Daylight Robbery
by
Robert Fear
Stefan removed his glasses for a moment to clean them. He glanced across at his younger brother to make sure he had seen the agreed signal. Stefan’s heart raced as he smoothed his hair and then replaced his spectacles. With an air of confidence that belied his trembling body, he straightened the jacket of his pinstriped suit and walked over to the bank teller. At the vacant window, he pulled out the documents from his briefcase and laid them on the counter.
Anton recognized the pre-arranged sign and prepared for action. With a slight smirk to himself, he looked over at Stefan as he strode across the banking hall. Anton took the mobile phone out of his pocket and activated the app the two brothers had developed. He swiped his finger over the screen and the lights in the room flickered. The security guard turned to check what was wrong while others stared upwards. Within seconds they forgot the distraction and returned to what they were doing. Anton knew the app had worked and made his way to the front entrance.
At the counter, Stefan produced a small, silenced pistol from beneath the documents. While holding a finger to his lips, he pushed the gun through the gap in the screen so only the cashier could see it. Tired eyes widened with fear as the nozzle rested inches from the terrified employee. He read the note in front of him and as instructed passed bundles of banknotes across the counter. Stefan was aware the teller had activated the alarm but knew it was not working. He stuffed the notes into his briefcase and sprayed a brief blast of gas at the unbelieving man, who slumped forward. With a casual turn, Stefan headed for the entrance.
Outside the bank, Anton monitored the security guard as he continued to greet customers at the front door. With a glance through the window, Anton saw the disturbance behind the counter as staff attended to their collapsed colleague. His older brother joined him, and they strolled over to two e-scooters chained to the railings. They unlocked them and sped off down an alley.
A minute later they skidded to a halt by the car they had acquired earlier. After opening the boot and stashing the e-scooters, they slipped into the front seats. Anton ripped off his latex face mask and let out a gasp of relief. He watched as his sibling took off his glasses and did the same. They roared with laughter as Stefan drove them away.
Two police cars raced by in the opposite direction, sirens blaring and lights flashing. The brothers exchanged an anxious look.
Stefan snapped, ‘You switched off your mobile, didn’t you?’
Anton flashed him a reassuring smile. ‘Don’t worry. I uninstalled the app and turned off the phone. There’s no way they can track us, even if they scanned my number in the bank.’
Traffic was slow as parents collected children from school. It took twenty minutes to clear the suburbs, but then Stefan picked up speed before arriving at a secluded parking spot on the outskirts of town. After transferring the briefcase with the cash to the boot of their sports car, they dumped the masks, gun, and gas spray into a deep well at the edge of the woods. It was only then that they removed their gloves and threw them in too.
As they roared away, the heavens opened. Torrential rain thrashed against the metal of the bodywork, and the speed of the wipers increased to clear the streaming water from the windscreen. There were loud screeches from the underside of the car as they drove through large puddles.
Amidst the gloom ahead, Anton spotted two figures in uniform at the side of the road with a device pointed in their direction.
‘Slow down bro,’ he screamed, ‘there’s a couple of cops over there. We don’t want to get caught speeding.’
Stefan eased his foot on the brake pedal. They passed the police officers, who peered at them with an accusing glare. One of them was shouting into his phone.
As the brothers started to relax, another man sprang out from the bushes and threw something across the road in front of them.
‘Watch out Stef, it’s a stinger.’
Stefan mounted the pavement to avoid the strap with its lethal metal spikes. It was too late. The tires shredded and within seconds the car ground to a shuddering halt.
A swarm of uniformed officers, with guns raised, raced towards them.
‘How the hell did they know where to find us?’ croaked Anton.
Stefan buried his head in his hands. ‘No idea bro, you did turn your phone off, didn’t you?’
A sudden wave of realization swept over Anton’s face. ‘What if the cashier sneaked a tracker into the cash?’
‘Sod it, we should have checked that. I thought we’d covered everything.’
Their shoulders fell and both brothers let out a shriek of exasperation as guns appeared at the side windows of the car.
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I really enjoyed this story, Robert. Thanks for sharing it, Bernard. :-)
Posted by: Yvette M Calleiro | 11/11/2020 at 01:06 PM
All the best, Robert on your tour.
Posted by: Bernard Foong | 11/11/2020 at 05:37 PM