
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Blaze didn’t even want to do this in the first place; his brother had roped him into the job and he let his greed get in the way of his sense—but, when 1 million dollars is at stake, you can’t quite blame him.
So that’s how they both ended up crouched behind the teller counter at the bank, stuffing money into their jackets with SWAT outside.
Blaze turned to his brother. “I hate you.”
“What! How was I supposed to know this would happen?”
“You told Kacey. Of course she was going to tell the police, her dad’s a cop!”
His brother faltered, and Blaze took that as an opportunity to keep speaking. “You just thought she liked you so she’d choose love over the law. News flash! The world doesn’t work that way, and now we’re about to get taken down by SWAT. Nice job.”
His brother stayed quiet, mumbling an apology as Blaze rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t matter now. We’re surrounded. The only way we’re getting out of here is in bags.”
All of a sudden, it hit him. Calmly, he turned to his brother and said, “I have an idea.”
***
Outside, the police had the bank surrounded, waiting for the response from the two guys inside. The only reason they weren’t barging in in the first place was that the two guys had a hostage, and they couldn’t be sure they wouldn’t hurt him in the process.
The officer turned to his partner, clearly agitated. He was always a bit trigger-happy, and these criminals were no exception. “Have we tried to make contact yet?”
“Yes, twice. They both ignored the phone. No one is sure what they’re doing.”
“Of course they aren’t.” The officer sighed, but just as he said that, they saw movement through the glass. “There!” he shouted, and the team centered their guns.
Blaze was standing there, calmly, assuredly, with a smirk on his face. His brother stood beside him, looking more distressed.
“Blaze…” he whispered.
“Shut up, it’s going to be fine.”
Slowly, both boys walked up to the glass window, and opened their arms up. An officer tried to approach the door to arrest the men, but Blaze quickly aimed his gun at him, making it clear the only way they’d leave is death.
What the officers didn’t know, however, was that the bank kept a supply of bulletproof jackets in the back, designed for their tellers if a robbery every took place. If only they knew.
Hesitating, the officer said, “I guess we have to shoot them.”
“Are you sure?”
“No…I don’t feel good about this.”
Blaze could see they were faltering,; they had no probable cause. He swiveled his gun (with the safety still on, of course) and aimed it at the hostage. He never intended to hurt him; however, he had to make a stand. His brother followed suit.
This kickstarted the officers. “Fire!” he shouted, and with that, Blaze and his brother fell backwards.
Blaze glanced over at his brother and winked. Both were fine, the vests had done their job. Quickly, they played dead as the officers came rushing in.
The boys were quickly wrapped up in bags to be taken to the morgue, a place with no security, no guards, no nothing. They could easily walk out with their money, buy new identities, and flee across the country before they knew anything was amiss.
Blaze smirked as he felt them lift him into the car, knowing that in a few hours, he would simply be a dead man walking.