Bank Robber

 

Simon was pretty sure he was going to die either from boredom, or old age waiting on his father. He groaned and flopped his head back against his car seat as he kicked his legs against the seat.

So much for ‘just a minute’.

Kicking his legs to the sound of the song playing in his head, Simon glanced around, and something moving out of the corner of his eyes caught his attention. A white ‘utility’ van was parked just across the street from where he was sitting, and several men were working around it, with dark shirts and their heads turned toward it.

There was something off about the whole thing, and Simon knew it. He popped his seatbelts off and shoved himself forward, landing on the floor of the backseat. Looking down the street in the direction the men started motioning, Simon realized what was happening almost instantly.

They were bank robbers!

Simon felt a spike of excitement shoot through him as he bit his lip and glanced back toward the building his dad had disappeared into. How mad would his dad be if he left the car? 

After all, he was the one who told Simon he’d only be a minute, and he was sure it had already been longer than that. 

He stood there and watched as the men disappeared into the bank. Man! At the very least his curiosity was going to crazy not knowing what was going on inside! 

Looking back toward the building one last time, Simon bit his tongue before grabbing the car door and shoving it open. He knew how to take care of himself better than most adults. He was sure his dad wouldn’t mind him popping by the bank for a second.

He hopped out of the car and closed the door behind him. Checking both ways, Simon sprinted across the street toward the bank. Once on the other side, he moved against the wall of the building beside the bank, then edged his way closer.

When he reached the front doors of the bank, Simon jumped forward and pulled on the handle, quickly dashing back and out of view when he found it locked. Not that he was really surprised by it.

There had to be another way inside.

Scanning the sides of the bank, Simon quickly spotted a small half window about twenty feet off the ground. That wasn’t too high, was it? His dad told him he needed to work on his fear of heights anyway.

So maybe this wasn’t what he’d meant, but surely it had to count for something? With that thought in mind, Simon began to map out a path to the window from where he stood on the sidewalk.

Moving toward the wall, Simon came to stand in front of a pillar built into the side of the building, just small enough for him to wrap his arms around, and that’s exactly what he did. He wrapped his arms around it and started his climb up it.

Once he reached the top of the pillar, he scrambled onto the two inch wide ledge running along the wall and just above the window. He edged his way away from the pillar and toward the window, gripping the brick wall with his small hands. 

Reaching the window, he slowly lowered himself until he was able to push his foot against the window, gripping the very top of the window frame and pulling it away from the wall. He shoved it open, then he lowered his other leg, holding himself up with his hands as he gripped the ledge.

Taking in a deep breath, he swung himself through the window and let go. He slid down the glass like a slide. He flew off the bottom of it and landed on his feet on the desk below it. Silently, he dropped himself to the ground beside the desk and glanced around him.

There was a calendar, some pictures of a little girl, some puzzle books, and other nicknacks scattered across the desk, and Simon was honestly surprised that he hadn’t broken something when landing on the top of it.

Shaking away that thought, Simon turned toward the office door. He didn’t have much longer before his dad eventually got back to the car and realized that he was gone. So unlocking the office door, he slid through it and quietly closed the door behind him.

Simon found himself standing in the upper level of the bank, overlooking its large lobby, and he edged his way toward the railing and looked down. Sunlight streamed through the skylight, glittering off of the marble floor with roughly two dozen customers scattered round the bank.

He wasn’t surprised to see the men from outside now wearing ski masks and moving toward the center of the room. One of the bank robbers pointed his gun toward the roof of the bank and fired it off.

Simon winced as several people screamed, and they all cowered where they stood. The bank robbers started yelling orders, but their voices were too muffled for Simon to hear. But he watched as they began to motion to the bank employees.

The employees, along with a few of the hostages, left with two of the bank robbers, leaving the other two with the rest as they no doubt headed to wherever the bank’s safe was. The two remaining bank robbers moved all the bank customers to the center of the lobby, where they clustered together and the bank robbers guarded them.

Running his hand through his hair, Simon glanced around. He wasn’t sure what he should do, but he knew he needed to do something. After another moment of hesitation, he gripped the railing in front of him.

Then he waited until the guards were looking the other way before acting. He swung himself over the railing, then lowered himself down as far as he could before letting go and landing on top of one of the bank clerk’s counters.

