by Lia Silver
The silence that fell was heavy as an iron bar across his chest. Laura’s scent went from lemons to acid, burning the back of his throat. Now he realized something that had been nagging at the back of his mind ever since she’d confessed: no one has screaming nightmares over non-violent property crimes.
The obvious question stuck in Roy’s throat. Her silence was already an answer; all he was missing were the details.
He thought again of his blood soaking into the sand, and the distant impact of DJ’s hand. DJ had saved his life, but the price had been the end of Roy’s career—the end of his entire life as it had been before. From the pain in Laura’s face, she might as well have been bleeding to death. Roy had torn open her wounds, and there was no going back from there.
“Still so sure that you’re not going to hate me?” Laura asked bitterly.
The only thing Roy could give her was honesty. “I can’t know what I’m going to think until you tell me what happened. But I’ve killed people too. You want to know the real military secret? ‘Enemy’ doesn’t always mean ‘bad guy.’ Sometimes it means, ‘that guy on the other side who’s doing his job, like I’m doing my job.’ Does that make you hate me?”
“No. That’s different.” But Laura’s gaze flickered toward the pillow, where he’d stashed the pistol.
“Anyway, whatever you did…” Roy tapped his own chest, where he had pinned the imaginary medal on Laura’s. “You’ve still got your medal for courage under fire.”
What she said was the last thing he expected: “I already have a real one.”
Chapter Nine: Laura
Laura’s Story: The Choice
The whole week had been stormy and cold, and it was raining again that day. Traffic is always terrible in LA when the weather’s bad. It doesn’t rain enough for people to get used to it, and everyone always seems shocked and appalled when it’s wet out. The cars were all crawling along the freeway, like they were scared they’d skid if they went over five miles per hour.
Everyone who came into the bank had umbrellas or raincoats or heavy coats, so I didn’t take any special notice of two men in trench coats. I’m sure that’s why they picked that day to rob the place.
I wasn’t even looking at them. I’d just opened the cash drawer to cash a customer’s check. I had a hundred dollars in twenties in my hand.
A man yelled, “Everybody freeze!”
I looked up, and the guys in the trench coats were holding these huge black guns—machine guns? Assault rifles? I’m sure you’d have known exactly what they were. But they were obviously the kind of guns that could kill everyone in the bank in seconds.
I froze. Some people were screaming. The man yelled, “Shut up, or I’ll kill you!” They shut up.
“And don’t call the cops or lock the vault,” he added.
I was scared and shocked, of course. But then this weird calm came over me. I felt like I could think very clearly. I didn’t move, but I took a good look at the men with the guns, and the customers, and where everyone was. No one was near the doors, so there was no chance of anyone running outside.
One of the bank robbers was in his early twenties, if that. He still had acne. He looked jittery, like he might get nervous and pull the trigger by accident. But I wasn’t afraid of him personally, just of his weapon, if that makes any sense.
The other was in his late thirties or early forties, a craggy-faced man with very pale blue eyes. That guy scared me. He was the kind of man you never want to con, because he’ll come after you with a blowtorch. And now he was holding us all hostage.
There’s a button we have under our counters that we’re supposed to hit if we get robbed. It calls the police and locks down the vault. The company that makes the security system has to send a representative with a special key to open the vault.
I had one hand under the counter, so I could have hit the button. I decided not to. I wanted that blue-eyed man to take the money and get out of there. The bank was insured anyway.
He pointed at one of the tellers, Ana, and said, “You! Show me—”
The young man spun around and pointed at another teller. Mike. He’d been hired recently; I didn’t know him too well.
The younger robber said, “Gregor, that teller hit the button!”
Mike said, “No, I didn’t!”
The older man—Gregor—just looked at Mike with those icy pale eyes. Then he said, “All of you tellers, come out.”
Here’s the thing: the tellers were all behind bullet-proof glass. Any of us could have ducked down under the counters, and we’d have been totally safe. But we’d all frozen in shock, and the customers weren’t protected. Neither were a handful of other employees who’d been in their offices or out on the floor.
Gregor said, “Come out, or I’ll kill every employee who’s not behind the glass.”
We looked at each other. Then we got up. Ana opened the door, and we all came out and stood in the middle of the floor.
The young man yelled, “The cops are pulling up right now!”
I have no idea how he knew, because I hadn’t heard anything.
Gregor said, “Warn them, Jesse.”
The young guy, Jesse, ran to the door and shouted, “Any cop comes in here or throws in a flash-bang grenade, and we kill everyone inside! We have a bomb!”
That’s when I noticed this big duffel bag on the floor. I didn’t know if it actually was a bomb, but they didn’t even need one: they could kill us all in seconds with their guns alone. My hand was starting to ache from holding those bills, but I didn’t move. I didn’t want to attract their attention.
The phone by me rang, and I jumped about a foot in the air. So did most of the customers. But Gregor didn’t seem surprised. He walked right up and held out his hand. I passed it over to him, wondering what he’d do if it was someone who wanted to open an account.
But given what he said, it was the police.
