Sue Thomas, F.B.Eye Fan Fiction: "Bank on It" - Part 3

"Bank On It," by B.A. Rogers

Continued from Part 2 . . .

SCENE 9 - In the bullpen

Jack is at his desk. Bobby walks in.

Bobby: (frustrated, throwing a file onto his desk as he sits down) We can't find a scrap on this Maddox character. He was living in Kentucky until two weeks ago. He quit his job, told his boss he was going to work the Brindley Cup and then look for permanent work in Virginia. No one here knows him, has seen him, has heard of him. No cell phone activity, no credit cards. It's a complete black hole.

Jack: We're not going to draw him out. Our only bait is Julie.

Jack shakes his head, very concerned.

Bobby: She's not our bait. She's his magnet. Whether we put her out there or not, Maddox is going to track her down. And he's likely to try to rob the bank a few more times and hurt someone to boot.

Jack: (sighing deeply) Myles is briefing Julie on the plan now.

Bobby: I wonder how that's going.

The same thought occurs to Jack and Bobby at the same time. They both stand up to go somewhere.

Cut to the interview room.

Julie and Myles are standing up behind the interview table. They are a few steps apart, facing one another. Their demeanor is one of somewhat politely being in each other's face. When we first see them, we can't tell they are in the interview room.

Julie: Mr. Leland, I know you are a gentleman---

Myles: ---Ms. Linden, this has nothing to do with chivalry---

Julie: ---But I want you to stop your endless bloviating.

Cut to Jack and Bobby in the observation room.

Jack and Bobby's eyes open wide and they glance at each other. Jack wonders what they are getting into here.

Myles: ---You're not helping---

Julie: (firmly) Two things: One, I am the daughter of a United States Marine. Two, I grew up on a horse farm. Which means I "got sense," as we say in Virginia. End of discussion.

Myles and Julie stare at one another for a moment.

Myles: (softening) Please. Sit down.

Julie calmly sits down and looks straight ahead. Then Myles sits down beside her and arranges the papers they are looking at.

Julie: (only looking at Myles sideways) Thank you. I appreciate your manners.

Myles: You're welcome. Now. Let's go over this plan one more time.

SCENE 10 - At the Midline Bank branch office in Fairfield, Virginia.

Viewing the bank head-on, there is a side street on its right side and, two doors down, an alley way on its left side. To enter the bank, a person walks up five steps, reaches one set of double glass doors, goes through an entrance way of about six feet, and reaches a second set of double glass doors. This set of double glass doors enters directly into the bank lobby. The front of the bank has large windows that allow a view of the street and sidewalk and allow people on the sidewalk to see in to the lobby.

A table is set up in the lobby to the left of the double glass-doors. It has a poster on it about Children's Hospital and has various stacks of brochures and hand-outs arranged on it.

People are walking in both directions on the sidewalk in front of the bank. There is a bus stop shelter on the alley side of the bank, near the bank's entrance. A few people are waiting in the bus stop shelter.

Jack and Bobby are in a parked car on the side-street side of the bank of the entrance. Dimitrius and Myles are in a parked car on the alley-side of the bank entrance. Tara and Sue are in the van.

Cut to Tara inside the van.

Tara and Sue are watching surveillance feed. The tape shows Julie walking down the sidewalk of the main street, toward where Jack and Bobby are parked. There are several other people on the sidewalk. Two men are seen behind her. One man is wearing a hoodie with the hood down. He is wearing a blue baseball cap. He has long brown hair in a ponytail and a brown goatee. He wears black glasses. His hands are in his pockets. The other man is wearing jeans and a long-sleeved sweatshirt. The cuffs of the sleeves on the sweatshirt are stretched out and they hang over the man's hands.

Tara: (on her headset, a little surprised when she sees Julie) Jumper has arrived. . . .

Cut to Jack and Bobby sitting in their car. They are surprised and sit up.

Tara: Repeat: Jumper has arrived.

Cut to Dimitrius and Myles sitting in their car.

Myles: (to Dimitrius) I knew it. This is not the plan.

Cut to Jack and Bobby.

Jack: (to Bobby in the passenger seat) She's supposed to get here at nine o'clock. It's eight o'clock.

Bobby: Maybe Jumper thinks Virginia is in a different time zone than D.C.

Jack: (frustrated) This is not where we want to be.

Cut to the surveillance tape view of Julie.

Julie is wearing a pantsuit, with a long (almost knee-length) jacket, which she is wearing unbuttoned. She is carrying a large purse on a shoulder strap. Instead of her usual ponytail, her hair is pinned up into a bun at the nape of her neck. She is wearing plain hoop earrings.

Neither of the two men that are walking behind Julie pay her the slightest bit of attention. The man in the hoodie goes into the bus stop shelter and waits there, watching for the bus to come. Julie continues to walk past the entrance of the bank . Then she turns onto the sidewalk of the side street.

Tara: (on her headset) Jumper is entering the bank through the side door.

Cut to Jack and Bobby. They look at each other, concerned.

Jack: (to all, over his headset) Move into position.

Jack and Bobby get out of their car.

Cut to Dimitrius and Myles, getting out of their car.

Tara: (on her headset) Jumper is alone in the lobby. She's unlocking both sets of front doors.

Cut to the bank lobby. A woman comes out of a door behind the teller stations. She startles Julie.

Julie: (to the woman) Oh. Tina. Wow, I wasn't expecting anyone to be here yet.

Tina: Me, either.

Julie: (arranging brochures on the table) I just wanted to make sure the Virginia Children's Hospital table was all set up for our big kick-off today.

