Confused by Shadows

by Geonn Cannon

  Hatcher took the book from Ares. "We're not going to use this for personal gain. The plan isn't to blackmail them so they can continue ruining lives. We're going to walk out of this bank and hand the book over."

  "Like hell we are," Ares said. "One page of that thing, and all of us could be set for life."

  Aphrodite nodded, smiling with dollar signs in her eyes.

  "That's not the point."

  Ares stepped forward. "You hired us to rob a bank. We're robbing the bank." He snatched the book from Hatcher's hands and held it up. "This is a gold mine. We ain't leaving it. And I saw some of the stuff Morpheus was bringing out of the safe deposit room. We aren't just going to walk away from that."

  "I hired you to assist me," Hatcher said. "This is it. We're done."

  "I would really like to take your orders," Ares said as he brought his gun up, "but you ain't in charge anymore."

  Hatcher didn't blink as the gun pressed against the lapel of his jacket. "Ares, put the gun down."

  "Aphrodite, please disarm our new hostage."

  Lance tensed and watched the tension radiate between the two men.

  "Don't do it," Hatcher said.

  Aphrodite stepped forward and took Hatcher's rifle. "Sorry, Zeus. You're not king of the hill anymore."

  "Athena will—"

  "When was the last time you talked to her?" Ares said. "How long has it been, huh? I think she turned tail as soon as this started going south."

  Hatcher said, "She's just relocating to a more secure location. With the added police presence in the area—"

  "She's left you high and dry. This is not your game anymore, Mr. Hatcher. Now please, kindly take a seat with the rest of the hostages."

  Hatcher reached for the book and Ares dropped his gun arm slightly. He fired, and Hatcher jerked back as if Ares had punched him in the shoulder. Hatcher went down on one knee and clutched his arm, face red, but he refused to cry out. The hostages screamed and moved away from the doors.

  Ares put an arm around Hatcher, like a man helping his drunk buddy walk home, and walked him into the office with Torri and the tellers. He dumped Hatcher in front of the desk, removed the earpiece, and patted him down quickly to make sure he didn't have any weapons. "Don't be afraid, ladies and gentlemen. Everything's fine. We just had what's called a hostile takeover." He smiled. "Have a nice day."

  He turned and started toward the front counter. Just as he arrived, the phone rang. He turned on the speakerphone and Camden began shouting immediately. "Zeus, what the hell just happened in there? We heard a gunshot. Are the hostages—"

  "Calm down, Detective. We just had a little difference of opinion, that's all."

  There was a pause as Camden registered the new voice. "Who is this? To whom am I speaking?"

  "Ares. New king of Olympus."

  "What happened to Zeus?"

  "Out of the picture."

  "Your van has arrived. I assume you still want that?"

  Ares laughed. "You bet your ass I do."

  "Well, then I'm going to need to be reassured that things aren't deteriorating in there. I want a hostage."

  Ares considered it, working his head from side to side. He pursed his lips and said, "All right. I suppose I could do that."

  "They come out the door in two minutes, or we go in. Do you understand me?"

  Ares disconnected the call and went back to the offices. "Which hostage annoys you the most, Nemesis? Pick one."

  Nemesis clasped her hands behind her back and looked between the two offices. She chewed her bottom lip and finally pointed at Cassie Stark. "Send her."

  "Why her?" Ares said.

  "She's a teacher. She's pretty. And she's really scared."

  Ares went into the office and waved Cassie up. "Come on. You won the lottery."

  "What?" she said.

  "You're going home," Lance said from behind Ares.

  Cassie got to her feet and looked at the other hostages. She smoothed her skirt down against her thighs and said, "W-what about everyone else?"

  "Just you, darlin'," Ares said. "Come on. Got a deadline. Let's go."

  While Ares walked Cassie to the door, Lance went into the other office. Hatcher was pale, sweating, but he was sitting up and conscious. He'd pulled his tie off and wrapped it around his upper arm. He was trying to tie it one handed, since the other hostages were keeping their distance from him. Lance put down her gun and knelt to tie the tourniquet for him.

