7
April 2018
Alex, Vickey, Leon, Max, Greg
“Are you all ok, Alex?” Vickey’s voice brought Alex back to reality.
Alex shook his head and looked at Vickey.
“Yes, yes,” he said quietly. “Everything’s all right. I was just thinking.”
Vickey looked at him attentively, putting a cup of coffee on the table.
“The way you like it,” she said. “One spoonful of sugar.”
Everyone had come back into the room and sat down in their places again.
Leon nervously clenched his sweaty fists, staring at Max. Max had always been a hero to him. And everyone understood that Leon would be in the game.
Alex took a couple of gulps of coffee, and they finally brought him back from the memories of that first meeting with the psychiatrist that had unexpectedly overcome him.
Everyone was back in their places.
“What’s so special about this bank?” Alex asked Greg.
Greg took a long hard look at Max. In turn, Max, squinting, looked straight back at him.
“Tell them!” snapped Max. “I’m responsible for Alex and Vickey. If Alex isn’t in, nobody will find out a thing. I give you my word on that.”
Greg nodded. He lit up a Marlboro, took a deep drag on it, and slowly exhaled smoke. The moment he’d been preparing for had arrived.
“It’s called the Trust Bank,” Greg began. “You’ve all see the billboards up around town.”
Everyone at the table knew what he was talking about.
“So,” Greg continued, “as a rule, banks are located on big, busy streets so that there are lots of people around, so that everyone can see the shiny adverts and all of that. Right?!”
Leon nodded quickly, signaling that he understood.
Greg looked round at everyone present and continued:
“But there’s one Trust branch that’s in a special place – it’s on the territory of the British Higher School of Design. And that bank is used by the staff at the London Polytechnic too.”
Max looked at Alex and nodded towards Greg as if to say “listen carefully to this.”
“The bank’s on the School’s territory,” Greg repeated. “So no one’s even thought about guarding it properly. There’s a dork of a guard inside the bank, he’s probably done a few day’s training and he’s pulling down minimum wage – a few hundred quid a week in all …”
They were all following every word coming from Greg very closely now.
“All right,” continued Greg. “The distance between the bank and the School’s entry gates is about a few hundred feet. There’s no chance that a police car will accidentally pull up at the door.”
“Who guards the entry gates to the School?” asked Alex.
Greg looked at Alex with interest.
“You’ve already done a job?” Greg asked Alex, instead of answering his question.
Greg kept his eyes on Alex.
“The gates to the School are guarded by two complete chumps. From another private security firm. They’re just there to check who’s gone in, who’s come out, and to run the private parking lot. They don’t even check anyone who’s driving out.”
“But there’s a guard inside the bank?” asked Max.
“Yes,” Greg answered with a cunning smile. “But that’s no big deal. He’s alone. A section of pipe across the back of the head. He’ll come round and live another fifty years out in the ‘burbs.”
Leon was breaking into a sweat, the drops on his forehead glistening in the light of the yellow lamp that hung over the table. He was as surprised as everyone else when he heard himself asking a question.
“What do you mean a section of pipe across the back of the head? What if the guard dies?”
Everyone looked at Greg.
“What if he dies?” Leon repeated.
Greg looked at Leon, thinking about something, but didn’t reply.
“If it’s like that, then I heard nothing, I saw nothing, and I’m on my way,” Leon said quietly.
“Wait, Leon,” said Max. “This isn’t our first job. It’s like with the chemists’… I always take the risks. You know that.”
“Yes,” replied Leon. “But we never killed anyone. That’s totally different.” He again started to rub his sweaty hands together. “That’s totally different,” he repeated nervously.
“That’s not the plan here either,” said Max. “Remember – like we always said: ‘Whatever happens in life, no one gets out alive’? So we have to try and go that extra mile.”
Leon tried to force himself to smile.
“Trust me, Leon,” said Max, looking him in the eye.
Leon had always been a bit of a coward. Max knew that. He also knew that Leon had skillful hands and a good brain. He could calculate how the security cameras were working, hack into a server. Leon was just an unrecognized genius at anything like that. Max also knew that he could always talk Leon round. He’d give him a little time, paint a pretty picture of some promising prospects, and then he could sign him up to anything he wanted. They’d already done a few jobs together. They knocked over some chemists’, or, to be more precise, Max had waved a gun around and Max had played a terrified customer who was at the chemist’s by chance. And even if they’d been caught, they’d agreed that Leon, his bro, wouldn’t be taking the wrap. But they hadn’t been caught.
