.
.
He had stopped breathing but for his own relief nothing had happened.
Even though he heard the shuffling feet moving away again an entire minute went by before Tommy dared to inhale for oxygen. It felt like hours had passed since the man had sniffed at the rose-scented flower bouquet that was on the desk above Tommy's head. Another 180 ticks and the same amount of shuffling footsteps passed his ear before he opened his eyes again and then breathed deeply. Still nothing had happened. Nobody had called either. There was no progress and he had not heard that any of the people inside the bank had stood. Nobody had said a word. Nobody had dared to really move. There still was nothing but the impatient walk of the bank robber up and down in front of the silent telephone. There was just the sound of about a hundred more painful ticks. It may as well could have been a thousand ticks. Time just passed unused and it was unnerving.
Interesting that this bouquet smelled of roses even though there was no rose in it. Or was it? Perhaps one single flower of love? Tommy tried hard to remember how the flowers looked before he started to feel crazy doing so. At the moment there were more important things than flowers to focus on.
When he saw the reflection of the back of the man who now rested his arms on the desk and grunted something nasty Tommy finally dared to pull the hard wooden box from under him. Lying on it since he had gone down it had started to hurt with its edge poking the small of his back. Carefully he put it down next to him without making any sound. There was a floral inlaid work on its wooden lid. The brass hinge and lock were slightly tinged and definitely needed some caring attention but it still was beautiful in its vintage appearance. His thoughts went around the woodwork art and he wondered why on earth he had grabbed it on his way down although it stood on that desk completely unseen by the bank-robber when he went around to collect the valuable items. Tommy also wondered how much time might have passed since the incident had started so he looked at his wrist but the old Rolex was in the robber's bag. He may never see his father's gift anymore. When he was a young boy and still too small for wearing this watch all day he used to pull the blanket over his head before sleeping and listen to the steady quiet ticking of it. Throughout the years he had learned to count seconds and he should know now how much time had passed here in the bank but he had been too distracted. It may have been 60 or 600 or even 6000 ticks that had sounded since the robber had turned his back to the clock on the wall next to Tommy. And still there was no call from the on-scene commander.
Suddenly another shot broke the silence and the ticking stopped.
Broken bits of glass fell onto the dead man's body next to Tommy and into the pool of blood around him. For the fragment of a second there was deadly silence. Then the baby in the pram started crying. Its mother tried to make it stop bawling with soothing sounds and sweet words but it worked not too well and the noise strained Tommy's nerves. It probably strained everybody's nerves and especially the bank robber's. He started to grumble towards the mother to calm her baby quickly. She nervously apologised but the baby still cried heartbreaking.
"You're gonna make the baby stop crying, woman, or I'll do it for you!" the masked man shouted.
"Please, Sir!" the woman whimpered. "She's so afraid, Sir. I'm so sorry. Shhh, love, just calm down. Please do it for Mummy."
"Shut her up! I'm serious!"
While the man shouted at the woman and the baby which actually made it all worse Tommy could see him brandish his gun and getting closer to the pram and the kneeling woman who was still anxiously trying to calm down her child.
Somebody should stop the man, Tommy thought and stroked his thumb across the brass inlay under the floral ornament on the lid of the wooden box. London Armoury Company it said in letters inappropriately beautiful for what was inside. Tommy unlocked the old wooden box and opened it. Slowly and with his eyes fixed on the reflection of the shouting man's back he took the revolver and loaded it with all six bullets that had been stored in the box, each single one in its own mould in the red lace. DI Lynley knew it was stupid. He knew he should not play the hero. But Tommy also knew that the masked man would not shoot the baby or anyone else as long as he was here too.
He had hesitated long enough.
The old M1872 Mark III weighed heavy in Tommy's hand. The old deadly piece of metal that had never been shot for more than a century, that had never been shot at all since the day on which the 4th Earl of Asherton had bought it in 1873. It quietly clicked when the cylinder with its bullets slid into place and it echoed loud in the Inspector's ears. There was too much shouting and crying in the bank at the moment so fortunately nobody heard it except Tommy. He fidgeted for his badge, pulled his legs under his body and breathed deeply.
He knew it was stupid so he still hesitated another moment.
"For the last time - stop it!" the mask man shouted.
Suddenly Tommy felt adrenaline pumping through his body and he jumped up as quick as possible, raised his badge and pointed with the ancient revolver at the bank robber. He still knew it was stupid. But there was no going back now.
"Police! Weapon down, Sir!" he shouted. A part of his brain observed himself in a way and wondered why he had added that unnecessary courtesy.
For Tommy it felt like it happened in slow motion but in reality the bank robber turned around as fast as lightning, immediately shooting uncoordinated in the direction the disturbing voice had come from. The huge window pane behind Tommy burst into millions of pieces. He made a step to the right and fired back once.
"Tommy!" he thought he heard from outside.
Very sure that his mind was playing foul tricks on him Tommy also could swear that this had been Barbara's voice drowning out another loud bang. A burning pain exploded in his left side and his warrant card fell into the dark red pool on the floor. Then hell broke loose around him. The huge window on the other side of the entrance door splintered and smoke started to fill the room but Tommy was still able to fire another shot at the masked bank robber's chest.
.
...