Graceful

“I’m sick of your games!” She screamed, slamming the screen door as she ran out. I was right behind her, begging her to stop. She fumbled with the keys to her car for a moment. I placed my hand on her shoulder, which caused her to turn around and slap my face. “You lie, you can’t even tell me where you go half the time. My only assumption is that you are cheating and you won’t even admit it to me! How do you expect me to stay and listen, to trust you if you can’t tell me where the hell you were the last few days, Michael?”

I bit my lip and felt my heartbreaking. “Grace, I need you to understand that there are some things I can’t share with you right now. That I would never cheat on you and that I love you.”

“Fuck you. Seriously, fuck you. We’ve been together for three years and there are things you can’t tell me? That’s a bullshit lie, Michael and I’m done.” She turned back to the car and unlocked it with shaking hands. I wanted to reach for her again, but the sting of the last slap still lingered. I tried to grab the car door, but missed as she shut it. The clicking sound told me she also locked it. I pressed my hand against the window, pleading. I nearly dropped to my knees as she sped backwards, almost hitting an oncoming car. All I could do was watch her drive down the street, not a single bit of hesitation as she nearly took the corner on two wheels. I walked back into the house slowly. Unsure of what I was going to do. Part of me wanted to drink the morning away, forget it existed. But I knew I had a job to do soon. I found myself just sitting at the kitchen table.

A few hours went by before my phone rang. I picked it up without saying a word. Geoff’s voice rang cheerfully from the other end, “You ready?” I didn’t speak again, which didn’t surprise Geoff at all, most of the time I was with Grace when he called. “Meet at the office, bring the usual.” I hung up and grabbed the briefcase I hid on the underside of the sink. I just looked at it on the floor for a moment, part of me wanted to just stop doing what I was doing, stop working for Geoff, stop everything...but I knew I couldn’t. This was what I did, what I was good at. It put a roof over my head and food on my table. I wanted nothing more than to just...give it all up for Grace, but what would I be then? What would I be able to give her?

I gripped the handle of the case and stood quickly, grabbing my keys from the table. I had ten minutes to get to the office before they would start talking without me, then I would have to get rushed details on route to the location. The only thing I didn’t agree with, was that until the day of the job, only one person knew exactly what was going to happen. One member of the Fake AH Crew had it all. I guess I can’t say I absolutely disagreed with the way we handled things. There was the downside that if someone was late somehow, they wouldn’t know a thing. They would be going in almost blind. The upside was, if in the event that a member of the Fake AH Crew was in fact figured out and taken in, there was no way the details of the job could be extracted from them. One singular person held all the details and that made us safer. We could continue with the job and the police would never know.

Pulling into the parking lot, I debated again if I really wanted to be here. I’m sure Geoff would let me go if I wanted. I knew that was a lie, Geoff needed me. After the unfortunate accident that left us one person down, RIP Ray, I was the best with a gun. Gavin was decent, but he was slow and sloppy. Jack was better being a lookout, transport. Geoff was beside me usually, but he was never steady enough to get out a good shot. Ryan, half the time I didn’t trust him, but he was the best when it came to being stealthy. So here I was, the best with a gun, stuck in the crew.

Gavin walked up to my car and rapped his knuckles against my window quickly. “You coming, boy?” I sighed, training my eyes on the briefcase before unbuckling my seat belt and following my best friend into the building. Ryan was leaning against the conference room door scratching dried blood from the outside of his mask. “Morning, ready for the time of your life?”

I again didn’t speak as I sat down at the table, my briefcase resting on the floor beside my feet. Ryan walked in and tossed his mask on the table near me. His eyes wandered around the room, looking at us all before he smiled. “Who’s ready for our biggest heist yet?” Gavin made one of his giddy noises as the rest of us sat in silence. “Our last heist...it didn’t end well and we lost a member of the crew. Before anyone tells me to shut up, I have some news, with the permission of Geoff, I recruited someone to join us.”

There was no part of me that wanted to add any commentary to the meeting, I just wanted to keep to myself, do my job and go home so I could figure out how to talk to Grace, but this news had upset the last bit of restraint I had left. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up. We’ve been this group of people, the six...now five of us, since the start. Adding someone, literally following the heist that killed one of our best friends, without a group discussion is not okay. How the fuck do we know that this asshole won’t screw us over? How the holy hell do we know that he’s any good?” Geoff cleared his throat and I shot a glare at him.

