Cops N' Robbers - The Prologue

[Keyser Soze]

So this was it, the end of the line.

John Keyser's life had been long and hard. He'd emigrated from Glasgow, Scotland to Hype City, USA when he was a young man, and quickly fallen in with the wrong crowds. After a period spent in and out of jail, he got the wits to stay out, becoming something of a master criminal. Robberies were his specialty. Banks, casinos, all kinds of high-profile targets, Keyser had crafted elaborate heists for all of them in his heyday, amassing a fortune. It was money he used to give his wife Deborah and their newborn son, Billy, a good life, the kind of life he'd never had. And for a while, life was good.

Then it all came crashing down.

It had to happen eventually. It was inevitable. The cop that had spent years hunting him down finally caught up with him. He was arrested, all his assets were siezed, and he was sentenced to life in prison. And that's where Keyser's been, these past 20 years. Rotting behind bars. Now he's old and gray, he's got a bum ticker, and best of all, he got the cancer. In the lungs, they say, real aggressive. It'll kill him before long, he's got a year tops. And this is how it's to end for Mr. Glamorous High-Life. His body wasting away in a tiny cell?

Maybe not. He's at the courthouse today, ready to see a parole board. Today, he is to learn if he is to be released on compassionate leave into the care of his family, left all but penniless after the asset seizure. They've taken everything from him and his family. Surely the least they could do is let him die by the side of his loved ones.

But they won't. Keyser knows they're too spiteful too even let him have that one shred of solace. He knows because of the interview room he's sitting in, and because of the man who's just entered, smirking at him like a cat who got the cream. He looks older now. 20 years older. But John Keyser would never forget that face to his dying day.

"Detective Byrd. Nice to see you again."

 

[Byrd Man]

"Actually, it's Lieutenant Byrd now," the heafty man said in a lazy southern drawl as he plopped down on the chair. He continued to smirk at the criminal as he removed a pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket.

"Care for a smoke? Might as well, John. What's the worse that can happen? Last I heard, there ain't no such thing as double cancer."

 

[Keyser Soze]

"Actually, it's Lieutenant Byrd now," the heafty man said in a lazy southern drawl as he plopped down on the chair. He continued to smirk at the criminal as he removed a pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket.

"Care for a smoke? Might as well, John. What's the worse that can happen? Last I heard, there ain't no such thing as double cancer."

Keyser let out a hearty laugh, reaching into the pack and taking a cigarette.

"Hahahahahaha, I should have known these would be the end of me. Smoked like a chimney since I was 14 years old. Guess I never figured I'd live long enough for it to catch up with me. Well... now look at me. The whole 'blaze of glory' plan never quite materialized."

He pressed the cigarette onto the tip of his lips.

"Got a light?"

 

[Byrd Man]

Keyser let out a hearty laugh, reaching into the pack and taking a cigarette.

"Hahahahahaha, I should have known these would be the end of me. Smoked like a chimney since I was 14 years old. Guess I never figured I'd live long enough for it to catch up with me. Well... now look at me. The whole 'blaze of glory' plan never quite materialized."

He pressed the cigarette onto the tip of his lips.

"Got a light?"

Byrd nods and removes a lighter, he clicks it on and lets Keyser light his cigarette tip.

Byrd sized the dying criminal up with content. The two of them had been in the game a long time. Byrd was responsible for the Keyser's inprisonment. He had won the war, but lost many battles along the way....Detective Larry Pembrook had been one of those lost battles.

"You do know that I'm going to fight to have you kept in prison, right? I talked to the chief himself. From now until you go back to the pokey, I'm your ****ing shadow."

He inhales deeply and then slowly blows his cigarette smoke into Keyser's face.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Subduing a cough, Keyser smiled at Byrd.

"That's nice of you to hold my hand, Lieutenant, but I've got a good feeling about today. I'm thinking I walk. Then maybe next time we meet it'll be as free men. We can have coffee or something, that'd be nice."

