“Freedom!” Baek Kyoung shouted with excitement, making a run for it as he dove onto one of the two queen-sized beds in the upscale hotel room, his hands and legs brushing against the white plush comforter underneath as though he were trying to make a snow angel. Stealing the Andes mint placed on the pillow next to him, Danny leaned against the headboard of the other bed, stretching his legs out and waited with every ounce of remaining patience he had left while the chocolate mint dissolved slowly in his mouth.

Teddy was the least lax out of the four men, staring intently at Jinhwan, who was seated at the small table in their hotel room, his fingers jamming away on his laptop. “Don’t start celebrating yet.”

Jinhwan glanced up from his computer screen, his eyes darting over to Baek Kyoung just in time to watch the young man’s enthusiastic expression falter before he looked back toward Teddy and glared at him for being the cause of it. If there was one thing Teddy hated the most it would have to be those reproachful stares from Jinhwan. It wasn’t a secret to any of the men how much Baek Kyoung looked up to each of them, but to Teddy the most. It was one of the reasons why the young male strived so hard in every task he was given, he wanted to make his friends proud, but more importantly he wanted to impress Teddy.

“It’s done. You can start celebrating now, Baek Kyoung.” Jinhwan said, a smile stretching across his face while he whipped his laptop around revealing the image on his screen to the three other men.  Almost sixteen different bank accounts, all under different names, in a variety of banks located in each corner of the world, allotting each of the men a little over five million dollars. “That’s how you properly avoid a paper trail.” The oldest beamed, as the other three men watched in awe when he revealed a schedule of automatic transfers he arranged himself so no large sum of money stayed in one bank for a long period of time. “Now, we are done.”

Teddy did a double take, his eyes glimmering with hope at the notion that they had managed to steal over twenty million dollars combined in the past three years and remained untouched by the police. For Danny, it was bittersweet. He was beyond ecstatic with the monetary value they had acquired over the three years and still up that point didn’t see a reason why they should stop, but Jinhwan felt otherwise. The most sensible out of the four men felt it was better to quit while they were ahead, and successfully managed to convince the other two friends to side with him on this one. Yes, completing more robberies meant more money, but it also meant more running, more eating out of cardboard boxes, and let’s face it the men were only getting older. It would only be a matter of time before they run out of steam and slip up, and Jinhwan didn’t want to see that day. More importantly though, Jinhwan quickly learned he was tired of running, tired of having to move for the sake of a new job or mere safety. He craved stability almost more than he wanted the money.

For Baek Kyoung, the feeling was different, and to him unrelatable to the other guys. It was a silent realization he never had the courage to voice. He changed; he had lost his naïve innocence when he took on the job of a bank robber. Granted he would have bouts of purity but it was irrefutable that he became corrupted. He went from watching action films to practically living one, running around with Eleanor and using it to threaten people to get money. Ask him five years ago what he saw himself doing at this point in time and he would have said hanging out with the guys and working as a mechanic. He dramatically veered off course of his original plan, and the moment he realized that he wanted out.

The four men had decided, albeit one a bit hesitantly, that this most recent heist was to be their last. They would stay low for a while, living off the various aliases Jinhwan managed to create for them, and then if luck willing they could meet up again.  With their bags packed, the four men were ready to go their separate ways after tonight. Teddy planned on swinging by to visit his dad in jail before taking off to some obscure island where the sun shined all year around.

Baek Kyoung, a little less creative and more indecisive than the others created a list of places he wanted to see and decided that maybe backpacking across Europe would the best way to hit up all the places. Danny, still annoyed with having to stop hadn’t come up with a plan, but had strict instructions from both Jinhwan and Teddy to get out of the city for a while. Although relieved that his friends agreed to stop while they were alive and not in jail, Jinhwan was a bit reluctant to have to go separate ways from this friends and prayed that luck was on indeed their side so they could hang out once again.

The four long-time friends fell into an awkward silence. The notion of having to say good-bye hung in the back of their minds and it seemed like none of them wanted to initiate it. Teddy took a deep breath, opening his mouth to speak but was cut off by the sound of his phone ringing. He frowned, looking down at the caller ID puzzled. There were only three people who knew his number, not even his own mother knew it, and those were the very three people in the room with him. He let it ring brushing it off as someone who misdialed but when it rang for the fifth time, he decided to pick it up. “Hello?” He growled, clearly revealing his aggression with the caller’s persistence.

