“We don’t know what’s going on inside the bank,” Shaye said. “If we rush in, they might start shooting and somebody will get killed.”
As they watched, a woman approached the front door and entered. She was obviously a customer.
“They’re letting people in,” Cotton said.
“Okay,” Shaye said. “Let’s take a chance, Riley.”
“What do you mean?”
“One of us has to go inside, without a badge on, as if we’re just another customer. The badge would attract immediate attention. This way maybe we buy a valuable second or two.”
“And the other one?”
“Around back.”
“Which one of us will they recognize easier?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Shaye said. “They’ve seen us both. I’ll go inside, you go around back.”
“Maybe I should—”
“We don’t have time to draw straws, Riley,” Shaye said. “Let’s just do it.”
“All right,” Cotton said. “All right. Let’s do it.”
73
“I need two of you gentlemen in here, please,” Edmund Brown said from the doorway of his office.
“Sir?” one of the guards said.
“Two of you,” Brown said, “in here.”
The guards all exchanged glances.
“Sir, we’re not supposed to leave the—”
“I have an important depositor in my office and I need two of you in here…now!” Brown snapped.
“Yes, sir.”
The three men exchanged another glance and then two of them broke away from the vault and moved toward the office. Brown backed away so they could come through the doorway.
“What’s the prob—” one of them started, but he was literally cut off. Vic Delay grabbed him from behind and, using one of his knives, cut the man’s throat.
The other guard got a gun barrel shoved up in his nose by Lou Tanner, who growled, “Don’t move.” He relieved the guard of his rifle.
Belinda stifled a scream by placing both hands over her mouth as a torrent of blood ran down the guard’s chest. Delay caught the man beneath the arms and lowered him to the floor.
“That’s to let you know we mean business,” Jeb Collier said, pointing down at the dead man.
“W-what do you want?” Brown asked, finding his voice with difficulty.
“Money,” Jeb said, “and lots of it.”
“There are still two guards outside,” Tanner said.
“I know,” Jeb said. “We’re goin’ out there in a minute.”
“How are we gonna play it?” Delay asked.
“You take the manager,” Jeb said, “and I’ll take the girl.”
“What?” Belinda asked, surprised.
Jeb smiled and said, “Relax, sweetie. You’re gonna be a hostage.”
Before entering the bank Shaye relinquished the shotgun to Sheriff Cotton. Next he took off his badge and put it in his shirt pocket. Hoping he wouldn’t garner too much attention, he opened the door and entered.
Everything looked quiet inside. Three of the five teller cages were manned. The woman who had entered before him was standing at one of them. To his left was one security guard, who gave him a hard once-over, his gaze lingering on Shaye’s gun.
But nobody else was looking at him, so he sidled over to the guard, removed his badge from his pocket, palmed it, and showed it to the guard.
“There may be a robbery going on,” Shaye said.
“What?” The man took a good look at Shaye’s badge. “What are you talkin’ ’bout, Deputy. It’s quiet in here.”
Shaye looked around again. Belinda and her beau, Alvin Simon, were nowhere in sight.
“You know Belinda Davis? Alvin Simon?”
“Yeah, they came in a little while ago. First customers.”
“Where are they?”
“In the manager’s office.”
“How many other guards?”
“Three at the vault.”
“Do me a favor,” Shaye said. “Without attracting any attention, go and see if they’re all there.”
“Where would they go?”
“Humor me.”
The guard, a man in his mid-thirties, said, “Okay, Deputy.”
As nonchalantly as he could, the guard walked across the floor. He had to go behind the tellers’ cage to check on the vault, which was not visible from this part of the bank. In a few moments he came back, looking worried.
“There’s only one man there.”
“Okay,” Shaye said, “again, without making a ruckus, I want you to get the tellers out from behind their cages and I want all employees and customers against that wall.” He pointed to his left. That wall appeared to be the safest place for bystanders to be able to avoid flying lead. “Do it now.”
“Yes, sir.”
Shaye put his badge back on.
Cotton rushed up the alley, but stopped short at the end of it. He peered around the corner and saw one man standing with five horses. He knew there was no back door to the bank. It had been built that way on purpose. But there were windows. He just couldn’t remember where they led.
Cotton didn’t think he could take this man quietly. There was too much space between them. He was going to have to wait for something to happen before he made his move. It was in the hands of Dan Shaye, inside the bank.
Farther down the street, in front of and across from the saloon, men were getting impatient.
“This ain’t right,” Samms said. “Somethin’s wrong.”
“I know,” Leslie said. “But what?”
“We oughta go to the bank,” Samms said. “Maybe we got it wrong.”
“I don’t know…” Leslie said.
Across the street Thomas and James, secreted in a doorway, were feeling the same way.
“What do we do, Thomas?” James asked. “They’re just sittin’ there.”
“They’re not sittin’, they’re gettin’ antsy,” Thomas said. “Let’s make somethin’ happen, James.”
“Like what?”
“Let’s step out and let them see us.”
“Anythin’s better than just standin’ here.”
“Okay, then…”
Shaye didn’t know if the vault and the single guard left there were being watched, so he couldn’t go back there. Instead, he joined the front guard behind the tellers’ positions.
“Now what?” the guard asked.
“Now we wait,” Shaye said. “Something’s going on, so we’ll have to let it play out. Can we see the bank manager’s office from here?”
“Yeah,” the guard said, pointing. “That doorway over there.”
Shaye could see the doorway, but not the whole door. He was about to change position, though, when the
