Summary: You'd think by now they would stop trying to hit armored trucks...

Chapter 21

"I've got one right in front of me," Michael announced as the sun rose over Mount Chiliad. They had searched throughout the night for an armored truck, obtaining their cargobob and Limo in the process. It had taken hours, but Michael finally saw one pulling out of the Maze Bank after loading the last of its pickup. They had seen others but after Ryan's heist, they waited until they were absolutely sure there target had money.

"So what are we doing with the armored truck, Geoff?" Gavin aske from the cockpit of the cargobob he had unnecessarily procured. "Are we getting in it?"

Geoff rolled his eyes. "Yes. Then we'll try to lose the wanted level and Jack is gonna pick us up and drop us in the train."

Hopefully, Ray thought, gripping the steering wheel of his limousine with sweaty palms.

"You kill the guys then get in," Michael corrected.

Gavin nodded forgetting no one could see him. "Do you think it would be cool Michael, if I parachuted in?"

"Absolutely!"

Ray groaned in everyone's ear but Gavin and Michael ignored him.

"So after we get it on the train, we rob it, right Ray?" Geoff asked.

"Right," Ray said. "Then ride the train to freedom."

"We can shoot it open right?" Michael asked, Ryan's heist vivid in his mind.

"YES!" Ray replied. "Yes, please shoot it open."

Ryan grit his teeth. The dig was a little obvious.

"When we shoot it open," Geoff added loudly. "When we're shooting it open, nobody kill me."

"ALMOST!" Ryan finally shouted, fed up with the unsaid implications. "I ONLY ALMOST KILLED YOU! YOU WERE FINE!"

There was a rather long pause after the outburst and Ray fought back an insane urge to giggle. "How about everyone stand back when you shoot it open?"

"Ok," Gavin and Geoff agreed.

"So we're all heading northbound right?" Jack said from his own cargobob, flying over the highway and into the city. He looked out of his window and saw a GPS ping on the cargobob dash from one of his friends being nearby. "Who's that down on the ground?"

Ray peered up through the windshield and watched the cargobob fly overhead. From this distance he could just make out Jack behind the controls as he flew by, waving cheerily at Ray. Ray grinned and wave back. "Hi Jack!"

"Geoff are you in yet?" Michael asked. "I still have eyes on the target."

"I'm here, Michael I'm right up your asshole," Geoff said zooming down the road and coming up on Michael's sleek silver car. The armored car was driving sedately in front of him, obliviously to its impending doom. Geoff pulled up behind Michael. "I have visual contact."

"So when does the heist start guys? Now?" Gavin asked.

"NO!" shouted everyone.

"We have to get the gunners in the chopper," Jack snapped.

Michael decelerated and changed lanes, allowing Geoff to pull up closer to the truck. "Jack I am ready for pick up."

"I'm going to parachute out and land on the truck," Gavin said.

"Ok," Michael and Ray said distractedly.

"BAIL!"

"Wait, now?" Ray shouted, looking up as though he would see Gavin from the distance.

"Is Gavin going?" Jack asked.

"We're not even remotely prepped!" Ryan said, punching his dashboard in vexation.

"GAVIN!" Michael shouted. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Michael pulled off to the side of the road just as a blue parachute burst into the sky. "You're never even gonna reach the damn thing!"

"Oh I thought we were going…" Gavin said as he floated towards the PCH, the armored truck a white speck below him.

Ray let Gavin and Michael argue for about ten minutes, Geoff laughing and Ryan cursing and Jack trying to run interference. Ray drove for longer than he should have while beating his head on his steering wheel. Why did this always happen? Was it personality issues? Were they all really dumb at heart? Why did every damn one of them have the same complete inability to understand and follow the simplest of directions?

Well…Ray finally understood here Matt was coming from.

"Alright, alright, SHUT UP!" Ray roared, parking the limo deep in the woods. "Gavin, don't land on the truck. Geoff pick him up. Jack, get Michael and Ryan in your helicopter. Odds are the damn driver will be on to something when Gavin parachutes into the middle of the fucking street so be careful."

The Crew did as instructed, unaccustomed to Ray getting angry.

Gavin abruptly soared into sight for Geoff and Michael, his bright blue parachute stark against the sky and practically screaming "I'M HERE! LOOK AT ME!" Michael laughed hysterically and Geoff slowed to a stop so Gavin could ditch his parachute and climb into Geoff's Bifta.

Ryan rolled his eyes as the armored car, Michael, and Geoff and Gavin all came into view. He looked around where they were and noticed one very important detail. "I feel I should point out that there are no train tracks anywhere near here."

