Chapter 12
As Wells and Baker started hauling the equipment out of the van. Raider pitched in to carry some of the tools, specifically, anything to do with explosives he didn’t let anyone else touch. It wasn’t that the inert material could go boom with the slightest mishandling. His caution was in the interest of getting an exact inventory of what he had to work with. Within minutes, they’d hauled everything into the empty space next to the bank. Picking up a satchel of tools, Baker led the way down the stairs and into the storage area in the basement. Wells went next, followed by Raider and Piper. Denlo brought up the rear, grunting softly with each step down. The dude was in serious distress but fighting to mask the discomfort.
Raider was preoccupied with developing an alternative exit strategy since the plan they’d made with Chambers was already off the table. The change in plans had left him and his ex-wife vulnerable.
With the original plan, it was hard for Denlo to start shooting. Piper would be outside and if he shot the guys inside then she’d take off or that’s what they wanted him to think. With Piper inside with them, there was nothing to stop Denlo from shooting them as soon as he got what he came for.
Baker was preparing the extra lighting they’d need to see what they were doing. Wells was helping him. Raider climbed a ladder and studied the ceiling. He was surprised to find it was made with cement. If it was not reinforced concrete, as he’d been told, then it wasn’t hard to blow it. He used the laser tape measure to mark his spots on the ceiling. He double-checked the blueprints for the office and then measured and remeasured. They only had one chance at this.
“Are you ready?” Denlo growled. He’d been standing in the corner watching all the activity. Piper was leaning on the wall of the staircase, ready to go in either direction.
Raider snorted. “You really don’t want to rush me when we’re dealing with explosives.”
Denlo shot him a glare.
“I mean, I could hurry it up, but setting the charge one millimeter”—he pinched his thumb and forefinger together—“in the wrong direction could collapse the whole ceiling, burying us.” Raider’s measurement didn’t need to be that precise, but he doubted Denlo knew that.
A concerned frown crossed Denlo’s features and he backed deeper into the corner, casting anxious eyes to the ceiling. “Just—” he didn’t finish the sentence as he waved his hand in the air.
Keeping his smile to himself, Raider took out the C4 and put it where he needed it to make the hole large enough for them all to get through. He attached the electrodes to the explosive and then spooled out the wire as he climbed down the ladder. He stood back and looked at his work. It was solid. It would work for sure. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Jesus, that took forever,” Denlo crabbed.
As he dragged the ladder to the side, he directed the group, “Get in the stairwell.” There was a lot of reinforced concrete implemented in stairwell design. This was the safest place for the whole group to shelter when the bomb detonated. Raider indulged in a quick fantasy about leaving Denlo under the explosives, but he squashed the desire and crossed the room to follow the rest of them up to the top of the stairwell.
“Everyone ready?” At their nods. He said, “Fire in the hole,” and pressed the button on the detonator.
There was a soft concussive whomp chased by the crash of falling concrete and a cloud of dust swirled up the stairs. Denlo started coughing, his whole body shaking. He made them wait another minute or so and then started down the stairs. They entered the storage room. There was a pile of rubble on the floor and a neat roundish hole in the ceiling about three feet by three feet.
“Yes!” Denlo hissed.
Wells smiled and fist-bumped Baker.
“Get the ladder. We’re good to go,” Denlo directed.
“Careful where you step. The floor wasn’t reinforced concrete, so there’s no telling if it will hold after we blew a hole in it.”
A couple minutes later, they’d assembled inside the bank. No alarms had gone off and it didn’t appear like they’d disturbed anything. The office they’d come up in was small and they’d been damn lucky, Raider noted. Another few inches to the right and the desk would’ve fallen into the cellar, making it difficult to climb up into the bank. As it was, the sturdy metal desk had been shifted off kilter by the explosion. But the floor felt solid, so he had reason to hope it wouldn’t cave under anyone’s weight.
Raider left the office with the others and subtly nudged Piper to fall in behind him. Everyone fanned out, moving cautiously.
Wells headed toward the vault. “Well, shit on a shingle.” He stood outside it and stared. “Hey, Denlo?” he said his voice cracking.
“What?” Denlo strode to his side.
