OUT OF TIME - PART TWO

We interrupt this program for a special report. A situation is developing at the Llanview 1st National Bank, where three unidentified persons have attempted to rob the bank, and are now trapped inside, along with an estimated 30 employees and customers of the bank. We now go to Tad Martin, who is live at the scene. Tad?
Yes Liza, I'm here at the Llanview 1st National Bank with Commissioner John Sics, of the Llanview Police Depar- Sykes. John Sykes. Yeah, ok, Commissioner, what is the current situation?
Well, we have the building surrounded, and the state troopers are on their way. What is the situation inside the building?
We have had no contact with anyone inside the building, including the robbers. When the alarm went off inside the bank, a cruiser happened to be in the area and reported immediately to the scene. Officers Annie Smith and Tim Oaks approached the building to investigate and were fired upon by one of the robbers. After an exchange of gunfire, the robbers ran back into the building, and are now holding the people inside.
Do you have any information as to the identity of the robbers, or of any of the people inside? None of that information can be released at this time.
Well folks, there you have it. I will be remaining on the scene for as long as this situation continues, and we'll bring you any further information as it comes. This is Tad Martin, WRCW. Back to you, Liza.

Andrew Carpenter was on his way home when he heard the police siren. Several, actually. He had just pulled out from the bank (after talking with Mrs. Sanders for several minutes) and was starting home when a police car passed him. He thought nothing of it at the time. Later, however, when he saw the news report on the hostage situation, he realized that he had missed being a hostage himself by mere minutes. He also realized that when he had left the bank, his ex-wife was still inside with his son.
Trying to remain calm, Andrew dialed Cassie's number. He let it ring for a long time.

Noone had said anything at all for several minutes after the robbers had reentered the building. The three men stood in the center of the room, breathing hard, and staring at the arriving police. After a short period they came together and talked in hissing, excited whispers, they seemed to be arguing furiously.
This went on for some time. The people, now hostages, froze in place, afraid to move or speak. Some people looked around furtively while others had their head in their hands. strangers huddled together looking for comfort. Many were crying softly. But for the most part, no one moved, not even to change position. It was a startling sight to see Tea Delgado leave her place against the wall and creep over to where the injured man lay. She moved very carefully, her face unreadable but determined. Reaching the prone man, she bent over him in concern. The eyes of many of the hostages were on her, and they held their breath, waiting for their captors to see..
But the three men continued to talk amongst themselves. Tea said something to the fallen man in a very soft voice, and he moved his head.

Her estranged husband, Todd Manning, watched her every move with a paralyzing fear. He could feel his heart thudding in his chest, and he felt the panicked urge to jump up and yell at her to run away and hide. He saw the silent man turn and see her, and nudge the other man, the man with the gun.
"Hey! You, B*TCH, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
Tea did nothing.
"I'M TALKING TO *YOU*" he pointed the gun at her.
She raised her eyes. "He's bleeding to death," she said.
"You wanna try it? GO BACK OVER THERE." He advanced upon her with huge strides, still aiming his gun.. Tea shrank a little in his presence, but backed away very slowly.
"Don't shoot her, man, we can't go wasting all the hostages.."
"Hey, we got plenty of hostages. We can spare a few. Isn't that right, hon? Yeah, go back over there. We'll get to you later."
The gun lowered, and the men resumed debate.
Todd remembered to start breathing again.

Nora was immensely relieved to see Andrew arrive. She didn't notice him, however, until he sat down beside her on the curb, and was considerably startled when he spoke:
"Quite a crowd, isn't there?"
By then, not only had squadrons of police and troopers arrived, but so had the cameras. Every news crew from the area was there, along with some that weren't. Behind the phalanx of police and press were the onlookers. Many of them like Andrew and Nora, waiting to hear of family inside.
"Bo's in there," Nora stated in a strange, flat voice.
Andrew didn't say anything for a moment. "So is Cassie. With River."
Nora looked at him briefly, then stared at the ground. "I was waiting in the car for him. He was taking a long time. But he always takes a long time, you know Bo, he stops to talk to everyone. Actually, everyone stops him..
"I heard a loud noise. This *POP*. It didn't even occur to me that it could be a gun. I mean, you watch movies and you hear it and you know, but.. here, running an errand a block from my house? I thought it was a car backfiring, or something. But I heard another, then another.
"I didn't know what to do, I wanted to run in and find Bo, but I couldn't even move. I just stared in the window but I couldn't see anything. I was just thinking, what if Bo's been shot, what should I do? I even got out of the car. But I saw the police car, and I waited for them. To see what would happen. Then these people, they came out of the front door. They saw the police officers, and one of them pulled a gun and fired at them."
Andrew interjected. "Was anyone hurt?"
"No. Not then. The men went back inside. They're still there. "It's funny, when Bo was the police comissioner I was always telling myself to be ready for things like this. Because, you know, things like this happen. Police officers get.. shot.. all the time. It's a dangerous job. And when he lost his position as Police Commissioner I was upset, because he deserved that job, but some part of me was so, relieved, because then he was somewhere safe. I wouldn't have to worry. Now, now he's in there, with those bank robbers, and they could start shooting people at any moment."
"We don't know that, Nora, they don't want to do anything stupid. If they start shooting the hostages, then the police will go in and get them, so they don't want to do that."
"I know how this works, Andrew. And I'm sure you know they've already shot at least two people."
Andrew did know. He had already talked to several officers, and they had told him what little they knew. Which was enough to scare him to death, but he had a responsiblity here, as a minister, to stay calm. He knew he had to stay cool and collected and optimistic, because people needed him to be that way. So he was going to hold firmly to the hope that everything would be alright. He did, however, send up a fervent prayer to heaven, that his former wife and son would be safe.

