The Professionals: Part 1, A Short Story

His heart was pounding, racing each beat as fast as the gun shots unloaded. It was clear that greed has taken it's revenge upon them. No way out, and his brother's life starting to fade away after each breath escapes his lungs. “My brother is going to die, and I am the one responsible for this. They were right, we should have stopped after we were ahead, but we were so good at what we did. They called us The Professionals”.

Casper Phoenix was never really the type of person who could hold down the typical steady job, was not one for having a career either. He was looking more for the easy way out. The chance at some fast money. And after seeing his father rot in jail for several years after being indicted for several counts of burglary, every one in his family was worried he would walk the same path his father did. Casper's younger brother, Kyle Phoenix, held down a construction job which barely paid the bills. Both wanted the easy life. Money, fast cars and those women you always see in the club that think they are God's gift to single, desperate men with money. They decided it was time to keep the Phoenix family tradition alive. Chicago had hundreds of banks, and the Phoenix brothers were ready and preparing to make the choice and obtain the easy money they dreamed about, and the bank robbing stories their father spoiled them with would now become reality.

F.B.I. Detective Craig Sinclair was one of Chicago's elite agents. He was use to getting the bad guys but he had his job cut out for him when the banks of Chicago started to become targets for the Phoenix boys. Sinclair knew he was not dealing with the typical bank robbers, he knew these heist were well planned and mapped out with great detail. Casper was compared to a modern day John Dillinger, but with less class, and more violence toward the authorities. Casper and his gang were becoming next to impossible to catch.

After Casper and Kyle decided it was time to become outlaws, they added a third member to their team. A computer wizard who has been in and out of jail with his uncanny ability to hack into federal and other secure mainframes. Dexter Coleman was to smart for his own good and used if computer skills for easy transactions. Weapons, small amounts of money, and anytime of security clearance needed, Dexter had the ability to acquire. Dexter was able to use his hacking skills to obtain any blue print or floor plans of any bank he chose, plus any information on employees, security information and total revenue that bank holds. He was also able to disrupt security mainframes, but usually only for a small window of time. Normally they would have about a three to five minute window. With the team in place, the decided to plan their first heist. As planning began, it was not a bank they would hit first, but an armor vehicle that was carrying around 2.4 million in cash. Kyle, because of his construction job, was an expert on small explosives and has a talent for making explosives out of common and easy to get chemicals. These were talents that seemed to come handy with all of the different security locks and doors that the team came into contact with frequently.

Morning traffic was not an uncommon occurrence when heading to work, especially on a Wednesday morning. As three armor truck officers collected the money from their last stop, Casper and his team manned their post as if waiting for an enemy of war to cross into forbidden territory. As armor truck 317 began to head back to unload the 2.4 million dollars their trek would include a trip across the Michigan Avenue bridge were the team would make their move to collect the money. With Kyle's strategic placing of four homemade bombs on the bridges four corners, it was only a matter of seconds until the plan was executed. As the truck, as well as other traffic came to a stand still on the bridge, detonation of the bombs began, causing the the bridge to fall from its original place. Along with the armor truck, many other cars splashed into the river. Some cars floated and were taken along with the current, but as suspected because of the weight, the armor car sank like a fishing weight. As the guards fight for air and realize they must leave the armor vehicle for air, Casper and his team waited to make their move underwater. With scuba gear and underwater vehicles they rented, they moved in on the abandoned armor car. They know they have to move quick. With the commotion going on, they know many eyes will be on the river. Using the underwater gear to get them to the docks of lake Michigan, they made off with the money and by the time authorities get everything out of the water and investigation begins, the team will be long gone.

After pulling off their first heist, it was already time to plan for a new target. This time the team will stay on the dry land and execute a bank robbery. Casper and Kyle were the brains behind most of the heists. And Casper's creative and unusual getaway ideas made the heists even more successful. Using ideas and strategies from many of the brothers thorough research and information they obtain while posing as false investors and bankers, and Dexter's ability to navigate through bank computer systems also added to the teams success. The brother's also used the insight and advice their father began to give them through code. Dexter was also able to pose as an arms dealer and purchased many weapons from overseas accounts arming the team with enough armor and ammunition to last in a small war. The team would pull off five more bank heists collecting over eight million dollars in stolen money. The team was getting rich quick. With much of the recent success, Detective Sinclair finally puts his unknown suspects on F.B.I.'s most wanted list and was offering a hefty reward for any information on these three bank robbers. Now the heat was on, and banks were starting to take more drastic security measures to assure associates and bankers that they will be safe.

As the heat from local and domestic authorities, the team was faced with a new challenge. As the banks were upgrading security, and adding more guards, it was time for the team to lay low. Casper, could not imagine stopping now, especially because he was becoming very successful. Casper and Kyle began to live the life they always wanted. An expensive penthouse apartment, fast cars, and fancy dinners, the greed has taken over and laying low was not an option. They decided it was time for bigger and better things. They left Chicago and disposed of any evidence that would lead authorities to their current location of where the team's new found location

After months of no activity from the now notorious bank robbers, Detective Sinclair was beginning to lose hope on capturing these criminals. No signs of any disturbances at any of the bank's location in Chicago and surrounding areas. “Did they give up. Did they decide that this was enough. I can't seem to believe that. They were just beginning to become professionals.” Sinclair was appalled to think that these criminals were done. After another work day ended and no new information emerged, Sinclair decided to head back to his home. After sitting in traffic for almost an hour, he was finally at his empty two bedroom apartment on the eastern side of the city. As he walked into his home, he loosened his tie, grabbed a beer and plopped down on the recliner for some much needed relaxation. He turned on the news and was finally able to have some hope again. The national news was just beginning to report the details from a robbery at a New York Federal Reserve bank where the robbers got off with over three million dollars. “That's them, it has to be. I knew they weren't finished. I knew that they were greedy enough to rob again.” Sinclair alerted his division and was on the next flight to New York City.

The noise of horns and people yelling was the famous welcoming to the “Big Apple.” Sinclair thought Chicago had a rude welcoming, he was now starting appreciate the city he had to abandon for the time being to put an end to these bank heist. Now, with no idea where to begin, Sinclair was ready to pound the pavement in search of “The Professionals.”

The team was planning their biggest heist yet. Three banks in one attempt. Kyle, is trying to convince his brother Casper that this plan will not work and is to risky. Ignoring the words Kyle was trying to hammer into Casper's head, he went on planning the bank heist they were call the trinity heist. Just past New York's famous Chinatown, was Canal Street. It had three banks within a few blocks from each other. Casper was planning not to use a van or truck to pull this off, but rather the common public transportation of New York's subway system. After a couple of months of scouting and research, Casper was able to find out that each of the bank has an emergency access panel that dumps into the subway tunnels. This is for easier transportation of large sums of money. Hijacking the a subway train wasn't something he has done before, but he was willing to take a chance because if the team can pull this off, they would get away with over thirty million dollars. It was risky, but Casper knew he could pull this off. After convincing Dexter and Kyle that this would be the last heist, Casper and the team began preparation for a bank heist that has never been pulled off before. Little did Casper know, things were about to become more chaotic then he was ever ready for.