Hey guys!
I wrote a new story, I hope you'll like it.
Enjoy!
"They tried to open it, right here."
"And how did they get in?" Ray asked the bank manager, Mr. Peyton.
"I have no idea! We have an alarm system and I don't think there's a way to get into this bank without setting it off!" Mr. Peyton replied desperate.
"Inside job, maybe?" Greg asked while taking a look around. They were standing in front of the vault. The door to the vault had visible tool marks all over. Obviously, they weren't able to get into the vault. "Or maybe through one of these windows? Are they connected to the alarm system?" He pointed his flash light on very small windows. It was hard to imagine that a person would fit through it, but it might be possible, he thought.
"I don't know, but I can check with the security company." Mr. Peyton went over to his office, only a few feet away from the vault.
"Did you find anything useful yet?" Greg went over to Ray.
"They didn't leave any fingerprints behind, but a shoe print." Ray pointed down on the ground. "I also found..." He was distracted by loud noise coming from the lobby. "What was that?" Noticing that Greg, again, didn't carry a gun, he told him to stay there while he went to check it out.
It was silent now. Greg didn't hear any noise coming from the lobby. He was sure Ray had everything under control, but was wondering what happened. "Mr. Peyton, please stay in your office, I just want to check on my partner," he said while walking towards the door.
"What's going on?" Mr. Peyton asked, looking out the office.
"I'm sure everything's fine," Greg said with a smile on his face while opening the door.
"Stop!" a masked man yelled at him, standing in the door.
Greg quickly got his hands up. He sure didn't expect to see this on the other side of the door.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked, pointing his gun at him.
"I-I'm with the crime lab," Greg responded nervously.
"You have a gun like your friend out there?"
He shook his head.
The man patted him down, anyways. "Is someone with you?"
"The bank manager is in his office."
"Come on." The masked man grabbed Greg's arm and they went into the office. "Open the vault!" he demanded.
Mr. Peyton opened the vault with shaking hands.
The masked man pushed both Greg and Mr. Peyton into the vault and threw three bags to them. "Fill them up with money, and make it quick!" he said, standing outside the vault and pointing his gun at them. They both did and they had to carry the bags for the masked man.
"Come on, let's get to the lobby."
When they walked in, Ray was pointing a gun at the other, now unarmed, masked robber.
"What's going on?" the masked man, walking in with Greg and the bank manager, yelled surprised, pointing his gun at Ray.
"The police is on the way. Put your gun down," Ray replied in a calm voice.
"YOU put the gun down!" he yelled threatening, standing several feet away from Ray and his partner in crime.
Greg didn't know what to do. Would he be able to disarm the man? The man was about as tall as he was and didn't look too strong, but still, Greg didn't dare trying. Ray slowly shook his head, letting Greg know he shouldn't try to disarm the masked man.
Unfortunately, Mr. Peyton did. He tackled the man, but wasn't able to overpower him. After a short tussle, in which Greg took part of, trying to help Mr. Peyton, the man fired a shot. It hit Mr. Peyton in the chest.
Screams were heard in the bank, everybody got down, covering their ears.
Ray quickly pointed his gun at the shooter, ready to take him out.
"Don't!" the man yelled, grabbing Greg and using him as a human shield, putting the barrel of the gun on him.
At the same moment, the other bank robber pulled out another gun, pointing it at Ray. "Put your gun down, now," he said rather calm.
Ray sighed, more annoyed than scared. "Give up, the police is already coming. You hear the sirens?"
"Put your gun down or my partner will shoot him!" the masked man, pointing his gun at Ray, yelled.
"You really don't want to shoot anyone working for the police," Greg whispered to the man pointing the gun at him.
"Shut up!" he yelled, pressing the barrel of his gun on Greg's neck with more pressure. Greg's cell phone rang, causing the masked man to startle. "What the hell's that?"
"My phone... They probably want to talk to you..."
Four police cars were standing outside the bank now, with Detective Reed trying to call Greg.
"Answer it!" the man pointing his gun at Ray said.
Greg did. "Sanders."
"Thank god you're okay! How many are there?" Reed asked.
"Two." When Greg said that, the robber hit him with his gun on the head, causing Greg to drop the cell phone and slumping to the ground.
"Greg?"
"Who told you to answer any questions? You, get me the phone!" he said to one of the hostages. The hostage reluctantly got up to pick the phone up from the floor and handed it to the robber with shaking hands, quickly running back to where he was sitting before.
"Let us leave the bank without any problems," he said, talking on the phone.
"Release the hostages first," Reed answered.
"We won't hurt them if you just let us go."
"Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah."
"Let me talk to one of the CSIs and I'll do my best to get you out of there."
He thought for a moment, then covered the speaker with his hand and said to Greg, "One word about any injuries and I'll shoot one of the hostages, you understand?"
Greg nodded, looking at Mr. Peyton, lying on the floor bleeding.
"This is Greg."
"Greg, did they hurt anyone? Are the hostages okay?"
"They're all scared, but... no one got hurt. Yet."
The masked man grinned.
"Just let them go, they're harmless," Greg said, hoping Reed would understand that that's how he tried to let her know they're dangerous. He hoped she knew he'd never refer to armed robbers as harmless, and she did.
"Alright, thanks. Hang in there." She hung up.
"You're not going to get off that easily," Ray said aggressively. "Release the hostages now!"
Greg was getting angry with Ray. Aggressive behavior towards the hostage takers didn't help right now. Let Reed take care of it, he thought. Hostage situations usually had a happy ending as long as everybody tried not to upset the hostage takers. And right now, Ray seemed to do anything possible to upset them.
"Oh yeah? You're not the one in charge here, so shut up!" one of the men yelled. "How about you put down the gun and sit down next to the others? I'll let your friend do the same, then," he said, pressing his gun against Greg's neck.
It was obvious in Greg's face that this hurt him, but Ray didn't really seem to care. "I'm not gonna put my gun down."
"Yeah well, me neither. But maybe my finger will slip and pull the trigger. I don't think that'll be too good for your friend here, right?" he said grinning, using more pressure against Greg's neck.
"Jesus Christ, Ray! Put your gun down!" Greg said nervously.
"One shot. That's all it needs for the police out there to storm the bank. You really don't want that, so keep your finger far away from the trigger." Ray sounded quite confident.
He was right. Of course it would be stupid to start shooting right now, but Greg wasn't willing to trust that the robbers won't do anything rash without considering the consequences. Ray, on the other hand, didn't seem to have a problem trusting. It wasn't his life on the line, though, Greg thought.
Both the robbers and Ray and Greg noticed that the hostages were getting more and more nervous and anxious. They also heard noises coming from the vault, where Greg and the armed man were just coming from.
"Shit! Are they already inside?" the masked man said nervous.
"Go and check it out!" the other one said.
"You'll stay here," Ray said, still having the masked man at gunpoint. "You're not going anywhere."
"We'll see about that," he replied, feeling challenged by Ray. He placed Greg right in front of him, going out the room with him as a shield.
And now, the other masked man was still pointing his gun at Ray, but Ray didn't point his at anyone.
"Heh. What are you gonna do now, huh?" the masked man said mocking.
But Ray just grinned unimpressed.