literature

It's Nice Work If You Can Get It - Ch 8

Deviation Actions

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Literature Text

Ms. Bridgewater was reviewing Suzi's action plan with Butch Frieda. They were both alone in the prison visiting room, which was a privilege afforded to Ms. Bridgewater but not to any of the other inmates of Her Majesty's Women’s Prison Sharpswood.

"Does she really needs all this equipment?" Ms. Bridgewater peered over the extensive list.

"Uh… she says she does" Frieda grunted. Ms. Bridgewater raised an eyebrow but also gave the curtest of nods.

……………………………………………………………………..

Leaning on her single crutch and with one arm through the sleeve of a tan-coloured jacket which was draped over her other shoulder and casted arm, Suzi was watching one of her three young drivers in a practice session. For her part of her plan to succeed, she needed her drivers to be able to drive at speed up a ramp and then stop within a very short distance at the top of it. A wooden practice ramp had been constructed leading up to a platform with a wall of old oil drums at the end of it. She watched the first of her Mini Cooper cars – graciously provided by Ms. Bridgewater – as it hurtled towards the ramp, driven by Chrissi.

The car misjudged the angle and two wheels went up the side of the ramp while two remained on the ground. This tipped the car over and it rolled several time before coming to a stop.

"No! You're meant to use your brakes, Chrissi!" Suzi yelled in annoyance.

"soz suzi" said Chrissi, struggling to push the battered driver's door open and holding her right wrist. "um…i fink i broke ma wrist…" she said.

Suzi sighed heavily. "Get the ambulance to take her to hospital. And tell her to speak properly!" she said to Beth Bailey.

"Um… it already left to take Toni there; she hurt her knee in that other crash" Beth said, referring to a previous mishap earlier that afternoon.

"Then get it to come back again!" Suzi snapped. Sighing once more, she asked: "How many cars have we got left?"

"A couple" Beth said with a shrug.

"OK, send the next one. Let's hope she gets it right."

Beth waived her arm and another Mini Cooper began to rocket down the stretch of road. This time, the car mounted the ramp perfectly but utterly failed to stop on the platform and crashed through the wall of oil drums and finished up by smashing into the other battered Mini from the previous attempt. The driver, Donna, kicked the door open and staggered out holding two hands to a broken nose.

Suzi looked away and buried her face in the crook of her casted arm in disgust and annoyance.

…………………………………………………..

"What do you mean they're written off?" Ms. Bridgewater exploded. She was sitting in the prison visiting room conducting another meeting with Butch Frieda, and holding a handful of accident reports and insurance claim forms relating to three Mini Coopers.

"Accidents" Frieda shrugged. Seeing the look on Ms. Bridgewater's face she hastily added "Won't be any more, I promise!"

……………………………………………………

Gaining access to the bullion transporter was going to involve forcing the doors open somehow, and for this Suzi planned to use explosives. A mock up of the security vehicle had been built utilising an old van, and her team had calculated the precise quantity of explosives required to blow the doors open but no more. Now they were testing the theory, and an eager Alice was crouched over a detonator box while Suzi watched from behind.

"Five, four, three" Suzi counted down. "Two… one… Go!"

Alice leapt on the plunger with glee. There was a PHUT sound, and the van wobbled and grey smoke puffed out of the windows, but nothing more.

Suzi clipped Alice around the head with her casted arm. "You're supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" she yelled, before limping away to come up with a new plan.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

"You all understand what you've got to do?" Suzi asked the crowd that were gathered around a street map spread over a table. "OK? Now, Beth" she prompted.

"Er... Oh, yeah" said Beth. "The ambulances will move in here and here. They'll block off the main roads in."

"Right" Suzi approved. "Ruby?" she picked on another member of her team at random.

"Erm... Alice and Luna park the three fast cars here in case we have to make a quick getaway" Ruby recitied.

"Correct" Suzi said. "Now; imagine it's 12:10. The bullion van will be entering the square and will be forced slowly towards the centre… Now, the bullion wagon is here…" Suzi pointed at the street plan. "Right? Toni?

"we get in2 da minis n start em up" Toni said. Suzi concentrated hard to understand what she said. She looked over her three drivers. All of them still had too much fake tan and make up, but Toni now had a cylinder leg cast on her right leg; Chrissi had a short arm cast on her right wrist and Donna's nose was taped and splinted.

"And you can assure me that your injuries won't make any difference to your ability to drive?" she asked them. She was concerned that the young girls were treating their casts and bandages as badges of honour and might jeopardise the operation by not being able to perform at their best.

"yh no probs"

"yh corse"

"yh i driven wiv pot on b4 loads times, its fine"

All the girls answered together in a chorus. Suzi looked over at Beth Bailey with a raised eyebrow and a shake of her head.

“Alright” she agreed “But learn to speak properly!” So, where were we? Ah yes. Frances?" she prompted again.

"We drive the Land Rover into the central plaza..."

