Chapter 8
~*~*~*~
So this is where you are
And this is where I am
So this is where you are
And this is where I've been
Somewhere between
Unsure and a hundred
~ Hundred by The Fray
~*~*~*~
Clutching a hot cup of coffee with his leather gloved hand, Danny walked briskly across the street amid a swarm of New Yorkers hustling to work. He stepped quickly as all around him men and women hurried towards their places of business, bumping him with their elbows and shoulders as they all raced to cross the avenue before the light changed again. It was times like these that Danny appreciated his height, able to look high above most of the heads that surrounded him.
He had a smile planted on his face as he thought about the day ahead. The most notable thing on his calendar was that later this afternoon he was meeting Elena at the Obstetrician's office for their first ultrasound. He couldn't wait to see the first image of their son or daughter. Just thinking about it sent an exciting feeling throughout his body. This was the only part of his day he was looking forward to since the other thing was posing as an Efficiency Expert assigned to evaluate the bank. He normally liked the idea of going undercover, but he was dreading the reaction of the employees to his presence. He tried to talk Jack into thinking of some other role he could take on, but Jack argued that there was no time to train him in banking procedures. Danny argued that his role could be a trainee, but Jack explained that he would actually have to learn something and it would occupy all his time in the bank so he couldn't actually keep an eye out for anything unusual.
Glancing askance, he spotted Martin headed towards the bank from the opposite direction. He was dressed similar to Danny: suit, black leather shoes, under a long winter coat and scarf. The only difference was Danny's coat was navy blue with a navy scarf while Martin's was black with a red scarf.
"Morning," Danny greeted with a wide smile when they both reached the front of the bank at the same time. His face was pinched tight with cold and the early morning air was frosty, when he spoke he could see his visible breath.
"Hey," Martin gave a small twitch of lips that was supposed to pass for a smile. His face was blank and he had his hands shoved deep into his coat pockets.
Reading his body language, Danny asked, "So how was life at Casa de Granger's?" He was seriously interested in how Martin answered, knowing that he would know if his friend was lying. "How's the wife?"
Martin shrugged. "It was awkward but fine."
"Just fine?" Danny asked before taking a sip of his coffee, the hot beverage warming him from within.
Martin sighed audibly. "After everyone left, I talked to her for a few minutes about what she was going to eat for dinner, and then I went upstairs where I stayed alone in my room the rest of the night."
Danny eyed him, trying to decide if he was lying or not. Surprisingly, it seemed that Martin may have finally figured out how to use his poker face because Danny wasn't sure one-way or another. "So, that's it?"
Shooting him a perturbed look, Martin replied, "Look, if you don't believe me, watch the tape. I am being monitored twenty-four seven, you know."
The two men eyed each other almost daringly, when behind them they heard the locks to the bank doors click.
Turning around, Danny spotted an attractive woman pushing one of the doors open and watching them curiously.
"Are you Martin Granger and Danny Serpico?" the comely woman asked. Danny nodded so she reached out to shake his hand. "Hi, I'm the assistant bank manager, Elizabeth Riley but everyone just calls me Eli."
"Hello," he greeted, shaking her hand. She appeared to be in her early thirties and had long, wavy honey brown hair and large green eyes. She was wearing a light brown scoop-neck sweater, low-slung jeans with a dark brown leather belt and boots. Releasing his grip, he pointed to himself and introduced, "I'm Serpico," his voice indicating that he clearly liked the way that name sounded coming off his lips. He mentally made a note to thank Jack for giving him the coolest undercover name ever. Then Danny pointed to Martin and added, "He's Granger."
"You can just call me Martin," Martin said as he held out his own hand.
"Hi," Eli greeted, shaking hands. Danny noted that Elizabeth's gaze lingered over Martin for a beat before she motioned for them to enter. "Come on in." They stepped past her, into the bank and waited as she locked the doors after them. As she did, Martin unbuttoned his coat and pulled it off. Pulling her key out of the lock, Eli said, "Per Agent Malone's instructions, I called everyone in for a meeting this morning at eight a.m. so that you can introduce yourselves…" Eli turned around and her expression fell at seeing Martin's suit. "Oh."