Gregor said, “We have a bomb. We have machine guns. If you break in, we’ll kill everyone in the building before you can stop us. But if everyone cooperates, everyone lives. Except for this idiot here, who already disobeyed orders.”
He put down the receiver without hanging it up, and took a gun out of a holster he had on his belt. He and the other robber had three guns each, the machine guns and two handguns in holsters.
And… he shot Mike in the head. Just like that. Like it was nothing.
People started screaming again. Gregor yelled at them to shut up again, and they did.
It was like a nightmare. I’d been in plenty of situations that could have gotten violent, but didn’t. I’ve had people threaten me a couple times. A guy I was conning pulled a gun on me once. But I’ve always been able to talk things down, and I’d never seriously feared for my life before. And I’d never seen anyone get killed before.
Gregor got back on the phone with the cops. He told them he wanted the vault opened, a helicopter to take them to the airport, and a plane waiting to take them out of the country. Then he made some more threats and hung up.
I knew it was going to end with a lot more people dead. There was no way they were giving him a helicopter. Sooner or later, the police would storm the building, and then Gregor would set off the bomb, if it was a bomb, or shoot up the room.
But like I said, I’ve always been able to talk things down. The two most important elements to a con are thinking on your feet and reading people. If you understand people, then you know what they’ll believe and what they want.
I thought maybe I could use that to get us all out alive.
I had the sense that Jesse was doing whatever Gregor said and wouldn’t be that ruthless on his own. But my read on Gregor was that he was definitely willing to kill us all. Beyond that, well, I knew that they wanted to get into the vault.
I put Mike out of my mind. I put the guns and the maybe-a-bomb and the cops out of my mind. The third thing a con artist needs is absolute confidence that people will buy what you’re selling them.
I said, “I might be able to get you into the vault.”
Everyone stared at me. Especially the other employees. They knew that once you hit that button, no one in the bank could get into the vault. I didn’t look at them, though, and I mentally crossed my fingers that they wouldn’t say anything.
None of them did. Some of them were lower-level employees who probably figured I knew something they didn’t, and some of them were probably too scared to speak, and some of them… some of them must have trusted me. I wish they hadn’t.
Gregor said, “Go on.”
I said, “The office manager, Lily, is out sick today.” That part was true. “She knows the emergency override code. She’s supposed to memorize it—it changes every week—but sometimes she writes it down on a slip of paper and sticks it in her desk drawer. I could go look.”
Gregor stared at me with those creepy pale eyes of his. “If you’re lying to me…”
“I’m not!” I said. “I’m not, I swear. I can’t guarantee it’ll be there, and even if it is there, I can’t guarantee that it’ll be this week’s code. It could be last week’s. But it might work.”
Lily did have a code on a slip of paper in her desk drawer. It was her computer password. She’s awfully careless about things like that. If I wanted, I could have gotten into her files and transferred all her money into my account.
The room that leads to the vault has a touch pad that opens and closes the door—and it closes pretty fast. My plan was to get Gregor inside the room, tell him I was going to open the vault with the touch pad, and lock him in. I thought that if he was out of the picture, the cops could deal with Jesse.
If he didn’t fall for it and stood outside to use the touchpad, he’d enter Lily’s password, which wouldn’t do anything. Then I’d say it must have been last week’s code. But it seemed like it was worth a try.
The other thing I was wanted to do was lure Gregor off with me, so if the police did break in, he wouldn’t be with the other hostages.
He told Jesse to guard everyone and had me take him into Lily’s office. Once we were inside, he shut the door. There were no windows and the door was thick. Whatever happened inside her office, no one outside would know about.
I started to open her desk drawer, but he stopped me and opened it himself. Maybe he thought there was a weapon in there. Instead, he found the post-it with her password.
He leaned back against the desk and looked me over. I knew that look. He was trying to get a read on me, like I’d been trying to get a read on him.
“I’m curious, Laura,” he said. (We wore name tags.) “Why would you give me the password for the vault?”
“I just want everyone to be safe,” I said. “I’d do anything to make sure no one else gets hurt.”
“Really, anything?” he asked.
I thought he was talking about sex. But I was willing to give him that, if it would save innocent people’s lives. One of the customers had two little kids with her. Besides, he was hardly going to be setting off any bombs if he was busy having sex in the office. It would be gross, but it would be worth it.
“Anything,” I said. “Whatever you want. Right here, right now.”
I could tell that he was tempted. But he shook his head. “I hardly have time for that. But I’m intrigued that you’d make such an offer. You’re an interesting woman. So buttoned-down on the outside, so bold on the inside. I like that.”
I saw my opening, and I went for it.
“Do you? Do you really? Would you—” I broke off, like I didn’t quite have the nerve to say it.
“Would I what?” he asked.
I said, “It was a stupid idea. Never mind.”
“No, tell me,” he said.
“If—listen, I honestly don’t know if the code will even work, but if it does work—if you can get into the vault—would you…”
I’d hooked him. He leaned forward, impatient and curious. “Would I what?”
“Would you take me with you?” I blurted out, then put on a look like I was shocked that I’d actually said that.
