In one corner of the room attached to the wall was a surveillance camera. It was trained at the center of the room. A security guard walked around the room, a pistol riding in its holster on his right hip.
“Okay, guys, let’s take a look around before we rob this place,” Flynn said.
“Probably you shouldn’t talk about our intentions out loud,” Destroyer said nervously staring at the security guard.
“Relax, dude,” Flynn said. “You can say whatever you want. NPCs don’t give a rat’s ass about you as long as you don’t shout, put a mask on, or draw your gun. In other words, they only get spooked when you do something threatening. So get your shit together.”
Flynn was right. We wandered around the place, but no NPC paid us any attention. Even the security guard wouldn’t so much as cast a glance at us. We took a couple of moments to familiarize ourselves with the layout.
There was a door on the far side of the room with a sign that read “Staff Only”. Above the door was another surveillance camera. It was impossible for us to open the door without the camera noticing us.
“There had to be another way to get there,” I said.
“You’re right,” Flynn answered. “Follow me.”
He led us out of the building. We strode the length of the building, turned around the corner, and entered a narrow alley. We walked down the alley until we reached a chain-link fence stretched across the passage.
“It’s time to put our masks on,” Flynn said.
I looked back to see if there were any NPCs nearby. There wasn’t. I reached into my pocket and took my balaclava out of it. Before putting it on, I looked at Flynn and asked, “What if some NPC walks in here?”
Flynn shook his head. “Civilians don’t usually do that. They more often than not just pass such alleys without even looking into them.”
We put on our balaclavas.
“What’s next?” Destroyer asked as he drew his pistol and worked the slide to chamber the first round.
“Put it away, you dummy,” Flynn snapped at him. “You don’t need it right now.”
“Why?” Destroyer asked sounding defiant. “If we put on the masks, why don’t we draw our guns?”
“Because you need both your hands to scale this fence,” Flynn said glaring at Destroyer. “And second, I don’t want you to fire your gun accidentally.”
Destroyer looked at me as if for the confirmation.
“Do as he says.”
After Destroyer pocketed his handgun, Flynn mumbled something under his breath, shaking his head, and scaled the fence. He then landed catlike on the other side. Since I was higher than Flynn, I just jumped, throwing myself into the air, and grabbed the top of the fence. I then heaved myself up and swung my legs over. I then somersaulted to the ground, dropping at the knees to absorb the shock. A few seconds later, Destroyer landed next to me.
“Let’s go,” Flynn said as he started down the alley.
We passed two garbage containers and reached a window. I looked through it and saw a small office. At the desk next to the window was seated an NPC. He sat sideways but didn’t notice me.
“Get down,” Flynn said. “We’re trespassing right now. The NPC in there is a manager. If he sees us, he’ll call security guards.”
“So what do we do?” Destroyer asked.
“You two wait here,” Flynn said.
He ducked under the window, then lifted himself a little, and peered into the interior. Slowly and carefully, he opened the window and started to climb through it into the room. The NPC spotted him out of the corner of his eye and started to get up.
Flynn vaulted through the window and dashed toward the manager, drawing the Sig Sauer on the run. Just as the manager stood up and turned around to run, Flynn got to him and smashed him on the head with the butt of his pistol. The NPC collapsed to the floor.
I saw Flynn quickly lean over the lifeless body, pull something out of the chest pocket of the manager’s shirt, and place the thing in an inner pocket of his leather jacket, closing the zipper.
“Did he kill him?” Destroyer gasped.
No notification about the penalty for killing a civilian popped up in my HUD, which meant that the manager might be still alive.
“Don’t think so,” I answered Destroyer’s question.
“Get in here, guys,” Flynn called from inside the room.
When Destroyer and I climbed through the window, Flynn checked the motionless body of the NPC and said, “In case you’re wondering if he’s alive, he is. I’ve just knocked him out. He’ll come around in a few minutes, so you better tie him up.”
“Yeah.”
I reached into my bag, took out a pair of plastic handcuffs, and cuffed the manager’s wrists behind his back.
“What do we do now?” Destroyer wanted to know as he drew his handgun again.
“How many times do I have to tell you to put your piece away?” Flynn snarled at him.
“But if we’re already robbing this place, we better have our guns out,” Destroyer said. “And you already have your pistol drawn.”
“For crying out loud, do as I say,” Flynn said annoyingly.
“Okay, okay,” Destroyer conceded as he pocketed his handgun. “Just wanna help, that’s all. What’s the point in playing team-based games if you do everything by yourself?”
“Exercise patience, dammit,” Flynn snarled through his teeth. “We need to complete it in stealth so we can get more money and exp.”
While they were bickering, I looked around the room and spotted a safe in the wall to my right. Yet I was well aware that everyone in this building might hear the drill if we deployed it.
Flynn noticed me looking at the safe and said, “Not now. We need to secure this place first.”
“Yeah, I know.”
He stepped to the door, opened it a crack, and peered through.
“Clear,” he said as he swung the door wide and walked out.