"We'll fly to them," Geoff replied simply.

Jack, Michael, and Gavin all collectively winced as they remembered their last cargobob and armored truck experience. They seemed to recall fiery explosions and then the sounds of complete and utter betrayal in the following heist.

Ryan flew alongside Michael for a moment, tracking his path before pulling off to the side to land. Just as he did, Jack glided overhead with a cheery hello, causing motorist all along the road to look up in wonder at the presence of two low flying helicopters.

"So there are two cargobobs, a guy landed with a parachute…" Gavin shook his head. "Does this look suspicious?"

"This looks ridiculous," Michael corrected.

Ryan and Michael both stopped their vehicles off to the side and got out a Jack slowly descended. They ran to the chopper, Ryan flinging himself into the passenger seat of the cockpit leaving Michael to get in the back.

"Do I have hook duty again?" Michael shouted.

"Yes," replied Jack, Ryan, and Ray in unison.

"Fuck you guys." Michael hauled himself into the chopper.

"I am at the drop off point," Ray said, the train tracks in his view.

"The chopper is full," Jack confirmed as he lifted off the ground.

"Are we ready?" Geoff asked. "Ray call it."

Jack swung into place behind the chopper as Ryan took out his assault rifle and moved from the passenger seat to the opposite side of the cargobob from Michael.

"Ok…ready?" Ray said, wiping the nervous sweat from his forehead. One more job, he thought. Just one more.

Michael positioned himself by the hook with his gun also out, ready to drop with it and hook the cargo bob while also providing cover for Geoff and Gavin. Geoff pulled up in front of the armored truck, cutting the engine and prepping himself to jump out while Gavin loaded his pistol.

"Set…" One more try.

Gavin and Geoff got out of the Bifta and turned on the truck. Michael and Ryan raised their guns. Jack's hand hovered over the hook deploy button.

One last chance. "GO!"

The driver of the Gruppe Sechs car looked up as a flash of blue caught his eyes. He blinked hard. Was that a guy in a suit parachuting into the middle of the road? He looked to his side at the cop in the passenger seat, who was busy taping away on his phone, not paying attention. The driver was relieved that cop were standard guard for their vehicles, especially after that incident with the cargobob and the Gruppe Sechs truck a few months ago, but he wished the cops took things more seriously. Rumored had it that a gang known as the Fake AH crew had been the one behind the truck lift back then so you would think the ride-along cops would be more vigilant. No such luck.

"Did you see that?" the driver asked.

The cop looked up, saw nothing and shrugged.

The driver nervously looked back out the window and drove on, but then he heard a weird sound. It sounded like a low flying plane or a…helicopter? He looked up as a military chopper flew past, flying almost level with their truck.

"What is that?"

The cop actually paid attention this time, and looked unimpressed but marginally more concerned. "Maybe a military patrol?"

The driver wipe nervous sweat from his brow. "That didn't look like a military…is that another chopper?"

The cop turned as another chopper flew overhead, causing the other one to land. "How long has that Bifta been following us?" the cop asked. As if on cue, the car in question pulled up in front of them and off to a side. It idled there for a few minutes before two masked men got out and rounded on the truck.

"SHIT!" the driver yelled.

"Fuck!" the cop added. "Parachutes, masks, crazy helicopters, weird outfits. It's definitely them. It's the Fake—!"

The cop never told the driver what they were as his head exploded in a shower of meat and bone. The driver paled and looked back at the masked man who was leering outside his door. Without thinking the driver slammed his hand on the emergency locks, thinking to prevent them from hijacking his truck.

He forgot their attackers had guns.

The young man at his widow raised his gun and the driver swallowed hard. Yep. It was definitely the Fake AH Crew and he was definitely fucked.

That was his last thought before a bullet pierced his chest, slamming its way through his ribs and right into his heart.

"Geoff I can't get in!" Gavin yelled, yanking on the door handle after he killed the driver. "I can't get in!"

"Shoot the driver," Michael shouted back.

"I did!" Gavin shouted back.

Ray saw a flash in the distance. At first he thought it was the setting sun reflecting off of the cars below—had they really wasted the whole day following the armored car around?—but the glint didn't move quick enough. Ray picked up his sniper rifle as Gavin, Geoff, Michael, Jack and Ryan all yelled in his ear about Geoff and Gavin's inability to get in the truck. Ray looked through the scope and swore loudly.

"Guys the train's coming!" he yelled. "Get in the car!"

