LIVING THE LIFE VIII

‘LIVING THE LIFE’ is a series of four more short stories that take place in the year 2020 in a fictional State named Callisto located in the Northern part of the United States. In Callisto, life is the same, yet different, because no one outside the State really understands anything about what actually goes on here. Along with the location; the characters, events, and conversations, are completely made up and you’re not meant to find morals, or meanings, or signs; But neither I, nor anyone else, can tell you what you think. Here we meet our first four characters; I wonder what they’re up to.

LIVING THE LIFE, CHAPTER 8: The Adventures of THE CALVARY

The stakes were high for this next heist and therefore needed ample time to plan. The four young men sat around their coffee table, eating their usual excellence chocolate, with the layout of the building spread over it. After a successful attempt at heisting the Rolex Store, Bryce, Weston, James, and Jeremy were planning what to do next. It took a while to figure out because none of the ideas they thought of were good enough; they thought about robbing another store at a different mall, but that’d be too simple. They thought about breaking into a Brinks truck, but that wouldn’t be original. Then the idea just came to Weston, and naturally, they all agreed. It was getting late, though, and they were tired of planning for most of the day, so they decided to pack it up and get back to planning tomorrow.

James got up and opened a window at the back of the room. The breeze flew in and filled it up; it was a beautiful warm night on the outskirts of Callisto but opening a window meant that they would be getting high soon; everyone knew. So they did. They took out everything they needed and the playlist god, Weston, put on some music to play in the background. Twenty-Five minutes later they were highly stoned, killing themselves laughing, watching cartoons.

Then Bryce’s phone rang; he could feel it vibrating in his pocket. He looked at the number but didn’t recognize it so he got up and answered it at the back of the room. He tried to get into sober mode.

“Bonjourno…. This is he…. Si, I do remember. Say, who’s this, pourquoi?” Evidently Bryce couldn’t get sober. He had no clue what he was saying. “Need our help with what?….” What the voice on the other line said made Bryce very intrigued. “That’s interesting. We’re planning something for the end of summer but I’ll talk to the boys and get back to you…. You don’t need to pay us, we live for thrills like this…. Maybe some hookups for the end of summer…. Perfecto, I’ll get back to you…. Adios.”

Bryce ended the call and returned to his friends. “Listen up, boys. Our services are required. Remember those guys who delivered our goodies for the Grandaddy Heist? Well now they need us. Apparently they were robbed at shotgun point during one of their deliveries. They need our help to get their money back. We’re going to meet them at their house; they all live together, kind of like we sort of do. It shouldn’t be too hard because we’re the calvary and from what the guy on the phone told me, it’s only one person they need to take care of. He told me that he’d pay us big time but I told him we do it for the thrill, but a hook up on our order for the next heist would be nice. He agreed. So are we in?”

“Looks like we received our next mission,” said Jeremy. “Of course we’re in.”

“Hell yeah, I’ll call the guy back in the morning to let him know.”

 

The next morning, Bryce did just that. The man on the other line was very grateful they decided to help and told him his name was O.J; He asked Bryce if they could be at the house today and Bryce told him that wouldn’t be a problem, so he gave Bryce the address but told him he probably won’t be around when they came.

After Bryce hung up the phone he told James, Weston, and Jeremy that everything was a go, and they began preparing for their two hour road trip back to the city. They hoped it wouldn’t take more than a day to plan and execute because, if they were in the city for a long period of time, they’d have to visit their parents, who’d ask a whole bunch of nosy questions they wouldn’t have the answer to because they wouldn’t want to hear the truth. If you’re wondering why they’d visit their parents when they could simply avoid them, ask yourself if you’d avoid your parents or go visit them if you were away for a long time.

Anyways, they were used to waking up early; Bryce made the phone call at seven, so by the time he got off the phone and they all finished preparing to leave it was only eight. They were all feeling anxious, just like they did before any mission, but they knew that in a couple days they’d be back at 70823 like it was just another day. Weston closed the back door and made sure it was locked. They carried all the keys to their cars and decided to take the G Wagon, also known as the squad car, for their road trip.

