A Lifetime Made for Two

Ch. 6: Let's Save A Bank

The teller opened the cash register and began stuffing the cash into the satchel that the man had handed him. The four other teenagers were whispering to each other fearfully.

"Shut up! Everyone sit down over there!" He waved the gun at the teenagers, then at a corner of the room. Everyone hurried to the corner and sat huddled together. Michael and Piper reluctantly joined the rest.

"Good. Now toss your cell phones to the middle of the floor. Now!"

Everyone did as he said. By then the teller had put all of the cash in the satchel.

"This is all?!" the man yelled.

"We're a small bank. We don't keep too much cash on hand. Mainly teens come in to deposit money or withdraw maybe a couple hundred dollars," the teller explained. His cocky expression from before had disappeared and a look of fear had replaced it.

The other teenagers cowered in fear, but Michael was busy looking for an escape. Piper tried to remain calm. She noticed Michael visually searching the room, but she was distracted by the man barking more commands.

"You! Get out from behind the counter and join the rest."

Hurriedly, the teller obeyed. He dropped to the floor to the right of Piper and was breathing very heavily. The man with the gun jumped behind the counter. He ducked out of sight underneath the counter. Piper took this opportunity to get her Swiss Army Knife out of her purse and tuck it underneath the long, flowing sleeves of her shirt. Michael looked at her questioningly, then, realizing what she had done, smiled in approval. Everyone was startled when the man popped back into view.

"No silent alarm system?" he questioned.

The frightened teller shook his head. His shoulders now heaved with every breath. Piper moved to his side and helped him sit up.

"What are you doing?" the man demanded.

"Somethings wrong with him. What is it?" she asked the teller.

In between breaths, he answered, "I have- asthma. Really bad."

"Do you have an inhaler or something?"

With much effort, he pointed to a backpack hanging from a hook on the wall behind the counter.

"We need that backpack," Piper commanded.

"I'm not giving you anything. This could all be an act. For all I know he has a gun in there."

"Or he really does have asthma. If you don't give his inhaler to him, who knows what could happen. Do you want to take the chance of him dying? What would happen then when you get caught?"

"If. If I get caught."

"Fine. Search the backpack yourself and find the inhaler. You can then toss it over to us."

Knowing Piper was right, the man unwillingly pawed through the backpack. He found the inhaler and threw it over at the group. Michael caught it and quickly handed it to the young teller. After a few puffs, he was breathing normally again. He thanked Piper and gripped the inhaler tightly.

"Now that that little episode is over, I have a difficult decision to make," the man said. "I could just walk out of here and make a quick escape since the police don't know anything yet. But what's to keep you lot from running to the nearest police station and giving them a full description of me? I need some sort of assurance." He glanced over the group. The other four seemed to all know each other. One of them would be great collateral. The man grabbed the girl by her arm and yanked her up. She screamed and tried to wriggle away, but to no avail. Her boyfriend stood up to save her, but he too failed when the man backhanded him with the magnum and he fell to the floor. The other two boys in the group cowered in fear. Then Michael stood up.

"Wait! Leave her here. I'll go willingly."

"Sorry chap. But you're not going to be the hero today. Now sit down!" He put the girl in a loose choke hold with his left arm and held the gun out at Michael with his right.

Slowly and with his jaw clenched, Michael sat back down.

The man changed his mind about his orders to Michael. "Actually, I could use you for something. You look knowledgeable when it comes to ropes. Here," he grabbed several ropes out of his satchel and tossed them to the floor among the cell phones. "Tie everyone up. And do it right. Believe me, I'll know if you don't. Now get to it."

Reluctantly, Michael snatched the ropes and bound everyone's hands behind their backs. The man then did the same to Michael. After he was sure everyone was secure, he sneaked out the back door with the girl.

"What are we going to do now? He tied us to the counter so we can't even get to our phones," one of the guys complained.

"Piper, can you get to your knife?" Michael asked.

"I think so."

Piper adjusted the ropes around her wrists with little trouble, then struggled until she finally felt the knife in her right sleeve. She pushed her left thumb against the knife and carefully worked it down out of the sleeve until it dropped into her hands. As she opened it, she cut herself and flinched, but she kept working on cutting the rope. Finally, she was free. Hurriedly she cut the others free. Someone immediately called the police.

"So we can call the police, but we have no idea where that guy took Maggie," one of the other guys noted.

"Actually, we do know where he is," Michael said mysteriously. "Can I see your phone for a second?" he asked Piper.

She unlocked her phone then handed it to Michael. After working on it for about a minute, he brought up a map of the town with a little red dot pinging on the map. The dot was slowly moving down the streets on the map.

"Are you tracking him? But how?" Piper asked in amazement.

"He made a mistake when he through the rope among the phones. I grabbed mine and slipped it into his coat pocket when he tied me up. I always have my GPS on, but only my brother and I know the code to access it."

"Wow."

It wasn't long before the police arrived, and, after receiving the information from Michael's GPS on his phone, they tracked down the robber/kidnapper and returned the girl to her friends.

On their way home from the bank, Piper said to Michael, "Well, that was the  most eventful first date I have ever been on; not that I've been on very many."

"Oh, so we're calling it a date?"

"Oh! I don't know- I- I just thought-"

"It's fine. I'm just messing with you." He smiled the sweetest, kindest smile that seemed to say, 'You're adorable, and nothing you say could change that.'

Piper's eyes shifted from blue to green as she gazed at Michael's smile. 

"Did you know that your eyes change color?"

"Oh, yeah they do that. They can be anywhere from green to blue."

"But, they randomly change from blue to green, like, instantly."

"Really? I didn't know that. Wow. That's actually really cool."

"Yeah."

"Except, when do they change color? Like, why?"

"How should I know?"

"Well, you've obviously noticed it before."

"The first time I noticed was when I saved you from falling off the dock then complimented you on your eyes. And just a few minutes ago."

"Oh." Piper bit her lip and smiled as she looked at her feet. 

"What?"

"Nothing. I think I figured out why they change color." She gazed out the window. Michael shrugged and dropped the conversation.