Title:
Heist.
Rating:
Um…PG13-R
Beta:
loracj2.Thanks
for the huge, huge help Loracj. All remaining mistakes are due to my
stupidity and nothing to do with Loracj. :)
Disclaimer:
I don't own The OC, Ryan or Benjamin McKenzie.
Story:
All in the title really. Set post
finale.
Notes:
As requested Hero! In peril Ryan! Yeay!
Heist.
Chapter 2
The sounds of car doors slamming and shouting could be heard. Red and blue lights from outside filtered in through the glass.
"Thank God."
The woman lying next to Ryan whispered to herself. Ryan was glad of that because he'd hate to have to tell her that the cops showing up right now was a bad thing, a really bad thing indeed. The woman obviously had faith that the cops were going to end this right now.
Ryan knew that wasn't going to happen.
The cops wouldn't do anything unless they knew what they were dealing with, and by the time they did then it would be too late to act. All the cops had managed to do was trap them all inside with two mean assholes who had guns, and would now be beyond pissed that their get rich scheme was going to probably land them ten to twelve in the slammer. Panicked shouting from the bad guys confirmed what Ryan was thinking. They were clearly not about to surrender, and the cops would not back down.
"We have the bank surrounded. Come out with your hands behind your head." A tinny voice shouted through a megaphone.
One of the men rushed to the windows.
"Fuck…there's at least twenty cops out there …fuck. This isn't happening…we had at least five minutes. " He was almost hyperventilating.
Ryan moved his head from the crouched position he'd fallen in so he could see what was going on. The guy had figured out, as he had, that the cops arrived too quickly. It couldn't have been from the cashiers' alarm. Someone close must have turned stool pigeon. That was a problem with bottom feeders like this; they all screwed each other over. His father had learned that the hard way.
The cops issued their warning again. The men ignored it.
They'd quickly reached a stalemate and Ryan knew that each of them had now become chess pieces.
One of the guys was at the windows lowering the blinds; the other was waving his gun by the cashiers' area.
"Who's in charge here?"
No one moved. Even from where Ryan lay he could see the spittle fly out of the man's mouth in rage as he asked again.
A tall sour looking man stepped forward nervously.
"I'm the manager." He said.
"Can you lock the doors?"
The manager didn't answer immediately.
"Can you lock the fucking doors?" The man shouted the words this time. He lunged forward making everyone behind the counter jump, and dragged the scared man across the counter by the lapels of his jacket. The manager landed in a heap on the floor. He cowered there as the man asked again if he could lock the doors. One of the cashiers who stood closest started to cry; she wasn't much older than him or Seth, Ryan figured. She was a tiny blond with serious blue eyes hidden behind large spectacles and she was clearly terrified. Her parents were probably so proud that she'd landed such a respectable job. They would hear of this on the local news and quickly change their minds.
The manager came to his senses and stood up, reached under his jacket, and extracted a bunch of keys. The gun was shoved into his neck as he was marched over to the door. His hands shook as he inserted a key and pressed some numbers on the keypad on the wall.
"No other doors?" The man demanded. The manager said the other door was at the back and that was only used when there was a security van deposit. The man seemed satisfied. He pushed the manager down on the floor. The blond cashier started to hiccup as she fought to get her breath.
"Everyone shut up." The man released the manager. "Just shut up."
Ryan silently wished that the girl would find the strength to deal with this , and not draw any more attention to herself. Men like this would not be sympathetic, and the black woman on the floor was already near hysterical.
The two men huddled together. Ryan couldn't make out what they were saying but he could guess. He took the opportunity to shift positions to relieve the cramping that had already set in. He sat with his back against the table, not thinking that it might not be well received by their hosts, but his head was throbbing and it felt good to rest it against the wood. He touched just above his ear and was surprised to find that it was sticky. The gun must have broken the skin. He glanced down and saw a thin trail of blood where he'd been laying. No wonder the woman next to him was looking worried. He wasn't overly concerned though; head wounds always bleed like a bitch even though the cut might be tiny.
He used the time to check on the Cohens. They were all still lying face down, and looking his way. Ryan could make out Sandy mouthing the words 'you okay.' Ryan gave him a slight nod. Kirsten looked so pale, so did Seth. Ryan felt bad now that he'd been so pissy with Seth this morning. Suddenly the Cohen's concerned smothering didn't seem so bad under the present circumstances.
Ryan could hear them arguing now. One was blaming someone called 'Roy' for the situation; the other was defending whoever it was. From Ryan's vantage point he could see everybody in the bank. The guy in the Hawaiian shirt caught Ryan's interest, as he appeared to be signalling to the sweating man. Ryan frowned and looked over to where the men were still arguing. Something was off here. Ryan watched as the Hawaiian shirt guy slowly reached behind him and under his shirt, his eyes darting around the room, he noticed Ryan looking at him intently and they locked eyes. Ryan suddenly understood what was going down and held his breath …quick as a flash Hawaiian shirt and sweating man were on their feet with guns that had appeared from nowhere. The men swung their way just as the sweating man shouted.
"Police."
All hell broke loose.
The men started firing and people started to shout and scream in earnest.
The cashiers all ducked behind the counter.
Ryan saw one of the robbers fly backwards in a perfect arch as one of the undercover cops retaliated, arterial blood spraying everywhere.
It was surreal. It was all happening so fast.
The sweating man stood for a moment looking down at his chest almost like he couldn't believe he'd been hit. Ryan saw the spreading rose of color bloom under his tee before he slumped.
