Chapter Eleven
~~~~~*~~~~~
"That will be nine dollars and ninty nine cents,"
the cashier said, bagging the last loaf of bread.
Shoving the over filled bag aside, she held out
her hand for the money.
Rebecca Ann Danado had just begun her shift
that night at the Quick Shop Mart . She was a
bit squeamish about working in an all night
convience store. Being newly widowed at 55
and with four children, she had no other choice
and needed this second job to help supplement
her income. Her husband had been murdered
about a month ago. He had just started as part
of a team in a new law firm, but disappeared
sometime shortly after. He had been shot in the
back of the head, his body found later hidden in
a ditch on the out skirts of town. Rebecca found
out later that he had squandered most of their
savings, spending it lavishly on gambling, women,
bad investments. Rebecca's heart was broken
when she found out that he owed tons of bills and
back taxes and after paying most of them, there
was nothing left of their savings.
The man dug into his pocket and brought out
a crumpled up bill and tossed it onto the counter.
Rebecca sighed, and picked up the money
smoothing it out. She examined the bill closely
seeing that it was a ten dollar bill, quickly
tendered the amount and the drawer popped
opened with a 'ding!'
"Keep the change honey." The guy smirked as
he picked up the bag and hurried out of the store.
"Have a nice night." Rebecca said dryly. She
placed the money inside of the cash drawer and
slammed it shut. Blowing out a breath, she
suddenly felt chilled and clutched her sweater closed
at her neck for warmth. She couldn't help feeling
nervous.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that
the straggely looking teen who had come in
earlier, was still standing in front of the magazine
rack, his face buried in a magazine. He had
been there for about twenty minutes now, and
Rebecca was beginning to feel a little uneasy.
You're just being too paranoid becky, she
whispered to herself, trying hard to believe
that everything would be okay. People work in
these quick marts all the time. Piece of cake.
To occupy her mind, she busied herself by
straightening out the candy /gum rack and buffing
down the glass door of the Icee machine.
The bell on the door dinged and she glanced up to
see a tall, rather goodlooking man enter. Right away
she felt relieved just to have someone else in the
store. The man wore a heavy tan colored coat, with
a green turtle neck sweater underneath and a pair of
jeans. Clean cut, face of apple pie, very good looking
indeed she thought smiling to herself.
The man nodded at her before making his way
slowy over towards the magazine rack. As she
observed him, she thought it was rather strange
when he pulled a newspaper from his back pocket
and began to read. Curious, she watched him
as he read for a while then rolled up the paper,
and stuffed it into his back pocket again.
She watched as he began thumbing through a couple
of magazines before striking up a conversation
with the young man who had been standing there.
The two talked for a few minutes and then Rebecca
noticed that the young man seemed to get upset
about something.
"What? Who are you? Why don't you just mind
your own business! " She heard the young man retort.
The man with the newspaper, seemed to be talking
in calm tones, as if trying to soothe the anger of the
young boy. He said something about not wanting to
do that, and to leave so that no one got hurt.
At the word hurt, Rebecca's heart leaped and she
quickly made her way over to beind the counter
feeling around below it trying feverishly to locate
the silent security alarm that was hidden there.
Much to her mortification, it was broken and hanging
by a wire. At that moment the younger man pulled
out a switch blade. The man with the paper hands
shot up in defense.
"Woa!" she heard him say and Rebecca's heart
was racing now and she made a quick move
for the door. But she was blocked and knocked
backwards when an even bigger man appeared
suddenly pushing his way in roughly through the
door.
"Where you think you goin!" he snapped, grabbing
her by the sweater. Surprised by his demeanor, she
let out a shreik.
As he held her, his angry bloodshot eyes darting
nervously around the store. "Man whats taking you
so long!" he yelled across the store.
At that moment, Rebecca's heart flipped. This
was a planned holdup!
"Over here dog!" the skinny boy shouted back.
He was still poised with the switch blade in hand,
and the guy with the papers hands were still up.
Pulling Rebecca along, the bigger man yanked her
around, over to the magazine racks where his friend
stood.
"Lets go! Lets go! Lets go!" he yelled frantically
"We got ah problem dog!" the younger man shouted
back his eyes flashing with panic. "Clark Kent here."
At that point, the larger guy reached into his coat,
pulled out a gun and held it on the man with the
paper. "C'mon man, we gotta split, ain't got no
time, lets go!!" he yelled.