Destroyer and I followed him and found themselves in a hallway. Across from the manager’s office was the door to the security room. I turned my head left and saw that the corridor led to a door. The other end of the corridor ended in a window.
“Through that door, we can get into the main room,” Flynn said.
I nodded. “Thought that much.”
“But first we need to deal with the cameras,” he said as he stepped up to the door to the security room. He stopped, cast a glance at Destroyer, and added grumpily, “Let me handle this if you don’t mind.”
“Be my guest,” Destroyer said, generously giving him permission to do so.
Flynn opened the door and dashed through it. A moment later, I heard the sound of his pistol cracking against the head of whoever was inside, which was followed by the thump of the body collapsing heavily to the floor.
Destroyer and I crammed into a small security room, which looked exactly like the one from the training mission. I took a pair of tie zip cuffs and tied the hands of the security guard lying on the floor.
There was another door. Flynn opened it, peered through, then closed it again.
“It’s the back door,” he informed us.
“So we have two ways out,” I said. “That’s good.”
“What do we do next?” Destroyer asked. Before either Flynn or I could answer him, he added, “Now you’re gonna say that I am to watch these the two NPCs you’ve knocked out in case they come around.”
“Actually, I wasn’t going to say this,” Flynn replied. “But you’re right. Someone gotta watch them. So you stay here and keep an eye on them.”
“Great,” Destroyer said. “It’s so exciting.”
Flynn and I then left the room and started down the corridor.
“Okay, listen,” Flynn said. “There’s the last security guard in the main room.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m gonna try to knock him out like the other two NPCs,” Flynn explained. “But
it may not work. You can scare civilians by shouting or aiming at them. Security guards, however, don’t get spooked as easily. You have to have the Real Deal skill to be able to threaten them into surrender. Only a Shot Caller can learn this skill. Since you’re only level 1, you don’t have it yet, right?”
“No, I don’t.”
“So here’s what we’re gonna do. We walk in. I run toward the guard to knock him out. If you see him go for his gun while I’m still too far away from him, shoot the bastard to death.”
“That’s gonna cost us one hundred grand.”
“I know. But if he fires his pistol, not only the NPCs in the store but also all the passers-by in the street who happen to be close to the store will hear the shot. So let’s not take any chances here. If we manage to do it in stealth, we’ll earn lots of money. It’ll easily cover the penalty for one guard killed.”
“Okay.”
I drew the Sig Sauer from my waistband and screwed the sound suppressor onto the muzzle.
“You ready?” Flynn asked.
“Yeah. Let’s do this.”
Flynn swung the door open and walked into the main room. I stepped through the door after him and quickly looked around. The security guard stood in the middle of the room.
My partner wasted no time in dashing toward him. I stepped to the side so that Flynn wasn’t in my line of fire and put the security guard’s head in my iron sights.
The civilians in the room gasped and froze when they noticed two masked men toting firearms. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the NPCs trying to fish a cell phone out of her pocket. Dang it.
The security guard noticed Flynn and reached for the pistol in the holster on his hip. My partner was almost on him now, but I wasn’t sure if he would be able to get to the NPC in time.
When the guard pulled his handgun out, Flynn was still out of striking range. I wasn’t willing to run a risk of blowing stealth, so I curled my finger around the trigger and put pressure on it. The Sig Sauer spat out a bullet. It zipped through the air before lodging itself in the guard’s skull.
> –$100,000
As the security guard collapsed to the floor, some of the NPCs started to scream.
“Shut the fuck up,” Flynn yelled at them, waving his pistol around. “Everybody shut up and hit the deck.”
Some of the civilians complied immediately. I saw one of the NPCs dash across the floor toward the way out. I burst into a run to intercept him. I came up to the NPC when he had already reached the door. Before he could dart out of the store, I grabbed him by the shoulders and dropped him to the floor.
“Stay down,” I shouted as I pointed my pistol at him.
Flynn continued to yell and threaten the NPCs with his handgun until every single one of the civilians lay on the floor.
“What the heck is going on over there?” I heard Destroyer’s voice coming from the earpiece in my ear. “I just saw the notification about the penalty. You’ve just killed a civilian, haven’t you? And I thought that you guys were pros.”
“Clam up and get over here,” Flynn instructed. “We need your help.”
“You guys just screwed it up and now you need my help. Great.”
“We haven’t screwed anything up yet, dammit,” Flynn rumbled. “Get over here, now!”
“Okay, okay. I’m coming. Geez. You’re so toxic, man.”
Flynn just looked up at the ceiling and uttered something incomprehensible.
By the time Destroyer got in the main room, Flynn and I had cuffed some of the NPCs.
Flynn walked up to him and said, “Stay here and watch the hostages. There are a few more NPCs that we haven’t cuffed yet. So it’s up to you to do so. Also, keep your eyes peeled for any passers-by. If some NPC walks in, take him or her hostage and drag them in the store. You got it?”
I handed the remaining plastic handcuffs over to Destroyer. He looked at us and asked, “And what exactly are you guys going to do while I’ll be obliged to do all these exciting things you’ve just told me to do?”
