BOOK 3. Shen Wei works in a bank in the background because he does not like to mix with the customers. After a raid, he is mistaken as the inside man but only briefly which leads to him meeting Zhao Yunlan. The story follows their relationship th...
The characters in this book are not mine, they belong to the talented author Priest, I have only borrowed and slightly changed them. Without her wonderful writing skills, I wouldn't even think about trying anything like this.
This is all my pure imagination as usual, hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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Shen Wei stood on the high bridge over the motorway watching the noisy traffic speeding underneath. Everyone was in a hurry to get to their destinations, nearly all at the same speed except for the ones who had no patience and risked being caught on camera. He found it peaceful, just engine noise, no voices, and he could relax as all the vehicles sped in the one direction, away from him. If he looked the other way, he would see the drivers coming towards him and their expressions, no, this way was better. Even the invisible fumes from the engines didn't deter him from his routine relaxation period which varied in time, depending on the weather or how stressful his day had been.
He worked in a bank, not a teller but one of the people in the background who didn't deal directly with the customers, which suited him fine. He could view everyone entering but the one way glass stopped them from seeing him and all the rest of the number punchers. It was part of the security system because everyone in this room had a silent alarm button under their desk which notified the police of trouble even although the security guard was prominent at the customer's doorway.
Shen Wei would occasionally glance away from his screen to look at the customers for curiosity, but only for a few seconds because it would trigger a mild headache if he stared.
Most of the people entering the bank were the usual customers and they were aware that the large mirror hid a room behind it but some thought that it was only cameras to record the activity in the reception and didn't pay too much attention. So when a team of three masked men entered, the first thing they did was shoot the mirror, shattering it to show all the terrified book keepers, the ones who didn't dive under their desks. Shen Wei had finished his report and breathed a sigh of relief, when he glanced at the customers and saw the men approaching from a parked car outside. He immediately pressed the silent alarm and scattered his pen holder across his desk, knowing that some of his colleagues would bend down to help pick them up and they stayed down when the blast shattered the glass before the shouting started.
The security guard at the door had been knocked out and the customers had been gathered to the side of the room while one of the gun men encouraged the back room people to join him and directed them towards the captive customers. Shen Wei signalled his hidden friends to stay still and be silent.
In the background, police sirens were getting louder and the three masked men grabbed as much money as they could and ran off before they would be caught, escaping before the police arrived.
Everyone moved out of the corner where they had been herded and started milling around the reception area still in shock, some sitting down and others desperately wanting to smoke, visibly shaking too much to light a cigarette, when the police arrived. Apart from the unconscious guard, there were no others injured and the guns had been used to terrify the people not shoot anyone but it was still an armed hold up and was passed to the department who dealt with this kind of crime.
The team arrived without their chief, and started taking statements from the witnesses, releasing them one by one enabling them to leave the bank, until they spoke to the back room workers who came out of hiding, explaining how they had managed to be under their desks before the gun men entered.
Shen Wei was dreading this conversation, he was already aware that the police thought of him as an inside man, he was guilty before he even opened his mouth. And when they checked the outside views from the security cameras, they were convinced that they were right, you couldn't see the masked men before they entered the bank, so how did Shen Wei know unless he was one of them, therefore he was escorted down to their office for more questioning.
Zhao Yunlan had been watching the progress of his team through the security cameras and knew that they had found someone of interest and were bringing him in, so he waited, watching this person in the back of the car, entering the building, walking through the front office and eventually to his area. He didn't seem as if he was the kind of person who would be involved but how did he know about the robbery before they entered the bank. Shen Wei was put into an interrogation room but not restrained, he hadn't given them any cause for doing so, and one of the ladies entered first to speak to him.
Normal every day information, name, date of birth, address, and he gave her a tissue which confused her but she accepted it anyway, phone number, and,.... she couldn't stop a sneeze but used the tissue in her hand and then stared at Shen Wei. She offered him a glass of water and left, passing it to someone else who brought it into the room when he entered.
Shen Wei wasn't surprised, he knew that he had unnerved her a little by his action, but he was just being his normal self and had nothing to worry about. The next person to interview him was a tall muscular man who sat and stared at him as he gave him the plastic glass of water and continued with the questions.
How long had he worked for the bank, what was his job before that, what school did he go to and where did he grow up, were his parents still alive and Shen Wei was getting bored, so he brought out a pen and started twiddling it between his fingers which annoyed the questioner. Carefully he put it down in front of the irritated person, and waited for the next question. Was he married, and the man's pen dried up. The guy shook it a couple of times, tried to scribble with it but it was useless and then saw the other pen lying on the desk in front of him and stared at Shen Wei as he lifted it to use as a replacement.
Zhao Yunlan watched and laughed in his office, he tried to work out who to send in next, this man is obviously innocent of being involved but he did have secret which he had just told Yunlan through the cameras. The youngest member of the team entered and asked Shen Wei to follow him to the chief's office, leaving the big man behind to fill in the rest of the paper work and he gladly exited the room, watching the youngster in front of him. He asked him his name and if he had any small dressings. Da Qing said no that he didn't and did Shen Wei need one, he answered no thank you, and left him totally confused when he showed him into the chief's office.
"I'm Zhao Yunlan, in charge of this unit, I'm sorry you've been dragged down here, but we had to be sure. I know you weren't involved but it did look a bit suspicious. Can I get you anything, tea, coffee?"
Shen Wei was at a loss for words, he couldn't read this man, he was blank in his mind and the shock must have shown in his face, first time ever, no sound.
"Are you feeling alright, you've gone a bit pale, it might be delayed shock from the hold up at the bank. Sit and I'll get some tea brought in."
Yunlan phoned Da Qing to bring in a cup of tea for his guest and add some sugar,
"After you feel better you can go home or someone can take you."
Da Qing brought in the tea with a dressing on his finger, paper cut, but it bled a lot.
