Free Paper Chasers by Mark Anthony Page B

straight for upstairs. Holz, if they have a basement, you head straight for the basement. If there’s no basement, then go with Dwight. I’ll take the middle floor, the one we enter on. We have to gain control of everybody that’s in the house. If somebody tries to be a hero, we’ll let them have it. No questions asked! After we get control of everyone, we’re gonna bring them all to one floor in the house. Dwight, you’ll watch them and make sure nobody moves. Me and Holz will then ransack the place. We’re only taking money, jewelry, and expensive stuff that we can carry out easily. We have to be in and out, no longer than ten to fifteen minutes.”
    After driving for more than forty minutes, we finally reached Amityville, and before we could blink, we spotted a telephone company truck.
    â€œA’ight,” Wiggie said, “here we go.”
    We followed the truck in a manner that didn’t seem obvious. The truck pulled in front of a two-story house on a block with twenty or so such houses. We pulled right in back of the truck.
    The truck, which was actually the size of a van, only carried a driver. The driver, a black man, got out and made his way to house number thirty-two. He rang the bell and after five minutes of getting no answer, he left. He got back into his truck and continued on his route. We followed him in the exact same manner as before.
    The telephone man turned onto a street called Atlantic. His truck started to slow down. At first we thought that he’d spotted us following him. But he hadn’t. He was only preparing to pull in front of house number fourteen, which he did. The driver, who hadn’t figured out that he was being followed, again got out and made his way to the front door of the house.
    â€œLet’s go!” Dwight instructed.
    We got out of the car and hastily walked to the house next door. We had to be careful, making sure all of our movements were crisp and precise. The driver still had not noticed us as we ducked behind some shrubs.
    â€œPut your masks on,” Dwight whispered. We did as he said. Then the front door opened. A white lady answered.
    â€œAre you the repairman?” she asked.
    â€œYup, that’s me,” the man replied as he smiled.
    â€œOh, come in. I’ve been waiting for you. Come in.”
    It was at that point that we sprang up like jungle bunnies from behind the shrubs and ran to the lady’s front door, catching it just as it was about to close. We pushed the door open and ran in with our pistols drawn. The white lady frantically started hollering.
    Wiggie instructed the lady and the repairman to both keep quiet and to get on the floor. I checked to see if I could find stairs that led to a basement. Apparently there was no basement so I darted upstairs to see what Dwight was doing.
    â€œHere, here, take them downstairs,” Dwight said to me as soon as I got upstairs. He was talking about a white, teenaged boy who looked to be about sixteen-years-old, and a cute little baby girl who looked like she was maybe one-and-a-half-years-old.
    â€œHurry!” Dwight yelled at me. “Hurry and take them downstairs so I can see what is up here.” I proceeded to bring the two downstairs. While carrying the little girl in my left arm, I pointed my gun at the white boy’s head and instructed him to walk. I guessed that the two were brother and sister.
    â€œIs that everybody that’s in the house?” Wiggie asked once I got downstairs.
    â€œYes,” I nervously answered.
    â€œA’ight, Holz, watch them. I’m gonna go see what I can take. If they even flinch, you blast them.”
    Like a paranoid crazy man, I couldn’t believe that Wiggie had called me by my nickname. That was all I needed was for the cops to have something to pin this whole robbery on me. But there was no time for paranoia because I knew that’s how a mistake on my part could happen.
    So while I