Easy Money

A Chapter by Eric

“Alright, let's put the last one over in the corner.” Adrian says as we unload the last crate of weapons from the Escalade.“ We finally reach the table and both sigh in relief as we drop the heavy crate onto it. Adrian grabs two beers from the mini fridge that sits on the end of the long table. He tosses a beer to me and says “I can’t believe how easy that was.” I catch the beer and throw it back at him as hard as I can. It smacks him right in the abdomen and takes his breath for a moment. “Where’s Sarah?”, I ask as I glare at him. Still unable to catch his breath Adrian tilts his head towards the front of the factory and waves his hand in a “follow me” motion.

We suddenly hear screeching tires followed by a loud crash right behind us. I turn around and see pieces of wood and a cloud of dust coming towards us. I turn my head and cringe. I feel some of the debris cloud hit my back and hear the rest of it slam against the back wall. The dust and dirt settle all around us. I turn my head around again and I see a black Alpha Hummer sitting in the loading area just in front of the Escalade. The doors immediately swing open and guys with guns jump out like a tiger pouncing on prey. Before we can react the team starts to search the factory like a military unit. I hear their feet shuffling and them saying “Clear!” as they make their way through the each area.

Two of the members now stand motionless in front of us with their guns drawn and ready for action. I have a few moments to look at the guns and I immediately can tell they are AK-9 fully automatic assault rifles. I also notice that the men are wearing earpieces with small microphones attached. It’s pretty clear by now that they are waiting for orders from the other team members. The man to my left finally speaks into his mic. “10-4.” He drops his gun and reaches into his vest pocket and pulls out zip ties. He hands Adrian and I a tie and orders us to put them on. I lock the tie together in a big loop and place it around my left wrist. I then put my right wrist in the loop and use my teeth to grab the end of the tie and pull. The loop tightens around my wrists and is not very comfortable. I look over at Adrian and see him copying my movements in order to get his hands tied. The men proceed to escort us outside with their guns jammed in our backs. I can see that the team has already started loading the weapons back into the Escalade. Once outside the building I see another hummer and a white van. The men place sacks over our heads and politely shove us into the van head first.

I land flat on my face and feel blood starting to drip from my nose. Adrian lands next to me on his side and it sounds pretty painful. The doors slam shut. I start to get a sinking feeling that this probably isn’t part of Adrian’s plan. Just as I start to ask him a question he asks “why didn’t you use your ‘karate man’ moves back there?” I explain to him that A: I am not a “karate man”. I am a Martial Artist, and B: I can’t dodge bullets. I then begin to yell at him and tell him what a dumb a*s he is. My rant is interrupted by the man in the passenger seat telling me to shut up. We remain silent for the rest of the trip. A few minutes later I feel the van come to a stop. I hear the driver and passenger get out. I have no idea what to expect next, but I suspect its not going to be good.

When the bags finally come off, Adrian and I find ourselves sitting next to each other in metal chairs. An identical chair sits directly in front of us. We are in an empty room that appears to be part of a beach front condo or business office. Two armed guards stand by the door. After a few moments of awkward silence a heavily muscled man walks into the room, spins the chair around and sits with the back between his legs. His arms are folded, resting on the chair’s back. He’s wearing a really nice black suit and lots of gold jewelry. His face is lean with defined cheekbones. A thick, neatly trimmed beard hides his chin and jaw line. His long, brown hair barely reaches his broad shoulders. His trap muscles are well defined and look like mountain tops sitting on his shoulders.

“My, oh my. what do we have here?” he says with a calm voice. “Who are you?” Adrian asks. “Alright, I suppose we should start things out in a proper manner here.” He pauses to light a cigarette with his shiny, engraved Zippo. He takes a slow drag then exhales. The cloud of smoke quickly starts to drift all about the room with that typical lingering smell. “They call me Tank.” I look over at Adrian. I can see the gears turning in his mind. Tank stands up and starts to unbutton his suit coat. His muscles are bulging through the tight fitting dress shirt underneath. He pulls the coat off, hangs it on the chair then sits again. “Wait.” Adrian says. “Were those your weapons?” Tank nods his head and replies with the cigarette dangling from his lips. “Yep, a little side business of mine.” He takes another slow drag. “I gotta give it to you boys, your plan was pretty clever. Stupid, but clever.”

Tank’s phone rings. “hold that thought.” He reaches into his coat pocket for the phone. He looks at the screen then puts it to his ear. “yeah.” He stands up and begins to pace back and forth as he listens. He chuckles then says “Is that so? No, no you guys keep her there, I think all of this will work out just fine.” He slips the phone back into his pocket letting out a deep sigh. He opens the window close to him and throws out the cigarette but. He looks at the guards by the door. “Apparently you morons missed someone back at the factory! What the hell am I paying you guys for?” Tank continues to pace in front of us with his hands in his pockets. “Now, where were we?” He collects his thoughts while running his hand over his beard. He turns to the guards again and asks “Were the weapons damaged?” “No, they’re fine.” replies one of the guards. Tank gives him a sarcastic glare. “Are you sure about that? Or did you happen to overlook that detail too?” “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll address the issue later at debreif.” Tank grabs his coat and folds it over his arm. As he walks out the door he says “Take them to the compound. I’ll figure this out later.”