Day 219 - Repeat Offenders - Chapter 8 - (1365 words)

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REPEAT OFFENDERS

By Wayne Webb

CHAPTER 8

Ivan wasn't going anywhere fast, he was cuffed and controlled, watched by three different guards as they approached the warehouse. He had been canny enough and just crazy enough for them to play along with his requests. He was going to identify the accomplices, he would take them to where they were but only under certain conditions. He had a lawyer along, he had a doctor as well, a psychological advisor but a doctor none the less. He had asked for a physicist, but it was not like the police had a go to quantum expert, unlike the psychiatrist they had on tap.


He had been at them for a day a half, and Ivan had been counting since his arrest. Since then he had given them a non stop stream of nonsense and truth all mixed up together. There was no doubt that there were co-conspirators who worked the robbery, and the bank manager, a Mr Harold White was missing and presumed kidnapped. At this stage they were hopeful to catch the criminals and find the missing manager alive, and bring him back to his family. That was the leverage that Ivan's lawyer needed, used to get Ivan to the warehouse and to check on the state of the machine.


He knew that they would not be there, and that he did not really know what had happened to the Bank Manager, but suspected that he would not be seen again, not sure that he could be seen again. He did not have the education to reason it out, not in his own mind, in his own approximation, it was just stuck here in this time and they were, somewhere or somewhen else. He did not try explaining it all to the lawyer, she thought he was unbalanced and in need of help, and this was the best way to get it to him. He obviously needed something, to do or see something that would allow him to connect with his delusional state or perhaps let him connect with the people who fed his delusion. The people that had the contents of the vault, the missing bank manager.


No one was reporting a theft per se, the clients who owned the safety deposit box reporting that they contents were as they expected. They insisted that nothing was missing, though no one believed this for a second. It was obvious that the contents were illegal and reporting them was tantamount to admitting a crime, but it was evidence that was simply not in existence. There was the matter of the missing Bank Manager and that they had held the bank up, after a fashion.


The witnesses from the bank all corroborated the same story, that Ivan was not there to start with and that he just walked in and joined the men with the guns. He had taken the phone calls and made ludicrous demands to the police and never expected any of them to be provided, which added to his insanity defence. He had not harmed anyone, he had not threatened anyone. To all intents he seemed to be a slightly made person who came in and played at being a gangster at just the right time.


On the other hand he was the only person left who knew anything, or claimed to have even the slightest clue as to what was going on and who was involved. The video feed from inside the bank showed Ivan walking in after the heist had begun, how he just integrated himself into the team and how if anything he had facilitated the release of people early, and was not part of the raid on the vault and knew nothing about the escape route or the plan to steal something, nothing that the police could confirm.


His lawyer jumped at the chance to prove her client as helpful, knowledgeable or clearly insane with his plan to deliver the accomplices and the missing Mr White to the cops, and to show them how they got away. His spouted nonsense about quantum physics and hints about parallel universes and time travel though meant that she expected very little to come from this visit. They knew who Ivan was, his reputation and criminal record preceded him. That also meant his prison psychiatrist's records preceded him, and they made for interesting, supportive reading. It was by checking known associates that they found Michael but his record was far from filled in.


Brian on the other hand was a complete unknown to them. Pictures of him, Mike and Harold had been posted on news sites and on the TV for the previous 24 hours, hoping for sighting or some inside knowledge but no one came forward. No one knew who the mysterious third man was, or if they did no one was talking. A bunch of sightings turned up no solid leads and nothing but the usual suspects seeking attention of company by claiming knowledge or having seen them.


So when Ivan offered to take them to the hideout, promising that the key to their escape lay there and that the men they looked for were there too, they took him up and humoured him with a field trip. Albeit a heavily guarded and cautious one with plenty of eyes and a tracking anklet attached to the suspects left foot, just in case he made a run for it or tried the same trick that freed his partners from the bank.


“Turn left.” Ivan was giving GPS like instructions as they made their way from the police station to the back streets in a heavily industrial part of town where the warehouse was. They drove down a tiny alleyway and as they did so Ivan could see the open windows where he had let the gas out of the building earlier that day. He had not reset since then, so it was still an anachronism. He knew where the empty cannister was, and if he needed to prove the time travel or duplication theory to anyone then there was that.


Provided they had batch or serial numbers that was. He hoped they did, and that was only just in case of course.


“Here.” He nodded and the van came to a stop.


“Which one?” The detective was looking out of the van windows, there were three potential buildings that could be entered from this point.


“I'll show you, let's get out.” Ivan pointed with both hands at the door as the handcuffs prevenetd any other gesturing.


“How about you just tell us, before you just disappear into any doorway.” The cop was getting tired of the merry chase he was being lead on and this whole thing was like a giant joke, he could hear his buddies ribbing him about it behind his back, because he just knew they would be.


“There's a fingerprint scanner, you can't open the door.” Ivan wiggled his cuffed hands “But I can. So how about the cuffs come off then?”


“Cuffs stay on.” The cop snarled


“Detective, are you seriously saying that you and three armed officers can't handle this one man with free hands? I would point out that not only is he co-operating with you, he has also not hurt a fly in this whole.... situation. He has been the only reasonable and peaceful person in this … event. Do we call this thing an event? I'm not even sure it's a crime.”


“Yeah, nice try counsellor, but kidnapping is a crime. Thanks.” The detective's voice was steeped in sarcasm, but underneath that he felt rather silly over emphasising this person as a threat, he seemed slightly mad but in a manic not maniacal way.


“Uncuff him. But stay close.” The detective waved a hand at the officer next to Ivan and he leaned in with a key.


As he did he whispered to Ivan so only he could hear “Don't try anything. We are watching you.”


Ivan froze. There was no good reason for the cop to whisper that to him where the others could not hear his words.


This was not good.