Time is Money (4 page)

“Two million.”

“Okay so two hundred thousand won’t hurt you,” Brent smiled. “Why don’t you go back home and think about it for a few days and then get back to me.”

“Nothing to think about. I’m going to invest with you.” Ghost’s face suddenly became serious. “Brent this is all the money that I have to my name and I’m trusting you to do what you say you are going to do.”

Brent chuckled. “Ghost you’re only looking to invest two million dollars; no disrespect, but I piss two million dollars. Trust me you’re in good hands,” he extended his hand.

Ghost looked at Brent for a few seconds before he finally shook his hand finalizing the deal.

Chapter 7

Show Time

D
ana sat in the passenger seat of a stolen black
Charger
, with a tech-9 resting on her lap and behind the wheel sat Dougie. They were parked two blocks away from where the armored truck was supposed to make its last pick up for the day.

Dougie looked down at his watch. “Ten minutes til show time.”

Dana didn’t respond. Her mind was stuck on the wonderful time that her and Stone had the other night. She couldn’t remember the last time she had such a good time. They laughed, joked, danced, and drank the night away as if they had known one another for years. Dana’s only problem was that she feared that she may have gave up the goodies too fast and that maybe she would never hear from Stone again.
“What if he never calls because he thinks I’m a hoe?”
she asked herself. Negative thoughts floated around in her mind and right now, she needed to be focused.

“You heard me?” Dougie asked, snapping Dana out of her thoughts. “I said two minutes til show time.” His glance lingered on Dana for a few seconds longer. “You alright?”

“Yeah I’m good. Let’s do this,” Dana said rolling the President Obama mask down over her face and then making sure her weapon was ready for action.

* * *

Four blocks away, Randy sat behind the wheel of a black
Camaro
with a no nonsense look on his face. He knew how important this day was, not to mention it was a good chance that his driving skills were going to be put to the ultimate test today. Over in the passenger seat sat Ghost. He too had the look of no nonsense look on his face as an M-16 rested on his lap. The only thing on his mind was completing the mission at hand, especially since he had already transferred Brent the two million dollars. Being completely broke; Ghost now had to do what he had to do. This last mission would set Ghost straight financially, allowing him to be able to live off of the money from the heist, while Brent flipped his retirement money for him.

“Here we go,” Ghost said, as he watched the armored truck pull up to the side of the bank. He quickly pulled the Bill Clinton mask down over his face and held his weapon in a firm grip. His entire future depended on this one job. Ghost watched as the truck pulled up to the side of the bank. Two armed guards hopped out and entered the bank. “Let’s go!”

Randy quickly stomped down on the gas pedal and the
Camaro
leaped into action. Once the
Camaro
was in a close enough range, Randy stomped down on the brakes and cut the wheel hard to the right. The
Camaro
sat in front of the armored truck at a weird angle. Seconds later a black
Charger
did the same exact thing from behind boxing the armored truck in.

Ghost quickly hopped out of the Camaro and aimed his M-16 at the driver. He immediately saw that the driver got on his radio and called for backup. In a regular situation, Ghost would have shot the driver instantly, but today he knew the driver hid behind bulletproof glass.

Behind the truck, Dana jumped out the passenger seat of the Charger and headed straight for the back door of the truck. She snatched it open with one hand, stuck her tech-9 inside the back of the truck with her other hand, and squeezed the trigger, killing the backup guard that rested in the back of the truck. Once the guard was down, Dana hopped up on the back of the truck and began grabbing bags of money. She hopped down off the back of the truck just as the two armed guards were making their way back out of the bank.

Before the two guards got a chance to do anything, Ghost quickly gunned them both down. He then ran over and quickly grabbed the bags of money that the guards were carrying. He looked up and saw Dana jump in the back seat of the
Charger
with the money. Instantly, the
Charger
was headed in the opposite direction at a breaking speed.

Ghost ran back to the
Camaro
and hopped in the front seat. “We out!”

Randy stomped down on the gas pedal, and the
Camaro
roared and took flight. There was a big parking garage about seven blocks ahead. In the garage, the real getaway car awaited their arrival. All they had to do was get there unseen.

Chapter 8

Change of Plans

S
tone sat, double parked in front of a liquor store. Positioned in between his legs was a half empty bottle of orange juice. He quickly added some Vodka to the orange juice, shook it up, and took a long gulp. He was trying to focus on work, but the only thing that was on his mind was Dana. He had a wonderful night with her, a night that he didn’t want to end. Dana was everything that he wanted in a woman. She was funny, smart, and sexy all rolled into one. Stone was looking forward to spending more time with Dana. He was hoping this time they could go out on a real date. He pulled out his cell phone and was about to send Dana a text message when a call came over on his radio that an armor truck had just been robbed. Stone looked up at the street sign and saw that he wasn’t too far from the location.

Stone put his phone away and headed straight towards the location. Even though they didn’t say it over the radio, he had a feeling that it was the same team behind the bank robberies.
“Not on my watch,”
Stone said to himself. The dispatcher over the radio said that the gunmen fled in a black
Charger
and a black
Camaro
. Stone was just about to make a right at the corner when out of nowhere a black
Camaro
zoomed passed him.

“Here we go,”
Stone said to himself as he quickly busted a U-turn and fell in line directly behind the
Camaro
. In an attempt to not blow his cover, Stone made sure he stayed a few feet behind the
Camaro
. He thought, maybe the driver would lead him to the gunmen’s headquarters. Stone slowed down when he noticed the
Camaro
stop for a red light. He pulled up on the side of the
Camaro
and waited a second before looking over at the driver. The tint on the
Camaro
was too dark for Stone to see through.

Suddenly the driver’s window rolled down and a man wearing a president George Bush mask stared back at Stone. George Bush quickly raised his arm and fired a shot at the detective’s face before stomping down on the gas and leaving the detective in his sights.

