Week 3.2 – Getting Away With It

Previously: The Voice on the Phone threatened to kill the hostage if the police didn’t dispatch cops to bank immediately. But the police suspected a false alarm, so Digger pulled a pistol on one of the tellers. And now…

Digger aimed the pistol at the ceiling and squeezed the trigger. Nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing.

“You’ve got to flip the safety, by your thumb there,” called the guard from the corner.

“Thanks,” Digger said. He flipped the safety, then mouthed “Cover your ears” to Judith. She was barely able to get her hands over her ears before he fired three shots into the ceiling. She blinked and started back as the first shot sounded. The phone didn’t go with her. By the third shot, she was sitting on the floor, her back pressed up against the glass wall of the office, and there were cries of dismay from the cluster of people in the lobby.

“Do you believe her now?” Digger shouted at the telephone handset on the floor. He put the burner phone back up to his ear. “Satisfied?”

“Very,” said the Voice. “The call is going out on dispatch now. I’m sending you the new map.”

Digger put the call on speaker as he brought up the map. It was in approximately the same area as the warehouse where he had awakened less than an hour ago. “You have 27 minutes to get there,” said the Voice. “I’m giving you a couple extra so you can lose any police pursuit. Show up alone, or pop goes the hostage.”

“I still don’t get it,” Digger said. “Why make a big deal out of calling the police to the bank if I’m not supposed to get arrested?”

“Challenge,” said the Voice. Digger was getting very tired of that word. “Stop wasting time. The police are on their way.”

Digger hung up the call and set the pistol on the desk. Judith looked at the pistol as if it were a live bomb set to blow if she so much as breathed. “Sorry,” Digger said.

He turned and went out into the lobby. The knot of people in the corner looked at him fearfully, except for one woman to the left of the security guard. She didn’t spare Digger so much as a glance, being too busy glaring at the guard.

“I hate to make the cops come all the way back here and miss them again,” Digger said as he headed for the door. “But at least this time, you can prove to them it’s not a prank call, right? Sorry for the disturbance.”

He went out the door into the afternoon sunshine, watched by everyone in the bank except one. The guard looked at the woman glaring at him. “What?”

“You’re the security guard,” she said. “You’re supposed to help us, not him.”

“What are you talking about?”

She puffed out her cheeks and crossed her eyes. “Oh, ya gotta flip the safety there, derp-derp-derp.”

The guard’s eyes took on a hurt expression. “I don’t talk like that.”

“Moron.”

Outside, as the wail of sirens drew closer, Digger tucked the bag of cash under his arm and took to the rooftops to make his escape.

What will happen next? Join us tomorrow for the next exciting episode!

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