AJ's pov:

I was setting up the guns, we'd all donned bulletproof vests and had rifles with us. All of us were hooked together to Lily. G was hooked to Ghost and John. G was roaming around the sewer tunnel restlessly and anxiously. He knew better than to have blind faith in Ghost. I was mostly quiet. Jake was losing his shit. And John, as I said was M.I.A

"G, I'm telling you he's setting us up man, there's still time to back off." Jake said nervously, with one hand on his gun and one brushing worriedly across his face.

"Who are we? Jake?" G asked simply.

"We're the Takers," Jake said quietly knowing where this was going.

G just nodded and started pacing again.

I'd attached all that needed to be, for the explosion to hit those trucks right in their sweet asses, in order to get money like confetti.

I was pretty confident about the explosives and I was great with timing. All that was left was the snatch and run. Keeping in mind of the possibility of Ghost trapping us. If this was a regular run, I wouldn't give a damn. But, with Delilah to lose. I was profusely sweating. And my heart was hammering wildly against my chest. I know it's not right to get so nervous before a heist. But what can I do, my body is doing this to itself.

"AJ? Babe?" I heard Delilah's voice. And felt a calm cool go over me.

"Lilah? You've reached?" I asked trying to keep my voice steady.

"No, we're in traffic. LA remember? Lily was getting worried. So she hooked me up to check on y'all," she said.

"We're O-Okay," I managed.

"Don't be tense AJ, it'll be fine." She cooed

I cracked a tiny smile.

"I love you," I said.

"I don't love you. I love your hat," she joked.

"Haha, to the dumps it goes," I whispered .

She retaliated with a moaning no. And then told me they had to disconnect. They'd almost reached. I nodded to myself.

So the thing was that two armored trucks, 18 and 29, were supposed to be arriving here at 11am. Sharp. Once they'd come, Ghost would stop them, so we could get into place. Then they'd be free to move further down the 4th Street. Where when they reached the target, they'd be blown up. Not such an intense blow that the whole truck burns. More like it jumps and falls down the hole, to us. And voila! snatch and scram.

It was 10:47am at the moment and everyone was extremely stressed. Especially cause Ghost didn't have the cleanest track record.

"Where the hell is John?" I asked G.

"He's up in the terrace," he said which confused me for a second, before he began again. "To shoot Ghost incase he does anything out of line."

I sighed with relief.

"I'm telling you man, we're dead meat." Jake said, he was completely on the edge now.

"Shut up Jake." G said.

10:55am.

"Ghost, you should have seen them by now where are they!?" G demanded.

"Hey don't bite me G, they'll be here," said Ghost's voice.

"We never should have trusted him," Jake said again. "This is all my fault."

"Jake, cool down man, we're good." I tried comforting him.

On the other microphone we heard John's familiar steady voice.
"I'm ready G. In position. I'll take him down on your call." He said.

"Do you see any trucks John?" G asked.
His accent becoming more prominent, now that he'd dropped the mirage.

"Nada," John answered.

10:59am

"Ghost where the fuck are the trucks! It's almost time!" G was losing it too now.

"Oh come on man! It's LA traffic, they must be stuck, don't come up my ass will ya?" Ghost said.

G grimaced. He was incharge of all of us. He'd have to be responsible. According to him at least.

"Whenever you're ready." John said again.

11am.

"Fuck, fuck. He's got us Gordon. Let's get out of here. This isn't good man." Jake was raising his voice now.

At the same time we heard Ghost breath in and curse saying, "Where the hell are y'all!"

Then John said, "This is the best shot if he bolts now, we'll miss him."

G pursed his lips and cussed continuously.

"Shit, shit!" Jake said what I thought.

"Shoot him," Jake said again, his blue eyes scrunched and fearful.

"Yeah G I think that's the best too now," I said finally.

"Fuck," G let out.

11:05am

"They should be here by now! Where are you bitch!" Ghost sighed.

"G what should I do? I'm ready. It's now or never man." John tensed on the speaker.

"Take him out," G said clenching his jaw.

John must have been about to shoot Ghost when he hollered into the microphone.

11:10am.

"They're here! Up on the highway! I see em. Get ready folks." Ghost rejoiced. "I told you they'd come!"

As Chaos and excitement ensued.
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Delilah's Pov:

We'd reached the hotel. It was crowded and tall. There was a young man standing outside waiting for us.
He was wearing a workers uniform, with a dark geen hat. I could hardly see his face. And his eyes were always on the ground. Yet somehow it felt like I'd seen him before.

He nodded towards Lily and then led us up straight to the room we were supposed to be in. It was large and spacious. And very hotel-like. White walls, white sofas, and a brown mini bar.

