Diamond in the Rough

Certain of the time, bank manager Claire Keesey unlocks the double reinforced doors that lead out into Kenmore square. Her colleagues are already setting up for their day, a smile on every face. Her assistant manager, David stands by her side, politely asking about her weekend.

The bandits move with lightning speed and violence. The four men are wearing black jump suits their identities hidden by grotesque halloween masks, brandishing AK-47 rifles. Doug grabs Claire by the arm and leads her behind the counter, his grip is firm but not causing her any discomfort. Jem is in pursuit, the assistant bank manager being pushed to the floor. Doug tosses Gloansy the two sets of keys and tells everyone to lay on the floor and kick their shoes off.

The seven staff members do as they are told, panic finally setting in.
Gloansy tells the staff to hand over their cell-phones and throws them into a jar that had been emptied of sweets, drowning them in water from the cooler by the payphone.
Doug leads Claire to the main vault, Jem covering his back and keeping an eye on the staff who are in various stages of panic.

"What's the time lock set for?" Doug asks.

"Nine. When the bank opens" Claire stutters, her head down trying not to look at the gun.

"If you're not telling the truth we're gonna kill your friend"

Claire turns to see Jem hanging onto David, the gun pressed against the back of his head.

"Eight-eighteen" she corrects herself.

"When it hits, no panic code. Open it clean. Understand?"

She nods and starts counting down the seconds to count down. The mechanism clicks and the gunman, Doug puts in the master key. With a shaking hand she reaches out to touch the keypad, her breath ragged. She twists the dial and swears when the door doesn't open.

"Quit stalling" Jem says in a mean tone.

"How long before a duress delay?" Doug asks calmer than his partner in crime. He checks to see Des and Gloansy keeping watch, making sure none of the staff are anywhere near panic alarms.

"Uh..th..three minutes"

"You want us here another fifteen minutes?" She shakes her head and recoils as he takes her hand into his own. She can feel the smoothness and softness of the leather.

"Breathe. Once you start do not stop, alright?"
His tone is almost soothing, like a father to a child who has just fallen off their bike and hurt themselves.

Claire enters the code into the keypad and breathes a sigh of relief when the locks click open. She is thrown to the floor by Jem and she watches him as he spins the metal wheel on the door, grunting with effort.

Inside the vault, Doug and Jem remove the dye packs and tracers in the bundles of money, snapping off the colour coded bands before shoving the bundles into black sports bags. Doug emerges from the vault and is stopped dead by Gloansy who is pointing to the doors,someone on the outside trying to get in.

Everyone is quiet.

Claire peeks at Doug who is watching her through his mask and looks away when the person on the outside finally gives up. With her bare toe she pushes in the panic button and prays that none of the men have spotted her. The robber with the soft voice stares at her and she knows she is dead, but he looks away.

Doug stares at a terrified Claire and announces that they need to leave. Now.

Gloansy pulls zip cuffs from his bag and secures all the staff members to chairs, David and Claire included as Jem and Des drown everything in bleach.

"Hold it" Des says touching his ear

"Silent alarm. This address"

"Who did it?" Jem barks at the staff members. Some are crying, some are completely silent. No one is willing to own up for activating the silent alarm system.

"Doesn't matter. Let's go" Doug says as he pulls one of the sports bags onto his shoulder, his gun ready to be used if the need arises.

"Look, no one did anything-" David says, but is stopped suddenly when the butt of Jem's rifle crashes into his head, the chair falling back. Jem reigns down punches on the man's head, the sound of Claire screaming not phasing him in the slightest.
Jem reaches for a bottle of bleach and is ready to pour it over the assistant manager's face , but is stopped by Doug.

"Let's go. Load the bags and let's get the hell out of here"

Doug pours the bleach over the teller stations and turns to see that the woman who opened the vault isn't there. He makes his way out to the awaiting van and sees her sitting in the back.

"Fuck is this?"

"They get us walled in. We need her" Jem replies.

"Leave her" Doug orders, but realises that Jem won't do what is asked of him. They need to go and he doesn't want to waste anymore time arguing about it.

*****

Claire tries to keep herself calm as the van swerves on the road, presumably to get through traffic or avoid the cops. She tries not to cry underneath her blindfold, one made from the material of her jacket. The men are talking, but she doesn't understand what they are saying.

The calm one had told her everything would be fine, but the angry one had threatened her and told her he had her drivers license and read it back to her. It is bad enough she is in this mess without these psycho's knowing where she lives and who she is. The van stops suddenly and the sliding door of the van is opened. She can feel cool air against her skin.

"Out of the van" the calm one says, guiding her out. She can feel stones underneath her bare feet.

"Keep walking until you feel water on your toes. Do not look back. Do not take off the blindfold until you're at the water."

She nods briefly in understanding of what's he must do. Hesitantly she starts to walk, fearing that the bank robbers might have her walking over the edge of a cliff, but still she is too scared to check if they are still there. She breathes heavily through her mouth, her hands clenched together. All of a sudden she can feel a ripple of cold water against her toes, so she takes off the blindfold and looks around. No one is there.