OUT OF TIME - PART FOUR

PREVIOUSLY
'Oh. Cr@p.'Todd let go of Tea and tried to retreat from her, but the gunman was quickly there, aiming his gun at him. "Why hello there, Mr. Manning. You, you are my new best friend. You're going to help us get out of here, aren't you? Or, I could blow your head off. Which would you prefer?"

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John Sykes liked to smoke when he was nervous. He definitely needed a smoke right now but he didn't have any on him. He wasn't about to get any off of his officers, and definitely not from the FBI agents who had just arrived, even though they probably had some. They were rapidly taking over the situation; meaning replacing his men with state troopers and staring intently at the occupied bank while making important-sounding statements. Meaning doing everything he had just been doing, only more officially. It really annoyed him. And he really really wanted a cigarette.

The Llanview commissioner had done his best to keep the situation under control from the moment he arrived on the scene, but things had rapidly got out of hand. The arriving officers had scared the perpetrators back into the building, and by the time he had arrived it was already a stalemate. The robbers were not coming out, they were not willing to release hostages, and they were not allowing anyone in. His people couldn't rush the building; there had already been gunplay enough to show that the villain would not hesitate to fire, and a shootout would certainly injure more of the hostages, which would look very bad for the department. He had no idea what to do, but he wasn't about to let on to his men. He arranged them around the building and made attempts to negotiate with the robbers, and to get a shot off at the one known to be armed (which had failed miserably). The troopers had arrived not long ago and had pretty much dismissed him. He took some satisfaction in the fact that they couldn't do much more than he; situations of this sort could go on for hours and there was no sign of a break.

He waited, tense and jumpy, for someone to make a move. They still had no idea who was inside the building or what was going on, despite their statements that the information was not to be released. There was no information to be released. They didn't know anything. He hoped they could come out of this with a positive image. It figures, only a few months on the job since he'd taken over as Commissioner and this happens. This sort of thing never happened until he took charge. Bo Buchanan never had to deal with such things - no wonder he had such a great reputation! Sykes was every bit as good at his job as his predecessor, he was sure of it. Buchanan himself couldn't have handled this situation, he told himself. All things considered, he hadn't done such a bad job. Admirable, really. Sykes stood by the agents and troopers debating the next move, but as they were no longer listening to him he paid them little attention, instead watching the building and wanting a smoke. It was out of his hands now. How much longer could it go on?

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"My friend Mr. Manning here is going to solve all our problems for us, isn't that right? He may even be polite enough to escort us out of the building, wouldn't that be nice, boys? He's got more money than this bank even, and he's going to get us everything we need.." A cunning smile draped across the gunman's face as he came to stand before the illustrious millionaire Manning, and he shot a triumphant look at his partner watching the door. It would give him great pleasure to have the richest man in town snivel at his feet.. However, his target looked directly at him, barely blinked, just watched him very closely, and said nothing. It was annoying the hell out of him. "Well sir," he said, leaning in close with a cruel grin. "Maybe I haven't convinced you yet, that maybe you should be offering me a little help.. Lemme ask you something.." he held the gun directly at the man's head, "do you enjoy living?"
Silence for a moment, then, "Not really."
He stared at the man for a moment, then burst out laughing. "What the hell kind of answer is that? Here," grabs him roughly by the arm and jabs the gun to his temple, "I'll rephrase that. Would you like me to NOT shoot you in the head right now?"
Silence again, as the two men locked eyes. Then Mr. Manning hissed: "I- I can't do anything for you. You want money, is that what you want? Look, there's plenty here, take some! But I can't get you out past the cops, they'll shoot you, right after you get out the door."
"But they won't," the gunman snorts and shakes him, "they won't shoot you, now will they? You've got enough cash to pay them all off, you probably OWN the whole department. They won't let one of their fancy important people get shot, would they?"
Now it is Manning who laughs. "You, you got the wrong guy. They're itching for a chance to put some holes in me, you see? They'd shoot me for crossing against the light, much less as a cover for some bank robber. Can't help you." His voice shook a bit, feeling the gun against his head, but he looked the man directly in the eye with as much courage as he could muster with his own death staring him in the face. Pure adrenaline kept him from imagining the sound of the gun firing into him.
"You're lying." The gunman stood up, the smile wavering into a look of hatred and spite. "You are a stupid, stupid man, Mr. Manning. You think you can lie to me? Can you believe this guy?"
He turns to the tall one, who reclined at the side counter nearby to watch intently [Cassie and the children just below, out of sight]. "I give him a reasonable offer, and he refuses! I give him this chance, and he turns me down. Guess I'll have to shoot him."
"Wait," his companion advised. He had watched carefully since the identification of the millionaire, and he had noticed his movement when the gunman approached. Trying to hide something. Trying to hide someone. He walked over as J continued his rant, and grabbed the arm of a woman in the crowd. She gasped and looked away, but Mr. Manning heard her and the fury that flashed across his face was unmistakable. He hauled the woman to her feet and pushed her at his partner. "The woman. He'll deal for her." It was Tea.
"Well hello there, I remember you. You're the one sneakin' around behind my back.." He grabs her and pins her arms to her sides. "Didn't I tell you I'd get to you later? Told ya so."

