Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, I just love to play around with them.
Synopsis: A perfect day comes out very wrong.
The hold-up
The sun was already out, surrounded by a perfectly blue sky. Temperature was still low, but at least they knew spring was coming. It was Monday. They always had a BBQ on Monday in the firehouse of Squad 55. It was Walsh's turn to cook, so he met up with Alex Taylor before their shift started to get the supplies. There was a bodega just a couple of blocks away from the firehouse, so the plan was to stop there on their way in.
It was shortly after 8 am when Billy's Jeep stopped in front of Taylor's apartment building. Before he could hunk the horn, the entrance door opened and the petite blonde woman came down the front steps. She had a duffel bag with her, which she threw in back before she climbed into his car.
"Morning," she yawned.
"Morning…" Billy smiled. Alex was not a morning person. But she had wanted to help carrying all the groceries they needed for a BBQ at the firehouse. Even if that meant getting up even earlier.
"You didn't have to come, you know."
The look Alex gave him said everything and made him laugh. He put the car into drive and waited for an opening in the morning rush hour traffic to get to that bodega.
Traffic was heavy that morning, so it took Walsh about a half hour to get to that little store. All those one-way streets on their way didn't help either. They had to go up two blocks more than needed, only to get to the next side street and go down one block again to get to the store.
Sometimes, Alex wondered who the hell had planned those streets. She didn't like to drive privately in the city. Directing the ambulance through traffic was bad enough. She admired Walsh for being able to make his way through narrow and crowded streets with the fire engine, which was about three times the size of an ambulance.
Alex yawned again. Why the hell did she offered her help again? She shook her head, lost in thoughts.
"What?" Billy asked, having noticed her head shaking from the corner of his eye.
"Nothing, never mind. You know what we need?" she asked, referring to the BBQ.
Now it was Billy's turn to give her a look.
"Just asking," Alex defended herself, raising her hands. But she finally smiled. Together, they went in.
While Walsh was quickly making his way to the beef, Alex was checking vegetables for salad. There were no other customers in that bodega, so they had it for themselves.
The bell over the door rang again, indicating the door being opened again. Out of reflex, Billy turned around to have a look. There were two men, one of average height, with flaming red hair, wearing a black leather coat. The other was a couple of inches smaller, wearing a Yankee's baseball cap and a black sweater. Both wore black jeans and sneakers. Walsh took this in only in a split second, before one of the men turned around the "yes, we are open" sign and the other went for the woman behind the counter.
"Give me your cash!" the leather coat guy ordered, holding something towards the cashier woman.
The shorter guy looked around nervously and spotted some of the customers.
"Hurry, man!" he muttered towards his partner.
The woman was hastily trying to open the cash register, but it wouldn't work.
"Come on, Lady!"
"I…I can't…it doesn't work…" the woman returned, her voice barely more than a whisper. She was terrified.
Billy tried to move. If he could hide behind one of the shelves, he might be able to get his cell phone out to call 9-1-1.
"Where you think you're going?" the short man hissed, suddenly pointing a gun at Walsh.
Billy held up his hands in a defensive position.
"Okay…just stay calm…"
Just in that moment, Alex turned around one of the shelves, a salad in each hand.
"Hey, Billy, you think that's enough?" she asked loudly, oblivious to what was going on.
The taller man swirled around, spotted Alex and fired his gun.