So, progress will continue over the next few days as I rebuild my computer.
As for the short story, you all voted overwhelmingly for a smart, yet devious male protagonist. The setting was not so concrete, and was tied between a character hangout and one of the perspectives of the Chapter 1 heist. I decided to go with the heist from the perspective of a pointman, seeing as they have to be smart, charismatic, and sometimes devious.
Keep in mind this is a linearized version, though I hope to maintain most of what was written here while simply adding more options in the interactive novel version.
Finally, I would appreciate if spelling errors were overlooked. I wrote this on a restless Saturday night over the span of 4 hours.
Sapphirus
February 23rd, 2018
Nashville, Tennessee
10:23 A.M…
The sun beams down on me as I walk down the bustling street of Nashville. All the workers are on lunch breaks, filling their favorite cafés and watching the news to see who’s pet won the weekly channel 11 contest. Well, I’ll give them something to tune in to. I make my way down a shaded alley, a stark contrast to the vibrancy of the city. I stroll over into the empty as can be employee parking lot of a nearby jewelry store.
“Okay,” I say, tapping on the driver side window. The driver, Peto, rolls down the window on the Crown Vic as I lean in and look at the passenger.
“Simple job, smash and grab. Three cams, one guard by the door. Displays are on a silent alarm, PD is six blocks out. One to two minute response time.”
“So we gotta be quick, huh?”
/
The source of the southern slang was Danny K., a father of three by night and a criminal by day. This addiction-addled Appalachian was introduced to me a couple of weeks ago in a Denny’s (no correlation). I immediately recognized him as the robber of a Walmart bank from a few months ago due to this odd limp that goes up to his shoulder. Wasn’t a bad haul, $6,524 taken in broad daylight, under cameras, in a Walmart. He was in and out pretty quick.
\
“Depends how much you want to take home Danny. We can be smart and buy 4 extra minutes roughly.”
“Really?” Danny says with an err of disbelief.
“Peto, you’re an electrician, right?” I say, looking over now to the driver.
“Nah, man.”
“Ah,” I say, slightly confused, before mumbling to myself, “must’ve been thinking of someone else.”
I look to the jewelry store for a moment, scanning the outside. It’s a tall, 2 story building with only the first floor being reserved for jewelry. It has two exits in the back, plus the large glass windows and front door in the front. The parking lot is slightly at an incline, and driving straight down would lead down into someone’s backyard. Unless…
“Okay,” I say, this time revising the plan. “Simple job, still smash and grab. Three cams full view, one guard by the door. The displays are on silent alarm. Danny, you’ll smash and grab as much as you can, leading it through the offices that I have unlocked, and out here into the back parking lot. Forget the civs, just nab that guard. Peto, the second we round that corner,” I say, pointing down the alley towards the street, “You take that gravel path there down the hill and wait for us on the street below. No speedy getaway, keep it clean if you can.”
“Nice watch,” Peto says, as my sleeve rolls down pointing.
“Forget the civs? Why?” Danny asks. Well…
/
The inside of the jewelry store shines down on me, quite literally. The walls are covered in shelving and fancy mirrors, with a chandelier dangling just high enough not to clothesline any unsuspecting debonaire housewives. In the middle sits a large round display case, which also acts as the check-out. Okay, cams. Looking up I immediately see a dome cam looking directly down on the cashier. One in the back left. I turn to my right and begin looking into display cases for my watch. Nothing but a bunch of ugly gemstone necklaces. I-
“Welcome to Hartmann Jewellers, can I help you sir?” I hear from behind. I jump, and immediately turn around, putting on my biggest smile. A forty-something employee greets me, likely wondering what the hell I’m doing here.
“Uh, yeah, I’m-uh, well, I’m looking for a watch.”
I look behind her stretched out plastic face to find another person in their forties, this time a heavy-set bearded man. He wears a black polo shirt with some kind of logo and pants. There’s a bulk around his belt so, yep, that’s definitely the security guard. Then above him I spot the third camera by the window, giving full watch over the store.
“Looking to get it for a special someone?” she asks.
“No, uh, actually I’m just looking to get one for myself,” I chuckle. I notice she has a golden button pin on her shirt with her name, Lindsey.
“Oh,” she laughs, “you might want to look over here.” Lindsey guides me further back into the store, and as I look back, I notice that’s the women’s necklace section. I make my way up to the glass counter as Lindsay squeezes in behind the register. “Watches under $500 are here on the left side, if you’re looking for anything higher end that’ll be over there,” she says, pointing behind her to another section of the counter. I immediately make my way over to the pricier watches, obviously. The one that immediately catches my eye is a silver and rose gold banded watch. It’s extremely simplistic with Roman numeral indicators, but the contrast in colors makes it so attractive.
