Chapter Text
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
The clock. It simply wouldn’t shut up. Jeremy tried so hard to ignore it, but it just kept ticking and tocking away.
“Anyone heard from him yet?” They asked, no one in particular.
“Not yet. He’ll be fine.” Trevor responded, sitting on the window sill, looking out onto the busy streets.
“He should be back by now.” Jeremy put their hands on the table in front of them, their leg bouncing restlessly.
“He’s fine.” Trevor said again, sounding like he was trying to convince himself.
Tick.
Everything was going well. The job was simple. Get in, grab the stuff, get out. Nothing they haven’t done a billion times before, so what went wrong this time?
Tock.
~~~~
“We good?” Trevor asked from the driver’s seat, testing the comm links.
“Hell yeah, we Gucci!” Alfredo’s voice piped in through Jeremy’s earpiece. “Parked my bike in an alley, will come meet up with you in 10.”
“Everyone remembers the plan?”
Jeremy nodded. Trevor and Jeremy were sitting in their getaway car, parked in the back street, two houses away from their target.
“We get in through the back door, go down to the basement, get the documents from the safe, get out, and go on our merry ways.” Alfredo recounted, slightly out of breath.
“How far are you, Fredo?” Jeremy asked, looking out the passenger seat window.
“Ah, not far at all, J.”
That’s when Jeremy caught sight of him. Alfredo was sprinting from around the corner, slipping into the backseat.
“Hey there lads, miss me?” He smiled, catching his breath.
“Always. Now, the house that we want is the one down there with the pool and the white picket fence.” Trevor pointed. “I have the key to the backdoor, we walk in with purpose. It’s only 5pm, so it’s still bright out. We act like we belong and everyone will think that we belong. There is a cop patrol that comes around this neighborhood, try not to piss him off, alright?”
Jeremy and Alfredo both nodded.
“Alright, this job should be an easy one. Get in, get the documents, get out. We deliver them straight back to Kingpin, we split the money for the job. Anything goes south, we meet back here. Should anyone split up for any reason, get to Fredo’s bike and try to make it back to the safe house. Make sure no cops are trailing. If comms go dead, send a sign with a burner phone. You guys know the code, we’ll pick you up. Let’s not fuck this up, alright?”
“We’re all professionals here. This is an easy job, Treh. Don’t worry.” Alfredo patted his shoulder.
“Alfredo’s right. We’ve done harder shit before for less money. Let’s just get this done before the owner gets back.” Jeremy looked between the two men.
“Well, in that case. Let’s heist!” Trevor smiled.
~~~~
Tick.
“Who the fuck were those guys? How did they know we were going to be there?” Jeremy looked at Trevor, unsure how he could be so nonchalant about this.
“I don’t know, Jeremy. Could have been cops, could have been a gang, sorry I didn’t exactly get a look at their faces, was in the middle of getting shot at.”
It was at that moment that Jeremy realized that Trevor was furious. He was trying to stay calm to not explode. Jeremy’s eyes travelled down to Trevor’s arm. He was still wearing his civilian attire. Black tee with dark jeans. His left bicep was bandaged tightly, with slight discoloration around the wound.
“Could there be a mole?” Michael asked, observing the two of them from across the room.
Jeremy’s head snapped up to him. Michael leaned against the wall to their left, listening attentively. His right hand was roughly messing with the back of his short brown curls, whilst his left hand clenched the hem of his signature brown jacket, adorned with a wolf emblem on the back.
“Inside job? Someone ratted us out? Is that what you’re suggesting?” Jeremy questioned, tilting his head slightly to the side.
“We don’t have any clue as to what happened. Let’s not throw accusations around.” Trevor said dejectedly.
Tock.
~~~~
The house looked like every other house on the street. It was a rural neighborhood with small one story houses. Most with big backyards, some with pools. Kids were back from school, a couple of boys and girls were playing soccer on the street, running away any time a car drove by. The sun was on the downward path, coming closer to dusk.
Trevor unlocked the door and walked right in. Alfredo followed closely behind him. Jeremy looked around the neighborhood one last time, before stepping in and closing the door behind them.
The interior of the house looked about as basic as the outside of it. Cream colored walls were decorated with art and family photos. An L shaped couch stood before a plasma TV. Bookshelves lined the walls in the study, filled to the brim with colorful covers. A large mahogany desk stood in the middle of the room, overlooking the door.
“Jeremy, look through the books. Alfredo, the desk. I’ll check the bedroom. The documents should be around here somewhere. Remember, green folder.”
And so the search began. Going through every book, every piece of paper, to find what they were sent here to collect.
~~~~
Tick.
Jeremy sat in the sombre room, no one talked, no one looked at each other. Each lost in their own thoughts.
The door opened, breaking the thick silence. Jack walked into the room and sat in a chair, not far from where Michael was still reclined. She looked carefully at each of them, her face unreadable. Finally, coming to some sort of conclusion, she sighed and left the room again.
