Ian pulled the van into a parking lot of a small convenience store. It was in the farthest north part of Great Plains, an area Ian had never visited. It was not quite suburbia, but not quite blue-collar neighbourhood either. It was quaint but not cute. The store was a chain convenience store, offering 24-hour service for just about anything someone would want, except good old healthy and wholesome food. Need a ready-made burrito, got it covered. Beer, plenty here. Soft drinks, by the can, bottle and fountain. Ian knew this chain well, as he had three within walking distance of his own apartment.
He and Lauren passed the trip northward talking small talk. Ian felt himself warming to Lauren, and he was sure that Lauren was warming up to him. While Kate was a dream, Ian could not shake his old habits of flirting with the women and trying to get to know them, and was not afraid of asking them out. And Lauren was as firm in his league as Kate was well out of it. Given his feelings about starting to take relationships further than just on a physical level, Ian thought he could really get to like Lauren.
He did a quick assessment on what he knew of her. She was pretty, but not a major head-turner. She was definitely intelligent. She had a strong will and decidedly could not be forced to do anything she did not want. Her strongest trait was that she was level headed and able to make others respect that. Ian also assessed that she had some major flaw like his indebtedness that allowed for her to be manipulated like him into participating in this heist. He could not claim with certainty that it was a driving need for money, but there had to be a major skeleton in her closet that the Benefactor was exploiting. Ian could overlook that. After all, one cannot be too picky when it comes to the dating scene.
Ian parked in a parking spot near the end of the lot. He put the vehicle in park, and sat back. He turned towards Lauren, and took a look in the back. Dean was still passed out holding his satchel.
"Well, this day has been long" Ian broke the silence.
"You are absolutely correct", said Lauren, also sitting back, relaxing.
"What are you doing this evening? Have any plans?"
"I am going to go to my apartment, drink a beer, and have a hot bath." She seemed to be imagining it at that time.
"Sounds relaxing" added Ian.
"And then I'm going to sleep for a week and hope to never see a white envelope ever again." She was speaking truth to power there.
Ian decided to make his move. "How about I split that beer with you? Can I join you?"
Lauren sat up. Bad sign. She looked over at him and smiled. Good sign. Lauren relaxed again. She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. "You know something, Ian?"
"What?"
"You are a nice guy, intelligent, quick to analyse things, but trying to be a bit of a player."
"Ummmm, you have me described pretty well."
"But your assessment is not perfect, nor is your ability to observe" she continued.
Ian started to see this ending badly.
"Do you see that person standing outside the store holding that dog?"
Ian looked to his left and saw a young woman of about 25 standing there drinking a soft drink. She was wearing a tight pair of yoga pants and a workout sweater that hugged her body revealing that she had a very attractive figure and was not afraid of showcasing it. She was holding the leash of a small dog, likely a mix between a Jack Russel Terrier and a Dachshund if Ian had to guess. "I see her."
"Do you think she's hot?"
"Ummm. Yeah, I do."
"So do I." And with that she opened the door and stepped out. With a wink and a wave, she turned towards the store and greeted the woman by the door with a kiss.
Ian waved goodbye to Lauren a bit shocked at what he had just seen. There were not that many houses nearby, so he thought about offering the two of them a ride to wherever they needed to go. The two women started walking away from the van and Ian noticed a bus stop within a minutes walk. Besides, Lauren was in self defence mode, and she would not divulge any information about her, to protect herself. But she had. Interesting.
As he was driving back towards downtown, he did a quick assessment of his own ability to read people. This was something he had never really done about himself. It took more than a moment to think about this. Was it because he was always surrounded by the same type of girl? Most of the women with whom he cavorted were young, university aged women, who were really on their own for the first time of their lives. They were recently rebelling against the yoke of parental control, and all of a sudden had a complete lack of oversight, and they exploded into a vortex of debauchery and frantic expressiveness. Kate was an odd departure from his normal method of operation, too. Maybe he was tiring of the young, party crowd and looking for something more. Whatever he was needing, he realised that Lauren was not it. And he misread that one. The one thing he could count on was that he did not permanently damage himself or Lauren. Live and learn.
He stopped at a red light near the downtown. He looked at the buildings around and he saw that he was in Chinatown. Deciding that this was as good a time as any, he called into the back of the truck to Dean.
"Hey, Dean. Get up. Where do you want me to drop you off?"
"Uhhh, where are we?"
"Main Street, in Chinatown."
"I need to get to the rail yards. I'm coming up."
Ian cursed under his breath. The best way to get to the rail yards was behind him. That would mean spending some more time with Dean than he would have liked.
The light turned green, and he accelerated into the intersection. "I'm going to go through downtown by the Trib to get to the rail yards. Any problems with that?"
"Ah, not really. I live down by the east end as it is."
Not wanting any further conversation, Ian turned on the radio and set it to a talk radio station. He gave Dean the look like he wanted him to know that this was for news of the bank robbery. Dean did not look like he was too concerned about the noise. It was overtly apparent that he did not like Ian as it was.
As they were crossing the bridge to get into the east end, a news report came through the radio.
"Earlier this afternoon a daring daylight robbery took place. Three robbers held up a bank in the 800 block of Kingfisher Avenue, stole thirty-five thousand dollars and made off on bicycles into Oxbow Park. They are described as two men and a woman, all in their early twenties and travelling on mountain bikes. Anyone with any information is encouraged to call the Saint Barbara Police Service or Crime Stoppers."
