Discusson at the table....

[Corwin]

Ivan nods again at the other man's words. "And since I've asked this, it would be polite to go first. My name is Ivan Raschenko," he addresses his future companions, "and I work as an accountant at the bank." He gives a little smile. "I would like to think that I know a little about the layout of the place, and about the personnel working there and their habits."

He pauses briefly, musing over his next words. "I am not familiar with the details of the security system the bank uses to protect the safe and how to deactivate it, I'm afraid, but I'm assuming one of you gentlemen can take care of that end?" Having said that, Ivan glances at the other three men expectantly.

[Anastasia]

"Gus O'dell," the big guy says, voice low. "I'm in,"  he states simply. "Just the muscle," he says, taking off his flat cap and wiping his dome with a handkerchief.

[Brian]

The man at the head of the table nods, and then surveys the others at the table, raising an eyebrow expectantly, but saying nothing.

[Halbarad]

"Ralph Jergensen," the lanky, pale young man replied. "You need a safe or a vault opened, I'm your man. Ain't met a safe yet that I couldn't crack," he boasts.

[Otter]

With a gesture towards himself, Brett introduces himself as "Brett Anthem, petty thief."  Good-naturedly, he continues, "I presume there'll be some role even I can fulfill in the plan that's been prepared."  Brett tries to emphasize "plan," hoping that the man will be a little more free with the details.  He didn't want to come off demanding information and sounding like a mole, but obviously the plan would have to be shared sooner or later.

[Brian]

"What plan?" the man at the head of the table asks, smirking.  "That's up to you.  I'll give you any information you need on the bank, and Ivan, as has been mentioned before has worked there."  The man pours himself another glass of gin, but doesn't drink right away.  "You'll notice, I'm sure, that the rumor mill being what it is ... people already suspect that something is happening.  Best not to leave any REAL meat for them to chew on.

"Now, on to business, men.  What do you need to know?"

[Halbarad]

"Two questions. One, since you want this done in the afternoon, are you planning for this to be a robbery? Info I'd gotten made it sound more like this was going to be more stealthy-like. I can do the job either way, just need to know whether I'm going for quick and dirty or smooth."

Ralph settles back in his chair. "And the other question is payment. You say to drop the loot off, but when and where do we pick up OUR pay for this?"

[Brian]

"When you drop off the dirty money, we'll have laundered money waiting for you," he assures.  "As to why it needs to be in the afternoon....  Each afternoon, at around five o'clock, as the bank is closing, four police cars and an armored van show up to take the day's deposits to the national bank.  The van is too obvious a target, and too well defended ... so we'd like to get in and take the day's deposits before they ship it all out.  If you can find a sneaky way to do this, then by all means...."  The man shrugs, and takes a small sip of his gin.

[Corwin]

"We could wait in the bank until it is time," Ivan suggests. "There are places inside where a few people could easily remain hidden for several hours. And we could set off a decoy to distract the guards to make sure that you can work on the safe without interruptions. Maybe even a holdup elsewhere to tie up the police manpower?" he muses, drinking some gin. "Some of us could pretend to be holding customers or clerks at a shop located far enough from the bank hostage, and make some foolish demands to the police to keep up wasting time negotiating. Once we're done, that group could say they're releasing several hostages and simply walk out. By the time the cops notice something's wrong, we'd all be long gone."

Ivan shrugs then. "And if you don't want to split up our resources, a simple fire might do the trick just as well."

[Halbarad]

Ralph thinks for a few moments, a look of concentration on his face. "Problem with splitting up is that I don't know how long it'll take me to crack the vault. You got any details on what kind of locks it uses?"

[Corwin]

Ivan frowns, and then reaches into his pocket and takes out a small notebook. "I know a little bit about the vault," he says, while he leafs through it, until he nods to himself. "The combination has four numbers, from what I managed to discern, and I know two of them. The first two," he clarifies a moment later. "However, the safe also requires a key to open, and said key would be with the owner of the bank at all times."

Ivan checks his notebook again. "There is a rumor that his secretary also keeps a copy, for various emergencies, but I haven't been able to confirm it." He shrugs apologetically. "My information about the layout of the bank and the working schedules of the employees is based on first hand observations, I assure you."

[Halbarad]

Ralph takes a moment to consider, nodding a bit. "What about the vault - where's it inside the bank? Quick things I'm looking for are this: Is the vault against an outside wall, and is the main vault door visible to a lot of people?"

[Brian]

The man nods, and slides a piece of paper onto the table, where everyone can see it.  "This," he says, stabbing at an indistinguishable squiggle (A), "is where the tellers are."

Moving his finger past the tellers, to the area near what resembles a bank vault door (B), he says, "This is the vault door ... there's usually two armed bank guards there."  His finger then slides to the large area without any details on the left half of the map (C).  "This we believe is offices ... where the owner would be.  His secretary is behind these doors," he continues, tracing his finger back near the tellers (D).  "Perhaps you could shed a bit more light on it?"  He smiles, and looks to Ivan, raising an eyebrow.

[Corwin]

"Certainly," Ivan agrees. After studying the map quickly, he points at the large area to the left of the vault. "I work here," he says, "and the pair of guards standing near the vault's door I have to pass to get to my desk are the only ones I've noticed there. If we continue to go around the vault until we almost come full circle, as you've shown on this map, we'll arrive at the offices of the owner and his secretary, which are next to each other."

[Halbarad]

Seeing that no one else is laying out anything specific yet, Ralph nods once. "Okay. I'm open to alternatives, but I'm all for the quick and quiet style - we get in and out fast and clean, with as few people as possible who realize what's going on. Try not to trip alarms, don't let folks see you, that kind of thing."

He stabs a finger down on the map. "I'm guessin' this is a doorway from the offices into the vault area, right? If we can come in from this direction - after gettin' the key off the owner - we might be able to take out the guards without the tellers even noticing. From there I crack the vault, we grab the loot, and everyone's happy. Ain't saying it'll go that perfectly, but that's the sort of thing I'd shoot for."