Panic Attack

He was ready to back out. He was going to say to Carlos, Sorry, man, I don’t like it, and go back to Brooklyn, but he knew he’d be letting Carlos, his brother, down, and was there really a reason to? Maybe he was just overthinking it, making it more complicated than it really was. Maybe it was like Carlos said, an easy twenty- five K. He’d go along with it, see how it went. If it didn’t feel right at the house, he could bail then.

They went past Austin Street under the Long Island Rail Road tracks and through the big gates into Forest Hills Gardens. Joh

As they walked, they didn’t talk at all. This had been Joh

Joh

At the end of the driveway, it was dark, just like Carlos had said it would be. They opened their backpacks and put on their ski masks and gloves and took out their flashlights. Then they went around to the back door. Carlos turned on his flashlight and opened the back door with the keys. So far so good, but now they had to disarm the alarm. Carlos went right to the keypad and punched in the numbers, but the red light was still blinking. Fuck, in maybe a minute or less the alarm would start blaring, and they’d have to run as fast as they could back to the car and get the hell out of Forest Hills.

“Come on,” Joh

“Wait,” Carlos said, and he started punching the numbers in again.

Jesus, Joh

The red light turned green.

Carlos smiled widely, and Joh

But they were in the house, that was the important thing. Now they had to get what they needed and get the hell out.

Shining their flashlights ahead of them, they went through the kitchen- it was huge, with brand new- looking stainless steel appliances- and into some kind of big pantry. Then they went into the living room- man, these people were loaded; they had a plasma TV on the wall, looked like a sixty- incher-and entered the dining room, where Carlos started coughing. He bent over for a few seconds, like he was trying to prevent a full- blown coughing fit. Then he straightened up and said in a loud whisper that was almost like his normal speaking voice, “Gotta stop smoking, man.”

“Shhhh,” Joh

Carlos smiled, and Joh

Carlos’s attitude was starting to piss Joh

They continued to the foyer, to the staircase. The plan was Carlos would go up and get the jewelry and whatever cash there was, and Joh

Or did they?

Carlos started upstairs. The stairs were creaking, more than Joh

Joh

Carlos wasn’t packing. Joh

Joh

The only light in the room was coming from the streetlights outside and maybe some dim light from a night- light or something upstairs. Now Joh

Then Carlos started heading up again.

Joh

Then Joh

Carlos said, “Please don’t shoot me,” and then the shots came. Two first, then a bunch all at once. Jesus, the shooter was opening up on Carlos, the fuck was going on? Joh

The whole thing had happened so fast, maybe like three seconds total, that Joh

He took a couple of steps toward the door then heard, “Get the hell outta here or I’ll shoot!”

It sounded like some rich, middle- aged white guy trying to be tough. Joh