Shoving Rebecca aside he grabbed the guy
with the paper around the neck in a choke hold
and the boy then grabbed Rebecca forcing her
over to the cash register.
"Open the drawer!" he demanded. "Hurry! hurry!
hurry!"
Rebecca's eyes were wide with sheer panic. Her knees
were quivering as she fumbled with shaky fingers to
accomidate the irrate boy. She pushed 'no sale cash'
key on the register and the drawer popped open. Pushing
her aside, the boy began stuffing the money into a
plastic grocery bag as fast as he could, bills fluttered out,
change--spilling out onto the floor.
"Y-You don't want to do that." the guy with the newspaper
gasped his voice raspy and nervous with the arm
held tightly around his throat.
The bigger of the men tightened his hold and sputtered
in his ear, "Oh yeah? And what are you going to do
about it Clark Kent, break out in your Superman getup?"
he then rared back with his fist punching him hard in
the ribs.
Rebecca heard a sickening "Omph!!" escape the man's
lips as he doubled over in pain, clutching at his side.
"Please, just go!" she pleaded, "take the money
and just go!"
"Shut up lady!" the older man yelled. He kept looking
at the door as the younger man grabbed cartons of
cigarettes and began stuffing them into plastic bags.
He then grabbed Rebecca's purse that was underneath
the counter and dumped the contents onto the counter.
Raking through lipstick, her compact and a few personal
items he found her wallet and took whatever bills and
credit cards he could find.
The older man's gaze then dropped to the man on
the floor and he kicked him this time in the side,
yelling, "Give it up man! The wallet!, the wallet!
C'mon!!"
The man on the floor, still clutching his side,was
breathing hard while struggling to remove his wallet
from his pocket. Impatient, the older thug pushed
his hands away and began to rummage through the
man's pockets himself. Finding a wallet he flipped it
opened and quickly took out the bills, about eighty
dollars in tens and twentys and tossed the wallet aside.
"Michael!" the man with the newpaper sputtered
suddenly from the floor and the younger man
immediately froze at the sound of his name. Taken
off guard his eyes darted about frantically.
"H-How do yo know my name?! Man he knows
my name!" he shouted to his friend.
"Lucky guess! C'mon, lets get outta here, this
guy is weird!"
The man from the floor was coughing, his chest
heaving as he struggled to speak. He kept looking
at the older guy,
"No, Carl," he managed to get out between breaths,
"No...but I tell ya, that if you...if you two walk out of here
r-right now,... you're not going to make it. The place is
surrounded."
Slugg, the older of the two thugs was stunned and
stopped to glared at the man on the floor, his face
beaded in sweat. With the back of his hand, he wiped
his mouth and his eyes now revealed panic. No one
but no one other than his mama and closest friends
knew him by that name! Was this some kind of set up?
Rebecca was near hesterics now, and prayed
silently that the man with the paper would just
shut up so that the two thugs would hurry up
and leave. How did he know that the place
was surrounded? The darned alarm button
was broken, so the police couldn't have gotten
the call.
From the floor, the man with the paper was still
clutching his side, and breathing hard, his gaze
now focused on Michael, the younger of the two
men. "You-you have your whole life ahead of you
Michael" he gasped, his chest heaving "don't...
don't throw it all away"
Except for the heavy breathing coming from each
of the frightened occupants, an eerie silence
enveloped the store.
Michael was shaking nervously, pondered his
choices. Should he ignore the man's warning
and take a chance and make a go of it, or
should he give up?
Slugg, gun waving in the air, was cursing out loud
now his eyes darting about in search of another
escape route.
Mrs. Danado, crouched against the wall behind
the counter, was crying. Shaking in sheer
panic she glanced hopelessly over at the man
with the paper and could see that his handsome
face bleeding, but his eyes were fixed on the two thugs.
Flashing red police lights soon illuminated the
small store, flickering in circular motions all about.
Police radio calls could be heard outside and
the man with the paper watched with caution the
faces of the two thugs, not knowing what their
next move would be, it had been a while since
his last look at the paper, and he braced himself
for the worse.
"What are we going to do now dog..huh?!" Michael
cried throwing his hands up in the air and stamping
his foot in frustration, "Man, what now!"
The man on the floor eye's darted towards the older
man, not knowing what to expect from him, knowing
that he was the one who was calling the shots. He only
wished that Mrs Danado was a little further out of
range, knowing she would be an easy target for them
to grab as a hostage.
"Come out with your hands up!" The police mega
phone echoed from outside. "The place is surrounded!"
