Two Against Two
Chapter 7
December 22, 1990-9:00 A.M. CST.
(Harry's POV:)
I'm Harold Lime, and next to me is my best friend and partner, Marvin Merchants. We are two full-time criminals, who pull off regular burglary jobs in Metro Chicago and its suburbs.
The two of us used to be members of an organized elite burglars cartel, who specialized in the planning of and performing burglaries of high value residential and businesses. Working for the cartel was a very lucrative job for Marvin and I. That changed when a job, assigned to us by the cartel, went horribly wrong.
To make a long story short, it involved Marv and I being caught by the owner, me losing my temper, kidnapping, and holding the owner for ransom; and Marv robbing a store at gunpoint during the attempted exodus out of state with the kidnapped victim.
What I didn't expect was for the cartel to set Marv and I up and sell us out to the authorities by helping them catch us. It explains why the police were so hot on us, as I think about it. We learn all this information through our mutual friend, Hector, who we met and worked with during our time with the cartel.
Hector stayed with the cartel, until he learned of the cartel's betrayal of Marv and I. He explained to us during our stunt in prison that the cartel protected their own asses through bribery by pinning everything on us, which Marv and I ended up in prison for. We definitely have no plans of going back to prison anytime soon.
When we got out of prison, after a long stint, we learned that Hector, in revenge for the cartel betraying us, seized control, murdered the cartel members that conspired against us, and abolished the cartel.
According to gossip and rumors we heard from other criminals in the underworld, Hector murdered the cartel, while wearing women's clothes. Hector, of course, vehemently denied that he was in drag during his murder spree. He claimed those rumors were just someone trying to be funny.
Years have since passed since Hector's destruction of the cartel. Our dear friend, Hector, has set himself up nicely in New York, and he has his own little group of burglars that hit the penthouses of New York, while working a day job as a clerk.
Marv and I are independent burglars now. We have been focusing our attention on the upper class homes of Chicago and its suburbs. So far, we've made a decent payoff in our endeavors of fencing goods we have collected during our quests, I like to call them.
Now, Marv and I are about to hit the jackpot, as we set up operations on the wealthiest block in Winnetka, Lincoln Blvd. I have been casing all of the houses on the block under the guise of a police officer, checking with residents to make sure the houses are safe, while my real intent is to see if they're going on vacation, and scout around for loot that would net the biggest profit.
I cannot believe killing that cop and stealing his uniform, during our attempt to flee the state years back with the kidnapped victim, would come in handy, because it makes hitting houses a lot easier.
Marv and I still have a few houses to hit, before the main event. The whole reason we have started working the block to begin with is house 671, and it's just our luck that the McCallisters are going on vacation.
That means Marv and I can nail the place, swipe everything, and be on our way to New York to join up with Hector, mostly out of paranoia and fear, especially since Marv has been leaving a calling card by flooding the houses we have hit, which I have repeatedly told him not to do.
In other words, Marv and I are screwed, if we are caught again, because the police would know every house we have hit. Marv is a good friend, but sometimes, I question his IQ level and mental state.
"Looks like we're finished here at the Vernon's'," I explain to Marv, as we finish loading up the last of the goods in the beat-up blue Dodge cargo van.
The van came to be in our possession after finishing a job a few months back in a rural Illinois town, just outside of Chicago.
It was during that job that a plumber from the O.K. Plumbing Company made an unannounced visit to do some plumbing work, while we were in the middle of cleaning out the place. I didn't let my temper get the best of me that time, when the plumber encountered us.
The plumber, of course, tried to make a break for it, but Marv was able to stop him. We took the poor soul outside to a secluded area, and that's when I beat his head and face in with his own monkey wrench, until he stopped screaming and breathing.
We did our best to dispose the body far away from the crime scene. We were going to fence off the van, but we decided to keep it, instead, despite the risks of doing so.
"So, whose house is next to be hit, Harry?" asks Marv.
"This was 616. So, 638 would be next, followed by 664, 642, and 656. Then, finally, the main event, 671," I reply. "Before we do that, let's get a bite to eat and fence off the stuff we have, so far." Marv and I then hop in the van. I start it up and drive to the place where we've been fencing off the stolen goods…
END