He Was Duressed, Your Honor

Chapter 6

The floor shook as the helicopter slowly descended onto the roof of Miller Tower. Poe was shaking, and Memphis could feel it.

She placed her hand on his arm and he pulled away.

When the helicopter touched down, they slid out of the side and onto the helipad. Poe had the keycard De la Porta had given them tucked in his pocket and a cheap Halloween mask pulled down over his face. Memphis couldn't see very well from behind the shoddy eyeholes she cut into her ski mask, but she knew he was crying.

They walked towards the door that gave them access to the building and Poe swiped the keycard over and over and over again. The panel kept buzzing red.

"Damnit," she cursed pouring on the door but it did not budge.

Eventually on of the men, Memphis had gotten into the habit of calling him Grey, walked back to the helicopter where he grabbed an axe and started swinging. The door caved in after only a few swings . Grey stepped in. Poe followed reluctantly.

Memphis moved to step into the by building, but a loose hinge that had fallen was under her foot. She slipped and the jagged edge of the door that had been cut away snagged her arm.

"Fuck," she yelled, falling to her knees briefly.

Poe came running back over with fear in his eyes.  The nursing student fell to his knees and delicately touched his sister's arm.

Memphis waved him off with De la Porta's threat still in mind.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said. "Let's just get this done."

This was the biggest job that she had been asked to pull off. They weren't just stealing the paintings, but a ton of other expensive items as well.

Memphis climbed to her feet and pulled back her hand. Her vision swam as she saw the sheer amount of blood on her hand. She gritted her teeth, though, and caught up with Poe and Grey.

The group made their way to the security office where she could see a guard through the window in the door. They pushed into the room, and the guard was already on her feet.

Memphis moved to subdue her, but a sharp pain in her arm made her pause. The guard moved forward and reached toward her gun.

She could not let Poe get hurt. She has promised herself that she wouldn't let Poe hurt anyone, but their options were limited. Grey had stood outside the office to watch, and she could not move her arm.

Leaning over to Poe, she whispered, "You better take care of that guard, P. If you don't, you know what happens."

He paused and looked at her with pleading eyes through the mask, but she nudged him forward as much as it broke her heart to do so.

Poe took a step forward and swung at the guard. Her brother was not a fighter, so she was shocked to see the guard go down and stop moving.

Poe ripped off his mask and he had in fact been crying.

"No no no," he started muttering frantically reaching down towards the guard.

Memphis swatted his hand away and Poe looked at her pleadingly.

"My ring," he said horrified.

"What?"

"My ring," he repeated gaining volume. "My ring, I forgot I had it on."

Memphis glanced at the guard who was bleeding from where Poe had struck her. She pulled off her mask to speak to him eye to eye but paused when he gasped.

"Memphis you look so pale," he said clearly worried.

"It's fine," she snapped pulling back on the ski mask. "It's fine let's go. We have a job to finish."

Poe, only after much encouraging, dragged the guard over to the vault where all the items were being stored. De la Porta told them all about this fancy biometric scanner that his company had installed in the vault and they had practiced over and over how to get in without setting off the alarm.

The vault door unsealed, and Poe dragged the guard inside.

Memphis was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer amount of items in front of her. Usually her target was more specific, but she was suddenly hit with the magnitude of the job.

She reached toward and item, but sharp pain shot up her arm again.

Grey walked back in.

"Maybe you should just stand guard, M," he said. "That arm's not looking great."

She nodded in agreement and grabbed the guard's gun from her and tucked it into her waistband.

Poe and Grey started moving the items in the vault in several trips, up to the elevator.

Memphis planted her feet and set her mind on staying focus, but she could feel the blood running down her arm and her vision swam from the blood loss.

She could feel herself swaying on her feet when suddenly she felt herself being tackled to the ground.

The security guard had woken up. And she hadn't noticed.

She could feel her heart rate speeding up and not because she was throwing and receiving punches in a blind haze.

All she could think about was Poe. Was her family. The gun was slipping out of her waste and and she vision was almost completely clouded over. Her arm was searing with pain and she was flailing widely with the other in any attempt to stop the guard's assault when suddenly the weight was knocked off of her.

She collapsed to the floor and felt someone try to break her fall but she hit the ground hard.

Voices were shouting, but Memphis could only hear muffled sounds. At some point she felt herself being helped up but she couldn't tell if it was by Poe or if the police were leading her to jail.

She didn't feel handcuffs. But then again, she couldn't feel anything except a dull throb and the ringing in her ear.

The breeze on the roof of the tower hit her at once like a truck. There was a vague sense of being cold, but it wasn't chilly. It was a deep chill that Memphis could feel in her bones.

Had she been able to reason, she may have understood that she was being loaded back into the helicopter. The moment she hit the floor, her consciousness which had been so desperately hanging on finally gave way.