“Hey, what can you tell me about this one ma’am.”
Lindsey walks over and immediately, “Did you find som- ooh that’s a beautiful one! That’s a Baume & Mercier Classima, appears to be rose gold and, uh, silver.”
“Sounds pricey,” I say. “Do you mind if I look at it?”
“Sure, let me get it, I’ll try to find some papers on it as well.”
I look closely and find a sticker on the display case, Kellerman Glass Co. Might as well assume they have alarms, worst case scenario. What else to look at? Lindsey reaches into a filing cabinet and finds a folder for the company, then make of the watch. She pulls out the piece of paper and lays it on the counter.
“You can go ahead and read over this, I’ll be right back with the keys,” she says.
Baume et Mercier Classima 10217
I read through a bunch of numbers and technical jargon to find the real meat and bones. Rubies? Sapphire glass?
Lindsey walks back from the office with a key, unlocking the display case. She reaches in carefully and grabs the watch, which has now been enclosed in its case.
“Now I can’t let you hold or wear it, but there is something neat about this make that I remembered.”
She opens up the case and slowly pulls out the watch, flipping it over on the back. “Look.”
I lean in closely to find a bunch of mechanical pieces on the inside of the watch moving. Gears turning, cogs spinning.
“These are called skeleton watches. Now you wouldn’t be able to see it wearing it, but the second you take it off you can just marvel at the mechanisms from the back. It’s got 26 rubies on the inside that you can see as it operates.”
“How much?”
“I… don’t know actually, hold on.”
She puts the watch down carefully back into its case before bringing it and the paper with her over to the computer. She references the paper as she types in… whatever. After a few moments she comes back with the paper and watch.
“Okay, so this watch is going to be setting you back $4,600, but we can talk about payments being made an-”
I immediately tune out. On one hand, it’s great that they have jewelry this expensive here. This watch alone would’ve sold for probably $2,500 to $3,000. Multiply that by ten, or even a hundred, and we’re in business.
On the other hand, I’m actually fucking considering buying a $5,000 watch.
…
…
…
As opposed to what? The $200,000 I have stashed?
“So what would you like to do?” The woman asks.
“Uh… do you have an ATM here?”
“No sir, but there is one right outside a couple of buildings down.”
I chuckle, “I think that’s it. I mean, I’d love to have them all, but… just a moment let me go get some cash.”
I turn and make my way out. Only as I make my way through the door do I bump into a tall suspicious man who, after turning back to apologize, shows his concealed firearm in his suit jacket for a moment.
\
“So civs ain’t an issue?”
“No, civs won’t be a threat. I checked.”
“Are you there?”
“What?”
“I said, are you sure?”
“Just one guard.”
"Hey!"
W-what?"
"GET UP!!!"
I immediately jump back to the present, coughing up phlegm. As I look down, I notice a gunshot wound in my right arm. All of a sudden, everything gets dizzy again, and I begin feeling nauseous.
Then the pain kicks in.
“Jesus Christ, man, I don’t know how the hell you got out of there without firing a shot. You alright? Thought you were dead for a minute.”
“Whoever that guy was, he wasn’t a fucking cop. Maybe military or something.” I look in the back seat to find it empty, apart from three duffel bags filling the row of leather.
“What guy?”
“Weren’t supposed to shoot me too, was in the back on purpose,” I mumble to myself, before reminding myself why I went through this mess. “50/50?” I ask.
“W-w-what?” Peto says, looking over at me for a moment. He keeps his hands steady, trying to stay as inconspicuous as you can be in a gray Crown Vic with the passenger bleeding out.
“Danny is dead. We split it?”
“Fuck, uh, y-yeah man. Just hide the blood or we ain’t getting anything.”
A smile grows on my face as I pull down my blood stained hoodie and grab napkins from the console, pressing them up against my wound. I pull back the hoodie to see the wound, and more pain surges through my body. As I reach out to close the console back, my left sleeve rolls up, revealing my watch. I look closely, noticing a smear of blood that managed to make it on the watch from tending my wound. I pull up the sleeve with what strength I have in my arm, and admire the watch. I quickly wipe it off against my pant legs, before taking a second glance. A red hue now occupies the silver, as the clock strikes 11. I undo the watch with my weakened arm, admiring the mechanics in the back.
Everything moves so perfectly, so orderly. Not even a drop of blood can ruin the fine craftsmanship. Then I see one of the little ruby gemstones coming into view as the parts make their rotations.
“Look at this,” I say, holding the back of the watch up to Peto.
“twenty-six rubies.”
