The night before Halloween has arrived. I hope everyone has their costumes ready. If you are wearing them that is. This month was so crazed all wee managed was one jack-o-lantern. And the heat from the past couple of weeks already has him slumping and somewhat gross inside. We ae just hoping he holds up for one more night. Friday morning he goes to the compost. He just has to last a little longer. For now, let’s see what the morning prompt holds. Timers ready and let’s go.
I think I have danced around this storyline before. I might look for similar and see if i can blend them into a single story.
Wednesday, October 30th: All he needed was one big score.
All he needed was one big score. Then he could quit. Walk away clean. He knew the others thought that it was impossible. He would never be able to walk away. There was a rush in what they did. A feeling of freedom and adrenaline that they found impossible to give up. It was their drug of choice and they weren’t going to let it go.
He didn’t find that aspect appealing. He liked the puzzle of things but not the danger. The dangerous aspects that got them so fired up and anticipatory left him with a sour stomach. He had been popping antacids like breath mints for the past three years and was more than ready to stop.
In addition to the rush, they teased him about the money. He was paid well for his skills here. He wouldn’t be paid nearly as well in anything legal, or so he had been told. He also knew that they spent every dime they had as soon as they had it. He lived cheap, stashed his funds away in an off shore account and let the interest build. He wasn’t here to make a pile, he was already content with what he had. While he was being paid handsomely for this last job, it was also the last debt he owed.
Tommy had one last favor to cash in and this was how hoe chose to use it. Dan agreed so that he could clear his slate. Not that he told anyone that. He let them believe that he was as addicted as the others and that he needed the money just as much. He doubted that anyone realized this was the last favor he owed anyone.
Knowing that if anyone realized he was leaving then he would make a good sacrifice should anything go wrong, he had taken extra precautions to make certain he wasn’t tied to anything. His involvement was untraceable. Tommy could rat him out and Dan had no doubt he would if things went sideways, but here would be no paper trail. The fees had all been deposited under an alias. They were then transferred to a numbered account he set up specifically for this last job. If things went well he would slowly transfer it out of that account and into a series of others that would never lead back to his main account.
If things went sideways then he would walk away and leave the money behind without taking more of a hit. He would consider it a sacrifice for his grater good.
Thus far things had gone well. While there was some ribbing, there were several others who talked about this being their final score and how they would retire. In that, he didn’t stand out. He did his tasks well, the set up complete. There was oly this one final piece and he would be done. Thee problem was that last final piece. He let a twitching in his guts about it.
Usually the twitching meant that something was off that his brain had yet to register. It was sometimes slower than he liked. Dan treated his guts as an early warning system. So when it went off, he sat back and tried to get his brain to realize what was wrong. His brain was working slower than usual and he couldn’t come up with anything. If he was going to meet the others then he would need to leave soon. His guts wouldn’t let him. Instead he contacted a currier. He put on a disguise and used an alias. He slipped in a note. The note claimed a bout of diarrhea due to a bad curry as his reasoning. The final piece he put in the case. He used his burner phone to let them know it was being sent. They grumbled and docked him a percentage of his share, but he accepted and hung up. Last piece scent, he called a cleaning crew. If something did happen, he wanted to be long gone, every trace of him eradicated before anyone even came looking.
Ten til Midnight 