The Big Thaw

23

The presence of the armed suspects was confirmed almost instantly by Alpha 2, who added, "And Alpha Two has the van moving toward the bank, right behind the suspects… I think… I can barely see it…"

The fog now began to play more of a part in the proceedings.

"Alpha Three can't see anybody…"

"Alpha Four no viz at all."

"Tell everybody to hold position," said Volont, straining with the rest of us to look out the window.

Sally's voice crackled over the radio. "All units hold," she said, as if she did it every day. At the same time she picked up the telephone and looked at Volont. "Time to wake up Conception County?" It was a good question. If the suspects headed off over the bridge, we'd have maybe seventy-five seconds before they were in Wisconsin. He nodded. She began to dial.

This was a very critical time. We didn't want them to know we knew they were in the bank, or that we were anywhere around. This was a time to build the robbers' confidence, and lure them into the open. Well, that's what the book said.

"Hello, Betty," said Sally, into the phone. "We're up, but not running."

Then, for a time, nothing seemed to happen.

"I can't believe this shit," said Art. "They just walked in. From nowhere. Didn't check it out or anything."

"It's the fog," said Hester. "Nobody could see 'em coming for more than a block… they could have been around for a while."

We were all in a state of amazement. I don't think anyone in the room had ever seen a bank robbery actually go down before.

"Remember," said Volont, "we let 'em come out."

"Sally," said Hester, "why don't you check on the other banks? See what they have."

I thought that was a good idea. Apparently, Hester hadn't been as mesmerized as I had been.

Sally got on the phone to our own Sheriffs Department. No activity with any of the other banks. The silent alarm for the Frieberg bank had gone off, so our department and Lamar had known just about as soon as we had.

So far, so good. I thought my heart was going to bang right through my rib cage.

"How long they been in there?" George was nervous.

I guessed. "Two-three minutes. Seems like a long time, doesn't it?" I wanted desperately to get down to my car, and head over toward that bank. Worst thing I could have done. It was very likely that, somewhere, there was an accomplice looking for just that sort of thing. An accomplice with some means of communicating with the three inside the bank. Even though my car was unmarked, it did have a cop feel about it. Extra antennas, for one thing. Cheap, with almost no trim, for another. I would really stand out if I were to stop where I could see the bank. And unless I was guided by an angel, there was no way I could time it right and get there just after they left. Nope. But maybe on foot…

"I think I'll just walk over that way," I said. "Any takers?"

Volont had to be up at the Command Post. Banks were federal responsibility, and he owned the resources. Art didn't even respond. George shook his head with a rueful grin. He'd go if Volont thought of it, basically. Which pretty much left Hester. It was her office, though.

"Sure," she said, grabbing her trench coat and turning to Art.

"Don't worry," she said, "I trust you not to snoop."

Three minutes later, we were on the paving, and walking briskly toward the bank. "I think we can see even less down here," I said, with a chuckle.

"Ah, but it's good to get out."

I glanced at her. "Why don't women ever wear hats in this kind of weather?"

She looked at my head. "Gee, I dunno, Houseman. Maybe 'cause we don't look as good in a baseball cap?"

I was wearing my blue U.S.S. CARL VINSON ball cap, with the yellow printing.

"You suppose?"

"I'm sure of it."

I stepped into the street, and nearly fell. Great. Ice. The warm air that produced the fog apparently lost the fight on the surfaces. The damp air was being used by the frozen ground to make a fine glaze of ice.

"Careful, Houseman. I don't want to have to carry you back…"

As we moved into the alley behind Alpha 2, Hester came up on her secure radio and informed them we were around, and might be strolling in the vicinity of the bank. They acknowledged.

The bank, in the thickening fog, appeared absolutely unremarkable. If you didn't already know, there was no way to tell what was happening inside. Even on a clear day, I suspected…

"Professional, real professional." I should learn, someday, not to overestimate the qualities of criminals. "Sure glad I'm not the agent in the bank."

There was a thump, more felt than heard. I looked at Hester.

"Beats me," she said, swiveling at the hips to look around.

Then the bank alarm went off. The audible. A heart-stopping steel bell and striker that I was sure could be heard for a mile or more.

That was a bit unexpected. We'd anticipated the silent alarm to go when they went into the vault. It should have, and it had. There was a safety on the vault, even though it was unlocked and half open during dropoff hours. You'd have to watch that vault for a long time before you caught on to the fact that the tellers tapped a button under their counters before they turned and walked to the vault. We got the silent alarm in the Sheriff's Department.

But now we had that damned audible.

The radios came to life. "Alpha Two had a… uh… loud report, from the bank. Just prior to the alarm."

"All units hold," said Sally, "until further." That had to be at Volont's direction.

"Gunshot?" wondered Hester.

"Sheriffs Department advises that it's the fire alarm in the Frieberg bank…" came Sally's voice, over the secure radio.

Fire?

"Alpha Two second team is at ground level, and they say they can't see smoke…" came over the secure radio.

"Three's very close to the bank," I said, "and I have no smoke…"

"'Smoke'?" Hester grumbled. "In this fog, you couldn't see smoke if your nose was on fire."

Moments later, the team in the deputy's house announced that they'd come down the steps to street level, and were in their secondary position. "Alpha Three is at the little wall. We have no smoke, but there's something… uh… going on in the bank… stand by, One."

They were on the opposite side of the bank, with a much better view to the inside.

Radio traffic really started to pick up. "Alpha Foot is between Alpha Mobile and Two, going toward the bank, and we need instructions…"

"Alpha One is back on the roof… But we can't see much in the weather."

"Yeah, guys, Alpha Three sees some sort of activity on the inside of the drive-up window…"

"Alpha Two has the same. It looks like they're putting in insulation around the window."

