2036 Chapter 5: The day has come.

Chapter 5: The day has come.

23^rd May 2036

No one really remembers last night. Well, I remember little glimpses. But last night didn’t matter. It was today that mattered.

This was it.

After this, it was all over… After this, I was out.

…

We drove over the memorial bridge, looking down at where we would throw Unger the money. He and Lilian where back at the den. Not sure why he wanted us to throw him a pretty lose bag of money from one of the city’s biggest bridges to a boat in the middle of the bay. The whole thing didn’t make sense. But then again, Unger’s plans never failed. Not once in my career with him had a plan gone even slightly wrong. Not even when we had to...

Nevermind.

The team was looking tired but prepared. Marcus was staring out the window with an apathetic gaze. Last night he told me he used to work in the Farallon lighthouse, working the night shifts, which I think was in the direction he was staring at. Turns out he was quite a nice guy. I met his wife, even his daughter AJ. Luckily, they didn’t know about the heist or even that Marcus was a criminal. In hindsight, getting drunk the night before a heist was a bad idea, since we were all hung over. Marcus was able to sober up pretty well, unlike the rest of us.

Carmine was drumming on her knees, her chest and her head to some music she was blasting on her earphones. I could never figure out what she listened to. Scalp and I had gotten used to this, but Marcus was giving her funny looks. Eventually he whispered, “What’s with her?”

“Oh, Carmine?” I said. “She’s got tinnitus, so she plays really loud music to drone it out.”

“What’s that?” he responded.

“Pretty much, it’s a rigging in her ears, where her brain thinks there should be noise when there isn’t. It’s usually caused by having damaged eardrums. Also, you don’t need to whisper. SHE CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

Sure enough, Carmine didn’t hear.

The only one not looking ‘ship-shape’ was Scalp. He wasn’t looking tired or hung-over, but like he’d seen a ghost. There was always some overt sadness about him, since he never really talked to anyone except Carmine, and I didn’t see him at anything other than Ungers meetings and the actual jobs. I didn’t even know his real name. All I knew was he was a lonely new yorker with a drinking habit. And he was bald. But the look on his face wasn’t of solemn sadness, but like he was afraid of what was to come.

…

I pulled into the carpark, where I saw the getaway car, the Red Toyota Lynx, which was surprisingly well polished. I pulled into the space a few spaces away from it, to try not to attract attention.

“Everyone got their comms in?” I asked.

“Yep, we’re all commed.” Said Carmine.

“Alright. Stay frosty everyone!” I said, just as everyone left the car.

I got in the Toyota and slipped my comms in.

“This is E-man, calling from mother base, do you all copy? Over.” said Unger, in the tone of a military commander.

Even though we were on a secure channel, ‘E-man’ insisted that we use codenames. At this point, we all just went along with it.

“This is Whaley, I’m in the car, over.” I said.

“This is Tiny Tina, approaching the target, over.” said Carmine.

“This is Scalp, also approaching the target, over.” said Scalp.

“This is Slim, coming up on the rear, over.” said Marcus

…

“Hackman, you need to confirm you’re on the line.” Said Unger.

I heard a moan in the background.

“This is hackman. Copy.” Said Lilian.

Usually we would hear a brief argument between the two about Lilian not being enthusiastic enough, but for some reason, that didn’t happen.

“Everyone, this is it. Don’t get scared now.” Said E-man.

From the car, I saw Carmine and Scalp walk into the bank in their IO disguises and Marcus go around the back. For a good portion of the job, I had to rely on people’s comms to know what was going on.

…

“Mother base. This is Tiny Tina, me and Scalp are approaching the banker, over.”

“This is E-man, you are clear to engage.”

“Hello sir, could we have a moment of your time?” said Carmine.

“Ok. Are you… IO lawyers?” said the banker.

“Yes, that is correct. We’re looking to take out a loan of… half a million dollars in cash.”

“… I’m sorry, but why do you want half a million? This is your bank!”

“Well, we were looking to donate this money directly to a secondary bank in Richmond. They requested that the money was delivered physically, instead of through the wire.”

I could tell the cashier was giving Carmine funny looks.

“Hey man…” Felix started, but for some reason he stopped.

