Numb3r 10

Bank Heist: The End of the Three Robbers

Just a few minutes before Silas and North had showed up at the dead police officer's house, our three robbers were having yet another argument.

The dead officer, Wilson, wasn't supposed to be dead. He had called Ellis to tell him that Hunter was in custody, but that they would continue with their plan as previously discussed. Well, Ellis took Hunter's capture as an excuse to stray from the plan, and so he went to Wilson's house (Phillips and Turner weren't quite sure how he knew where the house was, but Ellis was in no mood to explain). Ellis shot Wilson point blank as he slept, and now Phillips had seen a dead body and Turner had a rather large scrape on his arm. It was from trying to stop Ellis, but obviously, his attempt hadn't succeeded.

Their whispered argument didn't reach their neighbor's sleeping ears.

"He was the one who trained us," Ellis pointed out with a shrug. In his mind, that justified his death. He had kidnapped each of them, trained them on the plan and how to best execute it, and now he was dead. Ellis thought that was a fair trade.

"You can't just kill people!" Phillips exclaimed. He was still nauseous after seeing the body. That single shot echoed over and over in his head. Why hadn't he tried to stop Ellis? Fear had held him in place.

"Who are we supposed to give the package to now?" Turner asked reasonably. Their only contacts were Wilson and Hunter. With Wilson dead and Hunter out of the picture, what would they do next? It wasn't like they could clear their name. Not after the bank robbery, and especially not after Ellis shot Wilson.

Again, Ellis settled for a shrug. "Let's sell it. If Hunter thought it was so valuable, someone else will, too. We can sell it and start over fresh somewhere else."

The men paused to let that thought sink in. They couldn't stay here. But here was where their lives—their families—were, and nobody was anxious to leave that all behind. But if it meant keeping them safe...

"I know someone who could move it for us," Turner said eventually. He was a lawyer, and one of his past clients was known for moving hard-to-sell goods. He'd just finished serving a short prison sentence and rumor had it that he was already back in the business.

Ellis nodded. Phillips nodded to, but he wasn't as confident. He wanted for this nightmare to be over. And if he fled the country, it never would be. What would happen to his family? Would they find a way to connect his wife to this mess? Would they arrest her, too?

As Turner led them through the back alleys of Charleston, Phillips saw his opportunity. They passed a rundown convenience store. He said he needed to use the bathroom and ducked inside while the other two waited. He picked up a packet of gum and walked over to the tired cashier. He still had his wallet—Wilson had only taken his cellphone.

He paid with a credit card and tossed the gum in the trash on his way out.

***

Back at the FBI, two things happened at once. A whole bunch of computers kicked up an alarm, and Sang declared she was done. Silas and North had just gotten back, and they followed Victor to check out the alarm while Owen and Sean went to Sang. Luke had already been called out to follow another tip with Gabriel, and Kota and Nathan were doing a final pass at the bank for any missed clues.

Sang held up an oversized map one of the FBI technicians had so kindly printed off for her. On the map were two red circles, showing the areas at which the drop was most likely to take place. Each circle only covered a few square blocks, so the results were refined enough for an easy search.

"I would search this region first," Sang said, pointing to the upper circle. "I estimate they'll be here with 57% probability. The other region has 32%."