7-The Switch

7

The Switch

The Prep

“That’s another two hundred!” Justin yelled as he did a very cool, half-high-five hand shake clasp thing to a friend of his, whom Tobias has gathered was called, K-Money.

Justin had just sunk his last ball, giving him another win over Tobias and winning him another three hundred dollars.  They had played three games of pool, the first for a hundred, the second for two and now the third for three.

“Hey man, you hear me?” Justin said bringing Tobias’s focus back to the game.

Tobias was still wearing his suit.  He had removed the jacket and draped it over a chair. The sleeves of his white dress shirt were rolled up to forearm level.  He took another drink of his beer.  He sipped it, making sure to not get drunk.

“Wow, guess it isn’t my night.”  Tobias smiled, looking surprised that he had lost.

Justin worked his jaw.  “Does that mean you’re done?  I sure as hell hope not.  At the rate you’re going, I’m gonna put my kid through college, on you.”

K-Money snickered at the joke and Tobias mocked a smile.  “Of course not.  One more game, double or nothing?”

Justin nodded, excited. “Damned straight!”

Justin pulled out the $600 and placed it on the edge of the table.  Tobias opened his wallet and did the same.  “You rack, and winner breaks as usual.  I’m going to use the bathroom.”

Justin began the process of setting up the balls. “Yeah sure, it’s over there, by the stairs.”

Tobias’s attention turned back to the ten digit keypad on the wall behind the bar.  It was an out of date security system, probably low level motion sensor technology.  A person entering would have thirty seconds after tripping the alarm to move across the floor and put in a four digit code to disarm.  It had probably been installed in the Corner Pocket during its opening, years ago.  That was one of the benefits of being Leroy Simpson, the most feared criminal in Akron.  His reputation was his security system.  No one was stupid enough to fuck with him.

Until now.

The thought gave Tobias chills, but he decided to maintain his focus.  He was here to case the place for tonight and that’s what he was going to do.  Tobias put three fingers into the beer, then rubbed the beer on his neck.  He then walked toward the bathroom.

Tobias took a look around to make sure no one was looking at him then he passed the bathroom and climbed the stairs.  He slowly made his way to the upper level of the two story brick building.

The second level of what used to be an apartment complex had been converted to accommodate a card game setting, roughly eight double sized rooms.  Tobias peeked in one, a large felt casino-style card table in the center, as well as a mini bar to the right.

This is where Leroy would host his poker and black jack games.  He would skim off the top to make a living and even play in a couple of games to scam some more money out of the deal.

That would have been how he got Bob.

At the end of the hall was a double thick oak door.  It was closed and probably locked from the other side by a heavy dead bolt.

That was where Tobias needed to be.

He approached the door and put his ear to it.  He could hear voices from inside but he couldn’t make out the words.  Tobias quickly examined the deadbolt.  It was a heavy design, but just like the alarm downstairs, it was an old design.

It took Tobias a minute to bypass the lock.  He thanked his lucky stars that no one decided to exit or enter the room.  Slowly, he unlooked the door so as not to alert the people inside.

Tobias then slipped his picks back into his pocket and undid his tie slightly.  He had to psych himself up for the next move but there was no way around it.  The door obviously was the entrance to Leroy’s personal office, which is where his safe would be.

Tobias took one final deep breath.

He then turned the handle and threw the door open, staggering into the room.

“WHAT THE FUCK!” A hard black voice yelled as the room became tense with the shock.

Tobias took in the scene fast, trying to store as much information as he could about.  It was large but full of tacky furniture.  Pleather couches lined both walls.  In the far right corner sat Leroy’s desk, a large mahogany thing.  A well built back man and a pudgy white guy went rigid with Tobias’s entrance.  Behind the desk sat Leroy Simpson, himself.

Leroy was calm, even in the face of surprise.  His eyes were narrow and searching.  He had a bald head and a hawk like nose.  Neither his face nor body showed his age, but from what Tobias had heard he was in his forties.

If Delroy Lindo and The Candyman had an evil baby, it would be Leroy Simpson.

“HOOOLLy Shittttt….” Tobias slurred his speech on purpose and tried not to look at anything with focus.  “You guys, do you guys, know where the FUCKING bathroom isssss?”

Tobias staggered into the room farther.  On the desk was a series of stacks of money, thousand dollar denominations.  The wall behind the desk had a safe installed in it.  The front of the safe was open and inside sat documents, money and what Tobias thought was a gun.

It was an old safe.  Tobias forced himself not to smile.

“How’s abouts here?”  Tobias asked stumbling around the room.  “I could piss on that couch, might improve the colors!”

Ernie turned angrily at Burt.  “What the fuck, Burt?  You said you locked the door!”