Ryan jumped and cracked his elbow sharply against the floor as a shot splintered the table right next to him. The woman next to him yelped, and scrambled to her feet. Ryan wasn't sure she even knew what she was doing. With the smell of gun smoke in the air, he launched himself forward and tackled her to the floor just as she started to blindly charge towards the front door in sheer panic. She started to scream and fight him using her fists and kicking her legs.
More shots were fired but Ryan couldn't see what was happening as he struggled to hold the woman down. He just prayed that the Cohens were keeping their heads low.
Then everything went eerily quiet.
The woman stopped struggling against him and started saying she was sorry. Ryan slowly released her and looked around his eyes searching and praying. Seth had scooted backwards so his spine was hard up against the counter, if he had been pale before, he was now officially off the scale. Sandy had blanketed Kirsten's body with his, and was just getting up to assess the damage.
The careworn man was still on the floor with his hands covering his head.
The black woman was still crying, with her eyes tightly shut. She was shaking so much that her whole body was moving.
The elderly woman was clearly shaken, but she was crawling towards the black woman. Ryan watched as she pulled her up and into her arms as she started to rub her back like you would a child.
The society lady still lay face down, with her eyes wide and staring blankly at nothing.
The businessman had followed Seth's lead, and was sitting up, leaning against the counter. He was undoing his tie and shirt button, breathing heavily.
Ryan helped the woman next to him sit up, and she clutched onto his arm as she stared at the carnage in front of them.
The guy who'd pistol-whipped him was staring at the wall, his eyes sightless, clearly dead as a viscous pool of crimson radiated out from his body.
The other robber stood like a statue watching the blood leech out of his partner.
The sweating man was lying awkwardly and also very much dead, but Hawaiian shirt was still moving. His hands were trying to grab at the marble floor and his legs were twitching. Ryan shook off the woman and slid across the floor to where he lay. He looked dumbly down at the oozing hole in the guy's torso.
"Does anyone know first aid?" Ryan called out. The security guard shook his head. Ryan did the only thing he could think of; they always did it in the movies. He pressed his hands down over the wound. Hawaiian shirt gave a strangled cry and Ryan apologized. No one else responded to his question, so he asked again. Ryan saw Sandy start to get up, and he felt relief flood his body. Sandy would know what to do. The relief vanished when the remaining bad guy chose that moment to come out of his trance and decided to take control.
"Stay where you are!" He pointed the gun at Sandy.
Ryan watched, as Sandy seemed to weigh whether or not to ignore him. Kirsten grabbed at his hand.
"Dad!" Seth pleaded. Ryan could see the fear on his face. So did Sandy and he sat down again. He looked over and Ryan saw him tilt his head as if to say 'I tried'.
"Okay…no one else move a damn muscle from now on." The man looked menacingly around the room. His eyes landed on Ryan.
"Get away from the cop."
"He's going to die." Ryan responded.
"Leave him." The man yelled, and for the second time that morning he had a gun trained on him, but the gesture had lost some of its power. It shouldn't have, seeing the bodies lying strewn across the floor. Maybe it was just brain overload.
Ryan looked down and saw that the cop was looking back at him.
"Hey…" The guy said pissed that he was being ignored but Ryan could only focus on the dying man of the floor.
"Please help me…" The words were almost inaudible. He didn't look like a cop; just like a regular guy. This man had a family somewhere, maybe kids. Someone would be waiting for him. Ryan felt sick. He kept his hands firmly pressing down. They were slick with blood now.
"He needs an ambulance." Ryan snapped back.
"That cop deserves what he gets." The man spat back at him and stepped closer. "Get away from him."
"I'm staying where I am." Ryan said quietly, thinking that if it were somebody he cared about lying here, he'd hoped that someone would fight for them. The cop had only been doing his job. He didn't ask for the day to turn into shit like it had done. And Ryan had never bought into Trey's thinking that all cops were assholes.
"You've quite an attitude for someone who's aiming to get himself killed?"
"Ryan." Ryan heard Seth and Kirsten say his name at the same time. He didn't look over at them for fear that they would sway him.
"Ryan…please do what he says." Sandy pleaded.
Ryan turned his head and saw that everyone was looking at him, but it was Sandy, Kirsten and Seth's faces that swam up into focus.
"Yeah…Ryan I suggest that you listen to them real quick." The man said his name sarcastically.
"Don't …please...help me." The cop's voice was the barest whisper now.
"He's going to die." Ryan shouted in panic.
"Ryan, man, just do what he says." Seth piped up his voice sounded strangled.
Then Sandy said something stupid, really stupid.
"It's not Marissa, Ryan…it's not Marissa."
Ryan couldn't believe it. He'd thought that Sandy would've understood.
"What the hell has that got to do with anything, Sandy?" Ryan knew his voice sounded angry.
Now they want to talk about Marissa? Now when they were knee-fucking-deep in blood and shit. Did Sandy really think this was about her? This was not about her, not even remotely. This was about trying to do the right thing.
"Everybody…. shut it." The guy with the gun bellowed, his head thrown back and his patients obviously wearing thin.
"You sure are one stubborn S.O.B."
The guy looked at him coldly, then a slow grin appeared on his face. He marched over to where Sandy was sitting and placed the gun against his forehead.
"Now…I'll ask you again. Get the fuck away from that murdering cop or I shoot…capeesh?"
TBC
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