It was a lovely morning on the outskirts of Callisto; the sun was on its way up, the temperature was just right for July, and the light mist felt great when it touched their skin. The G Wagon was much more comfortable, though. Bryce drove, Jeremy and James got in the back, and saved shotgun for Weston. Similar to volleyball, where the players rotated one spot before the serve, the boys rotated one spot every time they drove; that way they all got a chance to drive, be shotgun, and chill in the backseat. There were benefits to being in every position; if you were in the back seat, for example, your job was to make sure there was always joints prepared, which is what Jeremy was doing right now. Bryce made a sharp turn towards the dirt trail, passed the row of trees, the light blue mailbox, and made a right onto the main road. By then, the first joint was ready. Jeremy lit it up and they were off.

 

“Say, I don’t know about you boys, but I’m starving. Lets stop to get some munchies.”

They’d been driving for an hour and a half, and, surprisingly, took that long for one of them to say they were hungry. They were also three joints deep. After a few minutes of deliberation, they agreed on McDonalds; it was the closest to them. The next options were Burger King, but none of them were in the mood to get food poisoning, or Dunkin Donuts, but it was further away.

The last time they went to Burger King, probably around a hundred years ago, Bryce got a chicken burger, an hour later he was throwing his guts up; and when you go after one squad member, you go after all squad members. So they vowed to never eat there again.

“Welcome to McDonalds, can I take your order?” Said the girl from the drive through speaker.

“Hey, can I get 8 hash browns, 4 packs of hot cakes, and 8 breakfast sandwiches.”

“Sure, and to drink?”

“Ummm. 2 oj’s and 2 aj’s. Thats apple juice, in case you didn’t know.”

“Your total is 25 dollars, second window please.”

“Quickly, based on her voice, what would you rate her?” Said Weston. They always did this.

“7”

“6.5”

“6.9,” Jeremy chuckled.

“8. Alright let’s see.”

They pulled up to the second window and it slid open.

“Sorry, guys, it’ll take like 5 minutes; you ordered a lot of food.” Then she held out the debit machine for them to pay.

“I’ll pay when I get my food. If I gotta wait, you gotta wait. It’s principle, you know.” Bryce informed her.

“Alright,” and the window slid shut.

“Looks like you won, eh James; she’s a 7.”

“Not bad, not bad.”

Seven minutes later the window opened up and the girl presented them with huge McDonalds bags. The unmistakable aroma of McDonalds filled the G Wagon. Bryce handed the bags over to Weston, who then handed the bags to James in the back, so he could grab the drinks from Bryce. He noticed the girls name tag read ‘Ivory’ as she held out the debit machine again. He said ‘Thanks, Ivory’ but instead of paying, Bryce rolled his window all the way up, and bolted out of the parking lot. Before they knew it, they were back on the freeway.

“You need to stop doing that, Bryce,” said Weston, trying not to laugh.

“I hate waiting; by rights, It should’ve been free anyways; like pizza that takes longer than 20 minutes to arrive.”

James let him know that they raised it to 35 minutes now.

“See, those bastards want to make us wait longer. For fast food? Hell naw.” Bryce should’ve been an activist instead of a bandit.

“Facts,” said Jeremy, with a mouthful of hash browns.

All of a sudden there was a police car behind them. The sirens weren’t on, though.

“Uh oh, there’s a cop behind us,” said Weston.

Bryce glanced at his mirror. There was, in fact, a cop behind them.

“Don’t worry, the sirens aren’t on. He’s probably just driving around, trying to cause trouble. You know, the usual day of a cop.”

Normally they’d be more calm, but they just robbed McDonalds, and they were driving a recognizable vehicle.

Just then, the sirens went on.

“Don’t look now, genius, his sirens are on. He’s definitely after us.”

Bryce glanced at his mirror. The sirens were, in fact, on.

There was growing tension inside the G Wagon.

“Can you relax. Should I out run him? You know I can.”

“Now is not the time. Just pull over and we’ll confess to stealing from McDonalds. It shouldn’t be a big deal.”