Jeremy and Michael exchanged a look, but ultimately shrugged it off. Jack soon returned with three freshly brewed mugs of green tea. She put one in front of Jeremy, then continued around the room silently.
Trevor sat with his left leg bent underneath him and his right pulled up to his chest. His chin rested on it, his arms hugging it tightly. Jack placed the tea mug by his leg, but Trevor simply continued to stare out the window. Jeremy started to worry about him. His face was turned just enough away for Jeremy to not see his expression.
Michael gratefully accepted his own mug, smiling softly at Jack. Jack smiled back at him, before returning to her seat.
“So what do we know?” She asked.
“Basically nothing.” Jeremy sighed, thinking back through the events once again.
“That’s not true. We know what happened before everything went to shit, so let’s go over that again. What happened at that house?”
Tock.
~~~~
“J look at this!” Alfredo called Jeremy over.
Alfredo had a desk drawer open, he removed all contents from it and it was completely empty. Unsure of what Jeremy was meant to see, they looked at Alfredo for answers.
“It’s empty, right?”
Jeremy nodded.
“Look at the depth this goes to. It’s only halfway to the end of the drawer. Why make it so big, but not have it go all the way to the bottom? Unless, this is a fake floor. There has got to be a switch around here somewhere.” Alfredo explained, feeling around. After a few seconds, he exclaimed, “Aha! Knew it!”
He pulled on some sort of lever at the bottom of the drawer and the panel slid backwards, revealing a secret compartment underneath. Inside were several external hard drives, some CDs, burner phones, a whole bunch of business cards, arrangement of keys in all sizes, a good number of joints, a Desert Deagle, and several folders. Only one of them was green however.
“Damn, this son of a bitch has enough shit in here to supply a small operation. Yo Treh, you might want to check this out.” Fredo spoke into the comms.
“Roger that.” Trevor’s reply came immediately.
Trevor came into the room and walked immediately over to them. Looking into the drawer, he whistled softly. “Damn. Alright, grab the folder and let’s go.”
“What about the rest of it?” Jeremy asked, mostly curious about the amount of hard drives that were there.
“We were sent for the folder, that’s all we’re taking. We have limited time and we definitely can’t carry all of that right now.” Trevor instructed, picking up the green folder and putting it in his backpack. “Let’s go.”
Alfredo looked like he wanted to argue, but instead he nodded and got up from the ground. Jeremy followed suit and the three of them walked back towards the back door.
Trevor opened the door when he immediately staggered backwards with a scream.
“Shit! Take cover!” Jeremy yelled, dragging Trevor to the other side of the wall. Them and Trevor were on the right side of the door while Alfredo was on the left. Shots continued raining in, shattering windows.
“How bad is he?” Alfredo shouted through the noise.
Jeremy looked down at Trevor in their lap.
“Just a graze. Left arm.” Trevor replied through gritted teeth.
Jeremy looked up to Alfredo, giving him a thumbs up. Screams could be heard from the outside. Somewhere nearby police sirens were approaching.
“Front door, go on three!” Jeremy said, counting up with their fingers, their pistol already off safety.
1… 2… They ran towards the front door, managing to avoid getting hit by more bullets. As soon as they made it there, Alfredo broke the door down with his shoulder and they continued running towards their getaway car. They had to make it two houses down and into the back alley. They were so close.
A black SUV with tinted windows swerved around the corner, blocking off their path. This wasn’t the cops. More shots rained towards the three of them, as they ran towards the nearest house. Firing back proved useless, the car was armored.
They were moving in the opposite direction of where their car was. They had to circle around.
“Roofs!” Alfredo yelled from somewhere to Jeremy’s left.
Jeremy turned to look at Alfredo who was already effortlessly scaling up the water pipe at the nearest house.
“Trevor won’t make the climb, meet us at the point.” Jeremy said into the comms.
“Negative. Will try to get his attention. You two go, get him to the car. I’ll catch up with you guys on my bike.”
“Copy that.”
And with that, Jeremy and Trevor ran up ahead as they watched Alfredo leap from one rooftop to the next. Sure enough the SUV followed him and got the heat off of the other two. Maneuvering their way through the streets, they finally made it back to their car. Trevor got into the passenger seat, opening the glove compartment and taking out a first aid kit. Jeremy got into the driver seat and immediately started driving.
“Fredo, status?” Trevor asked.
Silence stretched for a second too long to start worrying, before a reply came in.
“Almost to the bike, travelling through the narrow alleys. I think I lost them.” Alfredo’s sound sounded winded.
“We’re driving back, cops will be swerving the place any minute now, get out of there.” Jeremy informed him, passing by several cars as their sirens blared. They tried to keep to a reasonable speed limit and not draw attention to themselves.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be- AH!” Alfredo’s scream got cut off.
“Fredo?!” Trevor asked, sitting up straighter in his seat, almost toppling the first aid over.
The two of them sat in silence, listening, waiting for a response.
