Bobby Steward leaned against the side of the armored cube truck, with one hand resting on his sidearm and the other one cupping a Newport in an attempt to keep the falling snow from wetting the cigarette too bad. He tapped his foot impatiently casting an occasional glance at his watch, as if he had somewhere better to be. He had been working for Armored Services for just over two weeks and he was already fucking up. His job had been to stay behind the wheel of the truck while Mike and Aaron gathered the money from inside Macy’s, but his yearn for nicotine caused him to disobey the order. He reasoned that no one would be stupid enough to try and take off an armored truck; things like that only happened on television. Besides, if someone did try anything they’d have to deal with Stringer and the double action shotgun that he kept in the back of the truck with him.
His attention was drawn to a statuesque woman making her way to the exit from inside the store to where they were parked. In one hand, she carried at least four shopping bags. A stack of boxes was balanced in the other, obscuring nearly her entire upper body with the exception of her face. She had coffee brown skin and wore her hair in a long black weave that came down her back. Bobby couldn’t see her body due to the boxes, but he was able to admire the long legs that stretched down from her short gray skirt. If the rest of her was as built as her legs, there was some lucky stud out there that Bobby wished he could trade places with.
A few paces behind the woman were Mike and Aaron, carrying four heavy bags and laughing about something that Bobby wasn’t quite sure of. No doubt they were enjoying the view as they could see the woman’s body better than Bobby could. “Lucky bastards,” he cursed under his breath.
When the woman reached the double doors, she found that she couldn’t pull them open because of all the stuff she was carrying. Never one to miss an opportunity for a free peek, Bobby tossed his cigarette and stepped into the foyer. Smiling like a shyer cat, Bobby opened the doors for her. “Let me get that for you,” he said, executing a half bow.
“Aren’t you the sweet one,” the woman smiled from behind the dark glasses she was wearing. She stepped passed Bobby, giving him a full view of her delicious ass. “Sweetie, I hate to be a bother, but could you get the other doors for me too?” she asked in her most innocent voice.
“But of course,” he said, scrambling to pull the last set of doors open for her. He was so caught up in trying to impress the beautiful woman that he didn’t even notice when she let the bags drop to the floor and produced a small Uzi.
“You just hold that pose,” she hissed, jamming the Uzi into his gut. She made sure to keep her back to the other two Armored Service guards so they wouldn’t know what was going on until it was too late. When Bobby tried to make eye contact with his partners, she dug the nose of the gun into his belly with so much force that he gave a small yelp. “If you even think about it, this shit is gonna go from a robbery to a homicide.” Though Bobby couldn’t see her eyes behind the glasses, something told him that she was serious.
“Now, just keep smiling and back out like you’re holding the door for me,” she said with ice in her voice. Not wanting to lose his life on Christmas Eve, Bobby did as he was told.
Mike and Aaron’s laughter was halted abruptly when they noticed that Bobby wasn’t at his post behind the wheel. “What the fuck is this kid doing?” Mike asked Aaron.
“Trying to lose his fucking job,” he shifted the bags he was carrying all into one hand so he would be free to draw his weapon if there was trouble. “We’re carrying a fucking mint and he’s trying to mack, that stupid son of a bitch.”
“I’m ratting his ass out when we get back to base,” Mike said seriously. As they got closer to Bobby, they noticed that his face was wearing a strange expression. Most 22-year olds would’ve been smiling from ear to ear in the presence of a stallion like the one he was talking to, but Bobby wasn’t. He looked afraid. The two men must’ve sensed the same thing because they reached for their weapons at the same time. Before either of them could clear their weapons, a voice stopped them.
“Don’t be no hero,” Cos said, appearing out of thin air. He was wearing a black suit. Like Frankie, glasses covered his angular face, but his hand was jammed under a box used to pack long stemmed roses. “Now, you finish the motion if you want to and we’ll see if these are flowers inside this box or iron.”
“Why don’t you let us help you with those,” Duce said, coming from the opposite side. His suit was midnight blue with black pinstripes. At his side, he held a .45. With little to no effort, he took the bags Aaron was carrying while his partner took Mike’s. “You boys just keep walking like we ain’t even here. And if you think about trying something, we ain’t got no problem letting these things go.” Cos jiggled the box, “Feel me?” Mike and Aaron nodded dumbly. “Good.”
The four men walked through the doors of Macy’s like old buddies shopping together. The robbers flanked Mike and Aaron as they stepped through the double doors and onto the snow-covered sidewalk. Both of the guards shot Bobby a murderous look, but no one said anything. If they lived through the robbery they would settle up with him later.
Cos gave Frankie a wink as he passed. She spared a minute to smile at him and when she did Bobby made a move. Out of fear more than bravery, he grabbed Frankie’s gun. While he was trying to wrest it from her, the Uzi went off perforating the ground with small holes. One of the bullets bounced off the sidewalk barely missing Duce, but striking Aaron in the leg. Bobby tried to use his weight against Frankie but it backfired when she caught him with a hip toss. The stunned guard hit the snow-packed ground and lied there in a daze.
At the sound of gunfire, Stringer popped the rear doors of the truck with his shotgun at the ready. He moved to train it on the robbers but something crashed into the side of his face. He screamed like a girl as his jaw collapsed like rotten fruit. Through the haze of pain, he could see a hulk of a man in a green suit standing over him holding a very large sledge hammer.
“What’re you a fucking idiot?” Thor asked, before he brought the hammer down again. This time the arm closest to the fallen shot gun was crushed by the hammer. “You move again and I’m gonna bust your fucking head open!” He didn’t have to worry about that, Stringer was in too much pain to do anything but cry.
“Let’s get the fuck outta here!” Cos barked, as he pushed Mike roughly to the ground. Mike thought about going for his gun, but seeing what happened to his partners he decided it would be smarter just to stay very still.
A brown Plymouth came to a screeching halt beside the armored truck. Cowboy, behind the wheel dressed in a black turtleneck sweater and dark glasses, stuck his head out the window. “I said don’t shoot unless you had too. The pigs are gonna be all over this place in a hot minute. Let’s move people!” he shouted.
“Hold on, man, we gotta get the money out of the truck,” Thor said, reaching for the doors.
“Don’t be fucking greedy, Thor. The police are gonna be on our asses any second and I don’t look forward to spending my Christmas in the fucking bull pens. Move!” Cowboy ordered.
Thor mumbled something and lumbered to the car with his three accomplices in tow. No sooner than the last of the robbers had climbed into the car several blue and white police cars came racing up the street. Cowboy threw the car into gear and slammed his foot on the gas. Tires squealed showering bystanders with snow before they shot down Livingston Street.