VIII

July 7, 2016

2026 Hours

Rogers crashed on top of his van, and then landed on the ground hard, possibly breaking one of his bones somewhere. He quickly got into the car, and Ellen gunned down the alley.

“Where’s the child!” She screeched at her husband. Rogers shushed her, and lightly put pressure on his right arm. He winced, but it didn’t hurt like hell. “Did you just shush me?”

“Yes woman, I did!” He yelled back, and Ellen got offended.

“Did you just yell at me?” She asked calmly. Rogers didn’t pay any attention, as what just happened came into full effect.

“Stop the car.” He said. Ellen looked at him weird, and he turned to his wife to yell, “STOP THE CAR WOMAN!” The brakes squealed and screeched as it stopped right before the entrance to the street. Rogers got out of the car, and started running towards the apartment.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Ellen yelled after him. Rogers chose to ignore her and kept running.

Two minutes passed before Rogers returned to the scene. He hid behind a dumpster as a police car came cruising into the alley with its siren on and its lights flashing. Rogers looked from the car, to the fire escape where he saw a crouched figure holding something with long blond hair. Rogers knew of course who it was, and he didn’t know why he felt compelled to come back. Considering the fact the cops were on the scene now. He could’ve been caught any second, but he chose to stay.

The dumpster Rogers was hiding behind was close to the base of the fire escape, and Dan saw something in the lights of the cop’s car. Something dripping from the escape. Rogers inched closer to the edge of the dumpster, and noticed a small puddle of blood right underneath the girl and the detective. Rogers then heard sobbing, and looked up. Dan was rocking his daughter back and forth on his heels, and Rogers felt his heart break.

“What have I done?” Rogers whispered to himself. “I… I killed the child… I killed a child.” The cop car notified Dan that police were on their way up to the apartment, and it backed out of the alley.

Rogers made his way back to the van in the wet rain, and climbed into the passenger seat.

“Now you don’t care for decent leather seats?” Ellen said scornfully. She then realized something was wrong from Dan’s look. “Honey, what’s wrong?”

“I killed her.” Rogers said, emotionless from shock. Ellen covered her mouth in surprise, not expecting this at all. “He surprised me on the way down, and I just… slipped. I lost my grip on her, and she fell too. I then did what I do best, and I ran. I jumped on top the car, and here we are.” Ellen didn’t know what to say. They both agreed that they would never kill on purpose, because they knew that taking a human life is just more wrong than anything.

“Baby, I’m so sor-”

“Just drive, I have to call Hank,” Rogers said. He pulled out his phone, and dialed Hank’s number. Ellen pulled out onto the street, and made her way to their apartment.

“Yo! What is up my man?!” Hank yelled into the phone. The sound of a party was going on behind him, and he was having the time of his life.

Rogers didn’t flinch, and didn’t hesitate when he said, “You son of a b***h, you told me that the detective was out on a case.”

“He is! Or was, I swear! My friend at the police station told me he was, I swear dude. Hell, I’m even at a party across the street. Why, what happened? Why are you so hostile?” Hank asked.

“Because he came home earlier than expected, and, long story short Hank, I KILLED A CHILD!” Rogers yelled into his phone.

“What? How?” Hank asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it, but I’m not going to work with you ever again. You hear me Hank?” Rogers said. He could hear Hank on the other side slamming a door, then, file through some paper.

“Wait man, just wait! Look, I have this new boss, and she’s pretty boss. If you know what I mean.”

“No. No, I don’t know ‘what you mean’. What do you mean?”

“She’s rich. Holy s**t dude is she rich. She’s going to pay me to go undercover with her other clients in some prison out in like, the middle of nowhere.”

“What’s her name?” Rogers asked. Ellen looked at him, and he shook his head as to say “Not like that”.

“You know the business we’re in Rogers, she didn’t give us her name; however, she did give us a name to call her. She goes by Sanine.”

“What the hell of a name is Sanine?” Rogers asked. He could practically hear Hank shrug, and he rolled his eyes. “Okay, what’s in it for me and my wife, huh?”

“I suggested you to her, and she likes your background. She has plans for you, and your wife. Don’t worry.” Hank assured. Rogers smiled like an idiot, and almost forgot the murder he committed. Almost.

“What kind of plans does she have in mind?” Rogers asked.

“How does big heist bank robbing sound to you?” Hank said. Rogers smiled and turned to his wife.

“Sounds great to me.” Rogers stated.

“Great! And bro, that’s just the beginning. If you do well for the next few jobs, you just might be in her little circle of trustees!” Hank then hung up the phone, and Rogers threw his phone in the back.

“That conversation went from anger to happiness, what did Hank say?” Ellen asked, curious about the sudden mood swing.

“We’re working for someone named Sanine now. She’s rich and powerful and has plans for us. ‘Robbing huge banks’ kind of plans,” Rogers said with a smile. His wife smiled mischievously, already imagining the kind of items to buy with that much money.

“That’s great!” She exclaimed. Rogers thought so too, then reality came crashing down on him. The overwhelming guilt of what he has done slowly sank into his conscious. There was a sudden pressure on his chest that hurt, and a migraine that appeared in his head that seemed to increase in pain ever other second. He feels like the only way he can get rid of this guilt was to go to this little girl’s funeral.

“We have to go to her funeral,” he said. Ellen held her tongue for the moment. She didn’t think it was a good idea, but she felt like this was the only way for her husband to feel better about any of this.

“Okay, we will.” She said after thinking about it. Ellen was already thinking of what to wear. She saw a really nice black dress in some bouquet store, and thought it would look nice on her when they were running from the cops. It’s a shame it looks so expensive; Ellen only stole clothing if she had too.

“I…” Rogers started, but stopped when he couldn’t figure out what to say. He then started crying over the death of this little girl. Ellen had only seen her husband cry twice in her life. Their wedding day, and now in the car. Naturally, she isn’t accustomed to her husband being a whiny baby.

He’s really on and off about this whole ordeal. She thought as she looked at him cry.

Don’t worry honey, I got some tampons for you. She joked in her head, smiling in real life.

She then thought about all the money they’re going to make. Sanine, whoever she is, wasn’t going to be disappointed one bit.