One of the hostages caught sight of him, and his eyes grew wide, but Simon quickly held a finger to his lips and gave the man a wink. Then spinning around, he snagged a lollypop off the counter, before jumping down behind the back of the counter.

With his back pressed up against the counter, Simon glanced around and tried to think through his next move. After a couple of seconds of making a plan, Simon pushed himself to his feet, pushed a button he found under the counter, then scurried forward toward where he imagined the bank robbers and their hostages had gone.

He soon found his way to the large room, filled with desks, outside of the huge metal safe built into the wall. Simon silently made his way forward. 

The bank robbers obviously weren’t pros, since they didn’t even notice Simon coming up behind their group. Or maybe it was just him. Shrugging away the thought, Simon silently climbed up onto one of the decks and sat down to watch.

One of the bank robbers was already working on the mechanical combination locks, while the other one with the gun stood with the hostages, specifically the bank manager. “What’s the digital code?” the bank robber growled, shoving the barrel of his gun against his head.

“I… I can’t tell you,” the bank manager squeaked out. “It… it would ruin me if I just told you what you wanted to know. I’m sorry!”

Simon supposed he could kind of see where the bank manager was coming from. It these men got away with the contents of the safe because of the manager, they would no doubt fire him. But then again, it was just stuff.

Frowning, Simon unwrapped the lollypop he’d taken earlier. “You could always try twenty questions,” he said out loud, licking the lollypop. “My dad loves to play that game with his ‘friends’ at work.”

“Who are you?!” the bank robber with the gun spat, swinging the gun around toward Simon as the other robber spun around from where he knelt beside the safe.

Simon didn’t blink. “Hey, no need for that,” he said, pulling the lollypop out of his mouth as he hopped off the desk. “It’s just rude to point your gun at people, you know. Or… maybe you don’t.” He shrugged as he leaned against the desk. “Well, now you do, so…”

“¿Qué debo hacer?” (What do I do?) the bank robber asked, fingering the gun. 

“Si matamos al niño, nos atacarán con fuerza,” (If we kill the child, they will attack us with force) the bank robber with the gun’s partner whispered, biting his lip as he glanced over at Simon.

“Eso… sería una muy… mala idea… Ug… sorry, my Spanish isn’t the best,” Simon huffed, licking the lollypop again. “Uncle Diego keeps saying he’ll help me. But here we are. Anyway, killing me really isn’t going to do you any good, so you should really listen to your friend.”

He had no doubt his dad would figure out he was in the bank soon enough and would come for him. He just had to buy his dad and the police time and make sure no one got hurt in the meantime. 

Hopefully, including himself.

“If you don’t want me to show you, then keep your mouth shut, boy,” the bank robber with the gun spat as the other one went back to the safe. “Now, you!” He motioned to the bank manager. “What’s the code, and don’t even think about lying to me!”

“N…no!” the bank manager said, squaring his shoulders. 

The next second the bank robber stepped forward and punched the manager in the face, causing him to reel back and fall to the ground. The robber moved his foot back to kick him in the stomach.

“Stop, stop!” Simon said, scrambling forward and putting himself between the bank robbers and the hostages, his heart thudding against his chest. “Just stop. I can help you,” he said, the words leaving his mouth before he fully realized what he was saying.

“Really?” the robber said, narrowing his eyes at Simon. “Well, then prove it.” He nodded to the safe. “Tell me what it is, but don’t touch the lock.”

Simon sighed and stepped toward the safe. He bent his head down a bit to get a look at the keypad. Squinting, he quickly realized what numbers were slightly more worn than the other ones.

The digits were 0-2-5-6. 

“Oh!” Simon laughed, sighing in relief as he turned back to the bank robber with the gun. “Well, that’s easy.”

The bank robber frowned at him. “You know what it is?”

“Well, duh,” Simon said, rolling his eyes. “That is why I said that it was easy.”

“What is it?” the bank robber ordered.

Before Simon could even decide if he should actually answer that, he saw a flicker of black through the doorway and on the other side of the lobby. Someone was there; they just needed a little bit more time. 

Biting his lip, he turned toward the bank robber beside the safe. “2-0-6-5.”

“No!” the bank manager yelled, but his cry only made the bank robbers realize that Simon was right.

They exchanged a glance as the one beside the safe moved toward the keypad and the other eyed Simon. “How did you figure that out?” he asked.

