A Heist for a Heist

Part 1

Carmine and Byron came sprinting out of the bank, alarms blaring behind them. Money spilling out their duffle bags as they ran. The bank manager followed close behind, pointing them out to the police.

“That’s them officer!”

They turned down the alley between the bank and the next building, with the police right on their tails.

“I told you we should have left sooner!” Byron screamed.

Carmine was too focused on the plan to respond.

They made their way to the get away car they had parked the night before. Jumping in, they lost more money as they threw the bags into the car.

“We need them to follow us, or this isn’t going to work! You know the plan.” Carmine seemed stressed but who wouldn’t be in this situation. The car took off down the alley and toward the highway. Dodging cop cars along the way.

“Call the boss, let him know where we are.” Byron grabbed a phone out of the duffle bag and Carmine slapped it out of his hand.

“Not that one, the burner phone!”

“That is the burner phone! Oh wait…” Byron pulled out a second phone. “Here it is.”

Carmine rolled his eyes and continued taking the police on a joy ride.

“Yea every thing’s a go. See you at the safe house.” Byron threw the phone out the window.

The chase was on as the police weaved in and out of traffic trying to catch up to Carmine and Byron. As they kept driving, Carmine noticed the highway was clear and exits were blocked off by police cars.

“Good, they’re all here.” Carmine said.

Byron looked nervous. “Good for who? Cause it’s certainly not good for us.”

“Everything is going according to plan.”

A spike trip was laid out in the road. Carmine swerved around it like he knew it would be there. Taking a deep breath he continued driving.

“We’re almost there.” Byron said, and then he pointed to an exit without a cop car blocking it.

“There!” He yelled.

“Wow! I'm never doing this again without someone on the inside. This is too easy.” Carmine said.

They drove into the next town. Blowing through stop signs and red lights. The cops falling back unable to keep up with them as they turned left and right downside streets. They reached a parking garage. After wiping the car down, they hoped into a second car. The garage was multiple floors and had a spiraling ramp that led down from the top. This was how they escaped.

The safe house was twenty minutes away. Byron was driving now, and he parked three blocks from the safe house. They walked the rest of the way. Byron looked over at Carmine.

“You think the others did their part?”

Carmine chuckled. “They better have after what we went through.”

Part 2

“Right. Keep driving, and we’ll meet you at the safe house.” Gavin hung up the phone and threw it in the trash can next to him. “We’re up.” He looked over at Bobby and the two began walking into the museum.

They were dressed as janitors. Bobby was pushing a cart with cleaning supplies on it. Entering through the employees’ entrance in the back, no one checked them for I.D. and they walked right in.

“Can’t believe all you have to do is look the part and you can get in anywhere.” Bobby said.

“Focus, the hard part is coming up.” Gavin replied.

The two made it to the elevator. It went up the back of the building to a modern art exhibit that was almost open. It needed to be cleaned after all the renovations. The exhibit was on the 4th floor but Gavin got off at the 3rd. A circuit breaker that controlled the power to the fourth floor was there.

Bobby walked off the elevator and into the exhibit on the fourth floor.

“OK, Gavin said count to 10 and then start. 1...2...3...”

The lights went out. “That was quicker than I thought.” Bobby reached under a tarp on the cart and pulled out a cordless drill. He began taking the frame apart from one of the paintings when Gavin walked in.

“How did it go?” He asked. “Didn’t make it past three. The other drill's on the cart. Let’s hurry.”

They were quick and efficient. Careful not to make too much noise or drop anything. After the frames were apart, they cut the canvas at the edges, rolled the paintings up and put them in protective tubes.

Gavin looked over at Bobby. “We need to go.” Bobby was taking apart a frame. “We got time for one more.”

Gavin ran over to him. “We don’t need it! We got what we came for, let’s get out of here!”

He grabbed Bobby’s arm and pulled him away from the painting. He didn’t fight back. Putting the drill back under the tarp, he started walking towards the stairs. There was an exit at the bottom that lead to the street and a get away car parked not too far from there.

The power came back on as they left the floor and an alarm went off soon after that. They looked at each other and started running down the stairs, out the door, and didn’t stop until they reached their car.

