The Nightmare Heist

By C. S. Bronner

Crystal was wrongfully accused of stealing from her job and was fired on the spot. She now wants revenge any way she can get it, even if it means leaving it up to a few immature teenagers to get the job done.

To retaliate against the company that ruined everything for her, she conspires a half-baked plan with Toy who calls in reinforcements - Ace, the crafty thug, to help her heist the sensitive information; and Eric, the financial connect, to turn it into lots of quick cash. Shortly after beginning the operation, their plan gets modified when Toy and Ace are caught red-handed by a practically invisible classmate, C2. Now, they must compromise with her and give her an equal share of their profits, just to keep her from turning them in.

Each player in this crime has their own personal reasons for being involved, be it a desperate need to solve a financial situation, the desire to earn the affection of someone they are absolutely crazy about, or the wish to simply be recognized as the awesome person they've always been. No matter what their reasons, everything will change for these adolescents as the stress of this nightmare heist melts away every stupid little reason teenagers choose who they will and won't hang out with.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781617925238

Book preview

One

TOY

March 25, 10:11 p.m.

Is the coast clear? Toy said into her Bluetooth headset.

As a bell, Ace told her.

Okay, I’m gonna be as quick as I can.

I’m setting my stopwatch.

You don’t have a stopwatch, Toy argued.

Yes, I do.  On my iPhone.  And you’re already at four seconds.

Toy took a deep breath, nervous about what she was about to do.  She closed her eyes for a couple seconds, and then prepared to leave the fitness center of Oakwood Meadows Apartment Homes.

What the hell am I doing? she whispered to herself, glimpsing in the mirrors that were hanging across the entire back wall of the fitness center.

She stared at herself, noticing how her brown skin was slightly reddened in her face from being flushed with anxiety.  Purposely hesitating on getting started, she thought about how it used to feel when the only worries in her life were test scores, boys, the lunch menu, and whether or not she felt like dressing out for gym.

She took another deep sigh as she walked pass the fake security camera and opened the fitness center door which seemed heavier than it was when she entered.

She observed the pool area.  No one was there.  She’d watched the courtesy officer earlier through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the fitness center as he ran off the residents and locked the pool gate at 10:00 sharp.  She’d been pretending to walk the treadmill until he was gone.

As if someone were around to listen to her footsteps, she tip-toed away from the fitness center, pass the pool restrooms, and pass the laundry facility to get to the front of the building.  She walked pass the side door that Crystal had warned her would set off the alarm immediately.

Nice job, Ace said, through the headset.

Nice job, what?

In a sarcastic voice, he teased, Way to be convincingly working out in a pair of skinny jeans and a cleavage-happy top.

Go to hell.

Hurry up.  I’m getting hungry.

Her heart tried to blast its way through her blouse as she stepped around to the front of the building.  Her palms were getting moist as she fumbled through her tight back pocket for the device that Ace had given her when he’d shown her how to pick a lock.  She was holding her breath as she observed the empty parking lot.  The only car there was Eric’s dad’s Buick Lacrosse that Ace was sitting in.

Damn, just do it.  I’m looking out for you, Ace said.

Toy turned around and shot a bird at him, although she could barely see him through the windshield of the Lacrosse.  She quickly turned back toward the door, stuck the metal device into the deadbolt lock and tried to use the crafty method that Ace had shown her earlier.  It seemed easier when she had all night to practice on the back door of Eric’s father’s house, since he was out of town for an entire week on a business trip.  It was a different story while she was constantly imagining a car driving by, noticing what she was trying to do.

What’s the problem, prom queen?  Arthritis?

Toy planned to dispute that she’d have to be a senior first to be prom queen, but she liked the ring of it so much that she didn’t bother to challenge the statement.

"Ace, will you shut the hell up!  This is harder than you think.  I told you, I really feel like you should be doing this part for me."

But I told you already, I can’t go inside.  I don’t know how to work a copy machine.

I’ll handle that part.  Just get the damned door open and let me take it from there.

Oh, give me a break.

I’m serious.  I just got a manicure.

Holy shit!  Why am I even friends with you?

Ace!

Come get in the car.

Toy gratefully ripped the device out of the door and watched her surroundings as she walked hastily to the Lacrosse.  It felt like her blood flow stopped when she saw a car driving by to pull out of the apartment community.  She’d never noticed how bright the lights were by the leasing office until she felt like she was under surveillance.  The lights felt photo-shoot bright.  She’d be even more paranoid if Crystal hadn’t informed her that the security cameras were fake.

Toy crawled in the passenger’s seat of the Lacrosse and watched Ace shake his head at her with shame.

Pity, he said, as she heard him both through her ears and the Bluetooth headset.

He held his hand out for the lock pick.

She was more than happy to pass it to him, while remarking, Take that pathetic do-rag off.  You look ridiculous!

He shot her a bird and said, Watch me work my magic.

