Chapter 19
Ivar
Something unusual courses through our veins when pillaging and plundering is our focus.
It’s an energy. A feeling of purpose. Maybe it is something in our blood, left behind by our ancestors, like Fenrir’s Mark. All I know for sure is that it makes me feel alive.
“Yeah, I can drive a stick,” she says.
“Well, I know you can drive my stick, but what about the car,” I question, glancing over at her.
“We called them stick shifts on Earth,” she laughs, opening the door. “I can drive it. Don’t worry.”
“Alright, once we’re inside, stay close. When we come running, get to us as fast as you can,” Erik says, walking around to the trunk. “I’m going to have to break the lock to get this open.”
“Wait,” she says, shaking her head. “There should be a latch inside. Let me crawl through the seats and check.”
Avery climbs into the backseat and her dress rides up enough to make me groan. Pillaging and plundering makes me feel alive. Avery makes it a life worth living.
“Need some help,” Avery mutters. “I can’t budge the seat.”
“Here, I’ll help,” I say, nudging her out of the way as I poke my head in. I reach out and pull on the seat while she fiddles with the latch.
“Got it,” she says, then I hear something click.
I pull the seat down. Avery shimmies into the trunk and a few seconds later, it pops open. She crawls out of the trunk and Erik helps her so she doesn’t fall.
“Alright, you’ll have to keep this open while you drive,” Erik says, positioning the lid so that it won’t close, but it isn’t wide open. “Think you can handle that?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem unless I have to drive fast,” Avery says. “Hopefully the gold will already be in the car by then.”
“That’s the plan,” Sigurd confirms.
“Be careful,” Avery says, hugging Sigurd first, then Erik, and I hold her longer than I usually do.
“We will,” I murmur, moving some hair out of her face. “Just keep the car running for us.”
My brothers and I leave Avery in the alleyway with the car and walk to the exit. Once we’re sure the way is clear, we step onto the sidewalk and blend in with the other pedestrians. The car rumbles behind us, so I know Avery is moving into position.
A bank robbery isn’t usually our style of pillaging or plundering. They’re too risky, especially on planets where they could chase us all the way home. That shouldn’t be an issue here. Based on Erik’s research, they don’t have much crime. We should catch them completely by surprise.
“Remember, when we get inside, we want to make a lot of noise. Overwhelm and overstimulate,” Erik says.
“I still remember how to raid, brother,” Sigurd growls.
“Yes, but we’re not going to massacre everyone inside. We have to control the situation,” Erik says. “The silent alarm is on the far right, but since we’re going in as they close, they should be getting ready to move the gold, so they shouldn’t be near it.”
“I’ll make sure nobody gets close enough to trigger it,” I assure him.
We loiter outside until two minutes before the bank closes. We’re cutting it close, but we wanted to make sure the last customer was gone.
“Ready?” Erik asks.
“More than ready,” Sigurd says.
“Me too,” I answer, my hand moving under my coat where my revolver is hidden.
Erik was able to find some revolvers for us.
Primitive weapons that use black powder to fire metal projectiles.
We’ve got a few weapons like these in our museums back home, but we’ve progressed past guns like these.
The bullets would just bounce off our armor, if we were wearing it, and they don’t have enough firepower to penetrate our skin when we call our wolves.
I’d prefer to have my axe and shield over a gun, but that would make the robbery complicated, and we wouldn’t be able to control the situation as well.
Guns will provide the intimidation we need to ensure we don’t have to kill anyone.
Unless one of the guards tries to take a shot at us.
We’ll definitely defend ourselves. Their bullets could injure us without our armor.
“Let’s do this,” Erik says, quickening his pace once we get close to the front doors.
We draw our weapons, put on our masks, and rush into the bank.
Just as Erik said, the tellers are away from their stations.
They’re getting ready to close for the day.
There are only four of them working right now.
The two security guards are casually leaning against the counter, engaged in conversation with one of the tellers who looks like she’s flirting with them.
“This is a robbery!” Erik shouts. “Everyone on the ground now!”
“Down! Get your asses down!” Sigurd roars, running at the two guards with his gun drawn. “Don’t even think about! I’ll put a hole in your head if you reach for that gun!”
“Back away, lady!” I yell, pointing my gun at the teller closest to the silent alarm.
The teller near Sigurd screams. Another one ducks behind the counter. I leap across it and aim my gun at her skull before she has a chance to hit the alarm. That scares the other two enough for them to drop to the floor, hands raised.
“You! Get the fuck out of your office! Now!” Erik shouts, running toward the offices that surround the perimeter of the bank.
The security guards don’t put up any resistance at all.
Sigurd gets them on the floor and takes their weapons.
