The Odds

[AmethystRose]

Nicole "Coley" Drayton
Age 23

Nicole Drayton woke up to the sound of the alarm clock on her cell phone going off. She lazily rolled over and tapped the screen to shut it off. Getting up for work really didn’t sound appealing to her right now. Being someone who hated being late, Coley got up slowly out of bed anyways. It didn’t make too much sense why she always worked the early shift when she was not a morning person in the slightest. Before heading for a shower she grabbed a cup of coffee and a cereal bar. She randomly thought about needing to add some excitement to her life. Ever since Coley moved away from her family and friends all the fun had been taken away. It was too far a drive to see them for one night. Plus, getting back at two in the morning and walking to her door wasn’t the safest idea.

Coley knew she lived and worked in a risky area of town. Every week her parents tried to convince her to quit her job and move back up where they were. Coley refused each time. She was tired of having to depend on her parent’s money. Her apartment might not be spacious but she was affording it solely on her own salary she was getting from working at the bank. It wasn’t easy to find a job around here either so Coley was sticking with this until something better came along.

Arriving at work right on time, Coley met the bank manager at the front door. “Good morning Dave,” she said in greeting. They discussed the day’s agenda as they entered and he relocked the door. Coley went behind the counter to her usual teller spot and started getting sorted out for the day. A half hour later the manager opened the door and let in the early morning customers. Coley smiled at them politely. So far it was turning out to be a normal day like any other.

[Aro]

Aidan Burnett
Age: 25

Aidan sat on the bus stop's bench directly across from the bank's entrance just waiting. It was still to early to perform the job yet, and as no one else in the group had arrived on time he would simply have to push back things until the bank manager opened the doors for the early morning customers at 8am. He pushed his sleeve up for a moment to see what time it was. 7:30am. Aidan sighed, waiting was always the part he hated. He looked up from his watch to see a woman go through the doors before they were locked again. Must be a teller. He thought to himself. Today isn't going to be her lucky day it seems.

Slowly the time ticked by and one by one the rest of the crew finally arrived by 7:50am. Just ten minutes. He though as a smile crept onto his face and he looked each others over. All of them were wearing suits like they had agreed on, Aidan's being black while they others wore varying shades of gray. while the others had masks that they would put on once inside the doors Aidan simply pulled a pair of Aviator sunglasses out of his inside pocket. 7:55am. He llooked up from his watch once again and nodded to one the others. He knew his cue and went off around the block to where they had a black van waiting. As he stood up and looked at his watch one final time to watch it change from 7:59 to 8:00 he nodded to the others. They knew what that meant as well as he did, it was time.

Aidan was the first to cross the street towards the bank doors, the others would follow in a few minutes to make things seems as if it was just going to be another normal day. He entered into the doors and let them close behind him before moving forward, taking that time to view everyone that was inside the building. Other than the tellers and the bank manager there were only a few customers, he pushed his aviators up making sure that his eyes were covered by the dark lenses as he approached one of the tellers, a woman, the same woman that had been let into the bank. He looked down at her name plate, Nicole Drayton, another smie crept onto his face as he stood on the other side of the counter from her. "Hello there, Miss Drayton, I was hoping you could help me out here today."

[AmethystRose]

Coley was busily helping an elderly lady with her check book. It took a few minutes and she expected the other customers were starting to get antsy. Not a lot of people had patience these days and Coley could only go so fast. She didn’t glance up in the hopes that one of them wouldn’t start complaining aloud. They really needed to have more people on the early shift so she wasn’t bombarded this early. There was always one customer that caused a fuss because he or she had to wait for five whole minutes and was apparently going to be late to their work. They always spent more time arguing than it actually took for her to do the transaction.

Finally, the woman understood and Coley politely wished her well. She turned to put a couple print outs in their proper spots. Her face was turned away when she heard someone say something about helping them today. Really, the only thing she heard was the man calling her Miss Drayton. Her manager always told her to act extra polite so the customers would return to this specific bank so she replied, “Oh just call me Coley.” She said it with a happy tone as she turned to face the man.

Her heart skipped a beat. The man was wearing dark sunglasses when he was inside the building. Coley looked him over quickly to register everything else. He was also wearing an overly nice suit for this part of town. That threw her suspicions even farther off. She cleared her throat and asked, “How can I help you?” Coley reminded herself that they got eccentric customers in all day long so she shouldn’t be overeating to this man. Nonetheless, she still couldn’t help but take a fleeting look around to see where her manager was at in case there was a problem.

[Aro]

"Coley? Well if that's what you preferred to be called then by all means." Aidan said with a tone just has happy as her's as he noticed her quickly looking him over and then to look for the bank manager. He turned as well to look and saw the rest of the crew had come in while he was waiting to speak with the teller. "I assure you there's no need to get the bank manager involved in this. I just want to make a simple transaction and get out of here without any kind of problem." He turned back to Nicole and smiled.

As Aidan spoke with the teller the rest of the men made their way around the bank. One sat in an empty chair as if waiting for someone, another spoke with another teller to open an account under a fake name Aidan had given him, while the third spoke with the bank manager in his office. On the other side of the street theblack van slowed to a stop across from the bank's doors. "You see, Coley, I recently opened an account with this bank," While he was lying about the account he had practiced it enough that no one other than he could figure out that it was a lie. "And I was hoping that you could help me make a withdrawl, I seem to have lost my debit card and I prefer to make all my transactions in person anyway."

[AmethystRose]

Coley grew nervous when the man spoke about exactly what she had been doing: looking for her manager. She shifted her eyes back to him but could only see her reflection in his sunglasses. Everything was happening too fast for her to even react. The similarly dressed men, the sudden appearance of the van, the sense of dread that had suddenly fallen over her- this couldn’t really be happening. Of course they had warned her time and time again about the group of bank hitters that have successfully robbed an outrageous number of banks. It was only a matter of time before her bank was robbed. She just sincerely wished she’d be off the day it happened. It didn’t look like she’d be so lucky.