A pause hung in the air. Greg was thinking about something, tense, and, like the rest of them, he didn’t break the silence.
“How long are we going to be yakking on about all the details for?” Max asked Leon. “All right, they’ll get me one day. What’ll you do then?! Spend your whole life living with your Mom out in Ilford?!?”
Leon let out a deep sigh.
“With this one, we’re in and we’re out!” Max said, inspired. “We’ll catch fortune by the tail and be off, just like you wanted: Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bali. Girls, cocktails. When you’ve got some dough, life’s for the taking, bro!”
Greg gave Alex a piercing look.
“What about you, Alex – have you worked with Max before?” asked Greg, already knowing the answer.
Everyone looked at Alex. Alex turned to look at Max.
“Come on,” said Greg, “if you have, let us in on it. This is the perfect time.”
Alex looked at Vickey. Vickey hadn’t been expecting that kind of question to be posed to Alex. But most importantly, she understood what the answer would be.
“Go on, Al’,” Max said to Alex.
“We robbed a few chemists’,” said Alex. “Max and I. I distracted everyone, and then hassled the shop girls to hand over the money. Max and I had a deal that if anything went wrong, I had nothing to do with it.”
Alex turned to look at Vickey. She was looking at Alex, rapt. As if she’d just heard that he’d carried some poor old woman out of a burning bus, rather than having knocked over several chemists’ with a childhood friend. She couldn’t tell, however, if Alex had taken part in the robberies because he needed the money or if he did it for the thrills.
Greg focused his gaze on everyone there, he didn’t miss a word or a gesture, and he liked the fact that all of them, apart from the girl, had been “stained” by some minor misdemeanors.
“How’re you planning to stop them hitting the security alarm button?” asked Leon cautiously.
“Max wasn’t joking when he said you’re a technology crackerjack,” answered Greg. “I’ll answer your question shortly.”
Greg had been waiting for his moment to give Leon a professional compliment, and judging by Leon’s reaction – he’d given his first smile of the evening – he’d been right to do so. Greg understood people well. He understood that he’d almost achieved his goal. They were all ready to work on his job. And he would undoubtedly be the boss.
“I told you, I worked as a security guard there, I studied everything in detail. When I was there a couple of months ago, I saw that they never change anything,” said Greg. “The staff would change, but the guards would always be the same.”
Greg leaned back in his chair.
“The entry into the bank isn’t guarded, as I said,” he continued. “We take out the guard. There’s an alarm button at each cash desk, so we have to take control of the line of tellers immediately. I’ll do that. The girls at the desks will take fright immediately. You’ll see – nobody is going to try and be a hero for just over minimum wage – that’s under twenty grand a year…”
Max looked at Greg with clear respect.
“Next,” continued Greg. “There are several rooms in the bank. They don’t have any alarm buttons in there. Only the boss has got one. Max will handle him.”
Max nodded affirmatively.
“Our goal is the room with the safety deposit boxes and the big safe. Nobody knows what’s in the boxes. But there could be a lot of interesting stuff in there. Cash, valuables, knickknacks. Basically, everything people don’t like to keep at home, and that they want to keep quiet about.”
“Who’s got the keys to the safe room?” asked Alex.
“The boss,” Greg answered, keeping it short.
Greg slowly took out another cigarette and lit it. He was clearly in control of the situation.
Vickey realized that she couldn’t keep her eyes off Greg. It was as if she was taking part in the shooting of a film. This was the first time in her life that she’d ever been involved in a conversation like this.
“Leon distracts the guard when I’m already at the cash desks,” continued Greg. “The guard turns towards Leon, and that’s when Alex cracks the guard over the head and handles all the clients in the bank. Leon starts shouting ‘Don’t shoot!’ and keeps an eye on the clients. Our guns and his shouts should keep the crowd quiet for a few seconds.”
Max, his lips tightening, nodded in agreement.
“Vickey,” said Greg. “Vickey, when we go in, stays outside by the door. They’ve got a sign up there – ‘open-closed.’ She turns it round to ‘closed”, stays outside and takes out questionnaires, something like that, like she’s running a poll – people don’t like stuff like that, so they’ll leave, planning to come back later.”
“Got it,” was all Vickey said.
“If there’s a girl at the door, the public won’t have any questions,” said Greg.
“Got it,” repeated Vickey.
“Leon’s playing the role of a client,” said Greg. “When I heard all the bank tellers into the center of the room, I grab Leon and stick a gun up against his head…”
“A gun?” asked Leon, frightened.
