Tarnished Gold

“We’re running out of time”, said Jack to Sam. Jack was aware that the ticking time bomb had to be deactivated in less than 5 minutes. The consequences would be that it would blow up and destroy a trailer that contains 2 million dollars of gold bars.

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Sam and Jack had been plotting this heist scheme for over a week. It’s amazing how they got their hands on such a valuable lot of goods. The partner, who became aware of this lucrative haul of goods, was Sam. He is employed as a security guard at a rich oil executive’s driveway gatehouse. It is his daily routine to read the docket of goods that are to be parked in the executive’s driveway.

Just over a week ago, he saw a trailer pulling into the driveway. Sam was puzzled. A 53-foot trailer rarely, if ever, gets parked in the driveway. He was curious as to what the contents of the trailer were. The next thing he did was scrutinizing the docket sheet. Sam’s eyes almost popped out of his head when he read the sheet. It indicated that the trailer would be parked in the driveway for a week.

Then, he read about the contents. There it was, written in black and white: Ten skids of gold bars with a value of 2 million dollars. Sam gasped! He had never had a vehicle with this value of goods parked in this driveway ever. This information was supposed to be kept confidential. But Sam had to let this secret out albeit to only one person: his best friend Jack.

Sam takes out his cell phone. He hears the phone ringing and Jack picks it up.

Sam says: “Jack, listen, how would you like to earn a million dollars the easy way?”

Jack is puzzled. He replies: “There is no such thing as easy money. What do you mean?”

Sam retorts: “This rich bully I work for has 2 million dollars of gold bars sitting in his driveway! How would you like to get your hands on them?”

Jack replies: “You bet your bottom dollar I’d like to get my hands on them!”

Sam replies: “Great! Let’s get together at your house, after my shift ends at 4:00 p.m., and we will plot a strategy to steal this trailer.”

Jack concludes by saying, “Fantastic! I’ll see you at my house at 5:00 p.m.”

At 4:00 p.m., Sam finishes his shift. He gets out of his uniform, into his street clothes, and drives to Jack’s house.

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At Jack’s house, they both get together to plot the strategy to steal the trailer off the property of the oil executive.

“I’ll open the gate with the secret code that is needed to open it. Jack, you will run into the cab of the trailer and turn on the engine with the keys I give you. Then, I will jump into the passenger side of the cab, and you will drive through the gate, and we’ll make a run for it”, explains Sam to Jack.

Jack asks: “At what time will we carry all of this out?”

Sam replies: “At 3:00 tomorrow morning.”

Jack concludes by saying: “perfect! Let’s do it!”

There is one fact they overlooked because it was unbeknownst to them. A ticking time bomb had been attached to the bottom of the trailer. It was attached there to deter criminals from stealing the trailer and selling it’s contents. The owners of the gold bars would capture any potential criminals by tracking them down with the additional tracking device attached, out of sight, to the dashboard of the trailer. The potential detonating of the bomb would stop criminals in their tracks because they wouldn’t want to be in the trailer when it blows up.

Sam reports back to work at midnight. He arranged to switch shifts with his co-worker in order to carry out the crime. It is now 3:00 a.m. Sam opens the side gate to let his friend, Jack, get on to the property to steal the trailer.

Sam opens the gate with the secret security code that only insiders working at the gatehouse know. Jack drives the trailer through the gate entrance. Sam immediately leaves his post and jumps into the passenger side of the trailer. The gate is drawing to a close 2 minutes after it had opened. They drive along the road heading to the destination 10 miles away.

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When they arrive at the 5-mile point, a text message appears on Sam’s phone. It is sent by the oil executives office. They know he is the one who stole the trailer because he is not at the driveway gatehouse. 

Sam says: “Jack, I got a disturbing text message.”

Jack replies: “What does it say?”

Sam retorts: “It says that there is a ticking time bomb under the trailer, and that it has been detonated to explode in 6 minutes!”

“Let’s get out of the trailer, and take a look at it,” replies Jack.

He pulls over to the side of the road. They both get out of the trailer and kneel on the pavement. They look underneath it, and, low and behold, they see the ticking time bomb.

“We are running out of time. Let’s move fast,” says Sam to Jack. 

They only have 5 minutes to deactivate it. Sam on his security belt, clippers to cut the wires. There are only 4 wires to cut, each taking 1 minute.

He gets underneath the bomb, and cuts the first 3 wires in 3 minutes. There is now 2 minutes left before the bomb detonates and explodes unless the last wire is cut before then. Sam successfully cuts the fourth wire in one minute. Presto! The bomb is now deactivated.

“Hey Jack, the last wire has been cut. The clock isn’t ticking anymore. The bomb won’t explode. We’re home free!”

Sam and Jack get back into the trailer cabin elated before driving off.

“We are going to get away with stealing 2 million dollars in gold bars. We will be laughing all the way to the bank when we sell them and collect the cash,” Sam gleefully says.

Jack replies by saying: “I am going to retire to an island in the South Pacific!” Both are laughing heartily.

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When they arrive at their destination, they park the trailer. It is pitch dark. Suddenly, 2 gigantic lights shine in their face. 

A voice blares out: “Get out of the trailer, slowly. Put your hands over your heads and stand in front of us.”

Both are startled but they do as they are asked to do. Then, Sam notices something. Jack puts down his hands and walks to where the other officers are. The other officers show their badges and reveal themselves as F.B.I. officers. To Sam’s amazement, Jack reveals that he is an F.B.I. agent himself.

Sam gasps and says angrily to Jack: “You’re an F.B.I. agent! Why didn’t you ever tell me you were one? Why did you set me up for this?”

Sam replies: “Because that’s my job. You forced me to do this because my pride as an honest human being and my duty as an F.B.I. agent obligated me to do this.”

Sam is handcuffed and placed in the F.B.I. vehicle to be brought to jail after his rights are read to him.

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In court, Sam is sentenced to jail for life with no chance of parole for 25 years. Although he didn’t make money by selling the gold bars, Jack is rewarded in another way. He is rewarded by being honoured with the F.B.I.’s agent of the month award.