FicWad

At the foot of the ladder to the main exit from the bunker, Gerard paused and held out the set of keys to Frank.

“You know the way from here and you’ve got my car keys.”
“If you’re about to suggest you’re not coming with us, then you can forget that,” Frank replied flatly.
“Look,” Gerard shrugged, “believe it or not, I do want you guys to escape. Now I know Mikey’s okay, I’m happy. You don’t need me.”
“We do…” Frank began before Gerard interrupted.
“There’s no point me going with you! I’ll slow you down and it’s pretty clear that they don’t care that you have hostages. You’ll get caught and…” Gerard looked down at his feet as he steadied himself on a rung of the ladder. “I don’t want that.”
“I know,” Frank nodded, “I heard what you said to Mikey and I understand. Let me tell you, you’ve got a lot more guts than I gave you credit for. But, you helped us back there; we’d have been arrested for sure if you hadn’t stepped in, and we look after our own.”

Behind Frank, Ray and Bob were both nodding their agreement. Gerard smiled faintly; he had seriously misunderstood the three men. He had switched from despising them to respecting them, even liking them, all in the space of an hour.

“If you leave me here, you’re more likely to get away. I’ll say I passed out with the pain when they find me…”
Frank shook his head vigorously. “No, all or nothing. All or nothing…” he hesitated, “…Gee?”
Gerard gave a small appreciative laugh as Frank used his familiar name. It felt so odd; so very few people ever called him that.
“But isn’t it safer if…?”
“Maybe for us,” Frank shrugged, “not for you. Maybe it’d be fine, but if when they find you, they blame and arrest you, you may never get out. If there’s one thing I know about legal matters it’s that Mikey can’t represent you.”
“No, I’m a prosecution lawyer,” Mikey threw in.
“Unhelpful, Mikey,” Frank cocked his head to one side. “I’m just trying to make a point here.”
“Okay, okay, I get it and… I appreciate it. Let’s go.”

Unlocking the exit door, Gerard pushed it open a fraction of an inch, relieved to see the room in darkness. Opening the door slowly so as not to attract any attention merely from the movement, Gerard led the four men through into his manager’s office. Relieved that this end of the corridor was on a separate lighting circuit, Gerard could see through a glass panel in the wall, that the corridor beyond the office was dimly lit from the lights further down the long corridor. In the dim light, he could see the movement of shadows further down the corridor and knew that the police were still nearby. They would have to wait it out.

*

The five men stood in absolute silence waiting for an opportunity to slip out and escape, but they had now stood there for upwards of thirty minutes and the police were still there. Under cover of darkness, so that he felt reasonably confident he would go unnoticed Gerard pressed himself against the door and peered briefly through the blind covered glass panel nestled between the door and wall, before pulling back. The police were still too close; if they were to try to escape now, they would certainly be seen.

“Why won’t they go?” Ray spoke in an agitated whisper.
“I think they’re waiting for a bank official,” Gerard frowned. “To work out where we went. That’s a problem.”
“Why?” Bob asked. “We half expected it anyway.”
Frank nodded. “Because when they work out where we went, they’ll know where we are now.”
“We have to get out, and the only way is through this door,” Gerard nodded behind him.
Frank stared hard as he considered their options. “If we wait to be found, they’ll come from both sides and we’ll be trapped. The only real option is to leave now.”
Glancing around at all four men, Frank quickly formulated a plan of action.
“Okay, Bob, I want you to stay behind…”
“Why?” Bob cut in, surprised at the suggestion.
“Because we’ll probably get caught and if we do, I don’t want you with us. If you get arrested, you’ll never see your son again, let alone get custody. And you know, sooner or later, Dan’ll get taken away from her. He’ll end up in the system.”
“Frank, I can’t leave you guys to risk getting caught. Like you said before, we look after our own.”
“That’s what I’m doing now,” Frank replied with frustration.
“I’m coming with you,” Bob insisted. “It’s my risk and I’m taking it.”
“What’s your plan?” asked Ray.
Frank shrugged. “It’s not really a plan so much as an act of desperation.”

Gerard turned and placed his hands behind him, followed by Mikey. Neither said a word, but the implication was clear as they offered themselves as hostages.