Simon shrugged as he shoved the lollypop back into his mouth. “His daughter’s birthday is April 16th 2001,” he said, glancing toward the manager. “It’s the month times the day plus the year.”

The bank robber entered the code, and the light beside it turned green. “You could be useful…” Before the bank robber could even finish what he was saying, Simon saw more movement outside of the bank, this time from the window inside the room.

His eyes grew wide for a second before he dropped to his knees, burying his head between them as he covered his ears with his hands. That’s when it happened: there was a loud ‘bang’ and a flash of light.

Simon really didn’t need to look to know it was a flash-bang. 

Slowly, he looked up and glanced around. Four members of the SWAT team were in the room with them, taking care of the bank robbers, while the other members started helping the hostages.

One of the SWAT team members pulled off his mask and glanced around. 

“Dad!” Simon cried, jumping to his feet.

His dad’s head snapped around toward him. “Winnie!” he said, hurrying over to Simon. “Thank you, God. Are you okay?” he asked, kneeling in front of him and brushing the hair out of Simon’s face. “Did they hurt you?”

“Dad,” Simon moaned. “They were shooting blanks; they didn’t really want to hurt anyone more than they had to.”

His dad frowned. “Are you sure?” 

Simon rolled his eyes and pointed at the ceiling out in the lobby. “They were standing under that skylight,” he said. “If they were using real bullets, it would have shattered when they fired it off.”

“Either way, you shouldn’t have gotten involved,” his dad said, standing back up. He sighed and kissed the top of Simon’s head, holding him for a second. “I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.”

“Dad…” Simon said, squirming out of his grip as he glanced around. “Do we have to stick around? Or can we finally go home?”

His dad laughed. “You’re the one who wanted this detour,” he said, ruffling up Simon’s hair. “I swear, you’re trying to give me gray hair before I’m thirty.”

“Hum…” Simon said, licking the lollypop he was still holding. “I don’t know, I think it’s already happened.”

“Oh, really?” his dad said, raising an eyebrow. The next second, he swung Simon over his shoulder and as he started to tickle him as he headed toward the door. “Are you sure you don’t want to take that back?”

“I’ll see you later to make a report for this,” his dad said to one of the SWAT members. “I’ve got to get this troublemaker back home before he decides to stop any more criminals.”

The man chuckled. “Seems like your son’s quite the character, Winfield,” he said. “Good luck with his teen years.”

His dad groaned as he carried him toward the door. “Don’t remind me,” he called back to the man. “I think he might be worse than I was, with his uncontrollable urge to stop the ‘bad guys’.”

“You do know I’m right here, right?” Simon said, squirming in his dad’s grip. “I can hear you.”

“Shush,” his dad said, pushing the bank door open and stepping outside. “You’re still in trouble for saying I have gray hair, Kiddo. Not to mention leaving the car when you know you’re not supposed to.”

His dad set him back onto his feet on the sidewalk beside their car before he knelt in front of him and motioned for Simon to look at him. 

“You know I don’t tell you something just to be mean or controlling, right?” He waited until Simon nodded. “Good. I had you stay in the car for your safety. I know you can take care of yourself, but it’s not always safe for you, even with your skills.” 

His dad gave him a sad smile as he reached up and played with Simon’s hair. 

“Winnie, if anything were to ever happen to you, I…” He swallowed and looked down for a second. “I think it would honestly kill me. You know I love you, right Kiddo? More than anything in this world.”

Simon hesitated a second before taking a step forward and wrapping his arms around his dad’s neck. “I love you too.”

His dad wrapped his arms around him and gave him a quick squeeze before he cleared his throat and let go. “Okay, Kiddo,” he said, standing back up and reaching for the car door. “Get in your seat.”

“Can we get ice cream?” Simon asked, bouncing up and down. “I mean, I did just stop a bank robbery…”

“You know,” his dad said, crossing his arms. “I’m pretty sure that’s not a sentence a seven-year-old is supposed to say, and it actually be true.”

“So is that a yes?” Simon asked, grinning up at him.

His dad looked down at him for a second before throwing up his hands. “Fine! But only if you promise to never do something like that again,” he said. “Deal?”

“Yes. I promise, I promise!” Simon said, jumping up and down before diving into the car and scrambling into his car seat. “Chocolate chip! Oh, wait, no! Fudge!”

His dad just laughed, shaking his head as he climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car. “How about I get one, and we can share?”