“So instead of trying to hijack one of the trucks on the move, we better try to stop it somehow, right?” I asked.
“We’ve tried it as well,” Flynn said. “We managed to stop one of the trucks when they stopped at a red light at an intersection. But the other two trucks got away. Then cops arrived. Since it was happening in the middle of the street, we barely had any cover. While I lock picked the deposit boxes in the back of the truck, the other two guys exchanged fire with the cops. Since I couldn’t aid them, the odds were three to two. So we failed again. After that, we decided to give up on this heist.”
“Three to two ain’t bad odds at all,” Allison put in. “Not if the two players are good at shooting. Which obviously wasn’t the case. Those two guys you played with sucked.”
She hadn’t directly mocked or insulted him this time, so Flynn wasn’t irked by her comment. He just shrugged his shoulders.
“So you don’t know how to do this heist?”
“Nope. I’ve never figured it out.”
It came as a bit of a surprise. Until now, Flynn had always known a way of completing a heist.
“So how are we gonna do this, guys?” I asked flicking my eyes between Flynn and Allison. “Any ideas?”
“Like I said, I have no idea how to do this. But we may try to stop the trucks at an intersection like those two randoms and I did. But we’re gonna need to concentrate only on one truck and let the other two go because there’s no way to stop all of them this way.”
“How much money does a truck carry?” Allison said.
“Each truck carries about ten million dollars,” Flynn responded.
“It isn’t that much,” Allison said, “considering that we get only half of what we earn. Not to mention that the money is shared between the gang members. Stupid game rules.”
“Yeah,” Flynn said. “If we steal all the money from one truck, we’ll get about one million six hundred thousand dollars each.”
“Which is why we have to rob not just one truck but all three of them,” Allison proclaimed shaking her right fist in the air.
“And you know a way to accomplish it?” Flynn asked her.
“Of course, I don’t,” she replied casually. “But it’s not my responsibility to ponder such matters, y’know. I’m just a Punisher. My job is simple: shooting bad guys. Or in this case, good guys. It’s up to the leader of the gang to come up with a workable plan.”
Flynn said nothing, but it was obvious that he agreed with the girl. They both looked at me expectantly.
Since Flynn hadn’t hit the READY button, the heist hadn’t started yet. So we had as much time to come up with a plan as we needed.
I looked at the screen that showed the map of the city and the route the three trucks would be following. I wasn’t a newbie at this point. On the contrary, I knew a lot about this game now. So I turned the problem over for a couple of minutes and an idea crossed my mind.
I touched the tip of my index finger to the screen and traced the route.
“They’re gonna drive this way, right?”
“Yeah,” Flynn said. “So?”
“Let’s ambush them at this intersection,” I said.
“So we’re gonna do this my way?” Flynn said. “Focus on one truck and let the other two go?”
“Not exactly. I seem to have thought of a way to steal the money from all the three trucks.”
And then I told them what I had come up with.
“What do you think?” I asked Flynn after finishing telling them my plan. “Is this going to work?”
“I love it,” Allison almost yelled. “Love it love it love it!”
“Of course, you do,” Flynn said sardonically. “Because you like chaos and destruction, didn’t you?”
“Let’s do it his way!” Allison said barely paying attention to what Flynn had said. “I can’t wait to begin!”
“What about you?” I asked Flynn. “Are you up for this?”
“Answering your first question,” he replied, “I don’t know if it’s going to work. As to the second question, yes, I’d like to try. I didn’t try anything like this when I played the beta, so I’m kinda excited to try this.”
“Let’s do this then.”
After that, we started to purchase the additional assets we needed for this heist.
Half an hour later, I was seated behind the wheel in my car parked in a narrow alley. On the other side of the street in another alley was a white sedan in which was seated Allison. Our cars parked on the opposite sides of the street were facing each other.
I glanced at the screen of my cell phone mounted on the dashboard. It showed the route and three small dots representing the armored cash trucks following it. The vehicles were getting closer by a second. It wouldn’t be long before they made it to this street.
I already had my mask on, concealing my face and hiding my nickname. A SCAR assault rifle lay across my lap. On the front passenger seat was a duffel bag in which we were going to put the money from the trucks.
“They’re almost here,” Allison’s voice came through.
I glanced at the screen of my cell phone again. She was right. Time to get ready.
I turned the engine over, put the car in gear, and gripped the steering wheel.
“Oh my gosh, I can’t wait for this,” Allison said, her voice coming through the earbud in my right ear.
“Don’t get overexcited,” I said. “Concentrate on the task before us.”
As soon as I said that, I saw three big armored cash trucks passed the alley in a single file. They drove at about fifteen miles an hour. They moved slowly because the divers weren’t spooked by anything. Not yet.
Once the last truck passed the alley, I stomped on the gas pedal, pulling out of the alley. Allison did the same. We drove onto the street and stopped in front of each other, positioning our vehicles into a makeshift roadblock.
Grabbing my assault rifle and my bag, I swung the driver’s-door open and jumped from my car in time to see the lead truck enter the intersection. A moment later, a huge semi truck came barreling from the right and slammed into the right side of the lead truck. There was a tremendous crash and the armored cash truck was knocked over by the force of the impact, flipped onto the left side.
