A couple of hours after the bank had been raided, red and blue flashing lights pierced the dim interior, and I shivered when I saw my parents among the anxious crowd. Theirs were the only faces not worried, and when my mother spotted me, her brows drew together in a fearful scowl that made my heart sink right to the bottom of my toes. I'd be in for more than just a hiding when I got home.
"Ah, we have company," the head robber - whose name was Harry - commented urbanely. "Yeah, I can spot the concerned parents from a mile away. Ah. And I see the mayor and all his cronies." He rubbed his hands together. "This is going to be fun."
"We have the building surrounded!" one of the police officers said through a megaphone. "Come out with your hands up!"
George snorted from his protective stance next to Lisa, who'd gone pale when she saw her estranged husband among the crowd. He was glaring at George with lethal jealousy, but George gave him a cold look that quelled the anger on the other man's face, and he looked ill as he backed up. George nodded in satisfaction.
"Harry strolled over to the door and cracked it open just enough so he could be heard. "Back off," he said cheerfully. "I've got the mayor's fuck-buddy here - pardon my language - and if he doesn't want his boyfriend harmed, he's going to need to step off."
The mayor went white, before anger took over. His wife, on the other hand, looked mortified, and not a few people winced. The mayor was known to be extremenly racist and homophobic, even going so far as to ban gay couples from being affectionate with one another in public, and trying to outlaw inter-racial relationships. To be outed in this way stung, and when the mayor's wife went from horrified to outraged, I knew shit was about to hit the fan.
"That's quite enough," the police officer said sternly. "Now, come out with your hands..."
"Oh, am I forgetting something?" Harry said. "Oh yes, that's right. Crime has increased significantly in this town. Why? There aren't enough resources to go around. Is it funding? Nope. Is it recruits? Nope. It's the bullying culture, driving off good recruits who would be wasted serving with you lot anyways. You're bored, so you pay your criminal friends to cause mayhem so as to make yourselves appear useful. I know you have been fucking your sister-in-law on the side - pardon my language once more - and I know her child isn't her husband's."
Now it was the officer's turn to go pale, and his outraged brother-in-law looked ready to do murder. I had to admire Harry's cleverness. He was very good at delivering some much needed karma to the corrupt officials who had run our town so badly into the ground. But Harry had poked the bear too far; the enraged officer drew his gun with intent to fire. Harry, however, lived up to his reputation as a quick draw - the officer's gun went skittering harmlessly away, while the officer stared at the blood dripping from his wrist. Harry blew him a mocking kiss before locking the door again. "Anyone else want to be brought down a peg or three?" he called through the glass separating him from a mob now bent on murder.
The injured officer glared at him before stalking off to receive treatment for his injured wrist, while one of his colleagues got on the radio. Ten minutes later, special ops arrived, and I felt my heart sink right to the bottom of my toes. These guys didn't fuck around; they had their weapons trained on the bank almost as soon as they arrived, and Harry snapped some curt words to his associates. In moments they'd deployed themselves in a defensive array between us and the special ops outside. "Okay, I think we need to take a step back," Harry called through the glass. "Calling the big guns in because I told a few uncomfortable home truths? That's an overreaction worthy of a five-year-old child, who, ironically, is likely more mature than the lot of you."
"We will not be discussing anything further," the injured officer replied shortly. "You have two minutes to vacate the premises. If you haven't come out with your hands up in that time, we'll have no choice but to open fire."
"And kill innocents?" George said angrily.
The officer shrugged. "Better to lose a few lives than to see you succeed in your twisted scheme," he said pragmatically.
Dead silence fell, and I shivered. My parents were standing close to the front of the crowd, as was Lisa's husband, and I felt sick inside when I saw the revulsion in their eyes. This wasn't revulsion over the possible casulties which might arise from the ticking timebomb we were all sitting on; this was revulsion that their victims would get away from their grasp. Lisa's husband in particular looked very frustrated that his hold on his estranged wife was slipping; I had the nasty feeling he'd do something truly horrible to her if he got his hands on her again, as would my parents.
Harry shed his joking manner as he stared down the barrel of defeat. "You know," he said quietly, but in a way that let his voice carry to the people outside, "I'm not surprised. Very well. I did warn you to back off, but since you're not willing to listen..."
He turned and shot the mayor's boyfriend at point-blank range. I wasn't the only one who screamed; Lisa recoiled in horror, her face going slightly green, but then her next scream came changed in tone as her water broke. Her estranged husband looked furious, but Harry ignored the kerfuffle he'd started. "Forget this nonsense!" he bellowed through the door. "Have a heart and let this lady get medical attention so she can deliver her baby safely!"
The officer didn't budge. "Let her be an example of what it means to defy this town's authority," he said coldly. "I'd say she deserves whatever she gets for defying her husband's direct orders."51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPVmQEpzl6
"This isn't about who's wrong and who's right!" Harry roared. "There's a woman here about to give birth to her baby! If she doesn't get the treatment she needs, she and her child are going to die! I'd rather not have that blood on my hands, thank you very much! I'll do whatever it takes to get you sorry bastards to drop the fucking hostilities! Just help this woman, for Christ's sake!"51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGJHhTF2jqO
That seemed to work, but I fretted as a path was opened up through the waiting crowd. As the paramedics came in to begin attending to Lisa, her husband bullied his way in with them. "I'm going to take that baby from you when it's born," he snapped at his wife. "You knew I didn't want you to have it, but you thought you knew better."
"Sir, move," one of the paramedics ordered, and such was the steel in her tone that Lisa's husband backed away, his face going pale. Harry solved the problem by physically shoving him outside. Lisa, in the meantime, wasn't having an easy time of it, and the paramedics decided to get her transported to hospital for her and her baby's sake. I heard her begging them not to tell her estranged husband which hospital they were going to as they stretchered her out, and I prayed she'd be able to reunite with family who gave two shits about her. I also prayed she'd have the good sense to not put her estranged husband's name on the birth certificate, but I already knew she was going to do that, if for no other reason than to protect her child from his or her vengeful father.
"We've done as you asked," the officer told Harry once the ambulance had pulled away. "Now you do as we ask; surrender, or so help me God, there's going to be a lot more blood spilled tonight."
Harry picked up his gun and aimed it at the officer's chest. "No," he said quietly. "You did as I asked, but you're putting that woman's life on the line nevertheless. Her husband will go to all the hospitals within a ten mile radius and order them not to treat his wife. I saw him on the phone as the ambulance left, and both that woman and her child are going to die tonight."
"Because of something you did," the officer snapped.
"I'm not going to debate semantics with you," Harry replied. "I'm going instead to tell you what's going to happen. I've got the place flooded with my own special ops. Right now they've entered the bank through the back, and they're getting ready to come in and take people away."
I turned, gasping as more balaclava-clad men and women came into the bank, almost as if summoned by magic. As one of them took me by the arm and helped me to my feet, Harry continued. "They're going to a base no one knows about but us. And they're going to stay there until my demands are met."
The officer raised an eyebrow. "Says you," he said.
At that moment, the world exploded.
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