LITMIR.BIZ

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      There was no point trying to reason with him.

      The best they could do was get out of there.

      But fast was never going to be fast enough.

      Someone was always going to try and be a fucking hero.

      It was written in the stars.

      In blood.

      In that endless second between heartbeats it all went wrong.

      A security guard, hyped on adrenaline and stupid Hollywood movies, made a grab for Black. He caught him around the neck, from behind, and pulled the mask from his head in the struggle.

      Black lashed out violently, swinging the Desert Eagle like a club. The barrel hit the guard square in the temple with a sickening crunch. Something broke in there. Pappy heard it from where he stood. There was nothing good about that sound. He watched the man collapse.

      Black scrambled for his mask, trying to cover his face again, but they all knew it was too late for that. Cameras had caught him now. There were dozens of them inside the bank; one would have captured a perfect picture of his face.

      Black stood over the guard. He hawked and spat, then pulled the trigger. Once. Twice. Three times. The dead man’s body only twitched a single time.

      The alarm broke the stunned silence. The atmosphere in the bank changed with those shots. The hysteria was as dead as the guard. Every last one of the customers and staff stared with disbelief at the Desert Eagle, at Black, at the dead man, and knew that but for the grace of whatever god, devil, or deity they chose to believe in, it could have been them down there. It had just become very fucking real.

      Pappy breathed deeply. Someone needed to take control.

      This wasn’t supposed to happen.

      The plan was in, grab the cash, and out again—no one gets hurt. No one winds up dead.

      But there he was, blood spilling out across the marble floor.

      Pappy felt sick.

      Banks were insured; they could afford to lose the cash. That guy down there was someone’s son, someone’s husband, someone’s father. Or had been. Now he was just dead.

      Pappy choked back the bile.

      There was a split second where nobody moved. And then they started running for the door, all thoughts of the money abandoned. Now it was all about getting the fuck out of Dodge before the cops came in with guns blazing. Black was the first to run out. So much for that fucking loyalty shit. Pappy was last out, behind Ant.

      Outside, Von had the engine running. As they all piled into the car, Black screamed at him to drive.

      Tires screeched and he pulled into the fast-flowing traffic to the chorus of horns blaring as the car behind was forced to break hard to avoid a collision, only for an Econoline to ram him from behind. It was a piece of good luck, so maybe one of Black’s demons was watching over them after all. The wreck would delay pursuit, and they only needed to cover a dozen blocks to abandon the stolen vehicle and switch it for the clean car that was parked and ready for them.

      For Black that counted as forward thinking. It was, as he put it, a motherfucking plan. Black had a way with words. The reality of it was they could have been taken down before even leaving the bank. On another day they could have all been dead by now.

      “So how much cash did we get?” Von asked as he pulled the second car carefully into traffic. Now it was all about not standing out. They could hear the sirens, so it wouldn’t be long before the cops found the getaway car. They welcomed it; they’d be long gone by then.

      Black said nothing.

      Pappy could see the rage seething inside him, barely kept in check. It could have been down to the fact he’d left his face behind on the cameras, or the fact they’d walked out of the door as broke as they walked in. Pappy doubted very much that it was down to the fact Black had left someone dead on the cold stone floor.

      “Come on, guys, how much? Enough for a trip to the sun? I’m ready for some of that sea, sand, sex, and shit, you know?”

      “Will you shut the fuck up?” Black snapped.

      “Nothing,” said Pappy. “Not a fucking dime.”

      “Shut your fuckin’ mouth, Pap, I need to think.”

      “Things didn’t go down the way we planned,” Ant said, as though that explained everything.

      “What?”

      “Just leave it, Von. It didn’t work out. No sand, no sea, but give it a few minutes and you’ll feel like you’ve been well and truly fucked, so it’s all good.”

      Pappy knew one thing for sure: he wasn’t waiting for tomorrow to head for Detroit. He was going tonight, cash or not. If he had to work nights in some shithole diner to see himself through college, then so be it. He wasn’t proud. And washing pots wouldn’t get him banged up for life. There was no fucking glamour in this life. Black was a dumb cunt. It was as simple and ugly as that. He’d seen enough to know the way things were going. He wanted out. That was the first smart decision he’d made since Sumner Houses. They weren’t a fucking crew anymore. So they had managed to get out, it didn’t matter; it wouldn’t take CSI geniuses to determine who’d pulled the trigger, and Pappy wasn’t about to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. If the cops didn’t get him, it was only a matter of time before Black did. That was Black’s idea of covering his tracks.

      Von pulled over at the lights.

      “I’m out of here,” Pappy said, climbing out of the car.

      Black stared at him. He didn’t say Get back in, he didn’t say See you around. He just nodded.

      “Last job,” Pappy said, slamming the door.

      “No looking back, Pap,” Black responded, making a pistol with his fist and pulling the imaginary trigger.

      TWO

      _________________

       Pappy was still packing when someone hammered on the door.

      Three a.m.

      He’d read somewhere that more people die at that time than any other.

      He didn’t need to open the door to know it was Black.

      The only question was whether or not he was on his own, or if he’d brought his little Desert Eagle friend along to say farewell.

      There was no point in delaying it. He opened the door.

      Black smiled at him. “Leaving so soon?” he said as he walked inside. He didn’t wait to be invited in. He wasn’t a fucking vampire—Pappy doubted a stake to the heart would have the slightest effect on him. You had to have a heart for that to work. Fuck, Pappy was surprised he’d bothered knocking in the first place. A bullet to the lock was as good as a key.

      “You knew the score,” Pappy said.

      He could feel his heartbeat kick on.

      They had been friends for years, but that didn’t mean he was immune to Black’s anger, only that he’d known him long enough to know to be afraid of him. “That was my last job. It’s not fun anymore, we’re into some fucked-up shit now.”

      “Fucked-up shit indeed, Pap, but that don’t change things. You need a stash for that new life of yours. New living don’t come cheap. Fuck, man, we both need the cash.”

      Pappy shrugged. “Not worth getting upset about.”

      “Ain’t it? Tell me again why we were in that place. Oh, right, it was to give you the bucks to light out. We put our fuckin’ stones out there for you, Pap. You can’t just run out on us. Not now. You owe us. We need you with us, brother.”

      “I’ve

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