The Bank Robbery XVI – The Escape

This is the sixteenth part of the series that began here . If you like it, and would want to be updated whenever I post the subsequent parts, you might want to subscribe to the posts via email . We are nearing the end of this story and it will be finished in the next two or three posts in this very post. Let me know what you think of through your comments.) 

Rahul had no other option but to follow him and he did. For a while the road got worse and the vegetation became denser. Rahul was having a really hard time walking with the weight of the bag on his shoulders and avoiding tripping on the roots of the trees that were exposed, here and there. Vikas although seemed to have no problem in making his way among the dense vegetation. But after about fifteen minutes and another right turn, the road began to slope down and got easier to walk on. After about another twenty minute’s brisk walk, the main highway became visible again and the two men were soon on it.  

“ So, will we get a bus from here… and where are we?” Rahul asked.  

Vikas was still smiling and kept walking. Even I was intrigued now, and followed them with great curisoity. On the highway , Vikas got near the a car that had been covered with a tarpaulin sheet. Judging by the dust on the cover, it seemed that the car had been parked there since the last few weeks. Vikas uncovered it, and took out the keys to the car from his pocket, and with a smile he said, “ Here is our ride home.”  

Rahul’s face could not hide hisamazement. “How and when did you do this?” he asked.  

“Don’t worry about that, lets get out of here as soon as possible, the fewer people see the car the better it is, though I have made sure that it is a white color car with average tyres… the kind that can be found on a thousand different cars,” Vikas said as he bundled the bags into the car.  

“Whose car is this?”  Rahul asked, still unable to suppress his relief and excitement.  

“It’s mine” Vikas said, “this is the only weak link there is, though I have changed the number plate, and we will change it before we hit the city.”  

After that it was all smooth sailing. They got into the car and drove away. At some point they got out and changed the license plates, cleaned themselves and the car thoroughly of any remains of the robbery they had just committed. The money was transferred into a suitcase that was in the car for this very purpose. There was nothing that could be traced to either the car or its occupants.

“When did you think about the car?’ Rahul said.

“I never really thought we would use it, It was just in case things went horribly wrong, or, perhaps, really good, and since everything went according to plan, I thought we could use this as a getaway and reach home in time. The money can stay in the car for a bit, as I don’t think it will be safe to keep it anywhere else. Tomorrow when we come back, I will get the car along and we can share the loot and then every man to his own, ” Vikas said. He seemed relieved, and for the first time since the inception of the plan, I got to see any emotion on his face.  

“You are good, you know that.”  Rahul said.  

“I always thought I was. I just wanted to see if I really was that good, it never was for the money, Vikas replied, “ I always wanted to rob a bank, make the perfect plan and here we are.”  

“You pulled it off well.” Rahul said.  

“We cant be sure yet, we have to be sure that one of the men we tied breaks free and gets everyone lose and they are safe. I don’t want anyone dead or hurt.” Vikas said,  “and they will ask questions and I hope Ramesh does not make a silly mistake, I am afraid that he might. Every plan has a weak link and he is our weak link, though we have done our best.”  

“Do you think we can still be caught?”  

“Not really, even if he says something we can deny all knowledge of it, even he didn’t see our faces or hear our voices during the whole 20 minutes it happened, In fact we can say that it wasn’t us but someone else even to Ramesh and he will have no choice but to believe us,” Vikas said.  

“Are you suggesting we do that?”  

Vikas laughed out loudly and said, “No, not at all, I told you it was never about the money for me, so there is no reason we should do that. Don’t get too greedy now.”  

“I am not.” Rahul said with a smile.  

So, that was how I was a witness to a very well planned robbery ever committed. Vikas had tied the driver loosest of them all, and he was the first to break free and when the security guard saw him, he thought it was the ghost of the driver. It was a long while before they were convinced that he was no ghost but a man made of flesh, bones and blood. Then, they had reported the robbery to the police and the police were trying their best to nab the culprits. There were a lot of clues but they lead nowhere. This was all in the papers for a few weeks and then it died down. Every once in a while I went to check on Vikas, Rahul and Ramesh and the last I saw them, they were sitting, drinking tea on the verandah of Doctor Rahul. They were never caught.

(THE END)