Rain “Rebel” Crawford
The mission was simple: get the money and get the hell out without any issues.
On paper, it sounded easy. In reality, we were about to pull off the biggest heist of our careers, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous as hell.
My heart pounded against my ribs as we approached the entrance.
The lifelike silicone mask stretched tightly across my face, concealing every inch of my real identity.
It fit so perfectly that it looked and moved like real skin, transforming me into a woman who didn’t exist. Even if someone stared me dead in the face, they wouldn’t have recognized me.
No matter how many jobs I’d pulled over the years, this one felt different.
There was too much money on the line, too many moving parts, and too many ways for everything to go to shit.
One mistake could cost us our freedom or our lives.
I took a slow breath beneath the silicone mask, tightened my grip on my gun, and reminded myself why we were here. There was no turning back now. The front doors burst open. Kash, Dice, and I stormed into the bank with our weapons drawn.
“Everybody down!” we shouted in distorted voices generated by the voice modulators hidden beneath our silicone masks.
Screams immediately erupted as customers dropped to the marble floor. Cell phones clattered beside them while parents pulled their children close. A few people froze in place until Donnie fired a warning shot into the ceiling. The deafening blast echoed throughout the bank.
“I said get the fuck down!” Donnie roared, his massive frame making the room feel even smaller. His job was simple, be the muscle. Keep everybody on the ground and make damn sure nobody got any bright ideas.
Behind the tinted glass upstairs, I caught movement. We approached the bank tellers quickly and pulled out our guns before they could press the alarm. I stood right there, begging one of them to make a move so I could shoot. Then I heard a voice through my earpiece.
“Kash,” the voice crackled. “Second floor. Two security guards and five employees in the offices. Clear it.”
“Copy.”
Without hesitation, Kash sprinted toward the staircase and went to handle business. Dice peeled off to the left, her red-bottom heels clicking against the marble floor. The first security guard barely had time to reach for his weapon before Dice put a round through his thigh.
“Ahhh!”
He crashed to the floor, clutching his leg while his pistol skidded across the marble. When he tried to reach for it, she pistol-whipped him across the head. As she towered over him, his eyes widened in disbelief.
“Don’t move unless you wanna lose the other one,” Dice warned.
Meanwhile, Kash disappeared upstairs. Within seconds, muffled screams and boots pounding across the second floor echoed overhead. She swept through every office with military precision, disarming the second security guard before forcing every employee onto the floor.
“Second floor secure,” she reported calmly through the comm.
“We’re clear,” I said into my earpiece.
“Vault door’s unlocked,” the voice replied as fingers flew across a laptop from the surveillance van parked several blocks away. “You’ve got four minutes before the silent alarm finishes cycling through the backup system. Grab the cash and move.”
“You heard Tech,” I smirked. “Let’s get paid.”
While held the lobby down, Kash, Dice, and I rushed toward the vault.
It had been relocated to the basement. As we made our way downstairs, two armed guards came charging up the steps.
I fired twice, then Dice finished them off before they could get another shot off.
Their bodies hit the concrete stairs with heavy thuds.
We stepped over them and continued toward the vault.
“I’m at the vault,” I said, dropping to one knee in front of the keypad.
“I’ve got eyes on you,” the voice replied through my earpiece. “I’m inside the bank’s network, but that vault is still yours.”
A grin spread across my face beneath the silicone mask. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
I pulled a small black device from my backpack and plugged it directly into the vault’s security panel. The screen immediately lit up with lines of encrypted code as my fingers flew across the keypad.
“C’mon, baby...” I muttered.
“You’re fighting a triple-encrypted firewall. Bypass the first layer and I’ll kill the silent alarm from my end.”
“I know.”
The progress bar slowly climbed…………….ACCESS DENIED.
“Shit.”
I quickly rewrote the exploit and launched another attack.
ACCESS GRANTED.
“There she is,” the voice chuckled.
The heavy vault door released with a loud metallic click before slowly swinging open.
A smile crept across my face.
“Told you she’d open.”
“Less celebrating, more stealing. You’ve got four minutes before the backup system realizes somebody just broke into its vault.”
“You heard him,” I said, motioning to Dice and Kash. “Let’s clean these people out.”
