"The Heist" (New Writers Always Welcome)

Taylor:



"Where's my pizza?"

Taylor was at the Manager's desk again, phone in hand, shifting his attention from a slight opening in the vertical drapes to the Conference Room entrance. Through the drapes, using the bird-watching binoculars they'd found in one of the hostage's backpack, Taylor could see the Deputy who was on the other end of the line, presumably the cop in charge; and at the Conference Room, he could see Grimes teetering back and forth, left foot to right and back, as he often did when he was very nervous.

"No," Taylor responded to the Deputy's most recent comment, "Bring me my pizzas. The Hostages are hungry, I'm hungry ... hell, the money's hungry...! ... Yes ... you'll get your hostage. Two? I never agreed to two!"

After a moment, he spun to find Cramer, who had headed for the bank's rear and not been seen since. Taylor shook his head. You're in charge, don't let her think you're not in charge. He drew a deep breath and released it slowly. "No, you're right, I forgot. Two hostages, one before, one after. Just ... get it here now."



They sent a County ERT team to deliver the order, further signalling to Taylor that the Harvey County Sheriff Department had jurisdiction. Of course, he couldn't have known that Homeland Security was calling the shots, but calling them through Keenan. The Deputy called Taylor to inform him of the advance of the three man team, stressing that it was not a breach.

"Just be sure it stays that way," Taylor had warned her. "I'm leaving men with the hostages and explosives. One shot, and ... boom."

So, the Team had been casual yet cautious in its advance, with the Driver very conspicuously handing his assault rifle off to one of his partners before he entered the delivery truck and backed it to within twenty yards of the bank, with the other two members hiding behind the trucks engine compartment, covering their man.

The phone rang again. Taylor knew what Keenan wanted and ignored the call. He looked to the old woman whose trembling hand he'd been holding tightly to since pulling her out of the Conference Room. "You ready, hunny?"

She nodded her head emphatically, saying, "Thank you, thank you ... thank you."

Taylor laughed, squeezing the woman's hand. "It's okay, hunny. Remember our deal. Yes?"

She nodded heartily again, patting her hand upon her purse. Inside were two bundle of hundred dollar bills and a falsified receipt that indicated that it was in fact her money. "I keep one, and ...?"

"Samantha," he reminded her. "Just remember, Dominoes, blond, cute."

She nodded her head again, repeating, "Samantha ... Dominoes ... blond ... cute."

The phone stopped ringing. Taylor gestured the woman toward the front entrance -- which Taylor only realized had never been locked when he went forward earlier to unlock it -- and called loudly, "Hostage coming out! Hold your fire!"

The old women ambled forward slowly, as Taylor had directed her to, and once out the door, was hurriedly snatched up by the two fully armed ERT members and hurried away to safety.

Once she had her hostage, Keenan ordered the pizza delivered. The Driver made six trips, from the truck's opened tail end to the banks front door, before the entire order was sitting inside the bank's entry. The deputy held his hands out to his side, away from the side arm that Taylor had allowed on the condition he shed the automatic rifle. "Second hostage?"

Taylor kept his eyes on the man, calling over his shoulder, "Grimes!"

The other Navy man, his shotgun leveled at the ERT man, escorted an elderly man forward; the man, the Bank's janitor, had only been there that early in the day for the monthly meeting Taylor had not anticipated, and -- as with the old lady -- Taylor didn't want any potential heart attack victims in the financial establishment any longer than necessary.

The Janitor spent a couple of minutes moving all of the order back to sit atop the grand piano in the lobby's center, then looked up to Taylor, then Grimes.

"Go ahead," Grimes said, his weapon still pointed at the deputies chest. "Both of you, out!"

The two were gone quickly, the man -- as with the woman before him -- being rushed away as the Driver hopped into the delivery truck and took it away.

Taylor and Grimes looked at one another, then to the order.

"Check it out?" Grimes asked. His tone was insinuating, Do you want to...? I sure don't!

Taylor hesitated, then moved to the order, and -- one box, container, bowl, and cup after another -- checked every one of them. He looked up to Cramer, shrugging. "I'm not wearing pepperoni and listening to my ears ring, so..."



