Wyatt - 03 - Death Deal (17 page)

He rejoined the others. Riding
pointed. Cream Commodore.

Stubby bushes screened them. They
watched the Commodore shunt back and forth into a parking bay. An elderly man
got out and walked to the bus-stop.

When the courtesy bus had picked him
up, they moved again. This time they were after numberplates. Not any plates
but plates with a prefix and digits similar to each of the getaway cars. They
found the first on a Toyota van, the second on a new Mercedes, and switched them
with the plates on the Camira and the Commodore. Wyatt was relying on the
owners not noticing the slight difference in their plates immediately.
Meanwhile, if anyone took down the number of the Camira and the Commodore and
reported it, the police computer would show a Toyota van and a Mercedes. It was
a smokescreen, extra insurance, all part of the job as far as Wyatt was
concerned. He looked at his watch: 8.26. This time tomorrow morning theyd have
Nurse in their hands.

* * * *

Twenty-nine

Daddy!

It was a name she hadnt called him
since she was nine years old. That, and the sheer panic in her voice, jerked
Nurses attention away from the Weeties packet on the table in front of him.

His daughter was coming into the
kitchen from the back porch, a shoe-cleaning brush in her hand, and there were
three men with her. They were masked, they looked hard and competent, and his
guts churned.

The first one pushed Mignon gently
between the shoulder blades. She ran across the kitchen to Nurse and stood
close to his shoulder, trembling. She was wearing her blue and gold uniform.
Her hair was damp, uncombed; her feet were bare. Nurse put his arm around her,
crushing her against him.

The first one spoke. He wore a cheap
dark suit and his voice was low, mesmeric, uninflected. We dont want to hurt
you or your family, Mr Nurse.

Nurse was to realise later that the
man called him Mr Nurse throughout the whole ordeal.

Where is your wife, Mr Nurse?

Mignon chose that moment to do
something stupid. Nurse felt warmth and flexing in her little body as she opened
her mouth, drew in a breath, screeched,
Mummy! Run!

She might have gone on screeching
but the second man, small and quick and also dressed in a suit, came behind her
and locked his forearm against her windpipe. The cry strangled in her throat
and Nurse felt his bowels loosen. He started to get out of his chair but the
first man said, Dont, very quietly.

He had a revolver to back it up. He
said, Mr Nurse, your wife?

Shes asleep. She gets migraines.
Dont disturb her.

Nurse could see the mans eyes,
nothing else. They were brown, steady and unimpressed. I cant do that, Mr
Nurse. He turned to the man behind him, nodded once.

Nurse was starting to take in more
about them. The third man was bulkier than the other two and he wore jeans and
a T-shirt. He went out and came back a moment later, pushing Joyce ahead of
him. Her face was creased and swollen with sleep. She was wearing a scoop-necked
nightgown and the freckled tops of her breasts showed. Nurse felt an obscure
shame and disgust, as if she had bad morning breath. Danny? she said.

The leader said, his voice a soft,
patient rasp: We dont mean you any harm, Mrs Nurse. Please sit down at the
table with your husband and daughter.

Behind Nurse the small man eased
Mignon away and into the kitchen chair at the end of the table. Joyce chose the
chair opposite Nurse. They were like a family at breakfast, except who was
hungry anymore?

Is it money? Joyce demanded. Danny,
give them your wallet.

Nurse reached into his pocket
automatically. He tossed the wallet onto the table among the crumbs and sugar
grains and spilt jam. No-one moved to pick it up.

Then Joyce sneered at him. I bet its
the horses. She turned to the man with the gun. Is that it? He cant pay what
he owes you?

The man turned to her and said
softly, Shut up and listen.

His words washed over them
soothingly. We wish to rob your bank, Mr Nurse. A few minutes from now you
will take myself and the man behind you to Logan City in your car. We will wait
there until the time locks open, we will load up, and you wont see us again.
There is no reason why this shouldnt be smooth and easy. Were not violent. We
dont hurt people for the sake of it. And the bank carries insurance, so there
will be no need for you or your staff to protect the money. Do you understand
me so far?

Nurse felt the blood drain from his
face.
They knew everything.
He didnt believe the mans claim to
non-violence. The three of them were practically dripping with itthe guns, the
balaclavas, the silent menace of it all, the way they filled the kitchen.

Joyce dug a long fingernail into the
corner of each eye. Whatever she dislodged there she wiped on her thigh. Theyll
get you. They always do.

Nurse hated to think what they
thought of her. Why involve my family? You could have waited at the bank.

Joyce snorted. Use your brains.
She gestured. Count how many there are. He goes to the bank, so does he. That
leaves one left over.

The answer came to Nurse and his
head pounded. No, no, you cant do that. Leave my wife and daughter out of it.

Too late, wouldnt you say?

Shut up. Im not having you and
Mignon

The leader picked up Nurses cereal
bowl, dropped it on the floor. The porcelain smashed, shooting grey spurts of
milk and sodden wheat flakes over the quarry tiles. It was a simple act, like a
domestic accident, but it spelt terror to Nurse, as though his spine had
snapped and splinters would slice Mignons feet to ribbons. He flinched,
putting a hand over his eyes.

Nothing. The man was still and
patient again.

Mr Nurse, your wife and your
daughter will stay at home. My colleague here will keep them company. He wont
harm them; thats not what were about. Do you understand?

It wont work. You

I said, do you understand?

Nurse muttered yes.

I have a portable phone. As soon as
we get in the car you will call your wife. Do you understand?

Nurse nodded. He was looking at the
table. There was fear mingled with excitement on Mignons face and he hated
that. His wife had found some sort of rude courage, sitting there like a tart.
Most of all, he hated the mans eyes searching him to his core.