Chapter 9

Speeding

R
andy stomped down on the gas pedal as the
Camaro
zoomed past the garage. “Fuck!”

“Where the fuck did that cop come from?” Ghost asked, looking back over his shoulder out the back window. “Try to lose him!”

Randy zoomed from lane to lane in an attempt to leave the detective in the dust. The
Camaro
roared as it picked up speed. Randy stomped down on the brakes and made a sharp right turn down a narrow one way street. The
Camaro
skidded but it stayed on course. Randy knew that the detective had called in for back up and that it was only a matter of time before the police set up road blocks and a helicopter got involved. The
Camaro
zoomed through the intersection, avoiding a collision by an inch or two. Car horns blared loudly as the
Camaro
sped away.

Ghost looked over his shoulder and noticed that the detective’s car was still behind them. “This motherfucker is still behind us!”

“I’m trying to lose him!” Randy said looking down at the speedometer that read 115 mph.

“We gonna have to split up!” Ghost said as he slammed a fresh clip in the base of the M-16. “There’s a subway station coming up in three blocks. Let me out right there,” he said reaching back and grabbing one of the bags filled with money. “Listen, this cop can only go after one of us!” Ghost told Randy. “If he goes after me, then I want you to ditch this car at the next block and hop in a cab!”

“And if he goes after me?” Randy asked.

“If he goes after you then you’re going to have to shoot it out!” Ghost said seriously. Each member of the team knew how serious the job was before trey agreed to it. Now it was time for one of them to show what they were made of.

The
Camaro
came to a dramatic skidded stop in front of the subway station.

“If you get caught you know the rules, keep your mouth shut!” Ghost instructed. “I love you!”

“I love you too!” Randy replied as he watched Ghost slide out the passenger seat and disappear down the subway steps.

Ghost ran down the stairs full speed, pushing people out of his way until he finally reached the bottom. The only thing on his mind was not going to jail. He ran, hopped the turnstile, and made his way towards the crowded platform. Immediately, people began to yell and scream when they saw a man in a mask carrying a big machine gun. Ghost was just about to remove his mask and throw his gun away hoping to maybe blend in with the crowd when out of nowhere a uniform cop stood in front of him.

Without warning Ghost raised the M-16 and opened fire on the officer. The bullets chopped the cop down as if he was made of paper.

Chapter 10

Choices

S
tone turned the corner just in time to see a man in an Obama mask flee from the getaway car and disappear down the subway stairs with an M-16 in his hand. He had to make a quick decision; he could go after either the Camaro, or the gunman in the Obama mask.

Shit!” Stone cursed as he stomped down on the brakes. He dashed out the driver seat and headed down the subway stairs in pursuit of the masked gunman. He figured a man with a machine gun out in the open, surrounded by hundreds of innocent people, was more of a danger than following the
Camaro
. Stone hopped the turnstile and made his way down to the crowded platform. He removed his 9mm from his waist holster and held it low behind his leg, as he walked not wanting to scare the everyday commuters. Stone’s eyes scanned from left to right as he slowly snaked his way through all the people that awaited a train.

The sound of a machine gun being fired from the opposite direction grabbed Stone’s attention, sending everyone who waited on the platform into a frenzy. As he headed towards where the gunshots came from, people were almost killing themselves to get as far away from the carnage as possible. Stone pushed his way through the crowd until he reached the officer that lay dead in a pool of his own blood.

“He went that way!” a blonde hair woman said, pointing down the dark tunnel.

Stone quickly hopped down, and onto the train tracks. In one hand, he held his 9mm and in the other his flash light. The small pebbles crunched with each step he took. Up ahead of him, Stone spotted a figure running. He quickly took off after the gunman. Stone put his head down and took off into sprint. He slowed down when he heard the sound of a shot being fired. Stone steadied his gun as he inched towards a door that rested in the cut. He looked down and saw a broken lock lying on the ground.

Stone took a step back, kicked the door open, and cautiously entered. In front of him stood, a pair of stairs followed by yet another door. Stone slowly descended the steps and pushed open the door. On the other side of the door was a smaller tunnel. The only difference was this tunnel had a stream of sewer water flowing through it, along with several rats that ran throughout the tunnel as if they owned it.

“Ah shit!” Stone cursed as he looked down at the nasty sewer water covering his fresh construction timberlands that he had just purchased about a week ago. The sound of water splashing grabbed Stone’s attention. He quickly followed the splashing sound. Stone turned the corner and froze when he looked down the barrel of an M-16.

“Drop that motherfucking gun!” Ghost growled as he pressed the barrel of the rifle into Stone’s forehead. Having no other choice Stone did as he was told and tossed his 9mm down into the sewer water.

“Now toss your backup gun!”

“Listen, you don’t want to do this,” Stone said. “You’re already in enough trouble, so killing a cop is the last thing you would want to do. Now why don’t you put that gun down before somebody gets hurt?”

The man in the Obama mask didn’t budge. “I’m going to count to three.”

“I have a backup gun in the small of my back,” Stone said. “I’m going to reach for it.”

“Do it slowly!” Ghost warned. He wasn’t taking any chances. One wrong move and he was sure to put a bullet right between the detective’s eyes.

Stone slowly reached and removed his backup gun from the small of his back and tossed it down into the sewer water. In a blur, Stone came back up and grabbed the rifle. The M-16 went off as the two men fought for control of the gun. Stone kneed Ghost in his groin area forcing him to let go of the rifle, but before Stone had full control of the gun, Ghost landed a quick left followed by a right that stunned and dropped Stone off impact. While down in the sewer water, Stone felt around until he reached his 9mm. He rose up and opened fire on the fleeing target.