The unidentified person on the other end of the line spoke, his voice disguised through a voice changer. “I have a job for you.”

Teddy, alarmed by the digitalized voice, tried to play off his concern and laughed. “Hey man. I think you’ve got the wrong number.”

“No, Teddy. I don’t, and you will do the job.” Although the digitalized voice was monotone, Teddy couldn’t help but notice the emphasis the caller seemed to place on him completing whatever job it was that he was doing.

Teddy glanced over at Jinhwan and although he masked his unease well, the elder instantly recognized it and sprung out of the chair running toward his gym bag pulling out cables from one of the pockets. “Like I said. I think you’ve got the wrong number.” Teddy spoke into the phone, moving his fingers over the shiny blue metal to allow Jinhwan access to the small port while switching over to speaker. The oldest needed thirty seconds max to trace the call, but he had growing suspicions that this time he might need more.

“Oh really? Why don’t you take a look in the envelope and try telling me that again.” The voice spit back, his words curt.

“What envelope?”

“Under the bed Baek Kyoung is lying on.”

Danny instantly bolted off the other bed, grabbing Baek Kyoung’s AK-47 and ran toward the large window pulling the cord to close the curtains, while Jinhwan dimmed the lights inside the hotel room. Teddy raised his hand when Baek Kyoung tried to get off the queen-sized bed and signaled for him to stay put. The male froze when he realized just why Teddy wanted him to keep still, and the fear was clearly visible on the man’s face.

The voice exhaled into the phone. “If I wanted you to do a job for me, why would I put a bomb in your hotel room? And tell Danny to open the curtains. There’s no point you boys being in the dark if I can already see into your room.”

The men were still hesitant, they had no reason to believe the person on the other end at least not yet. Crouching down to the ground, Teddy’s hand felt around underneath the bed, brushing his hand against the tan colored carpet. The other three men watched him carefully, each holding their breath. The feel of paper against his fingertips caused Teddy to close his eyes. His heart was beating out of his chest as he tugged on the rough material with his fingers, slowly revealing the manila colored envelope.

Standing up to his feet, Teddy tossed the envelope onto the table in front of Jinhwan, nonverbally dictating that he should be the one to open it. Staring at the package for a few seconds before opening it, Jinhwan tore open the envelope and dumped the contents onto the darkly stained oak table. Danny and Baek Kyoung advanced toward him, half jogging just to see what exactly was in the envelope.

“Holy in’ .” Danny cursed under his breath, his hands shuffling through the plethora of photos that now spanned the desk. They were of the four men at their most recent heist. Some were photos of Danny as it was his turn to stake out the bank. Others were screenshots of camera footage from a nearby ATM machine that managed to capture the four masked-men as they ran into the bank that very morning. “This can’t be happening.” Danny was in denial. They never failed to be two steps ahead of the game. Jinhwan always did an impeccable job when it came to clearing any and all camera footage of them, erasing all traces of them ever accessing the bank.

How could this have happened?Teddy wondered while he remained silent, waiting for the voice on the other end to speak up first. “Now that I have your undivided attention, I want you to do a job for me, and I’m sure you won’t refuse.”

“You’re bluffing.” Teddy spit out, momentarily baffled by his own outburst and his inability to keep his cool. The person may have managed to take photos of them, but none of the photos actually placed any of them in the bank at the time of the robbery. They were just two sets of photos. The first contained pictures of each of the guys near the bank prior to the heist, and another set displaying four masked figures entering the bank; there was no real connection between the two.  “You can’t prove we have anything to do with that robbery.”

“You’re right. Those don’t prove anything, but this might. Tell Jinhwan to check your account in the Caymans, the one under the name Im Taebin.”

Jinhwan immediately acted, accessing said account in the Caymans and cursed underneath his breath. “It’s frozen.” After trying to undo the freeze on the account for a few minutes, he shook his head and looked back at Teddy in defeat. “I can’t. It’s-”

The voice, impatient, cut off Jinhwan. “Assuming we’re on all on the same page now, I’m sure-”

“Dream on.” Danny shouted into the phone before prying it from Teddy’s hands and ending the call.

The other three men looked back at him, not sure if they should be relieved or angry about Danny’s impromptu action.

“What do we do now?” Baek Kyoung finally spoke up, looking at the other three men, hoping someone had an answer that would make sense.

Teddy looked back at Jinhwan. It was one the first instances where Teddy didn’t have the answers. “Can you unfreeze it?”

