Susan, Tessa, Tony and Lucia
By
Susan walked
calmly into the bank. She smiled shakily at the guard and continued to the
counters. Pushing her way to the front of the line while apologizing to the people,
she reached the clerk and cleared her throat.
“Please don’t
panic, but this is a stickup,” Susan whispered. The woman’s eyes grew round and
Susan glanced at the counter top. “And please don’t push that button; I
wouldn’t want the police to come running in at an inopportune time.” She
reached inside her purse and drew out a wallet. A wad of tissues fell out. She
flipped the purse upside-down and shook it. A few gum wrappers slowly fell to
the counter. She pushed the purse at the clerk.
“Fill it. Large
bills. Move it!”
The woman began
filling the bag quickly. Susan glanced over her shoulder at the guard. He was
leaning against the doorway, talking to a taxi driver. When she turned back to
the clerk, the woman was stepping back, fear in her eyes. The purse sat, half
filled, on the counter.
“Hey, what’s your
problem?” Susan asked, and then looked up at the surveillance cameras
suspiciously. A red light was blinking and a large red strobe light was
glowing. “You!” Susan glared at the clerk. “You pushed that button, even after
I said ‘Please’. Whatcha go and do that for?
Now I have to hide! Do you live to bug me? What’s your problem?”
Her voice sounded sincerely hurt by the woman’s action as she took a step back
and shook her head. “Only one thing left for me to do.” She reached inside her
jacket. The clerk shrieked and fell to the floor.
“All right!
Everybody down!” Susan shouted. The crowd screamed and dropped. Susan pulled
out a cellular phone, opened it, checked the charge, and put it away. She took
another step back and pulled herself onto the counter. Looking down at the
sprawled people, she laughed. She then jumped down on the other side of the
counter. The clerk scuttled away. “Oh please, like you’re worth it,” Susan
muttered.
“Freeze!” shouted
a voice form behind her. She turned cockily and found the guard aiming a
handgun at her head. She shook her head at him.
“I dare you,” she
called to him. He licked his lips and tried to stop the trembling in his hands.
She raised an eyebrow and laughed. “Oh, you are hilarious!” She laughed again
and turned her back on him confidently. “
When she reached
the door, she began to run her hands over it. An observer might have thought
the gesture loving. At a nick in the otherwise smooth metal, she paused. With
her other hand, she pulled a paper clip out of her pocket. She inserted it
carefully into the nick. With it hanging in the small hole, she reached down
and flipped her waistband inside out. A small thread hung from it and she
tugged slowly, causing the end of a thin wire to fall out. She kept pulling
until a small coil of the wire lay before her.
Concentrating, Susan carefully wrapped it
around the end of the paperclip. Satisfied it was holding, she removed her
pearl earring and smacked it against the floor. It cracked and a white
substance oozed out. Susan quickly wiped it on the nick and paperclip,
discarding the empty earring behind her. She attached the other earring to the
end of the wire and flicked it towards the laser beam. It went through the beam
with a crackle and the smell of smoke came from the nick. A “pop-pop-ping”
sounded from behind the paper clip.
Susan stood and pulled on the large
handle. With a loud creak, the door swung open. When it was wide enough, she
slipped in, pulling it closed after her. Then, slowly in order to appreciate
the sight, she turned to look at the stacks of money that awaited her. The dim
light allowed her to see the room and she stepped forward in awe.
“The mounds! The piles! The everlasting money!”
she cried. She began to dance around, laughing. She grabbed handfuls of hundred
dollar bills and threw them up into the air. They rained down on her.
“Susan! Susan! Are they gone? Are we
alone?” a voice called to her. She nodded.
“Yes, we’re alone now. You can come out
now, Lucia,” she replied.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely; we’re alone.”
“No, you’re not!” shouted a new, gruffer
voice.
“Oh no! Not you!” said Lucia.
“Yes, ‘tis I: Tony! And I shall not leave
thee, no matter how ye beg!” he cried dramatically.
“Why do you always talk like that?” asked
another voice.
“Tessa! You’re here too?” Susan asked in
surprise.
“Yep. Decided to stop by and see what
ya’ll are up to.”
“‘Tis a pity. We would have had a more
amusing time had you not come.”
Susan sat cross-legged on the floor as
her friends argued. She leaned against a stack of bills and took a relaxing
breath. A clank of body armor brought her to her feet. She snuck to the door
and put her ear to it. Suddenly she heard the rustle of what must be policemen
gathering in the hall. She opened the door a crack, wincing at the creak.
“Hey, police dudes! I wouldn’t try
anything if I were you!” Silence responded to her shouts. Then, a deep voice
called out.
“Why shouldn’t we? You don’t have
anything that could possibly hurt us.”
Susan paused and clenched her fist,
thinking furiously. In a bragging voice, she retorted.
“I have, uh, three hostages!” Again
silence answered her. “Like I said, don’t mess with me!”
