“What?” Flynn snapped at her.
“So you got bored and decided to amuse yourself by breaking windows?” I inquired.
“Well, not exactly,” she replied. “There was a back door, but it wouldn’t open and I had no lock picks. There was also this big window. I decided to smash it so we can have another way out. I made sure nobody was nearby before I broke it. Nobody heard the noise, I swear!”
“Hope so,” I said.
“I mean, nobody in the building heard it,” she said slowly. “But there was a passer-by who happened to walk past the window. He started crying like crazy and ran away. I ran after him. I drew my gun, wanted to shoot him, but then remembered that I had no silencer. Besides, I didn’t want us to get a penalty. So I didn’t shoot him, but other passers-by spotted me holding my pistol and reached for their cell phones… Well, long story short, I think cops are on the way.”
“Have you at least donned your mask?” I asked.
“Yes, I remembered to put it on before getting out the broken window.”
“To be honest, I’m sick of her already,” Flynn muttered making sure the girl couldn’t hear him.
“Cut her some slack, man,” I said. “She didn’t do it on purpose.”
“You sure about this?” He replied caustically.
“I mean, she didn’t want to blow stealth on purpose,” I said as I walked up to the drill and looked at the screen. “Moreover, it’s only thirty seconds before it’s over. We may be able to grab the money and get outta here before cops even arrive.”
“Let’s hope so.”
Soon the safe was open. Flynn and I started to fill our bags with the bundles of hundred-dollar bills from the safe. Before we could finish the job, we heard police sirens converging on the nightclub.
“Guys, cops are coming,” Allison said. “I see three police cars driving this way!”
“Dang it,’ Flynn cursed. “Those cops must’ve been real close to this place.”
“Allison, where are you at now?” I asked.
“Just in front of the nightclub.”
“Okay, listen. There’s a change in the plan. Find some cover and wait for us to come out. We ain’t gonna throw the bags out the windows. We’ll grab them and walk out the main door.”
“Got it.”
Flynn zipped up one of the two duffel bags and glanced at me. “You sure about this, Striker?”
“Yes. She wouldn’t be able to carry the bags to the van with the cops on top of her.”
Flynn just shrugged and continued on, “Okay. I’ll deal with the money then. You go help her.”
He walked up to the safe to resume the work. There were a few more bundles in the safe.
“Or you can join us, Allison,” I said.
“Nah, I’ll stay here.”
“Okay. Just try to hold out until we come out.”
The screech of brakes came from the street. I dashed across the room to one of the windows and looked out. One after another, three police cruisers skidded to a stop in front of the nightclub. The driver’s-side doors swung open and the cops started to get out of their cars.
I brought up my M4A1, smashed the window with its stock, and thrust the barrel out. I depressed the trigger and swept the muzzle back and forth, pouring a stream of lead down. The cops scattered, scrambling to take cover behind their police cars.
Allison, who was behind my car parked along the curb, rose from her crouch and propped her squad automatic weapon on the vehicle’s roof. She then took aim and opened up on the cops as well. The police cars took lots of damage. The windows shattered, the tires blew out, and ragged lines of bullet holes appeared on the bodies of the cars as the full metal jacket rounds peppered the police cruisers.
The cops thrust their assault rifles into the open and fired blindingly at where they assumed their enemies were. As far as I could tell, none of the participants of the gunfight was wounded yet.
We exchanged fire for about half a minute. Then Flynn shouted to me, “Striker, I’m done!”
I glanced over my shoulder to see that the safe was empty now. The two zipped-up bags lay at Flynn’s feet.
“Can we get out the windows?” I asked. “Is there fall damage in this game?”
“Yes, it is,” Flynn replied. “We’re on the second floor, so we might end up with broken legs. We wouldn’t feel the pain, of course, but we wouldn’t be able to walk.”
“Grab one bag and get out then,” I said. “I’ll cover you.”
“What about you?”
“Once you in the street, it’ll be my turn to go out.”
“They’re pressing me, guys,” Allison exclaimed.
“She’s holding out against the three cops on her own,” I said. “Go help her.”
Flynn nodded, slung one bag across his shoulders, and dashed out of the room. I looked out the window and unleashed a stream of fire on the cops firing at the vehicle Allison was hiding behind. The impact of my bullets propelled one cop backward. He hurriedly scrambled for cover.
Before I could finish him off, another cop directed his fire on my window. I was forced to duck out of sight as the rounds arced through the window. I crawled on all fours toward another window, reloaded my assault rifle, and got to my feet.
I saw that Allison had already popped up from behind the vehicle and fired one burst after another at the cops, causing them to run for cover.
The main door to the nightclub suddenly swung open, crashing against the wall. Flynn burst from the building, firing at the cops on the run. I provided covering fire for him.
After he got to safety and joined Allison behind the vehicle, I turned around, grabbed the second bag, and made for the door. I dashed toward the stairs and raced down the steps. The building was seemingly empty. The NPCs must have gotten out of the nightclub when they heard the gunfire.