Erik marches the bank manager and the office employees out into the main part of the bank, then orders them to lie face down.
Gold doesn’t seem to be more important than their lives because they comply immediately.
“Keep an eye on them,” Erik says to Sigurd.
“They’re not going anywhere,” Sigurd growls, taking a step back so he has a clear shot if any of them move.
I’ve got the tellers under control. Sigurd has everyone else scared of the way his gun twitches in his hand. Erik starts loading gold coins into burlap bags. Several bags are already loaded and waiting on a cart, so he tosses the ones he fills onto it.
We’re quick and we’re efficient. I don’t know how much all this gold is worth on Mallow, but it would be worth a decent amount where we’re from.
It isn’t quite as valuable in other places across the universe, especially civilizations that can mine asteroids.
Plenty of gold floating in the stars if you know how to get to it.
“Got everything?” I call out, still keeping the tellers on the floor.
“More than we can probably carry!” Erik calls back.
I turn and check the silent alarm. Once I find the wire that triggers it, I rip it out of the concrete. Erik parks the cart by the door, pulls out his knife, and cuts through all of the phone lines. It won’t slow them down much, but it’ll give us a few extra minutes to get away.
“Anyone pokes their head out of this bank while we’re still outside will lose it,” Sigurd warns, then we start backing toward the door.
We push the cart outside of the bank, holstering our weapons as we do. I look around and see the Chrysler 300 rolling toward us, Avery in the driver’s seat, wearing the mask she chose. There are some people on the sidewalk, and we’re definitely drawing attention.
“We need to move. Fast,” Erik says.
The three of us push the cart to the curb, open the trunk, and start filling it as fast as we can. A bag pops open and gold coins spill into the street, which causes a few cars to hit the brakes. Too many people are noticing us now. The masks certainly aren’t helping.
“Leave the rest, we need to go,” Erik urges.
I toss the bag I’m holding in the trunk and hop in the backseat. Erik sits in front of me, next to our mate. Sigurd isn’t as eager to leave loot behind, so he tosses a few more bags in before finally slamming the trunk and joining us.
“Drive!” Sigurd yells as he slams his door.
Avery hits the accelerator and the tires spin before the car takes off, leaving a trail of smoke behind.
That’ll get someone’s attention, if all the gold doesn’t.
I look over my shoulder and see the bank employees exiting the bank, screaming for help.
It’s only a matter of time before we have the police on our tail.
“Follow the route I laid out,” Erik orders, picking up his map. He opens it and studies it for a moment. “Next left.”
“I remember,” Avery says, taking the turn so fast I have to grab the seat so I don’t get slung around the car.
Erik’s route is designed to lose anyone who would come after us, and after a few blocks, it seems like we’re in the clear. I hear some sirens in the distance, but they’re going the opposite way. By the time they figure out what happened, we’ll be long gone.
“Fuck, I think we pulled it off,” Sigurd crows, removing his mask.
“Yes, brother,” Erik says, pulling his mask off and tossing it on the floorboard. “We did.”
“Feels like the old days,” I admit, yanking off my own mask, the cool air feeling amazing on my face once I’m free from the rubber. “Back when we were raiding the planets close to Midgard.”
“I’m okay to take this thing off?” Avery asks, pointing to her fish mask.
“Yeah, we should be in the clear,” Erik answers. “If anyone comes after us now, we’ll have no choice but to fight.”
“Not if I outrun them,” Avery says, pushing down the accelerator once we reach the edge of the city.
“They haven’t even had time to set up roadblocks,” Erik says. “We’re good.”
Avery drives to the trail we’ve been following out of the woods and turns down it. It’s too narrow for the car and branches scrape against the paint until a tree finally blocks our way. Luckily, it’s far enough and the car won’t be visible from the road.
“Alright, we’ll have to move the gold the rest of the way on foot,” Erik decides.
“We’d be faster as wolves,” Sigurd says. “But we might not be able to carry as much.”
“Too bad we don’t have any saddlebags,” Erik jokes.
“Should have planned better,” I chuckle, giving him a nudge before exiting the vehicle.
There’s too much gold in the trunk for Avery to pop it from the inside, so Erik yanks on it until the lock breaks. Sigurd pulls it the rest of the way open, which requires him to bend the metal, but it’s no challenge for him.
“Wow, all those bags are full of gold?” Avery asks, her eyes getting wide.
“And we had to leave some behind,” Sigurd grumbles, grabbing some bags.
It takes several trips for us to get the gold to the ship. By the time we do, it’s dark, and we’re hungry. Sigurd goes off in search of wild game and the rest of us return to the cave. It hardly feels like a home, but it’s the only one we’ve really known since landing on Mallow.
Hopefully that will change now that we’re rich by this planet’s standards.