“No.” The elder solemnly replied. “And it’s not just that account. All of them are frozen. But it’s not even about the money anymore. Whoever this person is, or people, they have proof, Teddy. That means they could just as easily turn us in.”

Speaking bluntly, Baek Kyoung chimed in. “I’d rather be free then in jail with money I can’t use.” The other three men remained in silence, pondering what their next move to be, but deep down inside they all knew.

“Let’s just do it?” Jinhwan finally broke the silence, his statement coming out as a question as he looked back at the other three men. What did they have to lose?

Teddy’s phone rang again, the caller ID flashing the same number from before. “I hear you have decided to go along with doing the job. Smart choice. You will rob a bank for me, but I don’t care about the money, you can take if you want. What I’m interested in is the contents of a certain private box, and you will get that for me. Now, look out your window. You see the guy sitting on the bench, smoking? That will be your handler. He will answer any and all questions you may have. It is entirely up to you how you break into the vault and get the box, but we will help when necessary.”

“What about the cops? What would happen if they get involved?” Danny asked, peeking out of the window to see a man wearing a baseball-cap sitting on the bench.

“You won’t have to worry about the cops. You just get me the box.”

“And then we’re free to go?” Baek Kyoung spoke up.

“Yes, once you give the box over to the handler then everything we have will be handed over to you boys, and you’re free to go.”

The three men looked back at Baek Kyoung dumbfounded. Did he just really shout out Teddy’s name? “Smart.” Danny grumbled, glaring at him.

Baek Kyoung just looked back at them blankly. “I’m sor-”

“Forget about it.” Jinhwan cut him off, walking toward the male. “You got in?”

The young male nodded his head trying to smile at his achievement, but the sadness in his eyes spoke volumes as he looked back at Teddy apologetically.

“Come on.” Jinhwan said, tugging Baek Kyoung along with him as the two walked toward the stairs leading to the vault. Teddy discreetly shook his head at the defeated male, as if saying don’t worry about it, while Baek Kyoung continued to look at him over his shoulder.

Walking into the antechamber, Jinhwan made his way toward the door that led to the video room. “Did you unlock this door?” Jinhwan turned to see Baek Kyoung nod his head just as he walked into the vault, his customized drill in hand ready to open box number 113. Turning his attention back to the video room, Jinhwan smiled when he twisted the knob and pushed the door open, revealing to his eyes the video surveillance room. During his three visits, Jinhwan learned that the surveillance room was actually never under active supervision. Instead, it simply posed as a room that housed all the video footage the surveillance cameras collected. Since Jinhwan had already successfully killed off the ability to remotely access the footage by blocking the IP address, all he had to deal with now was the physical footage itself. “You get the box, I’ll be in here, ok?”

---

Just as how Jinhwan had rationalized with Danny earlier, SWAT had their hands full with the hostages. Team leader, Agent Lee, and his two right-hand men were beside themselves. These robbers really are something, Agent Kim thought with a slight smile when each of the three hostages released, with the exclusion of Haeri’s little girl, confirmed the story that the robbers referred to each other as Tom, Jerry, Tyke and Spike.

“So, let me get this straight. There’s four males and they have shot someone?” Agent Jin reiterated, watching as the three women nodded their heads, the little girl following suit because everyone else seemed to be doing it. “How many hostages are left then?”

“Five.” Haeri responded. “The bank manager, another teller, a young woman, an older gentlemen and the security guard that’s injured.”

“All this for money?” Agent Kim asked, looking up at his superior. “I mean this bank doesn’t even have that much cash-”

“They aren’t after the cash.” One of the bank tellers interjected, immediately garnering their attention. “I overheard one of them ask Mr. Dong, the bank manager, about the code to get into the vault. You see we have two vaults downstairs. Ones got a lot of cash, but that’s usually always open during business hours.  The other is the one they’re trying to get into.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know what’s in that vault, do you?” Agent Jin leaned over the table veering toward the pretty teller.

“That’s way above my pay grade.” She shook her head, smiling back at the agent.

“Then what could be in that vault?” Agent Kim asked out loud.

The door to the SWAT van opened up and a tall gray-haired male wearing a rather expensive suit walked in. “I thought I said I was to be notified the minute hostages were released.” He roared, pushing past Agent Lee and his men and rushing toward the four hostages. “I’m so sorry you had to go through such a difficult experience-”

“You’re just in time, Mr. Yang.” Agent Lee interrupted the elderly man in the middle of trying to cover his behind from any lawsuits that could result from the hostage situation. “I’m sure you can answer a question of ours.”