“Confess? To what? We’re innocent until proven guilty. I’m not confessing to anything. I’ll pull over and see what the hell he wants.”

So Bryce slowed down, pulled the G Wagon over to the side of the freeway, and came to a complete stop. You could hear a pin drop. They kept looking behind them, anticipating the upcoming interaction. The door of the police cruiser opened and they noticed that it was a lady. They weren’t sure if that was better or worse but they were about to find out. Bryce rolled down the window when she approached.

“Good morning, officer,” Bryce smiled. As he got a better look at her, he felt like he knew her from somewhere. He was sure of it. But where? “Is there a problem?”

“Sir. What are you gentlemen up to on this fine summer morning?”

“We’re from out of town, heading to our friends house in the city; he’s having a party tonight.”

“Where abouts?”

“Not exactly sure. You see, it’s our first time going there.”

“Can I see your hands please.”

“No problem.” Bryce took his hands off the steering wheel and showed them to the officer. She looked at them for a bit, it seemed like she was thinking, then she looked at Bryce, and everyone else in the G Wagon.

“License and registration please.”

“Sure. I’m just going to reach in the glove compartment to get them,” said Bryce. “But officer, you haven’t told us why you pulled me over.” He handed his paperwork to the officer. He still didn’t remember where he knew her from.

“We received a call saying that this vehicle was spotted parked outside a park for a while until a Jeep pulled up. The caller said she saw four young men jump out of the Jeep, with haste, and get inside this vehicle. That’s not all. The Jeep was seen leaving Galaxy Mall the night of the events at The Rolex Store.”

The boys weren’t wearing the watches they got away with. You’ve never seen anyone try to act cool, and pull it off, until you’ve seen Bryce. “Wow, thats an unfortunate coincidence. Unfortunate for us. We were at our house that night. Jeeps and G Wagon’s aren’t that uncommon.” Jeremy, James, and Weston were looking back and forth from Bryce to the officer.

Suddenly, Bryce remembered where he recognized her from.

“That is an unfortunate coincidence.” She didn’t sound convinced. “But sit tight, I’m going to check your papers.” They watched her walk back to her cruiser and get in.

“This isn’t good, y’all,” said James. “This is not Good, y’all.”

“What are we gonna do, Bryce?” Asked Jeremy.

Bryce was brooding.

“I know her from somewhere. You guys remember the Saturday after we did it, we went to Astros? I was talking to her there. I’m 100% sure it’s her.”

“Wow, now that’s a coincidence. Did you get her number?” Asked Weston. That made Bryce chuckle. James was still stressing out in the backseat. Jeremy was stoic.

“No, but I do remember defending those legends who did the Grandaddy Heist A.K.A us.”

“Do you think she remembers you?”

“I’d be offended if she didn’t, but it might be better that way.”

“You don’t say,” said James.

“We can’t stay. We might be in some trouble, boys. If I dash right now, we’re pretty much admitting our guilt. If we stay and get booked, our chances are slimmer to escape.” The officer stepped out of her cruiser; she had no expression on her face. Luckily they weren’t driving their glossy red Tesla, you know what happened in part one. Bryce had to make a decision. Fast.

“You know what they say, boys.” They all knew. They all knew what they right thing to do was. “Get rich or die tryin’.”

Bryce put the G wagon in drive, and got the hell out of there.

They practically broke their necks trying to see how far the cop was. She was still getting back inside; she was probably on her walkie radioing for backup. Seeing as it was mid morning, there wasn’t any traffic so Bryce sped by the cars that were on the freeway.

Bryce saw a cop driving in his cruiser going in the other direction, he looked like he was looking for them. He caught a glimpse of the G Wagon and made direct eye contact with Bryce. The cop immediately put his sirens on, but there was a railing dividing the freeway so he really couldn’t do anything. It was safe to assume the first cop was behind them, though. It was also safe to assume there were loads of cops after them by now.

“We need to get out of sight, Bryce.”

“I know that.”

“Would they go so far as to let the choppers loose?”Asked Weston.

“You know what we did, right?” Said James.

In 500 meters take exit 719 on turn left onto Roman’s Road.