In the conference room, pizza, skinless chicken, hot wings, garlic knots, jo jos, mash potatoes, and much more littered the table. Taylor watched with a smile as the hostages -- most of them, anyway -- dug eagerly into the order. He'd laughed and given his apologies after one of the customers asked, "What, no beer?"

Taylor returned to the lobby, delivering a slice of Combination to Grimes. He looked about the bank, then asked with concern, "Where's Cramer?"

"The head, Chief," he answered, looking not toward the restroom where Taylor had had his moment with Jenn, but instead toward the closed door near the bank's very back with a sign on it that read Employees Only. "I think he needed some time."

Taylor considered the situation, then ordered, "Give it to him, then. I want him settled down. You have the front?"

After getting a nod -- and a request for some hot wings -- Taylor returned to the Conference Room. He'd noticed before, and again during, the feeding frenzy, one of the men -- his name tag read James -- showing a little bit of attention to one of his co-workers, whose name tag was missing, probably lost during the initial invasion and rousting of the hostages. He assumed that they were a couple, and -- recalling his time with Jenn in the head -- he was beginning to feel charitable towards the Love Birds.

He couldn't have known, of course, that the man never slept with the woman ... had never dated, nor kissed, nor hardly even talked to the woman. And, once he learned this very pertinent information ... he would quickly decide, "So what?"

Abigail Parker

Abigail could not hear a thing. Maybe all was over. She put her hand on the door handle, deciding at least to dare a look outside.

Sophie was completely terrified. She had never been robbed before, though she had worked in banks for quite a long time (Since she was 18, that would make almost 10 years as she was 27 now). However, she had been working in another place until quite recently, so she wondered whether she had been wrong in changing places. But she didn't know their having anything really valuable in there, so couldn't think why those men were suffering so much for that little town bank. But, again, she was new, so maybe there was somethig she didn't know about.

Fortunately she had managed to stary closer to James. It was not they were a couple, they haden't even dated or flirt that much, but having near someone she knew made her feel more comfortable. Well, as confortable as anyone would be in a robbery. She quite admired that dark-haired girl that had dared to speak to the men and eventually got them free form their tires and eatting pizza. It was not she was hungry, but that amount of food made her think that the robbers were going to spend quite a lot of time there, so she took the chance to fill her stomach before it was too late.

Whatever, she started to worry about the dark haired girl. She had left with the man wearing the shades and had not come back. Had she killed her? Did he rape her in the bathroom? She even got more frightened when the mand placed his eyes on her. Oh, please, God, don't let me be the next one... she prayed.

She wished she could be back working at her computer checking accounts...
http://eu.cdn4.123rf.com/168nwm/zdenkam/zdenkam0709/zdenkam070900025/1575986-stunning-woman-working-on-laptop-in-her-office.jpg

James Statham

Sophie... now he remembered her name again! As they were eating, she had moved closer and closer to him. He did not object - first of all, any kind of human contact felt good under these circumstances. And secondly, he admitted to himself, she was quite cute. He had never been very forward with women, but this was an exceptional situation and no time for shyness: It was comforting to have her close by, and, hopefully, she felt the same way about him.

Making use of the more relaxed atmosphere that had set in because everyone was eating, he looked at her and gave her a tentative smile, then waited for her reaction.

Sophie was relieved when James smiled back at her. It was not she was tryong to flirt with him (it was definitely not the time) but shee needed to feel better and he was the only one she knew around.

She thought he was kinda cute. She hadn't noticed before, maybe because she hadn't been around that much, or maybe her getting all set in the office took all of her time in the place. Besides, she wasn't very into having relationships with coworkers. It always made things complicated, as you never know how it is going to be. But this morning she had been thinking about breaking her rule after everything finished...

James Statham

Acting on a sudden impulse, James lightly touched Sophie's arm; he was surprised how good it felt to experience some tiny bit of tenderness after all that had happened. When he noticed what he had done without fully realizing, he withdrew his hand, almost shocked.

Taylor gestured Grimes to the Conference Room from his station near the bank's front. Gesturing to the hostages, he ordered, "Watch these guys. I need to have a talk with someone."

Grimes stepped through the door, walking to the long table and -- while reaching for the last slice of vegetarian -- intentionally rammed the butt of his shotgun onto the solid oak's surface. The noise caused most of the already jumpy hostages to flinch to one degree or another, and caused Taylor -- walking toward the back of the room to laugh, saying, "Relax folks. He won't shoot you unless you drink the last of the root beer."

To his surprise, three people quickly set their bottle of A&W back onto the table, making him only laugh again. He moved around the end of the table, flashing the beautiful woman James had been eying a sly smile. She diverted her eyes, looking down to the table and stuffing a piece of ... something into her mouth.

Taylor leaned over James' shoulder, on the opposite side of the woman Taylor was still assuming to be his girl, and whispered, "I need your help in the lobby."

When the man hesitated, Taylor gently laid the heavy .50 Caliber pistol between the man's shoulder blades -- James flinched at the feel of the cold steel on his neck -- and leaned forward to look directly into the face of the woman who'd scooched closer to the bank teller over the past hour or so. He moved back again, pressed his mouth almost onto James' ear, and whispered, "Beautiful lady. If you don't want to come to the lobby with me ... maybe she will."

He didn't wait for the man's reaction; he knew he wouldn't have to. He rose to height, gave the woman another sly smile, then headed around the table and to the door, snagging a bottle of water and a hot wing as he went. He told Grimes, "Teller-boy and I are going to have a talk. Let him out."

Confident that the man would follow him, Taylor never looked back, instead just continuing on to the grand piano, where he lifted the lid and started tapping out the theme to "The Love Boat" with one finger.

James Statham

James hesitated a bit, then got up and followed the crook, head down, not daring to look at the criminal for fear of maybe setting him off . No use resisting an armed man, and besides, they hadn't harmed anyone yet, as far as he could tell.

He wondered what the man's intention was. The word execution flashed through his mind, but he quickly dismissed it: Things had been calm so far - and besides, why kill a hostage here when a shooting in front of one of the windows would gain more attention?

And why was that guy playing the Love Boat theme? (albeit very badly, he had to admit. The piano teacher who had made a short, misguided attempt at giving James lessons would have had a fit...) This whole thing was getting stranger and stranger.

sorry, deleted

James Statham

Whatever had happened out there must have shocked James to the bone - pale as if he had seen a ghost, or in fact, as if he actually was a ghost, he staggered over to his seat and sat down there, even quieter and more nervous than before.

(OOC -- This reply picks up at the end of the Side Thread in which Cramer raped Abigail and, afterwards, Taylor walked in and took over the situation.)



Taylor stopped at the bathroom door and looked back to the woman; she was doing her best to cover herself but, of course, was failing. Cramer had simply done too much damage with that favorite little knife of his. As he turned away from the scene, heading into the hallway, he failed to notice he blade still sitting on the sink counter, where it had slid from Abigail's back and been hidden from his view by her near naked form.

In the lobby, he hurried to take stock of the degrading situation. He found Grimes in the Conference Room doorway with a panicked look in his eyes; Gray was in the extreme front of the lobby, peeking out into the neighborhood from behind a false marble column; and Cramer was no where to be seen.

Taylor was about to inquire as to his partner's whereabouts when Grimes, anticipating, said, "He's outside."

Taylor's eyes widened. "What?"

Grimes shrugged his shoulders, looking back to see if the hostages were listening in -- which they were -- and repeated almost in a whisper, "He just ... walked out."

"Jesus Christ!" Taylor growled, hurrying toward the front until he was standing beside Gray. "Where is he?"

Gray moved, giving Taylor his spot, and pointed to the parking lot. "There. What the fuck's going on?"

"I don't know," Taylor answered, searching and quickly finding Cramer standing at the edge of the sidewalk. His heart turned over as he saw ERT members and assorted -- heavily armed -- deputies and cops moving all about. And if that wasn't bad enough, Cramer's bellowed words didn't help settle him.

"I want to see Samantha ... now ... or my partners start killing hostages!"

James was still sitting in his chair, thinking about the "offer". What should he do? He barely knew Sophie, whom that idiot had clearly mistaken for his girlfriend. He quickly decided against explaining the mistake. First of all, he wanted to do nothing to antagonize the hostage takers. And, more importantly, this was a way to escape not only for him, but also for Sophie...

He made use of the absence of all the crooks to lean over to Sophie and whisper: "Now, this may sound crazy, but hear me out. One of those guys apparently thinks we are... you know... a couple. And then he offered to free us if we... well, you know... get it on. I'm not joking. He really offered me that when I was out there. I have no idea what to do. What do you think?"

Abigail Parker

Abigail kept sitting on the chair, in shock waiting. The guy hadn't come back yet, and her senses where working against. She picked up her skirt and put it back on. So far for waist down, but her upper body was completely bared. She could forget the bra, but at least her black top could cover her breasts as long as she hold it with her hands. She sat down again. The man hadn't come back. Maybe she could just sneak out of here? Why not. She could cover her upper body, and someone could provide her with something to put on if she made it outside. She used one arm to hold the cut of sweater before her, and opened the door very slowly and carefully, listening for every sound. She just opened it for a gap and peeked outside.

Taylor, at the bank's front:



Un-fucking-believable...

He peeked around the corner again to see and hear Cramer, a shot gun dangling at his side, calling toward the Authorities at the far end of the overflow parking area. "Tommy...! Thomas! Get your ass in here. Jesus Christ![/I]"

"They're gonna shoot him down, Chief--"

"I know!" Taylor snapped at the man. He made an apologetic gesture, then turned back to the window. "Sailor! Acknowledge your orders!"

Cramer turned to look back at the bank; he had an insane expression on his face that truly scared Taylor. His lips spread into a maniacal smile. "It's okay, Chief. Just ordering a pizza girl ... with extra toppings."

He laughed as he turned back, then called out his demand again.

"Pick up the phone," Taylor ordered Gray. "It'll go straight to the cops. Tell them--"

The phone behind them began ringing. The two men looked at it for a moment before Taylor hurried over to snatch it up. "Hold your fire. He's ... just, hold your fire. I'll take care--"

"Get your man inside!" a female voice ordered him, "And I will ensure that you get what ever he's asking for."

Taylor hesitated; the voice was unfamiliar to him. He turned to look through the shades Gray was holding back. He could clearly see the Deputy standing behind a cruiser, both hands on a pair of binoculars watching Cramer and not holding a phone. "Who is this?"

"The person in charge," the woman said.

"Who the fuck is this?"

A moment of silence passed before the woman informed him, "Maximilian says hello."

Taylor's stomach turned over at the name. He began to ask more, then didn't as he again heard Cramer's voice outside calling toward the Authorities. "Tell them to hold their fire. I'm coming out."

He slammed the phone down again, heading for the bank's door and pulling his side arm as he hollered back to Gray and Grimes both, "Don't be shooting cops! You hear me?"

He set both his and Cramer's Desert Eagles on a chair near the entrance and headed out the door with his hands up. "Hold your fire...! Hold your fire! I have men with the hostages still!

As he walked slowly toward Cramer, Taylor suddenly realized that he'd never been so scared in all of his life. Again and again during his career -- short as it was -- as a Navy SEAL, he'd put himself in the line of fire; he'd been shot twice and ended up in a hospital for nearly a year after a road side bomb killed everyone in his unit but himself and the man standing on the curb with a shotgun. But this, this was absolutely frightening. He was voluntarily stepping out before dozens of loaded, aimed weapons -- many of them, he knew, high powered rifles with vest-piercing bullets -- and was carrying nothing more than a snub nosed 9mm in an ankle holster that he would never get to if he decided to try for it.

It seemed to take him for ever to get to Cramer, and when he did, his friend simply smiled to him and said, "Hi, chief."

"Hey, bud," Taylor responded, moving slowly to Cramer's right side, "Whatcha doing? The pizza's inside."

As Cramer laughed, Taylor crouched slowly until he was able to lay a hand on the shotgun's barrel. Cramer let him take it without resistance, after which Taylor made a slow, deliberate show of holding it out to his side out by the barrel and dropping it into a hedge near the side walk. He saw a handful of Authorities shifting positions and repeated his threat, "I have four men with the hostages ... and the bank is still wired!"

He thought he heard a voice over a radio say, "Stand down. Hold your fire."

"Whadda ya say we go inside, Tommy," Taylor suggested, turning his friend.

"Sam's coming to meet us," Cramer said with a tone of certainty. "I'm supposed to meet her here."

"They're bringing her to us, bud," Taylor attempted to reassure him, moving him slowly back toward the bank. "They're bringing her in a bit ... with beer maybe. We'll have a regular party, okay?"

Cramer moved with him without resistance and in no time they were back in the bank. Taylor realized as they reentered that he was trembling throughout; he knew there had been bullets with his name on it for ever inch of his back.

Inside, he quickly turned Cramer over to Gray, telling him to get him to a back office and keep an eye on him. Taylor then snatched up the .50 Calibers on the chair and found a corner out of sight of the Conference Room and parted drapes ... and crouched down, waiting for his hands to stop shaking.

Abigail Parker

Slowly, very, very slowly, Abigail opened the door of the employers toilet at the back of the bank. She looked outside, and took a step out, looking to the left and the right.

Taylor took a full three minutes to try to calm himself down; it was a luxury, considering the fact that he was currently robbing a bank with a secret treasure worth a billion dollars, was holding two dozen hostages -- one he'd fucked, another he partner had raped, and another pair he'd wanted to see fuck -- and had what looked like every cop in the state, as well as the Feds and a Mexican machine gun toting Senorita surrounding him.

Once the trembling in his hands had stopped, he rounded up Grimes and, watching the hostages from across the lobby, moved to the door of the small office where the third man was watching Cramer. He whispered to Gray, "How is he?"

"Fine," Gray answered. "He doesn't seem to remember any of it. Keeps asking for a slice of pepperoni."

Taylor looked in on his friend, then shook his head. He wasn't sure whether Cramer's current calm was a good thing or a bad thing.

"There is one problem, though," Gray pointed out. "He's still asking for that pizza girl ... what was her name...?"

"Fuck..." Taylor murmured. He looked between the two men with him, speaking with a very serious tone, "If we don't get a grip ... we're not gonna get out of this alive. I..." He drew an exasperated breath. "I wasn't expecting all of this. We were supposed to be in and out of here in fifteen--"

"Chief," Grimes cut in, giving him the all's well gesture. "We know. What we don't know is ... what's next?"

Taylor looked in at Cramer, then the hostages; he was contemplating what to say next because -- except for the man who'd just freaked and walked out into what could have been a hail of bullets -- no one else knew what the heist was actually about.

"No one's been hurt yet," he said, ignoring the woman in the back rest room. He started to go on, paused -- I can't believe I'm saying this! -- then explained, "If either of you want out now ... I would understand."

Grimes immediately donned an expression showing his disbelief in Taylor, but Gray -- the newest member of the Crew and, criminally, the least experienced -- simply continued listening.

"This isn't what we bargained for, is all I'm saying." He waited another moment for more of a reaction than Grimes' surprised look. When he didn't get it he said, "I want ... I want to tell you why we're here ... why we're at this bank."

"Money," Gray answered with a matter of fact tone. "Lots of money."

"Which we ain't leaving with," Grimes added, glancing toward the open window, beyond which an army of guns was waiting.

"No ... not money." The two men exchanged glances, then looked back to him with raised eye brows. "No, we're here for a book ... a book of account numbers ... bank account numbers."

"Whose bank accounts?"

Taylor smiled. "Maximilian Snell."

Gray didn't react; Taylor wasn't surprised that the man had never heard the name before. Very few outside the DEA, the CIA, and the Mexican Cartels knew about Maximilian Snell. But Taylor could tell by Grimes' expression that he was well aware of the international money launderer who, it was thought, had cleaned more than two hundred billion dollars in drug money during his lifetime.

Taylor pointed toward the vault, continuing with a smile, "Somewhere in that vault is a little black book ... with all the numbers ... to all of Max's accounts, and all of his money--"

"How much?" Grimes asked, already beginning to show his excitement.

Taylor smiled broadly. "One-point-two billion dollars ... more or less."

Both men stared in a long silence that was only broken when Cramer, who'd quietly stood and come to the office's door asked, "So, we gonna do this thing or what?"

The four men looked between one another, sharing smiles. Taylor quickly laid out orders, the men -- including a seemingly totally recovered Cramer -- each headed back to work, and Taylor headed for the Conference Room to figure out which of the bank employees was ready to help him find his little treasure.

Samantha was less scared after being left the crime scene behind. She was still around but but she was surrounded by cops, who had taken her prints and had been interrogating her for quite a while. At first she hadn't said anything, not wanting to get the men in any more trouble, but as the cops insisted they would bring charges against her, she started spilling the beans. However, she didn't know anything interesting for the case. All they could gather from her was that the men had been in town for some days, having pizza for dinner every night and that one of them had been fucking her.

After telling everything Samantha felt better, until she heard her man calling her name outside. "I want to see Samantha ... now ... or my partners start killing hostages!". When she heard her name she got up and ran to see what was happening but the cops wouldn't ler her leave. They took hold of her and sat her back on the chair. She was a bit worried about the man having done any stupid thing being angry at her not delivering the pizzas


-------

Sophie was stunned to hear the bank robber's offer from James' mouth. "One of those guys apparently thinks we are... you know... a couple. And then he offered to free us if we... well, you know... get it on."
What kind of robbers are this?, she thought. Then she realized they had been there for the whole morning and hadn't even told them to et the money in bags or something. This must be some kind of joke. It couldn't be happening.
"And what if we don't agree? Don't get me wrong, it is not I wouldn't do it, but in another situation... if you know what I mean, I don't really like the audiences..."
She was telling it but she knew it wasn't true... completely. When she was younger, almost a teenager, she had had sex in the beach with her boyfriend. Moonlight and all it was very romantic. But when she was on top of him and he was about to come, she realized a man was looking at them. She had wanted to stop but Jimmy said he just needed a minute, so she went on, but couldn't take her eyes away from the other men's. She had felt quite strange, but not exactly bad. Jimmy had liked it, the mad had enjoyed for sure, as they left she saw he had his hands inside his pants, and she felt a bit aroused when she realized he was watching them. But it had been quite disturbing and since then, she always checked nobody could see her when having sex (she always closed doors, drew curtains...). She wasn't sure she could do it again. "Do we have an option?"

--------

Jenn was feeling quite disturbed. She had been left in the bathroom and wasn't sure whether she could leave or not. Shades hadn't said otherwise, but she wasn't sure about going back to the conference room. Would they have heard what had happened in there? Not that she wouldn't mind, of course. She had enjoyed it, he had enjoyed it, and she didn't know any other of the hostages so she didn't really cared about what they could think. But she didn't like being stared at, so she thought she would stay in the bathroom until Shades came for her... and hopefully gave her thong back, not that she was sure he would. But then something happened in the next-door bathroom than made her feel uneasy. One of the others was trying to rape a girl whom looked had been hiding in the bathroom. She could hear her refusing and sob, but the man wouldn't stop. Jenn wanted to get out of the bathroom but was too afraid to be found out by the man in the next-door room so she decided to lock herself up in one of the stalls. She sat on the toilet, placed her hands around her ears and waited for the murmur to stop. Her mind went back to her first rapprochement to sex, which had been nothing like enjoyable. She struggled to put those thoughts away and suddenly realized the murmur was gone. She got to the door and picked outside. No one, fine. She was going to get out when she saw a woman leaving the other bathroom. Her top was torn from the back and she washolding it agains her bust. Jenn run towards her. "Ma'am, are you hurt? I'm a nurse, I can help you... Let's get out of here" and she dragged out of the employers bathroom into where Jenn had been staying in the last minute. "You don't have to worry anymore, I'm with you".

"I don't think we have", James whispered, "I think these guys are slowly going mad... who knows what they will do. I say we try to get out of here... even if it means..."

He stopped speaking, slightly embarassed. His face had become slightly red with fear and embarassment, and his heart was beating faster.

Sophie could see how embarrased James was, as much as herself for a fact, talking about having sex in front of a complete stranger... with a gun!.

"I guess we wouldn't have an option then. But maybe he was just jocking, right? You see, they must be more interested in getting the money out of here..." she wanted to believe it, but if they hadn't been until then... "So, I say we just wait and see what happens, maybe he just forgets about it" and she placed her hand on his. She felt a sudden burst of lust with the touch. She guessed talking about it had aroused her a bit.

