The man turned to her and said softly, Shut up and listen.
His words washed over them soothingly. We wish to rob your bank, Mr Nurse. A few minutes from now you will take myself and the man behind you to Logan City in your car. We will wait there until the time locks open, we will load up, and you wont see us again. There is no reason why this shouldnt be smooth and easy. Were not violent. We dont hurt people for the sake of it. And the bank carries insurance, so there will be no need for you or your staff to protect the money. Do you understand me so far?
Nurse felt the blood drain from his face. They knew everything. He didnt believe the mans claim to non- violence. The three of them were practically dripping with itthe guns, the balaclavas, the silent menace of it all, the way they filled the kitchen.
Joyce dug a long fingernail into the corner of each eye. Whatever she dislodged there she wiped on her thigh. Theyll get you. They always do.
Nurse hated to think what they thought of her. Why involve my family? You could have waited at the bank.
Joyce snorted. Use your brains. She gestured. Count how many there are. He goes to the bank, so does he. That leaves one left over.
The answer came to Nurse and his head pounded. No, no, you cant do that. Leave my wife and daughter out of it.
Too late, wouldnt you say?
Shut up. Im not having you and Mignon
The leader picked up Nurses cereal bowl, dropped it on the floor. The porcelain smashed, shooting grey spurts of milk and sodden wheat flakes over the quarry tiles. It was a simple act, like a domestic accident, but it spelt terror to Nurse, as though his spine had snapped and splinters would slice Mignons feet to ribbons. He flinched, putting a hand over his eyes.
Nothing. The man was still and patient again.
Mr Nurse, your wife and your daughter will stay at home. My colleague here will keep them company. He wont harm them; thats not what were about. Do you understand?
It wont work. You
I said, do you understand?
Nurse muttered yes.
I have a portable phone. As soon as we get in the car you will call your wife. Do you understand?
Nurse nodded. He was looking at the table. There was fear mingled with excitement on Mignons face and he hated that. His wife had found some sort of rude courage, sitting there like a tart. Most of all, he hated the mans eyes searching him to his core.
We will maintain the telephone link to your family from the bank as well. We intend to be in and out quickly, but Im sure youd like the continuing reassurance that your wife and your daughter are all right. On the other hand, if you cause trouble at the bank and my colleague loses contact with us, he will kill your family. If we lose contact with him, we will kill you.
Scum, Joyce said.
Do you understand, Mr Nurse?
Nurse said clearly, overriding his wife: I understand.
The last thing he saw before they took him out the back way to the car was the phone extension on the kitchen table, Joyce and Mignon roped to their chairs, the bulky man spooning Nescafe into a cup. Prints! he thought. No, they all had latex gloves on. He tried to exchange a look with his wife and his daughter but, typically, they were too involved with their own feelings to think about him.
Thirty
It was important to keep him calm. Wyatt took the mans keys, opened the drivers door of the Volvo, said, Get in, Mr Nurse, never losing the soft patience in his voice, never moving suddenly.
A high paling fence draped in wisteria screened the sides and back of the house from the houses around it. The three men had not been seen bundling Mignon Nurse in through the back door. Now Wyatt and Riding could not be seen abducting the manager.
When Nurse was strapped in behind the wheel, Wyatt shut the door on him. He removed his balaclava, scraped his hair straight back and put on a pair of glassesplain glass, heavy black rims, twenty dollars in a theatre costumers. He turned up his collar, concealing the shape of his neck and chin. He looked across the car at Riding. The little man took off his balaclava and put on a pair of sunglasses, completing the distortion with a pipe clamped between his teeth. The sawnoff shotgun was rolled up in a newspaper.
They got into the car. Before we start, Mr Nurse, a gentle warning. Keep your eyes on the road, not on me or my colleague.
Wyatt watched Nurse carefully. He saw him nod.
Fine. Now I want you to start the car and back out into the road. Not too fast. Watch for pedestrians, kids on bikes. Do what youd normally do.
Wyatt rested his. 38 across his thighs, pointed at Nurse. Glance sideways, Mr Nurse. Do you see the gun? Its all right, I wont use it. Not unless you do something stupid. Just concentrate on getting through the next hour or so and being reunited with your family.
Wyatt watched Nurse. The fat manager seemed to welcome the comfort of the wheel in his hands, the distraction of the morning traffic. He wound down his window and drove in silence to the freeway.
Wyatt took a cellular phone from his pocket. He punched out the number for Nurses house. He heard the phone being picked up but Phelps, as instructed, said nothing. Its me, Wyatt said.
Yep.
Put the wife on.
There was a pause, some muffled sounds. Wyatt pictured Phelps moving the receiver to Joyce Nurses ear and holding it there. He heard her say, Danny? Are you all right?
Your husbands doing fine, Mrs Nurse. Ill put him on.
Wyatt passed the phone to Nurse. Gently does it. Just act normally.
It wasnt much of a conversation. Wyatt heard a faint squawk from the receiver and saw irritation on Nurses face. He said, All right, all right, I hear you, a few times, then moved suddenly, as if to fling the phone through the open window. Wyatt closed his hand around the mans wrist. No, Mr Nurse.
He took charge of the phone, holding it close to his ear. The drive to Logan City took just over thirty minutes and he checked in with Phelps from time to time and twice coaxed Nurse into talking with his daughter. The conversations with the wife seemed to cause aggravation on both sides.
Nurse turned into the side street next to the bank at eight-twenty-five. Monday morning, the start of another working week. Shopkeepers were rolling up the shutters, sweeping dust away from their doors. Kids late for school were draping themselves around poles and over benches at the bus-stop. A greengrocer reached into a van, dragged out a crate of mangoes. At the bookshop next to the bank a man with a ponytail was wheeling a trolley of remaindered books onto the footpath. The little courtyard carpark behind the bank was clear and the vertical blinds were closed.
I want you to reverse in, Mr Nurse, leaving a gap of a couple of metres between the car and the wall.
Everyone knew the silver Volvo. It was parked behind the bank five days a week. Everyone knew the fat manager; he was as much a part of the landscape as his car. No-one thought twice about the men with him. They wore suits, so it added up to bank business. Wyatt looked out at the street, the occasional pedestrian hurrying to work, and understood all these things. He said to Phelps: Were there, and placed the phone back in his pocket.
Now, I want you to trip the lever that opens the boot, Mr Nurse.
Nurse leaned under the dash. Wyatt followed him with the gun. He heard a click at the back of the car and turned to look. As hed expected, the boot lid popped up only a couple of centimetres, not far enough to attract attention.
You have all your keys?
