The men are wearing the same disguises as in the first heist, and their identities are impossible to figure out. The detective finds it remarkable how one of the men was able to break through the vault. The camera view inside the vault isn’t clear, but gives an accurate portrayal nevertheless. As he watches the video of Russell breaking into the vault, he is astonished as to how easy he made that seem. He observes by the video, how well the men worked together during this heist.
Detective Henderson has seen many robberies, and this would top the chart, if he had a list of the ones which were done perfectly; this would be number one without any doubt. He continues to watch the video, to the point where the men are running out of the building. Despite the picture quality being poor, the camera was able to pick up that the men stopped for a couple seconds at the entrance of the bank. Detective Henderson believes that this is the exact moment the van exploded across the street. The men then make a left turn and run away from the bank. Detective Henderson believes the men more than likely ran inside the parking structure behind. Being that there are no security cameras in that area, this is only a logical assumption he can use. The detective is given a copy of the surveillance tape, and it is entered into evidence. He walks through the bank, and proceeds towards the vault area.
The detective notices drill bit pieces on the ground, from the drill Russell used. These are taken into evidence as well. Detective Henderson then wraps up his investigation, and quickly heads to the police station, to go over all of the evidence obtained.
At the station, Detective Henderson in a side by side comparison, watches the security surveillance video of the “United Farmers Savings” heist, and the “First Savings and Trust” heist. Because all four of the men are of different body shapes, it is easy to tell whether or not the men are the same in both of the robberies.
The robbers are wearing the same disguises in both events, and the guns used are the same as well. So that already is a major sign of relevance. The two men that are positioned in the lobby area of the bank, are the same stature and profile in both heist videos. The body type and profile of the other two robbers, are a match in addition to that. Even though the men are hiding every aspect of their identity, Detective Henderson is satisfied that he was able to put the same group of men, towards both of these robberies.
The shoe prints that were gathered from outside the entrance of both banks during the heists, turned out to be a perfect match. With it now being official, that both of these heists were in fact done by the same group of individuals. Detective Henderson although wasn’t able to identify exactly who these men are, can settle with the fact he knows that these are the same men, and that they are dealing with possible professionals.
Detective Henderson dubs them the “Snowman Bandits”, due to their disguises being composed of ski masks, heavy jackets, and snow boots. Detective Henderson gives a conference meeting to all the other chief investigators at the station, and considers these particular cases high risk. He is fairly sure that the men will strike again soon. Detective Henderson then moves onto other cases.
Russell, Brian, Jesse and Victor remain on the highway, heading towards “Home Base”. Each of them remain quiet, and are in an opposite mood than they were from the first heist. Despite the fact they orchestrated the heist as planned, seeing Kevin’s van explode, squashes any type of pleasant victorious feeling they should be expected to have. The men are too afraid to talk about the possibility of Kevin being killed from the explosion. Russell continues to sob as he’s driving, wiping his tears away with his hand. All he can think about is Kevin, and starts to regret the fact they all separated from each other during this heist. The anxiety they all have over Kevin could be avoided, if they didn’t stray away as they did. Russell thought by having them all split up, it would make the heist flow easier. Escaping the heist in separate vehicles, would allow them to exit out of the heist faster. He is now starting to believe that idea wasn’t worth it at all. The benefit from plotting an idea such of that, wasn’t a positive gain to them. Especially considering the fact that one of their team members were killed during this heist.
The men do have a short glimmer of hope, that Kevin maybe managed to run out of the vehicle and is safe. That is merely a small amount though, as most of the men are preparing themselves for bad news. As they continue to drive down the highway, the men as much as they want to be happy they have gotten away with another heist, cannot get over the fact that Kevin is not with them. The men are in separate cars, and can’t see or talk to each other, but they can almost read each of their minds.
All four of them have a mutual wave of emotions going through their bodies. Russell and Brian look forward out of the windshield of their vehicles, with Jesse and Victor who are sitting in the passenger seat of both vehicles, looking forward as well. The men try to be strong, and start to calm themselves down during the ride back. One thing that is for sure, is that they completed their final heist as they intended to. The van Kevin used did blow up, but they did not harm anyone inside of the bank. Russell was amazed on how his plan to use the industrial drills to break into the vault, actually worked in his favor. Brian, Jesse and Victor, worked together under the pressure of the heist as well. Kevin did manage the help the guys during this heist. He disabled the bank alarms, which allowed the men to have an advantage towards not being detected during the heist. He also successfully planted a diversion which caused the authorities to direct their attention towards that area, and not the heist. It can also be considered a complex development towards the heist investigation. Kevin who was just as guilty as the other men towards the heist, is now being billed as a hostage due to how much the detonation diversions caused a loop towards the investigation; both at the courtyard located a few blocks away from the bank, and sadly the same detonation which killed him in the van. The men at this point, are completely unaware of these facts and theories. As the only thing that remains on their mind, is they saw the van explode upon leaving the bank. It is natural for them to be concerned over Kevin, and it destroys the overall mood. Having this scene in their memory as they escape from the heist, is one that brings a million thoughts inside their heads. Completely unsure as to how events will come together from this point on, their only choice is to head towards their safe house, and figure out those details later.
