Break and Enter

Tonight is the night . The day had arrived. The culmination of Gord’s entire criminal career. His swan song. After this, he and Earle could travel down to Mexico and live like kings until they were old and grey… rather… older, and greyer. Sleeping in until noon, drinking whenever, wherever, unlimited women. It all sounded too good to be true. But one more flawless heist, just like the last one, and his dream would become a reality.

“You guys got everything loaded in the van?” Gord asked his crewmates.

“Yep. Saddled up and ready to ride, good leader.” Earle smirked at Gord and took an exaggerated bow.

“I’ve got everything,” Nelson added from the hallway as he walked toward the eat-in kitchen. “I wiped everything down to get rid of our prints and burned all the bedding and stuff out back. Shouldn’t be a trace of us to be found.”

“Good man. Thanks for looking after that. After tonight, gentlemen, we’ll be free to live the lives we’ve dreamed. It’s been a pleasure working with you both.”

“Ah, boss man’s gone soft on us, Dunne,” Earle jested.

“Screw off. Fine. I don’t give a flying sheep’s arse what happens to either of you, as long as I get my loot and get out. Every man for himself. That better?”

“Yeah. That’s more on brand.” Earle clapped Gord on the back. “We love you too, you big ogre.”

Gord rolled his eyes. “Let’s ride.”

Being late Spring, the sun still hadn’t fully set when all the businesses in the area closed for the night. Their last target was the one and only business they planned to hit that wasn’t on the main drag. It was on a street running parallel, but more residential. For that reason, they needed to be extra careful, but if they played their cards right, they’d blend in easily. A van parked on a residential street wouldn’t attract attention like it would on an abandoned commercial one, so it should work to the men’s benefit. The major downfall was that the police had a satellite office only half a kilometre away. The good thing was that it was mostly for administrative purposes and wasn’t staffed outside of business hours, but the main detachment wasn’t too far away, either.

They couldn’t afford for anything to go wrong. In the past seventy-nine robberies they’d done, only two have had any type of hiccup. Hopefully, the small man and his dog got the message to keep their noses out of business that didn’t concern them.

The men parked the van along the curb in front of their target, accessible for an easy getaway. Gord, Nelson, and Earle all sat silently in the dim light of their van, mere shadows under the setting sun, waiting for all nearby houses to plunge into darkness. It took over an hour before the last TV shut off, and a shadow moved through the living room of the home across the street, signalling the neighbours had gone to sleep.

“Let’s give them another thirty minutes, and if nothing else catches our attention, we move. Remember, no screw-ups this time,” Gord instructed the other men.

Thirty minutes later, Earle said, “Time to move.” He stepped out of the Sprinter and walked to the side entrance of the doctor’s office, where he worked his magic, deactivating the alarm. A moment later, he gave Gord and Nelson the all-clear to join him.

The three men moved with haste through the office. Nelson came in days earlier pretending to be a patient looking for a new primary-care physician. The office had recently upgraded to a new charting system done on iPads, meaning what the bandits were really looking for was easy to grab.

This job wasn’t about petty cash or narcotics. They were looking for personal information. Identities to steal and sell to the highest bidders. Medical reports were one of the easiest ways to do that. If they did the job right, this would be their most profitable heist, and would set them up for retirement as they had planned.

Gord was in one doctor’s office, where he not only collected three tablets, he also found drug samples and prescription pads. He scanned the room, seeing if there was anything he missed, when he spotted a safe in the corner. No one kept a safe unless they wanted to protect something valuable. This wasn’t something they picked up on in their recon, but Gord wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to crack a safe. For all he knew, it could have been his last high-stakes opportunity to do so.

The old-school dial was child’s play, and when the locking mechanism clicked, Gord pulled the door open. Before he could take in the contents, an alarm sounded.

Loyalty may have earned Earle a spot on this crew, but his failure to do his job meant his usefulness had reached its limit.

“Earle, I swear, you’re a useless idiot. Come on. The cops’ ETA is only a couple of minutes.”

