I hadn’t thought of that. When we’d tried the duffel bag to see how much it would hold we’d done it with loose bundles of money. I glanced at Rodge. I could see that his mind was working furiously too. For a while we were both silent.
“There’s nothing else for it,” I said to him eventually. “We’re going to have to open the money bags and transfer the cash to your duffel bag. Five on every trip.”
Rodge sighed and shook his head.
“That’s going to take time, Mike, and time is what we haven’t got,” he said. “We’ve just been talking about tying Suzy up. That’s going to add another two or three minutes if you want me to make a convincing job of it. We’re running too close to the wire. Unless…”
36
Mike and Rodger met each other’s eyes. Then their heads turned and they were both looking at me.
“Oh no,” I said. “What are you cooking up now, the pair of you?”
Mike pointed a finger.
“Slight change of plan, Suzy. Rodge doesn’t tie you up as soon as he gets there. He ties you up right at the end. That way you can help him. Each time he arrives you can have five bags already out of the safe and opened so everything’s prepared. He holds the duffel open and you tip the money in. We work as a team. It would speed things up no end.”
“Oh, you’ve got me properly involved now, haven’t you? And what will you be doing in the meantime?”
“Well, I’ll be back in the lab operating the, er, transporter. And I’ll have an identical duffel bag with me. Each time Rodge comes back with a full bag, I’ll swap it for an empty one. It shaves more seconds off every run. I’ll be emptying it while you two are filling the next one.”
“And suppose someone comes into the secure area?”
Rodger said, “In the middle of everything, you mean?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. In the middle of everything.”
“Who’s likely to do that?”
“Well, Caroline will be around, for a start, won’t she?”
“You’re senior to her, aren’t you? Couldn’t you give her something to do?”
I thought for a moment.
“I suppose I could ask her to do a book-keeping job and get her to sit down with it at the enquiries desk. She can keep an eye on the front door from there. I could tell her to look out for Mr. Hughes. He comes in early sometimes if there’s a big delivery—he feels it’s a lot of responsibility for us to carry. That way she wouldn’t be walking in on us, and afterwards she could tell everyone that nobody came in or out by the front door.”
Rodger said, “Brilliant!” and Mike was nodding vigorously.
I felt the heat in my face; it was so unusual to get praise from Rodger. I suppose they were pleased that I’d started to come up with solutions as well as problems. I tried to pass it off with a shrug.
“Well, it may not work. She might still come back to ask me something. And Mr. Hughes could actually turn up. What if he walks in?”
“We’ll pretend you’re acting under duress,” Rodger said. “That won’t be hard. I’ll be carrying a gun.”
He must have seen the alarm on my face.
“Don’t worry, it’s not a real gun! But if he comes in I’ll point it back and forth between you so it looks like you’re under threat as well. That way you’re not compromised. Then I’ll have to tie him up and put a pillow case over his head so he can’t see what’s going on. We’ll have to work in total silence, too, so he doesn’t hear anything either.”
I considered this carefully.
“Just a minute. You won’t be there all the time. Suppose someone comes in when you’re not there? I could be standing there ankle deep in empty money bags with the safe wide open and no one in sight. I’m going to look very good then, aren’t I?”
“We can’t afford for that to happen,” Rodger said.
“You’re damned right we can’t.”
Mike chewed his lip thoughtfully. “It’s pretty unlikely.” His comment was directed more to Rodger than to me. “I mean you’ll only be gone for about a minute each time, won’t you, Rodge?”
“She’s right, though, Mike, we’ve got to be prepared for it.”
“Okay,” Mike said. “How about this? As soon as she hears the door open she throws herself on the floor. Says she was knocked down by a robber.”
“So where is he, this robber?” I asked.
“He was disturbed so he ran off.”
Rodger said, “And at that moment I materialize in the room…”
“No, no, that’s no good.” Mike ran his hands through his hair. “I know. When they pick her up she does a fainting swan act. It’s fair enough. She’s been shocked. She can’t breathe, she must have air. So they take her outside. If she makes a lot of fuss they’ll all be focused on her. Anyway as soon as you arrive you’ll see what’s happened and you can signal to come back. We’ll have to call it a day then.”
“Someone may activate the alarm,” Rodger said.
“That would be better still, wouldn’t it? The alarm brings the shutter down and then they have to stay outside. They’ll see even less.” Mike paused; he seemed to have had another thought. “Suzy, that keypad thing you use to enter the secure area. When it’s operated, does it make any noise?”
“Yes. The keys go bip, bip and when the right combination is entered it buzzes and then the lock releases. Why?”
“Well, that’s very handy. It’ll give us a bit of warning that someone’s coming in. You’ll have to practise being fast on the draw, Rodge. If the buzzer goes you’ve got to have the gun in your hand before they see you.”
“It’s okay. I’ll be using the holster. I’m not wearing a jacket so I can get at it easily.”
We fell silent.
