Passenger 14A

Part Three of Three

Bloomington, Minnesota
November 24th, 2006 - Black Friday

The Mall of America’s parking lot was packed end-to-end. Peak shopping hours, just after 11 am. Ray secured a spot on the southern end of the mall, a stone’s throw from the Macy’s entrance, for his Mercury. He munched on a bear claw and swigged his cold, black coffee, then peered out at the doors with his binoculars.

Johnny couldn’t shut up. “There were 37 armored car robberies in 2005,” he said. “Out of those, 28 were solved within a week, 4 were solved within a month, and 2 got away.”

“Yeah, stuck-up guys are idiots,” Ray said. “That’s what we’re fixing not to be.”

“The average score, $480,000,” Johnny continued. “The biggest, $3.4 million, from one crew that got away. Two murders on that lick, though, both guards shot dead.”

Ray wiped his fingers, sticky with glazed sugar, on his sleeve. “Happens like that on some scores, J-Bird,” he said. “Collateral damage.”