"Square, Frances; square. Call it a square, 'cos that's what shape it is!" Suzi interrupted.

"Sorry, Suzi. Square" Frances corrected herself. "So… the Land Rover is in the square. And we come in right behind target. Bang. That's it."

"Good!" said Suzi, sounding pleased. "We've already discussed the escape plan. Butch Frieda has already been to the city and filmed all our routes in and out, and she's given the DVD to Ms. Bridgewater so she can see everything and give us the final go-ahead. Now, any questions?"

"Yeah…" said Alice. "Er… can we go over it all again?"

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Ms. Bridgewater was at that moment watching the very DVD that Suzi had referred to in the privacy of the cinema room at the HMP Sharpswood. She was accompanied by Kiri but otherwise along. Ms. Bridgewater was making notes as Butch Frieda's gruff voice narrated the video footage.

"Stop!" Ms. Bridgewater suddenly said. Kiri obligingly paused the DVD. Her main function in the room was to stop and start the film so Ms. Bridgewater didn't have put herself to any trouble by using the remote control.

Ms. Bridgewater stood up and crossed over to the large screen, peering intently at a figure who had become visible in the film. While it might not have been obvious at the time of filming, it was clear that this person had been listening very carefully to the commentary given by Frieda as the film was taken.

"Kiri, I think we'd better arrange... a hospital visit" Ms. Bridgewater said crisply.

"Yes, Ms. Bridgewater… What do you mean exactly…?" Kiri said slowly.

Half an hour later, Kiri fell down four flights of stairs.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Suzi, and the whole of her team were at the visitors' reception of the hospital closest to HMP Sharpswood.

"We're 'ere to see our… er… dear friend Kiri" Beth told the receptionist,

"Oh, the poor young lady in the body cast? My word, she does have a lot of friends! Sign yourselves in and then go to the room at the end of the corridor on the right" the receptionist said, passing the visiting book over.

In the room, sitting around the bed which contained the fully-casted body of Ms. Bridgewater's assistant Kiri, were Ms. Bridgewater herself and Butch Frieda, who was holding a bunch of mangled flowers in one of her large fists.

"All ready to go, Straker?" said Ms. Bridgewater, not bothering with pleasantries as everyone crowed in.

"Yes, Ms. Bridgewater"

"The plans have been worked out to the last detail?"

"Yes, Ms. Bridgewater"

"Everything taken care of?"

"Yes, Ms. Bridgewater"

"You've overlooked one thing" Ms. Bridgewater said. "Have you ever heard of Alexis Bleu?"

Suzi raised an eyebrow. "Homicidal maniac and part-time barista? Yes I've heard of her."

"That city is notorious for its gangs and she's the leader of the very worse of them. She or someone that's working for her has been identified in almost every shot of Butch Frieda's film. It must have been Alexis who arranged for Robyn Beckett's crash in that tunnel in the mountains. If they were on to Robyn Beckett, they're on to us. They'll be waiting for you" Ms. Bridgewater warned.

"You're not thinking of calling it off?" Suzi asked.

"As long as you know what you're taking on" was the reply.

"Yes. Alexis Bleu…"

"Yes! Alexis Bleu! You are about to take a half a ton of gold, in broad daylight, from under her nose.
She won't like that. That's why her gang did for Robyn Beckett."

"A question of prestige, is it?" Suzi asked.

"Yes, it's a question of prestige." Ms. Bridgewater acknowledged. "If you go through with this, you've got to win. If you muck it up, don't ever think of coming back!"

Suzi nodded without saying anything.

"Who's that lot?" Ms. Bridgewater asked, gesturing at Suzi's drivers with their assortment of casts and bandages.

"The drivers…" Suzi said quietly.

"That lot smashed up my cars!" Ms. Bridgewater snorted.

"Practice makes perfect, Ms. Bridgewater" answered Suzi.

"You pick 'em, don't you?!" said Ms. Bridgewater with a roll of her eyes. "Just don't mess this one up! If you do… they'll be a few more people joining Kiri in a full body cast!"
It's been a while since we've heard from Suzi and friends, so let's recap:

Susan Wingfield-Straker is the younger sister of my OC Ros, who appears in my other stories.  Susan, known as "Suzi Straker", is, quite frankly, not a good girl at all.  She has inherited a plan to steal $40m of gold from a convoy as it passes through a city and is being financed by Ms. Bridgewater, an incarcerated crime-boss who is still running her criminal empire from inside a prison.  Suzi, still suffering from a broken arm and leg, has enlisted a team to help her, which includes, among others; Beth Bailey, Suzi's second in command; Luna, Suzi's hippy-ish lover; Prof. Lily, an eccentric orthopaedic doctor with a severe foot fetish; and Chrissi, Toni and Donna, three reckless getaway drivers.

The preparations for the heist continue!
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battletoadz's avatar
So this ties in with DaneBainbridge characters as well? All one crazy universe.