Chapter 80

The girls weren't going to allow Billie to go anywhere by herself. Since she was hell-bent on leaving and finding the gang, Mariy and Jane had no other option but to follow suit. They gathered into the car, Mairy firm on driving. Billie wanted to get there as fast as they possibly could, but both of the other women knew she was in no state to operate the car herself.

They tried to reason with Billie, saying that even they didn't know the exact location of the robbery. None of the men had offered them any concrete information; this wasn't a robbery they wanted the women having any relation to. However, they headed toward the nearest town center where they knew a bank ought to be nestled. As Homer had been overheard saying the night before, they were safer away from the downtown area.

"I don't know where to go," Mairy said. She was driving deeper in to town and Billie was getting increasingly anxious. So far everyone had just humored Billie. No one knew why exactly she wanted to find the men or even what she planned to do if she did locate them. Mairy knew that if they tampered with or distracted the men on this robbery in any way it could be disastrous. She and Jane were becoming more and more unwilling to advance but Billie was persistent.

"There," she pointed ahead toward what looked like a round-about. "Go there."

Mairy drove forward but at a slower pace. As they neared the town center, which was an area of groomed grass around a statue or plaque of some kind, there were several other streets branching off the circular road. In the distance Billie saw a large, looming building made of stone. Her heartbeat quickened. "Is that a bank?"

She was peering through the windshield from the backseat, Jane and Mairy taking up the front. It did look to be a bank or an official building of some kind with pillars adorning the entrance. Jane felt an unsettling twist in her stomach. It was a bank, but neither she nor Mairy wanted to tell Billie for sure.

Under her breath Jane uttered, "stay here."

Mairy understood and eased the car to the side of the road instead of proceeding any further. This instantly unsettled Billie.

"Get closer!" she snapped urgently.

"Now, Billie," Jane tried to soothe. "It's best to stay here-"

"Is that Red?"

At the sound of her lovers name Jane immediately forgot her own peace-of-mind and peered through the glass. Billie had her eyes on a familiar dark car parked outside the building. Inside was a figure she couldn't entirely see, but the silhouette reminded her of Red's looming build. Billie could tell she had assumed right when she saw Jane's face go completely pale.

"They're here," she announced, moving toward the door.

"No!" the other women said in unison. Jane pulled her eyes away from Red and turned them on Billie, extending her hand and grabbing Billie's new coat at the sleeve.

Mariy warned her coldly, "don't you get out of this car."

It was difficult trying to keep Billie under control and at the same time watch the scene before them. It looked as though they had come at the right time. John often bragged that it took him seconds to open a safe, and it had been several seconds since they had noticed Red inside the getaway car. The robbery was in process right then and Billie expected to see John exit the building any moment.

This was the first time she had been so close to an actual robbery and her emotions were torn. The people inside must have been scared to death, but they needn't worry. John, nor any of the other men, would hurt them- at least, not intentionally. She feared and sympathized for the innocent, but she worried about John's safety as well. If she could just see him… Imagining the goings-on inside the building was near unbearable.

Eventually there did come some movement, cars slowly approaching the stone building from two different directions. They were large, dark vehicles, and one could just make out the image of a star posted on the door. They were police cars.

A feeling much like sensation of being violently nauseous washed over all the women.

It was a nightmare come to life. The vehicles loomed ominously with the same impact as a hearse during a funeral procession, as if death itself was making a grand entrance. The utter silence in the women's car was far more chilling than the abrupt and chaotic demands which had been sprouted just moments before.

The police cars positioned themselves in multiple places, blocking every alleyway and making it impossible for another vehicle to pass along the same street. It was clear they wanted to trap everyone already in the building and prevent them from escaping. Red remained in the car, motionless, all too aware of what was unfolding around him. Two vehicles were positioned a good distance in front of and behind him, but it was still enough to squash any attempt Red had at reversing or advancing out of the trap. He wasn't sure if the police knew he was there in that car, or even if they suspected it of being the means to a getaway.

Some of the men in the police vehicles slipped out, hunkering below their opened doors and aiming large rifles at the banks entrance.

"Oh, Jesus," Mairy breathed, her words coming out with a kind of numb horror the other women had never heard before. Billie felt an unfolding occurring in her body. A reverse osmosis. The more she saw and realized the more her mind, body and soul understood and with that came an indescribable pain. A pain and a fear so traumatic she imagined she would die of it.

After the expanse of what felt like a lifetime, the banks entrance opened and a shuffle of people appeared. Billie craned her next to see. A fedora among the crowd looked as though it belonged it John, several other bodies camouflaging him. The men in uniform started yelling. No one knew exactly what they were saying but their ferocious tone didn't hint at anything pleasant. The crowd of people started to move together. This was a play the men often used- utilizing hostages as a human shield. It worked but only for a few steps.

The more the crowd moved the more the officers screamed, and as the commotion hit a peak a gunshot rang out.

The explosion was heard and felt by everyone. A woman screamed and men yelled but the women in the car again went deathly silent. A second after the shot fired Billie scrambled toward the door.

"No! Billie!" Jane cried hysterically. She pulled at the girls coat but to no avail. New rounds of bullets began sounding off, Billie scrambling out into the street and running toward them.