  "Sorry I didn't do anything," she said.

  "You would be right here on the floor next to me if you had." He grunted and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Just keep that psycho from hurting anyone else."

  Lance nodded and stood up. She caught Torri's eye and saw that Carey was still asleep. Lance said, "Is she all right?"

  "She's overexcited. She was having a panic attack. I calmed her down."

  "Pills?"

  Torri hesitated.

  "If they can be used as painkillers, I suggest you spare one for the man who was about to let you all go."

  She left the office and caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Tania was waving her hand over her head. "Great," Lance muttered. "This should be good." She went to the doorway and said, "What?"

  "I have to go to the bathroom."

  Lance sighed and turned around. "Aphrodite."

  "No. I want you to take me. I don't trust that woman in the mask. At least I can see your face."

  Lance closed her eyes. She sighed and said, "All right. Stand up." Tania stood and Aphrodite approached the door. "Watch them. I'm apparently on bathroom patrol."

  She led Tania down the hall to the ladies room and gestured at the stall. "Go on."

  "I don't need to go to the bathroom. I just wanted to talk to you."

  Lance closed the door. "Fine. Talk."

  "Rebecca checked into Ares and his team before she set all this up. She knew he was a loose cannon, but she thought Hatcher would be able to control him. I guess she was wrong."

  "It certainly looks that way."

  "Morpheus, Aphrodite and Nemesis, they're all loyal to him. They won't do anything. If you want to save these hostages, you're going to have to take over. You're going to have to take Ares out of the picture."

  Lance rolled her eyes. "Great."

  "Aw, come on. You're good at getting inconvenient people out of your way."

  "Your problems with Jodie started long before I showed up."

  Tania nodded. "Yeah. You just put the final nail in the coffin. I just wanted to tell you that with Ares at the helm, there's no way this can end peacefully."

  "Nemesis named him after the god of war," Lance said. "I would have figured it out. I think you just wanted to turn the screws on me a little bit. You want to blame me for breaking up your relationship, fine, go ahead. But one day you'll have to come to terms with the fact that Jodie chose me."

  "Yeah," Tania said. "And look how well that turned out."

  She started for the door, but Lance stopped her. "You might as well see if you can pee. I'm not bringing you back."

  Tania scoffed and went into one of the stalls.

  Lance closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. She had what she wanted; the hostage situation would continue. But it was the worst possible turn of events. She was going to have to start being more careful who she prayed to. Tania's attempt to hurt her had the opposite effect; it awoke memories of Jodie that played across the backs of her eyelids like scenes in a movie.

  "Look into my eyes."

  "Are you going to try and hypnotize me?"

  The corners of Jodie's mouth twisted up. "Just do it, bitch."

  The toilet flushed and Tania came out of the stall. She took a moment to wash her hands and said, "All right. Back to my cell, warden."

  "Why are you involved with this?"

  "I assume Jodie told you I used to be a cop?" Lance dipped her chin. "They accused me of something I didn't do. I fought it for as long as I could, but eventually you have t
o just throw down arms and admit you're being fucked." Lance tried to ignore how their stories paralleled. "I got a job as a security guard. When Rebecca mentioned this job, told me what Hatcher was going through, I decided to help him out. Do one good thing."

  "You consider this a good thing?" Lance said.

  "This is obviously downstream from the shit factory," Tania said. The whole thing was supposed to take less than five minutes. If that news lady hadn't been here, or if someone had thought to check her camera—"

  "Or if someone had shut off the back door alarm like they were supposed to."

  Tania pressed her lips together. "The back door was... I thought..."

  "Whatever. At least when this is all over, you get to walk away without consequences. Except the security company will probably fire you. Another job lost, and once again it wasn't your fault."

  "Watch yourself, Artemis."

  Lance stepped away from the wall and opened the bathroom door. "Come on. Let's get you back before they start thinking you fell in." She followed Tania out of the bathroom and out into the main room of the bank. She left Tania on the floor of the office and then scanned the rest of the group. Aphrodite and Morpheus were the only ones still wearing their masks. Ares was pacing back and forth in front of the counter, tapping his gun against his thigh. Nemesis was once again on the brick wall that surrounded the plants, but now she was lying down with the lapels of her jacket hanging down like folded wings.

