CHAPTER 11
RYAN

I headed to the bank in order to do some more casing. I had the electrical equipment I would need in order to take out the security on the back door, but I needed a better look at it. The blueprints only gave us a perimeter guide to how everything looked on the inside. But there was nothing like getting in there and mapping it out for myself.

Pulling into the parking lot of the bank, I rode around the back. There was a back entrance we could get out of that didn’t look guarded. The door was by some trash cans and it looked like a couple of homeless guys might have been establishing some sort of cardboard box community back there.

The fact that it hadn’t been disturbed usually meant no one ever checked the back of the place.

There were no cameras I could see, which was good. All of the cameras in the front could be taken down by the electrical hookup around the side. Parking, I pulled my ball cap low over my eyes and walked the side perimeter of the bank, taking stock of where the outside cameras were without looking up into them.

The security guard at the front was the same one from last time, which told me he was the only one employed. He could easily be taken down, especially with the spare tire situation he had going around his gut. He had fat fingers, which meant it would be harder for him to aim and fire the weapon at his side. And judging from the quick look I took at his belt, he didn’t even have an extra clip of bullets.

So his gun only held five in the magazine and one in the chamber before he was out.

I couldn’t have lucked out any more than I had the moment I walked into the bank. The line was backed up because only one teller was working, which meant I was standing toward the back wall. It gave me the perfect opportunity to case that back wall where the secured door was. I rocked on my feet and bobbed my head off to the side, trying to look as bored as I could. Then I started scanning the walls, looking for any hidden cameras or other things that might’ve been battery-operated.

Taking out the power would take down the cameras and the security at the door, but many old shops had battery-powered security items. Meaning if the power went down, a backup battery would trigger whatever security was hooked up to it so it would keep running.

From what I could tell, they didn’t have anything like that installed in the bank.

“Fancy seeing you here.”

I turned my head and smiled as Grace approached me.

“Just making another deposit,” I said.

“All right, Mr. Moneybags. I wish I could help you with that, but I don’t take money in my office.”

“What kinds of transactions do you take in your office?” I asked, winking.

Her cheeks flushed a bright pink and I felt my cock spring to life as I drew in a deep breath.

She cleared her throat and straightened her skirt. “Are you free for lunch today?” she asked.

“I wish I was, ubtI’ve got a full day on the job today and by the looks of this line, I’ll be late getting back to work as it is. But I don’t like carrying this kind of cash around with me in my car for long periods of time,” I said.

The line scooted up and Grace followed me.

In reality, I was depositing the rest of the money from the last bank we hit. We didn’t get away with too much, and we had almost gotten caught. It took us longer to get away from the police and we ended up having to take our stash and slip into the fucking sewer system. It hadn’t been our finest moment, but we’d gotten away with it in the end so I guess that was all that mattered in the long run.

“Do you really like what you do?” she asked me.

“I mean, it’s not my dream job by any stretch of the imagination, but it pays the bills and allows me to put money away for Jason’s college tuition. I want to make sure he has a better chance than I ever did.”

“It says a lot about you, that you’re willing to take a job you don’t want to provide for someone else,” Grace said.

“And it says a lot about you, that you’re willing to push your dreams of writing to the side to provide for Harper,” I said.

I looked over Grace’s shoulder and saw her boss giving me a dirty look. Lionel was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, posturing, like he owned the place or something. It was annoying as fuck and I didn't enjoy the way he was looking at Grace, but I wasn't going to make a scene. We were a few days out from the robbery and that was the last thing I needed.

But I was ready to break that asshole’s nose.

I kept taking in as much as I could of the bank until it was time for me to deposit my money. I opened up an investment account and funneled the money in, then set it up to be an aggressive account. If I was going to get out of this line of work after this last heist, then I needed my money to work harder than ever for me. I had some compound interest accounts that were doing really well and a 529 College Savings Plan for Jason. But I needed one more good investment account I could dump the rest of my money into.

But I couldn’t dump so much money that it sent red flags flying.

With every heist, I always cleaned my money in increments. Never deposit more than one thousand dollars in cash at a time and always put at least two months between deposits. It was a tedious process, but it had always worked for me. I hadn’t been caught robbing a joint and I’d never raised any red flags by depositing my money that way.

I wasn’t going to start getting reckless now.

I gave Lionel one last look before I headed to my car. My next stop was the police station. Plan A was the perfect plan. All of us got what we wanted, got to the car, and sped off to avoid the police. Plan B was if we couldn’t dodge the police. My house was perfect for something like that because the basement had a cellar walk-out right into the sewers. It would provide the perfect place to hide if we needed to do just that..

But I needed to figure out how many times that area was patrolled.

“Excuse me, officer?”

“Yes?” he asked.

“Where do I go to find out about neighborhood watch programs?” I asked.

“Those are conducted by the neighborhoods that have HOA’s,” he said.

“I don’t think my neighborhood has one of those. How do I establish a neighborhood watch program then?” I asked.

“Where are you located?”

“Over there off of 4th and Fulton. On the other side of the funeral home,” I said.

That wasn’t quite where I was located. It was about four blocks away. But it would give me an idea of how heavily the area was patrolled on a daily basis.

“Oh I know that place. We try to get two officers to drive through that part of town every day. Once in the morning and once in the evening to make sure things are okay,” he said.

