"Crooked"

“Crooked”

I moved quickly, my hand sliding clumsily over the surface of the gun. Crap! The police are patrolling. I make a gesture for Dizzy to come forward and Clap to stay where he is.
Dizzy comes up behind me, out of breath and whispers, “I thought Shaw said that there weren’t going to be any patrols for another hour”. Shaw is a crooked cop that we have done jobs with, for months now. He tips us off when there is going to we weak/low police presence and makes sure that we can slip through security unnoticed. Our specialities are banks; casino’s and pretty much anything that requires safes, locks and explosives.
I replied, in an equally low voice “I know, it looks like Shaw hasn’t got his information up to date. We should turn back, we can’t risk being found.”

Its midnight and we’ve just come across our getaway car. We always leave it a good 2k’s away. Just to make sure that the cops can’t find us, and we’re all good sprinters so 2k’s a piece of cake. Clap mumbles something.
I can’t hear him, “What was that?”
In a much clearer voice Clap says “Who’s going to tell Shaw that we didn’t do the job?”
I replied, “It doesn’t matter; we’re not the ones who got the times wrong”.

In the end I’m picked, I call Shaw from a mobile phone he gave me. It makes it impossible for the cops to trace. “Hello”, I say in an apprehensive tone.
“Yes, what is it?” replies Shaw.
“Well, we couldn’t do the job tonight” I sighed.
“Why not!” exclaimed Shaw in an angry tone.
I respond, in a voice nearly as angry and as unforgiving as his “Well, if you had given us the right details, we would have an unbelievable amount of cash, but because you didn’t give us the right information, we nearly got caught; and remember, if we get caught your career as a cop is finished!” I imagined what Shaw’s face looks like right now and it made me laugh.

Instead of shouting like I had anticipated, Shaw responded in a voice that had a cold, unmerciful undertone “Don’t you dare threaten me, I’m untouchable, and besides, you don’t even know my real name and you’ve never seen me clearly”. I put the phone down, shocked, he’s right we have nothing on him. We’re just a thing he does on the side; I picked the phone up from the table. “Your right about that, but you still gave us dodgy details”.
“Ok, I get that I gave you guys the wrong details, but I really don’t care. Now, back to business; I have another job for you Quid, so meet me in three days at Tower Hill”. Then he just hung up.

The three days went by, and we made our way to Tower Hill. I spotted Shaw, he was limping into a dark alley way. We followed with the obedience of pet dogs. He was leaning against the damp, cracked wall of the alley. Shaw lit up the cigarette placed between his fingertips, the light illuminating his scarred face. For the first time Dizzy, Clap and I got to see the illusive Sidney Shaw. That’s when I realised that I knew the man leaning against the wall in a dark alley, in the wrong part of town, with the wrong sort of people. It was the great Danny Cole, the one that every cop aspired to be.

Everyone trusted him; he was the ruler of the city, with more power and respect than the Mayor. To think that even a guy like him who has it all, the perfect family etc, would be crooked was a scary thought. I thought that maybe he could be undercover, but on our second job together he shot and killed the security guard. That’s when I realised that you don’t ever really, truly know someone.


That thought made a chill go down my spine. I stopped walking and told the others to walk back to the car. They listened; they knew that I was being serious. “Oi!” Shaw yelled, “You petty thieves aren’t any good to me any more”. I turned around, he was power walking towards us with a hand outstretched. I heard a click, and a loud bang, and then I felt deep pain in my chest. I fell down onto my knees then I collapsed to one side.

I can see Clap and Dizzy they’re running away, towards the car. I hear something. It sounds like laughing; it’s coming from behind me. A few seconds later Cole’s Italian leather shoes are in front of my face. Cole crouches down, smirking he whispers in my ear “Did you really think that I would let you get away, I paid off your friends. They were happy to leave you here for dead......” I couldn’t hear the rest. I knew that the wound was fatal and that Cole wasn’t going to help me. I hummed my favourite song and drifted into a carefree nothingness.