That was the gps. It said they were only 15 minutes away from their destination. Bryce exited where it said to. The light was red, though, which really got on their nerves. They had to get moving.

When it turned green, Bryce cut by the car in front of him, narrowly missing it. Then they blitzed down the main road.

“We have to ditch the ride.”

“Our G Wagon? No. We’ll make it.”

“Look! Up ahead. An underground parking sign.”

“Is that God?”

“Just might be, boys.” Bryce turned into the parking lot, hardly braking; he made a full stop right before knocking down the bar. “10 bucks every thirty minutes? Thats theft.”

“That’s ironic.”

“Shut up, it’s the principle.”

“Shut up about principle, for godsakes, we’re outlaws.”

“I should just run it over, eh! Might as well!”

“DON’T.” They yelled at Bryce at once.

They were yelling their goddam lungs off the whole time.

Their hearts were beating out of their chests. Bryce got the ticket and drove into the maze that was the underground parking lot. He followed the arrows to the last level and parked in the back corner. They caught their breaths and felt their pulses. Bryce opened the door and got out to stretch. The others followed suit, then got back in.

“We live for thrills! That was a bloody goddam thrill!”

“And we still have to help those guys get their money back.”

“So I guess we’ll just wait it out here?”

“Do you guys believe in providences?”

“I don’t know, why?”

“It’s just weird that off the exit we had to take anyways there was this parking spot. Like, we really needed it, and here it is.”

“Everything’s always worked out for us.”

“Yeah, but this feels different,” James said. 

They left it at that.

 

Half an hour later, when they figured it was safe, Weston and Jeremy walked all the way up to street level and peered out to make sure they didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, or anything that’d give them a reason to worry. Not much was said between the four of them in that half hour they were waiting; their hearts kind of settled down, for now. Weston and Jeremy talked about what they’d have to do in a few hours, which would be just as exciting but they hoped no one would be hurt; even whoever it was they were going to try to intimidate; they knew they were skating on really thin ice. In any case, they knew they had to do what they had to do. They walked back down and, even though they knew they’d be there, were relieved to see their friends in the G Wagon still parked where they left it.

“Is it clear?” Asked Bryce.

“Yeah, we can go now,” said Weston. “We should go now.”

“Are we really going to drive the G Wagon out of here? I’ll give us a millisecond before we’re seen,” said Jeremy. “Are you crazy?”

“What are we supposed to do?” Asked Bryce, tensely. “Walk? Call an uber?”

“Jeeeeez, Bryce, stop being so stubborn. What’s the smartest thing to do? We can leave the G Wagon here, call an uber to pick us up and drop us off.”

“How would we get back to 70823, then? If we leave it here there’s also a chance it’d be discovered. Look, we’re already going to hell, it doesn’t get worse than that. If we get caught, that’ll suck, but I’m not leaving our G Wagon. You can take an uber, though. I’ll meet you there.”

Jeremy didn’t say anything, instead he buckled himself in and sat there. Bryce asked if anyone had any objections. No one did. He took a deep breath and started the G Wagon. Bryce methodically drove up the flights of the parking lot and stopped at the yellow bar. He inserted the ticket and reluctantly paid the $20, which was the least he could do. When the bar raised, Bryce drove up and hit the brakes gently. He looked back at his boys, and said ‘lets do this,’ then made a right onto the street. The sun wasn’t all the way up yet, but it was a bright, hot day in the city.

 

Bryce drove down side roads, instead of main roads, to get to the mansion; he even drove the speed limit, which is why it took them a longer time to get there. But they got there. They were currently on Galaxy Ave, the neighbourhood where all the wealthy people live. The mansion wasn’t hard to miss; it was in the first quarter of a mile long strip covered in green freshly mown grass and colourful, tall, healthy trees. Bryce turned into the driveway, stopped at the gate, and pressed the button for the intercom. A few seconds later the gates opened up. No words needed; they knew who it was. The Calvary drove through, onto the semicircle driveway and passed the fountain. Then Bryce parked the G Wagon next to a blacked out Mercedes; there was also a blacked out Maybach parked further up.