“Michael, I get that this is pretty fucked up, but we lost a key member earlier this week. Honestly, you know damn well that we don’t do another heist this quickly, but we are hurting right now. With Ray’s death, we didn’t complete the last job and not only does that take money from our pockets, but it also lands us in trouble with Burnie and Matt. You know very well that if we don’t pay up our dues with them, the people who provide us with everything we need, we’ll be seeing Ray sooner than we thought. So put a dick in it and get ready to make some money, deal?”

I wanted to argue more, but I knew with my temper, it would end up with fists flying. The last thing I needed right now was to alienate myself in any way. “Fine. But I swear if shit goes bad, I’m going to do something about it for a change.” Geoff just looked at me before nodding at Ryan to continue.

“He doesn’t look like much, but bare with me, he’s good." Ryan looked at Jack and lazily threw a pointed finger at the door. Jack rolled back in his chair and grabbed the handle, pushing himself to the side as a shorter guy walked in. His hair was dyed green and he looked far too happy to be here, almost like how Gavin was with everything. “This is Jeremy. He’s pretty good with planning, but his real skill set comes in the form of hand to hand. He’s a good shot and he’s clever as fuck. I think he will be a good asset.”

“Hey, Jeremy. As you heard. Glad to be here.” He pulled a chair and sat down, his arms across his chest.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, “It’s not an AA meeting or something. Ryan, can we please move on, some of us have things we need to get to.”

Geoff gave me a “what the fuck” look before beckoning Ryan to continue. “We’re going after an armored truck.”

“Um, in case you forgot, a simple heist got our best friend killed...what makes you think we’ll survive an armored truck?” Gavin was finally on my side.

“The right plan. No offense Gavin, but yours had a lot of holes in it. This time, we are going to make it. I’ve done a lot of thinking.”

“In two days?” I asked, not even bothering to look up from the table.

I could feel Ryan’s eyes burning a hole in the top of my head. “No, I have been playing around with the idea for some time now, Michael.” I glanced up and smiled, which I knew would irritate Ryan. He knew how sarcastic I could be with just a glance and he hated it. “Anyway, we are going to split into two teams. Jack, Gavin and Michael are going to be team one. Geoff, Jeremy and myself are two.” Ryan pointed at the map he had taped to the whiteboard in the room. His finger landed on the center of the city. “This is where we will meet when everything is set. Team One needs to pick up the bikes from Jack’s place and start setting up to take the truck. Team Two is in charge of locating the truck, which usually floats around the north of town. While doing that, we must also pick up the ‘tools’ Matt has left for us.” Ryan circled the top right corner of the map, “We will end up here, split the cash and go our separate ways until next time. If we play our cards right, keep communication up, we can do this. It will be hard--”

“We got it. Let’s go.” I stood up and grabbed my briefcase, Gavin and Jack following. “One hour and we’ll be ready.”



Jack was sitting on his sofa, his phone in hand as he cursed. “How the fuck did three bikes just go missing?” I leaned against the counter, my eyes trained on the tile in the kitchen. “I specifically left them in the back of the garage, under a tarp, keys in my place. The bikes, keys and tarp are gone.”

Gavin buttoned the top of his pants as he slowly walked from the bathroom, “It’s not like they vanished into thin air, Jack.” I looked up at him, my arms crossed over my chest. “Are you even sure you brought them back here?”

Jack glared at me, completely failing to answer my question. “Fucking….” He let out a small growling noise before slamming his phone on the counter. “How much do you want to bet Gus had something to do with this? Or better yet, Lindsay, maybe both of them.” I looked away as he said her name. “What, did you really think Lindsay would take the high road when you left her for someone else?” The problem wasn’t that I had just left her. I married her, I lived with her and for the last two and a half years of our relationship, I cheated on her. Grace knew, which is probably why the idea of me cheating on her was so easy to accept.

“Shut the fuck up, Jack.” I pulled out my phone and scrolled to Lindsay’s number. I hesitated for far too long, curious if she would really stoop so low. She knew what these heists meant to Burnie and Matt, what would happen if we fell through. She was there for Ray’s funeral...or what little funeral we could give him without alerting the cops. A deep hole behind the office. She was there.

I pressed her name and hit the call button. Two rings and her voice rang through, almost cheerful. “Michael, funny you should call.”