The men reach the exit of the highway leading towards “Home Base”. Russell continues to drive, and pulls up to the area outside of the unit. He parks the car away from the gate, and turns off the ignition. As Russell is waiting for Brian to unlock the garage gate of the unit, he tilts his head down towards and ground, takes his hands and covers them over his face, sobbing heavily. Russell starts to feel upset and tense over the current affair of events. Jesse who’s watching Russell cry, attempts to console and comfort him, and rubs Russell’s shoulder. Russell violently pushes Jesse’s hand away. Jesse continues to look at Russell with a sad face. Brian pulls up to the unit, and parks right outside of the unit. Brian gets out of the vehicle, and starts to unlock the door. After this, Brian gets back into the vehicle, and parks it inside of the unit. Russell who heard Brian drive into the unit, looks up and turns on the ignition. He directs the vehicle inside of the unit, parking it. Russell then turns the ignition off.
All four of the men get out of their vehicles. Brian walks over to the garage door of the unit, closing and locking it. While keeping quiet and not giving eye contact towards each other, the guys start to undress out of their disguises. Brian then collects all of their guns, emptying out the magazine cartridges. Brian places the guns down on a counter in the unit. Russell walks to the getaway vehicle he used, and grabs both of the duffle bags. He puts the duffle bag containing the money from the vault, around his shoulder. He then takes the industrial drill out of the other duffel bag, however the duffel bag the drill was in, has looted cash inside as well. He sets the drill right next to the guns on the counter. Russell then walks to the vehicle Brian used, and grabs two more duffle bags
containing money. He gives Brian, Jesse and Victor a bag each. The men then start to walk over to “Home Base”, each of them carrying a duffel bag around their shoulders.
Brian walks up to the unit door and unlocks it. While walking inside of the unit, the men all walk over to the sofa area. They set their bags down next to the coffee table, and sit in silence. During this time, they all do not know what to do next; due to the anxiety they are each feeling. It feels awkward with Kevin not being with them. From how exuberant and lively his personality and attitude was, compared to the other four. Kevin not being with them, is the main reason for the pressure they are feeling, and being unknown to his current condition. The rush of completing the heist, in addition to what they witnessed as they were running out of the bank, is causing a great amount of fear in their minds. The men are too afraid to speak at this moment, as they sit on the sofas, with their stolen cash under the coffee table. Victor briefly gets up to grab a glass of water, then returns to the rest of the men, staying completely quiet. Brian gets up as well; he heads over to the area his bed is in, and pulls out a liquor case. Inside of the case, contains a large unopened bottle of “Jack Daniels” whiskey. Russell, Jesse and Victor watch Brian in silence. Brian with the bottle still in his hands, grabs several shot glasses. He brings the bottle and the shot glasses over to the sofa area, and sets them down on the coffee table. Brian then takes the remote, and turns the television on, switching it to the local news station. This was intentional, and he was assuming the stunt all of the men pulled shortly ago, would be featured on the news. Brian then takes a seat on the other side of the sofa, and watches the news program. Jesse and Victor look at the news on the television as well.
Russell however looks down towards the ground with a smirk on his face, and starts to rub his hand under his chin. The news is covering an array of stories, but isn’t mentioning the event the men were involved in. The guys continue not to speak to each other, and sans Russell, continue to watch the news. Finally, the men all start to feel anxious when an anchorwoman starts to speak, with the surveillance video of the men during the heist, playing during the coverage of the story.
“A bank in the downtown area was targeted this afternoon in an armed robbery. Investigators say four men walked into the ‘First Savings and Trust’ bank on Main threatening those inside, and quickly escaping. Investigators have labelled them the ‘Snowman Bandits’, as they believe they are connected to another recent unsolved robbery.”
The anchorwoman continues, with all of the men listening closely to the news report.
“A man who investigators strongly believe to be a hostage, was sadly killed across the street from the bank, when an explosive device said to be used by the suspects, went off inside a van he was in. The identity of the hostage, is being withheld. If you have any information on the identities of the suspects, please call the Los Angeles Police Department.”
Brian out of shock, quickly cuts the television off. This news, the men were all sadly readying themselves for. It is now official to them, that Kevin was killed during this heist. The men are still unable to talk to each other. Being in extreme shock from this, any thought or action inside of their mind is frozen. They all remain seated on the sofa areas, in their own world; afraid to proceed into the future. Grieving is turning out to be strange, as the men take in Kevin’s death in an interesting way. Perhaps out of a coping mechanism to deal with the depression, the guys go into a denial mode. Brian then with a stoic look on his face, starts to pour the whiskey into the shot glasses. After all of the glasses are full, Brian takes one of the glasses, and swallows the liquor in one gulp; shaking his head due to the taste of it. Jesse and Victor watch as Brian pours himself another shot and drinks it. Russell keeps his head down towards the ground, and continues to have a smirk on his face. Jesse and Victor then both grab a shot glass, and start to take sips of the liquor. Brian then takes one of the full shot glasses on the table, and waves it under Russell’s face. Russell ignores Brian at first, but when Brian continues to hold the glass by his face, Russell while still looking towards the floor, grasps Brian’s wrist very tightly, and Russell with much force, thrusts and controls Brian’s arm, to set the shot glass back on the table. Russell then starts to laugh while still looking down, and begins to finally softly speak.
