Liquid Bank - Chapter 13
A Megacosm Novelette
Chapter 2 - Economically Viable
Chapter 6 - The Communication Room
Chapter 13 – Theft
Sweat matted Broden’s hair to his brow as he donned his dark wetsuit, meant to insulate his body heat. Even with the anti-theft devices currently deactivated in the corridor, the vault still had a heat sensor monitor that triggered a lockdown when the temperature went above sixty-three degrees.
“Hurry up mate,” Conner said. Cool seawater dripped from his dark gray wetsuit as he watched his leader dress. The bank manager’s office was in disarray from the power outage. Papers and furniture were strewn about which mixed with the dirt from tipped-over potted plants.
Intruder stood nearby already dressed in the same suit, hugging his laptop like a small child to his chest and wearing a small black backpack.
“Get into position,” Broden said as he pulled the line that zipped his suit up in the back. Conner nodded to Shaw, who was also dripping wet. Picking up large leather bags, the two ran, rifles jingling in their other hands, and stood with their backs against the wall on either side of the hallway that led down to the vault. Intruder stood behind Shaw’s back, who took the right flank.
Broden trotted behind them and stopped just on the edge of the carpet, looking down.
“Anyone br’ave enough to take the first step in?” Broden asked as he glanced at the men.
Intruder vigorously shook his head.
Shaw looked at Conner and then said, “It’s your plan.”
Broden smiled, “aye,” he replied, and then took a nervous step into the hallway.
The vault was normally protected by weight sensors. Any pressure on the mat while the security was activated would have sounded the alarms and cut the person off behind solid steel plates that would fall from either side.
There were even rumors that death devices would spring out from the walls to kill the would-be thief like in some Indiana Jones movie scene, but as Broden looked around, none of the security features engaged.
Broden turned, “I’m still alive boys, no lasers burning my fa’ce off,” he said with his hands out, “now let’s get the loot.”
As they reached the end of the hallway, a wide wooden door was shut tight.
“Knock knock,” Broden said as he pounded on the door, knowing that Simon the bank manager was behind it. “I’m giving you one chance to open this door of your own free will or my boys here will shoot indiscriminately until it’s down.”
“Its bulletproof,” he heard a muffled voice say beyond.
“So was your guard’s armor,” Broden replied.
He glanced at Conner and Shaw behind him, and they cocked their rifles at the sides with loud clicks.
Broden leaned his cheek against the cool door. “And I canna promise one bullet don’ have your na’me on it, Simon,” he said.
There was a moment of silence until he heard a click at the handle. The door opened wide, and Simon hid behind it, glasses fogged over as he looked up at the thief.
“Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Broden said as he walked in and eyed the solid steel wall at the opposite end of the room, “Tol ya you would open the door for us.”
Intruder entered and looked at Simon. “I’m going to need his wrist monitor,” he said.
Broden turned and looked Simon in the eyes. “C’mon now, Simon,” he said in a low tone, “you’ve been bra’ve enough for one day,” he leaned in, voice lowering, “we’ll tell them we took it from you, or we can just cut your hand off.”
Simon shivered, and he saw the truth in the thief’s eyes as Broden patted at an object beneath his black wetsuit. Head lowered, Simon unhooked the wrist monitor and handed it to Intruder, who went down to his knees to place the laptop on the floor and connected a wire to the device. Broden watched as Intruder quickly typed in a code, shooting a glance at Simon’s face that fell after the hacker produced a second wrist monitor from his bag. The front glass face of the monitor was caked with dried blood.
“You killed Martin,” Simon said beneath his breath.
Broden said nothing as Intruder hooked up the second wrist monitor and furiously typed in more code. As he did so, the lights inside the room grew brighter, shining off the solid wall that was the vault. The security was rebooting, and it would be only moments before the AI returned and locked the vault for good.
“Yes!” Intruder shouted.
A buzz played through the solid wall. Broden watched a small rectangle off-center to the right rise into the ceiling as if it were melting into the shadows above. A trick of the light from the glare of the remaining walls made the aperture still appear solid, but he could feel the change in the air from the entrance appearance. Before it had done so, Broden never would have considered that the door would be where it was and had to applaud the creative ingenuity that used a person’s own sight against them.
He walked towards the opening followed by his men and looked inside, his mouth nearly falling open from the amount of treasure stacked within.
“Well done, Intruder, well done,” Broden gasped, and then turned towards his men, “get to work.”
Shaw and Conner said nothing as they unzipped the bags and began to fill them with the vaults prized currencies. Conner went about stuffing in jewels, rare notes from various countries, along with security and treasury bonds printed with more zeroes than Broden had seen in a lifetime of theft.
Arms crossed over his chest, Broden tapped his finger to the right, “Don’t forget the hard drives,” he said.
With a nod, Shaw unfurled a bundle of plastic from his bag before walking up to Simon and holding out his hand.
“Give us the key,” Shaw said.
Simon looked at Broden, who shrugged and said, “We’ll say we stole that too. I can punch you in the face if that will make it more con’vincin.”
Sweat trailed down the side of Simon’s face and his hand trembled as he produced a flat device with two prongs that jutted from the sides.
“Just the one?” Shaw asked.
“Yes,” Simon replied and lowered his head, “we never thought anyone would get this far.”
Arms out, Broden laughed, then bent at the waist in a lavish bow, “my pleasure,” he said, lifting his head to show Simon his grin.
