Chapter 3 Philip Harrington vs. Troy 'Travis' Stanton: The beat to his heart...Gullibility!

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"Wow! And you saw them counting money and took only three grand?" The leader was beside himself with shocked excitement.

"That's what Paul caused you to lose, right?" Troy asked.

"Yes...no. Actually, we lost more than just the money." The leader said, licking his lips as if he'd seen something juicy.

Troy turned to face the greedy-looking leader. "I hope you're not talking about interest because..."

"No, no." The leader shook his head. "We lost one of our friends. When we tried to reason with the Stones to give us the three grand, they killed one of us." He explained. "So Paul caused us the life of one of our friends."

"Is that true?" Troy asked Paul.

"I don't know." Paul shrugged with a dark scowl. "I know they were six but I don't know about one of them getting killed."

"That's because you ran so you have no idea what went down, you chicken shit." The leader snapped. "I have to give Shatta's baby mama money for his baby's upkeep all the time because Shatta is no more."

"Those men killed him just because you went to ask for what was rightfully yours?" Troy looked shocked.

"Can you imagine?" The leader gushed. "They are very wicked people. Hey, my name is Blaze by the way." He reached out and gave Troy a quick handshake.

"Troy, I think we should just leave," Paul mumbled.

"Hey, you did this," Blaze growled at Paul. "Let your magician here make something right."

"And how do you expect me to make things right?" Troy folded his arms across his chest. "Raise your friend from the dead?"

"Oh no." Blaze gave a sheepish laugh. "We wouldn't want to start no zombie apocalypse. It will be nice to...have some money...for Shatta's kid."

"And where am I supposed to find that money?" Troy frowned.

"Oh, I don't know... Anywhere we can get some cash...some shops, a bank maybe..." Blaze said with an expectant look. "The kid needs it." He made a sad face.

"Troy, let's go," Paul muttered beside his friend. He knew that his friend was a bit naïve when it came to the real world. And he could tell that Troy was buying the bullshit that Blaze was spewing.

"How about I go for more money from those murderers for the baby?" Troy asked quietly. "After all they killed its father."

"Troy..." Paul growled under his breath.

"That would be great." Blaze gushed, excited.

"Troy, you really don't have to do this," Paul said angrily. "You don't own these people any..."

"I'll just go in, grab a few more, and be out of there," Troy told Paul gently. "They killed the man after all. That wasn't right. Now the poor baby has to suffer."

"Yes." Blaze groaned with a hand on his chest. "That poor, poor child."

"I'll be right back," Troy promised his friend and took off for the second time, towards the house from which he'd already taken three thousand dollars.

Just as Troy got to the residence of the Stones, he saw a van he'd seen earlier in their driveway, moving away from the house. Inside the van were the six men he'd seen counting money inside the house on his first visit. Since the door to the house was locked, he didn't have any choice but to go back to Blaze, emptyhanded. The gang leader couldn't hide his disappointment and anger. He came up with an alternative solution quickly enough.

"How about you help us pull a bank job then?" Blaze asked.

"As in rob a bank?" Troy stared at Blaze.

"He will do no such thing." Paul spat with a look of disgust.

"Shut up, you moron." Blaze snapped at Paul before turning his eyes back to Troy. "Just once. All you have to do is...repeat whatever you did at the Stones'. We get in, grab some cash, get out, give you your cut, and then we go our separate ways. What do you say?"

"I took that three thousand from those people because Paul not taking the cash from them didn't mean they should not have paid you," Troy said quietly. "Robbing a bank is different."

"We're not going to take much." Blaze implored. "Just a little to get by. We will give some to Shatta's baby mama and you. Surely you need money." He cajoled. "The bankers steal the cash all the time anyway. We need the money more than they do. Come on..."

And that was how the plan to rob the bank had been hatched. At Paul's insistence, Troy told Blaze and his men that he and Paul couldn't be inside the bank with them. He, however, assured the gang leader that they would stay outside and stop the police from catching them if they should show up. They just had to be fast and take just a little bit of cash. Well, from the look of the sacks that those men had gotten away with, it looked like Blaze and his pals had taken a whole lot more than just a little. No wonder they'd been in there for so long, Troy sighed. He and Paul would simply take some of the money for their trouble and go their way, Troy thought as the bus got to their stop.

"Remember, we'll just take whatever Blaze and his men give us, and leave," Paul said as they made their way to the gang's hideout. "No argument. This is survival."

"Survival," Troy repeated under his breath.