Coley tried to stay calm and keep her hands from shaking. Perhaps if she gave him everything he wanted they wouldn’t make a huge scene and no one would get hurt. It took a minute to speak but she finally asked, “Sure… Could I get your name and an I.D.?” She felt like smacking herself in the head. There was no way he was going to give her his name or even a valid ID. If he did, it would be fake. There wouldn’t be any accounts. He was only looking for the cash. Coley was just taking one last chance that she had been wrong in assuming what was about to happen.

[Aro]

"Damn, where did I put my wallet!" Aidan said as he began to play it just like he had planned. He started to search for his wallet in his pant pockets before checking his inside coat pocket. "Ah, here's my wallet." He pulled a thin black leather wallet and took out the I.D. he was carrying with him. The I.D. was of course fake. The name was the name of someone who had quite a large sum of money in their accounts and Aidan's picture had been altered so much that it just barely even resembled him and any of the information on the I.D. was that of the man they would be robbing. "Here's my I.D." He said holding out the fake for her to take, his smile still on his face. "The account number is 277865."

As he waited for her to pull up the information he turned and looked around at the bank. "You guys could use more personel during the morning shift, I never noticed how many people come here so early." When he turned back to face Nicole he felt the snub-nosed revolver he had in his other coat pocket press up against his side. "Is there anything else that you need to know? Do I need to disclose some kind of information that only I would know to access my account?" He was hoping there was nothing he would need to disclose, but if there was he could take a guess. If things went wrong he had the revolver to fall back on.

[AmethystRose]

All Coley could think was that he had very good acting skills. She’d given up on trying to convince herself this wasn’t exactly what it appeared to me. Her luck was up and today they were getting robbed. When he indeed pulled out an I.D. and handed it to her she was careful to grab it without coming into contact with him. She was almost afraid he’d use that moment to reach over and grab her. Coley turned slightly to her computer and started typing in the name on the I.D. When the man rattled of an account number, Coley’s breathing nearly stopped. There was no way she could even access the account like that without a manager’s approval. Somehow she didn’t think this guy was going to handle that well.

“No, nothing like that.” Coley said to answer his question about any other information needed. There was a red floor button not to far from her and it was hidden from view of any of the customers. All she had to do was nonchalantly press the button and the police would be silently alerted. Coley turned back to the man and said regrettably, “I’m not authorized to go off of just an account number. I’d need a check or a bank card- otherwise I need to call my manager for approval.” The whole time while she nervously explained the situation Coley was sticking her foot forward to try to reach the button without him noticing.

[Aro]

Aidan sighed. I was hoping I wouldn't need anything else. He thought to himself. Oh well, off to plan B. He replaced the wallet back into his coat pocket. "Damn, I wish I hadn't lost that card now." He reached into his other inside posket and grabbed the snub-nosed's handle. "Ah, here we go. It seems I've got just what we need to finish the transaction." He pulled the revolver from the pocket and aimed it at Coley. "I suggest you stop trying to hit the silent alarm button at your feet and remain calm." His smile melted away from his face. "I didn't want to have to do this today but it seems that neither of us are having a good day."

"I already know that you know who we are and why we're here. I've known that since your hands started to shake moments ago." He kept the revolver aimed at her while keeping his hand hidden from any other customers and the cameras. "My associates and I are here to make quite a large withdrawl, you're going to help me with that by taking me into the vault. Don't worry, I have no intention of shooting anyone unless I absolutely have to." He sighed again and looked at the others, they knew what was happening and were prepared for it. "Now if you'll please be so kind as to take me into the vault, Coley?" He asked turning back to look at her.

[AmethystRose]

Her mind had gone completely blank the second Coley saw him pull a gun and point it directly at her. Now, living in a dangerous neighborhood Coley had witnessed some muggings and store thefts. She heard the gun shots at night and the yells. None of those things prepared her for being on the wrong side of a gun. The man had noticed her legs moving and told her to stop trying for the alarm. She decided against hitting it anyways and just moved to stand there stiffly. Her only hope was that her manager had somehow seen what was going on and hit the alarm button before her. Coley didn’t dare glance around to see what else was going on or what this man’s colleagues were getting ready to do.

It was eerie looking up into his face and only seeing the dark sunglasses. Not being able to speak, Coley simply nodded her head sharply. There was a door all the way to the left, past the other teller spots, that she’d have to let him through. Still not trusting her voice Coley simply pointed towards the door to show where she was going. Then Coley started to walk slowly. Nervously, she kept her hands up and fidgeting with her hair so the man wouldn’t think she was up to something. Maybe if she just obeyed him no one would get hurt. Coley hoped it wouldn’t come to someone getting hurt. Once at the door she typed in the code to open the door then pushed. She waited for the man to meet her there. Once he got there she'd be able to escort him to the back where the vault was.

[Aro]

Aidan put the revolver into his right outside coat pocket,keeping his hand on the handle and his finger on the trigger. As she pointed over at the door on the far left he nodded. "Go ahead." He watched her walk from her station over to the door past the other tellers as she figited with her hair. Well it may be her first robbery but she's doing quite well so far. He thought to himself remembering one of his first heist the tell immediatly started screaming at the sight of the revolver. When he focused back on the matter at hand Coley was typing in a code on the keypad next to the door.

His smile instantly returned to his face as she waited for him by the door. He made his way over to her following the same route she had past the tellers until he stood with her at the door. "Thank you, Coley. Now would you mind escorting me to the vault?" He asked keeping the revolver in his pocket wanting her to be able to speak again. The silence was unbearable in theside the bank.