"It's locked," Geoff shouted, beating the door handle with his gun, hopping to break the lock. "I can't get in!"

"Pick it up!" Ryan shouted. "Just pick it up!"

"I can't get in!" Geoff wailed.

"We can't, we have to drive it!" Michael replied.

"Fucking hell," Jack growled as he slowly turned the chopper to face the dilema below him.

"I can't get in!"

"Get in the truck!" Ray shouted as the train came closer.

"I CAN'T GET IN!"

"STOP SAYING THAT!" Michael roared. "Jack, lower the chopper, I'm gonna see if I can get in."

"Geoff, Gavin, pull back!" Ray said.

Geoff and Gavin ran back to the Bifta as Jack swiftly lowered the cargobob and Michael hopped out. Gavin screamed as fuck ton of cargo bob missed hitting him in the head by inches. Michael sprinted to the truck and yanked hard on the door, which didn't budge.

"Fuck this!" he shouted and shot the lock six times. There was a loud metallic crunching noise and the door handle flee off Michael yanked the door again and it opened. He flung himself in the truck and gunned the engine.

"I'm in!" Michael shouted. "Go!"

"Switch!" Ray said. "Geoff and Gavin get on him."

"Get in your car and follow me!" Michael said, slamming into a tiny hybrid and sending it careening over the guardrail. "Oops!"

Sirens split the night air so quickly that Ray nearly laughed. The driver must have hit the emergency alarm that activated the locks and cop signal. Great. The train sailed past him at the same moment. They had started ten minutes ago and already they were fucked.

A police car zoomed past Geoff and Gavin and skidded to a halt. Two cops immediately dove out and started shooting at Michael's tried, trying to slow him down.

"Oh no you don't!" Geoff shouted. Gavin held on and Geoff slammed on the gas pedal, shooting off like a rocket and crashing into the police car and both police men. The passenger rolled away, but forgot the cliff and he screamed as he fell out of sight. The driver hit Geoff's bumper with an audible snapping of his spine and went up and over the roll cage of the Bifta.

"I got the drive, GO!" Geoff shouted as he reversed and sped after Michael.

"Come on Jack," Ryan said, signaling to Jack to go, "We've got to cover them!"

"Which side are you on, right or left?" Jack asked.

"Left!" Ryan said and Jack shifted their path so Ryan could cover Michael and the others.

"A train just passed by me so things just got more difficult," Ray announced to mixed (and angry) reactions.

More police cars came at them and bullets pinged off of the armored car. Michael swore and weaved in and out of the now stopped traffic, trying to lose some of the heat. "Shannon, I could use a pick up!"

Ryan looked back at the long line of police cars speeding toward them and then looked back at how slow the armored car really was. The law enforcement response was even heavier this time, likely because they knew they had cargo in the truck. Ryan mentally kicked himself for his own job. The slower police response should have tipped him off to the fact that they had lifted an empty trick.

"We have to pick him up!" Ryan said.

Jack grit his teeth. He was not looking forward to that attempt. "Shit. Ok. First get that chopper out of the air?"

"Chopper?" said Ryan, Michael, Gavin, and Geoff. A split second latter a police helicopter sailed past, its spotlight nearly blinding Michael.

"Gavin shoot!" Geoff commanded. "Michael we gotta get off the main road!"

"I need an evac!" Michael yelled as stopped cars brought him to a crawl. The chopper was able to focus on the slow truck and more police men began to fill the streets. Ryan and Gavin focused their fire on the chopper and Michael tried maneuver his car around an upcoming sharp turn. He failed but was able to get past a road block of cars when he saw something else in his way.

"Shit, there's a tunnel!" he shouted. "I need pick-up before the tunnel."

"Gavin shoot!" Geoff yelled again. "What are you doing?"

"I've got a bloody pistol," Gavin shot back. "It's hard!"

"Just pick him up!" Ray demanded of Jack. "Pick him up!"

"FINE!" Jack yelled. "Ryan get on the hook!" Jack lowered the chopper so that it was barely two feet above Michael and slammed the deploy button. Ryan didn't even bother trying to grab the rope, he jumped out of the chopper and staggered into a landing on the hood of the truck, grabbing the hook as it clanged on the roof. He wrapped it hastily around the roof rack and jumped up to garb the rope. "We've got it, go!" he yelled to Jack. He shimmied his way back up into the chopper and resumed his post at the door.

The armored truck shudder and Jack pulled the controls back. Lifting Michael clear of the road. Michael whopped as he swung and the choppers and ground forces instead switched their fire to the chopper.

