Catching Sunshine | JJ Maybank

4 // The Heist

"Nice camera. Where'd you dig up that relic?"

The four of us were crouched behind a low-rise flood wall, soaked to the bone from the rain and shivering. Pope's DIY wire-tap into Gavin-the-Pilot's car had informed us that Ward would be here meeting up with him. At a creepy, run-down construction site. In the middle of the night. So clearly something totally legal and harmless was about go down.

JJ scoffed at the large, clunky piece of equipment Pope had pulled from his bag and added, "Why don't you use your phone?"

"Well first of all, I like my antique electronics," Pope answered. Kie and I shared an amused eye-roll. "And second of all, this is a telephoto. It allows me to get a close image from far away."

"Lord of the dorks," Kie muttered.

Pope talked back to her defensively. "For definitive proof of witness payoff, we're gonna need quality glass."

"Hey Inspector Gadget," I cut in with a harsh whisper, "He's here-are you rolling?"

Because a large SUV had just pulled up to park beside the curb and Ward's figure could be seen making a run for the shelter to escape the downpour. "Yo, get down," JJ instructed quietly, tugging on my jacket sleeve urgently. I tore my arm away from his grasp, still mildly irritated by his antics this afternoon.

Right after we all ducked lower behind the wall to avoid detection, a slightly-larger person could be seen jogging in after Ward and Pope confirmed, "And there's Gavin...where are you going you son of a bitch?"

The two of them joined underneath the overhang of a construction tower before venturing further into the building, making Pope swear out a string of curses when he lost sight of them in the camera. "Hold on," JJ said, leaving our side to explore an alternative vantage point. A sharp whistle precluded him waving us over and saying, "Hey, I found something. Come here."

I brought up the rear, trailing after the three of them while we ascended to the top of the building across the street from the one Gavin and Ward had disappeared into. Once again, we lined up along the edge of the brick rooftop and Pope brought the camera up to eye level. JJ and Kie confirmed that we were good to go.

"Are you rolling, Pope?"

"Are you getting it?"

"Yeah, yeah I see them," he answered.

I squinted against the raindrops pelting my eyelashes, trying to make out anything through the blurry images created by the storm. The two dark silhouettes I knew to be Ward and Gavin moved in the upper portion of the tower; their interaction must have been tense, if the pacing of their bodies was any indication. Pope narrated what he was seeing for the benefit of the rest of us. "Ward just handed Gavin something. I think it's a duffel bag."

"Guys, I think this is a payoff," JJ observed.

"Gavin doesn't look happy about something. It looks like he's yelling at Ward," Pope continued.

"Why?" Kie asked.

"I don't know, but he sure looks mad."

I could see the two mens' motions grow more animated, more agitated and Kie demanded from next to me when the two figures engaged in some sort of physical altercation, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on?"