As soon as he left. Lily light bolted for the computer and set it up in a jiffie. I could tell she was very worried about Jake.

"Lilah, set up the cameras will you?" She asked.

I sat down and quickly within a few flicks of my fingers had live footage of the the crossroads where Ghost was standing in a police officer's oufit. Regulating traffic. We could see buildings behind him and heavy LA traffic all around.

"Great, everything seems in order right now." Lily sighed in relief.
"Wait, what's the time Lilah?"

I checked my watch, I knew the trucks were supposed to reach by 11am. Sharp.

"It's 10:55am," I answered back.

Her brows creased and posture tensed.
"They should be visible by now. Can you see em anywhere?"

"No I can't," I answered back after narrowing my eyes to see.

"Shit." Lily said and tried to listen in on the boys. Keeping our side closed. We'd decided it'd be better. So many voices at a tense time might be disastrous.

"Jake is freaking out." She said.
"John is ready with a shot." She kept giving me details while I kept staring at the screen.
AJ's name never came. I was thankful. He must be quietly spectating over all the madness.

"It's 11 Delilah, they're so dead. Shoot him G shoot him!" Lily scremed even though they wouldn't be able to hear us right now. Only we could hear them, for the time being.

Lily was still stuck up with the microphones while I was studying the screen.

"Hey sweets, what's up? Trucks there yet?" Jesse asked through his phone.

He'd called, cause he wasn't hooked up to me.

"I don't know Jess, doesn't seem too good as of now. But John's on the roof. It should be fine." I said keeping my calm, biting my cheek.

Suddenly my eyes diverted to a movement.
Ghost  was looking around, at..... building tops?
Did he know about John?
What was he doing?

His body seemed tense. And I could bet his eyes were scrunched up behind those tacky pair of black shades he had on.

I studied him. The man I so loathed.

Out of nowhere his body relaxed then tensed up again. He looked happy.

"Wha—" I was going to say when Lily's shrill voice broke through my sentence.

"They're here! The trucks are here! It's on." She said.

"So it's on," I muttered to myself, I could feel my nails sinking into the palms of my hands.
-
-
-
Nervousness seeped through me while Lily was announcing all that was happening.

"They're setting it up," Lily was saying. "See there Ghost has stopped them."

Which he had, two red and white trucks were back to back eachother. With big bold numbers on their roofs saying, '18' and '29'. Stopped amongst many LA driver's. They were all clearly frustrated. Every one was banging there hand on the steering wheel and seemed to be very pissed at Ghost. I didn't mind.

Yet he stayed determined with one hand vertical holding what I guessed was a whistle and one horizontal stopping traffic.

"They're almost there." Said Lily, she was watching the screen as if it were the climax of her favourite movie. Whilst listening in on the boys.

I stared at my computer which had another angle from the camera. While explaining the whole scene to Jesse.

"They're going in! Shit this is happening Deli—" he was in the middle of something when I stopped him.

The trucks had begun to move.
The plan was about to take place.
But then I saw something, something that's could very easily ruin everything.

"Lily! Put on the speaker! Look!" I showed her. And her eyes widened.

She fumbled with the microphones, and just when she finally connected, we heard Jake say, "Shit! We screwed up!"

It was already too late.
And I watched in horror as everything went up in flames.

Literally.

                 °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

AJ's pov:

The trucks were here and everyone was everywhere. Until we were all set.

"John put down the sniper, stay on guard," G ordered.

"Holla at me when y'all are ready," Ghost had said once he'd stopped the trucks.

"Jake take the controls." I told him and he did so. He was in full game mode right now. I remembered the same Jake who'd strategically and flawlessly pulled off more than half a hundred heists, then.

"Showtime guys?" G asked me.

"All set G!" I said with the same confidence I always had. We'd got this.

"We're ready." G said into the microphone.

"It's a Go, officer." John who'd recently linked in with Ghost, told him.

Ghost let go of the traffic and the trucks surged forward. Almost hitting the mark.

"Okay guys, it's in your hands now. Go get us some money." Ghost cheered.
"Let's get paid!"

"And on three," G ordered.

"50 yards" John informed.

"1...." G said.

"25...15 yards" John kept on.

"2..."

"Fire," John said.

"Three!"

Jake commanded me to blow the tunnel and I did. But as I did, as I lit up the explosives to blast the trucks down to us, I realised what I'd done. Itt was already too late.

"Shit! We screwed up!" Someone said. But I was too dazed to figure who.
-
-
-
The second I hit the explosives was the exact same moment when two voices, desperate and worried. Streamed full on through the microphones.

One was John, the other Lily.

