Chapter 2
The meeting at the Sherriff's office was uncomfortable to say the least. They were all lined up in front of his desk, Sofia, Captain Jim Brass and Detective Lou Vartann. The Sherriff launched into one of his usual tirades lasting a full twenty minutes before they could even start discussing the case notes. It didn't help much that they had no new leads, these guys were good and despite their solid detective work they just weren't getting anywhere. Brass finished his summary by suggesting that they'd need to wait it out until they got lucky or the gang made a mistake. That wasn't what the Sherriff wanted to hear.
Turning to Brass the Sherriff roared, "I don't give a damn if you have to work day and night, I want you to go out there and come back with something. If you don't break this case soon I'll personally see to it that you spend the rest of your career writing parking tickets. And that goes for the rest of you too! Now get the hell out of here and go do your jobs!"
Back in Jim's office the mood was tense. They were used to feeling the Sherriff's wrath but this time it was different. He'd never threatened anyone's career in public like that before and Jim's face told them that they needed to find some way to make a breakthrough. All three spent the next couple of hours working through the evidence, trying to find a lead, a new angle, some clue that could help them.
Flicking through Doc Robbins's paperwork Sofia said, "Autopsy report's back on the bank manager, Bill Hicks. Cause of death, single gunshot to the head, he died almost instantly."
Turning to Vartann Brass asked "Anything from ballistics?"
"The shot was fired from a 9mm semi automatic, the ammunition was off the shelf, no way to trace it," replied Vartann.
"Did we recover the weapon?" asked Brass.
Vartann replied, "No. We didn't see a weapon dump from the CCTV footage so it looks like he still has it."
Frowning, Brass turned back to Sofia, "Anything from the eye witness statements?"
"Just the usual, all five men wore masks and were dressed in black, couldn't see their faces or hands, they didn't call each other by name, they just used a number designation. Prime numbers to be exact."
"Prime numbers, do you think that has any special significance?" asked Brass.
"Maybe, I'll cross check against Warrick's map to see if there's a pattern," replied Sofia.
Brass continued, "Plus you said you'd narrowed down the next likely targets to two banks?"
"Yeah, it looks like there are two in the catchment area that fit the profile, I'm meeting with the bank managers tomorrow."
"Ok, well in the meantime go back over the witness statements to see if you missed anything and check back with Warrick on that map," said Brass. "And Lou, you follow up on ballistics, see if you can find some way to ID the shooter, check for prints on the bullet, run a database search for similar MOs in other cities."
Sofia and Vartann nodded their acknowledgement, turned on their heels and left the office. Looking at her watch, Sofia sighed. It had already been a long day and she had a full night's work stretched out ahead of her. She grabbed a coffee in the break room and then went to her desk to review the witness statements. A couple of wasted hours later, she was feeling tired and frustrated. Her neck was stiff and she could feel a headache coming on. Determined to keep going she turned her attention to Warrick's map, cross-referencing against the prime numbers the robbers used, trying every combination she could think of. It was no use, her brain was shutting down and she needed sleep. Sofia tidied up her desk and headed for the comfort of her own bed. She soon fell into an uneasy slumber, her dream state still plagued by dark memories of gunshots and terrifying pain.
Three hours sleep and a shower later, Sofia felt somewhat human again. She dressed herself in dark slacks and black knitted v-neck shirt. Afterwards she ate a light breakfast, washed down with strong coffee and then made her way back to the office. Having checked in with Brass she spent the next couple of hours working on the prime numbers. While she wasn't bad at math in high school, she wasn't exactly captain of the chess club. Sofia soon realized she wasn't going to solve this by herself; she'd need to bring in the big guns, Grissom. Me and Grissom alone together in his office for hours, Sarah's going to love that! But before any of that she had an appointment with the bank manager to keep. She emailed Grissom with a copy of the map and an explanation of the current line of enquiry, rounding off by asking for his help. Then she switched off her computer monitor and made her way to the PD garage.
The cool air conditioning of the department issue SUV was a welcome foil for the oppressive mid afternoon desert heat. Turning the fans up to full strength Sofia enjoyed how the cool air washed over her tired features. She ran the prime numbers through her head again, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, they were part of the Additive Primes category. The numbers didn't match the street names, or the building numbers and so couldn't be used to predict the next target. There had been five robberies in the past two weeks and there were five prime numbers; did the numbers mark out the timings of the raids? If so, did that mean they were finished and had disappeared in the desert wind? Somehow Sofia couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something.