“Where are the bikes, Linds?” There wasn’t time for games, we had less than 20 minutes to gather ourselves and prepare for the heist. The other end of the line was silent as I waited, Lindsay knew how much I hated it when she did this. “What, now you have nothing to say? You’re always so full of bullshit. The least you could do is tell me where the bikes are, if not for me, for the sake of the rest of the team.”

“Oh, Michael.” She sighed, but I could hear a grin in her voice. “I don’t have your silly little bikes. Not anymore. I think I held onto them for like, I don’t know, two and a half weeks then I destroyed them.” I shook my head. “Good thing they weren’t part of the plan last time. Then again, maybe Ray would have gotten away and lived.”

I felt a small stinging in my eyes as tears weld up. “Ray’s death is not a laughing matter, nor is it something to use against me. He was a friend to us all. God, you’ve gotten so heartless.”

“Yeah, I wonder who made me that way….” Gavin was behind me, his hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry about my comment about Ray, but I’m not sorry about the bikes. Take your precious car, better yet, don’t even bother doing it, let the guys figure it out. I’m sure you’ll just disappoint them. The world would have been better if you were standing where Ray was when the car exploded.”

My chest tightened as I hung up the phone. I was already in such a shitty place, I didn’t need her to make it worse. “The bikes are gone. We’ll grab a couple cars and get to the meeting point. We don’t have time to waste right now.” I pulled my shoulder from Gavin’s hand and opened my briefcase. A handgun and silencer sat inside. “I’m not about to let some butt hurt bitch drag me down.” I screwed the silencer into the gun and slipped it into the back of my pants after checking the safety. “Let’s get ready to rumble, boys.”

Gavin walked out the door. “The parking garage down the street is perfect, no cameras or security. We can grab two cars there and get downtown to meet the others in time.” Gavin shoved his hands in his pockets as he picked up speed, leading us to the garage.

Hot wiring a car was like counting to three at this point in my career. A quick elbow to the window, a couple snips and twists and I was on my way. Gavin and Jack shared a car as they followed me to the location. Ryan was sitting in his beater car when he saw us pull up. “What the fuck is that?” I heard him call out as I pulled into the alley. “I said bikes. They are quicker and have no possible way of being tracked. What the hell are you thinking?”

I slipped out of the car and slammed the door shut, walking past him to check out the tools. Jack followed behind me as Gavin quietly explained the situation to the others. Matt had left us a few good toys. A handgun for each of us, two snipers and a colorful arrangement of skull masks. I grabbed a gold one and walked back to Ryan. “Now, do we have eyes on the truck?”

“Jeremy is following it. The bank it’s going to stop at is just around the corner from here. If we can get to the truck and take down the driver as he opens the door, stealing it will be pretty easy. From what I have seen previously, there will be a guy going inside the building, a guy in the back of the truck and another in the passenger seat.” He leaned against his car and smiled. “Michael, you will be on top of that,” Ryan pointed to a building at the corner, “building with a sniper. You’ll take out the driver and the gentleman in the back. Jeremy will charge in and take the passenger out as Jack secures the truck with Gavin. Geoff and I will be ahead slightly, looking out for cops and doing our best to direct Jack and Gavin to a safe location. Michael, you need to grab Jeremy and follow the truck, taking out any threats possible, you may choose to drive or not. I don’t care.” He pushed himself forward and glared at the three of us, “I already told Geoff and Jeremy the whole thing, but I am letting you guys know right now, we do not, under any circumstance, meet at the final meeting place until the cops are out of sight and we are in the clear. We are not about to make the same mistake that we did with Ray. One cop with a good shot took out Ray with the car and cash. We do not need the one fucking cop to take it all again. Do we have an understanding?”

We all nodded, already thinking the same thing. We weren’t taking any chances this time. No one would die tonight. This would all go well.

Jeremy called Ryan as the truck was headed our way. I made my way up to the roof and assembled the sniper quickly, setting myself up on the ground so I was low enough not to be noticed. I sat patiently for ten minutes before the truck was in view. The driver stepped out, unlocking the back to let one of the other guards out. He nodded his head as the driver walked in the bank. He brought out bags and bags of cash before heading back to the front of the truck. He unlocked the door and just as his hand touched the handle and pulled, I aimed for his head. When he pulled back, just enough to release the lock and keep the door open when he let go, I pulled the trigger.