"Wait shit, Bicycle! Stop," John screamed into the speaker.
"Damn! You missed it!" He said after the explosion hit.

"Look out for the bicycle!" Lily shrieked too.

Yet as I said before, it was already too late. The C-4 blew up. And a huge explosion in orange and yellow fired through the street.

God damned bicycle

Alas, the bicycle goer had come in between the truck and the path. Causing the truck to delay coming on the spot for the blow up. Which in turn caused the bicycle to blow up right before them. Saving them from it by a.... pathetic, dangerous and tainted millimetre.

                  °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Abort! We have to get out of here! The police are coming! The actual police!" Said Ghost's voice.

"Shut up Ghost!, Shut up!" Said a very irritated John.

"It's missed! Where are the trucks?" Asked G

"They're right above you!" John screamed.

The hole had surely blown up, above us, the tunnel head was gone. Daylight streamed in. We could hear cars and shouting. There was black smoke everywhere, and left over areas of fire. As John had said, the trucks were right above us. I looked us and saw the first trucks tires, tipping down into the drop of the tunnel.

So close. Yet all screwed up.

"We're goners, run! Wait Where's Ghost?" John said.

"I'm hiding asshole. I'm posing as a police officer remember?" Ghost hissed.

"G! Call it off. It's over." I said, there was a rush of fear going around.

"G! It's over let's go! Before it's too late!" Ghost said.

"G! What's happening! Say something!" Jake pleaded.
We were running around gathering things, Jake was near the exit, Delilah had mapped out.

"Let's go!" He was saying. But I was waiting for G's order.

"Hold up," G said his face a jumble of lines.

"Wait what the fuck is John doing? Does he have any brains! Fuck G!" Ghost chimed in.

"What's he doing?" G asked. "John what're you doing!"

"It's back on takers. Let's do this. Get away from the truck I'm pushing it down!"

John had come down from the roof and with his injured arm in all the chaos and mess up above. Had managed to knock out the truck driver of the second armoured vehicle. The first one was deserted because it was so on edge. John rammed the first one in the back hard and it fell straight to were it would have if the plan had gone per usual. We'd all rushed to the sides and were ready again. Ghost had come down to the tunnels and was in position. The strategy was always the same. The two trucks are a trick. Only the first one carries the money. The second is just a decoy.

"Hell's a YES!" Ghost said.

G wooed with glee as Jake and I hooked up the drill to bust the doors. But just as we were a sea of bullets and fires went down on us. The guards were out and understood what was happening.

All hell broke loose. A crossfire fell out. Storms of shots up and down. I was aiming my best and firing. Using the truck as cover. Jake was drilling the doors open. Ghost was down now, firing too. He told me to help Jake. And I did, shooting up occasionally.

After trying for sometime, the doors finally broke open. To a buttload of stacked up bills.

"We got it." I said.

We began to unload. But the fires hadn't stopped. Everything was happening quickly, a blur of movements.

"Son of a—" John's voice came.

"What's wrong!" G hollered.

"He's surrounded, in trouble!" Ghost said.

"John!?" G asked into the phone again.

"Guys, scramble. I'm coming!" John said and Jake pushed me to a wall. We'd almost got all the money in bags, when the other truck came tumbling down as well with John in it. It hit the first one and landed ahead of it.

"John!" G said and went to help him out.

"We've got to hurry AJ." Said Jake as I quickly took the rest of the bills and piled them in the bags.

"Let's go! Go go go…" G was saying. Everyone took a bag. Everyone was still firing. Everyone ran for it.

Jake and I went together with a few bags.
We would head straight for the stations to Jesse.
And then to the hotel.

There was a maze of madness above. Helter skelter everywhere.

I could hear the distinct sirens from afar. But we were already gone. Gone with the wind.

Jake drove the car we used as our getaway like a maniac. It was silver and small. Shouldn't be able to be too catchy.

I'd already thrown off my workers clothes. Getting rid of the bright orange. I was in a plain black shirt now.

"Come on come on, let's go!" I urged Jake who still couldn't believe we'd pulled it off.

"We done it man! We've done it!" Jake cheered and I smiled wide. As the smoke and cars and mess disappeared into the background.

But little did I know, it was going to be a long afternoon. One I'd never forget.

That is if I lived to be able to.
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I hope y'all liked this chapter! There's a lot more like this in store! Please please keep reading it means so so much. But I see that a lot of people don't vote for the book. Guys, please hit that dang star at the end. It really really really really helps! I'm open to suggestions and corrections in the comments! Thankyou so much guys for 1.02k reads! And 70 followers! Ahhh I can't believe it! It's so unreal. Thankyou so so much. I can't stress that enough!
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