Chapter 186
The men stared at the transfer notification on their phones, their eyes gleaming greedily as they counted the digits. One, two, three, four-exactly four zeros.
They had ten thousand dollars in hand already? Ten grand was more than enough to fund a wild spending spree.
These days, even college-educated office workers barely pulled in a few grand a month, while construction workers broke their backs for a fraction of that.
When it came down to it, the underground hustle was where the real money was at.
With cold, hard cash in their pockets, the thugs were riding a sudden wave of adrenaline.
“Nobody scores a gig like Rex p>
They were getting paid before even lifting a finger.
With this kind of money, the crew completely forgot about their fear of ending up behind bars.
“What did you say earlier? Every bike we wreck gets us an extra two thousand?” “And once the job’s done, there’s another ten grand for each of us p>
“Exactly. Even if we get busted, we just do a few days in the slammer. The money stays in our accounts. If we have to pay a thousand in damages per bike, we still pocket a thousand in pure profit p>
“Right, right. If we don’t get caught, we make a fortune. If we do, we still come out ahead-we just endure a few days of hell p>
Having reached a unanimous agreement, they sprang into action.
They started hunting for the bikes, paid the deposits, unlocked them, and rode them to a desolate spot. Then, they headed back out to find more, hoarding a massive stockpile before making their move.
Every extra bike they smashed meant another two thousand dollars. Where else could they find a gig this lucrative?
Just as they were bringing in the third batch, they spotted a middle-aged man unlocking one of their hoarded bikes, getting ready to ride off.
“Drop it p>
Damn it, they had busted their asses hauling that thing over here, and this guy thought he could just take it?
“Why should I? It’s a bike-share program. Anyone who pays the deposit can ride it p>
“We rode this one over. You don’t get to touch it p>
“Why? Why are you guys stockpiling so many bikes and keeping them from the public p>
“Get out of here and mind your own business. We aren’t looking to throw hands right
now.
But I’m warning you don’t push your luck p>
“Alright, fine. I’m leaving p>
The middle-aged man wasn’t stupid. It suddenly dawned on him what was happening.
These guys looked and sounded like total thugs. Hoarding all these bikes in the middle of nowhere? They were definitely up to no good.
“Smart move p>
But the man didn’t actually go far. He ducked into a blind spot just out of their line of sight.
He didn’t have anywhere urgent to be he had just been planning to bike to the park -so he decided to hunker down in the shadows and watch.
When Green Bikes launched their promotional campaign, they made a massive public promise:
Any citizen who reported the intentional destruction of their bikes would receive a two-hundred-dollar reward per verified incident.
If these guys were stockpiling all these bikes for the reason he suspected, he was looking at a serious payday.
It was late afternoon, and the sky was slowly fading into dusk.
“Alright, that’s enough. Don’t bite off more than we can chew. This is plenty for us to cash out p>
Each of them had made six round trips. One of the thugs did a quick headcount— exactly thirty bikes.
At two grand a pop, ten bikes meant twenty thousand. Thirty bikes added up to sixty grand, netting them twelve thousand each.
Toss in the final payment and the ten grand they had already received, and they were looking at over thirty thousand dollars per mant Most
ordinary people didn’t make at in*
half a year!
elet
When the thugs pulled heavy hammers from the duffel bags they had stashed in the dark, the middle-aged man knew for a fact they were about to commit a crime
He whipped out his phone and dialed Green Bikes’ customer service hotline.
The truth was, the moment the first hammer dropped, the maintenance department’s system flagged the damage. They were just one step behind the bystander.
When the company called the cops, they found out someone else had already reported it. Using the GPS trackers inside the bikes, the operations team raced toward the Scene.
“Freeze! Put your hands in the air p>