Cassie was actually a lot safer than Andrew imagined. When everyone hit the floor after the first shot, she and River dove behind the counter. Apparently, noone saw them. She sat on the ground, facing the wall, and holding River in her lap. She couldn't see anything of what was going on, but she could still hear the man with the loud voice, and the next two gunshots. River was of course scared to death, and she talked to him softly, telling him to please please be quiet, they had to be very quiet right now and this would all be over soon. It had been horribly quiet for the last few minutes, and Cassie wished she knew what was going on. If she turned her head and craned her neck, she could see was the very back of the room, the corner of the room, the doors. She could see a few people out of the corner of her eye, but she was afraid to look in fear of being caught by the robbers.
She suddenly felt something hit her arm, and she very nearly screamed, she was so tense and terrified. The object bounced off her arm and landed on the floor with a metalic *ping*. It was a quarter. She took a deep breath and looked over her shoulder, and saw Todd Manning staring at her intently.
There was no good time, in Cassie's opinion, for an encounter with Todd Manning. But of all times, this had to be the absolute drop dead worst time for one. Bad choice of words. At any rate, there he was, and after darting a few quick looks in the direction away from her (the robbers?), he mouthed something to Cassie that she couldn't quite catch. What was he saying?
And what was that behind him? Something was moving. It was Starr! She was sitting behind her dad curled up with her hands over her face. Then she realized what Todd was trying to tell her.
Take Starr.
With some encouraging words she set River down on the other side of her, and opened her arms up to her cousin's daughter. Hurry Star, come here before someone sees you!
Todd reached his arm around his daughters shoulders and squeezed her tight, and whispered into her ear. He looked very collected, he even smiled at her. He then motioned for her to go to her Aunt Cassie. He held her for a moment, watching the front of the room, then let go. Starr slid across the floor into Cassie's arms. Shhhh, baby, we'll all be okay. Cassie and River and Starr huddled there together behind the counter, and Cassie talked quietly to the two children as they held hands.

Todd watched Starr reach safety and breathed a sigh of relief. Okay. Starr's safe. She's alright. Now I have to go over to Tea.

Bo and Joey were still talking together when the situation began, and were now lined up against the wall next to each other. Neither had said anything since the first shots, but they had exchanged looks. Joey was handling the situation very well, Bo thought to himself. He was alert and ready for anything, but not panicking. With his police training, Bo had immediately fallen into an emergency state of mind, analyzing the situation and planning a course of action. Joey was watching him closely, Bo knew. He hoped he didn't look as nervous as he felt. Cop or no, having a man wave a gun in your face was enough to unnerve any man. But with all of his former coworkers working just outside to save their lives (and he hoped fervently that none of them had been hit during the exchange of gunfire at their arrival) he couldn't just rest on his laurels and watch what happened. These three robbers had obviously not planned things out very well, and were now operating on instinct and fear. The tall armed man, who had been called "J" by the talkative one, was clearly a loose cannon; he had already shot at least two people, and was fully prepared to shoot more. The other two would go along with whatever "J" came up with; at least, the talking one would, the silent one Bo wasn't so sure about yet. He also couldn't tell how many weapons they had between them. That was the crucial point. As it was, it seemed there was only one gun, and if they could disarm the man they would all be safe. The robbers hadn't planned on the situation; if the gunman hadn't lost his temper and shot the teller they could have been in and out. Perhaps there was only one gun. How to disarm him, then?
Bo leaned in to whisper into Joey's ear. "If I have a plan, will you go along with it? You don't have to do anything-"
Joey's face tensed, but he nodded. He was in. He trusted his uncle, and he wouldn't let him do it alone. Whatever it was that he was doing. He just hoped that there would be enough time to take action, before someone did something stupid.

