A career of Russian roulette
I reach the other side.”
It was easy talk, but with André you never knew what lay behind his idle chatter. “Seems we’re trying to prove something to each other,” I said. “So how about I get a car tomorrow, rob a bank the next day, then wait for your dramatic response?” I spoke calmly, although I felt far from composed.
I spent the night in Linmeyer, and the following morning Mac dropped me at a car dealership in Germiston. I took my time looking over the stock and settled on a low-mileage, grey Opel Rekord 2.2. I asked the salesman if I could take it for a drive and he readily agreed. He drove at first, then stopped to let me get a feel for the car. While he was walking round the vehicle to get in the passenger side, I locked all the doors, slid behind the wheel and slowly pulled off with the salesman jogging beside the car, knocking on the window. I waved at him and accelerated away. During the day, I acquired another set of plates belonging to a matching Opel and a third-party disc.
I also scouted out two banks and familiarised myself with routes and the surroundings. These two were to be my answer to André’s challenge — whether inadvertent or intended.
The next morning, as I was getting ready to go out, Mac casually asked what I had planned for the day. “I’m going to rob a bank,” I said, rather foolishly. The next thing was, he wanted to come along. “It’s two banks, Mac.”
He did his Mac shuffle and hesitated while I was sorting out my final preparations. But before I could start the car, he had joined me. “It should be a doddle,” I told him. “You cover me from the doors and we’ll be OK.”
That’s exactly what happened, and we were in and out of the area in no time, only stopping in a secluded spot to change the plates.
Back at the Linmeyer house, I divided the spoils into three. “No,” Mac protested, “we did it and that’s the, um … ah, the way that we, um, that Andre and I had always … ah, had decided …”
It was certainly not the case that we had decided to cut André out, but I went along with it to keep the peace. Mac grabbed half of the R13,000 and was gone in a flash.
A couple of hours later, André rang. “I’ve just heard it on the news,” he said, laughing. “Two? You did two!” He could hardly get the words out he was laughing so hard.
“What’re you talking about?” I said, trying to sound nonplussed.
More laughter from André. This was unusual behaviour from him. During the day, when he was sober, André was quiet, controlled and serious.
“Listen here,” I said, trying to sound sincere, “there’s no way I could rob two banks, never mind one bank, because apparently I’ve lost my nerve.”
We met the next day and I gave him his share of the remaining cash, explaining Mac’s accounting methods. “Bloody typical. Gutter scum,” he said.
“It’s partly my fault. I should have been more forceful. Then again, you’re also to blame for bringing him along. We’re both saddled with him now, and you can stop saying you’ll deal with the issue.”
Mac casually asked what I had planned for the day. ‘I’m going to rob a bank,’ I said, rather foolishly. The next thing was, he wanted to come along. ‘It’s two banks, Mac.’