The whole action had taken no more than five seconds.
With the rate of speed at which the black pickup truck was moving, it disappeared from sight in just a few seconds. Then a message popped up in my HUD.
> You lost the money! Mission Failed!
Nobody said anything for a couple of seconds.
“What the hell was that?” Flynn finally grumbled next to me.
Chapter Five
“What the hell was that?” Allison said fifteen minutes later, echoing Flynn’s question.
We had just returned to the bank on foot because Flynn’s sedan had been upturned and severely damaged.
“Let’s discuss it later,” I suggested. “We need to get outta here first.”
“The mission’s already over,” Flynn said. “Cops are no longer after us. As you see, even those three cops are long gone.
He was right. There were no police cars in front of the bank now.
“So we can talk right here,” Flynn concluded. “Besides, we were wearing masks, which concealed our nicknames, remember? So according to the game rules, we are clean. Even if those cops return here and recognize us, they won’t be able to do anything to us.”
“Still, I feel kinda uncomfortable being so close to the place we just robbed. Let’s find some safe place.”
Flynn shrugged his shoulders. “Okay.”
After he and I got in my car and Allison climbed in hers, we drove a block away from the bank and pulled into a parking lot. Then the girl stepped from her vehicle and climbed in the back of my sedan.
We just sat in my car for a couple of minutes, brooding over what had happened.
“That team freaking robbed us,” I stated the obvious just to break the tense silence.
“Yeah, no shit,” Flynn rumbled.
“Have you guys picked up on that guy’s stupid British accent?” Allison asked.
“Yeah,” Flynn answered. “At least one of them is a Brit. What I can’t understand, however, is why the hell they robbed us.”
“To take our money, duh,” Allison said.
“But they can’t use them, duh,” Flynn retorted.
Allison looked dumbfounded. “What do you mean by that?”
“The money you steal is dirty. You have to get it to the van. It gets laundered and then transferred to your bank account. Only after that, you can use it to buy things. Moreover, since the money you steal is dirty, you can’t add it to your account. Also, you can’t withdraw money from your bank account as well. Didn’t you know any of that?”
“No,” Allison replied puzzlingly. “I’ve been playing this game only for two days. So what if I want to buy something? How can I buy things?”
“You can do it online. The cost of the item will be automatically taken from your account. Or you can just walk into a store, take things you want to buy, and the total sum of money will be subtracted from your bank account. But if you walk into a store with a bag of money, the cashier won’t accept it. You can set the bag on the counter right in front of them, but they won’t even glance at it. Then when you take some item, its cost will, as always, be subtracted from your bank account despite the bag full of money you’ve put on the counter.”
“You seem very knowledgeable about the game,” Allison observed.
“Like I already told you, I played this game a lot.”
Allison thought about what Flynn had just said for a moment and then she said, “Probably those assholes want to carry the money to the van so that it got transferred on their bank accounts.”
“No,” Flynn replied instantly. “It won’t work.”
“Why?”
“First of all, the van’s long gone since the mission’s already over. Second, it was Striker who took the contract. Then we joined him. So only the three of us could get the money transferred on our bank accounts. Even if that team had known where the van was and put the money in there, it would’ve gotten transferred on our bank accounts, not theirs.”
Flynn went silent for a second, then continued on. “But when the money you’ve stolen gets too far away from you, your mission gets failed and you get no money, no exp, no jack-squat. So even if we chanced on that British gang and returned our money, it would be of no use to us since we’ve already failed the mission. So the bottom line is that neither that gang nor we can use the money now. So why the hell have they put themselves out to rob us?”
“Well,” Allison said, “guess those guys simply didn’t know any of this. They must’ve been sure that they could use the money.”
“Yeah,” Flynn nodded. “That’s the only reasonable explanation I can think of.”
“No way,” I said, finally joining the conversation.
Both Flynn and Allison clammed up and looked at me.
“Those players seem to be pros to me,” I said. “They knew exactly what they were doing. They were well aware that we were carrying the money, they knew where we were going and how to intercept us. They had to be well acquainted with the city. They even had their masks on so we couldn’t see their nicknames. So all things considered, there’s no way they didn’t know the game rules. They must’ve known that the money was of no use to them, yet they wanted to steal it from us anyway.”
“Why?” Allison quizzed.
“I got no idea. I can only speculate about their reasons for doing so. Probably they wanted to rob the bank too, but before they could pick the contract, I beat them to it. They got pissed-off and decided to wait for us to get away with the money stolen from the bank and rob us. Probably they were holed-up somewhere nearby, watching the bank the whole time.”
“Nah, too far-fetched,” Flynn said. “If they were such pros as you think they are, they wouldn’t have been so petty. Besides, once one completes a mission––or fails, for that matter––it becomes available again. So if they’d really wanted to play this contract, they could’ve just waited for us to complete it. But again, I don’t think it was the case. There must be another reason for them robbing us.”
“Like what?” Allison asked.
“Don’t know. But I’m gonna ask around on the official forum. We may not be the only one whom that British gang robbed. Maybe other players know something about them.”
