Gwen. E. Lippert
hand over his face and gave a sigh of resignation. “Okay, what do you want me to do?”
Gwen leaned back over the counter. She wanted him to shoot her, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen without a lot of manipulation. She was the queen of manipulation, but she needed time to think. She refused to let this opportunity pass. “I want you to take out that gun and point it at my head and then yell, ‘This is a robbery. Everybody, put your hands up and move towards the wall.’” She nodded her head towards the wall on her left. “‘If all hands don’t go up, I shoot. If you don’t start moving immediately, I shoot.’ Keep your eyes on the guard and the manager. She has a button to notify the police. Make sure her hands go up. Guard is armed; do not give him a chance to pull his gun. They won’t want you to shoot me; they’ll do as you say. Let’s get them the hell out of here. Once they’re all against the wall, escort them into the back. There’s a supply room. Put them in there. There’s a lock, but it can be unlocked from inside, so you’ll need to block the door. You can use the copy machine for that. Don’t forget to take their phones first. And the guard’s weapon. Got it?”
Gwen could feel the eyes of her manager on them. “It’s now or never, shit for brains. Time is running out.” She raised her eyebrows, “You don’t have much choice, do you?” Gwen hadn’t thought through what she was going to do once they had the others locked up. She would find a way to get him to shoot her; she just didn’t know how yet. She briefly wondered if he had ever shot a gun before in his life. She knew she could take his gun, or the guard’s gun, but wasn’t sure she had it in her to shoot herself.
Larry didn’t know if it was the fact that she called him “shit for brains,” which really pissed him off, or the fact that he knew she was right—he didn’t have a choice—but he pulled the gun, pointed it at her head, and shouted, “This is a robbery. Everybody put your hands up.” He turned slightly, keeping the gun pointed at Gwen’s head but facing out. He looked right at the manager to be sure her hands went up. He also kept an eye on the guard, making sure he didn’t do anything stupid. What he couldn’t know was that Karen had already pushed the panic button.
“Everyone over here!” he shouted, pointing to the wall on his right.
Larry watched as the terrified women moved quickly to the wall. One was already crying, and he felt pity for her. He wanted to drop the gun and tell them all that it was okay, that this was only a big mistake, but things had already gone too far. Squaring his shoulders, he hardened his resolve. This wasn’t going as planned, but he was doing this for his boys. He would not fail. He had no choice.
He noticed the guard was slowly walking toward the others. “Hurry up, asshole,” Larry growled at him. Larry was surprised at the tone of his own voice, at his fierceness. He turned to Gwen and motioned her to get moving too.
When everyone, including Gwen, was lined up, he motioned Gwen with the gun to come around the counter. He pulled a plastic bag from his coat pocket and instructed her to hold it open. “Okay, each one of you is going to put your cell phone in this bag. And don’t try anything because I know that everybody has a cell phone. If you left it at your desk, get it.”
Gwen shook her head in disgust. Don’t send them back to their desks, you moron, she thought, but everyone pulled out their phones, and Gwen immediately knew that if Karen didn’t use this as an excuse to go back to her desk, she had already pushed that button. That meant there wasn’t much time.
With the gun pointed at her head, Gwen went down the line and held the bag for each person. She made her hands shake and tried to look terrified. The others didn’t have to try; they were terrified. Gwen didn’t feel bad for them. Their fear had no impact on her at all. She knew they would be okay. Today would give them a story they could tell for the rest of their lives.
“Get his gun,” ordered Larry, nodding in the guard’s direction. Gwen carefully removed the gun from the guard’s holster. She briefly considered turning on Larry, aiming the gun at him and forcing him to shoot her, but she knew he wouldn’t. And being a hero was not her endgame here.
Once the phones and the guard’s weapon were collected, still holding the gun to Gwen’s head and pushing her along in front of him, Larry moved the group to the back of the bank. “Into the closet.”
Karen knew she had to stall for time; she was the only one there who knew that help was on the way. She turned to Larry and put her hands on her hips, hoping to exude some authority, “We can’t all fit in there.”
“Then squeeze in,” Larry replied dismissively. “You stay here,” he added, pointing to Gwen. He herded them all in, shut the door, and looked at Gwen. She silently pointed to the copier, and Larry, laying his gun on top of the machine, pushed the copier to block the storeroom door. He picked up his gun. “If I hear this door move, I kill her and then come and kill all of you!” he yelled.
Turning to Gwen, gun down at his side, he started, “Do you…” Gwen quickly held her finger up to her lips, admonishing him to be quiet. She nodded to the front of the bank, and they walked that way.
Once out of earshot of the storeroom, Gwen whispered, “You need to be more careful. They can’t hear you speaking to me unless you’re shouting orders, okay?”
“Got it, sorry.” Any sense of power Larry felt when holding the gun on everyone was gone.
She dropped the bag on the counter. “What’s your name anyway?”
“Larry.”
“Lesson one in bank robbery.” Gwen sighed. “Don’t ever tell anyone your name. You’re robbing a bank, for God’s sake.” She was trying to piss him off, but instead of looking angry, he just looked ashamed.
“Okay, shit for brains, listen to me.” Bingo! That pissed him off.
“Hey, I don’t need your insults, you little smart-mouthed bi—” And that was when they heard the sirens. He grabbed Gwen by the shirt. “What did you do?”
“Nothing! Karen must have hit the panic button.” Larry looked blankly at her. “The manager,” Gwen said, again rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
“How?”
“She’s stupid, but she’s not a complete idiot.” Gwen pushed him off her. “You took too damned long. Anyone paying attention would have known. She must have been paying attention.”
Larry was nearly frozen in panic. This wasn’t exactly going the way Gwen had hoped either. She briefly considered pulling the guard’s gun out of the bag, shooting this moron, and then shooting herself. But when she looked at the total despair on this guy’s face, she saw David again. So instead, she ran to Karen’s office, grabbed the keys, and hurried to the doors to lock them. She needed time to think. She realized she couldn’t kill Larry, and now she wasn’t sure she could allow him to face the consequences of killing her, not when he still reminded her of her David. She needed a plan. Why does he have to look like David? she thought.
“Get behind the counter and down on the floor. We need to be out of sight,” she ordered.
Once they were both safely out of view from the front window, Larry turned on her. “I should have just shot you, you crazy bitch!”
“You should have, and you still can. But you’re not going to, so just shut up and let me think.”
Chapter 2
Let Me Enjoy These Last Few Quiet Moments
Two years earlier…
Gwen leaned over the coffin and gazed at her daughter. Leah had always been beautiful, but lying here, with her face completely relaxed, no tension, no anger, and no wild-eyed look, she was radiant. Gwen gently traced her daughter’s cheeks. “My beautiful girl, my sweet beautiful girl.”
Leah’s long strawberry-blond hair fell over her shoulders, the color accentuated by the dark blue of her dress. Gwen knew how important it would be for Leah to look beautiful and had spared nothing in