Looking behind them, Bobby didn’t see anyone following them and Gavin took back streets to make sure.

“Didn’t we get away with that?” Bobby asked.

“Not yet. Now we need to fence these paintings and get paid. We’re a long way from getting away with this Bobby.” Gavin kept driving, checking his rear-view mirror every ten seconds in paranoia.

Part 3

Pulling up to the safe house, Gavin and Bobby see their partners standing outside.

“What are you doing out here? People can see you.” Gavin looked angry.

“Relax boss, we got someone on the inside.” Byron said with a smug grin.

“No, I have someone on the inside and its one person. You think I can stop a witness from turning you in!?!?!”

Byron looked down. “I thought it would be OK to get some food.”

Bobby started laughing. “What did you get? I’m starving.”

Bobby and Byron walked inside. Gavin and Carmine right behind them.

“Were you followed?” Gavin asked Carmine.

“Doubt it. Took the long way home through the back streets. Added a few extra turns to be sure.”

Bobby nodded. “Yea and I ditched the phone too.”

Gavin’s eyes opened wide. “Which phone did you ditch!?”

Carmine started laughing. “He means the burner phone. The other ones in my bag. By the way, it never rang.”

He reached into the bag and handed the phone to Gavin.

“That means they have nothing to report yet. We have to wait until they do.” Gavin said.

A few hours later the phone rang. Gavin answered it. Then turned to his crew.

“There’s an agent Ruiz on our case. Somehow he’s already connected the bank robbery and the art heist. Plus, he has been to both scenes.”

Carmine looked curious. “Who is this spy you got?”

“The less you know the better Carmine.”

“Sounds to me like we should know more than we do. For instance, I’ve never worked with your buddy over there.” He pointed to Bobby.

“That guy has saved you more times today than you realize. You want to know who our informant is? You’re looking at him.”

Bobby stood up. “Nice to meet you.”

Byron cringed. “Is it bad that I gave you a doughnut?”

Carmine laughed. “You did give a cop a doughnut!”

They all had a good laugh and then it was back to business. Gavin looked at Bobby.

“OK, what can you tell me about this Ruiz guy?”

Bobby sighed. “Well, he doesn’t know when to give up. He’s like a dog with a bone. But he does have some flaws, and he doesn’t like me.”

Gavin smiled. “Sorry to hear that but what are his flaws?”

Lights started flashing outside the safe house in different colors. A loud voice started projecting through the walls.

“This is detective Ruiz on the Fanthom Police department. We have you surrounded. Come out with your hands up.”

The four men looked stunned. “How did they find us so fast?” Byron cried.

“I told you not to go for food!” Carmine replied. The two went running out the back of the safe house and right as they turned the corner, four cops were there ready to arrest them. Gavin ran to shut the door.

“What are we going to do?” Bobby asked.

“Let Me think… Let me think…”

Gavin turned to look out the window when he felt a thump on the back of his head. He went down hard and before he lost consciousness heard someone say “All Clear.”

He woke up handcuffed outside of the safe house. Carmine and Byron were in the back of two separate police cars, and Bobby was talking to a man wearing a dark blue suit.

“What’s going on?” Gavin said.

“Good you’re awake.” Bobby walked over with the man in the suit.

“Gavin, this is Detective Ruiz. He will be the one responsible for your arrest.”

Gavin looked confused. “So, you wanted to get caught in the museum?”

“I did but I couldn’t fight you off there. Too suspicious.”

Gavin laughed. “You know I could get a pretty nice deal right? You don’t know where I hid those paintings after we returned.”

“You can keep them. My treat. We like the originals better.” Ruiz replied.

Gavin hung his head low. “You swapped them out before we hit the museum…”

“And the money in the bank too”

Bobby and Ruiz started chuckling to each other.

Gavin asked one last question. “Hey Bobby, I thought you said this guy hated you?”

Ruiz looked at Gavin. “I do in a way. I hate how he can always solve these crimes faster than I can!”

Bobby chuckled and looked at Ruiz. "Well, it helps to have someone on the inside." He looked at Gavin. "Don't you think?"