Wells pointed. “This isn’t the type of vault you said would be here.”
Denlo frowned. “What?”
Turning to him with wide eyes and sweat beading on his forehead, Wells said, “This is the wrong vault. I can’t crack this one.”
Denlo stared at him. “What do you mean you can’t crack it? I thought you were supposed to be some hotshot safe cracker. Just get it done.”
Wells shook his head. “That’s not how it works. This model is way beyond any of the tools I have here. I should’ve realized something was majorly wrong when Baker said the blueprints were off. This vault is smaller than the one on the blueprint and it’s a lot more sophisticated.”
Denlo staggered backward, eyes wide. “So just fucking get it open. We’ve got all night.”
Wells shook his head again. “We could have a month of Sundays and I wouldn’t have enough time. I need completely different tools and…” he stared at the round vault door, “and I don’t know how to open this vault.”
Denlo’s face clouded over. He pulled the gun from his waistband. “You better fuckin’ figure it out.” He raised the gun and pointed it at Wells’ forehead.
Wells put his hands up and shot a frightened glance at Raider and Piper.
Raider glanced around the bank. “Just wait a second, Denlo. If the vault is smaller than the plans, then let’s go see what else is here. Maybe the safety deposit boxes aren’t in the vault. Maybe we can get something from them. Just hang on and don’t go off all half-cocked. Let’s see what’s here.”
Denlo glared at him. Then he turned back to Wells. “You better hope he’s right.”
Raider started searching the offices. In the back corner across from the vault was another door. He tapped on it, please to find it was solid steel. This looked promising. He knew that Denlo wanted the safety deposit boxes but he couldn’t let Denlo know he knew.
He called everyone over. “This is the safety deposit box room. Maybe there’s jewelry and bonds and stuff in here. We could break into this and see.”
Denlo ran a hand over the door and nodded. He turned to Wells. “Can you open this one?”
Wells glanced at Piper and then back at Denlo. He went up to the door. “I…I don’t know what’s in it.”
“What do you mean?” Denlo demanded.
Wells shrugged. “I mean I have no idea if it’s just a steel door with a bunch of locks or if there’s iron bars inside that will drop into the floor if the door is tampered with.”
Denlo went right up to Wells and pointed the gun an inch from his head. “You’d better get working then. We don’t have all night. And if metal bars drop into the floor, I’m going to kill you.” For emphasis, Denlo jammed the gun into Wells’ temple.
Sweat dripped onto the barrel from Wells’ face but he nodded. He pointed at some tools with a shaking hand and Baker handed them over.
Raider backed up and took Piper with him. Baker came back to stand next to them. They watched Wells for the next twenty minutes before Raider finally took pity on the guy. “Denlo, it might be easier for me to blow the door.”
Denlo turned to him.
“This section of wall isn’t load-bearing. I can blow an access hole here.” He tapped the wall next to the steel door. “It will be a hell of a lot faster than this. The only issue is that some of the boxes inside might get damaged.” It was a risk but Raider figured Wells was on borrowed time at this point. Denlo had been pacing back and forth with this gun down at his side and his finger on the trigger. Raider couldn’t tell if the safety was on, but chances were good the man was just that negligent.
Baker cleared his throat. “That’s a much better idea. I mean, then we get out of here much faster and we don’t need to worry so much about being discovered.” He licked his lips. “If we can’t break into the vault then we should get what we can.”
Denlo whirled around and stared at him.
Shit.Baker shouldn’t have brought up the vault. The man knew it, too, because he started swallowing convulsively.
Raider opened his mouth to try and convince Denlo when Piper cut him off. “They’re right. This whole job is a mess. The guy who’s feeding you info has been wrong about everything. He sucks. He’s the reason this isn’t working. Might as well cut our losses and take what we can.”
Denlo’s gaze bounced from person to person, his mouth opening and closing like he was trying to make up his mind.
“At least we get something out of this if we blow the door,” Raider commented. He didn’t have a lot of C4 left but he could make it work. He had enough of everything else.
