FicWad

Stepping out of the car, Frank paused as if something had suddenly occurred to him. Shooting a quick glance at Gerard as he was pulled from the car, he frowned deeply and nodded to Ray.
Gerard gasped in surprise as he was once again pushed back inside his car. Mikey’s head turned in surprise at the sound and as Frank slammed the door on his side, Mikey wondered what was happening – what on Earth had Gerard done to annoy them this time?

“So,” Frank began, as he eyed Gerard coldly. “Tell me again about the bunker.”

Gerard felt the heat of panic rush through him as Frank voiced his concerns.

“I…” Gerard paused as Ray returned to the passenger seat and eyed him with suspicion.

Gerard was lost for words; with no real clue as to what Frank was alluding to, he was reluctant to say anything that might, potentially, work against him.

“A security code on a nuclear bunker?” Frank scowled, angry with himself that he had almost missed the unlikely explanation.

Gerard’s fears were realised; he had to think fast. The only way to get out of this, he believed, was to act dumb and pretend it had never even occurred to him.

“What about it?” he asked managing to force a puzzled expression.
“An electricity powered door code?” Frank half asked, half stated.
“I… er… oh…” Gerard stammered convincingly. “I never thought about it before.”
“Really?” Frank frowned.
“I’ve never needed to,” Gerard shrugged his shoulders, “it’s not like I give it that much thought.”

Frank narrowed his eyes as he gave the reply some thought. Was it conceivable that he had never even considered how ridiculous it sounded?

“I guess they added the code lock later,” Gerard offered, suddenly thinking of a plausible reason. “After the Cold War ended. So they could use it as an extra vault or storage area, maybe?”

Frank’s expression softened. Gerard’s reaction had seemed genuine enough and the whole story put together now sounded quite reasonable.

“Okay,” he nodded, glancing at his watch, frowning as he realised that a few more precious minutes had been lost. “Let’s go.”

*

With all the security systems now switched off, thanks to Ray’s programme override of the time sensors, accessing the bank was a simple matter of unlocking the door, just as Gerard would do every morning. Keeping Gerard and Mikey ahead of them, but under close guard, the three thieves slipped inside and closed the door.
Entering through the staff entrance, the five men found themselves standing in the corridor leading to the back offices, staff room and kitchen. Even here, security cameras would normally sweep the area, but on turning his eyes up to the security camera high on the wall, Ray smiled with satisfaction as he saw that it was static with the operating light clearly not illuminated.

“Good job, Ray,” Frank congratulated him and flashed him a broad grin, “as ever.”

Ray accepted the praise graciously with a brief smile and followed Frank as he pushed Gerard towards the vault room. Mikey followed silently and easily with Bob bringing up the rear.

Mikey knew that Frank was asserting his control over Gerard to press the point and to keep him in line, and Gerard, being Gerard, was fighting him at every step. It was painful to watch, but Gerard was being exceptionally stubborn and it seemed that he was on a mission to self-destruct. All he could do was hope that Gerard would realise that his brother had the greater level of experience dealing with these men and defer to him. As it was, Frank was growing angrier with each passing minute. Mikey stared at Frank before realising he had been watching him all along. His brow furrowed as he realised what he had been doing and wondered if anyone else had noticed. He knew Frank would have an explanation as to why he thought Mikey had been staring, and he knew it wasn’t true. There was a much simpler explanation than the one Frank would believe. There was, he knew there was, there must be. Wasn’t there?
Mikey pulled himself from his daydream as he realised they had entered the vault room. Finally focussing on what was happening, he noticed that Frank had caught him staring and offered a shy smile; gentle, unassuming and demure. Mikey averted his eyes and stared intently at the floor, surprised and despite the consideration he had given the matter, embarrassed and a little unnerved. Was Frank right? No. Mikey almost shook his head as if to convince himself. He was concerned though. Worried. As much as he wanted to be freed or escape, he didn’t want Frank to be arrested. Of course this made no sense. Or, at least, it shouldn’t have made sense. The confusing contradictions he felt ate away at his confidence and certainty. Right now, the only thing Mikey knew for sure was that he was uncertain.

*

Frank looked admiringly, almost lovingly, at the huge bank vault door. He had seen a great many of these in the past few years and none had ever presented them with any real problems. Usually Bob was the mastermind behind opening the vaults thanks to his expertise with plastic explosives, but today the task of opening the door itself could have gone to a small child, thanks to Ray’s override of the time delay programme. By shifting the apparent time forward twelve hours, the vault was now behaving as if it were nine o’clock in the morning. Now it was a simple matter of entering the code provided by Gerard in his daily email.

Despite having memorised it, Frank glanced at the paper in his hands momentarily before typing the ten-digit code onto the keypad with his gloved hand. Immediately, a slight whirring sound permeated through the room, followed by the distinct sound of metal sliding against metal as thick steel bolts slid from their housing. Even Frank knew, before Bob even mentioned it, that without the codes and Ray’s computer trickery, this particular vault would have been a difficult one to blow and, on this occasion, Bob was grateful to leave it to Ray and Frank.

