“The day Robert entered my life wasn’t the best day, but it surely was a better day than today …”
It was hard for my mom to go up and give that speech at my dad’s funeral, but not as hard as it was for me to sit through it. My dad was pretty hard on me because he was a police captain, all he knew was how to get his “troops” in line, and it showed. Although he was hard on me, I could tell that he loved me, even if it wasn’t that obvious. He was still my idol though and I always wanted to be a police officer like him, so his death really shocked me. I knew that being a police officer was a dangerous job, but the possibility of my dad dying never even crossed my mind.
My father died in a shoot-out behind our local supermarket. He wasn’t even supposed to be there because he was off duty, but he heard the call on his police radar on his way back home and turned around immediately. When he arrived, one of the officers at the scene thought he was a gang member and shot him right in the heart. He died instantly. I didn’t hold any of the officers responsible because I knew it was just a mistake, but nonetheless, I had some resentment for the law after that.
A few months later, after the funeral, my mom sat me down in the chapel and told me that I would have to quit school to help support our family because she couldn’t find a job that paid enough to do so. I was kind of glad to hear it because I hated school, it was too easy for me, all I ever had to do was take one look at a textbook and all the information would stick with me. I took my GED the next week so I could get a decent job and since I’m so good with numbers I decided to apply for a job at the bank working as a teller. It was a tedious job but the money was too good to ever quit so I kept working there as long as possible.
One day as I was sitting at the counter waiting for my shift to end when the prettiest girl I had ever seen walked in and came up to me. She had dirty blond hair, green eyes, and the voice of an angel. She was looking to open a savings account so she could put away money for college. As we went through all the paperwork, she told me about her dreams of going to Juilliard and becoming an actor on Broadway. Before we finished up everything, I went into the back to put her first deposit into one of the safety deposit boxes where I saw my coworker Charlie grinning at me.
I asked him, “What’s so funny, Chuck?”
He said, “Dude, you're in love with that girl, aren’t you?”
I laughed and said, “No. Why do you say that?”
“Because bro, you’re sitting out there like a tomato your so red,” he said with a chuckle.
I shrugged him off and said, “Shut up.”
As I was walking back up to the front of the bank, he yelled from the back, “So are you going to ask her out then!”
I knew she heard him say that because when I got back to finish setting up the account with her, she had a huge smile and said, “So are you going to ask me out?”
I was shell-shocked. That was the last thing I expected her to say. I opened my mouth to say something, but all that came out was, “Umm hehe mmm ye-”  
She looked at me confused and said, “What?”
I took a deep breath and said, “Yes, do you want to go to the movies with me this weekend.”
“Sure,” she said with a smile. “My name is Jackie, by the way.”
“I’m James,” I said as she walked out the door.
I picked her up from her house on Saturday, and we went over to the movie theater. On our way, it started to pour down rain, so when we got out of the car, we had to sprint to the ticket booth.
I ran up to the guys selling tickets and said, “Two tickets for Oceans 11, please.”
He said, “That will be 10 dollars.”, as he handed me the tickets.
We walked into the theatre and sat down to watch the movie. It was the best movie I had ever seen. When we walked out of the theatre, the rain had stopped, and there was now a rainbow in the sky. Then at that exact moment, the most excellent idea I had ever had dawned upon me.
 
I was going to rob a bank.
I turned to Jackie and said, “We should rob a bank.”
She probably thought I was joking because she turned to me and said, “Oh yeah, that would be fun.” With a laugh and a sarcastic tone.
“No, I’m serious, we both need the money, and I already work at a bank. We could just rob another location of my bank.”   
I could tell she was considering it because she took a long pause before saying, “You’re not wrong. What do I have to lose.”
We got into my car and headed towards the library to look up what other Sunlight Banks, the company I work for, were nearby. I wrote down five addresses to check out and see which would be the least secure and easiest to escape from. To not raise attention to us,  one of us would make a small deposit or withdraw while the other would check to see how many cameras there were and where they were placed, as well as the number of guards at each location. By the time we finished scoping out every location, I had decided on the one just west of my house because it was the least secure and it had easy access to the highway.
