Day 243 - Repeat Offenders - Chapter 12 - (1259 words)

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REPEAT OFFENDERS

By Wayne Webb

CHAPTER 12

Brian's wrist device was beeping insistently, while all the others remained silent. They were on the steps of the bank, Harold was talking to the guard, a conversation he was well practiced in and one that guard had never done before, at least not this version of him. Harold would be shocked to know how many of the other versions of this man lost his job the next day when confronted with a Harold White that denied the meeting ever took place. The confusion reigned for a long time after that when a breach of the vault was discovered, the miscreants sipping his private tea from his office, opened with his keys and the thumb print scanner on the vault registering his presence, but he knew he was never there.


“What's that?” Ivan said and stood in front of Brian who had come to a complete stop.


“I have to go.” He said and then without a word more turned on his heels and walked away briskly.


“What the hell?” Ivan said and took off after him, leaving Mike and Harold speechless with the guard who had no idea what was happening.


“Excuse us please?” Harold held up one hand and followed the others, taking Michael with him.


“S'okay Mr White, everything all right?” The guard called after them to their rapidly departing backs.


“All good thanks!” Came the the reply, fading already in the increasing distance as they picked up the pace to run to the vehicle they came in.


“Get the hell out of my way!” Brian was yelling at Ivan who stood immobile in front of the driver's side door and holding a set of keys in his hands. His arms crossed and flexing the muscles in his arms, making the suit jacket bulge around his arms, a detail lost on the team when he was in disguise. Now when he stood between a frustrated man and his goal the role he had in the team was suddenly visible again.


“No.” He said calmly with a grin. Ivan was in full control of the situation, he was standing there with the keys in one hand and held, loosely daring the scientists to make a useless attempt at taking them off the bigger, stronger and much more capable man.


“Give me the bloody keys!” Brian was red on the face and stomped his foot on the ground, unable to take any physical action against Ivan yet still wanting to lash out, only able to express that sensation via the ground.


“Not until you tell us what the fuck is going on!” Mike's voice was raised to a dangerous level and he snatched the keys from Ivan before either man could react to his presence, instantly reasserting control of the situation. Ivan knew to defer to the man in charge in this circumstance and he stepped aside from the door of the car and joined the bank manager on the kerb.


“Finally.” Brian lunged for the door even without the keys and as he did so Ivan softly shook his head and then turned to Harold to say, “Rookie mistake.”


Harold was confused and out of his depth. They had been on raid after raid of the safe deposit boxes with little to no incidents apart from a few awkward encounters with the guard outside the banks steps into the Plaza, all of which were easily smoothed over and redone the next time with no mistakes. This sudden buzzing of alarms, fleeing the scene without explanation and the outbursts from the cold, standoffish but generally mild Brian was all happening fast and with zero context.


The mistake that Ivan had referred to was the idea that because Ivan was out of the way, that Mike was somehow less of an obstacle. As Brian pulled on the door and still found it locked, he reached out for the keys with an open hand to Michael. Not getting any response he snapped his fingers at him and as soon as that snapping sound hit the air between them he knew he had made a serious miscalculation.


The light in Mike's eyes went flat, like all the light was suddenly dampened, the muscles around his face contracted and tightened with his rage boiling over, to the surface and into his fists in the same time it took for Brian to snap his fingers at him. Brian tried to bring his hand back and turn it open palmed to try and apologise, calm and settle the conflict that brewed so quickly between them. Mike's hand shot out and grabbed Brian by the wrist before he could retrieve his hand, a twist and a full body move later and Mike was standing inside Brian's centre of gravity, pulling with one arm and pushing with the other, turning with his legs.


Brian was lifted up and around, slammed with an indecent amount of force into the side of the van, and with a banging noise that shook the roadside where they stood like a thunderclap, he was pinned against the vehicle, held up a few inches off the ground. The steel bar of Mike's forearm was keeping him up but also pressing into his chest, making it hard to breathe effectively. The speed and force with which he was pressed to the van so effortlessly was making him panic, so his breathing and his heart rate both shot up, exacerbated by the condition and position he was in.


“Hey.” Brian tried to protest but 'hey' was the only coherent sound he could make tight there and then.


“Shut it.” Growled Mike and he pressed harder, making Brian yelp like a kitten under his attack. He held him there, his legs kicking ineffectually in the air between him and the tarmac a few inches below his shoes.


Ivan walked over to Brian and stood next to Michael, a little away from him, so as not to impinge on his territory. “I warned you. You can't just run off like that without telling us what the fuck you are doing. Who do you think you are? It might be your machine sunshine but you are not in charge.” Ivan walked away again but nodded backwards at Mike, “He is though.”


Brian was pink in the face, and he was starting to see spots dance in the air in front of his eyes when Mike suddenly dropped the hold he had the scientist in and letting his bod relax and fall to the ground. His legs buckled instantly and he sat heavily as soon as he was released and he dug deep into his lungs with every breath as if the hands had been around his throat, not just pressing against his chest.


Lungful after lungful he scooped up and swallowed until he eventually calmed down and looked up at Michael who was standing over him, violence peering back at him through an unfamiliar set of eyes. He was holding up the bracelet that had been beeping, holding it his right hand, gripping it harder than needed, the pent up force in that grip making his hand shake in rage.


“What the fuck is this then?” Mike asked in a low grumble.


“I...” Brian felt his own wrist not believing that Mike could have taken it off of him in the struggle just now, but as his own fingers encircled his now bare wrist he realised that it was exactly the case.