The restaurant they are currently in has other people present inside, and they should know better than to do that. Minutes later, the waitress returns to the table with their drinks. She then begins to take their food orders. Russell orders a steak and a baked potato. Kevin orders the barbecue ribs with mash potatoes. Jesse orders a grilled chicken Caesar salad. Brian orders a small order of hot chicken wings. Victor orders a chicken fried steak, with potatoes. The men sit and exchange in friendly conversation with each other, while they are waiting for their food.
The waitress shortly returns to the table with their plates. Each of them begin to eat, being satisfied with the way the food came out. The men proceed to talk to each other in friendly banter. As they are comfortable around each other’s company, they all continue to talk among themselves. Russell however, is doing the least amount of conversing. He is having a one sided conversation with Kevin, listening to him ramble excessively. Russell can’t stop thinking about their final heist on Friday. He takes more bites of his food, still realizing that this same exact group he’s currently dining with, is the same one that is going to help him rob another bank. Russell looks around at all of the men on the table, and smiles to himself. He continues to pretend to be attentive towards Kevin’s ranting.
Russell then looks up at the television located in the bar section, which is showing an NFL game. He feels the match isn’t that exciting, as one team is clearly overpowering the other, and Russell turns his view back to Kevin. The men eventually start to wrap up their meals. During this time, the waitress returns to the table with the checkbook. While the other four men are talking amongst themselves, Russell grabs the checkbook, and reaches into his wallet. Kevin who was having a deep conversation with Brian, notices Russell doing this, and immediately snatches the checkbook from his hand.
“Russ, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it Russ.”
Kevin rubs Russell’s shoulder, and smiles at him. Kevin then takes out his wallet, and turns his head towards Brian, and resumes the conversation he was having with Brian. Russell then shakes his head, and looks at the television at the bar again. The football game is now nearly over, with one team dominating against the other. The waitress returns to the table, and Kevin hands her the checkbook with his credit card inside. While Kevin is still talking with Brian, Russell and Kevin unintentionally give each other eye contact, and smile at each other. The waitress returns to the table with their receipt. Kevin puts it in his pocket, and takes out some cash bills and sets them inside the checkbook as a tip for the waitress. Brian who is noticing that Russell is watching the football game on the television, looks at the screen as well. The game ends a few minutes later with the team who was annihilating the entire game, winning. All of the men then get up from the table, and start to head out to the parking lot. They each say goodbye to each other, and Russell, Kevin and Jesse get into Russell’s car. Brian and Victor carry on to “Home Base” riding with each other, going in their own separate way.
While in Russell’s car, all of the men put their sunglasses on. Russell turns on the ignition, and proceeds to drive Kevin home. Kevin turns the car stereo on, and looks out the window quietly. As he’s driving and paying attention to the road, Russell is very thankful and blessed to have Kevin as a friend. There are certain times to where Kevin does aggravate him and get on his nerves, though he is very thankful and glad to have him in his life.
Kevin as well feels safe around Russell. They both have had a distant friendship, only recently touching base with each other again. Kevin is well aware of Russell’s intentions and attitude. His personality fits together along with his, which explains how easy it is for the both of them to work together. No matter how inane or unconventional their agendas may be. Kevin understands how Russell thinks, and believes that he can accept whatever shall come between the both of them. During this car ride, Russell and Kevin do not talk to each other, and they remain silent. The only sounds are coming from the car stereo.
Russell approaches Kevin’s building, and pulls the car over to the curb. With the car stereo still playing, Kevin grabs his laptop bag. He looks behind him towards the rear seat and rubs Jesse’s hair. Kevin then playfully fixes Russell’s collar, and laughs at him. Kevin then nods his head towards Russell and walks out of the car. Jesse climbs up to the passenger seat as soon as Kevin gets up. Russell and Kevin then silently salute each other, and Kevin walks into his residence.
