THE ALARM sounded at a volume somewhere north of ear shattering. What ever happened to a good old silent alarm? There was only one other time she could remember an alarm this loud.
The tellers had never been involved in a bank heist before. They scattered and filled the bag with cash, all while crying and screaming.
Tammy clearly hadn’t yelled shut up enough. She tried again, but the two tellers kept weeping.
To her left, three patrons were on the ground, fingers laced together and resting on the back of their heads. She’d taken all their cell phones and put them on top of the table where people could fill out deposit slips. No one touched them. But that didn’t surprise Tammy.
Few people needed their phones when an AR-15 was pointed in their faces. Today was no different.
The alarm continued to ring.
“What is taking them so long?” Kenneth screamed.
Tammy looked in his direction. His ski mask was tight on his face, and a line of spittle soaked into the fabric near his lip. He aimed his own automatic weapon at the skull of the bank manager.
Tammy winked at him. The man she married was panicking.
“We’ve got three minutes,” she said. “I can finish a cigarette before they get here.”
Kenneth nodded.
Walking over to the tellers, she tapped the barrel of the gun on the bulletproof glass.
“If you don’t hurry the hell up, we’ll find out if this works.”
One of them—her nametag said Arlene—nodded through her tears. She zipped the duffel bag and nodded toward the emergency door. Tammy met her there. The door opened, and Tammy took the duffel bag and aimed the gun. Arlene screamed and fell to the floor.
Tammy shot out the two security cameras. The room screamed. Kenneth took care of the other ones.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s do this.”
Tammy handed him her gun, slung the bag over her shoulder and pulled her ski mask off. Kenneth pulled her close and kissed her deep on the lips.
“I’ve missed this,” he whispered when he broke the kiss.
“We’re getting too old for this,” she said. “We have a son.”
“Don’t tell Elliot that.”
“See you on the other side.”
Kenneth emptied the clip of one of the AR-15s into the ceiling, making sure everyone kept their heads down. The tellers ducked behind the counter. He dropped the gun, wrapped his free arm around Tammy and guided her forward toward the door.
“I think we’re going to be clear,” she said.
“That took longer than three minutes,” he said. “We have to be sure. You stay safe.”
They exited into the winter day; the snow flurries of ten minutes earlier had turned into a full-on storm. The getaway car was across the street, Elliot revving the engine. The alarm gave way to police sirens.
Someone on the corner was snapping pictures with one of those flip phones. Tammy’s stomach went sour. In the old days, no one ever had a camera.
“Back off,” Kenneth shouted. “Or I’ll shoot her.”
The phone man took two steps back. Two squad cars, CLIFTON emblazoned on their side doors, rounded the corner. One of them had a speaker on the car and screamed for Kenneth to stop where he was.
He did. Tammy took a breath. Elliot was supposed to pull a U-turn, get them in the car and get the hell out of there.
But that wasn’t what happened. As the police cars screamed to a stop in front of them, Elliot burst from the driver’s seat and barreled across the street.
“What the hell?” Kenneth whispered.
Rushing up to them, Elliot pulled Tammy free from Kenneth’s grip, duffel bag and all. He dragged her across the street and she screamed. The cops poured out of their cars, guns trained on Kenneth.
Tammy took one last look at him. He shrugged, dropped the gun and raised his hands.
Elliot forced her into the backseat. He got in the driver’s seat and peeled out.
“No!” she screamed. “What about Kenneth?”
“This was always part of the plan. That guy with the phone. He’s got your face. We’ve got to hide you.”
Tammy looked out the back window. The cops already had her husband down on the ground in cuffs.
“We’re going away for a while, Tammy. We have to.”
Tammy turned back toward the front of the car and watched Elliot navigate the road. The world came back into focus. Elliot pulled onto Route 21 and headed toward Newark. Toward the airport.
“Where are you going?”
“We are taking a vacation. It’s okay. Kenneth will understand. This is an emergency situation.”
“They got him,” she said.
“They did.”
“And we are going to hide.” She didn’t need time to figure out what was happening, but she did feel the need to vocalize it.
“Your face is going to be in a bunch of papers tomorrow. You’re going to be portrayed as a hostage.”
“And you a hero.” Tammy shook her head.
“They’re going to be looking for us. We’re going to disappear for a while.”
The road wasn’t slick yet, and Elliot was pushing seventy. There were traffic lights coming up and she prayed he didn’t run them.
“Disappear? We can’t do that.”
“We have to.”
“You’re panicking.”
“No. I’m not. This has always been a contingency.”
Tammy blinked. “But what about Matt?”
Elliot’s eye flicked up to the rearview mirror. “Matt?”
“Matt. My son?” Tammy gritted her teeth. “Matt Herrick. What is wrong with you?”
“Me? Stop worrying. He’ll be fine. He’s eighteen.” Elliot slowed for a red light. “He’ll figure things out.”
Tammy pulled the duffel bag close and bit back tears. Forty-eight hours later, they were in Kansas. A quiet town with one restaurant. She hadn’t heard from Matt and didn’t try to contact him.
On the news, they talked about the hostage who got away. Her picture was plastered everywhere, a blurry cellphone image. Her mouth was wide open in a scream. They thought she was calling for help. But Tammy knew she was telling Elliot to wait. Elliot’s arm was wrapped around her, pulling her from Kenneth. His face was obscured from the camera. Only his dark hair was visible, black against the pale shade of her skin.
Perfect for an iconic image.
And an escape.
The news anchors wondered about the man whose face was out of the photo. The one who, the reporters said, saved the unknown woman in a daring rescue.
Elliot had saved her. And now, in that podunk Kansas town, he felt like she owed him.
“We’ll go back to New Jersey soon,” Elliot would say. “When it’s safe.”
“And find Matt?”