“Calm down,” said Greg. “I’ll have the safety catch on. I grab him, threaten to kill him, and pressure the boss into opening the safe room. There’s nothing they can do, trust me,” said Greg, sneering unpleasantly and flashing his rotten teeth, yellowed from smoking.
“So far, so good,” said Max.
“On the level of a plan it’s ok,” said Alex.
“You can’t have a good robbery without a good plan, Mr. Grade A Student,” Greg answered him.
Alex didn’t like listening to Greg. He found him unpleasant. But he thought it made sense not to notice the unpleasant remarks aimed in his direction. “I’ll say something if he dares to insult Vickey,” he thought.
“So,” said Greg, when he realized that Alex wasn’t going to respond to him, “the customers and the staff are on the floor, we’ve taken their mobiles off them. Max pushes the boss and Leon – he’s still playing a ‘customer’ – into the safe room. The boss opens the safety deposit box room and the main safe, and we knock him out. While I’m cleaning out the safe, Leon opens up the safety deposit boxes. We’ve got no more than 15 minutes to get all that done.”
“That’s possible,” said Max enthusiastically.
“Max said you’ve worked with explosives,” said Greg, turning to Leon.
“A tiny bit,” said Leon. “And I was always sticking to the health and safety rules. Remote explosions.”
“We’re going to have to do something like that,” said Greg.
Max looked at Leon and nodded approvingly.
“Five million quid. That’s my calculation for all the pay and stipends for the number of students and teachers there – that’s enough for a million each, Leon. It’s worth taking a risk for dough like that. Especially if it’s a certainty. I think it’ll go smooth,” said Greg.
A million pounds. A huge, life-changing amount. Alex knew what he would’ve done with money like that in his former life: he’d put the money in various banks, so as not to attract attention.
Get interest on it all. He could probably get a decent rate of interest and stop working. He could use some to go traveling and to really live it up. He could invest in a promising start-up, so that he’d have the chance to become indecently rich.
But not now. Now Alex knew for certain what he was chasing that money for, they had a deal with Vickey.
This job wasn’t meant to make him a millionaire. But it was going to entirely change his life. It was going to draw a line under everything that had gone before and turn over a new page in his life. This job meant freedom for him.
It was simpler for Vickey. She wasn’t thinking about the amount of money that she would get if it went well at all. Her head was ringing with the deafening pain of the losses that she’d experienced. She knew for certain where her cut would go – every last penny. She couldn’t give a damn about anything. If it didn’t work out, she had no reason to live. Alex’s phrase “I need you” was ringing in her head too.
“There’s another option,” said Greg. “I get some more guys involved, and you all act as if you’re customers. You get a hundred grand each for taking part, you help with the prep.” Greg, the lids of his eyes tightening up, looked at Alex, then Vickey.
Alex couldn’t stand the way Greg was looking at Vickey and he had to hold himself back in order to avoid a conflict.
Max realized that he had to immediately get into the conversation.
“It’s a sure thing,” said Max. “If there are any risks, they’re minimal. No more than at the chemist’s.” He left a pause, and then concluded: “But this could be our last job. Before a new life. Just like we dreamed of, once upon a time, Al.”
Max smiled to Alex.
In fact, Max didn’t trust Greg one hundred percent, of course. But the robbery had been proposed by Greg, and Max couldn’t do it without him. As they said in the circles that he and Greg hung out in, that would be breaking the “mob rules.” And if someone broke the mob rules, he could get punished. Greg had come up with a perfect plan and he was dictating the rules of the game. Max had given himself some insurance by getting his people – people he trusted – involved. That meant the chances of success were significantly higher.
For him, the million would also mean freedom. Freedom from having to do any more robberies. Freedom from the continual risk of being caught and put behind bars. Max knew that being an ex-cop behind bars wasn’t an enviable fate. He dreamt of getting his cut and leaving London. A guy he used to work with lived in Durham, up north, he’d opened a small taxi firm and he’d invited Max a couple of times to join him. He needed a partner and, as he told Max when they chatted on Whatsap every now and again, with some serious money, they could “really get things moving” …
“I haven’t told you the main thing,” Greg said casually. “This isn’t the first job we’re going to do.”
Max noted how everyone’s attention perked up.
“First we’ll do some training on our old favorites – the chemists,” said Greg.
Max, Alex and Leon smiled.
Greg knew what to say and when. He had to get everyone to relax. Especially Alex. If he agreed, then they’d have a team.
“We’ll get to know each other a little better,” continued Greg. “Get used to each other, as it were. And we’ll make some money for the main show. And I’ll start telling you about the details of the main strike. We’ve got a lot of time before that happens.”
