TEN
“There are two sides to everything”
His eyes opened slowly. He took a deep breath in and his experience over the past few days faded away. Almost like a dream. He looked around, he was in a van with three other people. Everyone was dressed the same and everyone was holding guns.
Memories of the situation came flooding back to him. He and his friends were going to rob a bank as a cover for a kidnapping. Mickey made a deal with a lady he met. We were going to fake kidnap her and share the ransom from her fiance. Apparently, he was some kind of prince.
Mickey works at his dad's bar, so he gets small jobs from people all the time. We've been doing jobs like this one since we were kids. Not fake kidnapping, but robbery or something for quick cash. Each of us had been living this life for a long time.
Mackey was sitting in the van next to Matt, Dave was driving and Gary was across from Matt, behind the driver's seat. There were no seats in the back of the van, it was just one of those big ones you rent from tool supplies stores.
Memories of the plan started to flood in as we got closer to the bank. I was supposed to find the girl, she'll be blond with a blue dress and sunglasses, she should be standing by the door. Gary and Mickey will head back with the bank manager and get whatever is in the vault. And we'll all split up after we ditch the van.
The girl should act like she's scared, but she'll be in on it. So she won't really fight back too much. Matt was nervous, and started to tapped his foot quickly.
Gary silently offered him a cigarette and he took it. It seemed like an appropriate thing to do at a time like this.
"Don't be nervous Matt," Mickey said, trying to reassure him. He seemed to be the only one who was nervous. And he didn't know why he was, he'd done these hundreds of times before. "I had a good omen come to me in a dream last night."
"A good omen, I haven't had one of those in a long time." Gary chuckled to himself more than anyone else.
"I just mean I can feel it. This one is a sure thing. And when it's over we get 1 billion dollars each."
"Yeah, I know, I guess I just have a weird feeling about all this." Matt took another drag from his cigarette. "I feel like this is the wrong thing to do. I can't explain it."
"Uh oh Matty, you better not be growing a conscience on us." They all laughed. A few embarrassing memories of Matt causing damage, or being a general nuance came to mind. Nothing specific, but he knew for sure he was not a good person.
"Okay fellas, out here on the left," Dave said, pulling up to the curb. "4 minutes and I'm outta here."
The next three minutes happened so fast. They pulled down their masks, ran into the bank. Matt quickly found the blond woman with sunglasses in a blue dress. He used her as a human shield. We always used blanks, but Matt wasn't sure if Mickey had told her that. She started crying but Matt didn't find it very convincing.
After Mickey and Gary left for the vault for a while, they came back out with duffel bags loaded up, but Matt had the real treasure in my arms. They quickly ran out the door and got her in the van then Dave drove off and changed lanes and directions a few times. We had done it. We kidnapped a girl.
She'd given Mickey some kind of sob story at the bar. It sounded too cliché to be true in Matt's mind, but it was basically that she was trapped in a relationship with the prince she didn't love, she had no money of her own because all her life she was either getting money from her father or other men. Never had her own money, but she guaranteed that her fiancé would pay a lot of money if she was kid-napped. So Mackey got the idea to pretend to kidnap her when she was at the bank. It will seem like we had no idea who she was at the time of the robbery so it will be less suspicious.
Matt had built his own satellite phone so they could hide out anywhere and call in for the money.
Naturally, Mickey suggested Matt's place. Mickey lived with his parents, and Dave and Gary had wives and kids. Matt however had his own apartment and his neighbours left him alone. If they saw the girl walking around they wouldn't tell anyone.
"She just has to stay here for a couple of days, then when we get the money, we go anywhere we want!" Mickey was excited about his plan. Matt still had doubts for some reason. He wasn't sure why this girl was worth 4 billion dollars to her fiancé. She was pretty, but either he was filthy rich and wouldn't notice 4 billion dollars, or this girl is really special. "So I'll go out and get some supplies for you guys, and we'll make the phone call when I get back."
Mickey slipped out the door and headed to his car. We'd split up with Dave and Gary and taken separate vehicles when we left the van by the underpass. They'd cleaned it down with bleach before abandoning it behind some bushes. Then they'd found their cars, Mickey let Gary and Dave have the money they got from the bank robbery. And we'd meet up later to give them their share of the kidnapping money. Matt sat down on the couch with a sigh, and The girl came walking out into the living room in a towel. She'd helped herself to the shower and was already making herself at home in his apartment.
"Where did Mickey go?"
"He's off to get some supplies. He'll be back later."
"So it's just the two of us?" She sat down next to him and placed her hand on his leg.
"Yes, just the two of us."
"Good! I need to tell you how to pass this test." She clapped her hands together and picked up a pen and pad of paper off of the coffee table. "The angels said you will be dealing with Truth, justice, and conscience."
"What? What Angels? What are you talking about?"
"The angels at the Crimson Bridge." She looked at him all confused. "How long were you in this body, do you really not remember?" Matt looked into her eyes as if he was supposed to remember her from something. She looked a little familiar. Then he remembered the dream he had before the heist. "Sussy?"
"Hue! You remembered me! You're so cute!" She wrapped her arms around him. So happy to have her pet back.
"What, you mean, this is another one of your dreams?"
"No, this is the dream the Angels gave to you. This is your test to make it across the bridge!" Sussy said. "I'm here to help you make the right decision!"
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