Rachel and Ross moved swiftly through the early hours of the morning. It was almost 8:00, the morning rush was just beginning in the city, and special people had been brought in to the bank to get the amount of money needed. The amount they needed could not be obtained from an ATM machine. They decided to get in over with and get the entire $70,000. The sun was brightly shinning down on them as they exited the bank, and ran into the cop car. It was going to be a nice day. I thought that never happened, Ross thought. I thought that when things like this happened it was supposed to be cold and rainy and dark. He glanced over at Rachel who seemed to be shaking. Her jaw was set, and her face was full of tension. She looked tired. It's no wonder. Ross realized. We've been up since 8:00 am yesterday morning, and that after about 3 hours of sleep. He hugged Rachel and gave her a kiss on the side of her forehead, before focusing his attention on the conversation between the cop and his radio.

"What do you mean?" said the cop.

"There was an accident at the intersection of Houston St. and The Ave. of the Americas. It was a multi-car accident. Some drunk apparently started it, and drove into the car in front of him and a pole. It was a chain reaction, other cars in all other directions not expecting the abrupt stop crashed as well. Traffic is backed up throughout all major arteries and smaller streets in Greenwich Village, most of SoHo, and into most parts of Lower Manhattan. We haven't been able to create detours yet, and since the morning rush is just beginning, traffic will be backed up for hours. We have a long day ahead of us."

"That's not possible, we need to get up to 14th and 8th Street now! Is there any way around the backed up traffic?"

"No, according to the report from the hospital helicopter that just went up, all roads in the area are at a standstill. You'll have to go over into the East Village , over through Chelsea, and then back down, but it's backed up over there too."

"We don't have that kind of time! Shit!" The police officer threw his radio into the dashboard, and took a moment before turning to the broken faces of Ross and Rachel.

"You guys think we can run that money over in 14 minutes?" Neither of them answered as they stepped out of the car. Rachel gave the money to Ross, so that she would not have the extra weight and be able to keep up with them. They both forgot about how tired they were, and started to make a mad dash through the busy sidewalks and blocked streets of New York City to get to Joey and Chandler. They ran as fast as the could, constantly knocking people over, or tripping over objects laid out on the sidewalks. They even ran over the hoods of some cars, when they came to a street that really was in bumper to bumper traffic. All these obstacles did a great job of slowly them down.

As they were getting closer to their destination, the police officer decided it would be a good idea to call the criminals and tell them that they were on their way. He ran as he dialed the number Rachel rattled off to him. They couldn't make out what he said over the phone since they were all breathing heavily at this point, but as he closed the phone, his expression looked angry.

"He gave us two extra minutes." he said.

"That means we have two goddamn minutes!" said Ross coldly.

They began to run harder, they still had a few blocks to go before they got to the site. They could still make it if they just kept on running, but then it happened. As they were running, Ross tripped over a man who seemed to appear out of nowhere, a frequent occurrence on the streets of New York City, knocking him flat on the ground, pinning him in between the ground and the man. He tried frantically to get the man off him and hand the money to Rachel or the cop, who had also stopped and were trying to get the man off Ross. The man had been cursing him off, but no one paid attention to him. They eventually threw him off and helped Ross up, but those precious seconds were enough to make a difference.

---

Joey sat tensely on the floor. Time was almost up. They had been planning to make their move, but the ring of the phone stopped them. They were able to piece together that someone was bringing the money, and now they were waiting. They couldn't do it much longer. His heart plummeted to his feet as Thief Number One scattered the numbered pieces of paper to the floor. They were too late. They should have acted. Would the others have really let them down. The thought was crushing. With agonizing slowness, the crook reached down to select one of the papers. He unfolded it, and read what he saw.

"Number four."

A chill ran down Joey's spine, and he turned horrified, over to where Chandler sat. His face was blank, and for a moment Joey wasn't sure he was breathing. He looked back to where Thief Number Two has been, and saw him approaching Chandler with his gun pointed. Chandler sprung to his feet like a cat, and bolted towards him. He was not going to go down without a fight even though every part of his body ached. He ducked and rolled as the shots he was expecting whistled through the air where his head had just been. He slammed into his attacker's legs with all the force he could manage , and knocked him flat. He would have succeeded in seizing the gun if his foot hadn't gotten caught in a crate that used to contain soda that was lying on the floor. The gun went off and the room went silent . Joey's reaction was instantaneous. Chandler had not even made it to his feet. Not fast enough.

Joey wanted to crush the attacker and then Thief Number One went straight for him. Joey saw him coming out of the corner of his eye, and ducked left to avoid him. The snap of a fired bullet filled his ears, and he wrenched sideways to get out of it's path. A burning sensation ripped across his back.

Oh no, he thought

The impact caused him to stumble foreword, and in the next moment he found himself flat on his back, his arms strewn out to his sides, staring up at the barrel of a gun between his eyes. He sat against the wall and not dared looked into the killer's eyes. He saw on the other side of the store Chandler still lying there. He didn't move. They killed him. Chandler is dead, thought Joey.