Children of God

Chapter Two

The crew assembled. Theo,  Robert, Patrick and Nick-John were all decked out in black, with a machine gun that I’d never seen before. They looked like they were ready to rob a bank, much less a few boxes of fabric.

“OK, ten minutes. That’s all we have, so make good use of it.” Robert instructed. I knew they wouldn’t.

“What’s the plan?” Theo asked. I nearly burst my ass laughing at the thought of someone cowering in fear of Theo. I hid it well, or at least I hope I did. Robert, chuckled softly at first, then thwacked him softly over the head with his palm.

“You dumb or somethin’? I thought you were our brains. We go in, two minutes to get the security down, three minutes to get the locked doors unlocked, disable cameras. Four minutes to get the stuff together and back to the car, one minute to make sure nothing is left undone. Nick, you and Theo will take down the three security guards, and I know there’s three before you ask because I unlike some people did some freaking research, then Patrick and I will unlock the two doors that need unlocking. Then its a simple case of running in, grabbing the boxes and running out. Nice and easy.”

They left. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Robert was walking into idiocy, into a rat-trap, and that these clothes were the cheese. Again, paranoia strikes. I felt like a chump, all the same.

Joe and Marie were inside, while Leo was upstairs doing something. I was outside because quite frankly I was in a lonely place inside and out. I was smoking again, as always.

I watched a bird fly past. Slowly, softly, trying to find a way home in the dark. I could see inside, the mind’s eye that I never gave a freaking crap about, a drunk doing the same.

Inside I heard laughter. Joe, that smooth sunnava. He went from awkward flirting to full fledged charmer, somehow. Then I heard footsteps, and the door opened. Leo stood in the frame, then stepped out to join me.

“I feel sick listening to Casanova in there.” he joked.

“Try having to work with him twentyfour seven, kid.”

There was a brief silence, then we heard Joe laugh from the open door: “And then he took the cheese!”, then there were uproars. We looked to each other and shook our heads.

“Leo, you ever wish you could go out on these heists?” I asked him.

“Do you ever wish you could go out on them?”

I was taken aback. Took me a minute or so to think about it.

“I’m not the sneaky type.”

Leo nodded.

“Neither am I.”

I got hungry. I went back inside and Leo followed me into the kitchen. I got out a pack of processed chicken slices and ate two. Leo reminded me of me, and it felt awkward, and more importantly, wrong. I couldn’t bare to see this kid grow up into his father.

“C’mon, let’s go be  third and fourth wheels.” I joked.

We spent the next forty minutes telling each other jokes and anecdotes, laughing and sighing. It felt oddly welcoming, like for once Robert was not watching us. I could see in my mind’s eye, Robert tearing away with the goods. I was far off.

Theodore

Rob parked about two blocks away. When we got there, it was up to me and Nicky-J to take down the two guards. I got one down with a shot to the head. We didn’t use silencers, as silencers really do not completely silence a weapon and are a hindrance on any occasion.

We got in, security measures down and out. Then we opened the doors that held our goods behind them.

About ten. I counted about ten cops waiting to ambush us. Bullets ripped towards us. We all ducked behind cover, boxes made of cardboard that we all knew wouldn’t hold out for more than ten seconds. I turned the corner of my box and fired. A bullet hit one cop in the knee, because I saw him double over in agony and yell with the kind of scrunched up face you get when you get it caught in your zipper. This woman, standing behind the guy I’d doubled over, fired at me in retaliation. I made sure to drop down to avoid getting plastered in the face. I looked quickly to the others. Robert looked calm and determined, having fatally stricken one of the ambushers with the speed of a cheetah. Nicky-J and Patrick were angry, yelling as they fired heavy shots. Patrick had a shotgun that he’d successfully missed with at every turn. Nicky-J had a handgun like me, while Robert carried a heavy-powered machine gun.