Calling To The Night

Chapter Three: Gold Rush

The van was silent as it drove casually down the half empty streets of downtown D.C. It had been a surprise to Jake that this part of downtown wasn't jam packed with cars going bumper to bumper as it was with other parts of the city. The Heister looked towards his partners in crime who were quietly preparing for the robbery ahead.

Dallas and Clover both were going over the equipment they'd just acquired to make sure that it'll work properly when used. "What's that radio thing you've got there?" Asked Jake as he observed Dallas placing what looked like putty on the back of said device. "This wonderful piece of equipment is called an ECM jammer. Basically, it knocks out any electronics within range of its placement."

Dallas tossed the ECM to Jake. "That's pretty handy. What's this button do?" As Jake began moving his finger to press the button, Dallas grabbed his hand and shook his head. "That activates the feedback loop. The feedback causes a high pitch sound to emanate through speakers and disorients whoever is on the receiving end of the loop."

Jake nodded and pocketed the small device. "I'll be sure to keep this handy if I need to knock out some electronics than. What's that case you're holding, Clover?" Clover opened the case to reveal several body bags for the crew to use. "While it's preferable to go through a job without killing someone - sometimes it's just unavoidable. If you end up having to take someone out you'll need to bag their body and toss it before someone sees it."

Jakes face grimaced at the thought of manhandling a corpse awkwardly into a body bag. "That's... disturbing. And how the hell am I supposed to fit a grown person into such a small bag?" Clover couldn't help but smirk at the new Heisters innocence. "Hate to break it to you, Jake, but you're gonna have to get your hands a wee bit dirty when it comes to bagging corpses." Jakes face turned a bit pale at the outlandish thing Clover just suggested to him.

"Relax, you're not gonna be cuttin' them up like some crazed butcher. Just put them in the fetal position and you should have no problems at all. Well, besides carrying the bag of course." Clover said with a nonchalant tone. Jake just grabbed the bags and tried his best not to think of the morbidness behind the statement.

"Well, I'd like to avoid killing anyone if that's possible." Jake said with displeasure in his voice. Dallas and Clover just looked at each other and chuckled. "What's so damn funny?" Jake asked incredulously.

"As much as we'd love to avoid any unnecessary death on the job - it's sometimes just unavoidable. You'll need to learn to make quick decisions or things could go wrong fast. Sometimes, shooting is the right answer if you want to live longer." Dallas replied. But this left Jake unsatisfied for several reasons. Sure, stealing from people and threatening them with violence is one thing. But to act on the threat and cause someone serious harm?

Jake sat back and pondered on what Dallas had told him. He desperately tried coming to a better conclusion to this logic but was unable to find one. If someone was pulling a weapon or even firing on him, what would he do? Surely he wouldn't stand there and let it happen, would he?

Clover watched as her counterpart slumped back in deep thought. Watching him come to terms with what this line of work would bring reminder her of herself when she first started out in the life of crime. She'll never forget the first person she killed. Some lowlife thug that tried overpowering her when he caught on to the little bamboozle she was trying to pull. She hated killing people, but if it came down to her or them - it would be her that came out on top.

Clover just shook her head and turned towards the blue haired punk slouching over across from her. "Oi, Sydney, did you finish preparing?" She got no response from the Australian. Clover leaned in and shook Sydney violently causing her to jolt up in surprise. "Fucks sake, what is it?!"