“Looks like we made it,” said Bryce. “More importantly, the G Wagon made it.”

“I’ll give it to you, Bryce,” admitted Jeremy. “Now lets see what this place is about.”

With that, Jeremy, Bryce, Weston, and James  got out of G Wagon and walked up to the front doors. Jeremy knocked, and, as if they were waiting right behind the door, it was opened right away.

“You guys made it. It’s nice to meet you, I’m Alonzo.”

“Yeah, we hit a road block along the way, but we’re here,” said Bryce. “I’m Bryce, this is Weston. He’s James, and that’s Jeremy.”

“O.J isn’t going to make it, but he sends his regards. Our other friends are just in a room up here, though. Follow me, that’s where we’ll discuss the plan for tonight.”

Alonzo turned to walk towards the stairs and the boys followed him. They were feeling a little nervous, to tell you the truth. What if it was a trap. They already had this mornings events in the back of their minds.

They reached the top of the staircase, which led to what looked like the middle of the upstairs hallway, and Alonzo opened the first door on his right. They entered a rather large room, that resembled a living room, only it was situated upstairs. There were couches, a T.V with consoles, a stack of board games and a table to play them on, and an air hockey table; the room was huge. There were four other people in there already. I guess they didn’t really lie to the cop, it was a party. Alonzo closed the door behind them, and the people in the room looked up and gave him their attention.

“They’re here, guys,” said Alonzo. “Everyone, this is Bryce, Weston, James, and Jeremy.” Alonzo then turned to the boys. “Guys, this is Jackson and Jonathan, the o.g’s. And this is Cedar and Fox, their last names, they’re new, too.”

They each went around the room and shook everyones hands. They weren’t used to being around a lot of people, plus they still had this mornings events in their minds so they were feeling relatively anxious and quiet. They also wondered if they knew it was them who did the Rolex Store heist. It wouldn’t take long for them to assert themselves, though. After all, they were the calvary.

 

It was around noon and over the course of the time the boys were brought up to speed on what the situation was. They thought of a brilliant plan. Then played a bunch of games until it was time to go. O.J wasn’t there to give them all the details, though. Jackson and Jonathan, whom they remembered, told them what happened on the delivery and how much money the shotgun man got away with. The boys could tell Jackson and Jonathan were rattled from that experience, they were glad to help. Cedar and Fox didn’t say much, they knew as much as the boys did. The plan that was thought of before they arrived wasn’t exciting, or clever enough to pass so they collaborated on thinking of a better plan to get the money back. No one brought up the Rolex heist so they didn’t bring it up either. When that was done, Alonzo took them on a tour, then they had some fun playing the variety of games available and the boys’ tension eased up and they were comfortable by the time they were ready to leave the mansion. At 9PM, when it was dark out, they began to get prepared.

Alonzo led them to the basement, where the inventory was, and told them to take their pick at what they wanted to bring with them. It would be 8 people going against one man so they didn’t need all that fire power, but based on what Jackson and Jonathan told them about the shotgun man they thought it was a necessary precaution, plus, everyone wanted a weapon. Not all of them picked up guns, though. There was an abundance of choices.

They all congregated outside in the backyard once they finished. The boys were quite impressed by this house, and more importantly, the people they met inside it. They felt like they found people they relate to, who they can fit in with, and be themselves around. It wasn’t only participating in criminal activities that they had in common, but also how they acted and talked to each other. The boys were nervous at first because they weren’t used to being around so many people and they were all strangers, they acted confident because they had to; they were the calvary, but they realized, now, that even though that was true, they were all the same. They finally found other people like them, who’d easily understand them. The boys were genuinely excited, you could tell by the way they couldn’t stop smiling, they didn’t have to say anything. They were planning on inviting them to 70823 and having these guys be the Calvary and help them on their next heist.