“I can’t ask you to do that,” Frank shook his head. “It’s too risky, you’ve already been shot once.”
“You didn’t ask,” Gerard corrected. “Put them on, and quick, we have to make a move before they find us.”
“Thank you,” Frank nodded his appreciation.

As he finished placing the cuffs on Gerard’s hands, he moved to Mikey. He felt guilty, Mikey was helping them escape and he had treated him so badly. The last thing he wanted to do was handcuff him again. As he closed the steel circles around Mikey’s slender wrists, he felt the need to apologise.

“I’m really sorry, Mikey, these will come off and stay off soon.”
Mikey reached with his fingers and taking Frank’s still lingering hand, gave a gentle squeeze.
“It’s okay, Frank,” he added glancing over his shoulder.

Stepping back, Frank tried hard not to react to the unexpected response, a moment of gentle intimacy. Mikey had made it clear to him that he was not interested, but this felt different. Had he imagined it? Would Mikey play with his feelings like that? He had to put everything aside, he had to stay focussed if they were to stand a chance of escape. If only they could distract the police somehow. He pictured how they usually did it in the movies. Someone would throw a stone in the opposite direction that they were heading and fool the pursuers. But of course, that wasn’t an option. Or was it?

“Ray,” he whispered urgently, “can you make the gate in the vault room close again and simultaneously shut off the lights?”
“Lights?” Ray frowned as he opened his laptop once more. “Give me a minute.”

As Ray worked, Gerard moved towards the door as he heard a voice he recognised.
“The Regional Manager’s here,” he hissed. “He’ll know about the bunker and where we are.”
“Yes,” Ray announced, “I can do it.”
“Now.”

Further up the corridor the police heard a loud clang as the gate slammed shut and immediately the area was plunged into pitch darkness.

“They’re still in there! You, get him out of here, the rest of you, with me!”

Frank’s eyes lit up as he heard the sound of many footsteps racing towards the vault room. Opening the door a crack, Frank peered out into the corridor, his heart leaping with relief as he found it empty. Placing a finger to his lips, he indicated for all to be silent as they crept as fast as they dared from the room. Opening the staff entrance door, Frank led them all into the cold night air. Moving silently, the five men kept close to the wall and in the shadows until they reached the main road. Quickly, Frank released the two brothers from their handcuffs.

“We’ll split up, meet at my place in an hour, yes? Mikey, do you remember how to get there?”
“Yeah,” he nodded.
“Good, see you in an hour.”
“Why don’t we take my car?” asked Gerard. “It’s around the back and it’s just sitting there.”
“Two reasons,” Frank replied. “There’s a risk it’ll attract attention and most importantly, while it’s there, they’ll think we are too.”
Gerard nodded, it made sense. But now it was more important just to get as far away as possible. Heading off on his own, Frank glanced back as Bob and Ray crossed the road and Gerard and Mikey walked briskly in the opposite direction.

“What do I do, Mikey?” Gerard asked his brother. “I don’t want to go back, but I can’t not go back. They’re bound to want to know what happened and what if Frank’s right, what if they realise I helped them?”
“I told you, I have an idea. Trust me.”

*

Frank paced in the kitchen of his house; no one had arrived yet and he was getting worried. He poured himself a drink and hoped it would steady his nerves; but he was hoping for too much. Nothing like this had ever happened before, they were so careful, but deep down, Frank knew it had been a mistake to involve outsiders. He desperately wanted a last great job that would set them up for life. He knew the day was coming when Bob would quit. He didn’t know much about his son, but he knew it ate him away inside that he couldn’t be with him and it was only a matter of time before he gathered up the courage to get custody of him. That time was now, and, assuming they hadn’t already been caught, that would be the end of their group. He felt reasonably confident that the police couldn’t trace anything back to them, despite the failure of the operation, they had still been very careful not to leave any evidence behind. The only possible cause of their arrest now, would be Gerard and Mikey letting the police know where to find them. He tried desperately to push the idea to the back of his mind but he knew it was still a risk. He knew that they could easily have handed them over to the police in the bank, but, given that Gerard had been shot, it was much less of a risk for them to escape and then just supply the address, knowing they would all be there. Taking another sip, Frank refused to listen to his worried thoughts.

