Am I A Theif ? Part 2 ©

I have been walking by this particular building for 30 years now and the burning question in my mind has always been.
“Is the money still there”?
Now this isn’t the first time I have told this story.
20 years ago I did tell a group of friends and they were intrigued with the same question.
What happened to the small metal box with all the money?
A couple of them came to me the next day with a proposition.
They wanted to know the layout of the building so they could get in and try for the money.
Or at least see if it was still there.
They offered me a third of what was in the box.
I told them that it had been a decade since I worked there and some things had probably change since then but they insisted so I sat down with them and drew up the plans.
I told them how to get into the building and that was the easy part.
The hardest part would be the 8 hour wait.
They had to be at the building by 3pm.
That’s when the garage doors were still open and trucks were constantly coming in and out delivering stuff and leaving.
The commissionaires were busy and didn’t pay much attention to the trucks going in and out so it would be easy to slip in undetected and get to the bottom of the garage.
Then they would have to wait under one of the ramps so not to be seen until the building had been locked up and everyone left.
The commissionaires did their rounds every hour on the hour so they would have to wait for them to go by before they left and went to the 4th floor where the RCMP offices were.
The plan was simple:
Get in
Get to the forth floor
Break down one door and take the loot

They slipped into the garage with little problem and made their way as planed to the bottom and hid under the ramp.
The sat under there as cars and trucks drove over them until all was quiet.
They waited until 8 pm as planed and the commissionaire showed up to punch the clock.
This was it.
Zero hour and the job commenced.
They gave the guard 15 minutes so that he would be ahead of them thus avoiding being detected.
They ran across the garage to the stairway.
Opening it slightly they peer up making sure the coast was clear and then slowly began making their way up the stairs.
The got to the landing before the first floor and stopped.
They could hear people talking just outside the door in the lobby and waited to see if anyone would come into the stair well.
When they were sure they would not be seen, the slithered past the door and up to the second floor where they paused to listen.
Hearing nothing the bolted up the stairs and ran smack into a gate between the third floor and the forth.
This was new.
I knew nothing about it and there was no way of getting around it.
There was but one thing to do and that was to break it down and get to the forth floor.
Using a small crow bar that they had brought alone to open the other door they got it open and proceeded to the forth floor.
Just as they got to the door on the firth floor an alarm went off. They turned to run and right there behind them on the ceiling in the stair well was a camera.
This was something new as well.
The jig was up and now was the time to run.
They ran down the stairs towards the basement and just passed the guard as he was opening the door on the first floor.
Their goal was the garage and opening the door and escaping into the night.
They could hear guards running down the stair behind them and they were taking the stairs four or five at a time spreading their lead on their pursuers.
The got to the bottom of the stairs and began their ascent to the top of the garage and their freedom.
All was going their way.
They failed in their quest to retrieve the treasure chest but their freedom would be secure.
They got to the gate and hit the open button.
Nothing happened.
Again and again the hit the button but still nothing happened and the garage door remained closed.
The power had been shut off.
This was bad.
One ran to the booth where the guard was sitting earlier in the day and started flipping all the switches.
At the same time the guards could be heard running up the garage.
The one outside the both kept hitting the open button as the other one was flipping switches and just as they were giving up the door jerked and started to open.
This was it.
They were going to make it and escape this bungled attempt.
The door opened and they raced out.

18 months later I heard what happened.
The cops had surrounded the garage door and were waiting there in case they got the door open and escaped the guards inside.
They got 2 years less a day for that incident and served 18 months in a provincial jail.

So
Are you sure you want to know what happened to the money?


Walker