Heist

Prologue (continued)

(January 17, 2015, Downtown LA)

David Pratt:

The view from up here was beautiful, the sun was starting to set, and the lights came on one by one. It reminded me of New York, it reminded me of my childhood. God, I wish I never left that city. I always used to think I would become an NYPD officer. I became the thing I wanted to destroy. But I had to. I had to support my family. "They were only petty crimes" that's what I used to tell myself, and they were until Denton came around.

"What's that noise?" Brooklyn asked, I looked over at the control panel, in red lettering, the sentence "Engine Failure" was plastered everywhere.

"Shoot, see! this is why we should get the coordinates beforehand, we've been up here too long," Brad yelled, he grabbed the yoke and jerked it backward. "Andre, call Denton and tell him we need those coordinates now! I only have enough engine power to stay in the air for a couple more minutes," He shouted.

Smoke billowed out of the engines, I looked around the fuselage, Brooklyn was starting to hyperventilate and Connor had a blank stare on his face, "DAMMIT!" Andre yelled, he threw his phone onto the floor. "I tried him three times.. no response," He shook his head. Connor unbuckled his seat belt and climbed to the back, he got some sort of case.

"If push comes to shove, I'm not going down with you idiots," He pulled out a parachute, and grabbed one of the bags stuffed with cash. Before he could jump out of the helicopter, Brad pushed the yoke forwards, the helicopter angled down. Sending Connor to the floor.

Connor laid on the floor, he rubbed his temple and cursed. "Connor has the right idea, if we go down, then that's it for us," Andre sympathized, He went to the back and pulled out four more parachutes, he handed one to Brooklyn, Brad, and I. I put on the parachute. Brad pushed the yoke for the third time, this time backward,  the helicopter started to spiral out of control, I could see the altitude meter go down, from 1,500 to 1,450 to 1,400, we were losing altitude fast.

"You see that building over there?" Andre asked, he pointed to the MCI Center. "We meet there,"

I nodded at him, "Brooklyn, let's go!" Andre said. He grabbed two bags of cash, he handed one to Brooklyn. He gripped her hand tightly, Brooklyn opened the door, and they jumped.

I looked over at the cockpit, Brad was struggling to get his seatbelt off, "Hurry Up Brad! We have to go now!" Connor yelled. We were falling even faster now, 1,100 to 1,000 to 900. I jumped into the front seat. I pulled at the seatbelt, hoping it would break.

"David! We have to go or we'll all be dead!" Connor screamed.
"You know I don't leave people behind! We're family, I don't leave family!"
Brad looked at me in the eyes, he wanted to give up.
"Don't you give me that look, Brad! You have a kid!" I yelled.

I pressed the unbuckle button over and over. No luck. "Go Dave, this is the end of the line for me," The helicopter dropped even further, now it was at 700 feet. Brad handed me a bag of cash. He nodded his head. Connor grabbed me from behind and pulled me out of the helicopter. He pulled my parachute out. I watched in horror as the helicopter spiraled down and crashed onto a major highway. The explosion lit up the night sky with shades of red. I wanted to rip the parachute off my back, but I couldn't. I landed on the roof of the MCI center and rejoined my team. We all looked at each other wondering what to do next.

"Stop! or I'll shoot!" The service door to the roof busted open, and there he was. Special Agent Justin Pratt. My brother.