The bullet was a clean shot through his head, blood splattered on the side of the door as he fell to the ground and the bullet bounced off the bulletproof siding. I quickly shifted my aim to the back of the truck where the man in the back had started towards his friend, not entirely sure what had happened. With little effort, I managed a clean shot on him as well. He fell face first on the ground beside the back tire.

I aimed my scope at the passenger, I could hardly see him, but he looked panicked. He cowered in the corner of his seat, as far from my view as possible. If I had wanted to be cocky, I could have absolutely shot and wounded him, making Jeremy’s job ten times easier. But I held back, wanting to see what he was made of.

Through the scope I watched as he jumped into the driver's seat, his green mask secured on his face. He grabbed the passenger, who nearly froze, who hardly fought back. At first, Jeremy’s job looked easy, but then he smartened up and threw a punch at the unsuspecting Jeremy. His fist hit Jeremy square in the jaw. I could see Jeremy recoil slightly, but it looked like it just made him more angry than anything. He grabbed the passengers shirt and landed a good punch in the nose. I saw blood slowly seep from his nose as Jeremy hit him again.

The passenger pulled his knee up, getting Jeremy in the stomach. He didn’t react though, he just continued punching him in the face. With one last effort, the passenger pulled back, trying to break free, trying to bring his arms up, to protect himself. But Jeremy was too strong, he threw one more punch before the man fell limp under him. He let go of his shirt, letting the guy drop hard onto the pavement.

Gavin came running in, his eyes locked on the man Jeremy took out as he jumped into the back of the truck, closing the doors behind him. I could see that Gavin was scared now. He wasn’t usually, but Jeremy was so ruthless with the man, at least I opted for a quick kill. Jeremy was a beast.

His brown eyes looked up where I was, locking with the sight I held through the scope. I looked down, seeing the blood on his fists. When I noticed that the truck started moving, I realized I was holding back too long. I grabbed the sniper and shoved the casings in my pocket before running across the roof and climbing down the ladder to my car. I didn’t bother buckling as I sped into the road, stopping just long enough for Jeremy to hop in.

The cops were close as I drove from the scene. Jeremy quietly sat beside me, his fist clenched tightly as I turned every few streets, making sure no cops would be able to follow me, not that they had anyway.

“You good?” I asked, slowing down, making my way to the meeting spot.

Jeremy was looking out the window, his fists still tight. “Yeah.”

“Okay...so, you got a good..swing?” I didn’t really know what to say to him, but I didn’t like the silence. Jeremy turned towards me and grabbed the wheel, which scared me. “What the fuck?” I screamed as he pulled the wheel towards him, forcing us off the road and into a ditch. I tried to regain some sort of control of the car, only momentarily getting the car back on the road.

Jeremy gripped the wheel tighter, pulling it again, directing us towards a sign. I brought my hands up to my face and slammed on the breaks. The car came to a stop, but not before it hit the sign, jolting me forward towards the windshield. Luckily the impact wasn’t big enough to cause me to break the glass. Instead, I felt my head hit and my body slam back into the seat. “You should wear your seat belt. Always.” Jeremy laughed from beside me.

“What the fuck?” I asked, grabbing my head with one hand and looking for the door handle with the other.

“Gus says hi.” Jeremy reached over and grabbed my arm. I turned towards him, my body started hurting. He drew his fist back with a wild smile. “Burnie and Matt fucked with the wrong guy.” He said before his fist met my face. I felt my head go back, hitting the driver's side window. He reached behind me and grabbed the gun from my waistband and checked it out.

I tried to move but my head was throbbing and my vision was getting blurry. “I’m not the one who did shit to Gus.” I said, feeling around for my phone. “I would understand if you were here for Lindsay, but Gus? Really?” I let out a small laugh. “What are you going to do, kill me? Shooting, that’s like, weak for you isn’t it? You like slow painful deaths. I watched you take out that guy back there.”

“You’re right. Which is why I won’t shoot you in the head.” He flipped the safety off and opened his door, backing up a bit before aiming the gun at my stomach. “I have a general idea, that if I shoot you from about this far away, you’ll live about an hour before ultimately dying. Provided you don’t seek medical attention. But let’s be honest here, you’re not that dumb.” He stepped back a bit more before pulling the trigger.

