Chapter 10
The face paused for a second, and then the man let out the first breath of a laugh.
"Well isn't this my lucky day!" his voice rang as he gripped Adriana's arm and pulled her from Paul. "You come out too!", he commanded, pulling out a gun. Adriana panicked. The man pointed the gun at Paul.
"How about this, Princess," the man said, slowly lowering the gun. "That check yours?"
Adriana nodded.
"Well it's mine now," he snatched it and tucked the check into his pocket. 'You're gonna cash it in a few days when this bank is back in order. The money is mine. Until then, you're staying with me, understand?"
Adriana looked at Paul, who had his arms up palm forward. He didn't know what to say. Adriana nodded. The man laughed.
"Get back under the desk," the man commanded to Paul, who went slowly. "Hurry up or I'll shoot her now!". Paul was under the desk.
The man pulled Adriana by her arm back to the main area of the bank where two more masked men were tossing bags of money into a black van. He began to help them and instructed her to do the same. The other two men ignored his both her and his command. She went to get the bag sitting farthest from the van. It was heavy. She struggled to lift it, then settled for dragging it. Her hair fell forward from her hair clip and covered her face, blocking most of her vision. She finally made it closer to the van where the other two men were hauling in bags. The man on the left side of the van seemed irritated with her and snatched the bag with one arm, lifted it, and tossed it into the van. But then he froze, paused, and turned to look at her with his masked face.
"Let's go!", the man on the right side said, turning to get into the van.
"She's coming, too," her captor said, tucking his gun away.
"Why?" the man on the right asked. "No way, man, we don't have time for this. We gotta get out of here," the man said, turning again to get into the van. Her captor wanted the money from that check.
"Look!", he pulled out the check, showing it to him. The man on the left was silent. "And it's hers!" Adriana backed over to the left wanting to run.
"What is it?" the masked man on the left finally spoke. His voice resonated, strong and familiar. It was the Joker. Adriana wanted to scream.
"Big money. Way more than we have in the van," the man who had been standing on the right, finally convinced said.
"A check for $10 Million," the other man said, feeling proud to have found it. "We'll take her, when this bank is back in order we can split the money, easy."
"Man, sounds like plan! Besides, I wouldn't mind some fun with her," the first man said, looking her up and down.
"Yea we could-" the other man started but Adriana cut their voices out. She squeezed her eyes shut. Their thoughts rang in loud and clear: Neither of them had any intention of splitting the money. They wanted to kill each other and have it for themselves as soon as it was cashed. Cautiously she shifted her focus to the Joker, and now beginning to feel exhausted from straining for their thoughts. He didn't want the money. Their plan was stupid and not thrilling at all in his mind. He was very curious about why she was getting a check for $10 Million. Adriana tried to find more in his mind but her focus was broken by the sound of 4 gunshots. She opened her eyes quickly. The two men were dead.
She was shocked. And not even shocked that he had killed them. She was shocked that he didn't even think of it before he did it...He just did it. It reminded her of the discomfort of seeing into the thoughts of wild animals at the zoo or very small children. He turned to look at her. He then walked over to the bodies that were now covering the floor in blood, and picked up the check. $10 Million issued by a police department that could never afford it.
"You know..." he started. "This check might bounce." He was wondering who's money it was. His masked face turned to her for explanation.
Suddenly, the sound of police sirens rang in the distance, nearing quickly. The Joker casually tossed the check into the puddle of blood he was standing near, before dissapearing into the back of the van. It drove off through the crashed glass as soon as he closed the door.
"Adriana we haven't seen you in forever!" a woman in the police station said as Adriana sat waiting. She couldn't remember the woman's name.
"Ms. Navarro are you alright?" the Comissioner entered the waiting room.
"I'm perfectly fine," Adriana replied.
"Come with me." the Comissioner said, leading her into one of the questioning rooms. "Don't worry you're not being interrogated. Your boss requested that you were asked nothing, not even by me."
Her boss? The Batman, she remembered. In a way, it was considerate. Adriana was shaken and didn't want to answer any questions at all. The Batman entered the questioning room. He and the Comissioner nodded to each other, then the Comissioner left.
"I'm fine," Adriana said, before he could ask. He nodded.
"The surveillance doesn't show the identification of any of the robbers. We're looking for the two that excaped. One that was driving the van and the other we saw that excaped in the back of the van," he said in his raspy, thick Batman was then silent. He looked at her, waiting for confirmation. She nodded very slowly, meaning that it was him. It was the Joker.
"We thought otherwise," the Batman continued. "He hasn't robbed banks after they were closed."
"It was him," Adriana responded. "He saw the check."
"We have that recorded. It will be replaced," the Batman said. "There will be police outside of your residence and following you until he is detained."
"Yay," Adrianna said, sarcastically.
"We're not sure yet if he intends to go after you. He must be curious by now, and with him that's enough reson for us to have you protected around the clock." the Batman explained. "I knew you would be of use," the Batman continued, a small smile on his sharp lips.
"Yea but only because I recognized his voice," Adriana began to explain.
"Either way," the Batman spoke "You're needed."