The CEO of HKG bank twirled around and faced the SWAT team leader. “Anything to help, you know that Agent Lee.”

“What’s in the vault?” Agent Jin asked, his supervisor’s blunt tendencies rubbing off on him. “Not the one with the cash but the other one.”

Mr. Yang just looked back at the three men blankly. “Impossible. They can’t get inside it.”

“Agent Jin asked you what was inside the vault, not if they can get in it or not.” Agent Lee retorted, already at the end of his patience with the elderly man. “Because Mr. Yang, that is why they are robbing the bank, so you need to tell me what is in it.”

The three members of SWAT watched as the CEO’s face turned pale. Shaking his head vigorously he replied. “They can’t get into that vault. You have to stop them!”

Agent Lee took orders from no one; even the Chief of Police had a hard time keeping a tight leash on the man, but this time he felt inclined to listen. Maybe it was the urgency in Mr. Yang’s voice or the fear in his eyes, but regardless Seon-Woong wanted to make sure that the four men never got into the vault. “Jin, put plan B into motion.”

---

“Shh. It’s okay, you’re going to be okay.” Alex cooed, as she held the security guard in her arms. Who was she kidding? The thirty-five year old had been bleeding steadily for the past three hours, she was surprised he even lasted this long. Yet there she was, sitting on the marble floor of HKG Bank with a complete stranger cradled in her arms, and all she could think about was why she agreed to her boss’ request to make the deposit at the bank for him that day.

“I thought I told you to shut the up?” The masked man growled, pointing the gun straight at her as she cowered down pulling the security guard closer to her. “Unless you want to end up like your buddy right here?”

“Knock it off Tyke.” Teddy growled at Danny, trying his hardest not to look at Alex and the bleeding security guard knowing that his conscience would have something to say about it. “Why don’t you do something useful, and call the handler.”

Danny looked back at him confused, but went ahead and pulled out his cell phone, dialing the number that was ingrained in all the four men’s minds. The call had gone straight to voicemail just as he had known it would, and Danny merely glanced back at Teddy as he slammed his phone shut. “Now who do you want me to call?”

“Call him.”

Danny hesitated. He could do phone calls with cops all day long, but calling the one man that held their fate in his hands, that was different. Holding the phone up to his ear, Danny looked back at the five remaining hostages before darting back toward the stairs when he saw Jinhwan and Baek Kyoung walk up.

“All done on my end.” Jinhwan announced, his eyes darting over toward Alex before walking back to where his laptop was.

“I thought you said you would have everything under control.” Danny bit out immediately after he heard the call get picked up on the other end of the line. “You what? You don’t have it ing under control! There’s a -load of cops outside-”

“Stay calm.” Teddy warned Danny, suddenly regretting letting Danny speak to the man and instead grabbed the phone from his hands. “Look, we have kept our end of the deal. We have what you want, but how are we supposed to get out with all of them out there?”

“No, you did not keep your end of the deal Teddy.” The voice spoke back in the same generic monotone voice. “The cops know you are trying to get into the vault.”

Teddy shook his head, even though his nonverbal action would go unnoticed by the man on the other end of the phone line. “Impossible. We didn’t trip any of the wires, they may have found out we are trying, but they definitely don’t know we have succeeded.”

“I never once said I will get you out of the bank, I just said they wouldn’t pose to be a problem for you. I’ve seen the way you boys work, I’m sure you even have a plan B to get out. Aren’t I right?”

Teddy’s hand gripped onto the phone tighter. Looking back at his three friends he knew freedom was so close they could taste it, and he could only be silently grateful to Jinhwan for not completely trusting the blackmailer and insisting they create an additional plan of escape just in case. “Yea, we do. Just be sure to have the handler meet us at point C.”

Flipping the phone shut, Teddy glanced at each friend. “Jerry, you and Tyke to go downstairs and start the preparations for plan B. Looks like we’re on our own.”

word count: 3749

thank you for reading :)

a/n: Thanks for being so patient with my updates. I decided to turn Daesung's fic into a chaptered fic! and I also started writing another new fic starring Oh Jinhwan called Disconnected - I'm trying to split my time between real life and writing three fics at once - so thank you for waiting for these chapters - only 2 more left!!