Page 24 of The Thief
Number One stalked over to stand toe-to-toe with him and hissed under his breath, but loud enough for me to hear, “You touch any of the hostages in here and you’re a dead man. Is that clear?”
“What?” Two smirked at him. “I can’t even play with the pretty blonde in the corner?”
My body went rigid, and I heard Jess gasp beside me. I squeezed her thigh, whispering, “He won’t get near you. I fucking swear.” As I whipped my head around to glare at him, images of what I’d do to him if he so much as breathed in Jess and Ava’s direction danced through my mind. He was a dead man for even acknowledging her existence, as far as I was concerned.
“Especially the blonde in the corner,” One hissed back. “Stay. The fuck. Away.”
Two took his time to agree, but eventually, he gave a slow nod. A nod that meant fuck all. I knew he wasn’t a man of his word.
Number One took a step back, stating, “My crew know what a good leader looks like, and it isn’t one that fucks about in the middle of a heist, asking stupid fucking questions andwasting my goddamn time. My crew have fucking manners. Do you want me to teach you some?” And Number Two, like the psychopath I was coming to understand that he was, snapped, lifting his gun and pointing it at One.
He wasn’t bothered, though. One just huffed, shook his head, and moved closer to his gun, saying, “Holmes vouched for you. Said you’d be a good fit for this job. But you know what? I’m starting to doubt everything Holmes said about you now.”
Holmes.
I hadn’t heard that name before, but I filed it away in my brain. I knew it’d be useful later down the line.
“If Holmes is so fucking great, why didn’t you bringhimon this job?” Two spat.
Number One stood firm, his teeth gritted as he said, “You know why. Holmes doesn’t do this shit anymore. He recommended you. But now, I’m beginning to question why.”
“Because I’m the best,” Two stated proudly, arrogantly, keeping his gun pointing at One as he stared him down. “Holmes knows it. I know it. And after today, everyone else in here will know it too.”
“The best?” Number One gave a weak laugh. “And yet here you are, fucking pointing that thing at me.” He nodded down to the gun. “When you should be doing your job. If you were the best, you’d show some fucking respect. Now get back over to your post and stop fucking about. We have work to do.”
“I’m not fucking about,” Two snarled, then moving his gun from Number One to point it at the old man on the floor, he rasped, “Want me to prove it?”
Number One moved to stand in front of his gun, protecting the old guy, and with his jaw clenched, he seethed, “I don’t havetime for your bullshit. Let’s get this done and get out of here. Now move.”
Two grinned smugly, then after a few seconds, where we all held our breath, he lowered his gun and walked slowly to stand over the old couple. All the while, Number One scorched hatred into the back of his head, his eyes burning in fury.
These men weren’t as tight a group as they should’ve been for a job like this; that was glaringly obvious, and maybe that was something I could take advantage of. When the time came.
Once Two and Three were back at their posts, guns pointed at the hostages, Number One announced to the room, “Listen up. Here’s your first test. We need all your wallets, handbags, purses, and mobile phones.” He pulled a roll of plastic bags out of a backpack as he spoke. “Everything goes in these bags, and don’t fucking try us. Don’t hide any shit on you, or we will blow your fucking head off. Are we clear?”
No one answered.
But Ava gave a little cry, and Jess cuddled her closer, whispering to her, “It’s okay, baby. Don’t be scared. Mummy’s here.”
“Then,” he carried on, shouting loud for the room to hear. “You’ll put on one of these.” He pulled a blue boiler suit from the rucksack, just like the ones they were wearing, and held it up. “That way, we’ll all look the same.” His accompanying grin in the balaclava made him look deranged. “Don’t worry. I won’t make you wear the balaclavas. Not yet, anyway. We’ll save those for later. Make the police work for it when we make our escape and they shoot at us.” He laughed under his breath and muttered, “Is it a hostage? Is it a fucking thief? Who knows? But it’ll be fun finding out.”
These fuckers were going to use us as shields at the end of this. Hide behind us like the cowards they were. Anger rolled through me. I don’t know how I was managing to stay so quiet, sitting there, watching this all play out. I felt fucking useless, and I hated it. But I was laying low for Jess and Ava. Biding my time. If they weren’t here, this would’ve gone down differently.
I gritted my teeth, my phone burning a hole in my pocket. One call. One fucking text and I could have this place burnt to the fucking ground with these fuckers still inside. Knowing that, and hearing Ava’s little whimpers as Jess rocked her slowly beside me made me lower my arm and reach for my pocket, but it was no good.
“Don’t fucking move!” the guy guarding us shouted in a Scottish accent, pushing his gun into my forehead. “Or do you want this pretty little girl to get splattered with your blood when I shoot you in the fucking head?”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Ava’s head turn, sheer panic on her face as she stared at me. The gun was pressed against my skull, the barrel marking my skin. But Jess tried to stay calm, telling her, “Don’t look, baby. Keep your eyes closed. Please.” But she didn’t. She saw it all. And it fucking gutted me.
So, I kept my hands where he could see them, and my mouth shut. For her. This fucker would pay, but not while I had Jess and her daughter sitting right beside me. Nice to know I now had an accent to put to the number, though.
“Here,” Number One said, throwing two boiler suits and the black bag over to Two, who was guarding the old couple. Then he did the same to Three, who was guarding the bank workers. Number One turned and started throwing boilers suits and black bags to the others to collect what they needed from us. And Ikept my eyes on Two and Three.
Two kicked it all over to the couple and barked at them to empty their pockets. But just behind him, Three bent down to get his, and as he reached forward, the sleeve of his boiler suit rode up a little to reveal a black, barbed wire tattoo twisted around his wrist.
That’s what I needed. What I wanted to see. Something that made them stand out.
I memorised that tattoo.
