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55555's: NOTE: Older story, reposted because I did a quick drawing based on it. http://www.majhost.com/gallery/kanoka94/Speedpainting/speedpaint0012.png

So many hours, so many days, so many months had led up to this moment, and yet all was not yet set in stone. it has never ceased to amaze me that despite years of preparation, all can be undone in mere moments. The weather, a disease, a misheard digit, or a careless gesture can bring down years of labor and planning.

The night was nearly silent in this part of the city, flickering streetlights lit and my headlights revealed what would naturally have been concealed. Few lights shown in the dirty windows. A light snow was falling.

I swung my SUV carefully to a stop parallel to the curb. This was the time, the place, the plan.

I looked at the Merchandise stowed in the back seat of the car. I smiled. All would go well, what was I worrying about?

The shots shattered everything. The first one or two must have bounced of the windshield, but there were many more than two. The car, the plan, my body were totaled from the merciless barrage.

Somehow I retained consciousness, I could still see out of one eye. I knew what I had to do, the Merchandise could not be lost with no reward. In my ankle holster...

The car doors had unlocked automatically when I came to a stop. A figure loomed through the shattered, bloodied windshield, silhouetted against the yellow streetlights.

I sat up slightly, I knew I had not long to live, whether this figure furthered that cause or not. I clutched the automatic in my hand, thanking Glock mentally for the brilliance of the trigger safety. The door opened, the masked figure pulled me out onto the sidewalk, he put a foot on my chest and levelled his firearm at me.

Then he pulled off his balaclava, it was my boss.

"You broke the plan", I said.

"This was the plan."

I shot him in the face.