They had to get through tonight first. They went over the plan one more time outside and they all understood. They also knew that plans rarely go as planned so if all hell broke loose all hell was going to break loose. They had one job. Alonzo wasn’t going, so the 8 of them; the boys, Cedar and Fox, and Jackson and Jonathan crammed into the all black Tahoe parked on the interlocked driveway. Jackson drove, and Jonathan rode shotgun because they remembered where the place was. Alonzo watched them leave, and as they began to drive out they saw a silhouette of a man behind curtains looking out at them from a main floor window.

 

It was a smooth ride to their destination; they were loose, laughing, having good conversations, and they were feeling excited. Weston announced himself as the playlist god, so there was precise background music for the scene. Jonathan thought he was the best at choosing music, but even he admitted Weston had a touch.

The closer they got, though, the quieter it got as the excitement turned to anxiousness all around, so, underneath the sharp crescent moon and the billions of tiny stars around it, they drove into the parking lot for the run down strip plaza in silence. Jackson parked around 30 yards from the front door with hopes that the all black Tahoe would be camouflaged in the night. It was time.

“I don’t know how it got so tense all of a sudden. You guys okay? We went over the plan dozens of times. It’s gonna be easy.” A plan couldn’t be executed without a motivational speech from a man of principle like Bryce. “But remember: straight faces.” No one said anything else.

Fox and Cedar got out and crept towards the entrance to number 645. The motion detector lights flickered when they got close. Fox banged on the door as loud as he could. Cedar pressed her ear against the thick metal door and held her breath a bit to try to listen for any movement inside. Nothing. Then Fox banged both his palms on the door. This time they heard sounds from inside and it sounded like whoever it was, was coming towards the door. It slowly opened and Fox and Cedar immediately understood why they called him the shotgun man; there he was, the shotgun man. They knew they definitely couldn’t break cover.

“Goodnight, Sir. We’re sorry to have woken you,” Cedar said, in an urgent, serious manner. “I’m Detective Smith and this is Detective Sherlock.” When they were creating fake names, Fox insisted that name wouldn’t sound too made up. “Are you Timothy Steele?”

“No, I am not. What the hell do you want?”

“We’re Officers of the State, Sir,” said Detective Smith. “Please lower your weapon.”

“Why the hell are you here?” He didn’t lower the shotgun. He looked like he was high off the LSD he got away with.

“We received an anonymous phone call informing us of possible terrorist activity going on at this address.”

The shotgun man pondered what he just heard, and twisted his face in confusion. “You expect me to believe that? I know I’m not a terrorist.”

“That’s exactly what a terrorist would say,” said Detective Sherlock. “You need to come with us. Just for some questions, it won’t take long.”

“I don’t believe you’re detectives. You two sonsabitches just show up at my door in the middle of the night saying you’re detectives. Where’s the proof? Show me your badges. If you’re lying to me, both of you are getting blasted.”

“We are the proof,” said Smith. “We’re supposed to be undercover. We don’t have our badges  because it could be seen. We’d be killed.”

“Undercover doing what?”

“Okay, if we answer your questions, you have to answer ours,” said Smith. “The FBI, you’ve heard of us. We were undercover, getting information from a Russian Mafia Lord; we are in deep, but this was more important, seeing as it’s a matter of National Security, so we were sent here, we told them we were taking a vacation.”

The shotgun man somewhat lowered his shotgun. “Like I said, I know I’m not a terrorist. I’ll go answer your questions to clear my name.”

They did it. He fully lowered it and placed it inside the room.

“Please follow us.” Detectives Smith and Sherlock led him in the direction of the Tahoe. “Our ride is here. Our drivers are inside, don’t worry about them.” The shotgun man became edgy again; he was startled when the doors unlocked. Sherlock went around to the other door as Smith ushered him in to sit in the middle and shut the door with force. Bryce and Weston were sitting in the front seats.

Jackson, Jonathan, James, and Jeremy were hiding in the dark around the side of the building a safe distance away. They sneaked along the wall towards the front door when they heard the door of the Tahoe shut. Jackson pushed open the entrance to the shotgun man’s lair and they all rushed into the dark room. It took a while to find the damn light switch, but James finally flicked it up. They were surprised to see what the inside of it looked like: there was an extremely comfortable looking queen size bed, it looked like the softest bed they ever seen, with all red sheets, and a bunch of fluffy pillows, and it was in the direct middle of the room, there was also a desk in the far corner, but what surprised the most them were the walls; every corner of the walls, even the floor, was painted as if it were a maze, and the lines were an assortment of dozens of colours.