To be continued......................
~~~~~*~~~~~
"That will be nine dollars and ninty nine cents,"
the cashier said, bagging the last loaf of bread.
Shoving the over filled bag aside, she held out
her hand for the money.
Rebecca Ann Danado had just begun her shift
that night at the Quick Shop Mart . She was a
bit squeamish about working in an all night
convience store. Being newly widowed at 55
and with four children, she had no other choice
and needed this second job to help supplement
her income. Her husband had been murdered
about a month ago. He had just started as part
of a team in a new law firm, but disappeared
sometime shortly after. He had been shot in the
back of the head, his body found later hidden in
a ditch on the out skirts of town. Rebecca found
out later that he had squandered most of their
savings, spending it lavishly on gambling, women,
bad investments. Rebecca's heart was broken
when she found out that he owed tons of bills and
back taxes and after paying most of them, there
was nothing left of their savings.
The man dug into his pocket and brought out
a crumpled up bill and tossed it onto the counter.
Rebecca sighed, and picked up the money
smoothing it out. She examined the bill closely
seeing that it was a ten dollar bill, quickly
tendered the amount and the drawer popped
opened with a 'ding!'
"Keep the change honey." The guy smirked as
he picked up the bag and hurried out of the store.
"Have a nice night." Rebecca said dryly. She
placed the money inside of the cash drawer and
slammed it shut. Blowing out a breath, she
suddenly felt chilled and clutched her sweater closed
at her neck for warmth. She couldn't help feeling
nervous.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that
the straggely looking teen who had come in
earlier, was still standing in front of the magazine
rack, his face buried in a magazine. He had
been there for about twenty minutes now, and
Rebecca was beginning to feel a little uneasy.
You're just being too paranoid becky, she
whispered to herself, trying hard to believe
that everything would be okay. People work in
these quick marts all the time. Piece of cake.
To occupy her mind, she busied herself by
straightening out the candy /gum rack and buffing
down the glass door of the Icee machine.
The bell on the door dinged and she glanced up to
see a tall, rather goodlooking man enter. Right away
she felt relieved just to have someone else in the
store. The man wore a heavy tan colored coat, with
a green turtle neck sweater underneath and a pair of
jeans. Clean cut, face of apple pie, very good looking
indeed she thought smiling to herself.
The man nodded at her before making his way
slowy over towards the magazine rack. As she
observed him, she thought it was rather strange
when he pulled a newspaper from his back pocket
and began to read. Curious, she watched him
as he read for a while then rolled up the paper,
and stuffed it into his back pocket again.
She watched as he began thumbing through a couple
of magazines before striking up a conversation
with the young man who had been standing there.
The two talked for a few minutes and then Rebecca
noticed that the young man seemed to get upset
about something.
"What? Who are you? Why don't you just mind
your own business! " She heard the young man retort.
The man with the newspaper, seemed to be talking
in calm tones, as if trying to soothe the anger of the
young boy. He said something about not wanting to
do that, and to leave so that no one got hurt.
At the word hurt, Rebecca's heart leaped and she
quickly made her way over to beind the counter
feeling around below it trying feverishly to locate
the silent security alarm that was hidden there.
Much to her mortification, it was broken and hanging
by a wire. At that moment the younger man pulled
out a switch blade. The man with the paper hands
shot up in defense.
"Woa!" she heard him say and Rebecca's heart
was racing now and she made a quick move
for the door. But she was blocked and knocked
backwards when an even bigger man appeared
suddenly pushing his way in roughly through the
door.
"Where you think you goin!" he snapped, grabbing
her by the sweater. Surprised by his demeanor, she
let out a shreik.
As he held her, his angry bloodshot eyes darting
nervously around the store. "Man whats taking you
so long!" he yelled across the store.
At that moment, Rebecca's heart flipped. This
was a planned holdup!
"Over here dog!" the skinny boy shouted back.
He was still poised with the switch blade in hand,
and the guy with the papers hands were still up.
Pulling Rebecca along, the bigger man yanked her
around, over to the magazine racks where his friend
stood.
"Lets go! Lets go! Lets go!" he yelled frantically
"We got ah problem dog!" the younger man shouted
back his eyes flashing with panic. "Clark Kent here."
At that point, the larger guy reached into his coat,
pulled out a gun and held it on the man with the
paper. "C'mon man, we gotta split, ain't got no
time, lets go!!" he yelled.