"Shit, I'm getting hit!" Ryan said, ducking as a slug grazed him. "Jack, get away! Geoff get out of there!"

"Ryan hang on!" Ray shouted.

The chopper turned sharply and Ryan staggered. He seized the door frame as he stumbled out of the chopper, dangling above the road. "Jack wait—!"

It happened so fast that to this day no one really knows what happened. Ryan looked down, trying to find something—anything—for his feet to get purchase on so he could get back in the chopper. He could hear the guys screaming in the background, hear the gunfire ringing as it hit the chopper around his head. The chopper roared in his ear and suddenly a spot light hit him in the face.

They hadn't shot the chopper's gunner. The gunner must have shot Ryan. Or maybe one of the ground forces did. Maybe the spotlight blinding him and caused his grip to go lax or maybe he just couldn't hold on anymore. The only thing Ryan knew was that the world went white and suddenly he was falling. He slammed hard into something, felt his body catapult through the air, heard a horrible crunching noise and then…nothing.

Michael yelped as something crashed against his roof and then, almost as if it was happening in slow motion, he saw Ryan's masked face fly past the windshield, his limbs flailing, his body tumbling crazily. Ryan rolled off the hood and disappeared.

"OH MY GOD—AHHHHHHHH!"

"I LOST RYAN—AHHHHHHH!"

The momentum from the turn of the chopper and the weight of the truck worked against them. The chopper took a nose dive, flinging the truck sideways and dragging it across the ground with a horrible scraping noise. Geoff and Gavin turned sharply to avoid getting flattened and found themselves racing into the hills till yelling for both Ryan and the truck. Ray was shouting Ryan's name and Jack and Michael screamed and hung on.

Then the rope snapped with a whip-cracking sound and the armored truck rolled crazily, jostling Michael until it miraculously landed on four wheels. Jack pulled the choppers controls back and streaked upward, hastily righting himself before he could crash.

"What happened?" Ray yelled.

"I lost the truck!" Jack shouted. "I lost the truck and we lost Ryan!"

"I saw his fucking corpse going flying out the helicopter," Michael cried hysterically. "He rolled off my hood, it was awful and amazing!"

"God damn it!" Ray shouted, slamming his fist into the steering wheel so hard that he broke the horn. Everyone flinched as the horn blared without pause by Ray quickly yanked out his pistol and shot the steering wheel twice, silencing the damn thing.

"I have no guns and no way to pick Michael up!" Jack announced, keeping pace with the truck as they moved the opposite way down the highway.

"Geoff go back!" Gavin shouted. Geoff turned and they careened down the hill rolling in the Bifta until they hit the road.

"We're coming back for the rescue!"

"All right" Ray said angrily, gunning the engine and starting off down the road. "Fuck the train. I am coming to get you."

"We go this, Geoff said as he and Gavin blew by the cars and the insanity. They had to get this. Ryan was down, but they would worry about that later. He hadn't been that far off the ground so he probably survived…maybe. They' worry when it was time to worry.

"Dude, I am killing cops with explosives," Michael said, chucking a grenade out his window and wincing as gas and metal rained in through his shattered window. "I seriously need and evac!"

"TAFKAR," Jack said as he tried desperately to straighten his flight path. "TAFKAR we need you."

"The getaway cart's on its way," Ray said.

A police chopper swerved mid-air to try and hit Jack. They were not playing around this time. The cargobob, already strained from the business with the armored truck, was starting to smoke and the bells and whistles started to shriek from the various sensors. This was just like last time. Jack kicked that thought away as he turned to avoid a collision and found himself heading straight for the powerlines.

"Oh shit I'm going down!" he yelled, panicking for a moment. "I'm gonna blow up!"

"Don't blow up!" Ray yelled back, cutting through Jack's knee-jerk reaction. "Abandon ship if anything."

Jack dragged on the controls, shelving his anxiety. Who knew jail time and near death experiences could add up after a while? He managed to straighten his vehicle and tried to follow the others, gun fire and enemy helicopters blocking his every turn.

"There's another cargobob right here!" Michael yelled suddenly, flying past Ryan's cargo bob from earlier. "We just drove past James!"

"Never forget!" Ray yelled, bouncing off the road and up into the woods again, trying a shortcut. The limo was not made for speed or efficiency and he was still miles from where they needed him.

"Wait, where's James?" Gavin asked confused as they drew near the chopper.

"He's dead as dicks!" Michael reminded him, throwing another grenade out of his window and relishing the resultant explosion and screams. The street was so thick with cops now that it was a wonder he was somehow plowing through. Above him he got flashes of the chopper as Jack bobbed, weaved, and smoked above him. The Bifta was right on top of him, but it was all Geoff and Gavin could do to keep pace and avoid being shot.

