The Motorcycle Heist
Crouching in his driveway, Tom meticulously wiped the polishing rag on his motorcycle in one, last wide arc. He then took a step back to take a proud look at his newly cleaned Harley-Davidson. The bike’s glossy licorice black body contrasted the polished chrome inner-workings and handlebars.The chrome glimmered like fresh fallen snow on a clear winter day, a product of Tom’s unrivaled love and dedication for his new vehicle. This motorcycle was capable of propelling Tom down the Interstates and backroads with fluidity and with ease.
Tom had just graduated summa cum laude from college a few years back with a degree in economics. His broad, burly stature complemented the masculinity of his motorcycle. Every since he was a pint-sized school-age boy, he had been saving up for a Harley. Luckily for him, he had found a well-paying job right after college allowing him to allocate some of it to his Harley fund while still paying off the mortgage on his new house and prudently making contributions to his retirement fund. His love for the vehicles stemmed from the time his father, an avid biker himself, decided Tom was old enough to go ride along with him on a motorcycle. Tom vividly remembered the moment he first felt the low, hypnotic rumbling and vibration of the bike going through his body. When the monstrous roar of the engine filled Tom’s ears, he was smiling from ear to ear. He was hooked. From that day on, he made a vow to himself that he would one day own a motorcycle so he would be able to hear the sounds and feel the rumbling every single day.
Tom took the cleaning supplies from his driveway and impatiently dumped them into the well-kept one car garage. Grabbing the keys to his Harley, he fumbled about attempting to insert them into the keyhole. Vrrooom. The motorcycle roared to life and Tom sped down the street. He revved his engine, giggling like a little school-girl, and his hair flowed behind him in the wind. The wind hitting his face was almost euphoric. After going a few blocks, he decided to stop at a barbershop as his hair was now unruly and he wanted to look his best on his Harley. He swiftly pulled into a parking spot directly outside the barbershop. Tom entered the building and gruffly asked the woman behind the counter for a slight trim. She nodded approvingly and directed him to a leather chair a few feet away. Tom shuffled over to the chair and plopped down. Looking around the barbershop, he observed his surroundings as he had never gone to this particular barbershop before. From the outside, it looked sketchy and dilapidated. The brick walls needed to be cleaned and replaced as there was graffiti draw all over it and in some spots the brick was missing or slowly eroding away. The ground was littered with cigarette butts and trash from nearby businesses. The yellow awning had faded and ripped from years of exposure to the strong ultraviolet rays of the sun and strong gusts of wind. There seemed to be a lack of care for the building though on the inside of the barbershop, it was the complete opposite. The marble flooring and large frescos on the wall gave it a luxurious feel. Bright lighting and soft leather seating was inviting for patrons. The soft jazz in the background was conducive for relaxation and created an environment where one would stay for hours. Tom closed his eyes for a few minutes while he waited for the barber to start cutting. When he opened his eyes to see what was taking so long, he saw out of the corner of his eye a group of large men crowding around his motorcycle. Fearing the worse, he jumped out of chair and bolted for the door.
Tom vigorously pushed open the door and walked over to his bike wondering what was going on. One of the men suddenly turned around and shoved Tom away. These men were gargantuan, making Tom look like a mere runt compared to them. They were all dressed in matching leather jackets and blue denim jeans with bandanas over their mouths. Tom was pushed to the ground from the monstrous force of the shove. “Look, we can make it very simple for you”, one of the masked men assertively said. “Wha...wha.. what are y-you going to d-do to me?”, Tom sheepishly responded, now fearing for his life. “We’re just going to take your motorcycle and everything will be alright.” Tom pondered over whether or not he should just give up his Harley. He had worked hard over many years just to get enough money to purchase the vehicle and didn’t want to just hand over the bike. He decided to risk it and say no to their offer, even though he knew something bad might happen to him as a result of it. The men looked at each other with mischievous grins on their faces. Uh oh, Tom thought to himself. His heart was now beating much faster, adrenaline began to fill his body, his brain couldn’t comprehend and keep up with what was going on as he played through every possible scenario, good and bad, in his mind. Two men swept him from his feet and held him in place while the rest of the men quickly and skillfully loaded the bike into the back of a commercial van. Tom tried calling for help, but it was too late. These men knew what they were doing and were pretty skilled at it too. With one powerful blow to the side of Tom’s head, he was out cold. The two men who restrained him loaded his unconscious body into the back of the van.