I looked. Sure as hell. A man in a ski mask was holding what appeared to be multicolored clothesline around the edges of the teller's window, while another man was taping over it, all around the window frame of the thick, bulletproof glass. They were moving quickly, but clearly not attempting to hide their actions.

Hester and I stood by a parked car, which was between us and the bank. Less conspicuous, like we owned it. Watching, through the thickening fog, as the men at the drive-up window completed their task.

"What the hell are they doing?"

"Beats me," she said. "Sticking something around the inside of the window."

"Uh, Alpha Two thinks it might be det cord," crackled over my radio. "Inside the drive-up window."

The fire siren on top of the city hall began to sound. That could be activated in one of two ways; either by pager from the Sheriffs Department, or manually by somebody either at the fire station or the city hall.

Sally was on the radio in an instant. "Automated fire department pager and siren activation," she announced. "The firemen's personal pagers were activated first. The alarm's at the Frieberg Community Savings Bank."

So. While we had been standing there, volunteer firemen all over Frieberg were being automatically paged to go to the bank. But there were no indications of a fire.

Almost in slow motion, we could see three or four rotating blue dash lights, as individual volunteer firemen began driving to the fire station. I reached for my mike. "Three to Alpha Chase… when the firemen get there, tell them we have a robbery in progress, and have them stand by! Do not let them respond to the bank until further notice."

I can think fast on occasion.

"Right, right," said Volont, over the radio. "Good move. Right."

"Three," crackled Sally's voice, "the Sheriffs Department advises that the alarm was not, repeat not, activated in the auto mode. It's a manual activation." Information right off the screen at the Sheriffs Department. It could tell how the alarm was activated. The dispatcher up there had probably just noticed the mode, in all the activity. Strange. A real fire would have activated the auto alarm. Somebody at the bank had set it off manually.

As proud as I was of my warning to the firemen, sometimes even your best isn't enough. I watched in silence as three firemen went directly to the bank instead of the fire station. I could tell because of the little, flashing blue volunteer fireman lights on the dashes of their cars as they pulled into the lot. They obviously intended to make sure people were out and planned to don their equipment when the apparatus got to the scene. Standard procedure in rural areas, where some of the volunteers might drive right by the threatened location on their way to the fire station. I saw them head toward the bank. They started in, and I saw the last one put his hands in the air.

"Uh, Alpha Two believes we now have three firemen as hostages."

"Alpha Three confirms."

"Ditto Alpha Mobile."

Damn. Or, as Hester said, "Shit."

"Come on, come on," murmured Hester. "They can still get away. There is still time to get away. You don't need hostages, damn it."

"Maybe not," I said. "But they sure have 'em." I radioed Sally. "See if we can get a good guess as to how many people were in the bank when they went in."

Alpha 2 responded with "We believe five, plus the odd-hour teller, plus three firemen."

Nine people.

"Well," I said, disgusted, "that ought to be plenty."

As I spoke, a second vehicle approached the bank from out of the fog, pulled into the lot, made a turn, and backed toward the bulletproof teller's cage. A white panel truck with a potato chip logo on the side, it stopped about fifty feet away, and Hester and I watched in fascination while there was a puff of white and a loud crack and the drive-up window flew out of its mountings and slammed into the paving. I could see the shock wave hit her hair, making it fly back. Fascinating.

"It was," said Hester, even as we ducked down behind the car. "It was det cord he was putting up…"

"Alpha Two here… did you see that? They've blown the window."

Even as he spoke, the truck backed up toward the brand-new opening, and bumped into the wall.

"Well, I guess those windows are designed to resist pressure from the outside, not the inside," Hester mused. "Pretty slick."

"How long you think it takes to load a couple of million dollars?" I asked, cautiously raising my head to look over the hood of the car. "Ten minutes?"

"I'd estimate fifteen to twenty," said Hester, glancing at her watch. "And if they bother with the change, maybe as much as an hour."

A radio crackled again. "Three, it's Twenty-nine," said Sally, on the secure frequency. 29 was the local car, Frieberg PD. "He's going nuts, people keep running up to him and asking him what the hell he's doing just sitting there when there's an emergency at the bank."

Taxpayers are sensitive about that sort of thing. It was my call, being the highest-ranking local officer within range.

"This is sort of going to shit," I said, to Hester. "Comm, tell him to go to the bridge ramp and stand by there… nobody can even see him over there. Not in this fog." I turned to Hester. "Uh, does anybody you know have a Plan B?"

Just then, somebody tapped me on the shoulder, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I turned, and there was one of the TAC team officers.

"No disrespect," he said, "but would you two mind moving? You're fouling our line of fire."

That was about as nice a way as he could have done it. In person, and not over the radio where everybody would have heard.

"You bet."

"Hell, Houseman," said Hester. "We're just in the way, here. Let's get back up to the CP."

We arrived back at the Command Post in time for a major event. Just after we quickly briefed George and Volont on what we'd seen, the phone rang, and Sally picked it up. After a couple of seconds, I became aware that there was no conversation. I looked over at her, and her face was as white as I've ever seen one.

"Yes. Sure, yes… just a second…" she managed to get out. "Mr. Volont," she said, "it's for you."

"Take a message," he barked, still looking out the window, vainly trying to see the bank.

I could see her listen intently, and then look about her frantically. She covered the receiver. "Hester! Do you have a speaker phone button here? Where is it? Hurry!" With that, she got the attention of everybody in the room. Hester didn't bother to tell her, just reached over and flicked a small button of the side of the phone base.

"It's on," said Sally.

"Mr. Volont?" asked a heavy, sarcastic voice. "You there for me today?"

"Who is that?" asked Art.

"This is Gabriel," said the voice. "Where's Special Agent in Charge Volont?"