“Hurry up so we can get out of this bitch,” Dice said.
“Let’s go. In and out,” came the response through my earpiece.
Just like he said, within five minutes the bank alarm blared in the background as Dice and I stuffed money into large duffel bags inside the vault. We grabbed nothing but the big bills. We weren’t playing any damn games.
Once we were done, we rushed back upstairs. Donnie gave us the signal to move while keeping his gun trained on all the hostages sitting on the floor. Every last one of them looked terrified.
Everything was going smoothly until one of the bank tellers decided she wanted to play hero.
As I rushed past, the stupid bitch latched onto my leg.
I nearly lost my balance and looked down at her in disbelief.
This idiot really wanted to lose her life over a job that would’ve replaced her before the ink dried on her death certificate.
At first, I raised my gun and aimed it right at her head.
One squeeze of the trigger and the problem would’ve solved itself.
Then I saw my sister’s face. Just like that, Rose flashed through my mind.
My finger froze on the trigger. The hesitation caught me off guard. That shit had never happened before on a job, ever.
Before I could think about it any longer, I drove my boot into the woman twice with all my might. The force of the kicks finally broke her grip, sending her sprawling across the floor. My girls had already made it close to the exit, but that fool had slowed me down.
Just as I was making my way toward the entrance, one of the security guards recovered and fired.
A burning pain exploded through my arm as the bullet tore through it.
Instantly, blood began leaking down my sleeve.
For a split second, I just stared at it in disbelief.
In all the years we’d been pulling jobs, I’d managed to avoid getting shot.
Apparently, my luck had finally run out.
Before the guard could fire another round, Kash spun around and put two bullets in his chest. His body slammed against the wall before collapsing to the floor.
I pressed my hand over the wound instinctively.
My glove came away damp with blood, but it wasn’t pouring out.
“You’ve been shot!” Dice shouted, her eyes widening as she spotted the blood running down my arm.
“Shit! We gotta get outta here!” Kash yelled.
“I’m fine,” I snapped. “Go! Get the fuck outta here! We’ll meet back up.”
For a split second, neither of them moved. They looked like they wanted to argue. Then another police siren wailed, much closer this time.
My arm burned like hell, and I knew I couldn’t carry the money and fight if things went sideways. I yanked the duffel bag off my shoulder and shoved it into Dice’s hands. She caught it against her chest while Kash immediately moved in behind her, her weapon raised, covering our retreat.
They didn’t waste another second. Dice took off with the money while Kash stayed a step behind, keeping her gun trained on every possible threat until they disappeared.
I shoved through the rear exit and burst into the alley behind the building, where Declan’s transport team was waiting for the money. The back doors of the armored truck flew open.
“Load it up!” one of Declan’s men shouted.
Dice tossed the duffel bags inside while Kash stood guard, sweeping the alley with her weapon. Oatz backed out of the bank last, never taking his eyes off the rear exit until every member of the crew had made it outside.
“We’re good!” Declan’s driver yelled.
The truck doors slammed shut, and within seconds it peeled out of the alley with millions of dollars inside.
Once the transport truck disappeared, Dice, Kash, and I threw our legs over our black motorcycles.
Just as I fired mine up, a police cruiser came flying into the alley. The driver’s door swung open.
“Police! Stop!”
We didn’t even look back. Three engines roared to life at the same time, vibrating beneath us like they were just as eager to escape as we were.
“Ride!” Kash shouted.
The three of us shot out of the alley in perfect formation just as police officers poured through the rear exit of the bank.
“Police! Stop!”
“Catch us first!” Dice yelled over the roar of her engine.
I couldn’t help but grin beneath my silicone mask.
Even after everything we’d just pulled off, she still found time to talk shit.
Kash took point while Dice rode on my right.
I stayed slightly behind them, watching.
We had been riding together for years. Nobody had to tell us where to be. We already knew. It was instinct.
The engines roared beneath us while the wind whipped against our faces. We weaved through traffic like we’d practiced it a thousand times, leaving confused drivers laying on their horns as we flew past.
“You still with us, Rebel?” Kash asked through the earpiece.
“I’m on your ass.”
“Good,” she replied. “Stay there.”