Suddenly, a single shot rang out and I felt something zip past my head. At first, I thought that one of the cops had managed to sneak in the building undetected somehow. Then I heard someone shout in the Russian language, “Stoyat’!”
It was one of the guards. Without slowing down, I pointed my assault rifle at the mobster, cut him down with a short burst from the M4A1, and then ran out of the building.
Flynn and Allison spotted me and opened up on the cops while I was racing along the sidewalk toward my teammates. After I reached them, Flynn jumped in the car behind the wheel, Allison climbed in the front passenger seat, and I got in the back.
He pulled off the curb with a squeal of tires and barreled down the street. When we drove past the police cruisers the cops were hiding behind, Allison and I poured a withering firestorm into the police vehicles. At least one of them was totally demolished by the terrific rain of lead we unleashed on it.
Then we were clear of police cars. Allison and I commenced reloading our guns. After slamming a fresh mag into my assault rifle, I glanced back and said, “They will come after us.”
“Sure they will,” Flynn replied.
It wasn’t long before we heard police sirens behind us. I looked around and saw two vehicles gaining on our sedan.
The cop in the front seat of the lead car leaned out of the passenger window and started pouring a long stream of fire into our car. His bullets struck the trunk, ripping through it. They then clawed their way up and shattered the rear windshield.
One of the bullets hit me in the chest, taking twenty-five points of my Health.
“Dammit,” Flynn yelled as some of the rounds arced through the interior of the car and tore into the dashboard, breaking it. “You guys gotta do something about them real fast!”
I flipped the selector switch to full auto, put the police cruiser in my iron sights, and slid my finger into the trigger guard. I then dumped twenty slugs into the lead police car.
And that was when our car swerved and all my bullets went wide. Flynn commenced spinning the steering wheel back and forth, throwing the car from side to side to imp
ede our enemies’ aim. That did the trick. Much fewer rounds were penetrating our vehicle now that it had begun a snaking motion. However, our speed dropped abruptly. Moreover, it was way more difficult for me to aim now due to Flynn’s zigzagging driving.
My rifle went dry. I dropped flat on the back seat and started swapping mags. Leaning out the passenger window, Allison blasted away at the police cars, laying down a heavy volume of fire but didn’t achieve any success yet.
I slammed the fresh mag home, sat up, and opened up through the broken rear windshield again. One of my bullets finally chewed into the gunner’s face. The player’s limp body slid in the car of the police car.
The second cruiser caught up with the first one and was racing alongside now. The driver had a submachine gun out the window and propped on the side mirror. A star-pattern burst erupted from the muzzle of the SMG as the player depressed the trigger.
Allison let loose with another long stream of fire, pouring bullets into the first car. She obviously aimed for the car’s radiator grille to damage the engine block. However, the big SAW was hard to control and the muzzle climbed with the recoil, the bullets stitching a line of holes across the car’s hood, drilling through the windshield and chewing the driver apart, blood splashing all over the interior of the car.
The driver dead, the police cruiser swerved off the street and rear-ended an SUV parked along the curb.
The remaining cop was still behind us and kept firing at our sedan. The bullets thudded into the body of our vehicle and zipped past me. I stroked the trigger, firing short burst into the police car. The assault rifle bucked against my shoulder as smoking spent shell casing arced out of the ejection port and clinked to the floor of the back of the car.
The enemies’ rounds drilled holes through the trunk of our sedan. Two more bullets hit me, reducing my Health to twenty-five points.
“Damn,” I cussed as my rifle ran dry again.
I ducked under the window to reload my gun only to find out that I had no more mags for the M4A1. The player concentrated his fire on Allison now. I could clearly see some of his bullets strike against her body armor. Still, the girl kept leaning out the window and firing back.
I dropped the now useless assault rifle to the floor, drew the Sig Sauer, and sat up. I zeroed in on the player and began easing the trigger back.
Then something happened. One of the sedan’s tires blew out as a stray bullet hit it. I felt the vehicle slide sideways. Flynn was fighting with the steering wheel, struggling to bring our car into a straight line before it rammed into one of the buildings or plowed into a stray streetlight. Eventually, he regained his traction and had the car racing straight again.
Another tire blew out sending our car fishtailing violently.
“That asshole’s really starting to piss me off,” Flynn shouted as he was trying to get the car back under control.
Yet another tire ruptured to pieces with a resonant bang. Our sedan went skidding, turning sideways, the momentum carrying the vehicle toward the left shoulder of the street, the car completely out of control now. Ahead of us loomed a storefront, rapidly filling the view.
“Hang on,” Flynn yelled just before the car crashed headlong through the storefront, smashing it to thousands of glittering pieces pelting the roof of our sedan like a heavy downpour.
Our battered, bullet-riddled car plowed through food stands, magazine racks, and shelves until Flynn slammed on the brake pedal, bringing the vehicle to a stop just before the rear wall of the room.
“Bail out,” he shouted at the top of his lungs.
He punched the seat belt release button and jerked the door open just as Allison and I did the same. We jumped out of the car and looked back through the broken storefront. We saw the last police cruiser come to a stop in front of the store.
