10:37 pm Bel Air, MD
Sometimes listening to music is soothing but tonight I am pretty positive nothing could sooth the empty feeling in my gut, nor could anything prepare me for what I am about to do tonight. If not for the trouble I have gotten into the last few years I would not be sitting in my car outside a house waiting for my father to go to sleep. Gambling, divorce and drinking had put me here but this moment is my ticket out. My father is the only one that can help me, too bad it will be the loss of life that will get me on track.
Earlier in the day I made sure when I visited I switched the bathroom window unlocked to make an easy entrance. This of course was the easy part. He lives alone but has a nurse stay with him during the day to monitor him and the machine keeping him alive since his accident 6 weeks ago. All I have to do is turn it off for an hour or so and let nature takes its course. After entering the house I edge down the hallway nervously I quietly open the door to his room and stand there in the dark watching him helplessly lying in his bed. I begin to move across the room when I hear my fathers strained voice. "I know why you are here and I beg you not to go through with this. If you let me live I will direct you to all the money you will ever need."
"You are not the only one in the family who lived through rough times. Getting back from the war I had trouble finding a job. Since I was married to your mother I had to take care of her I was twice desperate to do anything. That of course turned into doing various jobs, then working for seedy characters in the DC area doing things I would never do otherwise. Eventually I landed the job that got me the money it just meant robbing a bank.”
"The heist was simple, though they all are supposed to be. Just a run in and take the money type plan with a slight twist. It seems that a guy named Jacob who works at a local bank was in dept for gambling so the Boss told him that if he helped us rob his bank that his debt would be wiped clean and his family would not be the wiser. With an inside man on the job it certainly took som stress of the situation. As for the getaway we had two cars for this run which Pete had gotten for us earlier this week. One to park in front of the bank and another to switch out with and ditch later on when we got to the safe house outside of Leesburg, VA. So after eating our lunch at the local café, we made our way to the bank on foot separately so we would not be noticed going in together. When the time was right for the Jacob to open the safe, we got on the tables with our mask dawned and guns in the air and told everyone to get on the ground. I stayed on the tabled keeping an eye out while Pete and Sean got the money bags filled to the brim in the safe and set them by the bank entrance and go back and fill up another set so we would have 6 full bags of cold hard cash. Just as things are going smooth, Jacob asked if he was good on his debt loud enough for everyone to hear so Sean shot him on the spot, otherwise the cops could tie him back to us and then of course the boss. The guard was not let people get killed on his watch so he fired the gun he hid in his boot at Sean in the leg and back. Pete and I then turned and shot the guard and then turned to Sean and finished him off too. Friends are friends but injured guys you rob a bank with are a liability so Pete and I let him go. Grabbing the bags and hopping into the car, a short car chase ensued but I know these streets too damn good to get caught so the fuzz was quickly lost after a little bumping and shooting. We arrived at the trade off point I saw that Pete was hit in the head and whether he was dead was not something I wanted to find out as time is key so I left him and the empty car behind. As I was driving to Leesburg I got to thinking that this money could be a ticket out for good so I swung down and picked up your mother, told her what I did and we got a hotel in Front Royal to hide out for a few days before heading west.”
“Seeing is how 6 bags of money would stand out I bought a metal can and figured I would hide the bulk of the money in the mountains and leave one to help your mother and I until we find work. It took me 4 grueling trips up and down to hide all the money as there was too much to carry on one load. I covered it up with some rocks and sticks at the base of a rock outcrop and never touched it since, because a few days later the boss caught up with me. I was filling up the car at a gas station near the hotel where your mother was at when they grabbed me and tossed me in the trunk of a car. They brought me to the safe house in Leesburg to hurt me until I tell them where the money was. I held out for all it was worth while trying to keep my cool between the punches in the face and the baseball bat swings at my legs. After two days of constant pain they decided that I was telling the truth about being lucky and getting away from the cops with nothing. For running off however, they taught me a lesson I would never forget, they cut off my legs so I could never run again. Some things need to be kept a secret and my war stories were exaggerated to cover up my dark side. I thought if you never knew these things it would enable you to live a better life. I have since been proven wrong by your appearance here. I guess now you want to know how to get the money……”
7:52 am Buzzard Rock Trailhead, VA
After sleeping in the car at the rest stop near Manassas I get back into driving mode and make my way to the where my father told me to park so I could begin my long journey up the mountain. So many thoughts are going thru my head as I drive to the lot. I cannot believe he hid so much of his past from me, but none of us are perfect, including me as I was not trying to spend quality time with my dad last night. Sooner than I thought I pull into the lot and there is no one in sight, though it is a weekday so I hope to not run into many people today. Knowing the different points on the directions fall on the respective sides of the trail and the distances and azimuths fall between certain points I get out of the car and make my way up the mountain in hopes of recovering the money………