Waking up a few hours later, Tom’s head was throbbing. He felt blood flowing down his body like snowmelt during the beginning of spring. He stiffly turned his head trying to figure out where he was. Tom needed some time for his pupils to dilate in order to see his surroundings. Slowly, his eyes adjusted and he was able to make out some basic shapes. Tom noticed that he was attached to a thick metal pole by some industrial strength rope. His jaw had been closed shut by a few layers of duct tape preventing him from calling for help.Trying to concoct a plan that will get him free, he searched around for items that he can use. After a quick preliminary search, he found a few hand-tools that could possibly help in his escape. The door leading into the room was about twenty feet away from him and that the room itself was quite large. The only problem was that he had no way of getting to the tools as he was bound so tightly he had zero movement. He kept on struggling to try to wiggle his way out but to no avail. His blood began to stain the rope, turning it a dark red hue. The friction from trying to get free began chafing his skin. Knowing that there wasn’t more to do to help him, he decided to just stay calm and wait until his captors come to check up on him. Tom filled his mind with happier thoughts instead thinking of this precarious situation in order to try ameliorate things.
After what seemed like an eternity, the door slammed opened and Tom lifted his head up to the sight of three shadows walking inside. He wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or sad as he didn’t know what would happen next. His heart began to beat faster and louder as the sounds of the men’s footsteps got closer to him. Suddenly when the men got halfway from the door to Tom, their footsteps stopped. “Well, well, well what do we have here?”, one of the men said tauntingly. Tom hung his head down and did not respond as he could not move his jaw at all. This man seemed to be the leader of the group and wore a blue bandana and a baseball cap to conceal his face. Now visibly agitated, the same man got closer to him and started to circle around him in an effort to try to inspect Tom.”Haha, looks like you’re stuck here attached to this pole”, said the leader. Still unfazed, Tom looked away again and remained silent. Realizing that his taunting wasn’t working, he took out a wallet and a set of keys from an inside pocket of his leather jacket. He reached into the wallet and pulled out a driver’s license and a picture. He dangled the rest of the wallet and set of keys in front of Tom’s face and dropped them out of Tom’s reach on the ground. “Hmmm, Tom, lovely family you have there. It’s a shame that they’ll never see you again. You seem like a pretty good man.”, said the leader, inspecting the photograph and driver’s license. Immediately Tom’s head perked up and his eyes got large. “Listen, you are going to die regardless of what is going to happen, but first since we’re greedy people, we’ll like to make a few extra bucks off of you”, he snickered.
Tom saw the men clearing the room of all objects to make sure there was no identifying addresses or marks that would lead people to this location. They were extra careful not to mess up. He was becoming a bit light headed now with the amount of blood he was losing. One of the men, wearing leather gloves prevent his fingerprints from showing up on the camera, took out a camera from a pocket of his jacket and aimed it at Tom. “Alright, we’re going to try and collect some ransom money from your family so act sad and in pain”, said the leader. Tom wriggled around some more but this sent a flash of sharp pain down his body. He doubled over in pain and passed out. “Ha, this is perfect,” laughed the cameraman. “We’ll certainly make some money off of this chump.” Now with Tom slouched over on the ground, the men deliberated on how to deliver the video to his family. They could either personally drop off the camera in front of his family’s house, which they found the address of from Tom’s wallet, or just dump the camera and his body and hope someone will find them. The men decided to get rid of the now limp body.
Using a sharp bowie knife, they spliced the rope and made sure not to get any of Tom’s blood on their clothes or skin as it may compromise their entire plan. One of the men left and got a large garbage bag with which they were going to put Tom’s body in. “Wait, don’t move his body. It is too damn risky to just be moving around his body in broad daylight”, demanded the leader. They pushed his body back against the pole and wrapped a large length of rope around it. “Don’t throw away the old rope. It has his blood on it”, the leader of the group said as one of the men was about to dump it in a trashbin outside. The men brought some chairs and a table into the room to create a sort of makeshift base while watching over Tom and checking on his condition every few hours.
Tom felt his body being thrown around as he began to regain consciousness again. He slowly opened his eyes and noticed that he was being moved again, but this time under the darkness of the night. The tape around his face prevented him from trying to speak and all that came out of his mouth was a muffled moan. One of the men holding him turned his head and said,” Oh hey, you’re awake now. Here, I’ll give you a rundown of what is going to happen to you. We’re just going to attach some lead weights to your body and throw you into the river.” Terrified, Tom tried wriggling around, like a fish, in an effort to try to escape the tight grasps of the men. This only made it worse for Tom as the men handled him more roughly now. His body was being carried from the building into the van that presumably still held his bike. While the leader of the group looked out for any activity outside the building, the others loaded Tom into the van. Weewooweeewoo From around the corner, came about a half dozen police squad cars. Put your hands up! The demands of the policemen filled the quiet night air. The thugs knew it was over for them. They knew there was nowhere for them to try to flee to. Faces of regrets could be seen on every single one of the men. The policemen got out of their cars and peacefully and swiftly apprehended the men. “How did you find us?”, asked the leader of the group. “The barber on sixth street followed your van to this building on the day that you kidnapped this man in front of his barbershop.”, replied one of the police officers. Tom, who was lying in the van, was carried onto a gurney and transported to the local hospital via an ambulance to recover. After a few weeks in the hospital, he was released from the hospital and got possession of his motorcycle again.