“Jesse, Victor. Count all the money in the bags. Right fucking now please.”
Jesse and Victor grab all four of the bags, and proceed to walk over to Brian’s bed. They immediately begin to unzip the duffel bags, dumping all of the cash out. Brian who is deeply afraid of Russell right now, decides to give him some space. Brian grabs a chair from his kitchen area, and walks over to join Jesse and Victor at the bed. Russell stays seated at the sofa area with his head still pointing down. Jesse and Victor sit on the bed, and begin to put all the cash in stacks on top of the bed. Separating them in groups of one thousand. The amount of cash they were able to obtain, is greater than the amount they received in their previous heist.
As Jesse and Victor continue to count the cash, Brian looks over at Russell, who still looks petrified and upset. Brian then looks across the bed, and sees that they have now over a hundred different stacks of cash. The men then begin to count the final amount of bills they have left, piling those up as well. When they are finished counting all the money, Jesse and Victor to be certain, once again count all the money they were able to steal a second time. Their official grand total came out to be, one hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars. Russell who heard the men reveal the amount of money they had, remains silent and motionless on the sofa area. Jesse and Victor then look at each other, feeling confused as to what to do next. Brian then takes all the stacks of bills, and stashes them in the duffel bags. The men all return to the sofa area, and Victor begins to pour himself a shot of liquor. Brian then starts to feel annoyed over the way Russell is acting, and takes another shot of liquor, shaking his head at Russell. Russell then starts to lose control.
Russell takes his shot glass, and swallows it very quickly. He then takes the bottle of whisky, and pours himself four more shots, consuming them rather fast. Brian, Jesse and Victor watch Russell the entire time. Russell then gets up, and throws a tantrum. He walks over to Brian’s work center, and begins to throw all of Brian’s wrenches and tools on the ground. Brian who is aware that Russell is under much depression and grief, doesn’t go up to Russell at all. Russell continues to throw many items across the floor. He walks back over the sofa area briefly, and pours himself another shot of whisky, and gulps it down. Russell sets the glass down on the table, and then walks around the unit with his head down on the ground, shouting and ranting.
“I’m gonna miss Kev! Shit. I don’t know what to fucking do you guys! None of that money means shit. Nothing we did today means shit. Kev is fucking dead! KEV IS FUCKING DEAD. HE’S NOT COMING BACK, AND YOU GUYS DON’T CARE?!”
Russell starts to cry, and Brian walks towards Russell to comfort him. Russell shoves Brian away from him, and Brian nods his head and walks away from Russell, responding to him.
“Russell, it’s not that we don’t care, we’re in shock man. Me, Jesse and Victor can’t believe Kevin was killed either. We saw it happen, and we all knew what the fuck happened. Russell, take all the time you need man to let this sink in. I’ll leave you alone if you want me to.”
Russell continues to look down, and carries on with his rambling.
“I had a feeling those fucking detonators would be the death of him. I just knew it, turns out it was. This was going to be it, our last heist. So I let him use the damn detonators, knowing that he shouldn’t be using them. I should have told him no. I should have told him, hell no.”
Brian walks to the coffee table, and pours Russell another shot, and hands it to him.
“Hey man, you didn’t know. That’s the thing you need to realize with all of this. You didn’t know. What happened was a freak accident somehow. I totally understand you’re feeling guilty about it, but Russell, calm
down man. We’re all here dealing with it too.”
Russell takes the glass from Brian and quickly swallows it. Max then approaches the unit, knocking on the door. Brian walks over and lets him in. Max then starts to speak.
“I already know what happened. I want to tell each of you something. My older brother was drafted into the army when he was eighteen for the war in Vietnam. I was twelve when he went away. My brother was my best friend, and I never saw him again. He was killed on the battlefield, and it was something that I always thought was unfair.”
Russell turns his head towards Max, and Max continues to speak.
“But you know, life is unfair. I don’t think it’s fair that I don’t have any legs, but it is what it is. Things happen unfairly like that sometimes. Russell, I’m not only sorry for the loss of Kevin, but for the loss of all of your family and friends. You’ve had a tough life, and you have all my sympathy and empathy for being mad at the world.”
Brian walks over to the duffel bags containing the money they had gotten for the heist earlier, and grabs them. He then hands the bags to Max, and starts to talk to him.
“I don’t know where we are going to go from here. But for right now, Max can you hold onto this for the time being? Like with Russell, I don’t know what the fuck to do right now, and I’m starting to feel woozy from seeing Kevin blow up like that. I just don’t know.”
Max grabs the bags, and starts to head towards the door of the unit.
“I see that this possibly is a very delicate time right now, and I’d better go. I want you all to know that whatever you decide to do from this point forward, remember to always listen to your heart. I care about, and love each and every one of you. I’ll shall see you later. Take care.”
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained Page 42