Burt frowned.  “I did.”

Burt’s look was one of dark hatred, one that came from madness.  He then pulled a knife and began to move toward Tobias.

Tobias’ hands went up, drunkenly.  “WHOA!  I take back what I said.  The couch is fucking fantastic!”

Tobias screamed on the inside, for a second he thought these guys were about to kill him over this.

“Burt.”  Leroy spoke one word and it was like silk, deep and smooth.  Billy Dee Williams would be jealous.

Burt stopped and turned toward his boss.  Leroy shook his head and Burt put the knife away.  Leroy then nodded at Ernie and flicked his wrist.

“Alright asshole,” Ernie said.  “You took one hell of a wrong turn.  The bathroom’s this way.”

Ernie took Tobias and dragged him out of the room and down the hall before shoving him back down the stairs.  “It’s around the corner, asshole!”

Tobias nodded and walked down the stairs.  Once out of eyeshot, he tightened his collar and walked back toward the pool table.  Justin looked agitated, “Hell of a piss, man.  What the fuck happened to you?”

Tobias smiled.  “Sorry, I took a wrong turn.  Did you take your turn?”

Justin and K-Money smiled in unison.  “Oh yeah.”

Tobias looked at the table and noticed that Justin had all but run the table shy of two balls.  He had previously played two games against Justin and knew that he wasn’t capable of that and had probably cheated.

“Wow,” Tobias said.  “That’s pretty good.”

“I was on a roll,” Justin said as his shit eating grin widen to his ears.

“So it’s my turn?” Tobias asked.

Justin nodded.

Tobias grabbed his beer and chugged the remaining half, since he would be leaving soon.  He had all the information he needed.

Tobias then proceeded to run the table, one shot after another.  In the course of maybe a minute, the game was over.

K-Money and Justin’s faces dropped as they watched.

Tobias picked up his coat, neatly folding it over his right hand then grabbed the stack of money.

“You gentlemen have a wonderful afternoon.”

With that, Tobias walked out the front door.

****

The Job

Real thieves don’t wear black.  The idea of any premeditated crime, especially this one, is to not call attention to yourself.  If people see a guy running around dressed like a Ninja, they tend to get suspicious.  Instead, you want dark colors, maroon or navy blue.

With this in mind, Tobias parked his car four blocks away and got out dressed in a dark navy blue dress shirt matched with a navy blue sport coat and navy blue Dockers.

It was his outfit.  Inside the coat were all of the tools he would need for the various crimes he would be committing tonight.  He also looked quite sharp.

Being a criminal is a reason to be an asshole, not a reason to look like an asshole.

He calmly walked across the streets and through the alleys of Akron at four in the morning.  He briefly thought about how cool the city was to look at, but not so much fun to walk through with all of its steep hills and inclines.

Reaching the front door, he reached into his coat and removed the tools he would need to open it.  He took a quick look around, then went to work on the lock.  He opened it in no time and entered, sprinting across the main hall toward the bar.

1. He reached the bar and vaulted over it, landing in front of the alarm system.

2. Tobias pulled a roll of masking tape from his coat.

3. He ripped a section of tape off the roll, about the size of the key pad.

4. He flattened the tape to the pad gently, so as not to press the buttons.

5. He pulled the tape away from the keys.  The buttons that had been pressed repeatedly would have grease and sweat and human remnants on them, which the tape brought up.

6. Comparing the grease marks to the keypad, Tobias saw that the numbers used where 4,5,6 and 8.

7. Tobias furiously went through the combinations, the first four were no good.

8. More failure.

9. Alarm disarmed.

Tobias smiled as the small digital readout said ‘DISARMED’ in big letters.  The rest was cake.

Tobias moved up the stairs and through the office door, pulling his lock picks again and making quick work of the office’s entrance.  Tobias moved into the office, fluidly replacing the lock picks and removing a stethoscope.

It took Tobias five minutes to get the safe open.  He frowned, realizing his time had slipped a little.

Tobias had to fight the urge to walk out with all the money in the safe.  It was instinct. Instead, he found what he was looking for and pulled out the document.  Before replacing it with the one he had brought.

Tobias then moved back down the stairs and re-armed the alarm before walking out the front door.

Tobias pulled out his phone as he walked toward his car.  The night had gotten brighter.  It was about six in the morning and the brighter sky meant the sun was threatening.

He dialed Sidney.  She answered on the fifth ring.  “Hello?”

Her voice was groggy with the sleep that Tobias had brought her out of.  He spoke.  “It’s done.  I have the document.”

“Good.”  Sidney began to wake up.  “Good.  Bring it over.  Things are going to happen fast from here on out.”

END EPISODE 7