Finally, Denlo narrowed his eyes but nodded once. Raider landed on his feet when he dropped back into the basement and wasted no time collecting the explosives and the rest of the materials. Piper was waiting for him the in bank’s office and took the equipment he handed her. Once he climbed to the top of the ladder and hoisted himself back into the bank, he hurried to the main lobby.
Five minutes later, the door was rigged.
“Move back into that corner,” he suggested to Denlo, Wells, and Baker, waving to the safest spot in the open lobby. He kept Piper close to him under the pretense of needing her help to lay the wires. He guided her around the corner and into the office space.
He gave her a nod and called out, “Fire in the hole,” and then hit the button. The explosion was louder than the last one and the debris, including the door, went flying past.
Raider waited another second for the dust to settle and then came around the corner. Denlo was already striding into the safety deposit box room. Baker and Wells were also inside.
Raider glanced at Piper. “Might be a good time to split and let the team handle this.” He murmured.
She shook her head. “John was clear. I have to see the thumb drive first.” She stepped into the room and Raider followed her. None of this was making him feel any better about this mess but hopefully, it would all be over soon.
The thirty-by-thirty room felt even smaller with all five of them inside. Boxes lined all four walls. Like post office boxes only without a little window on the door. A marble-topped island sat square in the middle of the room so people could set the boxes on it when they were in there. Only a few of the containers had sustained any damage, and it didn’t appear like there was anything of any value inside them. Just some paperwork on the floor among the wood and debris.
Denlo was searched for something. He came to a stop in front of a particular set of boxes. “Number two-eighty-three.” He tapped it. “I need this opened,” he said as he turned to look at Baker and Wells.
They looked at each other and then Baker said, “Let me get the drill.” He was back a few moments later, drill in hand.
Wells stepped out of the way and started looking around the room. He went to the boxes that were damaged and started digging around in them. He frowned. “There’s nothing here,” he said quietly to Raider who was standing next to the hole in the wall. The drill was aloud and masked the sound of his voice. Raider had to lean in slightly to hear it. “I mean all this shit and there’s nothing here. I don’t get it. Denlo doesn’t even really seem upset about the vault.” Wells searched Raider’s face. “What the hell is going on?”
Raider shrugged silently. There was nothing he could say that was going to stop Wells from connecting the dots at this point. Wells stared at Baker working on the box. Then he turned back to Raider. “He’s been after what’s in the box all along, right? He just thought the boxes were in the vault.”
Again, Raider stayed silent.
“He was going to kill us, wasn’t he? I mean once he got whatever he wants from the box. The story about all the cash in the vault was bogus, right? He was going to get what he came for and kill the rest of us.”
Raider leaned in slightly. “Just stay calm. This will all be over shortly. Then you and Baker get the hell out of here as fast as you can, okay?”
Wells stared at him, but he remained quiet.
The drilling stopped and Baker opened the small door. Denlo muscled him aside and pulled out the long, flat box and then took it over to the island. He put it down and pointed to the lock. It took Baker no time at all to drill the lock and Denlo threw the lid open.
Craning his neck, Raider could see a thumb drive inside. Denlo grinned. It was the first time since this thing started that Denlo had anything other than a scowl on his face. He reached in and took the thumb drive and tucked it in his pocket. Then he pulled out his phone and sent off a quick text.
“Okay, we’re done,” he said and started towards the door. “Everyone out.” He motioned with the gun. Wells stared at Baker, who frowned, but both men headed toward the hole in the wall. Raider grabbed Piper by the arm and positioned her so he was between the gun and her. They all trucked down the ladder and climbed back up the stairs into the empty store.
Raider grimaced. If he’d been running the op, then he would’ve had guys in the bank and here to grab Denlo when he was the last guy to get on to the ladder. Could have easily stopped him from shooting anyone then. Where the hell was the ATF team?
Piper glanced at Raider. He knew she was wondering the same thing. Suddenly the door opened behind them. Raider whirled around. Finally. But instead of Chambers and the ATF, it was the clerk from the convenience store. He had a gun in his hand.
The man moved forward so he was lit by the construction lights Baker had set up earlier. His hair was tied back in a ponytail and he wore a dirty pair of jeans. His short-sleeved t-shirt revealed the snake tattoo on his arm.