            My next step was to figure out how we were going to steal the money without getting caught. My plan was to get a uniform for one of the armored truck drivers who transport the money. Then I would need to walk in where I would ask one of the tellers to open the vault for me and find a teller cart to take with me to the garage where Jackie would be waiting with a stolen truck. Next, I would put all the money in the truck and head to a parking lot, where my car would be.  I would transfer the money into my car and me and Jackie would disappear forever. I would have to make an ID badge in case someone suspected something. So after I dropped Jackie off, I went home and quickly took my old school ID and put tape over my face, to protect the picture, then I soaked it in water so the paint would fall off. Next, I printed out the words I remembered seeing on the people’s IDs that usually come in to pick up the money and I put each one on top of the clean ID perfectly so it left a tattoo on it. Then I went to bed as I waited for it to dry.
The next morning, I had to find a way to get myself a uniform so I looked up where they are made and found a warehouse that stored them a few minutes away. I got into my car and journeyed to the warehouse; I made sure to bring my fake ID with me so I could pretend I worked for them. Once there I walked into the warehouse where there was a man waiting at the front desk.
I walked over to him and said, “Good morning. I think the laundry mat lost my uniform. Is there any way I could get another one before my shift tomorrow?”
He said, “Yeah if you show me some ID I could get you set up with one of our tailors.”
I pulled out my wallet and instantly my adrenaline started pumping. I took my ID out while my hands shook like an elderly man with Parkinson's, and handed it to him. He took it from my hand and took a long look at it before leaving to go to the back. At that point, my heart started beating like a drum. Maybe he knew it was a fake. I thought about booking it out the door and forgetting about this whole thing, until he turned the corner and gestured for me to go to the back. All confidence in my plan was restored as I strutted to the back of the building, like Tiger after he won the Masters, to get my uniform. Once I left the warehouse, there was only one thing on my mind. Robbing the bank tomorrow.
I went to pick up Jackie to have dinner and figure out what to do once we stole the money. She told me that she had family living in Mexico and that they would be glad to host us for a little incentive. This worked out perfectly because our little town was only two hours from the New Mexico, Mexico border, and once we got past the border, we wouldn’t have to worry about anything else.
The next morning I had to look into the schedule for the armored truck so Jackie would be able to plan how to steal one. I gave her a call and shared the information on where they park and what time they leave the parking lot. When I asked her how she would steal the truck, she said, “Don’t worry about it, I’ve got this,” and hung up.
I had nothing to do the rest of the day, so I decided to take my mom and sister out to dinner for the last time before I left for good. I booked a reservation at the nicest steak house in town and told my mom about it.
She said, “Isn’t that place a little too rich for our blood James?”
It was, but I lied and said, “No, mom, not after the promotion I just got. We can afford anything we want now!” She jumped up and hugged me so tight that I thought I was going to break a rib. We had a great time at dinner; it was the perfect way to spend my remaining time with my family before I had to disappear.
Before bed, I set out the uniform I acquired earlier like I was going to my first day of middle school and packet a small bag with a few pairs of clothes to take with me and my favorite things from home: like pictures with my family and my signed Diamondbacks jersey from when they won the world series. After that, I set my alarm and went to bed.
At 5 am my alarm went off. I had already been awake for an hour though. It’s hard to get a good nights sleep when you’ve got a bank to rob in a few hours. I got out of bed, took a shower, then went downstairs to have my last meal as an innocent man. Afterward, I went upstairs, put my uniform on, and walked out to the street, where Jackie was waiting to pick me up. I needed a ride to the bank because I left my car in a parking lot near the highway the previous night. As I got into the car I could tell that we were both extremely nervous. Jackie’s hands were shaking as she gripped the steering wheel and my stomach felt like it had an egg in it. She drove me a block away from the bank and dropped me off. It was now my time to shine.
 
 
While I was doing my part of the heist, Jackie was busy doing her own thing. She had to find a way to get into the armored truck without actually breaking in. She decided to pretend that her car broke down in front of the exit where the armored cars park overnight. It didn’t take long before the gates opened and a truck rolled up. Jackie’s car was blocking the road enough that the truck couldn’t squeeze through so when the driver saw her car in front of him he put the truck into park and hopped out to investigate.