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Oh no. Bo panicked when he saw them grab her. He had already signaled Joey, and the alarm would go off any minute. He couldn't very well jump the gunman when he had a hold of Tea. No no no, this was very bad, and it was going to get worse in just a few minutes..

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"You let go of her!" Todd spoke up, his face contorted with fear and rage.
"Oh, NOW he's interested, I get it. I bet you're real eager to help now, aren't you? You had it easy a minute ago, but then you had to go and make me angry. That wasn't a good idea, now was it, hon? Hold still, dammit.." Tea struggled in his arms, and he could barely keep ahold of her. He had to bring the gun around to her, where she could see it, and then she froze. "That's better. You're staying right here, woman, and if you're lucky, you might get to come outside with me. While your friend here works on some transportation for us. I bet he has a real nice car he could get us, all fueled to go, or maybe a plane? He'd be glad to help us out now, wouldn't you?"
Todd Manning slowly rose to his feet. He was a good deal taller than the man with the gun, and rather an imposing figure, especially with the growing fury evident on his face. "If you hurt her," he said, with barely controlled anger, "I will kill you."
"Oh yeah? Who's holding the gun here?"
"You think that'll stop me?"
For a moment, the robber shivered at the intensity of the other man's gaze. For a moment he believed that even his gun would not be enough to keep this man at bay. But he quickly regained his confidence.
"It's time for you to start making some calls." The tall man grabbed a phone from behind the counter, and brought it over as far as the cord would reach. "Get us a way out of here. Far away from here. And money. And anything else you'd like to throw in to keep us happy. You definitely want to keep us happy, trust me."
The phone shoved into his hands, Todd took a few deep breaths. I have to go along with it. I can't risk her getting hurt. He called the first person he could think of that would definitely be around, which was Briggs. He told him (as nonchalantly as one possibly can while being threatened with death) that he needed a car, a plane, a whole lot of money, and somewhere to stay, anywhere, and he needed Briggs to get them for him RIGHT NOW. He heard Briggs start to argue, but the phone was taken away from him.
"You wouldn't be pulling anything funny, would you? That would be a very bad idea, if you want to see this lady again. You wouldn't, for instance, have us meet some policemen when we get to that plane? Because we'll be bringing her along, and if it looks like you sold us out we will be very upset...."
"She stays here. I'll give you what you want, but she stays. No, you're not taking her!"
Todd desperately argued with the man, working for time, trying to think of something, hoping for a miracle. He was too oblivious to everything else around him that he didn't smell the smoke that was starting to drift across the room.
Tea's eyes squeezed shut, and she fought to keep in control. The man shook her roughly to punctuate each demand, and she felt her grip on herself slipping. It was all she could do to remain standing, much less watch for an escape, but she desperately tried for both. She couldn't bear to look at Todd, see the anguish on his face and make everything worse by pleading for his help. But then she had to see him, and opened her eyes. If this was the last she would breathe, the last she would see, she wanted the last sight to be him, the love of her life.

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Oh no, the fire, the fire, what are we going to do? Joey had already moved out of range of the now flaming wastebasket, and even if he stopped it now, overturned it, the smoke would set off the alarm at any moment. Who knows what they'll do when that happens.. They could panic, and Tea could get hurt, or Todd could lose it and attack them and everything breaks loose.. And Bo's too far away now to jump in, with whatever he was gonna do.. Any minute now...