“Good idea,” I said.
“Yeah,” Allison added. “We got a score to settle. Hope we’ll meet them at some point again. Right now I want nothing more than to beat the shit out of them.”
To get the point across, she even smacked the door with her right fist, but then she yelped and looked at her hand, a painful expression on her face. “It hurts!”
“Of course, it does,” Flynn said. “So are we gonna do another heist?”
“Sure,” I said.
We studied the available contracts and picked one.
> Name: Nightclub
> Level Requirement: 0-3
> Difficulty: Easy
> Objective: Your goal is to infiltrate the nightclub owned by a Russian mobster Vladimir, locate a safe in his office, and steal as much money from it as possible.
> (Do you want to pick this contract: Yes/No)
I tapped the “Yes” button. Allison and Flynn joined almost instantly. After we bought some additional assets, I reviewed the preparation menu.
> Preparation Menu:
> Players:
> 1. Player 1
> Name: Striker
> Level: 4
> Class: Shot Caller
> 2. Player 2
> Name: Flynn
> Level: 4
> Class: Engineer
> 3. Player 3
> Name: Allison
> Level: 4
> Class: Punisher
> Weapons: Sig Sauer P226 MK25, AK-47
> Assets: Van, 3 duffel bags, 3 balaclavas, drill, 30 plastic cuffs, lockpicks, 3 sticky surveillance cameras.
Allison wanted to purchase some traps, coils of barbed wire, and tactical panels, but F
lynn stopped her.
“We won’t need any of this,” he explained. “We’re gonna do this in stealth.”
“Stealth? Again?”
“What do you mean ‘again’?” Flynn said. “The last time you blew the stealth and we were forced to play in ‘loud’, thanks to you. So this heist we’re gonna complete in stealth, so please don’t mess it up again.”
Allison looked at me and asked, “You agree with him? Do you want to play in stealth too?”
“Yes, I do.”
The girl huffed. “But what if something goes wrong like the last time? We should buy all that stuff just in case.”
“Let’s make sure nothing goes wrong this time around,” Flynn said. “If you’re not sure of yourself, just wait for us on the first floor while Striker and I are doing all the work. Or you can wait for us outside. We’ll throw bags with money out a window so you can carry them to the van.”
“Sounds like fun,” she muttered sarcastically.
“Or you can just leave,” Flynn said grimly. He seemed to be barely keeping his temper. “So vacate the place for another player if you don’t like our terms.”
However, Allison decided to stay with us for whatever reason.
Flynn glanced at her sternly and started talking.
“Okay, guys, let me brief you on what you should expect on this one,” Flynn said. “This is a much easier heist than the bank. First of all, there’re no surveillance cameras in the nightclub. Second, all the civilians are going to be on the dance floor, which is on the first floor while the mobster’s office is on the second one. Third, the music in there is very loud, so no NPC will be able to hear the noise of the drill. Fourth, since the place is owned by a mobster, there’re no security guards in there. Instead, all the guards are criminals, so we can kill them off without any penalty at all. Just please don’t forget to attach a suppressor this time. I’m referring to you now, Allison. All in all, this heist is a piece of cake because just like the Small Jewelry Store, it was designed specifically for novices, so we shouldn’t hit any snags with this.”
With that, we hit the road. It wasn’t long before we reached our destination. Funny enough, although it wasn’t a night in the game yet, the nightclub was open. After I pulled to the curb on the other side of the street from the nightclub, Flynn gestured toward the windows on the second floor of the building.
“See that?” He asked pointing at the leftmost window. “There’s the office we need to get in.”
“So?” Allison asked.
Flynn twisted in his seat at looked at the girl sternly. “If you don’t want to play in stealth, just hang around the building. Then we’ll throw bags with money out the window and you’ll carry them to the van.”
“Sounds very boring, but I’ll go with it,” Allison said. She then smiled and added, “But I want to go in with you guys, just to look around the place. Was always wondering what nightclubs in the twenty-first century looked like.”
“Whatever,” Flynn said and we climbed out of the car.
We walked to the van parked at the curb and retrieved our stuff. We then crossed the street and approached a burly Slavic-faced NPC standing in front of the main door to the nightclub. Once we stopped in front of him, he fixed with us with a stare.
We looked suspicious as hell: carrying big duffel bags, wearing leather jackets, telltale bulges of pistols clearly noticeable under our clothes. In real life, he would never have let us in. Yet it wasn’t real life.
He gave us a quick look-over, nodded approval, and stepped to the side to let us in.
Once we entered the building, the sound of muted music reached our ears. It grew louder as we walked down the corridor toward a closed door. When we pushed it open and stepped into the main hall, the music became almost deafening.
We looked around the place. There was nothing special about it. A bar to our right, a dance floor to our left, a flight of stairs leading to the second floor in front of us. NPCs danced, drunk, or just milled around.
“Okay guys,” Allison said almost shouting to be heard over the roar of the music. “I’m just gonna take a look around while you guys are doing your thing.”