Shoving Rebecca aside he grabbed the guy
with the paper around the neck in a choke hold
and the boy then grabbed Rebecca forcing her
over to the cash register.
"Open the drawer!" he demanded. "Hurry! hurry!
hurry!"
Rebecca's eyes were wide with sheer panic. Her knees
were quivering as she fumbled with shaky fingers to
accomidate the irrate boy. She pushed 'no sale cash'
key on the register and the drawer popped open. Pushing
her aside, the boy began stuffing the money into a
plastic grocery bag as fast as he could, bills fluttered out,
change--spilling out onto the floor.
"Y-You don't want to do that." the guy with the newspaper
gasped his voice raspy and nervous with the arm
held tightly around his throat.
The bigger of the men tightened his hold and sputtered
in his ear, "Oh yeah? And what are you going to do
about it Clark Kent, break out in your Superman getup?"
he then rared back with his fist punching him hard in
the ribs.
Rebecca heard a sickening "Omph!!" escape the man's
lips as he doubled over in pain, clutching at his side.
"Please, just go!" she pleaded, "take the money
and just go!"
"Shut up lady!" the older man yelled. He kept looking
at the door as the younger man grabbed cartons of
cigarettes and began stuffing them into plastic bags.
He then grabbed Rebecca's purse that was underneath
the counter and dumped the contents onto the counter.
Raking through lipstick, her compact and a few personal
items he found her wallet and took whatever bills and
credit cards he could find.
The older man's gaze then dropped to the man on
the floor and he kicked him this time in the side,
yelling, "Give it up man! The wallet!, the wallet!
C'mon!!"
The man on the floor, still clutching his side,was
breathing hard while struggling to remove his wallet
from his pocket. Impatient, the older thug pushed
his hands away and began to rummage through the
man's pockets himself. Finding a wallet he flipped it
opened and quickly took out the bills, about eighty
dollars in tens and twentys and tossed the wallet aside.
"Michael!" the man with the newpaper sputtered
suddenly from the floor and the younger man
immediately froze at the sound of his name. Taken
off guard his eyes darted about frantically.
"H-How do yo know my name?! Man he knows
my name!" he shouted to his friend.
"Lucky guess! C'mon, lets get outta here, this
guy is weird!"
The man from the floor was coughing, his chest
heaving as he struggled to speak. He kept looking
at the older guy,
"No, Carl," he managed to get out between breaths,
"No...but I tell ya, that if you...if you two walk out of here
r-right now,... you're not going to make it. The place is
surrounded."
Slugg, the older of the two thugs was stunned and
stopped to glared at the man on the floor, his face
beaded in sweat. With the back of his hand, he wiped
his mouth and his eyes now revealed panic. No one
but no one other than his mama and closest friends
knew him by that name! Was this some kind of set up?
Rebecca was near hesterics now, and prayed
silently that the man with the paper would just
shut up so that the two thugs would hurry up
and leave. How did he know that the place
was surrounded? The darned alarm button
was broken, so the police couldn't have gotten
the call.
From the floor, the man with the paper was still
clutching his side, and breathing hard, his gaze
now focused on Michael, the younger of the two
men. "You-you have your whole life ahead of you
Michael" he gasped, his chest heaving "don't...
don't throw it all away"
Except for the heavy breathing coming from each
of the frightened occupants, an eerie silence
enveloped the store.
Michael was shaking nervously, pondered his
choices. Should he ignore the man's warning
and take a chance and make a go of it, or
should he give up?
Slugg, gun waving in the air, was cursing out loud
now his eyes darting about in search of another
escape route.
Mrs. Danado, crouched against the wall behind
the counter, was crying. Shaking in sheer
panic she glanced hopelessly over at the man
with the paper and could see that his handsome
face bleeding, but his eyes were fixed on the two thugs.
Flashing red police lights soon illuminated the
small store, flickering in circular motions all about.
Police radio calls could be heard outside and
the man with the paper watched with caution the
faces of the two thugs, not knowing what their
next move would be, it had been a while since
his last look at the paper, and he braced himself
for the worse.
"What are we going to do now dog..huh?!" Michael
cried throwing his hands up in the air and stamping
his foot in frustration, "Man, what now!"
The man on the floor eye's darted towards the older
man, not knowing what to expect from him, knowing
that he was the one who was calling the shots. He only
wished that Mrs Danado was a little further out of
range, knowing she would be an easy target for them
to grab as a hostage.
"Come out with your hands up!" The police mega
phone echoed from outside. "The place is surrounded!"
To be continued......................