Truce

A moment after the Deacon and his men had disappeared into the mini- bus and, before the explosion, they set out to work and fast. Time was never their ally. The bomb was ticking. The Police were just a stone- throw away. The kingpin loaded his pistol and tossed to Mateo and with a string of stern instructions, "If she fidgets, shoot her. If she makes a sound, shoot her." Mateo looked at Crystal without saying anything. The other masked gunmen slid open the customized floor to the mini- bus and exposed the lid to the manhole. With precision and in the stealthiest of ways, they lowered the magnetic lifter on the manhole cover and lifted it into the mini- bus.

One of the robbers took the old rusty steps and descended into the pitch- dark sewer tunnel. The remainder of the gang tied strong rope around the custom-made hooks to the truck and in a concerted effort they lowered the trunk into the deep. This was down gently. Yuan and his men could not suspect a thing. To them, the robbers were out of options. But Deacon, still had a million moves more and a word to spare, "Plant the bombs and let's getting moving."

Crystal was relieved from the wearing the bombs and she was ushered down the huge sewer line. Mateo, still holding the gun, followed her. Then remaining trio of robbers slid down before Deacon but only after they arrayed a few more explosives on the front seats of the mini- bus.

Down the sewer tunnel, the trunk was placed on a small trolley and secured with ratchets. And they, except Mateo and Deacon, took turns to pull the stolen cash. Mateo, led the way, pulling Crystal with him as they waded their feet in watery human waste. "Move. Move. Come on." Deacon encouraged his men – understanding that the path they took was not exactly easy, but it was nothing compared to the heavy hand of justice that would rest on them for the atrocities that they had committed. Thus they soldiered on.

Seven and half minutes went by before the sirens were heard. The wailing sound grew with each second that ticked away. The fire engineer sped to the scene. The men in fire gear jumped out and in a tick were lined up with the water- gushing horse aimed at the burning min- bus in their hands. Three minutes in, and the fire was put off. Yuan was quick to the gutted automobile, albeit it been hot and smoking. To his surprise, there were no bodies therein. It soon dawned on him that Deacon and his cohorts had outsmarted him. They were gone. Yuan called out the tow truck and Deacon's mini- bus was pulled from the spot. This gave birth to another realization. The Mini- bus was strategically parked above the main manhole. The mini- bus had a hole that was perfectly aligned with the manhole. The old detective shook his head, and yelled to his uniformed deputies, "I want people in this tunnel as soon as ten minutes ago!"

Dozens of Police men sprinted and descended into the belly of the city in search of the assailants. And as they carried on his command, he further ordered one of the Inspectors present, "Secure all the exit points. They're not very far." The Inspector obliged, "Yes sir." He thus took out his radio to effect the instructions.

On the other end, Deacon and his men emerged out of the manhole near an old abandoned factory. There, a garbage truck was parked. They rushed thereto and changed their attire to those of garbage collectors. Crystal, at gun- point, was made to camouflage like them. Without further ado, the robbers and his gang shoveled Crystal into the garbage truck and drove away to the dump site near a cliff that extended into a river. There, a fairly new metallic grey SUV was parked.

All the robbers, except Mateo, quickly changed their attire to normal clothes, but kept their masks on. With the same quota of urgency, the loot was transferred to the SUV and it was time to drive away to freedom, but there was problem – Crystal. They had to get rid of her. Deacon pushed her to the cliff and walked back to Mateo. "She's had a miserable day, end it now." Mateo clinched the gun in his hands and charged towards Crystal and stood just a meter from her. But instead of facing her, he turned around, locked eyes with Deacon and announced, "No more shedding blood." "She's our dead weight. Kill her!" Deacon angrily yelled. Mateo shook his head. But Deacon was hell- bent at getting rid of her, "She's getting us all arrested. We are talking about death sentence or life, if we are lucky. If we kill her, we stand every chance to breathe free air and enjoy our money."

"Look," Mateo insisted. "Let her go. Just let her go. I'll forfeit my share of the loot." Deacon chuckled, clearly failing to believe what he was hearing, and sought clarity, "You want to lose all you've toiled and sacrificed for – all for that stranger that will hand you over to the Police?"

"You heard me, man." Mateo commented in a wink.

Deacon walked towards Mateo who shuttled backwards to shield Crystal, "You want a Truce?"

Mateo nodded with intent, "Yeah. Truce. Get the money. All of it. Just let us go. We never had this operation. We never met. No one will hear about this. Please"

"Alright," Deacon agreed with a nod.

Mateo turned around and walked closer to Crystal. She looked at him but said nothing. Deacon drew his gun and took aim at the villain now hero. Without thinking twice, Deacon shot Mateo twice in the back. He fell forward and bulldozed Crystal with him. The duo fell off the cliff and a big splash ensued as river received them in her clutch.

Deacon, with heavy breaths, rushed to the cliff but he neither saw Crystal nor Mateo. They had disappeared of sight. The kingpin walked to the SUV whose engine was vibrating with life. He took off his mask. His men followed suit, and CHRISTIAN, WAYNE and SAM were revealed. Sam drove the SUV as soon as Deacon got into the car.