We exchanged glances and without saying anything to one another, stepped out of the ruined store to unleash a devastating firestorm on the police cruiser with everything we had. The player tried to scramble out of the car. He swung the door open, but before he could get to safety, our rounds penetrated him. His blood-covered, bullet-riddled body toppled out the open door.
“Okay, what now?” Allison asked.
We looked around, but the two other players were nowhere to be seen. Probably they hadn’t revived yet.
“Follow me,” Flynn said and jogged toward an SUV parked at the curb.
He tried the door. It was locked. He took the lock-pick device from his pocket and inserted it. A few seconds later, there was a soft click. He opened the door and climbed behind the wheel. This time, I slid in the front seat and Allison got in the back. We swung the doors close behind us.
The key wasn’t in the ignition as we had hoped it would be. Flynn tapped down the sun visors. Nothing dropped down. He then checked the glove compartment and under the seats. However, there were no keys in the car.
“Dammit,” Flynn said. “Looks like we gotta do it the hard way then. Just gimme a minute, guys.”
“Oh sure,” Allison said ironically. “There’s no need to hurry whatsoever. After all, we haven’t just robbed a nightclub, stiffed three cops, and left death and destruction in our wake, have we?”
“Just… shut up,” Flynn said.
“You gonna hot-wire it?” I asked.
“Yeah. Might take a minute.”
Allison looked like she was about to make fun of him again, but before she could open her mouth, I said to her, “You better keep your eyes peeled for the cops.”
Flynn popped the side panel with the blade of his jackknife and took a cluster of wires in his hand. Allison and I scanned the street, looking for the three cops. We didn’t get a message about the whereabouts of the van, which meant that we hadn’t gotten far enough from the nightclub yet. Hence, when the cops we had killed revived, they would be notified about our location and race after us again.
Finally, Flynn twisted two leads together and the engine roared to life. He wasted no time pulling from the curb and accelerating down the street. I watched intently behind us, but there was no sign of the cops.
Shortly afterward, we received notifications about the van’s location, which meant that we had given the cops the slip. Probably, they hadn’t even revived in time to give chase to us.
Allison lifted her left hand to pull her ski mask off her head.
“Wait,” Flynn said. “Don’t do this yet.”
“Why? Am I missing something? Thought we’ve gotten away from the cops, haven’t we”
“Don’t forget about the British gang.”
Allison froze. She had actually forgotten about the players who had recently robbed us. But I hadn’t. I had my pistol drawn and at the ready in case those players showed up again. It seemed implausible, but better be safe than sorry.
A tense silence hung in the car as we drove through the streets. Every time we drove through an intersection, we tensed in anticipation of the big black truck.
However, the British gang never showed up and we made it to the van without encountering any trouble.
After Flynn pulled over, we took the bags with the money and stepped out of the SUV. When we put the bags in the van and slid the side door close, the black vehicle drove away.
A couple of seconds later, a message popped up in my HUD.
> Mission Accomplished
> Money stolen: $600,000
> Money laundered: $300,000
> Penalty: none
> Gang members survived: 3
> Money earned: $100,000
We had stolen six hundred thousand dollars. It was dirty money, so it had to be laundered, which was expensive. The cost for laundering was half the sum a gang stole. So each of us had received a hundred thousand dollars. It seemed to be a lot of money to me, but like Flynn had already told me, everything was very expensive in this game.
My cell phone chirped. I pulled it out and read the message. “You have just received $100,000 on yo
ur bank account.”
Also, another notification appeared before my eyes.
> +2000 exp
> Congrats! You have just leveled up to level 6! You have got 2 skill points to assign.
I checked my phone’s clock. I had been playing the game for several hours. I decided to do another heist and go offline.
I pocketed the cell phone and looked at my teammates.
“Up for another one?”
Chapter Six
We decided to assign our skill points first. So I brought up the skill tree and examined it.
> Level 4 Branch
> Name: Tactical Reload 2
> Description: Increases reload speed with all weapons by 50%.
> Cost: 1 skill point
> Note: You cannot learn Tactical Reload 2 if you do not have Tactical Reload 1 unlocked.
> Name: Steady
> Description: Increases hip fire accuracy by 10%, movement speed penalty for iron sights gets ignored, and also drastically reduces weapon recoil with all weapons.
> Cost: 3 skill points
> Name: Dodge 2
> Description: You have got a 10% chance of avoiding being hit by enemies’ bullets.
> Cost: 1 skill point
> Note: You cannot learn Dodge 2 if you do not have Dodge 1 unlocked.
> Name: Stamina Capacity 3
> Description: Increases total Stamina by 75%.
> Cost: 1 skill point
> Note: You cannot learn Stamina Capacity 3 if you do not have Stamina Capacity 2 unlocked.
> Name: Movement Speed 3
> Description: Increases Movement Speed by 15%.
> Cost: 1 skill point
> Note: You cannot learn Movement Speed 3 if you do not have Movement Speed 2 unlocked.
I used one skill point to learn the Dodge 2 skill. The fifth branch of the skill tree was unlocked now. I checked it out.
Heist Online Page 11
