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?
Can you give us a hand with a couple of boxes?
The guards tread sounded heavily on the carpet in the corridor beyond the door. Wyatt heard muttering, and the wheezing of a three-packs-a-day man. When he saw the mans fingers close around the edge of the door and pull inwards, he pushed Nurse into the corridor. It was hard and sudden and the guard slammed back against the inside wall.
Riding slipped past first, unwrapping the shotgun. He ground the barrel into the mans groin. Take out your gun, nice and slow, two fingers.
The guard fumbled with the leather strap across the butt. His thumb and forefinger shook as he lifted the revolver out of the holster. Twice it slipped out of his grasp before he got the barrel clear. Riding leaned forward, snatched it from him, put it in his pocket.
Wyatt closed the door. He left the bottom Yale unlocked but snipped the top one. He didnt want anyone coming in and he didnt want to waste too much time getting the door open again. After reporting to Phelps on the cellular phone, he pulled the balaclava over his head and nodded to Riding to do the same. The glasses went back into their pockets.
Okay, down to the main room.
Riding went first with the shotgun, checking offices that opened onto the corridor. At the archway leading into the open space behind the counter he paused, swept his eyes around, went in.
Wyatt followed with Nurse and the guard. The long counter where the tellers sat was protected from the public by bulletproof glass that reached to the ceiling. Here behind the counter were two more glassed-off offices, desks, filing cabinets, a photocopier and fax machine, computers and typewriters. There was paper everywherein folders, pinned to the walls, stacked in cartons against the walls.
Another archway at the end led to the strongroom. Wyatt looked at his watch. Eight-forty-five. The tellers and other staff would be arriving soon. Riding helped him take Nurse and the guard around to the other side of the glass to wait for them. For the next forty minutes it would be all waiting.