According to the plan, Flynn, who was seated behind the wheel in the cab of the semi truck, was to knock the lead truck over and stop in front of the other two armored cash trucks.
However, Flynn must have decided to improvise. So after he tipped the lead cash car over, he drove on, pushing the knocked-over vehicle. Sparks flew from beneath the side of the truck as metal scraped against the asphalt.
There was a clothing store at the corner of two streets. A moment later, Flynn pushed the truck right into the storefront, smashing it. There was enough room to accommodate the knocked-over armored cash car. Once the vehicle was inside the store, Flynn backed up, positioned the semi truck across the street, and slammed on the brake pedal.
Since the way forward was now blocked by the semi truck, the other two armored cash cars stopped in the middle of the intersection.
I glanced at Allison who had climbed out of her car and witnessed the crash as well. Her eyes were wide with excitement.
“Let’s go,” I shouted to the girl.
We burst into a race toward the two stalled armored cash trucks. Since both the way forward and the way back were blocked by the semi truck and our two cars respectively, the drivers of the two trucks started to turn to the right. However, the armored cash vehicles were too slow. It was obvious that they wouldn’t be able to get away from us in time.
Since I didn’t wear any body armor, my movement speed was much higher than that of Allison. I reached the last vehicle, passed it, and ran toward the first one in a row, taking a block of C-4 out of my bag.
There were three types of C-4 in the game: level 1, level 2, and level 3. The level 1 one was pretty weak. It inflicted little
to no damage to the nearby players or NPCs. It was only used to blow open armored doors or small safes.
Once I reached the first truck, which was still slowly driving, making the right turn, I attached a block of C-4 explosive to the diver’s-side door. The explosive was wired to a detonator triggered by a mobile phone.
I hit a button on my cell phone, setting off the block of C-4. The diver’s-side door blew open to reveal an NPC behind the wheel. Since the explosion was pretty weak, the driver went unharmed by it. He stomped on the brake pedal, bringing the vehicle to an abrupt stop, and went for his service pistol.
“Don’t even think about it,” I said in a menacing tone of voice as I pointed my Sig Sauer at his face.
As I had already learned The Real Deal, my intimidation ability was ratcheted up to one hundred percent, meaning that I could now force into surrender not only civilians but security guards as well. Which was why the driver dropped his pistol and put his hands in the air.
“Get out,” I said.
The driver climbed out of the car.
“Now get the heck outta here,” I said. “I’m gonna count to three and then I’ll shoot.”
I didn’t have to say it twice. The NPC whirled around and burst into a race. From the look of things, it didn’t seem that he would be willing to get back here anytime soon. Good.
The crack of pistol fire came from behind. I whirled around and saw the diver of the second truck standing near the open door. He was firing at the girl. She was unwilling to take him out to avoid getting a penalty. So all she could do was run around trying to dodge the bullets.
“I could use some help here,” she shouted, panting.
I ran back toward the second truck, yelling at the driver, “Drop your weapon! Now!”
The NPC turned around, brought his pistol up, and pointed it at me.
“Drop it,” I yelled at him.
The NPC fired his pistol. The bullet zipped past my missing my head by a mere inch. Guess if I hadn’t learned the Dodge skills, the bullet would have lodged itself in my skull.
When I got to within ten feet of the NPC, my intimidation ability took effect and he dropped his pistol. After I scared him away, I turned to face Allison and said, “Blow open this truck. I’ll take care of the other one.”
She nodded, jogged up to the rear of the truck, and started to attach a block of C-4 to the back door. As I ran back toward the other truck, I looked around. Both the trucks stalled in the middle of the intersection. When cops showed up, the gunfight would take place in the open. We would barely have any cover.
“How are you guys doing out there?” Flynn asked, his voice coming through the earpiece in my ear. “I heard gunshots. Have cops arrived already?”
“Nope,” I replied. “Allison was just amusing herself by trying to dodge a guard’s bullets.”
“Ha-ha, very funny,” Allison said.
“Has he wounded you?”
“Nah, I’m fine.”
“Glad to hear that,” Flynn said. “I’m in the store right now. I’ve already lock picked half of the deposit boxes.”
“Good.”
“Cops are bound to arrive any minute now,” Flynn said. “If you need my help, call me.”
“Yeah,” I said placing a block of C-4 to the back door of the truck.
“Don’t you worry about that, Flynn,” Allison said ironically. “We got this. We’re able to take care of the cops without your help, so there’s no need for you to crawl out of that safe place and risk your life. We’re very well aware of what happened when you were doing this heist in the beta.”
Flynn started to reply, but his voice was drowned out by the explosion I had caused. After the door of the truck was blown off its hinges, I got in the back of the truck. Deposit boxes lined the right and left walls of the vehicle. I wasted no time getting my lock-pick device and starting to open them.
Allison opened the back door of the second truck with C-4, but instead of getting inside, she ran toward the vehicle I was in. According to our plan, we were to deal with one truck at a time in order to always stay together and increase our chances of surviving cops’ assault.
