“I didn’t blow anything up, I swear.” Sally threw her arms up in surrender as soon as Margaret, Brendon, and Theresa came out from the back room.
Margaret and Theresa dropped their jaws seeing the multiple police cruisers pull up to the front of the store. Brendon shifted his eyes between the three girls before finally fixing his gaze on Clay. Following his gaze, everyone watched Clay stir with a groan blinking his eyes open. He sat up stretching his arms high in the air before freezing as soon as he noticed he wasn’t alone.
“Theresa…?” Clay asked in a slow tone staring at the rest of her team.
Before anyone could do anything, Brendon placed his hand on his belt and grabbed hold onto something.
“Does he have a…” Clay’s voiced trailed off as he scooted backwards on the floor away from Brendon.
The police burst through the front doors and before they could even tell the gang to “get down on the ground,” Brendon whipped out his gun and a few shots rang out from it directed at the police. In turn, the police took hold of their own guns.
Brendon blocked Sally and Margaret with one arm outstretched in front of them with his other arm pointing his gun at the police. The police began to shout at Brendon, but he kept backing up into Margaret and Sally until they finally got the hint and ran.
“Let’s go, Clay!” Theresa grabbed her boss by the arm and scooted out of the room using him as a human shield. She dragged him into the opposite room from where Margaret, Sally, and Brendon ran off to.
Brendon closed the door to what seemed to be the manager’s office of the store. Together, Margaret and Sally pushed the L-shaped desk up against the door barricading them in. Brendon wandered aimlessly around the room looking for a way out, but there were no windows in the office.
“So, I’m not allowed to blow anything up, but Brendon is allowed to bring a gun?” Sally interrogated Margaret with an impatient foot tapping.
“I didn’t know he brought a gun… Do we really need to discuss this now?” Margaret scowled at Sally who rolled her eyes in reply.
“What is wrong with you?” Margaret asked looking Brendon up and down. He was pacing around the room, his hands on top of his head, his face stricken with panic.
“Don’t sweat, Brendon. We’ll get out of here. You do have a gun, after all.” Sally made a poor attempt at assuring him everything was going to be all right.
“The cops aren’t what I’m worried about!” Brendon snapped. “We’re inside the manager’s office. I thought this was the vault.”
“This is what you’re freaking out about? We have the cops surrounding us and the building and you still think we have a chance getting the jewels?” Sally asked appalled.
“Brendon, Sally’s right. I don’t think now is the time to be worried about us getting the job done. We need to worry about getting ourselves out of here.” Margaret turned her head back and forth between the two of them.
Both Sally and Margaret jumped when the police began to bang on the door. The knob twisted from side to side, but it wouldn’t open due to the desk.
“Fine,” Brendon growled, “there’s a vent up on the ceiling. I’m the tallest, so I can always just boost you two through. I’ll stand on the chair to get myself through after. From there, we can crawl into another room and make a break for it.”
“I’m sure the police are elsewhere rather than just outside the door.” Sally shook her head disapproving of the idea.
“Do you have anything better?” Brendon asked through gritted teeth.
“Don’t answer that,” Margaret warned Sally before turning back to Brendon. “Boost her up first; she’s the smallest.”
With yet another eye roll, Sally obeyed without complaining. Brendon placed his gun back into his holster and then linked his fingers together. He lowered his arms so that petite Sally could step into them on one foot. Holding onto Margaret’s shoulder, Sally was able to keep her balance as Brendon lifted her higher before her head practically kissed the ceiling.
Lucky for them, the vent was easy enough to open. Sally pushed her way through grunting due to her lack of upper body strength. It was easy for her to turn her body around in the vent (it was a lot more roomy than she expected it to be) and looked down back at her team.
“I’m going to boost Margaret up now. Help her get in.” Brendon said to Sally as Margaret pushed the desk back against the wall. Whatever the police were doing, it was moving the desk inch by inch. They would be able to break into the room soon.
“What about Theresa?” Sally asked stretching her arms out to grab Margaret’s hands.
“Who cares?” Brendon snapped. “We need to get ourselves out of here!”
“Yeah, every man for himself, Sally,” Margaret grunted stepping into Brendon’s hands.
She grabbed Sally’s hands, but Sally let go causing Margaret to fall.
“What are you doing?” Brendon glared at Sally as he helped Margaret get back on her feet.
“Not until you guys promise to go back for Theresa.” Sally negotiated.
“No!” both Margaret and Brendon shouted over the banging of the police outside the door.
“Then I can’t help you. Meet Theresa and me back at our spot. Good luck.” Sally turned around in the vent crawling away.
Sunday Morning
An abandoned house. A heist. A new puppy. Lost Love. From unbelievable to true-to-life, this flash fiction collection will take you to many places and get to know various characters. With no two stories alike each is thought-provoking, emotional,...
