I'm trying to outline a story, and am having a hard time coming up with more ideas for one of the plots. Set modern day, the main character was part of a group that pulled off some kind of criminal job years ago. Now, after years of being in a witness protection type of program, his old group of criminals track him down because they need something he has. The only real idea I've been able to come up with for the past criminal job is a bank heist and he had all the money before he disappeared, but that to me seems really cliche. Was hoping someone could give me an idea of a different kind of heist, or something other than a heist that could still leave him with something the old criminal group needs.
Computer hack heist? Identity theft of a gazillionaire, big bucks transferred to the Cayman Islands with the agreement to leave them untouched for ten years, he has the master code. Pretty much what you outlined but with a bit of an early 21st century update.
I feel like any way you slice this cake it's going to be related to money somehow. Maybe he's got some priceless art or they stole the crown jewels. Or they kidnapped a baby from a wealthy family and he decided to raise the kid himself. That one doesn't really lend itself to the witness protection idea, but he could have run off while they went to prison.
Well, there's always revenge. The dude would only be in witness protection if he witnessed something that led to somebody else's conviction, which makes him a rat, which is never cool. Doesn't seem worth the time/effort/risk for the gang to track him down for anything other than money or vengeance. The only other thing I can think of is that maybe the dude has some kind of incriminating evidence that could further endanger the old gang or members of the old gang that haven't been incriminated yet. Not sure what that would be, though. This might be unrelated, but living in mob country, I know a few family members of former mobsters who entered witness protection for this or that. Most stay away, but a few return to Providence every now and then. Their main fear--even after their "old gang" is dead or in prison--is that one of the younger mob accolades will take them out to win favor with the organization. So maybe you can have a character that is trying to make his bones and decides to hunt down somebody who burned his bosses back in the day. It happened to a great uncle of somebody I know. The real story, which I won't share, is definitely stranger than fiction. But in short, the lesson is don't hijack a truck unless you know who it belongs to.
You could set the story in the near future. The MC is a hypnotist who's made the other characters forget everything about the criminal job they were involved with, so they'd get through the advanced lie detection system used in interrogations. This didn't work as there was enough physical evidence to secure their convictions. Newly released from prison, they need to find the MC to get their memories back so they can find the valuables they stole. The MC realizes he's being pursued but doesn't know why and assumes the worst. You don't need to bother with the witness protection plan as tracking anyone down after many years would be difficult.
