Nothing But Thieves (English)

4. Chapter

I slowly moved my hand to the door handle and I got out. The co-driver immediately got out and let the gentleman behind him out. Two guns were immediately pointed at me. Stark moved towards me, but only let his colleague out of the car, who took the sports bag with him. Brick placed it on the floor. Whiskey waved Brick over as Stark continued to point his gun at me and I stood in the middle of nowhere with my hands raised. I heard them talking but couldn't understand the words. After a short while they both came back.

You could almost hear Brick's grin as he said to me: "How long have I been waiting to say something like that myself? Hands on the roof of the car and legs apart."

I looked at him dumbfounded. "What do you want from me?" I blurted out.

Suddenly he grabbed the back of my shirt collar and then pushed me against the driver's side as if I were the criminal in this scenario. "You are under arrest. Everything she can say and will be used against you," he whistled, and I continued to hear his grin. "And believe me, I will use it against you, you little shit." He enjoyed the situation of being able to shaft a police officer. One could almost have concluded from this that he had not had a good experience with the law and that his vest was not just soiled today.

Brick frisked me carefully, although I wasn't quite sure what he was expecting. Five kilos of cocaine and three hidden firearms? If anyone was dangerous here, it was probably the three men who robbed a bank.

I heard Stark rummaging behind me. Suddenly, first my right hand, then my left hand was ripped behind my back. The characteristic sound of handcuffs closing was heard. Then someone grabbed my left shoulder, turned me around and pushed me back against the car. It happened so quickly that I couldn't even process it properly. Immediately a nasty pain from the brutal treatment and a pulling sensation spread in my arms. With my hands tied, I now stood in front of three heavily armed robbers. In addition to my general feeling of being unwell, I started to feel panicked. This disgusting feeling of being restricted and at some else's mercy. My heart doubled its rhythm into a real racing rhythm. I urged myself to calm down and be prudent. With moderate success. The fear that was constantly creeping up in me developed into a full-blown panic attack.

"I like you a lot better like this," I heard Brick say. Instinctively, I pulled and tugged at the handcuffs, to no avail. If an escape had been that easy, the police wouldn't have used it.

"What the hell..." I began my sentence, pausing for another poor attempt at release. "Hey, come on, I'm not a threat to you. You said that yourself. Handcuffs? Such measures are not necessary at all."

Brick gently patted me on the cheek and accompanied it with: "No one has ever said anything like that, little one. Unfortunately, you dirty cops keep getting very inventive."

Still struggling, I tried again. "Please, you don't have to tie me up, really. Didn't I cooperate?"

The three looked at each other and shook their heads in unison. "You were actually very bitchy," laughed Stark. Such a humiliation to be handcuffed with your own handcuffs.

Whiskey walked over to the SUV, unlocked it and placed the gym bag in the back seat. Then he opened the trunk and took out a hiking backpack. He reached into one of the pockets and pulled out a bandana.

He said with mock excitement: "Imagine Leon, it may be very remote here, but we still can't have you screaming around here. Even if you spend the rest of our trip in the trunk of our second car."

I looked at them in horror again. "No, I thought you would let me go. Or at least back here until my colleagues find me. There was never any talk of me continuing to ride with you."

They exchanged glances. Then Stark shook his head. "I don't know where you were when we drove here in your car, but no one ever said that we would release you or that you would stay back here. Also, I think it's cute that you think you have a say but on the other hand it's pretty presumptuous. You overestimate your position in the current situation."

Whiskey nodded in agreement and added: "You could almost say that you have become our little lucky charm. So far everything has been going according to plan." He gripped the bottom of his mask with exaggerated dismay. "And wild animals could attack you here. Do you know what's lurking in these woods? Mountain lions, panthers that were abandoned by a circus years ago, trolls, Bigfoot or the Sasquatch? No, you're better off with us comedian. What kind of gentlemen would we be if we didn't fulfill our mandate to protect our favorite friend and helper? Now please open our mouths."

I shook my head. Everything was too much. Driving the gangsters around? No issue. Say stupid things to me? No hard feelings. Have me locked and gagged in a trunk with an uncertain final destination? No, limit reached.

At that moment no one was holding me and we were a little distance apart. I would have been stupid not to at least try. I quickly turned to the right and tried to run away. In a split second, however, Brick had grabbed my arm and pulled me back. Suddenly my stability no longer existed, the man kicked my leg away and let me fall to the ground. The bandana was roughly placed in my mouth and my desperation grew.

"Well, well, well, that's not very cooperative of you. But your words were completely different just now. But ultimately that doesn't matter. Help him up," Whiskey instructed his colleagues. The other two pulled me back to my feet. I just shook my head vehemently. This situation was grotesque, at least for me. Never in a hundred years would I have expected this kind of shit when I started my duty this morning. Of course, I didn't receive any tips or tricks from Caleb about this.

With an almost fatherly tone, Whiskey patted me on the head as he and his accomplices pushed me towards the trunk. "Hey little one, if you don't cause us any problems, everything will work out for you and you can go home soon. Word of honor." With a lot of physical persuasion, they involuntarily pushed me into the trunk. There I lay in this cramped space while they closed the lid. Soon the car started moving and I thought desperately about my life choices and whether I should have studied something related to media.