Frank called after me, but no one could save me or Rachel. These thieves would kill anyone who tried.
WefollowedMr.Greeneinto a part of the bank I’d never been in. The corridor was dark with sparsely placed sconces as the only source of light. At the end of the corridor were two enormous wooden doors. Mr. Greene struggled to push the heavy doors open, revealing a slight slope downwards, leading to a large iron security gate a few feet away. Behind the iron gate was an enormous vault. The modern look of the vault seemed out of place in the grand nineteenth-century architecture of the bank.
“Is…is he dead?” Mr. Greene’s shaky voice made me shudder.
Who was he talking about?
Then I saw it—a body slumped against the bars of the iron gate, head bowed forward. I knew him. It was Frank’s friend, another guard for the bank. His daughter was my hairdresser.
Death didn’t bother to answer, pushing me past the gate. Tears made my vision blurry. This couldn’t be real. This had to be a nightmare. Robberies and murder didn’t happen in Bentley Cove.
Something on the screen of the vault flashed red.
Mr. Greene turned to us, shifting from foot to foot, panicked. “The silent alarm was triggered. The vault is locked down.” His face had turned grey.
“Obviously.” Death turned his head to me. “And I’ll be sure to make Happy Fingers pay for that,” he whispered my friend’s doom into my ear, chuckling at the horror on my face. He straightened. “I know you can override it, little man. So open it.” The gun was pushed against my head again, theor else,made clear.
I swallowed against my fear as Mr. Greene turned to the vault, tapping at the screen. The robber tugged harshly on my arm, spinning me around to face him. I cowered away, but his large, leather glove roughly clasped around my jaw, holding me in place.
“The police are coming. So, I’m taking you with us.”
A shuddering breath escaped my throat as my body tried to fold in on itself. My chin trembled in his hand, defeat closing in on me like a casket being eased into the ground. I’ve seen the crime shows, I knew what was going to happen. If I’m taken to another location, odds are I wouldn’t survive.
Was this the day I die?
“Listen carefully, cupcake. If you hinder us in any way, I will shoot you. If you do as you’re told, I will let you go. Do you understand?”
My body felt numb and unresponsive. Feebly, I tried to pull away, but his grip was unyielding.
“Do. You.Understand?” His voice went even lower, and warning bells chimed in myhead.
I nodded, the movement stunted by his grip. He let go of my face and I turned away quickly, a sense of dread like I’d never experienced before settled in my gut. Where were the gods when you needed them?
Mr. Greene stared at me in horror. “You said I could save her.”
Death tugged me closer with a menacing laugh. “Did I really now? How cute you are, trusting the words of a thief.”
The heavy vault door swung open. Inside it stood another robber, which took Mr. Greene by surprise. He stumbled backwards, clutching his chest.
The third robber had the same attire as the other two. Completely covered in black from head to toes. On each side of him stood sturdy steel cases on large wheels.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t expect the lockdown mech—” the female voice stopped as she caught a glimpse of us.
The robber in the vault was a woman.
“What’s this?” she gestured towards me.
“I’m improvising,” my captor responded flatly. “Let’s go.”
She gestured with her gun for Mr. Greene to take one steel case. He did as told, his face even greyer than before.
Death dragged me through the iron gates again, this time through a different door into another corridor. I looked back to see Mr. Greene watching me with a pained expression as he wheeled the heavy case behind him.
This wasn’t a dream. Mr. Greene had heard it too. He knew what was about to happen to me.
A chime sounded and a green light flashed on the bomb as we neared it, making my heart stop. But it didn’t go off as the robber pulled me past it and opened the door. The bright sunlight blinded me for a moment. Death pushed me through the door, into the back alley of the building, toward a sea blue van I recognised. It was Pete’s delivery van—our local and only delivery man. Did Pete have a part in this? No, he wouldn’t do something like this, but no one in this town would think twice if they saw Pete’s van driving by. It was as normal as the tulips lining the sidewalks in spring, or the coat of rust on all the metal signs in Bentley Cove.
A low whimper and panicked shuffling from inside the door pulled me from my thoughts.
