Best Partner
Two men walked down a dark, empty street and turned into a dark alley. Everything was going as planned as Sam and Jake climbed a rusty metal ladder they had positioned against the alley wall the day before. Dressed all in black, each carrying a burlap sack filled with special tools, they climbed to the top of the building. From there, they looked across the street and saw a metal building with “National American Bank” written in bold neon-blue letters. They had prepared for this moment for the last month. Now, it was make or break time.
As practiced a hundred times before, they quickly strapped on harnesses. Out of his bag Sam pulled a gun with a pointed metal spike at the tip. Aiming at the rooftop of the bank below, he fired. The spike, followed by a coil of unwinding rope, flew above the busy street below and implanted itself firmly in the roof. Now that one end of their path was secure, Sam and Jake went to the edge of the roof they were on and found the steel spike they had hammered into it. Around this they tied the other end of the rope. All that was left was to do was cross the path they had just made.
“I’ll go first,” said Sam. He clipped his harness to the rope and jumped off the roof. He slid along the rope very fast, and he couldn’t do anything to slow himself down. He collided with the bank at break-neck speed, but managed to cushion most of the impact with his forearms. After catching his breath for a second, he put both hands on the roof and lifted himself up. Unclipping himself from the rope, and taking off the harness, he signaled for Jake to come. Jake mimicked Sam’s actions and came flying down the rope. His job was a little harder because he had to carry the bag of tools. Just as he was about to run into the wall, Jake extended his leg, then bent them as he came into. He handed the bag up to Sam, then began to hoist himself up. Suddenly, the harness clip locked into place and he couldn’t open it. Panicking, he fumbled around with it for a few seconds, and finally opened it. He quickly scrambled onto the ceiling and ran away from the edge of the roof, not wanting to think about his close call. Now the actual hard part began.
Sam and Jake unhooked the latch of the metal door and lowered themselves from the rooftop. Looking around, they saw they were in a brightly lit, long corridor. Based on the plans they’d drawn up, they knew they had to continue to the right. Just as they were about to turn the corner, Jake pulled Sam flat against the wall and hissed, “There is an armed guard patrolling there. What should we do?” All of a sudden they heard footsteps thudding against the marble-tiled floor, coming in their direction. They saw a tall, heavy-set man with a pistol in his hand come around the corner. Sam swiftly reached into their bag, and in one quick motion emptied three rounds into the security guard. The silencer on the end of Sam’s gun deadened the noise, and after a few dull thuds, silence took over once again.

“What was that?” asked Jake. “No one was supposed to get hurt, forget about killed. Why did you do that?” Jake ran his hands through his hair, nervously. “You put the whole plan in jeopardy.”
“I didn’t have a choice. It was either him or us. I had to shoot first. Let’s just keep on moving.”
Reluctantly, Jake agreed, and they continued on their mission proceeding with more caution than earlier, to make sure they wouldn’t be detected again. They reached the vault without any more dangerous encounters. “I’ll watch out for other guards,” said Jake. “You break into the vault.”
Jake walked a few feet back and poked his head around the corner to see if anyone else was coming. For the time being the coast was clear. Sam pulled out some gear and started playing around with it. He put one end of the device to his ear, and the other end to the vault, then began trying different codes. After a few minutes, they had gotten nowhere. Suddenly Jake caught sight of a guard walking down the hallway. “Quick. Someone is coming. Thirty seconds,” he whispered in Sam’s ear.
Sam began furiously turning the lock. Jake took another peek down the hallway. Ten more steps until they would be caught. Five more steps. With three more steps before the guard came around the corner, Jake felt Sam tap him on the shoulder. The vault door was open. They sprinted into the vault, and pulled the door so it was only open a crack. Looking through the small slit, they saw the guard turn the corner. When the guard took a quick glance at the door, it must have looked closed, so he turned around and walked back down the hallway.
“That was way too close,” said Jake after a few seconds, gasping from holding his breath.”
“Yeah, it was,” said Sam. “But we finally have what we worked for. They turned around and stared in awe as they saw 5,000,000 dollars they had come to steal. Jake quickly piled as many stacks of one hundred dollar bills as he could into the equipment bag, while Sam stood peeking out the door, the gun in his grasp. Once Jake was done gathering the loot, Sam came over and together they picked up the bag. Luckily for them, they didn’t encounter any more security guards on their way to the opening through which they had entered. Sam grasped both ends of the opening, and, his muscles and veins bulging, pulled himself up and onto the roof. Jake lifted the fairly heavy, paper-filled bag, and handed it to Sam, and then he too pulled himself onto the roof. Suddenly they heard loud wail of sirens, and looking down onto the street below, they saw the bank surrounded by ten police cars filled with armed law enforcers. Above the sound of the sirens, they heard the chopping of an incoming helicopter, and looking up they saw it emerge from the clouds.
“Looks like my ride is here,” shouted Sam above all the noise. He started walking to the edge of the roof. The helicopter, now nearly above them, lowered a black, rope ladder. Most of the police had stormed into the building, but one could hear the metal ring as the bullets of those who hadn’t harmlessly glanced off the military grade armor of the escape helicopter.
“You mean our ride,” said Jake as a nervous feeling crept into his gut. Before Jake had any time to react, Sam spun around and shot three bullets into his chest.
“You were a good partner,” shouted Sam over the noise of the helicopter, “but I don’t need you anymore.” With those words he grabbed a hold of the fifth rung from the bottom, of the helicopter ladder, clipped the bag of money to it, and stepped off the roof. Holding on tightly to the ladder, he sneered down at the police below whom he could faintly see gaping, astounded looks on their faces.