“The alarm isn’t even coming from here. It’s coming from outside!” Earle shouted in defence of his skills.

Gord realized his friend was right. Something triggered an alarm in the daycare building next door. Talk about bad luck. Without another second’s hesitation, he darted toward the front door, knowing he had unlocked it when he went past for this very reason. His crew followed.

The warm summer air barely had time to register on Gord’s sensitive skin before he was lying in a heap at the bottom of the stairs with his friends moaning on his back. What just happened? And why are these idiots moaning when I broke their fall? Middle age and excessive height had not been kind to Gord’s joints, but adrenaline helped to mask the pain he felt when he stood, coming face to face with the short man he’d been dreaming about putting down like a rabid dog.

The Watchdogs had been staring at the GPS tracker for days. With the help of Scarlett, they monitored the app twenty-four hours a day since her recon with June. They suspected things were going to go down soon, so when the crooks got in their vehicle and headed toward town, late in the evening, a flurry of text messages were sent, and the men were dressed and ready to roll out within minutes.

They parked Nicole Morris’s SUV down the street from her workplace and jogged to get into their pre-determined positions—everyone except Brendon; he just walked quickly.

Corky, Scar, and Karma were patrolling the back side of the doctor’s office, waiting for the right minute to call the police. They went radio silent with the other guys after reporting there was no movement at the rear. Whitey and Fat Tony were stationed at the two-corner, while Scar and Corky were to watch the four-corner. This was a tactical trick they learned from watching too many action movies. Starting with the northwest corner of a building, you label them one through four. By placing teams at opposite corners, all four sides of the building were covered, and no one was alone.

In theory, it worked perfectly fine, but nobody saw the men go inside. Apparently, determining their locations using compass directions caused some confusion for the Watchdogs. Instead of the four-corner, Corky and Scar set up position on the one-corner, leaving the three-four side of the building without eyes.

Brendon was questioning whether they had the right place and wondered if the criminals were hitting the business to the west of their location.

“I’m going to go check next door and make sure we’re watching the right target. Stay here with Karma. I’ll signal you if I find anything.”

Corky offered a fist bump, acknowledging Scar’s plan. “Be careful. I’ll have your back from here.”

As Scar approached the building next door, he didn’t see any movement there either, and he was not sure why anyone would want to rob a daycare, anyway. What would they be looking for? Dirty tissues and pureed carrots? Toys with missing parts and foam nap mats? Didn’t seem likely, but he continued his reconnaissance. Cupping his hands around his face, he peered in the back door, trying to glimpse something suspicious. Nothing. He pushed down on the handle of the glass door to see if it was unlocked, but instead of the door releasing open, an alarm started blaring. Whoops.

He bounded back over toward Corky and Karma, out of breath from the twenty-metre run. I should have done more exercise than the diddly squats I’ve been doing for ten years. Monday. I’ll start on Monday.

“What happened?” Corky whisper-shouted from his position, crouched at the one-corner where Scar left him.

“I was checking if the door was open and set the alarm off. Any sign of them?”

“Nothing, but I heard a commotion up front.”

Upon hearing those words, the two men snuck their way toward the two-corner, with Karma eagerly trying to get ahead of them, straining her leash.

They heard bickering between two men, one of whom sounded like Justin. “How did you get here? Did someone leave your cage open?”

The men glanced at each other, rolling their eyes. Before they approached any closer, Corky called 911. He whispered the situation to the operator, who assured him help was on the way. The police station was close, so all they had to do was stall to make sure the bad guys didn’t get away.

When Scar peeked his head around the corner, he spun back around, grabbing Corky’s arm and whispered, “They’ve all got guns pointed at Whitey and Fat Tony. Three of them. These are definitely the guys.”

Fear gripped both Corky and Scar, but Karma was still itching to get in the mix of things. The men did the only thing they could think of and dropped the dog’s leash, praying she wouldn’t get herself shot. No one wanted to relive Turner and Hooch.