Chapter 1
In The Act
"We've got five minutes and twenty-eight seconds to get in there and back over to O'Neill's bar and grill, we've been there all night since six forty-five, and at seven fifteen we go in. So watch your watches people." Charlie said to the other six of us, from the front of the van where he was sitting. I hadn't been on many jobs with him, but he was one hell of a leader and, god damn were we professional. We had every thing about burglary down to a science. Tonight we were hitting some old rich guy, best security, in Miami, and third richest in the original, city of sin. He leaves at seven-ten every night and goes to some sleazy hotel for exactly two hours every Thursday night, without fail. We followed this guy for one whole month and were still watching him even tonight, but tonight we go in. Right now it's seven-seven, eight minutes to go.
And when realizing that, the first of us jumped out of the Smith & Son Electric company, van and headed over to the house next door to "fix" their electrical problems. And at seven-ten, without fail, I hear the red Ferrari rev its engine and back out of the driveway, and sped off to the Chateau of Love, on Twenty Ninth Street, and then it was time.
First off there's Charlie, like I said earlier he's the leader of all of us, he's the one who talks to all the employers over the phones, the rest of us don't even know who they are. Basically, they call Charlie and ask him to steal something for them. Sometimes it's something precious or sentimental, or sometimes it's just something the person wants. Then we go in and get that thing, then grab some souvenirs of our own and then we're out of there. Then there's buddy.
We all call him "the electrician," cause he's the one who gets out before anyone else and cuts the power to the neighborhood. He does this in such a way that it looks like there was a power outage, and then Smith & Son Electric is on the job trying to fix it. Nowadays, depending on the layout of the circuit board, and the level of the blackout, it can take anywhere from three minutes to three hours and this one in particular takes about four minutes and ten seconds for an expert electrician to fix, unless it's a power shortage, then it takes a while to get the juice flowing again. And just for our cause Buddy acts as though he's only a decent electrician and it's always able to buy us some time.
Then there's Sonny, he's actual name isn't Sonny, but come to think of it, I don't even remember what his real name is. But anyway we call him that because he's never actually involved in the jobs, so if we got pinched he would probably be the only one to get acquitted of any and all charges. He's basically our actor, he's the son in the Smith & Son Electric company, hence the name Sonny. He does more than just the "Son bit" but that's the one he's best at and that's why we gave him that name.
Next on the list is Jerry, Jerry "the eyes." His name is pretty self explanatory, he keeps his eyes out for cops, and unexpected "flaws" in our plans. Also there's Terrance, he doesn't have a nickname or anything like that because we just think it's funny to always call him Terrance. He's our smart guy he gathers all our information, on our marks, and gets into damn good detail to. He can find out what you ate for breakfast three years ago if you give him enough time. He's also our lock and alarm man, there is no alarm and no lock that he can't disarm or pick. He's the smart guy.
Lastly there's me. I'm just the guy who decent at everything but if there's one thing I would have to be good at, it's marksmanship. Not every job we do calls for it but sometimes we get a job that involves us getting rid of someone or making someone disappear, and every now and then that means getting a little dirty. But this night is good, this man doesn't even realize that his desires, a.k.a his weekly visits could be his downfall, his loss. So there we were seven-fourteen and then the timer went off, buddy cut the power, we jumped out of the van and in we went.
Charlie and I walked straight up to the front door and kicked it in and made room for Terrance to get his ass in there and shut off the alarm that was now blaring, and in a matter of seconds that's what he did. Then we all went inside and set the door back up against the frame and began to search. Basically we can't take anything until we find our target, so first thing we do is find it and snag it. Charlie and I took the second floor and split up when we got there, he took the right side of the hall and I took the left.
Finally in the door at the end of the hall I found it, a Faberge egg, sitting on this little pedestal under a light. I knew it was probably guarded, god knows he can afford it, so I called in the smart guy.
