Profit Margin

Ron sat impatiently behind the wheel with the car’s engine running. A glance at his watch told him that things were not going well; it was taking too long. The window of the jewelry store exploded out onto the sidewalk confirming there were problems inside.

Not a good thing...nope….not a good thing at all.

Two heavily armed men burst out of the door, firing blindly over their shoulders. They jumped into the back of the getaway car.

‘Only two men…hmmmm,’ Ron did some quick math and determined that two of the gang remained behind. There was no time to wait. Ron pulled away in a rush. The cops were on them almost instantly. No big surprise, explosions got attention.

Speeding through the inner city, Ron found himself thinking of the video game Grand Theft Auto. He smiled at the thought. If only he could use a game controller to summon a helicopter, they would all make a clean escape.

The irony was that Ron didn’t want a clean getaway. If everyone escaped, they would split the take. Ron intended to keep it all for himself. That had been his plan all along. The perfect crime called for the perfect getaway and maximum profitability.

There were cops everywhere now. As he headed onto the bridge, he noted that they appeared to have the far end blocked. That was okay. He had no intention of making it that far. In the back seat, his partners began to yell at him to turn around.

‘Not today guys,’ he thought with a smile.

He reached over and patted the scuba tank on the seat next to him before swerving sharply to the left, through the bridge railing and over the side. The car sank into the river below.

Ron’s body was never recovered.

Word count 299