“But there’s no formal neighborhood watch?” I asked.

“If you’re interested in setting one up, I can direct you to someone who can get a meeting with the residents scheduled to talk about it,” he said.

“I’d like that, thank you.”

“I like your initiative,” the officer said. “We tried to up our patrols when that crew was arrested all those years back, but because that was the only major incident in the past decade we couldn’t get the funding for it.”

I bristled at the mentioning of my father. Shit. I hoped this man didn’t recognize me.

“I haven’t heard anything about that,” I said.

“Oh, no one talks about it anymore. Besides that one hiccup, nothing major happens out that way. Crime is sparce in Tell City anyway. The police force only has thirteen officers. Eight on duty at the same time, no matter what.”

“It sounds like you guys are doing a great job,” I said. “Will doing something like a neighborhood watch stretch you too thin?”

“No. We like doing that kind of thing. Breaks of the monotony of hoodlum teenagers spray painting shit and people driving too fast through school zones.”

“Well hopefully you guys get days off too,” I said with a smile.

“Because of the low amount of crime, days off and family days are usually honored. We aren’t paid much, but we do get to spend time with family.”

“That’s good. Family’s important,” I said.

“This is Ronnie Carlyle’s number. She does the meetings for neighborhood watch groups. She’s out on vacation until the end of the week but try calling her next Monday. She’ll set something up with you.”

“Thank you, officer. I appreciate it.”

I took the name and number I was never going to use in order to keep up appearances. Having that area patrolled two times a day would make this even more intricate than I figured. But all of this information would help us come up with a Plan C and a Plan D.

I never went into a job without having a plan for every possible contingency.

Going back to my house, I saw Kenneth’s car sitting in my damn driveway and my blood began to boil. I picked up my phone to see if he had contacted me at all, but I saw nothing from him.

Why the fuck was this asshole at my house?

I stormed in through the front door and found Kenneth sitting with Jason at the kitchen table.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked.

“Waiting for your ass to get home,” Kenneth said.

“Jason, give us a minute, would you?” I said.

“But Ryan—”

“Now, Jason.”

Jason sulked off down the hallway as Kenneth sat there with a grin on his cheeks. I loomed over the man, my face set in stone as his smile deepened.

“The agreement was to not meet unless you contacted me first,” I said.

“Text message wouldn’t go through,” he said.

“Then you call. And if that doesn't work, then you don’t fucking come over.”

“Come on. It’s just a friendly visit.”

But I shoved Kenneth back down into his seat.

“I put this crew together. Do you understand me?” I asked. “You don’t run it, and you don’t get to make decisions because you think your dick’s bigger than mine.”

“Cool it the fuck down man. You got news for me on casing the bank? Or you pussy-footing around?”

“I shouldn’t fucking tell you anything as punishment for showing up at my fucking house. What if you had been spotted and followed? This is how connections like this are made. One fucking witness seeing you lounging with your legs spread at my damn table like your some sort of king.”

“Fine, fuck. I won’t do it again. The hell’s your problem?”

“Where’s Jesse?” I asked.

“I’ll fill that bastard in. Probably getting his dick wet somewhere.”

I looked around and sighed before I sat down at the kitchen table.

“None of the security in the bank is battery-operated. Once we cut the power, that’s it. And good news, there’s no cameras or guard at that back door on the blueprints.”

“Fucking fantastic. What about that security guard?”

“Same one from last time, and he’ll be easy to take down if necessary,” I said.

“Good to know.” “This area of the city is patrolled twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the evening. Which means our best bet of Plan B working if we need it is to do this shit in the middle of the damn day.”

“Not so happy to hear that,” he said.

“Figured you wouldn’t be. But that’s the reality of it. They’re down a cop this week, though. So there are only twelve cops servicing all of Tell City.”

“Oh shit. I’ve outrun twice that many and gotten away with thousands.”

“Good.”

“You’ve got a better shot at outrunning the cops if someone’s already sitting at the back door.”

I whipped my head around and saw Jason standing in the hallway.

“Go back to your room,” I said.

“But I wanna help. I can help on this, Ryan. You know I can.”

“You’re not helping on a damn thing. Now go back to your room,” I said.

“This isn’t fair. I can help you guys with this. I won’t even ask for a cut or anything,” Jason said.

“See what happens when you come here, asshole?” I asked.

“It isn’t Kenneth’s fault. I want to be a part of this.”

“Well you’re not going to be,” I said. “Now get back to your room or I’m shipping you to a boarding school on the other side of the damn country.”

“Fuck you!” Jason said.

Kenneth laughed at the table as my brother stormed down the hallway. His door slammed shut and I winced as it happened. I was ready to wring Kenneth’s neck. But more than that, I was ready for this shit to be over. Jason was too old for me to be pulling this shit and I needed to get out of the game.

But one more decent heist would set him up for college, which meant I could focus on myself and what the hell I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

“Sounds like you got some good work done,” Kenneth said. “And with that electric equipment, we’ve got all we need.”

“We’ll meet up one last time to put the final plan together before this weekend,” Kenneth said.

“Sounds good to me. And Kenneth?”

“Yep?”

“If you ever show up on my doorstep again, I’ll kill you.”

And I could tell by the look on his face that he knew I wasn’t joking.