This sent chills up Ian's spine. Despite the vagueness of the suspect descriptions, the three of them were perfectly described. He would be dumping the bicycles later, after returning the van. The three things he could count as blessings were that they were described as escaping into Oxbow Park, when in reality they did not get anywhere near there, the fact that as soon as Dean was gone, he would never be seen with the others, and that even though it was reported that they had taken a huge amount of money, in reality, they had grabbed nothing.
Ian was getting tired. The adrenaline from the robbery, escape and the other activities had long ago worn off. He needed to get rid of Dean, drop off the bikes and then get the van back. At that time, he would be done and he would sleep for a week.
"I'm just over there" Dean stated, giving a point into the direction of some houses. Ian pulled into the street, and stopped at the only parking spot big enough for the van.
"Here you go."
"Thanks. Did you want to come on up? Maybe for a beer?"
"Uh, not really."
"Listen, I'm sorry for acting as I did earlier, but I was scared, and unable to think straight. I want to clear the air with you. Maybe I can offer you a beer, call a truce, and let bygones be bygones."
Ian thought about that for the moment. Now that the heist was over, he realised that he really did not dislike Dean that much, and the moment was tense, so he was willing to give Dean the benefit of the doubt. "OK, I'll come up for a beer, but I can't stay long or else I'll be charged an extra day for the rental." It was a small lie that could easily get him out of Dean's presence.
"Great!" Dean seemed genuinely pleased.
Ian turned off the vehicle. He thought about what he was setting out to do. Here he was getting out going to the place of the man who agitated him to his core. It must be the effect of the soothing of the adrenaline.
"I just want to remind you, I can't stay long."
"No problem, I'll just get us a beer, we can talk and you can go."
They approached the building. It was an older house that had been sectioned off into about four apartments. Dean led them up the path to the building. On the veranda, he opened the mailbox for apartment one with a key he had on a rather heavy keychain. "I don't want to lose it, so I'll notice the lack of weight when I don't carry it" he explained with a chuckle. He closed the box and Ian noticed Dean's name on the mailbox. Last name was poorly written, but it evidently started with the letter R. Rest was indecipherable.
They went around back of the building. Dean, using his heavy keys, once again, opened the door to apartment two. Not wanting to question, Ian let his confusion rest for the moment.
However, Dean was full of explanations. I have an ex-wife that has a new man. I have a slightly different address than where I live. It's to prevent me from having the living tar kicked out of me by that idiot." This was apparently enough of an explanation because Dean did not seem bent on explaining any more.
Dean went to the refrigerator and grabbed two cans of beer. He opened both and handed one to Ian. Ian noticed that this was not your cheap beer, but rather it was a pricier domestic brand. It was also one that Ian had never tasted. He sipped. It was excellent. It was plain to see that Dean spent some of his earlier Benefactor money on good beer.
They moved into the living room. Although Ian was used to clutter, Dean's living room was a bit full of squalor. Ian was glad that he would only be here for the one, because he could not feel comfortable with the amount of junk around. He moved some clothes and books, and something he did not want to look too closely at, aside and sat down on the end of the couch.
Dean moved into the room and fell into the chair across the room. He took a long slug from his beer. He was still carrying his satchel.
"How do you think it went?" It was an odd question to begin the conversation.
"Well, I think it was okay, but I'll feel better once I get rid of the bikes, and the clothes I wore today. That way, there is nothing that can tie me directly to what happened."
Dean had a bit of a mocking smirk on his face. Ian felt uncomfortable again. "Do you think the police will still be looking for us?"
Ian did not know where that came from. "I don't think so. Not until tomorrow. After all, we took nothing, and they won't know until they open the vault tomorrow that anything was stolen. Even then, if the others obey the directions given to them, they are only taking one package, not the whole lot. It would look silly to expend all sorts of police resources to look for the thief that took one little package."
The smile did not disappear. In fact, it grew. "Well, I happen to know that something was taken."
Ian felt a cold solid lump forming in his stomach. He polished off his beer, because he had a feeling he knew what was coming.
Dean opened his satchel, and dumped it on the floor in front of the chair. A whole pile of cash fell out.
"You weren't supposed to take anything" Ian protested.
"I figure that it was my freedom on the line, I deserve some payment."
"The Benefactor said that he could protect us. You violated his directions."
"Don't give me any loyalty crap, Ian. He can't protect us. He'd give us up in a second."
Ian could not help but feel that Dean was right about that. But being in the room with all that stolen cash made him extremely uncomfortable. He started to rise.
"Ian, take some. I was wrong when I snapped at you in the van. You did a great job in making sure we got away, I feel I owe you something to make up for it."
"Uhhh. Keep the money, the beer was good enough payment."
Dean fixed him with a hard stare. Ian needed to get out of there. He made a motion to leave, checked Dean, saw that he was not making a move, and Ian slowly let himself out of the apartment.
Out by the van, Ian got in, locked the doors, took three deep breaths and started the vehicle. He had only been in the house about ten minutes, but the van seemed very cold right now.
All Ian could do was think about was what the Benefactor do if he knew that he had been double crossed. And what would he do if he knew that Ian knew.