Previously, Zack and Sydney plunged deeper into their plan by traveling to Three Hills and conducting an “audit” on another branch’s foreign currency storage system…
They drove to a little park in Three Hills and sat in back of the Corolla counting money. Zack flipped through colourful bills while Sydney used some of the data from their burner phone to calculate what each currency was worth in Canadian. Zack picked up a few rolls of coins that were at the bottom of the SecurBag.
Zack counted as he dropped coins onto his lap. “That’s…eight hundred and fifty Panamanian…” Zack squinted at the word on the coin he held. “Balboas?”
“Which is…about twelve hundred bucks. Bringing our total to…” Sydney’s mouth moved silently as she tallied the total. “Just over four thousand Canadian.”
“A little less than your first guess, eh?”
“Fuck off! I was excited.”
Zack smiled and gave Sydney a playful push. She smiled and brushed a lock of hair out of her face.
Sydney sighed. “I can’t believe that we did that.”
Zack laughed. “It’s pretty crazy.”
Sydney smiled again and the little dimple in her cheek caught Zack’s eye.
“What?” she said.
Zack couldn’t take his gaze away. “I…” he trailed off.
Sydney’s big brown eyes bore into his, and he studied her golden flecked chocolate irises. Sydney giggled and Zack stared at her pink lips. It was the way that she licked them that Zack found so tantalizing.
She was so beautiful. And she didn’t seem to know it.
Sydney started to pick up and put away the money, and Zack’s hand reached out and touched her cheek. She dropped the money and turned to him.
Sydney’s mouth opened and she tried to say something, but her words caught.
Zack’s lips locked onto Sydney’s and his hand reached around to caress the back of her neck. Sydney melted into him.
Zack wasn’t sure how long the kiss lasted, only that he was momentarily transported away to a heaven where he wasn’t a loser who had fucked everything up by robbing a bank.
“Whoa,” Sydney said when the kiss ended.
Zack blushed. “Sorry, I—”
“I’m not sorry,” Sydney said. She leaned over and kissed him again.
Zack and Sydney got burgers and milkshakes from the A&W, and then sat on a park bench at the town’s quaint park. The people ignored them and the breeze was still cool, but Zack still felt the heat of the electric kiss humming through his body.
“So. Now what?” Sydney asked, slurping at the last bits of her milkshake.
Zack chewed on his burger and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I mean, we have to do that again, right? We can send some money to your dad and then have enough to keep going. There are tons of small towns with TNCB branches all across the prairies.”
“But go where, Zack? What is your end game? Or have you even thought that far?” Sydney asked.
Zack took another bite of his burger and stared across the park. The town had a bunch of nice homes that lined the park, and then it just…ended. The homes made a stark line and then beyond was just miles and miles of empty nothing. It made him miss the mountains. He just felt exposed with all of the open space.
What would they do? If they could rob enough banks across the country, they could amass a serious amount of money that they could retire on. But they’d have to leave the country. Maybe go somewhere where they wouldn’t be extradited back to Canada if the police ever got wind of where they were. Maybe some tropical country. With a place on the beach. Nicaragua or somewhere like that. Zack’s mind drifted to ideas of waking up slowly next to Sydney every day and surfing or have some sort of off-grid garden or—
“Hello?” Sydney scoffed. “You’re not coming up with a plan right now are you?” She paused and slurped her milkshake while she studied him. “You are! Jesus, Zack. I can’t believe you sometimes. Just a man without a plan.”
Zack flushed and stuffed a few fries into his mouth. “What do you think we should do?”
Sydney smiled, flashing straight and white teeth. Zack’s heart flip flopped. “I’m glad you asked. I’ve been thinking. There are a few places around the world that don’t have extradition treaties with Canada, so if we ever got caught, we wouldn’t go to jail. Here anyway.”
Zack nodded. She was right. They needed to get the hell out of Canada.
Sydney stuffed the empty milkshake cup into the brown to go bag. “I’m thinking Borneo. We get enough cash to find a discreet way out of the country, and then make a new life for ourselves somewhere else. I’ll need enough money to send back to my dad though.”
Zack sighed. It sounded so simple. So tranquil.
It sounded impossible.
“How are we supposed to exchange all of this money into actual currency we can use? Do we even have any Borneo-an…I don’t even know what the name of the currency there is,” Zack said.
Sydney laughed. “Yeah. That is the crux of the issue, isn’t it. You’re the big planner, Zack. Why don’t you think on it.”
Zack laughed and squished his empty food containers into the brown bag. He got up to throw them into a garbage can across the walking path. It felt ridiculous to be planning on a way to exit the country. Especially undetected.
The wind began to whip up, and Sydney rubbed at her thin sweater. Zack sat next to her and threw an arm around her shoulder and tried to rub her arm to warm her up. Sydney settled in and lay her head on Zack’s shoulder for a minute.
“Soon, the bank might catch on that our audits aren’t legitimate. We need to strike while the iron is hot.”
Sydney pulled away. “Okay, but we need to be working towards something. It won’t matter how much money we will have if we just get caught.”
She was right. They needed time to figure out an escape plan. Flights out of Canada were strictly regulated, and they would definitely be flagged in the systems they used for border patrol. That wouldn’t work.
But, Canada had the longest unattended border in the entire world. Zack had been to towns where the border ran right through, or other places where there was nothing but a field in between Canada and the U.S.A. Maybe they could just walk across the border and disappear into the states.
Or, they could try and buy a boat or hire someone to take them somewhere. There were cruise ships on the east coast that could take them somewhere.
Zack sighed. They weren’t going to come up with a lock-tight plan in a few minutes. He stood up, pacing around on the path in front of the park bench as he rubbed at his temples.
He stopped as he noticed a billboard in the distance that caught his attention.
True North Canadian Bank - Bank the Canadian Way! Trusted Since 1953.
Branches in Three Hills, Drumheller, Brooks, and Medicine Hat.
“Come up with something, Zack?” Sydney asked. She was stuffing her garbage into the paper A&W bag.
Zack sucked at his teeth. “Yeah. Grab the phone.”
Sydney gave him a puzzled look. “And?”
“Let the Drumheller branch know that Ryan Clements and his audit team are coming for a visit. Tomorrow.”
Sydney frowned. “What about the plan? More seat-of-the-pants?”
Zack nodded. “We need to make a plan, that’s true. But we can do that while we keep on hitting these small towns. Get two birds stoned at once, as Ricky used to say.”
“I don’t think Trailer Park Boys’ logic is very helpful here,” Sydney said, but she was digging in her bag for the phone. The small park had emptied. A car slowly moseyed past.
Zack stared at the billboard in the distance. “I’ll bank the Canadian way, alright. Let’s say, ten o’clock.”
Sydney shook her head. “I don’t know what it is that I like about you, but there is something.”
She tapped on the screen for a little bit and Zack did more pacing.
Sydney cleared her throat, and Zack looked over to see she had the phone pressed to her ear. “Hello? Yes, is this branch number one-seven-one? Drumheller? Oh, good. This is Sadie, from True North Corporate here in Toronto. I am calling to let you know that we have an audit team lead by Ryan Clements visiting your branch tomorrow. Yes. Foreign currency. Okay. You will see him at ten. Thank you! Yes, you too. Bye now.”
Zack held his hands out. “Yeah?”
Sydney grinned. “We are on.”