Page 11 of Mission: Possible

"As soon as we finish our business here, we'll go get ice cream. I promise. But you have to be patient, honey," she told him, ruffling his hair affectionately.

The queue shuffled forwards and I eavesdropped into the conversation of the people in front of me. An older couple were discussing their vacation plans and the man ahead of them was talking on his phone about something to do with an IT system. Two tellers became available and the couple and the man set off. I stuck my phone in my pocket and slid the backpack under my arm, ready to hand it over. A customer moved away from the teller ahead of me and I was waved forwards.

I stepped up and put the bag on the counter. "Hi, I'd like to..." I started.

"Everybody down!" yelled a loud voice, the urgency ripping through the air.

I turned, confused, and a gunshot exploded inside the room. I twisted the other way, wondering what the hell was going on when the teller caught my eye. Her eyes widened in alarm as she dropped out of sight. On instinct, I hit the floor too, rolling over to observe the commotion as I pressed my back against the wooden panel of the teller cage.

Four people clad totally in black, wearing identical fatigues, zip-up jackets, gloves, and masks that covered their entire faces, fanned across the room. They began pushing anyone onto the floor that hadn't already dived for cover. Two other masked people wielded control of the heavy wooden doors, forcing them closed, and standing with their backs to the glass doors, sealing us in.

Crouched beside the teller’s station, I took a moment to calm my breathing and slow my rapid heartbeat before trying to assess the interlopers properly. There wasn't much to note. My initial impression that their clothes covered their bodies entirely was correct; I couldn't see an inch of skin, nor a wisp of hair. Much more noticeable were their weapons. Each held a semi-automatic rifle, and handguns were suspended at their waists. Some even carried military-grade knives. I could identify the weapons because I'd seen Solomon's before. They were clearly here to rob the bank.

I glanced up. The backpack sat on the wooden lip of the counter, unopened, waiting for me to feed it through the deposit tray. I could kiss goodbye to that cash. It would disappear, untraceably, into the hands of criminals. Solomon would be so pissed!

I held back the smile that nearly curled my lips. These bank robbers picked the wrong guy to mess with! Then I realized I was directly in their path and unfortunately, Solomon wasn't anywhere in sight.

Glancing to my left and right, several other people who dropped to the floor like me were also caught between the bank robbers and the tellers.

"Everyone over here, now!" shouted the same male voice that prompted the first panic. He stood at the center of the room, holding his weapon high while jabbing one finger toward the ground. "Any of you employees who might be thinking about pressing the buzzer for help will be directly responsible for the subsequent deaths of your customers. Is that crystal clear?"

"Move! Move!" shouted someone else as the robbers fanned out, herding us into the central area. Cautiously, I scooted forwards into a half crouch, making myself smaller and ostensibly, a harder target to hit. The thought of that made me gulp. When we reached the middle of the room, the robbers pushed us down onto our stomachs, forcing our hands over our heads.

"Mommy," whispered the kid behind me in line.

"Stay calm, honey. Extra big ice cream after this is all over."

"But, Mommy."

"Shhh, honey," she whispered. "Just lie there and pretend to sleep for a short time. Remember our sleepytime game when you were little? Let’s play it now."

I nodded at her with a small, tight smile, and she gave me a worried nod back. There was nothing else we could do.

"No talking! Everyone stay down and be quiet, and no one gets hurt."

Stillness spread through the room. No one coughed. No one muttered. I thought I heard a soft, muffled sob but when I checked the kid lying between me and his mom, it wasn't coming from him. I lay there, feeling utterly useless. What else could I do? I wasn't armed, and even if I were, there were six of them and just one of me. I didn't like those odds.

The only thing I could do was stay calm and observe what unfolded.

I turned to look the other way, glancing toward the tellers. I couldn't see any of them now so I figured they were all huddling behind their bulletproof glass. I wondered if any of them pressed the alarm buzzer. If they did, I couldn't see or hear any evidence of it. No alarms blasted. None of the small offices or internal doors seemed to lock either and there was no wail of a police car siren.

"Head down!" A hand on the back of my head pushed my forehead onto the cold floor. It wasn't hard enough to hurt me but I blinked in surprise and froze. Now, with my eyesight restricted to the back of someone's head, I could only listen to the footsteps moving around the group. Somewhere behind me, close to my knees, I decided, I could hear two men talking.

"I'm an off-duty cop," said the low, male voice in little more than a whisper. "I have my weapon on me."

"Keep it holstered," said the other voice, coming from another man. "There's too many people in here. The casualty risk is much too high!"

"We can't do nothing, man. You're a security guard!"

"I'm a security guard on minimum wage. The most security I can provide is to swiftly escort irate people out when they see their overdraft charges."

"It's our duty to protect these innocent people!"

"Right now, everyone is good. No one is hurt."

"Yeah, but for how long?" The voice paused. "What if they starting using the customers as human shields? I can take out the two at my twelve and three. You take the other two on your six and seven. The guys by the door will run as soon as they realize the rest of their gang is out of commission. This could be over in a matter of a few seconds."

"Really? With six of them carrying semi-automatic weapons? There's just two of us and I'm guessing not a whole lot of ammunition between us."