Finally arriving at the first of the two banks she parked the SUV and gathered her case notes for her first meeting. With a bit of luck she'd be able to make some connection to the previous robberies. The interior of the bank definitely fit the profile; past the glass fronted entrance lay a familiar open plan room. Straight ahead was the teller counter, running the full length of the room. In front of that was the customer line, neatly marked off by cordon tape. To the left and right were glass walled offices, housing various admin and managerial staff. Sofia flashed her badge and was escorted by the lone security guard to the manager's office. Over the next few hours she reviewed security logs, CCTV tapes, checked the security protocol, interviewed staff members. There was nothing obvious which might signal if this was the next intended hit, let alone when it might happen. Sofia asked for the security tapes to take back for expert examination by Archie. She gathered up her belongings and prepared to leave for her second appointment.
Before Sofia had a chance to leave the manager's office there was a commotion on the bank floor. She looked up to see five masked men enter the bank and instantly spread out in a well-practiced move. One of the men took out the security guard as he entered, knocking him out with the butt of his AK-47. He then made his way to the customer queuing area while a second gunman cleared the back offices. A third man covered the front counter, at the same time a fourth man began to make his way to Sofia's position in the manager's office. The fifth man, the gang leader, was the last to enter and he strolled calmly towards the centre of the room. He shouted military style orders and got status updates from the others as he walked.
"Number Two?" he asked.
"Clear," came the reply.
Number Seven!" he continued
"All clear," was the answer.
"Number Eleven?" came the next call.
"Clear."
Number Three was bearing down on the manager's office fast and Sofia had only a couple of seconds to make a move. Should she evade the gang and try to take in as much first hand detail as possible? This was their best lead to date; she was actually in the room with them! Sofia was outnumbered five to one so it would be impossible to bring them down on her own. But she was LVPD, she couldn't lie down and let these thugs run riot over her town. Decision made, Sofia reached inside her trouser pocket and hit speed dial 1 on her cell phone – Jim Brass. She would tip him off about the heist and try to slow down these guys long enough for back up to get here. Her best bet was to go for the leader - that would spread confusion amongst the others and break their rhythm. With the deftest of moves Sofia jumped out from the office, grabbed Number Three and smashed his head against the doorframe, knocking him to the floor. She drew her service weapon and covered the ground quickly until she was just a few feet away from the leader, Number Five.
"LVPD! Put down your weapons."
Number Five looked startled; this obviously wasn't part of the plan. He hesitated for a moment, but then quickly grabbed one of the customers, pulling her in front of him, wrapping his left arm around her chest and pointing his handgun at her temple.
It was Sofia's turn to hesitate; she wasn't prepared for a human shield situation. From her peripheral vision she could see the other gang members shift uncomfortably, uncertain of what to do next. Sofia held firm, weapon raised and pointed at the leader's head, determinedly holding his stare.
Number Five broke the silence, "Hold your positions, the detective won't shoot, she has too much to lose."
The leader pulled his hostage tighter; she whimpered, eyes wide, pleading with Sofia to end the standoff.
"Detective, I'm giving you one chance to end this peacefully. You know I'll shoot her, after all, you already saw my handy work at the Nevada Mutual yesterday."
Sofia was torn, if she didn't stand down he'd shoot the hostage, but if she did she'd be captured and would be at the mercy of these thugs. Memories of the Fischer scene flooded her mind and the terror rose steadily inside her. Her mouth twitched as she weighed up her options and finally, with a defeated sigh, she lowered her gun accepting her fate.
"Place it on the ground, slowly," Number Five ordered. "Then put your hands up."
Sofia complied, breathing deeply, trying to control her fear. Number Five released his hostage and she gratefully moved away, back towards the rest of the customers. But suddenly he raised his weapon again and before anyone could react he shot her at point blank range, directly in the head. The woman hostage slumped to the ground, dead. The other hostages screamed and cried out in terror, Sofia shouted out, "No…" and lurched forward, arms outstretched, but it was too late. Her action had cost that woman her life.
"Let that be a lesson to you Detective, to all of you. If anyone else tries any heroics I'll start shooting," warned Number Five. He quickly approached Sofia who was still focused on the woman's still body, ashen faced, completely broken by what had happened. When he reached her, she looked up, eyes wet, but she looked defiantly at him. Without a word he punched her hard in the stomach. As she doubled over in pain he raised his arm and swung down violently on Sofia's head with the butt of his handgun, knocking her to the floor right at his feet. He looked down at her briefly before turning around signaling at two of his colleagues. She momentarily registered further kicks to her middle before her world faded to black.