The Gavin had an idea.

"Let's get this one Geoff!" he shouted. "Let's get in this cargbob."

"My name's not Geoff," Geoff said, but he pulled alongside the cargobob anyway.

Gavin rolled his eyes. "Lazer, let's go."

Gavin and Geoff dove out of the Bifta, but unfortunately, this made them a prime target for gun fire. Geoff ducked and raced for the chopper. They were so close, he had to get there. He jumped into the door, the leather seat within his grasp, Gavin a beat behind him going for the pilot's seat.

Gavin heard Geoff cry out in what he thought for a minute was triumph. Then Geoff jerked sideways and fell into Gavin's lap and Gavin found himself looking though blood on the windshield as more poured into his lap from Geoff's shoulder, staining their white suits.

"Lazer?!" Gavin squawked in panic, frantically shoving at Geoff, trying to wake him up. His mask was askew and his eyes were closed and he was not moving an inch. "LAZER?! GEOFF?! ANSWER ME! GEOFF!?"

"Geoff?" Ray croaked nervously, not liking the extremely panicked screeches coming from Gavin. Gavin would frequently lose his head, true, but something in his voice was terrifying.

"What happened to Geoff?" Michael demanded.

"Gavin, get Michael, we'll get to Geoff as soon as we can," Ray ordered.

"Lazer's gone quite next to me!" Gavin wailed. He shook Geoff again, Geoff's head flopping like a rag dolls. Geoff couldn't be dead. He was right behind him. He had been in the chopper. Gavin hadn't even seen the shot. Geoff wasn't dead, he had to live so Gavin could torment him endlessly. Sure, they had thought he was dead plenty of time before, but now he was in Gavin's lap, bleeding and not moving, the chopper reeking of the scent of his blood-

"Gavin, boy, I need you to come get me!" Michael said, more than a little upset at his friend's panic. Geoff was ok. He had to be. Right?

Geoff couldn't be dead.

"GAVIN HELP!" Michael screamed as he was slammed into from the side by an overzealous police officer. He slowed to a crawl, cops closing in. "GAVIN!"

If anyone could get through Gavin's panic, it was Michael. Geoff was in trouble, but Gavin couldn't leave Michael in danger. Gavin took a deep breath and carefully picked Geoff up and shoved him back into the passenger seat. He ripped his own jacket off and tied it as tight as he could around Geoff's torso. A red patch slowly appeared, but it didn't appear to be gushing so Gavin fired up the chopper. The second he picked Michael up, he was dropping him at Ray's location and getting Geoff help.

Jack swore loudly in everyone's ear, reminding them all that there was another dangerous chase going on in the air. Jack was being just as heavily pursued as Michael and his poor cargobob was showing it.

"Is the other cargobob up?" Jack asked frantically.

"There's one right behind me!" Michael reported as Gavin flew into view.

"Jack get out!" Ray ordered.

"OH NO!"

Jack's yell broke out over all the other shouts. In his dodge around yet another police helicopter, he had swung too wide. The tail end of his cargo bob snagged on the power lines, ripping them free in a shower of sparks. He managed to keep the chopper airborne but he was quickly losing altitude.

"This is it!" Jack shouted. "I'm jumping out. I'm jumping out." The chopper sputtered again and Jack gave up. He abandoned the cockpit, kicking open his door and grabbing his chute as the cargo bob fell. He jumped, the cargobob plummeting past him. He grappled for his rip cord. He wasn't going to make it! He yanked the cord and felt the chute fan out behind him. He was just in time—

WHAM!

"Jack!" Michael screamed as Jack hit the ground face first in a shower of dirt behind him. "Jack's down, I repeat, Jacks' down!"

"Shannon!" Ray cried helplessly. No one had time to mourn him though, the other were trapped in a war zone. Ray floored the gas pedal, bring the limo up to 80 but the car just wasn't fast enough.

More police cars were swarming around Michael like a horde of angry bees, cutting him off and slowing him down while they tried to box him in. Michael tried to dodge around them but a large squad car managed to wedge itself between him and a stalled vehicle. Michael watched in panic as the speedometer plummeted and the armored truck ground to a halt.

"Oh this might be it. This it boys!" Michael said as cops slammed into him in the front and back. "I'M BOXED IN! I'M BOXED IN! NO!"

"I'm coming Michael!" Gavin yelled.

