Free Never Play Another Man's Game by Mike Knowles

pulled into the van while one of your guys gets behind the wheel of the truck.”
    Rick was nodding his head. “And just like that, the money is ours.”
    â€œNo, you just have the truck and a seven-minute window. Seven minutes was their average time inside; you could probably push it to ten or twelve minutes if Ruby makes sure that she gets to the ATM first.”
    â€œI thought she was getting us into the wife’s place,” Franky said.
    â€œThat was when the driver left for work. He still has to go to the warehouse, check the truck, load up, and whatever else they do. Ruby should have plenty of time to get to the grocery store ahead of the armoured car.”
    Ruby nodded in agreement.
    â€œRuby should be able to get you twelve minutes with the truck. Once that time is up, you’ll be driving a cop magnet. The truck will be outfitted with GPS and every single squad car in the city will be on the lookout once the other guards radio in a problem. You need to get everything out of the truck before all hell breaks loose.”
    I pulled a folded printout from the Internet café from my pocket and opened it up on the table.
    â€œWhat’s this?” Rick asked.
    â€œDirections. Less than a click away from the grocery store, there’s an abandoned gas station. The service bays are empty and wide enough to accommodate an armoured car. You get the doors unlocked ahead of time and drive the truck in. You’ll have burned a minute and a half getting there, leaving you just over ten minutes to off-load the money into the van. The driver and his leverage get cuffed to the truck and you drive the van out.”
    I pulled another piece of paper from my pocket, unfolded it, and slid it across the table. “This is a building for lease about ten kilometres from the job. The building used to be a school, but it hasn’t been in use for years. The property is on a big lot and the trees around the school are all overgrown. The van will be completely out of sight parked out back. The school is a good place to count the money and divvy it up. You’ll pack some food and sleeping bags there and spend the night.”
    â€œSpend the night? What the fuck for?” Rick wanted to know.
    â€œOnce word gets out about the truck, the whole city will be on alert. They’ll be expecting you to run, and they’ll act accordingly — meaning roadblocks. The most dangerous place to be will be on the road, so you need to be off it. The next day, the cops will have relaxed the city-wide search because they’ll think you got out before they could clamp everything down. The investigation will be on the shoulders of major crimes division, and they won’t be watching the roads — they’ll be too busy interviewing people. That’s when you load up your cars, firebomb the van, and go your separate ways.”
    Rick looked at the two maps and chewed his lower lip. “There’s a lot to do. Tons to get ready.”
    â€œLike I said, it’s a five-man job.”
    â€œFive cuts up the pie more than I want.”
    â€œScrewing it up will get you nothing,” I said.
    â€œCould we use four?” Ruby asked.
    â€œFour could work, but everything would have to run tight. My recommendation, right now you got one pro and two amateurs — get some decent help if you want to pull this off.”
    I picked up the real estate paperwork and nodded my goodbye to the people at the table. No one said goodbye to me as I left the kitchen. I walked out the front door and got halfway to my car before Ruby got a hold of my arm.
    â€œWait.”
    â€œDeal’s done, Ruby. I did my part.”
    â€œNew deal, Wilson. You help us with the job.”
    I looked hard at the little woman. She had already started shivering in the night air and her grip on my arm spasmed. “The plan is good, but your boy doesn’t have it in him to run something like