Dear Jack

Dear little Jack

By the time you’re reading this it will be your 16^th birthday; you should have questions about why I haven’t been around in your childhood by now, and you can probably figure out why by the time you finish this letter. First I would like to apologize for missing 7 of your birthdays; I would have been there if I had a choice but you will understand why I couldn’t. Secondly I would like to give you the only gift I can give you: an explanation of events; in the form of a story.

Many people do things they enjoy with their friends, some play video games, others shop, some even just watch tv together; but not my friends; no, we robbed banks together. We robbed jewelry stores and moved drugs around, it was fine and I was able to provide for us for a little, but it was all over in one bad heist, the one time when nothing can go wrong, something awful happens. It was a cool January morning when Berlin, Tokyo and I were preparing for a heist, this day we were not being watchdogs for a truck of coke, but we were taking out a bank; we had 30 minutes to get in, bust the vault, and get out of there before the cops could respond. We cased the bank a week before, noted all the cameras and drew maps of the place; D.C. got a job working as a maintenance worker and got his hands on a key card, he was able to get into the camera room and disable the electronic locks, he also destroyed the bandit buster window shield controls so that the tellers cannot hide from us. When our van pulls up to the back parking lot on the day of the heist, I go to the door and pick the lock, Tokyo moves ahead when I open the door and subdues the guard in front of the camera room; after I pick that lock Tokyo opens and takes control of the cameras; he tells us how many guards are on duty and where they are. Berlin enters an alternate way from the side door and drops the guard patrolling it. I wish I could tell you what happened in the lobby but I was busy hauling the thermal drill with D.C. When we have it set up we move to the lobby and see all the civilians on the ground and we move to cable tie them, just so they don’t escape. At this point we started the drill and moved all the hostages out of sight from outside, we keep the tellers behind the counter, it’s easily accessible and we can keep our bags in there until we are ready to leave. Our robbery was going smoothly…until a hostage was trying to be a hero… While Berlin was patrolling the hostages one found his way up and tried to attack him; without thinking Berlin shot him in the chest; everything seemed to slow down as we watched the hostage’s limp body fall to the ground; during that time and the minutes after, while we were just staring at what had happened, we did not realize that one of the other hostages pulled the alarm and called the police. We rush to the vault when we realize the thermal drill had cut through the vault door; but we were faced with a new problem, another door; Tokyo meets us by the door and places shaped charges on the door, effectively blasting it open; Berlin and D.C. run in and start packing money into duffle bags, Tokyo goes to the cameras and I cover the hostages.

Thirty seconds pass then the first responders arrive at the bank, Berlin tosses out bag of cash and I quickly move to it, and place it on my back; I can hear Tokyo announcing how much time is left until the swat team is called in. Moving back to the hostages I can see the flashing lights of the cruisers and the cops slowly surrounding the bank. D.C. throws another bag out and Tokyo calls saying that we have to go now, as we prepare to leave the bank a police officer speaks through his megaphone, what he says will always ring in my head;

“You are surrounded, you have thirty seconds to come out and surrender or we will use force; we have snipers on all the exits, and swat is inbound; just give up and makes this easier for all of us.”

After the officer lowers his megaphone I remember seeing a rifle barrel out of the corner of my eye, then the flash as D.C. fires upon the cops; instantly gunfire is thrown into the building and we are pinned down. I remember how it felt to be in the crossfire, without a gun I was just a target; and with snipers covering the windows we couldn’t move too much; we learned this after Tokyo was shot in the arm. The Swat teams kept running in and rescuing the hostages, soon we had no leverage and the megaphone came on once more:

“You have no hostages left; surrender now and no one else has to die today; all you have to do is come out unarmed with your hands on your head and your mask in your hands.”

D.C. fires again and this time drops the officer with the megaphone, the police had no reason to show restraint now, and they knew that. From his feet to his neck he was covered in a thick olive blast suit; his face was covered in a thick, bulletproof helmet, and his face mask, already threatening as is, had a white skull sprayed on. His thick gloves hugged a machine rifle as he just soaked up the bullets D.C. and Berlin fired, he was able to swiftly kill both and turned to me, seeing that I had no weapon he ignored me for the time being, he looked for Tokyo. Hearing explosions coming from the camera room I try to shrink back into the wall. The Bulldozer comes back, and slowly walks toward me; I can still feel the end of his gun as he hits me across the face with it; that’s where I black out.

Now I am writing this letter as per my last request, son, by the time you’re reading this I will be long dead, but if there is something you take from this is to be careful who you have as friends.

Love,

Your Father, John