Chapter 130: Chapter 130: The Nonexistent Guest Room
All preparations for the bank robbery had been completed: the escape route, getaway car, necessary tools, and backup support—all listed on the small blackboard in the safe house.
The blueprint of Pulito Bank spread across a table, and Pihom marked it with a marker pen, denoting many points of interest.
After a series of intimidation and bribery, both soft and hard, the shops around Pulito Bank would all close their doors that day, and Pihom even specially instructed one store to set up a diesel generator outside to create noise.
Not only that, but Pihom also arranged for assistants, disguised as electricians, to install zipline hooks on both the bank’s rooftop and the residential building across the street and had someone put up the ropes at night.
The ultimate objective of this heist was something hidden in the bank by Si’s consortium. To prevent Si’s consortium from realizing they were being targeted, the operation was to be disguised as a very ordinary bank robbery.
Apart from locker number 209, several other lockers would also randomly be forced open and the vault’s cash swept away in passing.
The goal was to make everyone believe that the robbery was the work of a few crazed thieves, and the transcendent items were merely taken along with ordinary jewels.
To pry open the other lockers, Priskin had prepared a handheld circular saw, battery-driven, with an easily changeable saw blade head—three-disc sawblades should be enough to cut through the lock bolts of the bank’s lockers.
This operation was bound to face a shootout during the final part, so firearms were also indispensable.
Pihom arranged for long and short guns, along with a large drill for breaching electronic doors, all packed and hidden in a pickup truck, delivered in advance to the bank’s parking lot.
They had also replicated the keys to the bank’s back door, thereby avoiding the front door metal detectors and entering the bank interior without triggering an alarm, for a rapid takeover.
“I’ll go in unarmed with Chen Ke through the front to see how many people are in the lobby and roughly where the guards are located; then, we’ll signal you,” Hall pointed at the map and said.
“We’ll come in from the back. I’ll take care of the surveillance room first,” Lucina said, pointing to a spot on the map; the surveillance room was adjacent to the bank’s staff hallway, next to the office area.
“After taking over the surveillance room, we need to control the lobby ASAP, then let Priskin set up the drilling rig,” Chen Ke looked at the map and said.
“From that moment, we have a five-minute countdown. After five minutes, the alarm will automatically trigger. According to Pihom and Chen Ke’s scouting, S.W.A.T. and those freaks can get there in less than five minutes,” Hall nodded and said.
“So, how long do we actually have?” Lucina tilted her head towards Chen Ke.
“Still five minutes,” Chen Ke spread his hands.
“After all, the drilling rig takes time. Once the door is drilled open, they’ll likely be on the move,” Priskin explained.
“Four people in relay; we’ll put the cash and the items we want in travel bags, then zipline from the bank’s rooftop to the getaway vehicle across the street,” Hall added.
“Mark the bags clearly. The decoy vehicle with the money, and the getaway vehicle with whatever it is we’re after…” Chen Ke nodded.
Pihom stroked his chin beard, pondering for a moment before speaking, “Seems foolproof. Bain promised that we would have extra help during the escape, so if you see strangers, don’t be quick to open fire.”
“The hacker?” Chen Ke recalled.
“That’s right, let’s hope they’re helpful,” Pihom said.
“Fellas, we’ve prepared three days for this one job tomorrow. Once we pull this off, the brothers to the south will look at us in a whole new light,” Hall smiled and said.
“The brothers to the south?” Chen Ke turned to Hall.
Seeing Chen Ke’s confused face, Pihom explained, “I told you, there are more than just a few mailmen, but they won’t all be gathered together.”
With the preparations complete, all that remained was to pull off the heist the next day. Lucina suggested they all have dinner together and then a drink that night, but Chen Ke had other matters to attend to and left the gun store one step earlier.
“You’re always in a rush. I have no idea what you’re up to,” Lucina leaned on the safe house door, arms crossed.
“I have a rich after-hours life,” Chen Ke smiled back.
“Definitely nothing serious… mind telling me about it?” Lucina asked with a smile.
“Maybe some other time,” Chen Ke rested his left hand on Lucina’s shoulder and sidestepped her as he walked by.
There’s no chance, tough girl; in that world, your muscles and bullets mean nothing, Chen Ke thought to himself.
“Mmm…” Lucina watched Chen Ke’s back and sighed deeply.
At 8 p.m. in the Gun Tie District, Andre’s Rundown Motel.
The motel was eight stories high, diagonally across from the Walmart where Chen Ke had first shopped.
In Gun Tie District, it was not easy to do business; it was far from a tourist attraction, so the motel had few guests and looked on the verge of closing down. Beyond the first floor’s service lobby, the other floors were dark, with not many lit rooms.
Pushing open the aged door, Chen Ke entered the motel. The mottled walls and exposed water pipes betrayed the place’s financial struggles. With few guests, the staff looked disinterested and the entire motel seemed like an antique transported from the 1980s.
“Sir, did you reserve a room?” asked the plump female receptionist at the front desk, clipping her nails.
“I’m here to see a friend,” Chen Ke replied.
“Oh? Then your friend must not be doing too well. Hehehe… cough cough… um… what room number is your friend in?” the plump receptionist inquired.
“Oh? What a coincidence? I live in room 98 as well,” the receptionist chuckled.
Chen Ke’s brow furrowed. What was up with this receptionist?
“What floor is room 98 on?” Chen Ke asked.
“Ha… seems like you really don’t know… you must have been played by your friend,” the plump receptionist said disdainfully.
Chen Ke scratched his head.
“What I mean is, we don’t have a room 98 here,” she put down her nail clippers, looking at Chen Ke with interest.
Chen Ke looked up towards the stairs and the small elevator, sensing something odd about the building but couldn’t put his finger on what it was. And just now, he had suddenly realized the room number “98” was nonsensical.
Typically, motel room numbers are a combination of floor number and room number, like the eighth room on the sixth floor should be 6008. This helps staff quickly locate rooms for various routine management tasks.
And even if this motel decided to be different and use this non-mainstream method of numbering rooms, it was hard to imagine they had 98 rooms, just based on the size of the building.
“Sorry to bother you,” Chen Ke shook his head and quickly left the motel.