"Noooooo!" Michael screamed as a cop car came at him full speed. The armor on his truck was failing, the cops were abandoning vehicle and firing into the busted windows. He wasn't going to get out of this. He hit the floorboards just as the oncoming squad car crashed into his side and exploded.

The explosion shattered the windshield and actually lifted the armored truck up off its front wheels and threw it sideways before it slammed back down onto all four wheels. Michael was flung back against the seat and landed painfully on the dashboard, the drive shaft jabbing him in the ribs. He didn't have time to worry about that because the truck had broken through the road block and there was an opening ahead of him. He floored the gas.

"Michael! I'm coming boy!" Gavin's chopper spun and dipped and swerved as no less than two police choppers and 50 million cops on the ground concentrated fire on him.

"Fuck yooooooooou!" Michael whopped blowing past the cops triumphantly.

"Are you still alive boy?" Gavin asked.

"I'm still in the truck, COME GET ME!" Michael shouted at Gavin, his words running together in his anger.

"Save Vincent!" Ray yelled.

"Michael! Where's the truck?!" Gavin cried again as the road spun in his windshield.

"It's the big fucking truck!" Ray shouted furiously. "What are you, blind?!"

"IT SAYS FUCKING GRUPPE ON IT, OKAY?!" Michael screeched. "Holy shit, it's the one with all the money in it!"

Gavin finally saw the truck. He wheeled the chopper around. He had no idea how he was going to hook the car. He couldn't. But if Michael could get the money, he could drop the hook and pull up Michael.

"Michael boy I'm coming!" Gavin yelled, pulling alongside the truck and dropping the hook.

Michael looked up to see Gavin next to him, the hook dangling right next to the armored truck. He reached for the door handle when the buzz of another helicopter sounded from behind him and he turned to see a police helicopter streaking through the air towards him Michael yelled and ducked, flattening himself against the seat and bracing for impact, but the chopper wasn't aiming for the truck.

"Michael—AAAAAAHHHHHH!

The police chopper crashed into Gavin's cargobob. Ray and Michael heard Gavin scream in one high unbroken note as the persistent police helicopter forced the cargobob onto its side in mid-air and crushed it against the guard rail of the bridge. Gavin screamed and screamed and screamed as it tipped over, blades still whirring, the readouts and alarms going insane. Geoff's limp and bloodied body fell into him and tumbled out of the open chopper door. Gavin just managed to grab Geoff's wrist before the helicopter suddenly jolted and flipped entirely upside down, dumping both Gavin and Geoff out. They had barely cleared it when the cargobob blew, the force of the explosion blasting Gavin and Geoff into the water and rocks below.

"David?" Ray asked meekly. "David? Shannon?"

"Dude we're all that's left!" Michael replied.

"Who's left?" Ray asked, not quite clear on how the whole gang was wiped out in less than ten minutes.

"Me and you, that's it!" Michael said. "I've got the armored car, we've got no one dude."

Ray carefully drove across a wooden bridge continuing his route through the woods while guilt began to eat him alive. His plan had been very basic, but it had been sloppy. Too much hinged on the cargobobs and once again he was on the sidelines doing nothing while the rest of them died. Or more likely went quiet only to pop up later.

"Ok," he finally said to Michael. "Ok. I'm driving right to you. We're still gonna escape in style. Did you get the money yet?"

"I have the fucking truck, the money's inside of it," Michael whimpered as he swerved around another cop. How were they going to get the money out? "And I do not think I am losing this police tail any time soon. I'm gonna need a serious evac here."

"That's fine," Ray replied bracingly. "I'm in the back woods right now."

"The only other option is if we abort the plan," Michael said, already forming a plan in his head. "We can try to hop out, detonate the truck, get the money and haul off in a different vehicle-"

"Do that!" Ray said. That was a great plan!

"—but I need you to pick me up first because I have no armor and no fucking tires," Michael finished lamely.

So not a great plan.

"I'm on my way," Ray replied. "It's ok though, they'll never expect a limo."

"I'm getting boxed in again!" Michael said, turning the steering wheel as cops surrounded him again. "Oh I'm getting boxed in again!"

Don't get boxed in!" Ray said as he listened to Michael struggle. "Don't get boxed in, think outside the box!"

"I made it!" Michael said, breaking out and swerving down the road. His tired were gone and his car was dented. Gavin's chopper may or may not have bounced off the roof before it crashed and there was a smear of blood on the windshield from the dead driver and cop and an even longer one from Ryan bouncing off of the hood. It was hard to see, hard to drive, and hard to avoid the very persistent and suddenly talented cops.

