Standing Our Ground

Day One: The Present

Evan towel-dried his hair after his shower, walking into the meeting room in the cave. Everyone else was there, with the exception of Craig, who had been the last one to wake up and thus was the last one to get cleaned up.

"All right," Evan said, sighing to himself, throwing the towel around his shoulders, "what's our next course of action?"

"Well," Brock started, typing numbers into his phone, "we made enough off the heist to last us the next year, you know, if we hadn't lost the van. And all the explosives and gear we had to destroy."

Evan winced at the reminders. Expenses like that were the reason they were still doing this line of work. "How much did we make, then?" He dreaded the answer.

Brock puffed his cheeks out. "Enough for the next couple of months?" He shook his head. "Regardless, we don't need to worry about money for a while."

Tyler nodded to himself. "All right, we'll start planning our next heist in two weeks. As for now," he got up and went to a cabinet under the TV. He came back with a satchel. "Brock, here's your cut." He handed Brock a small stack of money, all of it having been broken down into twenties and fifties.

"Thanks, Tyler," Brock stayed back, pocketing the money. As the medic, Brock was absolutely required on every mission, so he was always guaranteed a cut of the money.

Tyler nodded and continued splitting up the money.

"Lui," he handed Lui, a shorter man, the same amount of money. "Thanks for helping us out, man."

Lui nodded and grinned. "Sure thing, man. Call me next time and I'll see if I can join again. Then again, I might be in Florida, so I might not be able to make it."

"As usual," Tyler grumbled before breaking into smile. "Take care, Lui. Evan,"

Evan held his hand out as Tyler placed the stack of cash onto Evan's open palm. Evan nodded and stayed sitting.

"Is it my turn now?" Craig asked, stretching as he walked in.

Tyler coughed and sputtered, having been startled by Craig. "Jesus, Craig, warn a guy next time! Yeah, you're the last to get paid, other than myself, like usual."

"Not my fault y'all appointed me designated driver," Craig shrugged, grinning crookedly.

Tyler snorted and laid the bag with the rest of the money on the table. "Yeah, 'cause you suck at acting."

"Not true!" Craig protested. "I'm just as good as you!"

"Oh yeah? What about that time you freaked out and became 'Pablo the Pedo?'" Both Evan and Tyler laughed as Craig frantically tried to save face.

"That was--I was-- That was a one-time thing!"

Tyler snorted. "Right, 'one-time,' I don't think I ever saw a more horrified expression on anyone's face than on the lady who's kid you were going to babysit after hearing that."

Craig flushed, Evan chuckled and smiled. Tyler had a point, there hadn't been any money from that epic fail.

"Ah-whatever!" Craig stormed off, hair still wet and flicking water droplets everywhere. He threw open a door and let it slam shut behind him. Evan watched and looked back at Tyler. They caught each other's eyes and burst into laughter.

"Still the same old Craig," Tyler sighed, shaking his head but still smiling.

"Yeah," Evan agreed, swiveling around in his computer chair to better face Tyler. His face grew still and expectant. "You've already got a target, don't you?" He wasn't disappointed by Tyler's answer.