I was glad to have a few minutes to collect my thoughts. It was beginning to dawn on me that what Mike and Rodger were planning was actually feasible. They’d scared the daylights out of me with their little demonstration but I could see the reason for it now. I’d never have believed them if they’d tried to convince me in some other way. Transport through walls! The possibilities that opened up! If we planned the operation carefully, so that we knew how to deal with every contingency, what could go wrong? No one would have a clue how it was done, and no one would imagine I’d been involved!
I didn’t feel too badly about the bank. An organization of that size wouldn’t lose any sleep over a mere two million pounds but it was a heck of a lot of money to me. Even split three ways it meant nearly seven hundred thousand apiece—more than I could save in a lifetime. I’d been thinking of getting out of this job anyway and I was dying to see more of the world. This could be my ticket.
37
When I looked up, Mike was staring into the carpet, frowning. Rodger said to him: “What’s the matter, Mike?”
“I’m still worried about the timing. If you have to tie up both Suzy and the manager it’s going to take eight minutes out of the twenty-five. That leaves seventeen minutes, and you have to do eight trips in that time. That’s about two minutes a trip.”
“That’s going some,” Rodger said. “Even with Suzy helping me at the bank end I’m not sure we could get it down to that.”
“We’ll just have to practise,” Mike said. “We’ve got about three weeks; that ought to be enough. We’ll rehearse every move. That includes you, Suzy. You’ll have to practise with us.”
“How?”
“Well, the way I see it, each trip is made up of two parts and we have to work on both of them. One part is what happens in the lab. I have to transport Rodge to the secure area, return him to the lab, take the full duffel bag and swap it for an empty one. The other part is loading the money into the duffel bag while he’s in the secure area. You’ll have to practise that bit with Rodge. He’ll stand here as if I transported him and you’ll have a bag of money ready…”
“Oh, and precisely where am I going to get a bag of money from?”
“Suzy,” Rodger said quietly
. “You’re forgetting. That business with Meredrew—that didn’t come out of the blue. It had to take place on a background of other robberies. That’s what supposedly gave Meredrew the cover for stealing from his own bank. To make it convincing we had to raid a few other bank counters before we hit yours.”
For the moment I’d forgotten all about that string of robberies; the shock of Rodger appearing in the lounge must have put it out of my mind. Now I could see it; the whole set-up. And then I remembered something else, and my stomach lurched.
“Rodger, a bank teller was badly injured in one of those raids…”
He waved a hand dismissively. “The Press exaggerated the whole thing wildly. She attacked me and I sloshed her, that’s all. It was pure self-defence.”
I looked at him, wondering whether I could believe that. Rodger wasn’t capable of beating a girl unconscious, was he? I had an uncomfortable feeling that he was.
“Anyway,” Mike continued, “you’ll help him transfer the money to the duffel bag and I’ll time it. We’ll keep on rehearsing until we’re fast enough.”
“So when are you going to do all this? I have a day job, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“The transport part is something Rodge and I can work on during the day—we can go to and from the lounge, like we did earlier this evening. Shifting the money from the bags to the duffel is something you’ll have to do with us in the evenings. It’s only for a few weeks. You’ll see; it’ll be worth it in the end.”
I grimaced. In my mind, though, it was starting to come together. I take five bags of money out of the safe, open them, empty them into the duffel bag. While Rodger is transporting the money back, I’m opening five more. He returns with an empty bag. We repeat that eight times…
“What about the money?” I asked. “Where are you going to keep all that money?”
Rodger said, “We can’t leave it at the lab. I sort of assumed we’d bring it here. What do you think, Mike?”
“Well, we can’t just walk out of the Department carrying a large suitcase—that would be asking for trouble. I was thinking we could transport it here. We could reset the coordinates for the lounge and take the money over in eight trips—a sort of reverse of what we’d done at the bank. We wouldn’t have Suzy to help us, but that wouldn’t matter. There wouldn’t be a deadline. We could take our time.”
Rodger shook his head. “I’m not happy about that. We’re making eight trips in seventeen minutes. That equipment is going to start to get pretty hot. Some of it may go off tune. It’s dangerous enough as it is without having to do a repeat performance.”
“Take your point. Okay, how about I bring in a couple of large sports bags, one each, different makes? We can put the money in those and cover it up with a towel, just in case someone wants to take a peek inside. It’s very unlikely anyone would stop us, though. I’ll buy a couple of cheap squash rackets and racket covers and we can walk out around lunchtime carrying those and the bags as if we were going off to have a game.”
“That’s good. We just walk out and back to the flat. I like it.”
They were both silent for a moment. Then Rodger said:
“You know, Mike, before we finally leave the lab we’ll have to spend an hour or so disconnecting the equipment. That way nobody will be able to reconstruct what we used it for. This will be the last job and we won’t be going back there.”
Mike looked surprised.
“Why does it have to be the last job? There won’t be anything to associate us with it.”
“Yes, there will: Suzy. Once she’s cut her ties with the bank, she’ll be joining us. We can’t keep that quiet for ever. So long as she’s around there’s a chance that someone will start to put two and two together. Especially if we’re stupid enough to start spending the money. No, what we have to do is lie low for a couple of weeks while Suzy goes through that post-traumatic stress routine of yours. Then she joins us and we leave the country pronto.”