Shaw passed him, making his way to the silver deposit boxes that looked as smooth as the vault wall, and slid the thin key into a slot in the middle. Once inserted, the box slid open until he took out the key and the box slid back in.
“What the hell?” Shaw said, looking over his shoulder at Broden.
“Oh for God’s sake, man,” Broden said, throwing up his hands. He looked at Simon and said, “only one can be open at a time?”
There was a quaint smile on Simon’s face.
“You minted swick’s don’t even trust each other,” Broden said beneath his breath. Rubbing the top of his nose, he continued, “Intruder, get yo’ur hands out of your pants and give Shaw a hand.”
A system quickly developed as Shaw opened the box and Intruder took out the hard drive, a rhythm repeated until they cleaned out the middle row.
“That it?” Shaw asked.
“That’s it,” Broden replied, “Intruder, get the dolly.”
As Intruder went running outside the vault, Shaw produced a small hose from his bag that he fed with the top of the plastic bag. There was a loud hum as the hose sucked in the remaining air, vacuum sealing the hard drives in rigid plastic.
After Intruder returned wheeling a black dolly, Shaw and Conner loaded their bags laden with stolen goods that made the orange tool groan from the weight.
“Bloody hell,” Conner winged as he arched his back and pushed the heavy cart out of the vault and down the long hallway.
“C’mon,” Broden said to Simon as he pushed him out in front, trotting to follow close behind the cart.
Brrt!
A burst of gunshots rang out ahead, sending Conner twisting to the ground. Moving quickly, Broden pulled Simon in, using him as a shield and putting a gun to the small of his back. Running at full stride, Shaw dived behind the mahogany desk in the manager’s office, returning fire into the office door opening where they both saw the gunfire originate.
Pulling Simon down, Broden ducked as he watched two bodies run through the room, covering themselves with rounds that burst the wood of Simon’s desk. One was the guard with nine lives, followed by a woman, dress trailing behind her as she ran.
“Well done,” Broden said beneath his breath.
Green lights blinked on the walls of the corridor. The weight sensors inside would be active the moment they went solid.
“Intruder, get the cart!” Broden shouted, pushing Simon forward, who screamed and covered his ears as he fired over his shoulder.
Pushing up his glasses, Intruder stepped over Shaw’s body and grunted as he struggled to move the cart out through the office door. Broden followed close behind, holding Simon in front of him as he sidestepped through the office. Broden saw the guard return fire through the window, shattering the glass as he peppered the desk Conner used as cover with more rounds.
“Move!” Broden said, shoving Simon by the collar as he followed Intruder out of the office.
****
“Still glad you came?” Matthew shouted as the return fire ripped through the office.
“No!” Meagan replied as she knelt next to him and covered her ears from the clatter.
Peeking through shards of broken glass, Matthew saw the gunman behind the desk, rising up.
“Shite!” He shouted before ducking down, rounds sailing over his head by inches.
“We’re pinned down!” Meagan shouted behind him, “Why did we even run in here?”
After checking the rounds left in his magazine, Matthew punched it back into the rifle, then said, “Watch.”
Shaw’s back was cold against the desk, breath heaving in his chest.
“Gotcha now, ya ponch!” He shouted as he lifted his arms and released a burst of blind gunfire over the desk into the room. “Ya, gotta be running out of rounds mate! Give me that curvy number I saw runnin behind ya and I might let you out of this!”
With a laugh, Shaw prepared to fire again by changing out his magazine before a crash from a grate made him turn his head. With a burst of gunfire, the guard he was hunting sprung head first from an opening above, firing his rifle that punched several rounds into Shaw’s body like burning spikes.
Matthew fell to the floor with a thump, landing at the feet of the gunman, who slumped against the desk like a limp doll, eyes still open.
“You’re crazy,” Meagan said as she emerged from the anti-room, “you could have told me about the hidden passage.”
Lifting himself up with a groan, Matthew dropped the rifle and picked up the gun from Shaw’s dead hands. “What fun would that have been?” he said with a smirk as he examined the magazine of the new gun. He turned towards her, face grim, “the leader is getting away, and I can’t take you with me.”
“What?” Meagan said, eyes red with growing tears, “but we’re a team.”
“You’ve done enough,” Matthew said, and turned to limp away before Meagan grabbed his arm and turned him. Warm lips greeted him, sweet and salty at the same time. Her body was a small sun against his, and he could feel her heart pounding against his chest.
Matthew blinked, pushing her back. “Here,” Matthew said, taking the cross off his neck and putting it around Meagan’s neck. “A little something to remember me by.”
“I’d rather have you here, tyro” Meagan whispered as she looked down and touched the gold adornment. Taking a step back, she said, “You don’t even know where they are going.”
Lifting his gun, Matthew replied, “Yes I do. I opened the damn door for them.”
Novelette
“Writing a novelette allows the writer to create all that supporting information to back up a short story. Whether a short story is meant as a scene in a larger story, or simply as a story by itself, it will always be taking part in a larger world.” -ThisIsWriting
If this chapter of Liquid Bank intrigued you, check out my book The Mark for 99c that began the street level stories inside the Megacosm.
Plot:
"A chance encounter introduces Linda Mark to Henry Collins, a recently discharged Green Beret. Used to dealing with war veterans because of her husband Shawn, a former Army Ranger, they quickly strike up a friendship."
"Yet, events spiral out of control, and Linda and Shawn struggle to survive as Henry’s affection for Linda turns into a deadly obsession."
You can find The Mark at these online stories: