Crime Family

Folke had been with the criminals for four weeks now.

It had been a strange experience, to say the least. He’d expected hardened criminals to be gruff, never laughing, always serious. But here they were, joking around the table of a pub, meals in front of them.

Folke had denied food at first, saying he couldn’t pay for his share. Lia had put a comforting hand on his shoulder, smiling and saying she’d pay for his share. He kept denying, but she wasn’t budging on the matter, so he ordered a small portion of fries. He ate in near silence, interjecting his thoughts here and there when necessary.

Once the meals were finished, and a younger boy came and took their empty plates, Don cleared his throat.

“So, Jinx, did you get the plans?”

“Plans?” Folke asked, sounding a lot dumber than he’d planned.

“Right here!” Jinx proclaimed, pulling out a tablet and putting it on the table, “These are from 3 years back, when they did the refurbishment. A disgruntled worker uploaded these online after not getting paid enough.”

Folke leaned forwards a bit to see better, and tried to not act shocked when he realised what it was. In front of him were the floor plans for the bank downtown, posted online for all to see.

“The bank…” He muttered to himself, only catching the attention of Aleid, who looked at him through squinted eyes.

“What I’m saying is,” Jinx drew a line on the schematics, “Aleid makes a distraction here, probably with the help of Don, me and Lia will sneak back to the vault while everyone’s distracted. Then we use this side door to escape with Folke’s help. Easy, in and out, no casualties.”

“We only take what we need, though,” Lia added writing numbers on the sidelines of the plans, “Enough for rent and food.”

“Oh, and maybe enough to help Innes with his down payment?” Don interjected, lightly placing his hand on Lia’s, “If the payments of the pub keep stressing him, he might keel over!”

And at that moment, it really hit Folke. These weren’t just criminals for criminals sake. They were people, trying to survive and help out others. He realised, everything he’d done his job for, had he really been helping anyone? Or had he simply been throwing away people who’d already been thrown away by society.

And, with the stone cold glares from Aleid, Folke took a deep breath in, “This won’t work.”

“Huh?” Jinx recoiled as if xe had been hit, and even Lia and Don seemed confused.

Folke leant closer, looking at the plans, “Since the refurbishment, they’ve had guards posted before the vault and at the side exit. Even if you got to the vault, it would be the side door that killed you.”

Jinx leaned back in his seat, “Shit, I didn’t even know that! The worker never warned about that.”

“They wouldn’t have known.” Folke rubbed his neck awkwardly.

“So now what do we do?” Lia asked.

“Well,” Folke thought long and hard, “I might know someone who can make the switch between shifts take… a little longer. A confusion tactic. If we prolong the shift change, the only thing stopping us are the bank tellers.”

“Which is where our distraction comes in, yeah?”

Folke nodded, hovering his finger over the screen as a way to ask permission before drawing, “We get Jinx into uniform, or something that looks similar. While Don and Aleid are playing distraction, Jinx walks round the back and lets Lia in…” He paused as he found what he was looking for, “Here.”

“Why there?” Lia asked softly.

“The side door is alarmed. If we go in that way the cops show up before we can even get out. When we’re leaving, though, that doesn’t matter.”

“Then the alarm causes panic, we slip away in the car, Don and Aleid run off and we pick them up!” Jinx finished off Folke’s sentence.

“Foolproof! Utterly foolproof!” Don cheered, “And it’s all thanks to Folke!”

Folke sank back into his seat as the group celebrated him, including Aleid, who was seemingly just happy their friends were. He didn’t join in the festivities, instead opting to take his phone out and text the one friend he trusted right now.

‘Darwin, are you awake?’

He hovered over the send button for an awkward amount of time, before taking the plunge. He knew it wasn’t even that late, but the question was awkward. The buzz in his hand almost made him drop his phone.

‘Yeah? It’s not even past 10. Are you ok? Do you need me?’

‘I need a favour for tomorrow’s shifts.’

Folke wasn’t even double-thinking this anymore. He didn’t know why he was helping the people he was here to bust.

‘Why?..’

‘I need you to trust me.’

‘I wish you wouldn’t use that against me! What am I doing?’

‘The bank shifts, the one downtown. I need you to… make a blind spot in the shifts.’

‘Why would I do that?’

‘Because if you do, I think I might finally bring this ring down. I just need them to trust me.’

The infamous text bubble appeared, disappeared, appeared, disappeared, and continued for about 3 minutes. Folke felt his leg shaking as the other people at the table kept talking about anything and everything.

‘If this gets found out, I'll blame you.’

‘Thank you, Dar.’

Darwin sent a thumbs up, and Folke shut off his phone with a sigh and shoved it back into his pocket. He rubbed a hand down his face. He didn’t know what to do anymore, his brain told him to bring down the ring like he said he would, to gain as much trust as needed.

His heart, however, told him he’d never had friends like this before.