We will maintain the telephone link
to your family from the bank as well. We intend to be in and out quickly, but Im
sure youd like the continuing reassurance that your wife and your daughter are
all right. On the other hand, if you cause trouble at the bank and my colleague
loses contact with us, he will kill your family. If we lose contact with him,
we will kill you.

Scum, Joyce said.

Do you understand, Mr Nurse?

Nurse said clearly, overriding his
wife: I understand.

The last thing he saw before they
took him out the back way to the car was the phone extension on the kitchen
table, Joyce and Mignon roped to their chairs, the bulky man spooning Nescafe
into a cup.
Prints!
he thought. No, they all had latex gloves on. He
tried to exchange a look with his wife and his daughter but, typically, they
were too involved with their own feelings to think about him.

* * * *

Thirty

It
was important to keep him calm. Wyatt took the mans keys, opened the drivers
door of the Volvo, said, Get in, Mr Nurse, never losing the soft patience in
his voice, never moving suddenly.

A high paling fence draped in
wisteria screened the sides and back of the house from the houses around it.
The three men had not been seen bundling Mignon Nurse in through the back door.
Now Wyatt and Riding could not be seen abducting the manager.

When Nurse was strapped in behind
the wheel, Wyatt shut the door on him. He removed his balaclava, scraped his
hair straight back and put on a pair of glassesplain glass, heavy black rims,
twenty dollars in a theatre costumers. He turned up his collar, concealing the
shape of his neck and chin. He looked across the car at Riding. The little man
took off his balaclava and put on a pair of sunglasses, completing the
distortion with a pipe clamped between his teeth. The sawnoff shotgun was
rolled up in a newspaper.

They got into the car. Before we
start, Mr Nurse, a gentle warning. Keep your eyes on the road, not on me or my
colleague.

Wyatt watched Nurse carefully. He
saw him nod.

Fine. Now I want you to start the
car and back out into the road. Not too fast. Watch for pedestrians, kids on
bikes. Do what youd normally do.

Wyatt rested his .38 across his
thighs, pointed at Nurse. Glance sideways, Mr Nurse. Do you see the gun? Its
all right, I wont use it. Not unless you do something stupid. Just concentrate
on getting through the next hour or so and being reunited with your family.

Wyatt watched Nurse. The fat manager
seemed to welcome the comfort of the wheel in his hands, the distraction of the
morning traffic. He wound down his window and drove in silence to the freeway.

Wyatt took a cellular phone from his
pocket. He punched out the number for Nurses house. He heard the phone being
picked up but Phelps, as instructed, said nothing. Its me, Wyatt said.

Yep.

Put the wife on.

There was a pause, some muffled
sounds. Wyatt pictured Phelps moving the receiver to Joyce Nurses ear and
holding it there. He heard her say, Danny? Are you all right?

Your husbands doing fine, Mrs
Nurse. Ill put him on.

Wyatt passed the phone to Nurse. Gently
does it. Just act normally.

It wasnt much of a conversation.
Wyatt heard a faint squawk from the receiver and saw irritation on Nurses
face. He said, All right, all right, I hear you, a few times, then moved
suddenly, as if to fling the phone through the open window. Wyatt closed his
hand around the mans wrist. No, Mr Nurse.

He took charge of the phone, holding
it close to his ear. The drive to Logan City took just over thirty minutes and
he checked in with Phelps from time to time and twice coaxed Nurse into talking
with his daughter. The conversations with the wife seemed to cause aggravation
on both sides.

Nurse turned into the side street
next to the bank at eight-twenty-five. Monday morning, the start of another
working week. Shopkeepers were rolling up the shutters, sweeping dust away from
their doors. Kids late for school were draping themselves around poles and over
benches at the bus-stop. A greengrocer reached into a van, dragged out a crate
of mangoes. At the bookshop next to the bank a man with a ponytail was wheeling
a trolley of remaindered books onto the footpath. The little courtyard carpark
behind the bank was clear and the vertical blinds were closed.

I want you to reverse in, Mr Nurse,
leaving a gap of a couple of metres between the car and the wall.

Everyone knew the silver Volvo. It
was parked behind the bank five days a week. Everyone knew the fat manager; he
was as much a part of the landscape as his car. No-one thought twice about the
men with him. They wore suits, so it added up to bank business. Wyatt looked
out at the street, the occasional pedestrian hurrying to work, and understood
all these things. He said to Phelps: Were there, and placed the phone back
in his pocket.

Now, I want you to trip the lever
that opens the boot, Mr Nurse.

Nurse leaned under the dash. Wyatt
followed him with the gun. He heard a click at the back of the car and turned
to look. As hed expected, the boot lid popped up only a couple of centimetres,
not far enough to attract attention.

You have all your keys?

Nurse nodded.

Okay, take us in.

It means going around to the front,
Nurse said.

Wyatt let him hear the hammer crank
back on his .38, let him see the black bore of the barrel. No, Mr Nurse. Ive
been watching all week. You always let yourself in through the back door. Your
staff come in the front way. Please dont make things hard on yourself.

Nurse took the keys from the
ignition. He selected two silver deadlock keys. These, he said, offering them
to Wyatt.

No, I want you to open up for us. I
want you to call out to the nightwatchman to hold the door for you, youve got
a few boxes of files to carry in. Understood?

Yes.

Whats the guards first name?

Bill. It came out too quickly and
naturally to be wrong.

Okay, lets go.

They got out and stood close to
Nurse while he opened one lock and then the other. The door was heavy, steel
plate on a steel frame, with a pneumatic hinge. It opened inwards. Wyatt pushed
with him, stopping when a crack of light appeared. He dug the .38 into the roll
of fat around Nurses waist. Call him.

Bill? Can you come here a tick?

Whatcher want?