“Oh, yes sir! Right away sir!” said the cashier, sounding fearful before running off to fetch the money.

“Mother base, this is Tiny Tina. Scalp seems to be a secret master of intimidation.”

…

After a few minutes, I heard the thump of what I assumed was a large bag of money on the bankers desk.

“Now, I’ll need you to confirm your transaction.”

I heard the banker scanning with one of the old card machines from the 2010’s. It was like we were speed running this heist.

A few seconds later, my cars HUD lit up with the picture of the bank. It was pretty spacious with a small crowd of people. It had big white walls and small windows, along with a few potted plants for decoration. I also spotted Carmine and Scalp sitting in the Cafe part of the bank. Lilian had gained access.

“This is E-man, phase one complete. That was over in minutes!” Unger sounded like he was in a state of euphoria.

“Now, phase two. Slim, you inside? Over.” he said

“Copy Mother base. I’m in the building.” Said Marcus.

“Alright. Hackman, start the alarms.”

…

“Hackman?”

Almost immediately, the alarms went off. The small crowd began freaking out, the guards began to search people and the speakers played the “Please remain calm” recording.

The picture on the car’s HUD changed to a picture of Marcus. He had what I hoped was a taser gun and was patrolling the large hallways of the upper floor.

The cameras kept changing as Unger guided Marcus to the vault. Eventually, he stopped, as we saw that there where two guards still at the doors.

“SLIM STOP! There’s two guards still at the vault door.” Said Unger.

“Ok. Armed?” Replied Marcus.

“No.”

“Good.” He said as he pulled a small sphere from his pocket.

“… Slim, that better not be a bomb!” Said Unger. I didn’t understand why he was always telling Marcus to not kill people.

“It’s not a bomb, just chill.” He replied.

He threw the sphere out into the open, which got the attention of the guards. They weren’t heavily armed, just with basic body armour and pistols. One of them picked up the sphere, looking it over and sending his colleague to look where it came from.

Just then, the sphere burst right in the first guards face, just as Marcus tasered his friend. The first guard reached for his gun just as he took a flying knee to the face from Marcus.  Both were knocked out. I didn’t know we where working with some kind of ninja. 

“Mother base. Vault door is clear, over.” Panted Marcus.

“Good. Hackman, open the doors.” Said Unger.

Surprisingly quickly, the vault door opened. Lilian must have been undoing it while Marcus was making his way to the vault.

It opened, and inside was a literal heap of money. I was starting to think this bank was to clean to be run by a gang. They hadn’t even bothered to put them in rubber bands, just chucked it all in a pile.

“Mother base. The eagle has landed, over.”

“Good. Tiny Tina, Scalp, you’re out of the building, over?”

“Copy mother base. The money is with us.”

“Excellent. Whaley, they just need picking up.” Said Unger.

“Copy that, Mother base.” I said. “I’m thinking we’ve bagged the hei-“

“Guys we’ve got a problem.” Said Marcus.

“Slim, what is it.” Replied Unger.

“The dye bomb is empty.”

…

There was probably a huge puddle of purple dye in the back seat of my car. 

“Is there any other way you can destroy the money?” asked Unger.

“You could just flush it down the bank toilet.” Said Lilian. I could tell Unger gave him a frustrated look.

“…Should I get the other two?” I asked.

“Whaley. Don’t come down. Some IO dudes just arrived.”  Said Carmine in a hushed voice.

I could tell Unger was freaking out. In his entire career, not a single one of his plans failed. Now, a simple bank theft, a plan that had he’d worked on for months on end was falling to pieces.

Until…

“Unger, I’ve got a lighter! We can burn the money!” Exclaimed Marcus.

“… That could actually work! Slim, burn it.”

The last thing I saw on the cars HUD was Marcus tossing his lighter on the pile of money, which went up in flames like a bonfire, just before the connection was cut.

“Ok everyone… I recommend you all leave individually and discreetly.  Scalp and Tiny Tina, take the bag with you.” Said Unger.

“Wait… I can smell something.” Said Marcus.

Just then, the back half of the bank exploded.

The part of the bank the money was in.

The part of the bank Marcus was in.