Russell then heads straight to his apartment. As he and Jesse walk in, Russell starts to feel lethargic, and heads straight to the bedroom. Jesse during this time, slips off his shoes and walks over to the living room and lays down on the sofa, watching “Happy Gilmore”, on the television. Russell takes off his shoes and socks, and immediately curls up on the bed. Russell starts to feel drained, and as he’s laying down with the covers over his head, he angrily screams out to Jesse.
“Jesse, can you close the fucking door please?”
Jesse gets up from the sofa, and closes Russell’s bedroom door. Russell then seconds after that falls asleep. Russell didn’t know why he felt so tired like this. He didn’t feel sick at all, he just needed to rest. Russell continued to feel tired for the rest of the day.
The following day, Kevin stopped by Russell’s apartment surprisingly. He virtually spent the entire day at Russell’s place. Russell wasn’t at all bothered that Kevin choose to come over. Russell and Kevin then started to play “Call of Duty”, on Russell’s PlayStation console. Kevin was clearly beating Russell very badly in the game. Kevin was an ace at video games, and mastered them extremely well. Jesse watched the both of them play, while he read his magazines on the sofa. He was happy that Russell and Kevin were playing video games together. Kevin liked the fact Russell enjoyed video games as much as he did, and it only made their friendship more solid in that regard. Russell didn’t mind that he was being punished by Kevin at the game. As long as he was spending time with his best friend, and as long as Kevin was happy, none of that was an issue to him.
Russell prepared some spaghetti for all of them for dinner, which they ate. Later that night, Kevin dismissed himself, and said goodbye to both Russell and Jesse. Russell and Jesse soon after that went into the bedroom, and went to sleep.
The next morning, being that it’s Monday, Russell and Jesse customarily got themselves ready for work. As they leave out the apartment complex, Russell notices the overcast and gloomy weather. It almost looks as if it’s going to rain. The sky has an intense haze, filled with dark gray clouds. Russell heads over to Kevin’s residence to pick him up. Kevin takes a seat in the passenger side, and before he continues driving, Russell texts Brian to let him know that he, along with Kevin and Jesse are heading towards the “Wittberg Law Offices”. He then starts the ignition and heads towards the building. Russell arrives early, and they wait in the parking structure. Jesse looks at a news app on his phone, with Russell leaning his head against the door window with his eyes closed, as he’s slightly tired.
Kevin then plugs in an auxiliary cable through the stereo connecting to this phone. He turns on a “This American Life” podcast, which Kevin likes to listen to. Much time later, Brian and Victor arrive at the parking structure. Once it’s time for them to start working, all of the men then walk into the building, and begin their cleaning duties. The men stay focused towards their work, not wasting any time. At this point, they are well aware of the routine and protocol, and what tasks they need to do. The day carries on, with nothing irregular, or out of the ordinary commencing or happening.
When break time approaches, Russell puts away his cleaning supplies, and heads to the outside roof area of the building. As he’s walking up the stairwell, Russell puts on his sunglasses, and takes out his pack of cigarettes. Reaching the roof area, he is not at all surprised to see the other four men smoking a cigarette as well. The sky is still extremely hazy and overcast. There is also a slight chilly breeze in the air. This isn’t sunny California weather, and it is a un
ique change of climate.
All of the guys are quietly taking their break, with Jesse and Brian listening to music on their phones, and Victor reading the newspaper. Russell looks over at Kevin, and sees that he’s smoking his cigarette, while he’s leaning across the ledges of the building. Kevin takes puffs of his cigarette, looking down at the cars rushing down the streets. It is now rush hour traffic time. Even though the men have to work, various other people in the city are now returning home from their jobs.
Kevin who has his sunglasses on, looks over at Russell and smiles at him. Russell then tells all the guys very silently, that he wants them to all meet him in the same room they met last week, once they are done with all of their tasks for the day. The men all nod their heads to agree with him, and they each continue to enjoy their break. Upon time for them to resume work, they all leave the roof area, and return to completing their tasks. Each of them stay focused on what they have to do, without any complaints or problems.
