FBI Special Agent Greg Roberts stepped into the bank's security monitoring office and closed the door behind him, looking back to the lobby from which he'd come.  A dozen fellow agents from the Bureau were working with two dozen Law Enforcement Officers from the Capital City Police, County Sheriff's Department, and even the State Police.  Sometimes, so many LEOs on the same premises could lead to confusion.  Ironically, though, today's confusion wasn't coming from the variety of [i]cops[/i] responding to the bank robbery but was instead coming from the witnesses to the crime.

"Can anyone tell me [i]what[/i] the hell is going on?" Greg asked as he turned to face the others, which included his partner, a Capital City Police Department Lieutenant, a [i]Double C[/i] computer technician, and two of the bank's security officers, including one of the guards who had been on duty at the time of the robbery.  Greg said with dismay, "The witnesses can only be described as ... [i]nuts![/i]"

"You gotta see this, Roberts," said Greg's partner, Lee.  The man who Greg liked to call [i]also Special though not nearly as Special Agent Cramer[/i] waved him over to the bank of monitors.  When Greg stepped up, Lee ordered the security officer sitting at the station to run the digital security recordings again from the beginning.  Lee pointed to the larger of the monitors and told his partner, "Watch this woman here as all hell breaks loose."

Standing at one of the high islands at which customers were filling out banking slips was a young woman, early 20-ish, with long hair that was oddly mostly gray.  Greg immediately thought it a wig and asked, "Is she with the perps?"

"[i]No,[/i] just [i]watch![/i]" Lee said, a sense of excitement in his tone.  He murmured, almost as if to himself, "You're gonna love this."

As the crooks burst into the bank with their [i]campaign of shock and awe[/i], the bank's customers and staff immediately performed one of two things: hitting the floor as instructed or searching for a place to hide, with the latter group eventually hitting the floor as well.  All except for the gray haired woman.  She simply stood in place, unmoving, [i]unflinching[/i], almost as if a store front mannequin.  Greg might have thought she was frozen inshock, except that as the crooks spread out to take control, [i]two[/i] of them ran right past her, with one almost running into her.

"Is she the one the witnesses are--"

"[i]Keep watching![/i]" Lee chastised playfully.  "Good things come to those who wait."

"Bite me," Greg mumbled, causing his partner to chuckle.  

Early in their now-year old partnership, Greg had often shown his impatience with the less experienced though still very skilled younger agent.  Lee -- who incessantly meditated and quoted from a variety of religions about the need for peace and calm for a healthy existence -- had often tried to get Greg to attend one of his nearly-daily relaxation classes.  Greg's response was always the same, a variation of whether there'd be horny women eager to contort into Kama Sutra positions, then -- once he'd [i]gotten off[/i] and fallen into a [i]relaxing[/i] sleep -- leave without wondering whether or not he was going to call them the next day.

Greg's attention remained on the woman, even as his gaze moved between the six monitors for different views of her and the crooks.

"Watch this," Lee said, pointing to one monitor.  "The brawny guy ... there ... he steps up to the other side of the island ... here."

"What the fuck?" Greg murmured.  The woman they were watching was just six feet from the big guy, and yet [i]Brawny[/i] paid her no attention at all.  "What's he doing?"

"Watch," Lee said.  A moment later, Brawny leaned down.  Lee pointed to a monitor with a different view, on which they could see the huge robber [i]molesting[/i] a scantily dressed customer laying face down on the floor.  A moment later, Brawny lifted the woman from the floor and hauled her toward a nearby desk.  Lee pointed to another monitor.  "[i]Check it out![/i]  The big guy is right behind her ... and the guy he called Chief -- the leader we think -- he's looking almost [i]right through[/i] her.  And yet--"

"He doesn't tell her to hit the floor," Greg says, more to himself than anyone else.  "Are you sure she isn't one of them?"

"Watch," Lee again says, pointing to yet another monitor.

A moment later, all hell breaks loose for the second time.  The woman suddenly moves for the first time, turning and slamming her elbow down into the middle of Brawny's back, dropping him to the floor.

"Paramedics think she broke his back," Lee said as the one called Chief leaped down and went after the woman.  "[i]Severed his spine![/i]  One blow ... [i]bam![/i]  Down he goes, but ... watch this."

He points to one monitor after another as the rest of the assault proceeds.  The woman kept hiding from the assailants -- behind desks, islands, half-walls -- and each time one of the crooks approached to within just feet without showing any sign of seeing her before she took him out, usually with just one or two blows.

"One broken spine..." Lee reminded, adding, "...crushed frontal bone and nose on ol' Chief there ... cracked clavicle and three ribs on Blondie ... and dislocated shoulder and broken wrist on Scar."  He stood to look at his partner, asking, "How the [i]fuck...!...[/i] did that little lady take out four skilled bank robbers like that ... and then walk out without anyone seeing her?"

"No one saw her?" Greg asked, remembering the confusing accounts coming from the witnesses, many of whom were still sitting in the lobby.  "Saw her kick their asses ... leave the bank ... or both?"

"Oh, [i]lots[/i] of people [i]saw[/i] her," Lee told him.  "When she [i]was[/i] kicking ass.  But as soon as it was over..."  He shrugged, pointing back to the monitors.  The woman walked toward the exit, then paused.  "She sees that the crooks locked the door with a bicycle U-lock ... looks around ... then..."

The woman turned and disappeared into a hallway.  Lee continued, "There's no security camera coverage for that hall.  We lose her there ... and she's never seen again. It's like she just disappeared."  When his partner asked if the entire building was searched, Lee explained, "Underway, but ... I don't think we're gonna find her."

"So, who is she?" Greg asked.  "Did any of the bank employee's identify her as a customer."

"Nope," Lee answered simply.  "It's like she's a ghost ... or a ninja."