[ WP ] You and your cohorts have pulled off your heist as planned . Later , in your hideout , you see TV reports that the payload you hijacked is lethally radioactive

`` Relax, it's over, and nobody got killed.'' Dan said, pulling a long drag off his cigarette. 
 
 Rob seemed visibly agitated. `` Could you open your window? I do n't want to be breathing your smoke.'' 
 
 Dan looked at Mike in the rear view mirror and rolled his eyes, while making a grand gesture of rolling down his window. `` Is that better princess?'' he scoffed. 
 
 `` I'm not a smoker. I should n't have to breathe in your cancer breath, asshole.'' Rob shot back. 
 
 `` Fine, fine.'' Dan said dismissively. `` What you thinking about back there? You're being awfully quiet. You're not shaken up are you?'' 
 
 Mike thought for a moment, then replied `` I'm just thinking about the truck driver. You think he's okay?'' 
 
 `` This was n't my first rodeo, bud. I know this is new to you but I've smacked down more than a few fuckers. He's fine. The gas station attendant will find him, call an ambulance or the police, and he'll get treated. Besides, it'll only be a slight concussion.'' replied Dan confidently. 
 
 `` I think I'll feel much better by the time we get this all tucked away.'' said Mike. 
 
 `` I think we all will.'' agreed Rob. 
 
 The three drove on through the rugged desert in silence as the sun set behind the mountains in the distance. After some time the headlights caught a sign with `` NO TRESPASSING'' forbidding randoms from entering. Mike could n't help but wonder who the hell would be out here in the middle of nowhere to receive the sign's warning. 
 
 Dan parked the truck and the three young men climbed out of the cab and walked to the back to take a look at the cargo. 
 
 `` What the hell is this shit anyway?'' demanded Rob. 
 
 `` I do n't know. Some kind of medical equipment for the hospital they're building upstate.'' Dan answered. `` The client said he needed all the equipment in this truck, no questions asked.'' 
 
 `` That's kind of a fucked up thing to steal.'' said Mike. `` It's for a hospital?'' 
 
 `` It *was* for a hospital.'' Dan retorted with a grin. 
 
 Mike could n't stand this guy. What a smug, morally reprehensible asshole. But then again, if you're judged by the company you keep, he was in no place to judge his collaborators. Besides, he needed the money to treat his daughter's aortic valve, and that was going to bankrupt his young family. The irony of stealing medical equipment to pay for his daughter's hospital bills was not lost on him, but to be honest, after dropping out of school in 9th grade, he was n't really sure if that was actually irony. This was just something he had to do. 
 
 The guys unhitched the trailer and parked the truck inside the large hanger they were going to call home base until the client came to pick up the cargo, whenever the hell that was going to be. Dan approached the container in the back. 
 
 `` I do n't think you should touch anything'' Rob warned. The client might be pissed if they think we tampered with it or something''. 
 
 `` They wo n't know. Besides, are n't you a bit curious what we risked our personal freedom to steal?'' Dan shot back. 
 
 Dan opened the box without hesitation. Inside were discs. Little yellow discs. They had radioactive labels on them. Mike felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. 
 
 `` That's it?'' asked Dan. `` We went through all this trouble for these little pieces of shit? I was hoping there's be something more exciting.'' 
 
 `` It's not dangerous is it?'' asked Rob. 
 
 `` I do n't know.'' said Dan. `` I'm not a scientist.'' 
 
 Mike had seen these signs before when he was waiting for his daughter to get the x-rays and MRIs that would ultimately bankrupt him. He remembered holding her little hands while she was trying so hard to be a brave girl for daddy. 
 
 `` Lets just close it up. Please. Whatever that is it ca n't be good for us.'' he said. 
 
 `` Come on, it's for a hospital. It's got ta be good for us!'' Dan laughed as he closed the lid on the remarkably heavy container the discs were in. 
 
 With the work all done, Dan opened up three bottles of beer, and the three toasted to their successful first mission as a crew of petty thieves. Mike felt utterly ashamed in partaking of the celebration, but what else was he going to do? It was too late to un-ring this bell. They sat down and continued to drink beers and watch television and the shitty old CRT set sitting on a work bench. 
 
 It was Rob who first began to get sick. `` I'll be back in a minute. Something's not sitting right.'' he said, getting up with a sense of urgency. 
 
 `` Do n't sweat it!'' dan yelled after him. `` It's the adrenaline. It makes some people have to shit. Took you long enough though.'' he laughed. `` Usually I got ta shit right on location.'' he confided in Mike. 
 
 Mike was repulsed at the thought of Dan shitting in the middle of a B & E, but his thoughts were cut short by the sounds of Rob's violent retching coming from the shitter. He shot an alarmed glance at Dan, who simply shrugged it off and took another sip from his beer. 
 
 `` Pussy.'' said Dan. 
 
 Just as Rob came back Mike began to feel it too. He bolted from his seat as Dan chided `` Not you too? Pussies.'' 
 
 *I hope I did n't catch something from these losers. * he thought to himself. He wanted, no he *needed* to get back to his family by the morning or they'd get suspicious. His baby girl needed to get to the doctor for a check up, and possibly be admitted to the hospital for more tests before the surgery. 
 
 He walked briskly, then into a fast stride, and then a panicked gallop as he felt his lunch rushing up his throat. He barely got it all into the toilet as it erupted from his mouth and nose searing his nostrils. He almost began to choke on his own vomit but he fought the urge to panic and got himself together, cleaned himself off as best he could, and joined the other two still watching TV. 
 
 `` You too huh?'' asked Rob showing a genuine concern that Dan was incapable of exhibiting. 
 
 `` That came on suddenly. I hope we're not getting sick.'' said Mike. 
 
 `` Change the channel while your there? And get me another beer!'' demanded Dan. 
 
 `` I'm not your fucking maid'' Mike spit as he change the channel on the old TV set. He stopped on the news where an anchor was reporting the details of their heist. 
 
 `` Wait! Turn it up! We're famous!'' Dan said with the enthusiasm of a kid seeing themselves on TV. 
 
 continued...