The men finally wrap up all of their itineraries. Russell starts to head up to head up to the board room they used last week. He, along with the rest of the guys meet him up there. Russell unlocks the door to the room, and once all the men are inside, he locks the door behind him. Russell then opens the curtains of the room, and turns on the lamp by the table. The guys all sit and look at each other for a short while, then Russell starts to speak.
“I’m going to keep this short, sweet, brief, and to the fucking point. We all know what we have to do, and so I’m not going to take up the little time we have to explain each and every thing. With that, I want you all to listen carefully, and listen well.”
The men keep their attention focused to Russell, and he continues.
“I’ve had two banks in mind, and both of the banks are about the same layout and experience. I had “First Savings and Trust” on Main St., and “First Federal” on Grand. I can’t make my mind up, so I’m going to flip a coin, and that’s the one we’re going to take. Heads, we do ‘First Savings and Trust. Tails, we do ‘First Federal’. Alright, here I go.”
Russell reaches into his pocket and takes out a quarter. He flips it, and it lands on heads. He shows the coin to the rest of the guys, and then puts the coin back in his pocket.
“Alrighty then. For our final heist, we’re gonna do ‘First Savings and Trust’. It’s a slightly bigger bank than ‘United Farmers’, but don’t worry guys. We’re gonna go check it out tomorrow morning. Again, I don’t want to waste any unneeded time. We know the drill. Victor, this time stick with the plan please. Oh shit, I almost forgot.”
Russell then turns his head towards Brian, and he continues.
“Brian managed to get us two more getaway cars. Kev is going to drive the black van, I’m going to drive the Expedition, and Jesse can ride with me. Brian is going to drive the Tahoe, riding with Victor. We should be able to escape very easily this way, no problem.”
Russell then turns his direction towards Kevin, and carries on with the plan of attack.
“Kev, only because this is going to be our final showdown, I’m going to allow you to use those detonation devices this time. However, be careful man. Only use them if you know exactly what you’re doing Kev. Do you understand me?”
Kevin nods his head at Russell. Russell then gets up from his seat and looks out the window. As he’s observing the surrounding buildings, he then wraps up the meeting.
“Okay gentlemen, that’s about it. As I said, I don’t want to waste any time, we all know the drill and how everything is going to go. So with that, I have nothing else to mention.”
Following that, all of the men get up from the table, and start to walk out of the room. Russell and Brian then proceed to lock the entire building. The men head towards the parking structure, and leave out the building.
The following morning, after Russell and Jesse wake up and get themselves ready, Russell calls Brian and explains that he along with Kevin and Jesse are on their way to the “First Savings and Trust Bank”. He tells Brian to meet him a couple blocks away from the bank, and to look for his car. Russell and Jesse then leave, and Russell picks up Kevin who has his laptop case. Russell then directly heads towards the vicinity of the bank. He parks at the area nearby, where he told Brian to meet up him at. Kevin immediately opens up his laptop case, and likewise as he did with the first bank they examined, he pulls out all his tools. He takes out the spy glasses, and opens up the feed software on his computer.
Kevin then opens up the alarm software so it can load, as he also intends to use that as well. Minutes later, Brian approaches the area, and parks directly behind Russell’s car. Brian and Victor then walk to Russell’s vehicle. Victor sits in the rear area of Russell’s car with Jesse. Brian walks over to the passenger side door, and Kevin then starts to place the security glasses on him. Kevin also puts the earpiece in Brian’s ear, so he can hear everything that is coming from Russell’s car. Kevin then starts to speak to Brian.
“Okay Brian, you’re the test dummy again. Make us proud man, do your thing buddy.”
Brian laughs at Kevin, and starts to walk towards the direction of the bank. The feed software on Kevin’s computer immediately captures everything the glasses pick up. The “First Savings and Trust Bank”, is a high profile bank located in Downtown Los Angeles. It’s positioned on a highly populated spot on Main St. however directly behind the bank is an indoor parking lot, which extends to Broadway Road. This gives an amazing secret route for the men to escape out of. The bank is one of the oldest in Los Angeles, along with ‘First Federal’, the bank they did not end up picking. It has both an old exterior and interior.
