by Geonn Cannon
#
Tuesday afternoon after work and lunch with Jodie, Rebecca had Lance do a dry run of the escape routes from the bank. She used Tania's Camaro so her Mustang wouldn't be recognized on Game Day, as Rebecca was calling it. By the time she finished and returned to the restaurant, it was twilight. She knew Jodie was getting off work soon, so she was eager to get rid of Rebecca. She parked the Camaro by the service entrance and started for her car. She was halfway there when she heard the back door swing open and slam shut.
"Hey, Amazon."
Lance turned. Tania was crossing the parking lot, dressed in the various shades of blue of her security guard uniform. She stopped a few feet from Lance and said, "Heard Rebecca couldn't get a hold of you this weekend. I drove by Jodie's place a couple of times and didn't see her car. What, was she staying at your place? Two of you couldn't be bothered to come to the phone?"
"We were minding our own business. Kind of like what you should do. Good-bye, Hestia."
"Screw you. You know?" Lance turned. "We had a good thing before you showed up. Jodie and me were just fine. We had problems, sure, but who doesn't? If she had just given us a little time after that last blow up, I'd be with her now. But no, you had to come swooping in and steal her away. Strike while the corpse is fresh, right?"
Lance looked at Tania's holster and wondered if security guards were given guns with live rounds.
"I hope the two of you will be very fucking happy together. But if you hurt her, I'm gonna be there to pick up the pieces."
"I'm not going to hurt her," Lance said, the lie tearing at her even as she said it.
Tania shook her head. "Yeah, well. Best laid plans and all that. I'm just saying that I hope nothing bad happens during our little project this Friday." She subtly moved her hand to her belt. "For Jodie's sake."
Lance watched her turn and walk back to the restaurant's entrance. Jodie's warning echoed in her mind—watch the bitch.
"I am, Jodie," she said as the door swung shut again. "Believe me, I am."
#
Chapter Twenty
Thursday night, Lance and Jodie watched TV on the couch. Lance petted Danica, who seemed to sense their dour mood and spent most of her time trying to cheer them up. Lance played with the Jingle Ball for a while, and Jodie played video games while Lance cheered her from the sidelines. They ate a simple dinner at the kitchen counter and went to bed at ten. They lay next to each other in the darkness and Lance said, "I could come back tomorrow night. Just to say goodbye."
"The whole night? Sleep here until the morning?"
"Sure."
"Then it would be Saturday. We'd have the whole morning to ourselves. Be hard to walk out on that."
"I could stay for a little bit."
"Well, we'd spend the time in bed. By the time we realized how late it was, you'd probably want to go ahead and sleep here. It would be easier."
"Right."
"Then you've already stayed Saturday. That's half the weekend..."
Lance grunted. "I had the same problem in Montana."
Jodie chuckled. "People just don't want to let you go, Lance." She touched Lance's arm. "I appreciate the thought. But we should probably just make it a clean cut."
Lance nodded. "Jodie, don't get back with Tania."
"What?"
"When I'm gone. She said some things earlier this week. I don't want you falling back into that relationship. But I don't...I don't mean you have to wait for me. I don't know when or if I'll ever be able to come back and be the kind of lover you deserve. So I won't be offended or hurt if you move on. But not Tania. It would be a step backward. You deserve so much—"
Jodie sat up and pressed a finger to Lance's lips. "Stop. And listen. Do you know what I'm going to do tomorrow? I'm going to get up and go to work. And while I'm there, I'm going to wait to hear how things went downtown. Then I'm going to prepare for a race I have in a couple of weeks. I'm going to race, and wait until I'm good enough to start thinking about NASCAR. I've waited for a racing career since I was sixteen. And I may not have known what the finish line would look like, but I know I've been waiting for you since I was fourteen, Claire. Almost half my life, waiting. And you think I'm going to give you up just because it'll be hard? I'm good at waiting. I can wait for you."
"You shouldn't have to. You deserve to be loved."
"I will be," Jodie said. She cupped Lance's face and smiled.
"Jodie."