  Outside, the rain was starting to pick up. Lance thought she heard thunder, but it could easily have been the police moving heavy vehicles around the bank. Surrounding them more completely. She didn't want to spend any more time than necessary with the hair-trigger Ares, so she looked over the group of hostages and said, "Does anyone else need to go?" A few hands slowly rose. Lance pointed to Archie. "Come on. You're first. The rest of you will get a turn. Sit tight."

  She led Archie out of the office and down the hall. She felt Ares' eyes on her, but she refused to turn and meet his gaze. As much as she hated to admit it, Tania was right. If the situation was going to end without any more bloodshed, it was going to be up to her to take charge and get Ares out of the picture.

  "This is some crazy shit, huh?" Archie said as he went into the bathroom.

  "Yeah," Lance said, following him in. "Definitely some crazy shit."

  #

  The front door of the bank opened a crack, revealing only darkness within. Mallory and Agent Weaver stood at the barricade with Detective Camden. The sleet had picked up and Mallory was wearing a borrowed jacket from the back of Weaver's car. The collar stuck up on either side of her face and she had a mental image of Nosferatu peering around the edge of his cape. She didn't mind the comparison; she was sure Lance already saw her as a monster. Might as well continue the comparison.

  A moment after the door opened, a woman slipped out. She stood in front of the doors for a moment with both arms wrapped around her body, and then she stepped uncertainly into the street. Camden said, "It's all right, ma'am, just walk this way."

  She spotted him, and the badge on his hip, and broke into a trot. She ran into Camden's arms, clinging to him as he guided her behind the barricade. She was already shivering from the cold, hard rain. Camden slipped his jacket off and onto her shoulders with one swift move as he guided her toward the truck. "What's your name?"

  "Cassie Stark," the woman said. She was sobbing, her hair sticking to her cheeks and forehead. "My...my shoes are still in there."

  "That's all right. We'll get you some shoes," Camden said. "Can you tell me who was shot?"

  "One of the men, the robbers," she said. "They had some book, and the black man, I mean...the man with the red tie. I mean, he wasn't wearing the tie anymore. He used it to gag that, that other man. The other hostage. Anyway, the black man didn't want to give it back to the man in charge. The man in the yellow tie. They argued, and then the man in the red tie shot the other man in the arm. He said the man in the yellow tie was a hostage now."

  "Okay. You've been a big help, Cassie. Thank you. Officer Locke—"

  "Your jacket, wait."

  "No, you keep that for now," Camden said. He thanked Officer Locke and wiped the rain from his face with one hand. Mallory doubted his heart rate had slowed since they heard the loud pop coming from inside the bank. He looked at the FBI agents and then said, "It looks like the guy on the phone was telling the truth, which means he's probably the shooter. How can we use that?"

  "Are we sure we can?" Weaver said. "Zeus at least seemed reasonable. Seemed to be willing to work toward a peaceful solution. Let's not forget he managed to take the entire bank down without firing a single shot. This new guy, Ares, went straight for the gunplay. He's a psychopath."

  "That may be so, but he's a psychopath we're going to have to negotiate with. The plus is that we know he's willing to resort to violence. We definitely know those hostages are in mortal danger."

  "How is that a plus?" Weaver asked.

  Camden started back toward the MCU, speaking over his shoulder as he climbed the stairs. "It means that if and when we have to use deadly force, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it."

  #

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  As the intensity of the storm increased, the inside of the bank grew increasingly darker. Lance knew there was probably a switch somewhere to turn on more lights, but she didn't bother looking for them. On one of her trips to the bathroom, she discovered the break room. After she escorted the last hostage to the bathroom and back to the office, she went back to investigate.

  She discovered a half-full carafe of coffee, a vending machine, and a fridge full of food. She examined the food and set aside the ones marked with Torri, Wendy and Carey's names. She hesitated at the vending machine, but then, deciding it would be her smallest sin of the day, broke the glass with the butt of her gun. She grabbed a wide assortment of candy bars and chips, gathering them in an empty trash bag.