"What?" Martin asked, looking down and straightening his tie. "Did I spill something on myself?"
Shaking her head and smiling, she explained, "No, sorry, you look great…I mean fine." She waved her hands apologetically. "I just realized that I forgot to tell Agent Malone that Friday's are casual – so that generally means jeans or khakis."
"Is it a problem that we're wearing suits?" Danny asked, secretly hoping that it was so he could go home and change. He'd rather wear jeans than a suit to work if given the choice.
Eli shook her head. "Nah, no, it's fine." She gestured for them to follow her further into the bank and added, "Besides, it's your first day so I'm sure no one will give it a second thought."
"That's good," Martin replied, folding his coat and draping it over his arm. "Although I've always wanted a job that had 'casual Fridays'. The FBI hasn't gotten the memo on that yet."
Eli and Martin shared a small smile before she turned and walked to the middle of the bank lobby and asked, "So, before everyone arrives, how much detail do you want me to get into on how the bank operates?" She stopped and motioned around the ubiquitous looking lobby. "Agent Dunlop required a lot of detailed explanation," she said, a tinge of frustration evident in her tone, "but seeing as how Agents Delmar and Malone sprung this bait and switch on me at the very last minute, I'd just as soon focus on what you really need to know."
Glancing around the lobby, Martin replied, "Yeah, sorry about the short notice, but don't worry: we're quick studies. I think the stuff out here is pretty obvious to anyone who has been in a bank before." Danny nodded in agreement as he took a notepad from his breast pocket to make notes, knowing full well most everyone knows that the small islands held deposit and withdrawal slips, the ropes marked off where customers should stand in line and the two desks off the far wall were designated for customer service. "Why don't you focus on the other side of the teller counters?"
"Great," Eli replied, signaling for them to get in step behind her. "We'll start with where your office will be so you can drop off your coats."
As Eli walked ahead, she pointed out where the break room was located, the restrooms – which were restricted to employees only, and the small conference room. Glancing into the conference room, Danny noticed that there were bagels, small containers of cream cheese, and a few carafes of coffee already laid out. Noticing him eyeing the spread, Eli explained that she always buys goodies when she has the staff come in early for a meeting.
She stepped to the office across the hall from the conference room and pushed the door open, clicking on the light. "Gus, our real manager, cleaned out most of his stuff," she looked over at Martin, "so it's pretty basic, but it has everything you need."
Martin hung his coat up on the rack beside the door and replied, "It's only temporary so it'll be fine."
Walking in behind Martin, Danny shrugged off his own coat and asked, "So, where am I going to be?"
Eli's eyes went wide as they darted between Martin and Danny. "Um, Agent Malone told me that you wouldn't need an office – that you would just sort of be wandering around."
"Oh," Danny replied with a sigh before hanging his coat up next to Martin's. "Lucky me."
With a restrained smile, Martin teased, "It shouldn't be problem, Danny. Back at the office you spend more time at Elena's desk than your own." As soon as Danny shot him a hard look, Martin shifted his attention to back to the pretty bank manager. "Eli, can you give us a tour of the teller cages and vault?"
Nodding, Eli grinned at Martin. "Follow me."
Eli led Danny and Martin to the area behind the teller line where Danny counted seven stalls and then made a note on his notepad.
Pointing to the two teller areas at the far end, Eli began explaining, "Those two are for commercial deposits. Mina and Sandy are currently assigned to those transactions."
"What can you tell us about them?" Danny asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
After pausing thoughtfully, Eli replied, "Mina's worked here longer than anyone – including me and Gus. She's not much of a people person but always balances." Her face went tighter as she continued, "Sandy is very, very right-wing Republican. I recommend you avoid talking politics around her unless you share her views. Last election things got very tense around here."
