Robbery Trio

Jack Jenkins was forty-five years old. He had worked in a factory for twenty years, but three months ago the investment company backing the factory pulled out of the U.S., and he was suddenly unemployed. He figured he'd get severance pay and just find another factory job—after all, he was an experienced worker.

Too bad the times changed too fast. Someone like him, experienced but without much education, didn't have an easy time finding work. In three months, not a single company was willing to hire him.

And his wife? Just yesterday she ran off with some old bank guy, a man over fifty who was supposedly a business manager. The two of them had been hooking up because his wife went every month to pay off their loan.

His unemployment made his wife leave for good. What she left him with was three kids. His eldest daughter was about to graduate high school. She had always done well and had a real shot at a top university—a major turning point in her life. But her grades weren't good enough for a scholarship, so he had to come up with at least twenty-five thousand dollars in tuition. That kind of money? He couldn't pull it together.

If he only had one daughter, he'd sell the house, scrape together the tuition, send her to college, and tough it out alone in New York. He believed he could do it. But he also had a son in his first year of high school and another daughter in middle school. He couldn't abandon them.

Roy froze at Jack's words, then asked in alarm, "Jack, are you crazy?"

"No, I'm calm right now. Roy, you're in the same boat. You're about to go broke too. Your wife's been sick for a long time, and you have a son—he's not young anymore. Have you thought about college for him? Your wife's illness keeps dragging on. You can only give her pills, never cure her, because you don't have the money. And now, how much longer can you hold out?" Jack's words cut through Roy's heart like a blade, sharp and agonizing.

"But..." Roy didn't know what to say. He thought for a long moment before replying, "But we don't know how to rob a bank. We don't even know how to mug someone on the street!"

"Yes, but the bank wants us to go bankrupt. They want every worker with a loan to go under so they can cash in. And our country does nothing about it. What else can we do? Let our families fall apart?" Jack's voice stayed calm.

Roy's mind raced. How much longer could he hold on? Could he pick up some part-time work? But how long would that take to pay for his wife's treatment? The money he'd earned in the past couldn't even buy insurance. His son was in high school now. His grades were average, but could he skip college? End up like him?

Roy's mindset shifted fast—just a few minutes. Ordinary people would find it hard to understand such a quick change, but when a man is backed into a corner, he'll do anything.

"But how do we do it? Just the two of us?" Even with the decision made, Roy had no confidence. His voice was small. And Jack?

"We... we need three handguns, and we need one more person. Jerry's probably about to break too. I talked to him a couple days ago. He hasn't found work either, his savings won't last long, and he needs a big chunk of money too," Jack said. "Plus, he's a good driver. Once we pull it off, he'll get us out of there."

"Alright... I think we should meet and talk it over. We need a plan at least." Roy agreed. Jack breathed a sigh of relief. Now they had three people. That was enough.

Jack set a time and called Jerry again. This time it went smoothly. Jerry liked to drive fast and had guts. He was at the end of his rope too, so they clicked right away.

In a small bar, the three sat in a corner, each with a big glass of beer. They were all quiet for a while. Jack was the one who started this, so he had to break the silence. He took a big gulp of beer and said, "We can't keep waiting, or we won't even have money left to buy guns."

"Jack, do you know where to buy guns?" Roy looked up at him.

"Roy, this is Brooklyn, New York. You can buy anything from the black guys around here," Jack said, looking at Roy.

"But we're white. We might not make it out alive if we go there." Roy looked at Jack with some fear.

Jerry spoke up then. "Don't worry, I've got a connection. That's not a problem. A cheap handgun is only a few hundred bucks. We can still afford that now. In a few weeks, maybe not."

"Alright, then which bank do we rob?" Roy asked again.

"The one we took our loans from. They want us to go broke, so why shouldn't we rob them? These next few days, we all have debt issues anyway. We'll take turns going in and scope out the place. That'll make it easier to move." Jack didn't really have a plan. He'd stayed up all night watching movies—all about heists.

Three men at the end of their rope formed the Robbery Trio. They didn't have a concrete plan yet, but they had made up their minds. Of course, they still held onto a sliver of hope. They hadn't given up on finding jobs—they just didn't say it out loud. If one of them landed work, he might just back out.

So the team wasn't solid. They came together because they were pushed or couldn't see a way out, ready to pull one job. But if hope appeared, they'd fall apart in an instant.

Over the next few days, they started their preparations in this conflicted state. Jerry went to buy three handguns, while Jack and Roy went to the bank every day. They had a good enough excuse: the final settlement and debt issues.

Meanwhile, Mo Fei met "Sister" Jennifer. She was a young, pretty white girl, looking especially happy as she chatted with someone on her instant messaging app.

"Mary, I got my acceptance letter! UCLA. I haven't told my dad yet. I think he'll be proud of me!" Jennifer shared her joy with her friend.

"Congratulations, Jennifer! But the tuition there isn't cheap. Even though you got in, you're not a California resident. Even with a tuition waiver, it's at least twenty thousand dollars. Isn't your dad unemployed?"

Beware of your friends and guard your secrets—the ancients weren't wrong. That was Mo Fei's summary.