“This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m trippin’ trying to find where it starts and ends.”

“Me too. Now we know what he does when he’s on LSD.”

Jackson and Jonathan were quiet, they barely escaped alive the last time they were here so they wanted to get their money and get out. They pulled open every drawer of the desk. They were all empty, save for one of the drawers, which needed a key to be opened.

“We need to find the key for this,” announced Jackson. “Look under his bed or around there. It has to be in here.”

“Here it is, it was under his pillow.”

“Wow, that was easy.”

“Quickly,” said Jonathan. “Bring it over here.”

Jeremy brought the key over to them and stayed to watch them open it. Jackpot. There it was; all the dough and all the LSD. They appreciated the art, and since they didn’t use LSD they left it there, but they grabbed every dollar that was inside the drawer, and stuffed it into their backpack. They could hardly believe it was this easy when they shut the lights off and ran outside back to the Tahoe. They heard the doors unlock as they approached.

“We found what we were looking for. This man could be very dangerous, we have to get him back to our base as soon as possible,” said Jeremy in the same serious, urgent voice.

Bryce started the Tahoe as they rushed in. It was cramped; that was the only downside to the plan; there were 9 of time inside the Tahoe, which could fit 8, but it would be worth it.

“What do you mean I could be dangerous. Who are these people, detectives?”

They tried not to laugh when he called them Detectives. “Private Investigators hired by us, the FBI, they just searched your residence to see what they could find. Looks like they’ve come to a conclusion.” Explained Detective Smith.

They had the All Hell Breaks Loose plan ready to go and it looked like it would come to that because all of a sudden the shotgun man began yelling and screaming, calling them liars and tried to escape the Tahoe. Weston turned from the front passenger seat and quickly tasered him. He did it again and the shotgun man was down. Cedar rushed to handcuff him. Fox opened the door and dragged him out. Cedar got out, too, opened the trunk and they tossed him inside it. They ran back inside the Tahoe and shut the door. That freed some space. Bryce put it in drive and sped away. They knew where they were going.

 

They spent the next 2 hours driving outside the city. The shotgun man was asking questions but they deflected them, he was still cuffed but they should’ve taped his mouth, too. It was close to 1 in the morning when they unloaded out of the Tahoe on the side of the road beside the forrest. Bryce and Weston pulled the shotgun man from the trunk and dragged him along into the woods. They walked for a few minutes then stopped in front of an old abandoned cottage.

Bryce, Weston, James, and Jeremy found this cottage one day when they were exploring this part of the woods a few years ago. They almost got trapped inside; they were there for quite some time actually, before they realized how to escape. They told them it would be great for the plan, and they knew exactly where it was.

“So here’s the deal,” said Bryce. “You’re lucky we’re not killing you. But you did try to kill our friends.”

“You fired your shotgun at them then robbed them,” said Jeremy.

“What are you talking about? I don’t remember doing that, or maybe I was high when I did.” His demeanour changed, he wanted forgiveness.

“No dice, pal,” said Bryce. “You did what you did, like I said; you’re lucky we’re letting you live.”

“We got our money back, though,” said Jackson.

The shotgun man was bewildered. He was at a loss for words; who were these people?

Bryce took the cuffs off the shotgun man. “The way out of this cottage is somewhere inside. It only opens from the outside. All the windows are boarded up. Find your way out and find your own way back. You might have to walk.” Bryce shoved him inside and locked the door. They laughed hysterically and ran back to the Tahoe.

“We’re finally rid of him. Lets see how much money we got,” said Jackson. “We’ll split it evenly. Thanks for your help, you guys.” He poured all the bills on to his lap.

“We don’t need to split it, it’s your money, we were happy to help,” said Weston. They all agreed but Jackson and Jonathan said that they could at least treat them to a late night dinner at a 24 hour diner, and no one could say no to that.