"What about the rest of the tellers?" Danny followed up.
Eli nodded. "The other five cages are for regular transactions – cashing checks, making deposits, etc." She started pointing down the line to each cage to list off who worked where and what information she could easily share about them. "Ian loves renaissance fairs and created a long lineage for his 'character' that goes back five generations. Sue is married and has three kids. Roberta is also married and loves movies and TV." She paused and pointed to the final two cages as she finished, "Now, the final two only work part-time. At twenty, Amber is our youngest employee. She attends City College and always has some sort of relationship drama going on in her life. Carl is ex-military but completely jaded on government and loves to talk conspiracy theories." She made a face and joked, "Needless to say, I do my best to keep Sandy and Carl from interacting too much."
"You seem to know your employees pretty well," Danny commented as he jotted the teller names with the personal details onto his notepad.
"It's pretty much unavoidable since we spend forty-hours a week together," she explained, tucking a strand of errant hair behind her ear.
Nodding, Martin commented, "What are their individual cage limits?"
"Well, we try to keep each cage between ten and twenty thousand each, that includes the top drawer and the coin safe," she answered with her gaze fixed on Martin's. "But this time of year, that cap is a bit fluid. We have a lot of new bills on hand since we have quite a few older customers who still like giving money envelopes as gifts for the holiday and people wanting cash for tips since they are attending a lot of social functions during this season. As for the more regular transactions like check cashing we use Tony T.C.R." She gestured to something behind Martin so Danny followed the wave of her hand and saw a small gray metal box-like device sitting on the counter. She must have noticed the confused look on Danny's face because she paused and clarified, "Sorry, we nicknamed the Teller Cash Recycler Tony. We use Tony as much as possible since he's really fast and pretty accurate for balancing end of day. He generally holds anywhere between forty up to a little over a hundred thousand."
Danny furrowed his brow, perplexed. "Why is there such a wide range?"
Martin looked like he already knew the answer but held back, letting Eli take the lead since they were on her turf.
"Well, thirty is pretty good for most day-to-day, Monday thru Thursday transactions. We don't often need the amount to be very high," she explained. "But on every other Friday we get a high volume of check cashers from various nearby Construction companies. Since most of them are day laborers who just want to cash out their checks, it's easier to use Tony."
Danny nodded as he noted the information into his notebook. Jerking his chin to the desks where the customer service reps and loan officers were located, he asked, "What can you tell us about the rest of the staff?"
"Alex and Lola are the customer service reps who handle opening new accounts, credit card applications, etc. Alex is engaged to his college sweetheart and Lola is in the middle of a very messy divorce." Taking a breath, she trained her eyes on the final two desks located near the back wall. "Roland and Gabe are our loan officers. Roland's wife is undergoing chemo for cancer so he's taking a lot of personal time right now to take her to and from treatments." She released a sad, heavy breath before continuing, "And Gabe has a live-in boyfriend and is openly gay. F.Y.I., he resents it when people ignore his gayness. He thinks it's more polite to acknowledge it than not." She grinned and added, "He can be a bit of a diva but he's also very funny."
Martin chuckled and wrote something down in his notepad.
"Oh, and I almost forgot but be careful around Lola. It looks like both of you are married," Eli said as she motioned to their wedding rings. "But that won't stop Lola, she's hell bent on flirting with every man within reaching distance to get back at her soon-to-be ex."
Danny smiled. "Thanks for the warning, but I'm the only one who's 'real' married. Martin is only pretending to be married for the case but he's as single as they come."
Closing his eyes in embarrassment, Martin shook his head before tossing Danny an annoyed glare. "For the purposes of our work here, I'm married. Now is there anything else you need to tell us about your co-workers? Anything suspicious or odd or…"
Eli worked her jaw and glanced around the bank before finally looking at Danny and Martin again.
"If you have something to say, now's the time to say it," Danny urged, noticing that while Eli was helpful, she wasn't exactly thrilled to be giving them this tour.
