As the dawn of a new day illuminated the horizon with a prism of purple, pink and blue hues, Shonda Williams paced the balcony of her apartment brooding over her dilemma.
Her cousin Pluto watched her with a wary eye, unsure of what to say as consolation.
It was easy to shift the blame, but that would not solve their problem, he reasoned.
"Just tell me what you want me to do..." Pluto started to show her where his loyalty lay.
"I'm ready." he insisted.
Shonda shook her head in misery.
Her intuition alarm was blaring.
Her mind was muddled with thoughts of how she could maneuver her way out of the entire situation.
Her brother had placed them in a very precarious position.
After a year of meticulous planning, Shonda had developed a foolproof plan to rob the Kennesaw Savings and Trust Bank.
She had worked as a loan officer for the banking branch for six years and had intimate knowledge of the security operations.
When she devised the plan she began scouting for a four-man crew.
A group of hard hitters who could be trusted to handle business.
Her search had to lead her to Kirkwood Kenny, a notorious robber, and thief.
Her attempt to control him with sex was lost...
The man proved to be a brute savage.
He didn't care about anyone other than himself.
He didn't waste time getting physical with her whenever he felt offended by something that she said or did without his knowledge or consent.
Her brother had been her shield against his abuse.
When the team was put together it was her, Kirkwood Kenny, and her brother Broderick.
Kenny brought in one of his friends, D-Money.
Broderick brought in their cousin Pluto a month ago, after being released from reformatory school.
That was their four-man crew until Broderick had gotten locked up on a VOP, (violation of probation), two hours prior.
He and Pluto were driving home from the club when APD got behind them.
A search of his vehicle produced an unregistered handgun.
Once they ran his info in their database his legal status was displayed.
Pluto was allowed to leave, but they transported Broderick to Fulton county jail.
Four hours from their planned heist, and there was no one available to watch Pluto's back on the caper, Shonda brooded in frustration.
And Kenny was not the type of man to be trusted with the amount of money that was on the line.
Of that she was certain...
Shonda was afraid to go through with the heist, for fear that Kenny and his friend would double-cross her cousin, and take all of the cash for themselves.
She was also afraid to attempt to cancel the heist, for fear that they would attempt it on their own, and cross her out of her own plan.
It was a difficult dilemma.
"I just don't feel comfortable with you going in with them alone." Shonda lamented.
"There are too many things that can go wrong between the bank and the rendezvous point." she insisted
"We need to get a fourth man," Pluto stated.
"I agree. But Kenny already said that it can be done with three, so he's not going to accept some outsider coming in at the last minute and getting a cut on the cash... I know him. He wants to be in complete control of everything!"
The bitter frustration that she felt could be heard from the tone of her voice.
Pluto had no idea how dangerous Kenny could be.
Shonda was not under any false illusions about the ruthless disregard that resided in Kenny.
"Just give me a couple of hours to get with a few of my homeys and at least see what we can come up with..."
Shonda closed her eyes in contemplation.
There was no easy solution.
She was almost certain that with Broderick out of the equation Kenny would attempt to double-cross them all.
He and D-Money had disappeared about twenty minutes before sunrise to tie up a few loose ends.
They had until nine o'clock am to come up with something.
From within the apartment, the ring of her cordless phone captured their attention.
She and Pluto exchanged a look.
Neither of them was sure who could be calling at that time of the morning.
Shonda went inside to answer the call.
A glance at the caller ID let her know that it was her sorority sister.
"What's up lil sis? How are you?"
"I'm sorry to have to call you this early, but if it's not too much of a problem, do you think that I can catch a ride to school with you this morning? My car is acting up on me."
"Okay. But I'll have to swing by around seven, seven-thirty, in order to have time to handle my business... Can you be ready by then?"
"Girl I'll be ready whenever you get here."
As she grabbed her purse from the coffee table Pluto grabbed his jacket.
"Who was that?" He asked
"That was my friend. I'm going to swing through East Lake Meadows and pick her up, then I'll drop you off, so you can get the van. Once you get some transportation, then use that to see what you can come up with. You're going to have about two hours tops to try and find us a fourth man."
Pluto gave a somber nod of determination.
A man always considers himself prepared for the moment in which he stares down the barrel of opportunity, but Pluto could feel the walls closing in...
If he didn't find someone to ride with him, there were two-to-one odds against him surviving.
"Where the hell are my car keys?" Shonda grumbled.
"Your car isn't out there."
"What?" She exclaimed and stormed to the front window, to peer out into the parking lot.
"This stupid bastard took my car..."
Kirkwood Kenny sat behind the wheel of Shonda's car, giving D-Money an outline of his alternate plan; in the event that things got hectic when they exited the bank.
Two miles east of the bank, there was a housing development called Oakland Estates.
At the rear of the housing development, there was a woodland that covered about five hundred yards of real estate.
Beyond this area, there was a shopping plaza, parallel to its rear in which D-Money had parked his car.
The plan was devised to use the woodland to establish enough separation so that they would have time to elude any pursuing police officers.
D-Money paid close attention, as Kenny gave an outline of his plan, and reminded him of the sort of money that was at stake.
Once they set their plan in motion, Kirkwood Kenny made it clear that there would be no playing...
This, Kenny had emphasized to him, was the type of heist that could set them straight for a few years.
"Understood," D-Money replied.
"But let me ask you something... If this is your girlfriend's cousin, what are we going to do about him?"
"This is OUR money," Kenny stressed with a fierce look.
"If this punk tries to get in the way of my money, I'm going to kill him and anybody else that tries to take my money."
D-Money had no doubt that Kenny intended to use them all like puppets on a string, in order to pull off the bank heist...
The allure of walking away with a hundred thousand in cash was just too appealing to pass up.
If somebody had to die, to get it D-Money kept telling himself that he would not be the victim.
When they began their drive back to Shonda's apartment D-Money gazed about their borrowed transportation, and decided that once he got his hands on that cash and they were clear from apprehension, he would establish some separation.
Malice murder was not something that he wanted to do, but there was no turning back at that point.