Flynn huffed. “Have fun.”
Allison walked away.
As we started up the stairs, Flynn said, “The upstairs is a restricted area, so be careful and watch out for guards.”
We stepped away from the second-floor railing so that the NPCs on the first floor couldn’t spot us. Then we put on our balaclavas and drew our silenced guns.
We located the door to the office pretty easily.
“I’ll pick it open,” Flynn said. “Cover me.”
He squatted on his haunches in front of the door and got to work. I crouched next to him, the suppressed Sig Sauer at the ready. I scanned the area as Flynn quickly inserted his lock-pick device and squeezed the lever trigger. I heard the subtle scrapping of metal on metal as the prongs manipulated the pins of the door lock.
A moment later, the bolt clicked home and the doorknob turned under Flynn’s hand. He nodded at me and pushed the door open. We got to our feet and stepped inside.
I quickly looked around the place. We found themselves in a spacious room filled with luxurious furniture. To the right of the door, there was a desk at which was seated an NPC. He spotted us instantly and jumped to his feet, drawing a pistol from under his clothes.
Flynn took him out with a single shot to the head. The bullet drilled through his skull, splattering the wall behind him with gore. The NPC slumped to the floor and Flynn lowered his pistol.
“It was Vladimir, the owner of the place,” Flynn said.
He then walked over to the desk, leaned over, and reached under the desk as if to punch a hidden button. A second later, a section of the wall behind him slid aside to reveal a safe.
While he was attaching an auto-drill to the safe, I crossed the room to one of the windows facing the street. I looked out and saw the main door to the nightclub and the van parked nearby.
The rumble of the drill reached my ears. I turned to look at Flynn and said, “The drill’s so loud. I’m gonna watch the door in case someone walks in.”
“No need,” he replied. “Like I said, this is the owner’s office. Nobody ever walks in here.”
“So what do we do now?”
“The hard part was to find and lock pick the door without encountering guards,” Flynn said. “And we managed to accomplish it without hitting any snags. So all we need to do now is wait for the drill to open the safe, grab the money, and toss it out the windows for Allison to carry it to the van.”
“How long before it opens the safe?” I quizzed.
“It’s no vault door,” Flynn said. “It’s just a small safe. It’s easy for a drill to open it.”
Flynn glanced at the drill’s small monitor screen and added, “It’ll be over in just four and a half minutes.”
“So now we just sit on our asses and wait?”
“Yep. That’s right.”
“You were right,” I grinned. “This heist is easy as pie.”
“Don’t jinx it,” Flynn replied grimly. “We have Allison on our team, remember?”
“Hey guys,” I heard the girl’s voice coming from the earpiece in my ear.
“Talk of the devil and he will appear,” Flynn rumbled.
“I gotta tell you something, guys,” she said casually. “Just don’t freak out.”
“What have you done this time?” Flynn barked before the girl could finish.
“Hey, don’t yell at me. Nothing too bad happened. I just accidentally killed someone.”
“What?” Flynn shouted. “You killed a civilian?”
“‘Accidentally’?” I put in.
“Yeah. I was in the kitchen area when this guy walked in and started shouting at me in a heavily accented voice. I could barely understand what he was saying.”
“Probably it was a guard,” I said. “Think he
was trying to get you out of the kitchen.”
“Yeah. That’s what I thought too. But it was too late. As I started for the way out, he drew his pistol. So I shot him. I didn’t want to kill him, but I had no choice, guys. Don’t get all mad at me.”
“Hope you had a suppressor on your pistol this time,” Flynn said.
There was an eerie silence on the other end of the line.
“Allison,” Flynn said through his teeth, “did you have a silencer on your handgun?”
“No,” she replied in a raised voice “I did not. I didn’t screw it on my gun because I wasn’t planning on killing anyone to begin with. I didn’t even have my mask on.”
“You gotta be effing kidding me,” Flynn growled.
“Guys, I think everything’s gonna be okay.”
“You think so?” Flynn said sardonically.
“Yes. Besides this guy and myself, nobody was in the kitchen. I hid the body and peeked into the main room. The NPCs were still dancing. The music in there was so loud nobody seemed to have heard the gunshot.”
Flynn mulled over it for a second and said, “Maybe you’re right.”
“I think I am,” she replied cheerfully.
“But if you are not,” Flynn said grimly, “then we’re screwed because cops might be on en route to this place and we have no traps, no armored panels, no nothing.”
“And whose fault is that?” The girl blurted.
I could clearly see that Flynn’s short fuse was about to blow.
“Allison, please, just clam up, will ya?” I said.
We tensely waited a few moments, but nothing happened. Seemed like the girl was right and nobody had heard the gunshot.
We had barely relaxed when Allison’s voice came through again.
“Guys, we got a problem.”
“What’d you do this time?” Flynn snarled.
“I smashed a window.”
“And you did it accidentally again, right?” I asked.
“No, I did it on purpose,” she confessed.
Heist Online Page 10