"I intend to give you my full cooperation, but I would like to request that you tread lightly. Getting a new manager is always an adjustment, but when we have such a big change right before a major holiday at the end of the year and he brings an efficiency expert in with him to boot… with the economy the way it is…" Eli trailed off before inhaling a deep breath and carefully saying, "This is going to make my staff very worried about their jobs. We were one of the few branches able to dodge the last series of layoffs. And since I can't tell them you aren't truly an efficiency expert and that their jobs really are safe, I'd greatly appreciate anything you can do to assuage their fears."
"We'll do everything we can," Martin assured her, "But you need to know that the reason we cannot include the rest of the staff on our presence is because we can't be sure how the suspects get access to bank information."
"I know that but…" she paused, trying again, "These people are like my family and I really doubt they have anything to do with the robberies." Eli was clearly exasperated at the thought of her staff being 'suspects'.
Martin nodded sympathetically before evenly explaining, "We'll do our best to minimize their fears, but Danny is still here to ask questions and get information."
"Of course," Eli replied as she nodded at Danny who was doing his best to give her a reassuring smile.
Martin nodded and asked, "So how about showing us the vault now?"
"Sure," Eli replied, stepping over towards the large walk-in safe that was on the far wall behind a security desk. At the security desk were two monitors with four split screens showing all the angles of the security cameras. Eli explained that the bank has a part-time security guard, Felix, but he only worked two days a week due to the banks budget cuts so the camera feed is sent directly to an off-site server. Stepping into the safe, Danny noted that two of the walls were lined with safe deposit boxes. At the rear of the safe was a thick glass door that Danny recognized as being bullet and shatter proof. She pressed a code into the keypad to unlock the door and they stepped in to find a large safe on the right side. There were two additional monitors posted alongside the safe. "This is the bank's main vault. On average, we hold somewhere between four hundred to six hundred thousand dollars on a daily basis."
Danny and Martin shared a look at hearing that high number when Martin asked, "And after Christmas?"
Eli raised an eyebrow as she answered, "Close to two million, if not more."
Impressed by the amount, Danny blew out a soft whistle when he noticed some movement on the security monitor. He watched as two women chatted casually as the older woman with short, curly auburn hair that looked stiff to touch unlocked the door and stepped into the bank.
Following his gaze, Eli announced, "Well, it looks like the work day has begun. Mina and Sandy have arrived." She smiled at them both before stepping past to exit the vault. "I'll go help them set up before the meeting."
They both watched her leave before Danny stepped up next to Martin and quietly said, "So you ready to be bank manager, Martin Granger?"
Snorting, Martin retorted, "I'm about as ready as you are to be Efficiency Expert Danny Serpico."
Danny's smile fell. "They're going to hate me, aren't they?"
"Yes," Martin replied as he slowly shuffled toward the vault exit. "Yes they are."
"I still don't understand why Jack couldn't have given me a different cover?" Danny bemoaned. "Something more befitting my undercover name, like a bank executive, who is just here to remind himself what it's like to work the front lines again?"
Laughing softly, Martin glanced over at him and joked, "Don't look at me. I was kind of hoping that he was going to make you my butler."
"Very funny," Danny grumbled before sarcastically adding, "At least then I'd be able to keep an eye on you and Kim."
Martin stopped short and gave him a pointed look. "I told you, there's nothing to worry about. I'm not some love-sick teenager who can't be around a girl without losing his head."
Danny slapped Martin on the back and cautioned, "Martin, if you really believed that, you wouldn't have spent all of last night locked up alone in your bedroom hiding from her."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A/N: Big round of thanks to Anmodo for her immense, huge, invaluable contributions to this chapter. Co-author credit isn't enough. She not only guided me around the huge wall known as writer's block, but she contributed lots of suggestions and dialogue to this chapter. Thank you SO very much.
Now, I am trying to be better about posting but life is KER-RaZy right now so I will do my best to keep this story moving steadily along. Thanks to all of you for reading and reviewing.