Ray's teeth clacked as the limo bounced through the woods. He was getting near the end and he had to hurry and get to Michael. "A limo is not good for the back woods of Los Santos," Ray informed Michael.

"Fucking shit," Michael replied with a laugh, He looked in his rearview mirror and saw nothing but red and blue lights, "I have the entire fucking police force up my asshole."

"It's all right, it's cool. I'll pay them off. They'll forget any of this ever happened."

Michael thought about the chopper sitting on the side of the road as well as the bodies and burning wreckage left in the wake. Yeah sure. They'll forget.

"Ugh this is getting really dicey," he grunted as tow cop cars and a few SWAT vans forced him to turn onto a side road. He palmed another grenade and chucked it out the shattered window behind him. He ducked as fire, glass, and metal exploded behind him, pieces flying in through the completely absent windows and windshield.

"Ok I'm on the highway, where are you?" Ray asked, bouncing down the hills and onto to wonderfully solid asphalt.

"I don't know," Michael replied as two helicopter spotlights pegged him. The armored truck was struggling on the curvy, slightly uphill road he was one. He wondered if the cops had forced him here intentionally because he seemed to be more surrounded and less able to maneuver. "ARGH, I'm completely stalled right now! This is bad, this is bad—this thing is barely moveable!"

"Don't die!" Ray said, flooring the gas and moving much faster now that he was on the road. "If you die, which you won't, I'm still gonna hit that." He was starting to think that maybe they'd make it. True, they would still have to go retrieve the bodies—no. No, Ryan, Geoff, Gavin, and Jack were ok. They had to be. He couldn't face the alternative, not when they were so close to victory.

Suddenly Michael felt something his shoulder. He looked down and was surprised to see blood blooming across his vest. The pain followed as soon as he saw the wound.

"Oh shit!" he screamed, starting to weave the truck as more bullets ringed around them and buried themselves in the dashboard and seat. These were SWAT rounds, made to pierce what little protection he had. Not only did the vans behind him have them but thunks on the roof told him the choppers did as well as the shots started piercing the armored truck.

"These SWAT pricks are taking me down!" he yelled to Ray, trying to get around a bend in the road. "This might be it! I think this might be it!"

"Get out!" Ray shouted. "Defend yourself!"

"Oh shit I have no fucking cover at all!"

"I'm coming! The cavalry is coming. The one man cavalry!"

Michael finally made it around the bed and was met with the most horrible sight he could possibly have imagined. In front of him was a neat and orderly line of soldiers with high powered assault rifles aimed at him. Behind them was a tank and behind all of that was the razor wire fences and entry gate for the base.

No wonder the cops had forced his truck this way. They were ready for him.

Michael's mouth hung open for a second and he slowed to a dead stop, wedging himself between the entry gate and one of the concrete lane divider. The soldiers took aim before Michael found his voice.

"OH SHIT I DROVE TO THE MILITARY BASE!" he screamed. "OH SHIT!"

"WHY?!" Ray yelled back, throwing his hands up in the air in fury, but quickly returning them to the steering wheel so he didn't meet a crash-y end. "GOD DAMN IT! Of all the places to drive! Do you want to drive to the prison next?"

"I'm boxed in!" Michael yelled. "This is it." He scrambled for his bag and dumped the contents out garbing every grenade and C4 he had. He knew he was done. But he'd be damned if he'd go out like a bitch.

"I'm taking as many cops with me as I can!" Michael screamed and he started throwing explosives out of the window. "You're coming with me mother fuckers!"

Cops and cars and soldiers were engulfed by the explosions, but not enough. Everyone who could opened fire on the truck as Michael screamed his fury. The last thing Ray heard through his head set was a rain of gunfire and Michael's scream abruptly cutting off.

Ray was all that was left.

"FUCK!" he shouted. "Hello?"

Silence.

Ray sighed heavily. So much for his safe, unflashy plan. He had gotten them all more killed than Gavin had. Matt was not going to like this. Still, he could buy his way out of the Syndicate now since he didn't have to split the money with anyone. He would buy his freedom and then hole up somewhere and stone himself into a coma. It was the least he could do for his friends.

Fucking W.A.F.F.L.E.-O.

"All right," he said to himself. "It's up to me know. I got this." He kept driving down the road, starting to pass signs of the carnage in the road. He must be close to the base. "Fucking the military base, are you kidding me?" he grumbled to Michael, even though he had gone quiet. "You had the whole city." Ray shook his head and kept going. "One man show. This is what you wanted TAFKAR, you've trained for this." Ok maybe that wasn't true. He never wanted to be the last one. It was hard to believe they were all dead, considering their track record of miraculous survivals. He would worry about that later.