“I’ve been hit, I’m ok though.” Alfredo came in again, voice sounding strained. “I can see my bike up ahead.”
“Be careful.” Jeremy said, trying to keep focus on the road ahead of them.
“Comms going down until I lose them.”
“Copy that.”
And the silence weighed heavy on the two car passengers.
~~~~
Ti-
The clock shattered and fell to the ground. Jeremy put the gun back down on the table. Trevor barely blinked an eye.
“Dude! Warning next time! Could blow someone’s head off with that thing.” Michael exclaimed, dropping his mug of tea.
“I know what a gun can do, Michael.” Jeremy said, staring daggers back at him.
“Chill guys. We’re all stressed enough, alright?” Jack looked tiredly at the two of them, her legs, crossed over, laid on the table.
Silently, Jeremy nodded and put their gun on safety, while Michael took a seat next to Jack. Jeremy sighed and leaned back in their chair. It’s only been three hours. Sometimes it takes team members days to return when situations get heated. Alfredo will be alright.
Suddenly the doors burst open and two men walked in. Geoff walked past everyone, not even mentioning the broken clock on the ground and made his way to the front of the room. He was followed closely behind by Gavin. The two of them looked serious and grim as they stood before the group, waiting for full attention.
“News?” Trevor asked, perking up slightly. It was the first time Jeremy noticed him move since coming into the Heist room.
“Sorta.” Geoff responded promptly. He looked around the room. Silence filled the air as everyone waited for what their leader had to say. “Gavin and I went through the security cameras from all the back alleys, trying to figure out what went down. The only clue we found is this clip. Gavin?”
All eyes travelled to Gavin as he opened his computer. He turned it around so everyone could see.
“We have Fredo run into this alley right here.” Gavin pointed to his screen where a security footage showed Alfredo running, clenching his left side, before disappearing behind a roof. “However, this is where his bike was stashed, but he never makes it to it.” Gavin pulled up another angle, the other side of the alley, Alfredo’s motorcycle propped up against the dumpster, Alfredo nowhere in sight.
“Can we see between those two? There’s still a good distance between those angles.” Michael asked.
“That’s where it gets complicated. Someone shot out the cameras in that alley. Before Jeremy, Trevor, and Fredo even walked into the house. All the cameras, that includes the Golden Web.” Gavin explained, his British accent stronger than normal. His usual tell that he was nervous.
“What do you mean the Golden Web? Who else knows about those?” Trevor asked, getting up from his window perch and coming closer to the screen.
“No one but the Fakes, or so I thought.” Gavin confessed.
The silence weighed heavy on the group. No one but the Fakes could have known about Gavin’s online network. The Golden Web consisted of every information that could ever be useful to their crew. From the current highest bounties in the city, to the name of every crew and known associates. Including the Fakes themselves. Gavin had his own camera grid of the entire city, a layout of every possible nook and cranny. Gavin put the most powerful firewall of protection onto it. No one could have accessed it, unless…
“This was planned ahead of time. They knew we were going to be there today.” Trevor said.
“Did the cameras catch anyone before they shot them?” Jack looked at Gavin.
Gavin shook his head, “sniper shot. Very precise.”
“No one outside of our own knew about this job.” Michael whispered.
“We can’t immediately assume that there is a mole in the crew. We need to look at other options. That is too serious of a claim to make without breaking all sorts of trust and starting infighting.” Geoff reasoned with the group. He looked carefully at each member of the Fakes that were currently in the room, before continuing. “Gavin and I are going to see what else we can find through the Web. See if we can trace whether someone has possibly managed to hack into it. Michael and Jeremy, go back to the alley and check out what you can find. Figure out if someone could have walked in and out without being noticed by the cameras. Jack, drive with them. If anything goes south, they’ll need the best getaway driver. If you three can, one of you will drive Alfredo’s bike back here. Check that it’s not being tracked. Got it?”
“Geoff, what about me?” Trevor asked.
“Heal up, rest. Plenty of action for you up ahead.”
“But Geoff, it’s barely a scrape, I-” Trevor started to complain.
“I know Trevor. You can’t help him if you don’t take care of yourself first. Go see Larry in the Medbay and make sure it’s not infected. If Larry tells me that you are good to go back onto the streets, then we’ll talk. Now everyone-” He was interrupted by a sudden notification from Gavin’s computer.
Gavin immediately swung it around and began typing. His face paled as his eyes widened.
“Gav?” Jeremy asked timidly. “What is it?”
“An email. Someone has Fredo.” Gavin replied, turning the computer around.
On his screen was a picture of Alfredo. He was sitting in the chair, his arms tied tightly behind his back. He was shirtless, his left side bandaged. He looked unconscious, his forehead was bleeding. His usual carefully styled black hair was a dishevelled mess. His legs also tied to the front legs of the chair. The photo was taken from what probably was a security camera, looking down on him. Around him, three dark grey walls were visible, with no windows, and one big sign written in green.
HEY THERE FAKES