly empty, explained all to Andy along the way. Travis couldn’t believe the change in Andy. No longer surly, no longer staring at Travis as if there were some mysterious grudge between them. He seemed as keen as Nish to stop the heist of the Stanley Cup. He seemed proud to be part of the team that was setting out to save the cup.

Travis tried to figure it out. Maybe it all had to do with wanting to fit in instead of being different. Andy wasn’t a good enough player that he’d make an impression on the other Screech Owls by his play alone. The team automatically loved Dmitri because he scored the goals, but for third-line players like Andy, it was different.

Andy had brought attention to himself with the shoplifting. He’d even been, momentarily, popular because of it. But now three of the players had been sent home for stealing and Andy had become a virtual outcast from the team. They paid to go in. “We close in less than an hour,” the young woman taking their money had said, but they had nodded and thanked her and happily paid the admission.

Travis kept looking at the various security guards, wondering which one was on the take for the five thousand dollars. The crooked security guard made it impossible for the boys to go to one of them and say that there was about to be a break-in. If they happened to pick the wrong one–and there weren’t many to choose from–they would either blow their plan or, even worse, end up being taken hostage.

There was nothing to do but wait.

 

Travis felt a deep, deep shiver go through his body when the announcement came that the Hockey Hall of Fame was closing at 6:00 p.m. and visitors were to begin to leave. He knew now that it was just a matter of minutes. He also knew that in many ways these were the most crucial minutes. If they got kicked out, they wouldn’t be able to do anything to prevent the theft.

The boys were concerned that the Hall of Fame might have taken a body count of all those entering and leaving. But Nish had already thought of this and, just for safety, had triggered the exit turnstiles three times as Travis was paying. If there was a counter, then the three boys would be cancelled out the moment they entered.

Travis couldn’t believe the change in Andy. He’d suddenly come to life. Travis’s idea had been for them to hide in the washroom while they closed the building. They could shut the doors and stand on the toilet seats and no one would see them.

“But they’d see closed doors and wonder,” Andy cautioned. He was right.

And after they looked around, Andy had a better idea.

“Come on over here,” he whispered just before the final closing announcement came.

They followed Andy to the minivan that was supposed to show a typical suburban hockey family of the 1990s. In the back was a hockey bag as high as the window, sticks stuffed in every which way, and in the seats up front the “family” was happily driving: dummy dad, dummy mom, dummy kids.

“Data’s dad has one exactly the same,” said Nish. “Right down to the little dummy in the back.”

“We could crawl in here and wait them out,” Andy said.

An excellent idea. Good for Andy, Travis thought, even though he shuddered slightly at the idea that he’d be in the pitch dark. No night light for him here. But this was much better than hoping to pass unnoticed in the washrooms. How would someone react, pushing open a door and seeing Nish standing on the lid?

Nish hurried over and carefully tried the latch. It clicked and gave. He quickly checked to see if any of the custodians were watching, but there was no one. He lifted up the tailgate.

“Hey, Data,” Nish said to the closest dummy kid. “Looking good, man. Looking good.”

The boys scrambled in underneath the hockey equipment. Andy pulled down the tailgate so the roof light inside went out but the lock didn’t catch. Getting back out would be a simple matter of pushing out from the bottom.

They settled down and everything went quiet. Travis could see out of the tinted glass even if he was at the far side of the trunk. He was pretty sure no one could see in.

“How long do we have to wait?” Andy asked.

“Not long,” said Travis. “The security guard’s supposed to rig the fire exit for them so they can come in without setting off the alarm.”

“What if I have to go to the can?” Nish asked.

“Tough,” said Travis. Then he giggled: “You should have brought extra underwear.”

“Very funny,” Nish said.