“We have a psychiatrist here to talk to
you; will you listen?”
“Sure, what harm can a shrink do?”
A rustle of fabrics, someone cleared
their throat.
“Susan? Susan Albright?” called a gravely
female voice.
“How the … did she know my name?” Susan muttered. Louder,
she yelled, “Yeah, whaddya want?”
“I just want to talk to you. Susan, why are you doing this?
Why rob a bank? Why hold hostages?”
“I thought you were just gone talk, not ask
questions.” Silence. “Okay, I’ll tell ya why. Cause I got bored with having everything.
I had the loving family, the great school, good grades, tons of friends, and
even a few nice boyfriends. But you know what I never got enough of? Money!
I can’t get enough! So I took some! A lot! I took the bank!” She began to laugh
hysterically.
“Susan why couldn’t you just train to be a doctor or a
lawyer? They get good money. Did you think of that?”
“Oh sure! I thought of that, but I wanted it now! Not in ten
or twenty years!”
“I see…”
“Don’t ‘I see’ me! I know all about that crap! You’re gonna
tell me that now I’ve ruined my future, I’m too young to do this, so much ahead
of me, blah, blah, blah! Don’t even bother trying!”
“Susan, how many hostages did you say you have?”
“Uhhh, four.”
“I thought you said you had three earlier. I must have heard
you wrong.”
Crap!
Susan thought. Aloud she says, “Well, there are four! I forgot about one guy!”
“You forgot?” A pause. “Never mind. Susan, can I talk to one
of them?”
“Uh, I’ve got them all gagged.”
“Can’t you un-gag someone? Please?” Silence. “Susan?”
“Yeah…yeah, okay. Wait a sec.” She turned and began to pace.
“Susan!” Tessa said suddenly. “Who’re your hostages?”
“You guys are.”
“What?!”
“Us?”
“No way!” Their voices mingled.
“ ‘Fraid so. Tessa will you talk to her?”
“Sure, why not? Nothing better to do. Not like I’m busy.”
“Thanks, Tess!”
“Hey! Shrink lady! You wanna talk!”
“Yes, what’s your name?”
“Tessa, what’s yours?”
“My name is Jackie. Is Susan treating the hostages well?”
“Well enough, considering.”
“That’s good. How are the others?”
“Fine, fine, you know you’re beginning to bore me. Why don’t
you talk to Susan some more? See ya!”
“Wait!” Jackie cried. Silence. “Susan? Susan?”
“What?”
“What do you want in exchange?”
“For the hostages? How about all the money in this bank?
Including everyone’s wallets and purses.”
“Isn’t that a little too much to expect?”
“No.” Silence. “Listen, Tessa is right. You’re starting to
bore me. I think I’ll stop talking to you now.”
“Susan?” Silence. “Susan?”
It’s been an hour now. She still keeps calling out “Susan”.
Tessa, Tony and Lucia have been taking turns making fun of her and counting the
money. Maybe she’ll get tired of it and quit. I hope so…
Susan
was writing in her diary. She always had it with her, and she’d decided to
write about today while she was holed up. She glanced up at the door realizing
that Jackie Whoever had stopped. Susan stood with her diary in hand. The door
creaked open slowly and a small troop of policemen jumped in. Susan was only
worried about her precious diary and reached to put it in her jacket pocket.
“Freeze!”
one cop yelled.
She
pulled her hand out of her jacket. He fired and she staggered back. A bullet
hole is in her shirt at the breast. She looked down at it, then at the cop. He
stepped towards her slowly, but she grins, making him stop.
“You
poor fool! I can’t be hurt by a bullet!” She finished putting her diary away
while he and his cop-friends stand there. She walked towards him and he watches
warily.
“Freeze!”
he yelled again, his voice a little unsteady. She doesn’t stop and he fires
again. She flinches and looks at his gun.
He gasps and steps back.
She reaches for it.
He fires again.
And again.
And again.
And once more, until…she grinned at him evilly and grabbed
it out of her hand. His buddies surround her, aiming at her chest, head, and
belly. She laughs wildly, the gun swinging around.
Someone in the group panics and shoots her twice in the
stomach. She gasps and falls slowly to the ground. The cops approach the
twitching body. She is still breathing. The leader grabs her shoulder.
“Where are the hostages?” he demands.
“They…aren’t here. They are here.” She tapped her forehead.
“I have MPD. Tell Jackie I’m sorry. Didn’t want to do this, they made me…” she
fades off. Her eyes stare at nothing and the leader closed her eyes. He stood.
“Well, that’s over with now,” he stated.
“Sarge, why didn’t the first six bullets hurt her?”
“Good question.” He turned to the body and peeled back the
jacket. A book fell out and he picked it up. “Diary” it said across the cover.
The lock is thick and winds around the entire book. It also had six small metal
disks embedded in it.
“I’m sure the shrink will be interested in this. Someone
call the coroner!”