I woke up from the little bit of sleep I had gotten, my nerves never seemed to get any rest and I knew this was just the beginning I feared of my nerves going on the fritz. Today was the day of the big heist and here I am a nervous wreck because one of the main parts of this heist was resting on my shoulders. The realization that people's lives were at stake and if I screwed up someone could die suddenly made me feel sick. I leaped out of bed and ran down the hall to the bathroom to throw my guts up and hopefully throw some of my nerves up with them.
As soon as last night's dinner finished making its exit my phone began to ring. I knew exactly who it was, the only person to ever call at this hour, and always at the worst times, like when I was face first in the toilet. Michael De Fucking Santa.
"Hey Blondie, hope I'm not interrupting anything. Hope you didn't have any late night company over the night before a heist." He said with a chuckle, with a hint of jealousy in his voice like he was suddenly questioning what I had been doing the night before, knowing good and well I spent the rest of the night after he dropped me off on the couch trying to wrap my head around the situation I had gotten myself into. Suddenly I felt like a kid again, laying on the floor, talking on the phone with a stupid smile on my face that couldn't be removed.
"Oh yeah, you just missed the orgy sorry Michael!" I said getting a chuckle from him with a hint of relief in his voice from my sarcastic response.
"How do you fit so much sarcasm into such a tiny body?"
"You're just lucky I guess!"
"Well Blondie, are you ready for the big day?" He asked, finally getting around to why he had called in the first place.
"As I'll ever be." I said nervously trying to keep my voice from shaking.
"Relax baby, you're going to do just fine. I believe in you and I'm willing to put my neck out on the line for you so you better believe I have fucking faith in you!" He said reassuringly, " Now get yourself looking pretty and meet me down at the garment factory in a half hour and we will get this show on the road, and remember blondie," He said with a pause.
"Yes Michael."
"I believe in you, you're going to just fine. I'll see you soon." He said as he hung up. I got myself up off the bathroom floor and drug my tired, scared body to my closet to throw on some decent clothes that weren't too obvious if for some reason things went south I wouldn't be recognized. All black everything was the color pattern for the day. I threw on some dark sunglasses and headed out the door, got into my car, and made the trek over to the factory.
I pulled into the parking lot outside the factory and sat in my car trying to calm my nerves before walking in to discuss the final plan. I looked up at the window upstairs and saw Michael staring back down at me, I met eyes with him and he gave me a smile that seemed to calm my nerves enough for me to finally get out of my car and go inside the building.
"Well look who finally decided to join us, and almost on time too." I heard Lester say as soon as entered the room.
"Shut up Lest, Good to see you Lauren, now let's go over the plan one more time." Michael said as I took a seat next to Franklin, trying to refrain from laughing at how ridiculous everyone looked in their exterminator garb. Michael began to go over the plans, I would hide in the back of the exterminators truck and hack into the system, then the rest of the guys would go in and make the heist, then Michael would come out and drive the truck while the rest of the guys would ride their bikes back and we would all meet up back at the factory and turn over the loot to Lester for him to give to his guy who would reshape and sell everything and then gives us the money later on. If everything went well we would make out with a pretty good profit, if not we would all disperse and if anyone asked, we didn't know each other.
"So, is everyone ready?" He asked. We all looked at each other and then finally Franklin nodded for the group to signal we were ready. "Then let's do this!" I headed out to the truck and started setting up my computer in order to hack the system. Franklin loaded the bikes into the back of the truck with me and he hopped into the driver's seat. Michael was riding with one of the other guys in a crappy disposable car we would leave at the scene.
"Well Lauren, you ready dawg?" Franklin asked looking back at my setup in the back of the truck.
"Let's do this." I said turning on the earpiece Michael gave me back at the factory as Franklin began to drive to the store.
"Alright L, turn on your laptop and get to hacking." Michaels instructed as I began to look at the stores security system that was suddenly appearing on my screen. To most people it would look like gibberish but to me it made perfect sense, and this was pretty simple for a high end jewelry store. We parked in front of the store and I began to hack into the system, and I knew they would have around ninety seconds once I was in. I looked on the screen one last time and I knew we were in.
"Ok guys ninety seconds starting…..NOW!" I gave the signal and everyone began to roll into the store. I hid in the corner of the back of the truck and hoped and prayed everything would go right. I hoped that Michael really was the criminal mastermind he always said he was and he would know how to handle this. I looked down on the screen and saw they had thirty seconds left and the headset had gone silent, meaning either something had gone wrong or they were working hard to get everything taken care of. Suddenly the doors of the truck opened and I jumped like I had been shot.
"We did it Blondie!" I heard Michael scream from the driver's seat as the other guys hopped on their bikes and rode off. "Now hold on, things are about to get a little fucking bumpy baby. The cops are on us but it's nothing I can't lose. Just get down in the floor and if you hear shots just stay down." He said as he took off and if I wasn't already planning on hitting the floor the sharp turn sent me to the ground anyways.
"Franklin, how are things up there?" I heard Michael ask through the headset.
"We lost 'em man, it's all on you now. We almost back now." Franklin said as Michael sharply turned around another curve. I laid on the ground with my hands over my head and suddenly the sounds of sirens disappeared.
"We made it Lauren, we lost them!"
"Does that mean we pulled it off Michael?"
"You're Fucking A' Right we did Blondie and we couldn't have done it without you baby!" He said as the truck came to a stop and I heard his door open and shut. I sat up as Michael opened the back doors and helped me out, my eyes quickly fighting to adjust to the sun after being in the dark truck for so long. I hopped out and saw everyone standing around under the tunnel celebrating and handing their loot over to Lester. I watched everyone high five and celebrate as I felt Michael put his hand on the small of my back to lead me over to the rest of the crew.
"Alright so we did it, but don't get too cocky now guys. We need to lay low for a little while because they are going to be looking for a crew, Lest is going to sell these jewels and have the money wired to your accounts within a couple days. Good work out there everyone, I'll be in touch." Michael said as the crew began to disperse and return to wherever it was they had all come from, leaving just Franklin, Michael, and myself standing there.
"Yo Lauren, nice work out there, you bought us more time than I thought we would have!" Franklin said giving me a fist bump, "Hey Michael, here's the goods you wanted. Imma roll out." He said handing Michael a small jewelry box that had come from the robbery today.
"I'll call you soon Franklin hell of a job today, and thanks again man."
"Anytime dawg." And with that, Franklin was gone.
"So Blondie, you said you were a good hacker but I didn't know you were that damn good. I thought we would have thirty seconds to work with but you bought us ninety which was more than enough."
"What can I say, it was easy Michael." I said staring at my feet blushing at his compliment.
"You definitely earned these then baby." He said opening the jewelry box to reveal the diamond earrings I had been looking at the day before. I gasped the moment he opened the box to reveal them. "Now I wouldn't wear these out for a little while but soon enough you'll be wearing the real deal, instead of looking at pictures on your bedroom wall like a kid again."
"Michael, I-I don't know what to say!" I said wrapping my arms around his neck. "I can't thank you enough."
"Just wait baby there's a lot more where that came from. Now come on, you better be getting home now so you can see us all on the news tonight." He said with a chuckle as he locked his arm through mine and we walked up to my car. He pressed his lips against mine and had my body pressed against the door of my car. We kissed passionately and I could feel the warmth flow throughout my body and the sparks begin to fly, all the while I felt like someone somewhere was watching us.
"I'll call you tomorrow Blondie." He said as he broke the kiss and I was left standing there, trying to get the life back into my legs as he walked off with a flirtatious smirk.