He turned off on the side road the cops had forced Michael down, following the bright lights and still circling choppers. He rounded the bend same as Michael and saw a few cops and soldiers rushing around, pulling their fellows from wreckage that Michael must have caused. No one saw the limo pull up behind the armored truck.

Ray cut the engine and reached for the door handle when something gave him pause. He saw a flash of white out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and saw what looked like a man in a white suit and face paint standing there. But as soon as he looked it vanished. The only thing he saw now was an unmarked police SUV.

Ryan?

"Apparently I'm seeing ghosts," Ray muttered, He grabbed his rocket launcher, mostly to ensure he would break the truck wide open. What was the point in leaving it to chance now?

"Ok, plan is blow it open, take the money, back to limo."

Then find out if his Crew was dead.

Ray sighed and leveled his rocket launcher. He had a quick thought that maybe he stood to close but he shrugged it off and pulled the trigger.

THUNK!

"OH GOD!"

Something slammed into Ray, lifting him off his feet and slamming him into the ground so hard that his vision went back. Heat from the explosion washed over him and bits of it rained down on him. He gasped for breath and found himself unable to move or breathe,

He had stood too close.

No wait. Something was on him, pinning him to the ground and crushing his chest. He shoved at it, expecting part of the truck or something more solid but instead it was sort of soft and as soon as he touched, it it moved. The weight vanished and he dragged breath into his desperate lungs. His vision cleared a bit and he looked up into a blood streaked face with remnants of face paint around it.

"Ryan?" Ray choked out.

"Come on," Ryan said, grabbing Ray and hauling him to his feet He dragged Ray over to the unmarked SUV the boy had noted a few second ago and opened the back door, shoving Ray insides. Ray sputtered and choked as Ryan ran around—or more accurately limped—and slid in behind the driver's seat. Ray slumped sideways and fell into something else, something that swatted him away like he was a bug.

"Jack?" Ray said sitting up as Jack winced and coughed, holding his ribs. His glasses were gone and his beard was matted with blood. Both eyes were black and his nose was extremely crooked, clearly broken.

"Hang on," Ryan said. He backed the SUV up swung it around, driving back the way they had all came. Ray and Jack bounced around in the back seat and a muffled curse from the front seat grabbed Ray's attention.

"You want to drive a little smoother, you fuck?"

"Michael?" Ray said, leaning forward to look at a bloody and pale Michael curled in the front seat, glaring back at him.

"Congrats, you know our names!" Ryan said sarcastically. "Everyone just hang on, we have to go to a hospital."

"They'll turn us over!" Ray protested.

"Jacks' nose and ribs are broken, Michael is bleeding a fuck ton, my leg is fucked, and God only knows how severe a concussion everyone has," Ryan snapped. "We don't have a choice. We'll just tell them we were in one of the many cars blown up in the fray. I know an ER that won't ask a lot of questions."

"Do we know what happened to Gavin and Geoff?" Ray asked suddenly, remembering Gavin's shrieks.

"We couldn't find them," Jack said. "Ryan picked me up and he checked the river bed before we came after you and Michael. There was no sign of them."

"God damn it." Ray buried his head in his hands.

"They may have gotten out," Ryan said. "Gavin may have hauled Geoff off to get help somewhere."

Or their dead bodies washed downstream, never to be seen again, everyone thought but didn't dare say out loud.

Michael chose that moment to groan loudly in pain.

"Hang on everyone, we are heading for the hospital."

"Oh god!" shrieked the nurse as the Fake AH Crew limped in. Ray was supporting Michael, who was no longer bleeding but was scarily pale. Jack and Ryan leaned on each other as they hobbled in. Their once were white suits were coated in grime and blood and they all looked like death warmed over.

"Get them in a room now," the nurse directed some orderlies, who rushed forward with wheelchairs. She motioned to Ray to come over after he deposited Michael in a chair since he was the least injured.

"You just be the rest of the band," the nurse said. "Terrible business with that gang stuff on the highway. All the hospitals are overrun."

"Band?" Ray asked, confused.

"Top Fun Times?" she asked. "That band? Two of your band mates came in earlier, one quite critical. They are both going to be fine though. The band leader, the British guy, he warned us you weren't far behind."

Ray couldn't help it. He laughed. The nurse stared at him mystified until he got control of himself.

"Yes," Ray finally said. "Yes we are that band. What info do you need from me and can you show me where our friends are?"