The first to arrive were Ray and Bob, overjoyed to have been so close to arrest and still escaped. Frank tried to celebrate with them, but it wasn’t easy. He wouldn’t be happy until Gerard and Mikey arrived, if they arrived.

The doorbell rang again and Frank sighed with relief, but his relief was short lived as he opened the door to two police officers. He stood frozen to the spot, unable to move or speak, but most of all, unable to believe that Mikey had done this.

“Sorry to disturb you, Sir,” one of them began politely, much to Frank’s surprise. “There’s nothing wrong. We’re just warning all the houses in the area, there have been a lot of burglaries in this neighbourhood in the last few days. We’re just advising people to be extra careful.”
“Thank you Officer, I must admit, you had me worried for a moment.”
The police officer nodded. “Common reaction, Sir, most people think we’ve come with bad news for them.”
Frank nodded and sighed. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I thought.”

Closing the door, Frank barely had time to step away before the doorbell rang again. Turning back, he opened it to reveal Gerard and Mikey.
“What did they want?” asked Mikey urgently.
“Local burglaries, just warning everyone,” Frank replied as he ushered them in.
“That’s a relief,” Mikey replied with a smile. “Frank, can I talk to you?”
“Sure,” Frank replied as he headed towards the living room only to be pulled up sharply as a hand grabbed his shirt.
“Privately.”
“Uh… yeah. Gee, would you mind going ahead? Bob and Ray are in there, help yourself to anything you want.”

Waiting until Gerard had closed the door to the living room, Frank turned to Mikey with a worried expression.
“What’s wrong?”
Mikey looked down at his feet. Now the opportunity had come, he wasn’t sure what to say.
“Mikey? Are you okay? If you’re worried about Gee’s leg, we can…”
“No, it’s not that,” Mikey pushed his hand through his hair as he tried to find the right words. “I’ve been thinking about what you said. About why I was a bit, well, absent from my relationship with Leanne and, if I’m honest, all the women I’ve dated.”
“And?” Frank asked, making no assumptions as to his conclusion.
“You might be right,” he replied looking back to his feet. “But now, I’m a little confused.”
“You need someone to guide you?” Frank asked extending a hand to take one of his.
“I know you like me, I’m not going to use you.”
“Then let me ask…” Frank paused. “Do you like me?”
Mikey’s worried and uncertain expression broke into a smile.
“You’re not using me,” Frank reassured him. “Now come on, we’ve got to salvage what we can from the mess we’re in.”

Mikey took a deep breath and followed him to the living room where everyone had now gathered.

“Okay,” Frank began. “I guess this is it. Bob, you’re going to get custody of Dan, perhaps Mikey can recommend a lawyer? And…”
“I can do better than that,” Mikey cut in. “Bob, to get custody of Dan, you’re going to need a decently paid job.”
“Who’s going to employ an ex-con?” he grumbled.
“Me,” Mikey announced, “I’m going to employ you. But it has to be all of you.”

Mikey was met by a series of puzzled stares.
“Go on,” Frank encouraged.

“I’m suggesting a technically legal partnership. Frank, you have a lot of contacts who have bought things from you or hired you in the past, yes?”
“Yeah, dozens.”
“And, I’m willing to bet that, from time to time, they all need legal services, from tax, to property, to divorce, and even criminal.”
Frank nodded with a smile as he began to see what Mikey was suggesting.
“Okay, so I’m thinking that we approach your contacts and suggest that they use our legal services, for higher than usual fees, with the added bonus of absolute discretion. You have the contacts; I can handle legal; Gerard the financial side; Ray the computing and Bob would be…”
“Yeah, I know, the muscle,” he replied flatly.
“I prefer to call it, Client Management,” Mikey replied with a wry smile. “What do you think?”

Frank grinned. “It’s well paid, basically legal and it keeps us all together. I like it.”
“I think after that last experience, I’m ready to take a step into something legal,” Ray agreed as he and Bob rose to their feet to stand next to Frank.
“I’ll do it, and not just because it’ll help get Dan back,” Bob added.
“Mikey, you know I hate my job. I’m definitely in!” Gerard grinned. “You said I’d like your idea!”
“So,” Mikey began with a broad smile as he offered his hand to Frank who took it immediately, followed by Gerard, Ray and Bob. “I think we should celebrate, don't you?”