He arrogantly pretended to pop his collar although he didn’t even have a collar on his wife beater tank top.  He left the car and strutted confidently to the front door of the leasing office pulling up his baggy jeans.  Once he reached the lock, it seemed that all that confidence was drained out of him as he struggled with it almost as badly as she had.

How’s it going, Houdini? she teased.

Just give me a second here.

Where’s my stopwatch.

Blow me.

Her attention was briefly taken off of his struggle when she felt her cell phone vibrating in her back pocket.  She looked down at it and noticed a text from Crystal.

HAVE U STARTED YET?  ANY PROGRESS?  ANY TROUBLE?

Toy sighed as she texted back, CAN’T GET THE GODDAMN LOCK 2 OPEN.  ACE IS WORKING WITH IT NOW.

As she looked up to see his progress, she almost choked when she noticed that gothic chick who always stared at her during her lunch period.  The girl was walking with her hands in the pockets of her black skirt, staring with a curious frown on her face—aimed directly toward Ace.

Toy’s heart started beating so loud she could barely hear herself as she yelled, Oh, my God!

Two

CRYSTAL

March 25, 10:20 p.m.

Crystal was only on her first drink for the night.  She’d planned to get wasted—just drown all her pain in a pool of alcohol.  After experiencing the sweet life of freedom that came with independence, having to live by her parents’ rules again was kamikaze.

Crystal struggled to hear her ex-co-worker over the loud music in the club. "What!"

"I said, ‘Cheer the hell up!’  You look like someone ran over your puppy or something," Katrina shouted.

Crystal smacked her lips and took another sip of her strawberry daiquiri.  She noticed a cute guy on the dance floor who was eyeing her from time to time although he was dancing with someone else.  Instead of being able to focus on how often he tried to sneak glimpses of her, she thought about Toy, Ace, and how the whole operation was going, or if it was even going at all.  After all, they were just teenagers.  They probably chickened out by now.

She took out her cell phone and texted, HAVE U STARTED YET?  ANY PROGRESS?  ANY TROUBLE?

Hurry up and finish that drink, Katrina urged. I wanna dance.

You can dance without me.

Yeah, but you know we get asked to dance quicker when we dance with each other.

Crystal stared at the neon lights dancing all over Katrina’s face as she answered, I don’t even feel like dancing, really.

What she really wanted to do was to tear the hell out of there, but she knew she needed an alibi for where she was tonight, just incase anything went wrong.  After all, she had stooped so low to leave the fate of her revenge in the hands of a group of high-schoolers.  Desperate times call for desperate measures, though.

Oh, my God!  This is my song.  Come on, girl.  Come on! Katrina grinned.

Ugghhh! Crystal groaned, putting down her almost-empty drink, sticking her cell phone in her back pocket, and walking out on the dance floor.

She made sure to get near the guy who was eyeing her.  Katrina started rocking side to side, poking her lips out like she always did while she was jamming.  She snapped her fingers, rolled her hips, shook her ass, and worked the dance floor.  Katrina could really dance.  Crystal started letting loose and danced with her friend.

Whoo! Katrina shouted. Yeah! She laughed with joy as she lost herself in the hip hop tune.

Crystal met eyes with the cute guy who was barely paying attention to the girl whose ass he was groping.  She wasn’t surprised when he finally deserted the girl and asked her for a dance.  She got looser on the floor, hotter from her motions, and horny from the cute guy’s hands.

Wuss yuh name?

Ugghhh!  Crystal hated when people overly-accented their words to sound blacker than what they were.  Such a stereotype.  He probably preferred to be known as a pants-sagging, weed-smoking, proud owner of an old Chevy Caprice with big rims and a stereo loud enough to deafen Dumbo.

Crystal thought he was cute until the stereotype.  Despite the fact, she told him her name, anyway.

It’s Crystal, she quickly answered, rummaging through her back pocket.

She had to shove his hand aside, moving it off her behind, and she fished out her cell phone.  She planned to pretend that she’d gotten an important text so that she could leave, but she didn’t have to pretend because she saw a text from Toy—two, in fact.

CAN’T GET THE GODDAMN LOCK 2 OPEN.  ACE IS WORKING WITH IT NOW.

HOLY SHIT!  GOTH CHICK SEES US!  WE’RE FUCKED!!!!!

Um…I’ve gotta answer this text, she said, holding up the phone, and grabbing Katrina’s arm who was standing there still dancing with herself.

She yanked Katrina in front of the guy and sped off the dance floor.

JUST LEAVE.

CAN’T.  GOTH TALKING 2 ACE.  IDK WTF 2 DO!  TRYING 2 LISTEN IN ON BLUETOOTH.

Why the hell did I think this would work?

What would work? the bartender asked.

Crystal glanced at the muscle in the bartender’s arm as he cleaned out a shot glass with a worn cloth.  She stared at the many images he wore on his arm, since he had an entire sleeve