The Crew -- 2:30pm



Taylor's confidence was at it's highest now since earlier when he was listening to Jenn explode in ecstasy with her thighs pinching around his head. Cramer was his old self again and, at the computer on the Bank Manager's desk, was looking for a specific name, the one to the person who knew exactly which safe deposit box the little black book was hidden inside of; Gray again was standing over the hostages, politely making it known that the Crew was in charge and no one should think otherwise; and Grimes was moving about the lobby, using the bird watcher's field glasses to survey the Authorities outside and, particularly, find the Federalie who Taylor knew was had her badge in one hand and a cell with a direct line to Maximilian Snell in the other.

Taylor, meanwhile, was taking care of details. He'd hurried about the offices, searching closets and gym bags, and rounded up every piece of woman's clothing he could, then went back to the Employees bathroom to assist Cramer's play thing -- only to find the bathroom empty.

He began searching the little offices, looking in every closet and behind every file cabinet. Ultimately, he found two pair of legs inside a stall of the public restroom -- one of which he knew to be Jenn's -- and hear the women talking quietly to one another.

"Jenn...?" Taylor asked quietly. "Jenn ... I brought clothes. I'm ... putting them on the counter."

He heard a quick sob, assumed it to be the raped woman, and -- knowing they'd never open the stall door with him, or any man there, back out, saying with as compassionate a voice as he could, "Jenn, I'll be outside ... if she needs anything."

He stepped back outside, shaking off that feeling again; Cramer's violence against the woman was unacceptable, but unfortunately it was done, and there was nothing that Taylor could do to fix any of it. No, there was business to be done. He looked to Cramer and, finding a smile on his face -- "Found it!" the man called -- headed toward him, only to stop at the open Conference door ... remembering.

He looked inside and found, in the far corner, both James and ... Sophie? ... looking at him with blank expressions. He smiled to them, pointed a finger at James, curled it in a come hither gesture, then stepped over to his friend at the computer, asking, "Find it?"

Cramer pointed to the screen. "There's our banker..."


(OOC -- Anyone want to play this character, just a simple banker with access to the vault, the safe deposit boxes, and -- unknowingly -- the key to $1.2 billion dollars? (I have not mentioned gender; can be male or female.)

Chairmaine Cramer

Chairmaine had just come in from the garden in her small apartment on the groundfloor. She was wearing her bleached jeans and her black sweatshirt, her hair bound behind in a ponytail. She sat down on the bed and turned the tv on. Allright, another bank robbery, some hostages still inside. She just wanted to change the program as she recognized one of the robbers, who was waving a gun outside. That couldn't be - What had done this dam, stupid bastard now? Her silly, useless brother had become a bank robber?! What the hell... this might even bring trouble to her. She picked up her cellphone and tried to ring him up.

James Statham

At the sign from the hostage taker, James stood up, trying to be quick enough not to anger the crook but not so hasty as to startle him. With his right hand, he held Sophie's hand, the tightness of his grip increasing along with his nervousness.

On shaking legs, he walked towards the man who had gestured at him. His forehead was wet with sweat, and his hands were little better. "Don't look at him", he told himself, "keep your head down". He knew it was a mad idea, but maybe Sophie was right. Maybe this was just this madman's idea of a sick joke. It had to be. It was his only hope.

Taylor:



Taylor looked up to see James and the woman, Sophie, coming his way. He reached down and turned the monitor off, surprising Cramer until he, too, saw the approaching bank employees. He said softly to his cohort, "Give me a minute."

Taylor headed to the piano, dropping onto the bench and gesturing the couple to sit down as well. They hesitated, but when Taylor patted the seat purposefully, they sat, all three squished together.

Taylor began plunking at the keys, making noise more than music, then stopped suddenly, smiled to James, then -- staring into Sophie's eyes but talking to her boyfriend -- asked quite bluntly, "So, who gets to fuck your girlfriend today, you or me--" Then, believing that word had likely gotten around the Conference Room that the crippled crook had had a bit of a break down and nearly gotten him and others killed, added, "Or maybe Cramer should do her...?"