"Sh. You need to sleep. You need to be well-rested in the morning." She kissed Lance's forehead and said, "You talked me out of going with you. But you won't talk yourself into a break up. I forbid it."
Lance smiled and said, "I do love you, Jodie."
"That's enough for me. I tend not to do things the conventional way."
"I've noticed."
They looked at each other for a long moment until Jodie said, "Sleep."
Lance closed her eyes, expecting Jodie to fall asleep before she did. With the amount of adrenaline pumping through her veins, the anticipation of the morning, she doubted she would ever fall asleep. She passed out five minutes later, her head cradled to Jodie's breast.
#
Lance stood in front of Jodie's mirror and admired the suit. She circled her neck with the tie—Nemesis decided Artemis would wear green, for reasons known only to her—and straightened the jacket. She left the bathroom feeling like a teenager preparing for a date. The shoes were uncomfortable on her feet and she knew they'd be killing her by the end of the day. A day which would either end with her in prison or driving as fast as possible away from Jodie. She had no idea which ending she preferred.
Jodie was in the kitchen, still unchanged from her pink striped boxer shorts and tank top. "Jodie. Will you help me?"
Jodie looked up and walked over to Lance. She took the tie in both hands and began to form the knot. "Are you all ready?"
"Yeah," Lance said. "As ready as I'll ever be."
"Have you looked outside?" Lance shook her head. "The storm they've been talking about all week is starting to move in. They say it'll be here around noon. It might make Rebecca push back the robbery."
"Maybe. Jodie, I know we agreed on a clean break, but there's something I want you to do. If things go bad—"
"Shh, don't."
"No, I need to say this. If they impound the Mustang, if I lose it, I can deal with that. But there's something I can't deal with losing." She took Elaine's picture out of her pocket. "This is all I have left of her. I know it's not fair to ask you to hold onto my ex-lover's picture, but—"
"I'll keep her safe for you. But you have to come back to pick it up. To say goodbye."
"I promise." She didn't care if she was forced to stay an extra day, an extra weekend. Time with Jodie was precious, and she wouldn't view it as a bad thing no matter what the consequences were.
Jodie tightened the knot of Lance's tie and used it to pull Lance down to her. They kissed and Jodie brushed her nose over Lance's cheek. "You'll always have a place here. A bed for a night on your way to someplace else, a place to lie low, a place to heal. Anything. Always."
"Thank you," Lance said. She wasn't able to bring her voice above a rough rasp.
Jodie released her and Lance straightened. Jodie smoothed down the suit jacket, made sure the buttons of the vest were secure, and reached up to smooth Lance's hair. "You look fantastic. My butch, butch girlfriend."
Lance smiled. "What about how elderly I am?"
"I don't know. I feel about a hundred years old right now."
Lance's smile faded. She kissed Jodie's forehead and then embraced her. Jodie buried her face against Lance's shoulder and breathed deep, trying to memorize her smell. Finally, Jodie broke the embrace and went to the couch. She picked up the duffel bag, removed a Glock and weighed the weapon in her hand. She held it out to Lance. "Here."
"Jodie..." The cop in her realized Jodie had just gotten her prints all over the weapon. If the cops looked, and if they had something to compare...
Jodie pressed her lips together and shook her head, eyes watering. She drew in a deep breath through her nostrils, let it out slowly, and said, "I think it's time for you to go." Her voice broke on the last word and she bit her bottom lip.
"Yeah."
Lance took the white mask off the couch and rolled it onto the top of her head like a skull cap. She covered it with her Seahawks hat and added a pair of black sunglasses. The glasses weren't part of her costume, but she figured the more obscured her face was, the better. They walked to the door together and Jodie kissed Lance one last time. They parted and Jodie's voice cracked when she said, "Good-bye, Claire."
"Good-bye, Jodie."
Lance opened the door and slipped into the hallway before she could convince herself to stay any longer. She knew that even one second too long and she'd never be able to leave. She waited until she heard the door close, then wrapped the tail of her coat around the butt of the gun. She rubbed hard, making sure she got every inch, erasing all evidence Jodie had ever come in contact with the weapon. Satisfied, she tucked the gun into the back of her belt and headed downstairs.