You HAD to go to the bank today, huh Delgado? Todd thought ruefully as he crept the long way around the room. Figures. I knew you were gonna get me killed someday.He had to move very slowly, otherwise they would notice. He was surprised they hadn't noticed already. They weren't very good bank robbers, now were they? He had moved from one side of the back of the room to the other, moving directly in front of the doors. They had been in heated arguement for that time, but now they had split off and were watching the room, so he had to stop moving. The gunman was sitting on the side counter, playing with the chambers of his revolver. Unknowingly, he was mere feet from where Cassie was hiding, with River and Starr. One of the other men was out of sight, looking for another way out of the building probably, while another stood at the front of the room, leaning against the main counter.
Just a few armlengths away from Tea. I'm gonna sock that guy.. Just seeing him NEAR her made Todd's blood boil. There was no way he could get up there with Clyde Barrow over there watching Tea. Todd wasn't exactly sure of what he was going to do when he got there, he just knew he had to go to her. He was going to have to wait for a distraction.
He wondered what she would do when she saw him. She wouldn't be all that thrilled, probably.
Judging from how things had been going. Last he had seen her, at some function thing Vicki put on for the Banner, she hadn't even spoken to him. Not that she was ignoring him, but that he didn't even matter anymore. She would probably insist that she was doing just fine thank you and would better off on her own here. She would probably wonder what kind of stupid thing he was going to do now, to get them both killed. She would probably be right. How'm I going to get over there? Where did the other guy go? What are they going to do?

"THIS IS THE POLICE. WE HAVE THE BUILDING SURROUNDED. THERE IS NO WAY OUT. SURRENDER NOW, AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES"

The sound of the bullhorn made everyone jump, including the gunman. He snapped the gun together and strode to the doors; the 2nd and 3rd robbers soon joined him.
"No surrender!!!!" He didn't know if they could hear him through the doors, but he was sure they'd get the idea. "Give us what we want, or we'll start shooting hostages!!!"
A phone behind the counter started ringing as he shouted; the silent man picked it up. He listened for a moment, then motioned for the other two to come.

"Outside there, they don't know for sure HOW many robbers there are, or how many weapons, or even how many people are in here. They just don't know." Bo wished he had some way to communicate with them.
"What are they doing now?"
"They're asking for the demands. It doesn't even matter really, what the crooks want is to get out of here. They just want to feel out the situation, see how unstable these guys are. They have to figure out if they can rush the place, or negotiate a release of hostages, or-"

"HEY! What's he doing!!!" The gun pointed through the door. A man in a dark suit was approaching the building, hands up. "I want to talk," was what he was saying, or something to that effect. A negotiator. The voice on the phone reassured that the man was not armed, he was there to make a deal.
"You stay here," the gunman told the 2nd robber, the silent one, and approached the doors with his other partner. He opened the door just a crack. "Are you gonna give me what I want??"
What the negotiator said back couldn't be heard inside the building, but it couldn't have been what the man wanted to hear. He started shouting: "You want me to wait!! I guess you want all of these people to wait too, huh! Well guess what, they're going to start running out of time, the more you make me wait!!! The clock's ticking, and I want out of here NOW!! I want a car, now! And an airplane, fueled to go...." The list of demand grew longer each time, as he thought of more. He was growing more desperate by the minute, as he realized that he was probably not going to make it out of here alive. Well, if he was going down, he was taking as many people as possible with him.
The 3rd robber, the blabbermouth, he stared through the doors at the line of police, and chattered more demands to his partner. Suddenly, he cut off sharply as the negotiator was reaching into his coat, and he spotted the glint of a revolver. "J!! He's got a gun!!"
The negotiator dropped to the ground as he was shot at, and rolled out of the way. The police, their guns trained on the man, prepared to open fire but waited for the command, as they couldn't risk hitting the civilians inside. The outlaws withdrew from the door in fury.
"They think I'm screwing around. Not going to take me seriously, oh yeah? YEAH!! DON'T SCREW WITH ME!!! DON'T $#&*@ WITH ME, YOU BASTARDS, I'LL MAKE YOU ALL PAY!" He turned to the hostages and aimed his gun into the crowd.

Next time: More gunfire
A reunion (this time I promise)
A plan is put in motion and interrupted; the robbers have a new plan of their own