He stared at me, but before he could ask any questions, I took a step toward him and lowered my voice. “I’ve been embezzling money. Just a little at a time, but it adds up. But I just found out that the bank is going to be audited. I can’t return it—I’ve already spent most of it. They’d track it back to me, and I’d go to jail. I was going to take more, then run away and change my name. So I thought—I’m going to end up a fugitive anyway. I thought maybe if I could get you in, you’d give me a share in return. Just a little cut. Say, ten percent. And a seat on your plane.”
Gregor seemed fascinated by this. Then suspicion took over. “How exactly did you embezzle the money?”
I wasn’t actually embezzling, but I do know how. I started giving him a detailed explanation, until he cut me off. “That’s enough.”
He gave me a long look again, but not a suspicious one. Like he was ready to start playing me. That’s the expression you want to see, when the mark thinks they’re going to con you.
He smiled at me. “This isn’t just about the money, is it?”
I pulled back. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Now he went in for the kill. “I think you like the danger. I think you want to be on the run. You can dress in those prim clothes and work your boring job, but it’s nothing but a disguise. Look at you, standing there so cool, bargaining with me for ten percent of the take! You’re actually enjoying yourself. In your heart… I think you’re just like me.”
To sell your lie, you have to believe your lie. I found the part of me that was enjoying myself, and I looked him straight in the eyes. “You got me. I guess I am. So… are we on for ten percent?”
I felt like those cold eyes of his were burning into my skin. “We’re on. With one condition. We still don’t know if this code will work. I might have to kill another hostage to give the cops a sense of urgency. I want you to pick which one.”
I felt like my heart turned into a block of ice.
“I can’t,” I said. “I don’t mind stealing, but I’ve never hurt anyone.”
Gregor raised an eyebrow. “I’m not saying you have to personally take a gun and shoot them. But if you’re coming with us, I have to know for sure that you’re really one of us. Choose a hostage or the deal’s off.”
I didn’t know what to do. I could tell that if I chose someone, it would seal the deal. If I didn’t, he’d go back to being suspicious of me. He might be so suspicious that he’d figure out that the password was a trick and kill me for it. But if I gave him what he wanted, I’d have a much better shot of getting him into that room, and then no one would be killed at all.
I said, “The customer with red hair, wearing a tan raincoat. The big guy.”
I don’t know why I chose him, except that he wasn’t someone I knew and he wasn’t the mom with kids. I’d just happened to remember him, out of all the customers.
Gregor’s eyes lit up. I’d expected him to be pleased, but… not that pleased. I had a bad feeling, but I stomped on it. I had to seem confident.
“Very good!” he said. “I knew I could count on you. You’re the one.”
I didn’t ask him what that meant. I just smiled back. “Let’s try the vault.”
We went back in. I tried not to meet anyone’s eyes while Gregor told Jesse, “Laura’s with us now. Keep on guarding them.”
Gregor followed me to the vault room. I went to the key pad and opened the door, then held out my hand for the post it. I punched in Lily’s password. Nothing happened, of course.
“You have to manually open the vault,” I said. “It doesn’t just swing open.”
He took a step forward. I almost had him. Then he stopped.
“You open it,” he said.
“It’s too heavy for me,” I told him. “We always get a man to do it.”
Gregor shouted, “I want the man with red hair!”
My stomach flipped over. I
thought Gregor was on to me and was going to kill the guy. Then I realized that he’d just picked him because he looked strong.
The guy came up, looking scared. I told him how to get into the vault. Of course, it didn’t open.
“Damn!” I said. “It must have been last week’s code after all. Now what?”
Gregor didn’t seem too concerned. “We get the real code from the cops.”
We went back to the rest of the hostages.
Jesse said, “The cops called and gave me their number.”
He handed Gregor a post-it. Gregor went to the phone, and I stepped out of his way and stood beside Jesse.
Gregor got on the phone with the cops. There was a lot of back-and-forth. They were obviously stalling him. He repeated his threats to kill everyone in the building if they stormed it. I had a feeling they were close to the point where they were going to storm it anyway.
Finally, he said, “Fine. I’m going to shoot a hostage every fifteen minutes, until you give me the code to the vault. Starting now.”
He looked straight at me, and he smiled. Then he drew his handgun and leveled it at the red-headed guy.
“Stop!” I shouted.
I had a gun held to Jesse’s head.
I’d taken it out of his holster while I was standing next to him. Another thing I’d learned from Dad was pickpocketing. Not to steal money—to steal information. I could look through a mark’s wallet, get whatever I needed, and put it back, without him ever noticing.
Everyone froze where they stood, Jesse included.
I jerked my head at Ana, who was nearest to me. “Ana, take his weapons.”
I knew she could handle them safely; she and her husband went on hunting trips every winter. She took Jesse’s weapons, then put them in Lily’s office and shut the door on them.
Gregor didn’t move. I think he and Jesse couldn’t believe what was happening.
“If you shoot anyone, I shoot Jesse,” I said. “Put down your weapons.”
“You’re bluffing,” Gregor said. “You were telling the truth when you said you’d never hurt anyone in your life. You put your weapon down.”