#
They met a few blocks from the bank in a condemned warehouse. As Lance walked in, she looked through the giant hole in the ceiling at the weak, pale yellow sunlight that managed to break through the gathering clouds. The subtle smell of ozone in the air hinted at the storm the radio claimed was coming, and a cold breeze swept through the broken façade of the warehouse.
The building had burned years ago, and Rebecca mentioned that the fire was bad enough that it nearly killed two firemen who were trying to put it out. The building was still standing, but barely. Lance could hear it complain as a particularly strong gust of wind slammed against the side. Five of the team members stood in the middle of the main room, milling about as they waited for their final member to arrive. Rebecca was a few feet away staring up through the hole in the ceiling.
"This is going to be a big one," Nemesis muttered. She wore a fur coat over her suit and kept casting worried glances at the sky. For the first time since Lance met her, she wasn't smiling; the poor woman looked terrified. Lance moved to one side of the group and tried to remain inconspicuous. Every now and then, a breeze would find her and she'd shudder.
All members of the team were dressed identically, save for the color of their ties. Each wore a different baseball cap to conceal their masks, except for Aphrodite, who had opted for a wide brimmed summer hat, and Morpheus, who would be outside until the actual robbery.
Nemesis pointed to the hole in the ceiling. "That's where they fell," she said to Ares. "That's where they came falling down until they were caught by the hand of God."
"Who?" Ares said.
"The firefighters," Rebecca said without emotion. She looked at Lance. "Where the fuck is Hatcher?"
Lance didn't know if the question was rhetorical or posed to her. She was about to attempt an answer when Ares said, "He's probably just running late."
"We've been planning this for months. With everything that's at stake, and he's 'running late.' God." Rebecca turned and paced away. She put her hands on her hips and shook her head.
"All else fails," Ares said, "we can go in without him."
"No." Rebecca didn't turn to face them, instead looking at the heavy clouds through the hole in the roof. "If he doesn't arrive soon, we call it off. We regroup and start over next week."
Lance didn't know how to take this contingency. It would give her another week with Jodie, but she wasn't sure if that would be a gift or a curse. Fortunately, she was saved from the possibility by the arrival of a small gray sedan. Hatcher climbed out of the car, slung a canvas bag over his shoulder, and walked into the building. He examined the gathered group as he entered the building. He, like Morpheus, wasn't wearing a cap to the mask that covered his hair like a skull cap. "Are we ready?" he asked.
"We've been ready for ten minutes," Rebecca said. "Where the hell have you..." She sniffed the air and frowned. "Candles."
"What?" Aphrodite said. "This place burned. You probably just smell smoke from—"
"This place burned six years ago, and it's well-ventilated. I didn't smell smoke until he came in. Where were you?"
Hatcher said, "Church."
Ares' eyes flashed and he rushed forward. "Church? What were you doing in church? Stop by the confessional? So help me if you told anyone, even a fucking priest, what we're—"
Hatcher grabbed Ares by the throat, swept his legs out from under him, and drove Ares to the floor in the space of a breath. Hatcher was down on one knee, all of his weight on the arm holding Ares to the concrete. When Hatcher spoke, his voice was dead calm. "I was lighting a candle for my dead son that he may guide what we're about to do here today. Do you have a problem with that, Mr. Ares?"
Ares croaked.
Hatcher released him and stood. He looked around the room and said, "As I said. Are we ready?"
"We'll have to push the time table back ten minutes," Rebecca said. "Go in at ten after ten instead of right at the hour."
"Fine," Hatcher said.
The group streamed toward the door. Lance brought up the rear, a small voice in her head shouting at her to run far, run fast, and don't look back.
She would be the bait, the decoy, taking the majority of the money and robbers from the bank. It was the car anyone leaving the bank would see and the vehicle they would focus on. Lance didn't understand why she would be holding most of the money when she was attracting the attention of the police, but she trusted it was all part of the bigger plan.