We lock-picked the deposit boxes, grabbed the bundles of money, and tossed them into one bag. Then, halfway through the work, we heard the police sirens converging on the intersection.
Allison nodded at me and made to get out of the truck.
“Are you sure you can keep them at bay by yourself?” I asked. “Maybe we should call Flynn over here.”
The original plan had been that Flynn would be lock-picking deposit boxes while Allison and I would be dealing with the cops. Then the girl had said that she could take care of cops on her own. This way, she had said, we would be able to open all the deposit boxes much faster.
“I got this,” she replied. “Don’t worry. Three cops ain’t enough to bring me down.”
Before I could reply, she jumped from the back of the truck and disappeared from sight. I continued to lock-pick the remained deposit boxes.
It wasn’t long before the crackle of gunfire erupted outside. I could clearly hear the distinct rattle of Allison’s squad automatic weapon, as well as the chattering of the cops’ assault rifles. Then came the pounding on the right side of the armored truck as bullets started to strike it.
A couple of moments later, Allison’s voice came through. “Dammit! Dammit!”
“Are you okay?”
“They’ve pinned me down,” she cried out over the roar of the weapons. “I can’t even glance around the truck.”
“Seems like you need my help after all,” I said as I dashed toward the back door.
I stopped just before the door. The cops kept laying down a devastating volume of fire. The bullets struck the armored truck one after another. If I were to jump out of the truck right away, I would run a huge risk of being riddled in a matter of seconds.
I waited for the gunfire to cease at least for a second, but it never did. The cops must have been taking turns firing at the trucks. While one of them was reloading, the other two were firing. This way, they were able to lay down a ceaseless stream of suppressive fire.
“Allison, I can’t get out,” I shouted. “The fire’s too heavy.”
“Okay, I’m gonna run over to the other truck to draw their fire,” Allison replied.
“Be careful,” I said.
A second later, the bullets ceased hitting the truck. I wasted no time jumping from the back of the truck. Once I landed, I took a second to look around. There were three police cruisers a hundred or so feet away from the two armored cash vehicles. The three cops were firing from behind the police cars at Allison who was running toward the second truck. I could clearly see the slugs strike against her body armor.
I took cover behind the truck, looked around the front of the vehicle, and opened fire on the cops. The windshield of one of the police cars exploded. Some of my other bullets struck one player in the chest and he was propelled backward, disappearing from sight behind one police car. The other two cops scattered.
“I made it,” Allison said.
I glanced toward the other truck ten yards from the first one and saw Allison who, just like me, was crouching behind the front of the vehicle.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m down to fifty HP,” she said.
“Need a heal?”
“Yeah. I could do with it.”
“Okay. I’m gonna get over to you. Cover me.”
I saw Allison pop up above the hood of the truck and open up on the cops. I instantly jumped to my feet, burst from cover into the open, and ran toward her. The heavy-caliber rounds were literally tearing the police cars apart.
One of the cops stuck his assault rifle around the front of the car he was crouching behind and started shooting blindingly. Most of his bullets didn’t hit anything, but one of them tore into my left side.
“Dang it!”
The force of th
e impact caused me to collapse to the ground. I got up and staggered toward the second truck. Once I reached it and crouched next to Allison, I glanced at the user interface. The bullet had taken thirty-five points from my Health. The cop had to be using a SCAR or another weapon with the same amount of the damage output.
I deployed two aid kits on the ground in front of us.
> Name: First Aid Kit
> Level: 3
> Type: Consumable
> Level Requirement: None
> Description: Restores 75 points of your Health and gives you 15% protection for 180 seconds.
Allison and I used them. She then thrust her SAW around the front of the truck and continued to pour a stream of lead toward the police cars. I walked the length of the truck, looked around the corner, and started shooting at the cops as well.
“How are you doing, guys?” Flynn asked. “Need my help?”
“Are you done with the deposit boxes?” I asked.
“Not yet. But there’s only three left unopened.”
“Open them,” I said, “and carry the bag to your car. Then get over here.”
“You guys sure you can hold them off without me?”
“Oh, don’t you worry,” Allison said. “We’ll manage somehow.”
I was peering around the corner of the truck. Two of the police cars were obliterated by the onslaught we had unleashed on them. However, there was no sign of the cops.
“Where are they?” I asked.
“I saw one of them get into the grocery store,” Allison said. “Another is hiding behind one of the civilian cars.”
I spotted the grocery store Allison had told me about at the corner of two streets. Also, I spied movement behind one of the cars parked along the curb. Seemed like it was the second player, peeking through the side windows of one car every now and then.
“Where’s the last one?” I asked.
“Don’t know. I missed him.”
The cop crouching behind one of the cars popped his head up to peek from his hiding place. I pulled the trigger, snapping off a short burst at him. Two of my bullets pinged off the hood and the third one tore into the player’s neck, propelling him backward. He dropped out of sight behind the car. I triggered another burst, hoping one of my bullets would penetrate the car and finish the player.
Heist Online Page 15