Frank stepped to one side as the vault door almost seemed to pop open an inch or two, before drifting fully open under the power of the built-in hydraulic system. As the door became fully open, Frank smiled as a steel-barred gate that covered the entrance behind the main door, glided back, leaving the vault open and ready to plunder.

Immediately within view was the miniature vault that held the jewels that they had planned to steal. Frank’s breathing quickened as he realised how close they were. He checked his watch again; he knew Gerard had involved the police and he also knew that, despite them being ahead of schedule, it wouldn’t be long before they arrived.

Bob stepped forward as he sensed Frank’s desire for haste. Gently drawing the small device from his pocket, Bob inserted a wire into the front panel. The other end finished with a circular felt pad coated with a thin film of plastic designed to cling to the small steel door of the miniature vault.

“What’s that?” Gerard asked sharply as Bob carefully placed the pad over the lock.
Standing behind him, Mikey’s shoulders sagged and he stepped forward so that he stood at his side.
“Gee, what are you doing?” he whispered urgently.
“I want to know what he’s doing,” Gerard answered, his voice lowered but still loud enough to hear.
“You’re just getting them angry, can’t you see that? You’re gonna get yourself hurt.”
“Well, maybe I’m not prepared to just stand back and let them use me,” he replied angrily.
Mikey pursed his lips as he considered a reply.
“I’m sorry, Mikes,” Gerard quickly added, “I didn’t mean that how it came out.”
“You think I want to be standing here, handcuffed? You think I asked to be kidnapped?”
“No,” Gerard shook his head. “I didn’t mean that.”
“But you think I’m letting them use me?”
“Well,” Gerard looked away, briefly, “I’ve got to be honest, Mikes, I am a little confused. You seem to be helping them. They’re not gonna let us go, don’t you understand that? When they’ve finished with us, they’ll kill us… just like they killed my manager.”
“What!”
Mikey’s eyes widened in shock. Frank had told him that they had never killed anyone; he had seemed so genuine, Mikey had believed him without question. Now, here was his brother telling him, quite categorically, that they had killed his manager. He felt such a fool to have believed Frank, but it was clear to him now that he had said only what he wanted him to hear.

“What did you just say?” Frank approached the two brothers with an expression of angry indignation firmly fixed on his face.

Ray too had heard the comment, but had already decided to ignore him. Gerard was, in his opinion, merely trying to convince his brother than the trio were evil murderers. He knew they weren’t and the robbery was almost over, he was more than happy to let the comment go. It didn’t matter to him in the slightest what the brothers thought. But, he knew, it mattered to Frank. It would have mattered to Frank even if he hadn’t been interested in Mikey. Frank cared about that sort of thing. To him it was a matter of pride and principle. Ray moved closer to watch Bob and left him to it.

Gerard stared in return, a look of bitter loathing on his face, that was tinged with an element of sadness, as he remembered how his secretary loved the man they had killed.

“He said you killed his manager.”

Frank turned to stare impassively at Mikey, blindsided by his acute distress at what he had just heard. For a moment or two it seemed as though Frank’s mind had gone as blank as his expression. Mikey was angry, he was shocked, but worst of all, he sounded hurt. He appeared as though Frank had run him through with a sword. Frank was crushed.

“Mikey, I told you, I’ve never killed anyone!”

The statement drew Bob’s attention and he turned an incredulous expression towards Frank and the two brothers. He simply couldn’t believe the admission Frank had just made to their hostages.
“I told you, didn’t I?” Ray whispered.
“Sorry, Ray,” Bob frowned, turning back to the small vault. “I thought you were exaggerating.”
“No, not even a little bit.”
Bob chuckled to himself to Ray’s surprise.
“He’s got it bad this time.”
“Bob, this isn’t funny!” Ray insisted, keeping his voice low. “His little crush is going to get us arrested!”
Bob shook his head. “Give him some credit, Ray. This is Frank we’re talking about.”
Ray frowned, still unconvinced but willing to be proved wrong.
“Frank!” Bob called. “It’s ready.”

Frank glanced over his shoulder. Part of him was keen to see the fruits of their labours but, right now, the better part of him wanted to prove to Mikey that Gerard was lying to him. Taking a deep breath, Frank reset his priorities. They had to get out before the police arrived. Mikey could be convinced later, right now it was time to open the vault.

“Okay, Bob,” Frank turned and headed over to where Ray and Bob stood. “Open her up.”
Bob set the code on the device and pressed enter. The smallest of clicks and the door opened a fraction of a inch.
Frank smiled as Bob reached up to open the door.
“It’s empty!”

As he spoke, the sound of metal on metal filled the otherwise silent room. Frank spun just as the steel barred gate whisked past his eyes and clanged shut sealing them inside the vault.
Stepping forward, the empty vault forgotten, Frank gripped the bars, his eyes wide with shock as Gerard’s mouth spread into a self-satisfied smirk.

“Ray!” the panic in Frank’s voice was evident. “Get us out of here!”
“You can’t!” Gerard announced. “The code on the lock has been programmed to reset itself every two seconds. By the time you work it out, it’ll have changed. It won’t be long before the police get here. You’re going to prison, Iero!”