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"Leave her in here," Todd stammered, "It's all set up now. They'll have a car for you any minute, and you can go to the plane and get out of here."
"So they can shoot us, I don't think so. I need insurance." He jerked Tea closer, and she closed her eyes again.
"You can take me with you. I lied, they won't shoot me. Or, or you can take any of them with you, that'll get you out. Take one of them! But not her. The deal's off unless she stays here."
"Nah, I like my idea better. You can't call it off if I've got your woman." The two robbers whispered for a moment, then the quiet one moved off and started collecting the money from where they'd tossed it earlier. The short, blabby one continued to watch the front, and grinned excitedly. "They're still back there boss, but they're staying away now. They're not gonna try anything for awhile yet, and when we get out there with the girl to go to the car they won't know what to do before we take off.. They're boxed in there with all their cop cars and media crud, we can lose ‘em and jump in the plane.."
"Tea," Todd said softly. She heard him somehow, and lifted her head to stare into his eyes. Her hands clenched into fists by her side. She was ready.
Suddenly. Everything happened very quickly.
The fire alarm went off with a quick sharp bweep, and continued to sound. The whole room jumped with the alarm, including the gunman, who looked around wildly. "What the hell?????" Then, within seconds the sprinklers went off. Todd saw Bo raise to his feet in a quick jump, he had a knife (where did that come from?) in his hand. "Bo!" He shouted and pointed in his direction.
You idiot!! Now he sees me!!! Bo prepared to be fired at, tensing to leap.
The gunman snapped his head at Todd's cry, and brought the gun around to find his potential attacker.
Tea brought her clenched fists in a vicious arc to the head of her captor with all of her strength, catching him in the side of the head. He stumbled, releasing her, and she fell to the ground with the momentum of her blow. Todd dove into him immediately, and as he was already off balance the gunman crashed to the floor. They struggled for the gun.
Bank Robber #2, the tall quiet one, had jumped towards the wastebasket, but turned when he heard the scuffle. He started to head back to help, but was tackled by Joey Buchanan. Joey, unfortunately, was outmatched by the big man, who got out from under him in a matter of seconds. "Bo!" he yelled, as the larger man forced his way up. Bo froze between rushing to the gunman and crossing the room to help his nephew. A seconds indecision.
Unfortunately, no one had counted on the second gun.
As Todd grappled with his adversary for the gun, Joey's opponent pulled out his, concealed within his bulky coat, and aimed a shot in their direction, trying to aid his partner. "No!" Joey grabbed his arm before he could get a shot off. Bo rushed to help him, but it was too late. The robber slung him to the ground and fired. Bo reached him a second later, and with a practiced motion grabbed the other man's gun and held the knife to his throat. The man released his weapon.
Meanwhile, the battle for the first gun reached a peak. The original gunman had the advantage of being armed, but Todd had the advantage of being completely enraged. They were a confused entanglement of blows, and it was difficult to tell who was in advantage. Several other men rushed in, finally released from frozen shock. The gun was banged from the robbers hand and into the waiting hands of Tea, kneeling on the floor, who fumbled with it for a moment and then held it steadily aimed for him. The other men held the man down, who had stopped struggling when he saw the woman grab the gun. It was all over in a matter of seconds.
And then the troopers were in. Some of the other hostages had rushed the 3rd robber, who fortunately was not armed, and the struggle visible through the glass doors had signaled the police to enter. They moved in rapidly to take custody of the robbers.
"Joey?" Bo bent over his nephew. He had been shot in the side. Bo carefully examined the wound, calling to their rescuers to come to his aid. He noticed Kelly reaching over him, touching Joey's face. "Joey? Can you hear me?" she said gently. "You're going to be alright. You have to be alright." She held his hand. Bo signaled the ambulance crew, now entering with a stretcher.

Todd pushed himself off the floor, wiping at his mouth absently. It hurt. Where was Tea? He struggled to his feet, and turned to see her rising unsteadily. He stumbled over to her; she had set the gun on the floor and stood carefully, weak on her feet, and looked up to see him approaching. Without a word, they were in each others arms, and held on tight. This was the sight that greeted the entering crowd.

It was all over.

Next: Epilogue - That night.

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