I felt like I was in a haze, like I was floating. I always imagined getting shot would hurt more. But I was already in so much pain. I could feel warmth all around my torso. It was as if I was sitting in a hot tub, the warmth spreading through my body. My head was still throbbing, so I couldn’t feel the cause of all the blood that covered me. I couldn’t tell if I had passed out or not, but it felt like hours went by. He said I would have an hour. Maybe I was lucky.

I moved my hand towards the bullet wound, I needed to snap out of this. I needed to apply direct pressure to the bullet. It could cause more damage, but it was that or lie here and bleed out. My finger found the hole towards the bottom of my rib cage on the right side. I closed my eyes tightly as I jammed my finger in the wound, pulling just enough to finally feel the pain.

It was like a windshield wiper effect. One moment I was blinded by the rain and the next, I could see clearly. I sat up as quickly as my body would let me. Jeremy was nowhere to be found, nor was my gun. I looked down, “Jesus.” My shirt was almost dripping with blood. I felt my vision starting to blur again, but quickly pulled myself out of it when I heard my phone ring. I reached into my pocket, holding my breath, the pain bringing tears to my eyes.

I put the phone to my ear and let out a small sigh. “Boy? Where are you?”

“Gavvy. Jeremy….” I let my head rest against the window as I tried to figure out what was important to say. I didn’t have so much energy. “Get out of there.” I took a deep breath and continued. “I’m sending my location.” Gavin tried to speak, but I was already hanging up. I enabled my GPS and pinned myself, sending it to Gavin.

I was maybe five minutes away from the meeting point, but I couldn’t move. The five minutes that I waited for the crew to find me, felt like so much longer. I didn’t mind, my thoughts were suddenly filled with Grace. What was she doing? Would she miss me? Would she know what happened?

Gavin quickly ran up to the car and opened the door. I wanted to curse and call him a dumbass, but I was too busy panicking as I fell with the door and nearly fell out of the car. Gavin’s arms were under me as Geoff and Jack ran up, Ryan standing by his car, ready to take off.

Jack and Geoff pulled me out of the car as Gavin supported my legs. Ryan got back in the car and started it, waiting as Gavin opened the door, sliding in and helping me position myself comfortably as Geoff sat beside me. “We need to get you to the ER.” Ryan said, his voice shaking.

“No, there’s no time and it’ll ruin us.” I said, coughing as I felt my throat tighten. “Take me. Grace.”

“Boy, there’s a chance. We can save you.” Gavin was putting pressure on my stomach, tears welling up in his eyes as he watched my head roll to the side to look at him. “Michael….”

“I have...to say goodbye to her.” I had accepted my fate. Ryan had already changed coarse. “I need you to take care of her.” I looked directly into Gavin’s eyes. A few tears had escaped and I wanted to help wipe them away. My best friend was breaking.

I had spurts of energy every few moments. But they quickly went away as I felt the haze coming back. Ryan had pulled right up on the lawn of my front yard. Grace’s car sat in the driveway. Geoff was getting out when Grace came to the door. “What’s going on?” She asked, opening the screen door, ready to step out. Jack had rushed forward, grabbing her softly, bringing her back into the house. I could hear her arguing.

Geoff and Gavin supported most of my weight. Ryan was behind us, doing his best to keep eyes off of us. When we had made it inside, I heard a high pitched scream. “Grace.” I said, trying to peel myself away from my friends. I smiled and felt myself falling forward as Geoff lost his grip on me.

I couldn’t remember the impact as my body hit the ground. When I came to, Grace had my head in her lap, tears streaming down her face, drops hitting my cheek as she stroked my hair. “Michael, baby...An ambulance is on the way.” She whispered.

I couldn’t feel the pain anymore. I could hardly feel her hand on my cheek. “Grace. I d--” I felt the air catch in my throat, a split second of suffocation. “Cheat, I didn’t. I love you.” The words came slowly and forced.

“I know, I’m sorry. Just stop worrying okay? I am here, I’m not leaving. Michael, hold on.” I glanced around quickly, not seeing anyone else in the house. “Baby, they’re so close.” She leaned down, pressing her lips to mine.

There was a faint feeling of butterflies, but it went away as the haze came back, blurring her beautiful face. “Grace.” I felt my limbs untighten, the weight of my body pushing down on her. I could hear her saying, “No.” over and over. Each no sounding further and further away.

“I love you.” Was the last thing I heard as I slipped into the darkness.