“Whats going on here?” yelled the trucked driver as he walked over to Jackie’s car.
“I don’t know, I was on my way to the store when my car broke down,” Jackie said, as she looked at him with puppy dog eyes. “Do you know how to fix cars?”
The truck driver walked to the front of the car and banged on the hood saying, “I don’t know much but I could definitely take a look if you open up the hood.”
Jackie opened her door and pulled on the lever opening the hood. She walked over to the front of her car and asked the man, “what do you think is wrong?”
“I can’t quite tell. Maybe try starting the car again, and I’ll have a better idea.” Said the truck driver with his head under the hood.
“Ok.” Said Jackie, as she walked back to the driver's side of the car. On her way past the raised hood, she bumped the metal pole holding it up with her elbow, slamming the hood onto the driver's neck. As he started to yell in pain and flail his arms to try and break free Jackie ran over and took the keys from out of his pocket. She ran to the armored truck, started it, and ran straight through her car as she headed toward the bank.
 
 
As I walked into the bank I made sure to have my uniform look as clean as possible to not raise any extra attention. I choose to go in as early as I could that day so the people working would be tired and less alert than usual. I opened the door and looked around to find the teller that seemed to be the easiest to manipulate. I walked over to a chubby man sitting behind one of the windows who was half asleep looking at a magazine, I could tell he could care less about his job solely based on the way he looked.
I said to him, “Looks like you had a rough night huh?”
He gave me a half-smile and said, “Yeah my puppy had me up all night barking.”
“That’s the worst, I have a puppy at home too.” Which was a lie to butter him up. I then proceeded to say, “Could you open the vault for me? I am supposed to take a shipment of money to the location on Lincoln.” There was no bank on Lincoln, but I could tell that he was too aloof to register that I was lying.
He said, “Yeah let me see some identification in case you try to rob us or something,” with a slight chuckle.
I gave a slight laugh in reply and handed him my forged ID. I knew my fake was good enough because the makers didn’t even realize that it was forged, so I handed it to him without a shred of doubt in my mind that it would work. To be cautious though, I started a conversation with him as I handed it to him.
As he looked down at it, I said, “What kind of dog do you have?”
He quickly looked up and said, “A golden, poodle mix. How about you?”
I slipped up and said, “What?”
As he handed me back the ID he said, “Your dog, what kind is it?”
“Ohh,” I quickly replied, “It’s a German Shepard.”
“Nice, my mom has one too.” He got up out of his chair and said, “Follow me, I’ll let you in.”
Holy sh*t, I thought. I was actually going to get away with it. I took a deep breath and said, “Ok,” as I followed him to the vault.
On my way, I asked if I could grab a coffee so I seemed more confident. After I grabbed my coffee I walked over to the vault where I saw the teller cart waiting. He handed me the keys to the lock boxes within the teller cart and told me to take them to the garage. As I reached to grab the key I purposely spilled my coffee all over his shirt so he would have to clean it while I unloaded the money into my car.
He screamed and said, “What the hell dude!”
I said, “Oh shoot, I’m so sorry. I’m always a little out of it in the morning.”
“Yeah, I get that, me too. I’m going to wash this off wait here before you unload that.”
I said, “Ok sounds like a plan, sorry again about the mess.”
He walked away mumbling curses as I grabbed the teller cart and started walking to the garage. On my way, I made sure not to look into any of the cameras so I wouldn’t be identifiable when the police looked at the security footage. I walked out of the building into the open air; it was the best-smelling air I had ever experienced. But before I could start walking to the truck I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was the teller.
He said, “I thought I told you to wait in the vault.”
“Oops,” I replied, “I thought you said “don’t wait here for me.””
“No why would I say that. I’m supposed to help you unload, it's company policy don’t you know,” said the teller.
I said, “Oh yeah I must’ve forgotten.”
“Ok, no worries. You are out of it,” he said.