Having a classic theme and design to the bank. Brian continues to proceed to the bank, with the rest of the guys watching what he captures what the glasses pick up, on Kevin’s computer screen. As Brian is walking to the bank, the alarm software that Kevin uses, is now finished loading, and he starts to scan their alarms. Russell looks at Kevin type heavily on the program, shaking his head. He cannot believe how much Kevin is skilled in this particular category. Using black market hacking software such as that, only makes Russell more optimistic on how society and the world can be oblivious to things such as that. Humans are truly evil, and can accomplish whatever they want to overthrow the natural order and flow of things. Using knowledge, to benefit whatever you want to scheme.
Russell continues to think to himself, and understand harsh truths. Criminals, like magicians, can trick and fool in a variety of ways, it’s amazing how everything is structured the way it is. Intelligence can be used in multiple ways, and sometimes people overestimate what people are actually capable of. Russell can understand Kevin’s desire to overthrow the boundaries of the entire infrastructure and and how things are running. Russell himself also has similar thoughts and agendas, and how he can use that for his own personal gain and success. Kevin continues to operate through the computer software. He then reassures Russell.
“Okay Russ. Give me just a minute, and I’m going to see what this bank is made of.”
Russell nods his head, while still looking at the screen. Brian then opens the door to the bank, walking through a lovely vestibule lobby area. There is an array of plants, and the way this area is setup, it looks like it’s a rainforest.
The bank does not have a security guard duty, so already Russell begins to feel extremely confident over that. Russell has a well adverse knowledge to practically every bank located in the Los Angeles area. When he considers banks for them to hit, he narrows down the ones which he feels are the most vulnerable, and the easiest for them to target. This particular bank does not have an updated security system. For a bank this size, that is unacceptable, and that really shouldn’t be the case. However, for the sake of this bank being the location for their next heist, this is considered an advantage.
Brian continues to walk through the bank, and Russell becomes slightly agitated when he sees that there are a large number of patrons inside the bank. Brian waits in the long ti
ne extending to the teller. As they did previously, Brian is going to ask for change for the teller, so he’s not drawing attention to himself by casing the bank. When he gets to the teller area, the guys will have a clear picture as to how the bank is setup, gaining a better knowledge of the entire layout.
As Brian waits in line at the teller, Kevin continues his attention towards the security alarm software. As he’s going through it, Kevin then finds an amazing discovery on the alarm software. He laughs very loudly, and updates Russell and the other guys on the alarms.
“Holy shit Russ, this bank has shitty alarms. You would think they would have everything updated and everything well secured. Nope. These alarms aren’t going to take any time at all to silence, and this is wonderful Russ. I can’t believe how lazy people are nowadays. I know, assholes like me that are smart and have access to this is rare, but despite all that shit. There is no excuse for this bank to not be secure like this. Wow man. Ha-ha.”
Russell softly punches Kevin on the chin, and looks back at the camera feed of the bank. Kevin then closes the alarm software, and starts to open the detonation software. Being that this is their last heist, Russell is allowing Kevin to use this software, should he choose to. This software is highly dangerous though, and requires someone to know exactly how they work. Kevin only has a very little understanding of the software, yet fully believes he can figure out how it all constructs itself. When Brian gets closer to the teller, and starts to move his head around the area; knowing the camera inside the glasses will pick everything up. Russell then starts to see the vault area. It’s located in a close proximity to the tellers. Being that this is going to be their last heist, Russell is heavily contemplating using an industrial drill, to gain access to the vault. He hasn’t currently made his mind up on this yet, however he is strongly urged to go along with it. This is a thought that come Friday, he needs to make his mind up on. Brian continues to scan his head around the building, taking note at the lack of security cameras.
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained Page 37