  She brought the food out to the offices and handed the employees their lunches. "Might as well get to eat it," she said.

  "Thank you," Torri said. She woke Carey and they each took a candy bar. "You're not like the others."

  "I don't think the subtle differences matter to the people outside."

  "I'll tell them you were kind. When the time comes."

  "Seriously," Lance said. "It won't matter. Let me know if you want some coffee."

  She went into the other office and handed out the candy. James Callaway still had Ares' tie in his mouth and glared at her when she walked by. She undid the knot and he stretched his jaw. Lance gave him a Snickers bar and said, "Keep quiet and they won't need to gag you again."

  She stopped in the office door and saw Aphrodite was watching her. "Excellent work," she said. "You'll be elected patron saint of bank hold-ups in no time."

  "Sue me for showing some compassion," Lance said. She looked across the lobby and saw Nemesis appeared to be asleep. "Is she okay?"

  Aphrodite looked and shrugged. "She'll be fine."

  "No. Mentally. Is she okay?"

  "She's fine. She just sees things a little differently from the rest of us."

  "The two of you rob a lot of banks together?"

  "We've done a few. The four of us."

  "You, Ares, Nemesis and Morpheus." Aphrodite nodded. "Are you always Greek gods?"

  Aphrodite laughed. "No. Usually it's just whatever strikes her fancy. One time we were baseball teams. I was Mariner, she was Cub."

  "I don't need the details. You didn't notice Ares was this unstable?"

  "Ares is used to being in charge. He didn't like having to take orders from some green asshole. He did us a favor getting rid of Hatcher. Do you have any idea what our haul was going to be? A pittance. Barely worth getting out of bed. But now, thanks to Ares, we're going to be set for life." She considered it for a moment and then shrugged. "Or, well, at least a couple of years."

  The phone rang again and Ares crossed the floor to answer it. He
turned on the speakerphone. "Detective, my friend. Tell me the roads to Canada are clear."

  "We're still working on it," Camden said. "It's taking a little longer than we thought, what with the weather. There was a four car pile-up and—"

  "I don't need to know why you're not following through."

  "We're following through. Trust me, we don't want anyone else hurt on either side, okay? I wanted to let you know we have an ambulance here. EMTs are prepared to go in and take a look at your friend. We just want to make sure no one dies, okay?"

  "We already got a doctor in here." He looked at Martin's father.

  Bryden returned the stare until he realized that Ares meant him. "What? No. I'm not—"

  "I thought you said you were a doctor."

  "No." He closed his eyes. "I'm a dentist. I'm, I'm just a dentist."

  Ares rolled his eyes and stalked toward the window. He spread the blinds with two fingers and peered out at the street. Two people in heavy duty rain gear stood next to the open back doors of an ambulance. They wore raincoats with hoods flipped up over their blue caps. The flashing red and white lights reflected off the rain on the streets. "Are they going to be armed?"

  "No, not if you don't want them to be."

  "They're not going to take him out. Just come in, take a look at his arm, and get out. Right?"

  "Absolutely. You're the boss here, Ares."

  Ares let the blinds fall back into place and walked back to the counter, "Okay. Whatever. Send 'em in."

  He hung up the phone and went to the front door. He opened the lock, pulled his mask down over his face, and waited for the EMTs to get close.

  Lance put on her mask as well, and woke Nemesis. "We're about to have guests."

  Nemesis smiled and stretched her arms over her head. "I love guests."

  Lance rolled Nemesis' mask down over her face. "Just to be on the safe side."

  Nemesis put her hands over her now-blank face and twisted her neck from side to side. Lance watched the display, the reaction of someone whose features had really just disappeared, and said, "Are you okay?"

  "Blank," Nemesis said. "Just blank. Fine." She slipped off the brick wall and walked to Aphrodite's side. She wrapped her arms around Aphrodite's waist, put her head on her shoulder, and looked toward the door.