Keyser took a deep inhalation of his cigarette, letting the poison fill his decaying lungs, savouring its seductive flavour.

"Aaaaaaaaaah. Sorry to hear about your wife, by the way."

 

[Byrd Man]

The detective looked on at the criminal as he continued to smoke.

Jean's murder was still an open case. Going on two years since that night she left their house to meet a friend and never returned.

She was found three days after going missing. Raped, beaten, shot and stabbed. A crime of passion, or so it appeared.

Byrd finished off his smoke and stubbed it on the table.

"It's time to go. On your feet, John."

 

[Keyser Soze]

Smiling to himself, Keyser complied, letting Byrd lead him out of the interview room. They walked in silence, surrounded by armed guards, down through the front foyer of the courthouse on the way to the main courtroom.

Then all hell broke loose.

All around them, explosions rocked the building. C4, wired in advance. It was chaos, with both Byrd and Keyser knocked to the ground while the guards scrambled around, trying to make sense of what just happened. Before they could regain their bearings, however, an armoured truck burst through the structurally-weakened front wall of the building, screeching to a halt right in front of Keyser.

 

[Blacklight]

There's a saying... "Like father, like son..."

Well, this saying couldn't be any more true for Billy Keyser. Moreso now than any point in his life prior to this moment.

Billy always saw his father as his hero. This man who could do anything... Like he was Superman. But that was until Billy turned 7, and he found out who his father really was...

A Criminal. And one of the best at that.

This changed Billy's life forever. At first, he didn't want to be like his father. He didn't want to be locked up for the rest of his days, ridden with cancer, never able to see the sunlight.

But all that changed with his first shoplifting...

His first B&E...

His first Convenience store robbery...

...And now?

Now, he wanted to go big. Just like dear old dad.

Smiling to himself, Keyser complied, letting Byrd lead him out of the interview room. They walked in silence, surrounded by armed guards, down through the front foyer of the courthouse on the way to the main courtroom.

Then all hell broke loose.

All around them, explosions rocked the building. C4, wired in advance. It was chaos, with both Byrd and Keyser knocked to the ground while the guards scrambled around, trying to make sense of what just happened. Before they could regain their bearings, however, an armoured truck burst through the structurally-weakened front wall of the building, screeching to a halt right in front of Keyser.

Billy could hear the explosions from the courtroom. That was the signal.

He pressed his foot on the gas while the armored truck was in reverse, the back of it crashing through the courthouse room wall.

"GET IN!" he shouted to his father, a smirk on his face as he did.

Like father, like son.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Keyser had mixed emotions. He was proud of his son for becoming a man, and for helping him. But he was also ashamed that he had led his son down this dark path. But he didn't have time for inner conflict right now. Acting fast, he jumped into the back of the van, slamming the doors shut behind him.

"Drive!"

And Billy did just that, taking them away from the courthouse at breakneck speed. John leaned forward, patting his son on the shoulder.

"Good boy."

And just like that, after all these years, John Keyser was a free man once more.

 

[Byrd Man]

Chaos.

That's what ensued in just a half minutes time.

Baliffs and reporters screaming, panic from the explosions and crash.

While everyone in the room had lost their heads, Byrd had kept his.

The blasts had knocked him off his feet and sent him sprawling to the ground. He picked himself up just in time to get a good look at John Keyser speeding off in the back of an armored car.

"You," the growled as he grabbed a baliff by the collar. "You call the cops and report a Signal 23 at the courthouse. Do it now."

The baliff nodded and ran off.

Collecting himself, Byrd walked to the hole in the wall and stared out at the armored car that was now fading fast in the distance.

He pulled another cigarette and lit it carefully.

"John Keyser," he said just before he inhaled deeply and shot out a smoke ring.

"You're mine."

Whatever Keyser had planned he was going to stop it. After decades of struggle, their war would end.


To Be Continued.....