Hatcher, meanwhile, would leave the way Morpheus came in, through the back door. Rebecca would be waiting across the street in an SUV. Lance watched as Hatcher and Rebecca went to the car, then got behind the wheel of her Mustang. Nemesis, Ares and Aphrodite were riding with Lance, Ares perched on the edge of the backseat, rubbing his fingers nervously against his thumb. Aphrodite took the passenger seat, legs twisted around each other in a serpentine way.
As Lance drove through the streets of Shepherd, she kept seeing places where she and Jodie had been together. She took her mind off the pain by focusing on what she would have to do in the coming hours. The plan was to meet up in a small town near the Canadian border to split up the cash. Then they would all go their separate ways.
All Lance could think about was the fact that, if all went according to plan, she would never see Jodie again. She had spent the past two weeks preparing for this moment, but now that it was here it felt unreal. She thought of Jodie at work, going home to an empty apartment. She knew how painful that would be, could almost hear Jodie crying herself to sleep every night, and suddenly doubted her own strength. It was too late to back out now, but she was certain that she was going to see Jodie again, one way or another. Something that special was too rare to just walk away from.
She parked a block away from Hyperion Bank and Ares leaned forward between the two front seats. He pointed at the door. "Bank manager is Torri Hodge. Redhead, tall. There should only be two tellers on duty, maybe one or two people working new accounts. Offices are off to the side. Dite and Nemesis will take care of them."
"Fun, fun," Aphrodite chirped and smiled at Lance.
Rebecca's SUV parked in front of the Mustang. A cell phone rang and Aphrodite answered. "Hello. Where?" She twisted in the seat to look out the back window. Her breasts strained against her white blouse, a white tie crossing her chest like a sash. "It's not a problem."
"What is it?" Ares asked.
"News van parked in front of the bank." Into the phone, she said, "It's nothing to worry about. Time?"
Lance looked at her watch. "Six minutes past ten."
"You're up, Ares," Aphrodite said. She leaned forward so he could get out through the passenger side door. He smoothed his red tie against his chest and adjusted his Saints baseball cap. He jogged across the street and kept his body language casual as he walked down the sidewalk to the bank. Aphrodite shut the door and they wat
ched as the back door of Rebecca's SUV opened.
Morpheus climbed out onto the street. He moved casually, like a businessman running late for a meeting as he hurried down the street and disappeared around the back of the bank. When he was out of sight, Aphrodite looked at her watch and nodded.
Nemesis slid forward in her seat and wrapped her arms around Aphrodite. She pressed her face against Aphrodite's long red hair and said, "We're next."
Aphrodite purred and ran her hand over Nemesis' arm. "I know, baby."
Lance rolled her eyes. Little wonder the woman was named after the goddess of love. She turned away from the groping and put on her sunglasses, pulling the brim of her hat low over her eyes. Touching the brim ignited a memory; standing on the sidewalk with Jodie, Jodie's hands flexing the brim until it bent in half. Kissing while people streamed around them. She'd lost one soul mate, and she wasn't going to throw away a second.
"Time," Aphrodite said. Her voice intruded on Lance's memory. Aphrodite threw open the door and said, "You come in right behind us, Artemis."
"Yeah," Lance said. She waited until they were across the street before she started the engine. She drove closer to the bank, passing Aphrodite and Nemesis. She parked the car at the curb but didn't turn off the engine. She opened the car door, one foot on the asphalt, and watched as the women walked side by side into the bank. She got out of the car, left the door open a crack, and rounded the hood.
Behind her, she could hear Hatcher climbing out of the SUV.
The bank seemed cold, but brighter than outside due to the storm clouds. The air was thick with the not unpleasant odor of a heater being pushed into use after a long summer. Lance's shoes were silent as she crossed the marble floor. She saw Aphrodite and Nemesis outside the new accounts office, and saw Ares approaching the front of the line. Lance doffed her baseball cap and glasses as she went up the stairs, stuffing them into her pocket. She took the gun out and held it against her side as she reached the second floor. When she reached the bank manager's office, she pulled the mask down over her face. She breathed deep, tasting the material of the mask covering her face. "Never in a million years..." she muttered. She shook her head and focused on her assignment.