 I knew that he was suspicious of me and I couldn’t let him unload the money with me or he would realize that Jackie was in the truck. I needed to improvise and find a way to get him out of the picture. So I pointed to his shirt and said, “You did a great job cleaning that.” As he looked down at his shirt for confirmation, I winded up and punched him right in the face. His head hit the metal door and he was knocked out. Problem solved.
  I was so excited I did a little jump and clicked my heels as I walked over to Jackie who was waiting in the truck. She got out and we started opening the lockboxes; the first one had a measly 20k in it, but I was happy nonetheless. The next three, on the other hand, were filled with to brim hundreds, which was worth about 500 thousand dollars. I opened the other six boxes, each of which was full of $100 bills too. I dumped all of them into the truck and returned the cart to the back door before I hopped back into the back of the trunk and signaled for Jackie to leave. The total take was 2.8 million dollars.
We drove the short 5-minute drive to the empty parking lot where my car was waiting. Jackie parked the truck next to my car and we started to put all the money in the trunk where my spare tire should be in order to hide it if we got stopped at the border. Once all the money had been transferred, I started my car and pulled out of the lot leaving the armored truck abandoned. I could feel the weight of the money sitting in my trunk we had so much. I cruised out of the parking lot like nothing had happened and turned onto the highway entrance ramp. Without a single mistake, the heist was complete.
Before I started my journey to the border I stopped by my house where I dropped off 250k for my mom and sister to live off of while my mom found a proper job. Before I left the house I gave them each a kiss goodbye while they were still sleeping. I got back into my car, put in a CD that I had made for special occasions, and cranked the volume all the way up.
 
The car ride to the border flew by as me and Jackie were too busy sharing our excitement over our newfound fortune to notice the time pass. The line at the border was longer than usual which dampened the mood a little as it was our last obstacle to true freedom. I noticed that there seemed to be more security than usual as they don’t have extra people walking around past the main entry point most of the time. My heart rate spiked as the thought of our robbery being exposed to the police, already, entered my head. It had only been a few hours but that was just enough time for the news to spread.
As we continued to inch closer to the border, we also continued to get closer to the border patrol. I looked over at Jackie and saw her biting her nails.
“Do you think they know?” I asked
“I wouldn’t be surprised, there is more security than usual.”
“What should we do?”
“It’s too late to change anything,”  Jackie stated, “Might as well test our luck one more time.”
We stayed in line hoping for the best, praying not to get caught. A patrolman started to wander closer to us with a piece of paper in his hand. He was looking into each window and back at the paper. He was looking for something, was it us. As he got closer my palms became sweaty and all of a sudden a wave of heat came over me. I looked over to see Jackie’s legs shaking uncontrollably. I tried to calm her down by saying, “When he comes by, try to act natural, if we don’t give him a reason to be suspicious he won’t bother us.” He walked up to us and knocked on the window so we would look directly at him, gave us a thumbs-up, and said something in his walkie-talkie as he walked away. I tried to see what was on the paper to know whether or not we should be worried but only saw, “People of i…” at the top of the page as he walked by. Leaving me to wonder if we were possibly on it.
It was too late to turn back, as we were now trapped on all sides by other cars. We had been waiting for a while and it was finally our turn to go through the checkpoint. We drove up to the gate and stopped to be inspected by the person sitting in the small booth nearby. Most of my nerves had gone away until I saw that there was a scale measuring each car.
“Seems you're slightly overweight here. Is there something in the car I should know about?” Said the border patrolman.
“I don’t think so, just some clothes we packed for our trip that’s all,” I replied.
The patrolman said, “Mind if I take a look in the trunk for a second?” As he walked toward the back of my car.
“Not at all,” I said reaching down to pop the trunk.
At this moment my only options were fight or flight, and I chose flight. Pushing my foot down on the pedal as hard as I could, I zoomed out of the lane straight through the gate, and saw a concrete pillar start to rise out of the ground. The next thing I remembered was waking up in an infirmary completely surrounded by white walls. I tried to move but felt myself being held back by something cold and metallic. It was over. I had been caught. All that I could think was hopefully they didn’t find out about the money I gave to my family.