Heist by Zach Telmar (black male authors txt) 📕

Though the room was air-conditioned, all three of them felt suffocated. They stood together, shoulder-to-shoulder, in front of an intimidating vault door. Various safe-cracking devices lay strewn across the floor.

“Just one more turn,” Kaleb breathed. His eyes were steadily focused on the turnwheel of the door, on which his hand rested lightly. Jared frowned.

“Well, alright already. Turn it!” He threw Kaleb a derisive look. “You want me to hold your hand or something?”

“Oh sod off,” Kaleb said, angered as he felt his ears redden.

“Right, then. As you were, O Indecisive One.”

Kaleb gritted his teeth. “You can’t tell me I’m the only one thinking about, y’know…what we’re committing to. We open this door, we’re in too deep.” He looked around the bank. It was empty and dark – grave-like. “I mean…” He hesitated. “We could…we could still leave. No one would know we ever came. We just, y’know. We just take our stuff and-” His halting words were torn from his throat as Jared’s fist connected with his jaw. He caught himself unsteadily on the vault door.

“Jared!” cried Sara, the third. Jared resisted the urge to hit her, as well.

Kaleb pushed away from the door and rubbed his jaw. There was a foreign taste in his mouth that he recognized as blood. “What’s your problem, man?” he exclaimed.

Jared shrugged, unapologetic. “Soon as we start second-guessing ourselves, this whole job is screwed.”

Sara frowned and said quietly, “There are better ways of getting that point across, Jerr.”
Jared rolled his eyes.

“All I’m saying,” Kaleb said sullenly, “is that maybe we haven’t quite thought this through. I mean…look at us!”

Jared scowled. “What’s that supposed to mean, huh?”

Kaleb chuckled dryly. “You might see three bank robbers. I see three college drop-outs looking for an easy buck. So one of them, he thinks they should pull a heist. For an ‘easy buck?’” He laughed again, but then quickly sobered. “What a joke.”

“We’re perfectly capable of pulling this off,” said Jared, through gritted teeth.

Kaleb blinked. “Sure thing, man. …You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“What? You don’t agree?” Jared challenged.

“Oh, no, of course I agree!” A certain sparkle came into his eyes that Sara recognized. She grimaced – this wasn’t good. Kaleb continued. “I definitely agree. I mean, after all, we’ve already cracked the vault. Heaven forbid we should worry about the alarm that’s going to sound the moment we open it. Or where the money is – fingers crossed its not all packed into safe-deposit boxes with, lo and behold, more locks!

"Then, of course, we’re going to be able to waltz right back out with bags full of cash. That’s assuming, of course, the lockdown following the alarm doesn’t trap us inside the bank, or, more humiliatingly, the vault itself.”

Sara was beginning to fidget, and even Jared stood quietly, concentrating intently on some point in space off to Kaleb’s left. His fists slowly clenched and unclenched. Seeing he had the floor, Kaleb persisted. “Assuming, of course, our crossed fingers and soft-spoken prayers pull through for us and we make it out the door with this money, we’ll have to trust that, before any of this, we didn’t turn our face towards the cameras before we cut the security wires…or, more importantly, that we didn’t leave even a trace of a fingerprint, a single drop of sweat, a sole loose hair. Because the moment that is found, one of us will have half a dozen cops at their front door faster than you can say ‘busted.’ And,”

He looked both of them in the eye. “I don’t think any of us would hesitate to squeal on the others. Not with a criminal sentence on the line. Not with your future hanging in the balance.” He crossed his arms loosely and flattened his lips. “So, how about we leave.” He looked dauntless, but beads of sweat clung to his upper lip, coupled by a slight quiver in his hands.

Sara ran a hand through her hair nervously. “Jared, he’s right.”

Jared glared darkly at her. “Cowards,” he spat venomously. “This is our best chance at living normal lives, for once. If neither of you have the guts to pull through, when we’re this close…” He scanned their faces. “Well, I’m doing this myself.” He stepped towards the turnwheel, only to have Kaleb step into his path. Jared cursed at him. “Get out of my way.”

“Can it, buddy. I’m not ready to go to jail, and any of us getting caught is going to end badly for all of us. I can’t let you do this. Turn around and walk back out the way we came. Sara and I are going to follow, after cleaning up our mess. We’ll leave. We were never here.” He paused, then looked pleadingly at his partner. “Please.”

Jared scowled at him darkly. “Try ordering me around one more time, and…” He trailed off as he noticed the gun in Kaleb’s hand. Their eyes connected, and Jared’s eyebrow rose skeptically, coupled with a slight smirk. “Do you even know how to use one of those?” he asked, ridicule tainting his voice.

“I know enough,” he said, his words coupled with the quiet snap of the safety switch.

“Stop this!” Sara cried. “This was supposed to be quick – quick and simple! This is crazy, you guys! Jared! Jared, can’t we just leave? Jared!”

“Shut up, Sara!” he barked, then turned back to Kaleb. “Listen man…” he said in what he hoped was a disarming tone, taking a step forward. He was met with the raised barrel of Kaleb’s pistol. His eyes widened briefly. Then he spread his arms in an innocent gesture.

“Whoah, man. Just calm down. Okay. We’ll go. Just…chill out.” Kaleb didn’t blink. Jared rolled his eyes. “You want help carrying that?” He pointed past Kaleb, took another step, then used his outstretched hand to make a grab at the gun. He gripped the barrel, and started to pull as Kaleb tugged away frantically. The gun fired, and Jared screamed.

He pulled his burned hand from the barrel, shoving it into his jacket and wailing in shock and pain. Kaleb dropped the gun, trying to comprehend the situation. Sara stood behind Jared, swaying delicately from an unseen wind. Her white-knuckled hands clutched desperately at her stomach, but a red blossom of blood began to seep out from beneath them.

Her eyes stared at Kaleb, dumbfounded, and her mouth seemed to move of its own accord as she muttered something unheard. Then, she crumpled to the ground.

Jared had quieted, and turned to see what Kaleb stared at with such horror. Now both men stood in agonizing silence. It blanketed the room, stifled them with fear. The air had turned thick and syrupy – each breath felt like a gasp.

Finally Jared whispered a question, weakly and quietly, and to no one in particular. His speech was stripped of all bravado and wit, bereft of its previous confidence. The question echoed off the marble walls of the bank, down empty hallways, upon Sara’s deaf ears. It was a common question, asked by many before and destined to be repeated, until the end of time. “What do we do now?”

Publication Date: 07-06-2009

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