“We need to disable the alarm first,” Flynn explained. “Then we’re going to drill open the safe in the manager’s office. It’s going to be pretty loud. The hostages will be freaking out over the noise, so you have to stay here and keep them under control.”
Destroyer gave him a mocking salute and said, “You got it, boss.”
Flynn started to turn around, then stopped, and looked at Destroyer again.
“And don’t touch anything,” he said sternly. “Wait for us to come back.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Destroyed replied, waving Flynn away.
“Let’s go,” Flynn said to me and we started toward the corridor, the way we had come a couple of minutes earlier.
“We need to disable the display case alarm,” Flynn said to me.
“How do we do that?”
“By using this,” Flynn explained as he pulled a keycard from an inner pocket of his jacket. It was the thing that he had taken from the manager’s pocket after knocking him out.
Flynn added, “There’s a control panel in the manager’s office. I should’ve used the keycard to turn off the alarm when we were there.”
“Why didn’t you do that?”
“Totally forgot about it because of Destroyer bitching and arguing all the time. This guy is really something. So we need to disable the alarm now, then we’ll deploy the drill, and––”
We were a few feet into the corridor when the sound of glass shattering reached our ears from behind. A moment later, the alarm started blaring.
“What the heck?” I said.
Flynn looked at me, whirled around, and darted back down the corridor. I burst into a race after him. When we got in the main room, we saw Destroyer standing beside one of the shattered display cases. He held a pistol in his right hand, with which he had just broken the glass display case. Transparent fragments lay scattered on the floor near the player.
“Oops,” Destroyer said as he saw Flynn glaring at him.
“What the heck have you done?” He snapped at him.
“I just wanted––”
“What the hell have you done?” Flynn repeated, beside himself.
“I’m telling ya, man, I just wanted to collect some of the jewelry. Thought I would save us some time.”
“Didn’t I tell you not to touch anything?” Flynn growled.
“You did. But you neglected to warn me about the freaking alarm.”
“Are you dumb or what?” Flynn was almost shouting now.
“Hey, no need to be so rude,” Destroyer said. “It’s not my fault it happened.”
“Oh really? And whose fault is that?”
“You should’ve warned me about the alarm,” Destroyer proclaimed.
Flynn’s face turned red. “You mean, it is my fault, huh?”
“No, I’m just saying––”
“I did tell you about the alarm, don’t you remember?”
Destroyer’s eyes cleared as if he had just remembered something. “Yeah, I seem to recall you saying something about having to disable the alarm. But you should’ve warned me that shattering the display cases would set off the alarm.”
“Oh my god, how stupid can you be? I told you about the alarm and then I told you not to touch anything as well. What part of “Don’t touch anything” was so hard to understand? I couldn’t predict all the things you might be stupid enough to do. I sure as hell didn’t expect you to be so dumb that you might smash a display case just after I told you not to touch anything. I just didn’t think that you could be that dumb!”
The alarm suddenly stopped blaring.
Flynn turned his head to look at me and said, “This is why I suggested we do this heist without a third player.”
“How long until cops get here?” I inquired.
“It depends,” Flynn replied. He seemed to have gotten a grip on himself somewhat. “If there are cop players nearby, then they’
ll be here any minute now. However, usually it takes them two to five minutes to get to a place being robbed.”
“Well, then we better get busy,” I said.
“Right.”
All three of us jumped into action. Now that the alarm had already sounded and cops were en route to this place, there was no point in disabling the alarm. We smashed the display cases, grabbed handfuls of jewelry, and tossed them into our respective bags.
Some of the hostages started to crawl toward the way out. I wanted to intercept them, but Flynn stopped me.
“You can forget about them,” he said. “Doesn’t matter now. We need to gather as much jewelry as possible before cops arrive.”
However, it wasn’t long before cops showed up. There was a screech of brakes being applied and the squealing of tortured tires as three police cruisers came to a stop in front of the jewelry store. Through the two big windows, I saw the driver’s-side doors of the three cars swing open. Three players jumped out of their vehicles and brought their assault rifles to bear on the jewelry store.
“Hit the deck,” I shouted as the cops cut loose with their weapons.
We dropped to the floor. The two big windows of the store exploded in thousands of shards. I saw the three players start walking toward the jewelry store, discharging their assault rifles.
My white sedan, which was parked right in front of the store, was reduced to the undriveable wreckage in a matter of seconds as the rounds tore through it. The windows were gone, the tires flat, gray smoke billowing through the multiple holes in the hood.
“They’re shooting at us,” I shouted.
“No shit,” Destroyer replied.
“Why are they shooting?” I yelled over the roar of the assault rifles.
“Probably because they want us dead,” Destroyer stated.
I ignored his cute remark and looked at Flynn who had flattened himself next to me. “With the onslaught they’re unleashing, they can easily kill the hostages. They don’t give a shit about collateral damage, or what?”
“These reckless guys probably don’t,” Flynn replied ducking his head as several full metal jacket rounds zipped over him.
Heist Online Page 4