Greg’s final words hit the mark. Everyone got the impression that they were in control of what was going on.
“I’m going to pour myself some more coffee,” said Greg, and headed in the direction of the kitchen.
That was another subtle move. Leaving the old friends alone for a while in the room. So that they could check out each other’s reactions, have a chat, and calm down.
He spent about five minutes in the kitchen, and when he came back into the room, he sensed that the mood had changed. It had clearly become tense.
“And another thing, guys,” said Greg, using a friendly tone for the first time. “What’s the main thing about what we’re doing here?” Greg gave a cunning smile. “We’ve got lucky dudes sitting here. Nobody’s ever been caught. The cops won’t be looking out for us. I need people who could pass as students if they put some sunglasses and ripped jeans on. I’ll say it again – this is a winner. And the more you learn about it, the more certain you’ll be that I’m right.”
Max smiled. Alex gave an almost imperceptible smile.
“How do we get out?” asked Alex.
Greg looked at Alex and, unexpectedly, answered him in a calm, polite tone, obviously having decided that he couldn’t” get Alex on side by pressuring him, that wouldn’t fly, but he had to find the right way of communicating with him.
“We split up,” said Greg. “Me and Max take the bags with the loot and go out through the underground carpark. The stairs down to it are to the right of the door into the bank. They’re sited perfectly. We go down into the carpark, get in the car where the driver will be waiting for us, and calmly roll out of the School’s territory. You, Vickey and Leon go through the turnstiles – they don’t block you going out. As I said, they’re about 300 hundred feet from the bank and they’re not guarded.”
“The prep’s impressive,” said Alex, looking at Greg.
“Thank you,” said Greg. “We tell everyone in the bank to stay on the ground and not to move for three minutes, otherwise a bomb will go off,” he continued. “We’ll leave a dummy bomb in the center of the room – Leon will make it. And three minutes later we’ll all be safe. I’ll give you the details later.”
“Not bad,” said Leon.
“There’s a Plan B too,” said Greg. “As you look like the kids from the Design School in terms of age and appearance, you can just blend in with them. By the time we do the robbery you’ll have student identity cards too.”
“How?” asked Vickey.
“The prep is going to take a few months,” answered Greg. “We’ll sign you up to some courses in that time, you’ll get identity numbers, that will be enough. “
Despite the huge differences, the chasm between all the people in the room, right here and right now they’d gained something that they all shared, something that linked the five of them. Hope had appeared.
“If something happens with the turnstiles, which I very much doubt, you can change out of your disguises in the park. I’ll teach you how to do it in a couple of seconds. And you just calmly go to the café.”
Greg could see how the situation was changing in his favor.
“They’ll be looking for totally different people, and they won’t start looking immediately,” he continued. “And they’d never think that after a robbery the thieves would go to the next-door café for a cappuccino with cinnamon…”
“You’re a genius, Greg!” smiled Max.
“I worked there for five years when I was trying to give up, bro,” Greg replied to him. “I know every square inch there. When we’re doing the prep, we’ll have to be careful, we don’t want to attract any attention. We have to check that nothing’s been changed, that it’s just as it was – if anything’s changed, we’ll just make adjustments.”
Greg was very satisfied with the result of this first conversation.
“But that’s not the main thing,” he said.
“What is?” asked Vickey.
“It’s almost as if this bank,” Greg replied slowly, “has been specially designed for us to rob it.”
Greg had worked out that phrase in advance. And he’d been waiting for the right moment to use it.
Max put his hand on Leon’s shoulder.
“What do you think, bro?” he asked. The right answer, the answer that Leon was supposed to give, could be sensed in the question and the tone in which it was asked.
Leon looked at Max.
“I think it’s a yes,” he said. Then added mournfully: “What have I got to lose?!?”
“That’s right,” said Max, patting Leon on the shoulder. “One precise blow, and all the ladies in the world are yours, Fatty.”
Max looked at Alex.
“What do you say, pal?” he asked Alex.
Alex, looking Max in the eye, tensed up his lips and then nodded several times.
“Vickey?” asked Max.
“Whatever Alex says,” she answered quickly.
Greg was pleased with himself. He’d always been able to make deals with people. He left a pause before summing up:
“While we get to know each other, we’ll check out the bank. We’ll disguise ourselves, and we’ll all go there two or three months before the day of the robbery. That way we can get used to the wigs and the makeup too. And we can really get a feel for the key site. It’ll become our home. We’ll be like little fish there. Unnoticed. Uncatchable.”