I started to shake my head. Rodger raised his eyebrows.
“What’s the matter, Suzy?”
“It’s getting out of hand, that’s what. Now you’re talking about going abroad as well. Total upheaval. I don’t know, I’m beginning to wonder if it’s worth it. Two million isn’t all that much divided three ways.”
“Hang on,” Mike said. “Who said anything about a three-way split?”
I rounded on him. “Why, what did you have in mind?”
“Well,” he said. “Rodge and I have an arrangement. Fifty-fifty, we agreed. You two are an item, so I figured you’d be sharing with him.”
“What, twenty-five percent? No way! You can’t do this without me and I’m taking a terrible risk getting involved at all. We split three ways or nothing.”
I could see they were both taken aback. I was a little surprised myself. It seemed like only a few minutes ago I was thinking I’d be insane to get involved in this caper, and now here I was, ready to stand my ground about dividing the spoils!
“Be reasonable, Suzy,” Mike said. “I’m not saying you aren’t important to the project, and Rodge invented the technology that makes it possible, but the idea and the whole plan was mine. If we split three ways, you guys are going away with twice as much as me.”
It went back and forth in this vein for quite a while. Then Rodger joined in. Finally we reluctantly agreed on a compromise. Mike would get forty percent, and Rodger and I would split the remaining sixty percent between us. It wasn’t quite as much as I wanted, but it was better than twenty-five percent.
The atmosphere was still a bit charged, so it seemed a good idea to leave it there for the moment. We had a quick snack and went to bed. I said as little as possible—to either of them.
38
It’s wonderful how a double bed can resolve disagreements. I’d been asleep for a while when I awoke to feel Rodger’s foot touching my leg. I rolled over and felt the heat of his body through my nightdress. Before long we were making love as urgently as ever. Afterwards he put his arm round me and I nestled up close. My fingertips trailed down his chest and up again. I was thinking.
“Rodger?”
“Yes?”
“You wouldn’t leave me behind, would you? You know, if everything goes well and you get the money, you wouldn’t take it and leave me behind, would you?”
“Of course not. If nothing else it wouldn’t be very clever for me to abandon you. You might suddenly remember something that led the police straight to my door.”
I sat up slightly.
“That’s a pretty negative thing to say. Don’t you have any feelings for me at all?”
“Of course I do. But feelings are one thing and actions are another. I was just being practical.”
I mulled that over for a bit.
“I can be practical too,” I said. “I can be very useful to you. Two million pounds is a lot of money and it’ll attract attention if you’re not careful how you deal with it. But I know ways we could spread the money out in small parcels and get it converted into US dollars.”
“Really?”
“Of course. What am I in the banking business for?”
We fell silent. Finally I asked: “What do you think of the plan?”
“I think it’s good. Why?”
“I’ll be taking a terrible risk. Mike doesn’t seem to appreciate that.”
“He’s put a lot of thought into it. I suppose he feels he’s covered most of the angles.”
“I don’t see why he should get more than me, or you for that matter. You’re the brains behind the whole thing. He once said that he was just a hack technician. He told me that himself.”
“That’s true. But this thing was his idea.”
“You can’t see it, can you?” I whispered. “He’s using you. Whose technology is it? Yours. Who goes in and takes all the risks? You. Mike’s back in the lab. He’s not taking any risks. But you’re letting him walk out with the lion’s share.”
“What are you saying?”
<
br /> “Mike’s a single guy, Rodger. What does he need such a lot of money for? You know, if we’re starting a new life together somewhere abroad we’re going to need a lot more than him.”
“How much more?”
“A lot more.”
“I see. Go on.”
“Well, when you bring the money back here to the flat you were planning to sit tight for a bit, weren’t you? You said you would. Just while I extricate myself from the bank.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Well, you’ll have your usual routine. You know, like you have now. Going shopping, going to the launderette.”
“Yes.”
“Come on, Rodger. Do I have to spell it out? What I’m saying is that he won’t be able to keep an eye on you the whole time. You know, you might have the opportunity to—”
“—take all the money and run?”
“Well, maybe not all. You could leave him a hundred thousand.”
He let out a soft little laugh.
I frowned. “What’s funny?”
“Nothing.” And then he said, “What makes you think Mike isn’t planning to work the same trick on me? He could, you know. And then you and I would come out of all this without a penny.”
That thought hadn’t occurred to me. I was genuinely alarmed.
“You think he would? Oh God. Well, you’ll just have to get in first.”
“Relax, Suzy. I think you’re underestimating Mike. He’s very cute, you know. I bet he’s already anticipated that someone might have a mental aberration at the sight of all that money. He’s probably cooked up some plan for us to split the takings and put it in left luggage lockers, or something like that, so that none of us has access to any more than their own share. He’s not brilliant, but he’s sure as hell not stupid either. Let’s just play it by ear. We haven’t got to that stage yet, not by a long chalk. We’re going to have to put in a lot of preparation—all three of us. When we’ve got the money… well, then we’ll see. Come on now, let’s get some sleep.”
The Man in Two Bodies (British crime novel): A Dark Science Crime Caper Page 19