Tina: Oh, let me help you. You've just got to hear the latest on Molly and you won't believe how nervous Michele is after those robberies in D.C.---

Julie: You know, I'm sorry, Tina. I just don't feel up to chatting this morning. I haven't had my coffee yet and . . . Also, my boyfriend ---

Tina: I didn't know you had a new boyfriend.

Julie: It just happens sometimes. Anyway, last night we had an argument---

Tina: I'm sorry---

Julie: And he called this morning and said he wanted to stop by and apologize in person. So I said maybe I could see him a few minutes before work. Since I was coming in early anyway.

Tina: I get it. You want privacy.

Julie nods.

Tina: You never saw me. I'm going to go right in the back and close the door, hook up the earbuds, work on my reports, and not come out until the coast is clear.

Cut to Jack and Bobby nearer to the bank entrance, watching.

Bobby: Standing by that window with a "here I am, grab me" sign on her head? She seems smarter than that.

Jack: She is.

Cut to a street view of the bank entrance.

A bus pulls up at the bus stop near the entrance to the bank. A lot of people get off and begin walking in both directions on the sidewalk, some passing by the bank's entrance.

Jack: (looking at the crowd fanning out from the bus stop, creating a lot of confusion) Not good.

Jack and Bobby instinctively start walking to move to a spot closer to the bank entrance.

Jack: (to all, on his headset) Crowd confusion, possible cover.

Cut to Dimitrius and Myles. They are scanning the faces as best they can and keeping an eye on who is moving where.

As the crowd from the bus moves around the bus stop shelter, the man in the hoodie, who had been behind Julie when she was walking to the bank, comes out of the shelter, mixes into the crowd on the sidewalk and starts walking in the direction of the bank. As he turns out of the shelter, he has his hands in the front pockets of his hoodie. He looks just as he did before: he is wearing a baseball cap and a hoodie with the hood down. He has long brown hair in a ponytail, a brown goatee and black, small-rimmed glasses.

The man emerges from the crowd and begins to walk toward the front door of the bank. He keeps his hands in his hoodie pockets. Julie is working at the table in front of the window. She is at the end of the table, nearest the lobby doors. Julie keeps her head down, but she is keeping an eye on what is happening on the street.

Jack: (musing) The man in the hoodie. I don't want him going in that bank. (to all, on the headset) Close in quietly.

Jack and Bobby, from their location, and Dimitrius and Myles, from their location, walk toward the bank to get into position to engage the man in the hoodie. They do so without being obvious. Nevertheless, the man in the hoodie picks up his pace. As he walks faster toward the bank entrance, Julie notices him, which makes her nervous. But she goes on about her work arranging things on the table. Julie suddenly remembers something; she takes her earrings off and puts them in her pants pocket.

Jack, Bobby, Dimitrius and Myles, each group approaching from opposite directions, are still trying to get to the bank entrance before the man in the hoodie does. But the man gets there first and, looking in the window as he walks and seeing Julie, he bounds up the steps.

Upon seeing the man in the hoodie about to enter the bank, Jack motions to Bobby that they are going to pick it up and move to stop the man. As he does so, Jack says to all, over his headset, "Close in. Carefully."

As soon as the man reaches the bank door, he takes his hands out of his hoodie pockets to open the door. In an instant, Julie sees part of the tattoos on the man's hands and knows that he is Trey Maddox.

Cut to Sue and Tara in the van. They are watching security camera feed.

Sue: (watching the screen) It's him! I saw the tattoos on his hands!

Jack and all hear Sue over their headsets.

Jack: (to all, over his headset) Move to positions.

Jack and Bobby, and Dimitrius and Myles, begin to walk/run quickly. But events inside the bank lobby are unfolding quickly.

Julie is standing at the end of the Children's Hospital table, near one side of the bank's double doors. Maddox opens the first door and rushes through the foyer area. As soon as he begins to open the second door to actually enter the bank lobby, Julie darts by him, through the adjoining door and out on to the street.

Cut to Jack and Bobby basically running down the street toward the bank entrance.

Bobby: (looking ahead; concerned) What is she doing?

Cut to the bank lobby.

Maddox is surprised by Julie's action. It takes him a second to recover, but he quickly reverses course and follows Julie out onto the street. The sidewalk is somewhat crowded until Julie passes the bus stop area.

Jack and Bobby, and Dimitrius and Myles, now trying to position themselves to intervene, move toward each other with Julie and Maddox between them. Julie and Maddox are walking toward Dimitrius and Myles, and toward the alley way between buildings. Julie is walking quite fast. She slows down a little and looks over her shoulder once to see if Maddox is following her. He is.

Maddox gets very close to Julie. Jack and Bobby are coming up from behind Julie and Maddox, and Dimitrius and Myles are coming from the opposite direction. Just as Maddox is about to catch up with Julie, she suddenly turns down the alley.

Cut to Jack and Bobby, basically running.

Jack sees Julie turn down the alley and he shakes his head as if to say "bad, bad move."

Cut to Dimitrius and Myles, also basically running from the opposite direction. Dimitrius signals to Myles to go a different way. Jack and Bobby continue to run to the alley entrance.

Cut to the van. Tara and Sue are watching the screen anxiously.

Cut to the alley way.

In the alley, Maddox catches up to Julie. He grabs her and tries to keep her from continuing to walk. With his right hand, he shoves a gun into her back. He puts his left arm around her neck. She grabs on to the arm around his neck with both hands.

Maddox: I told you that I didn't want your money. I want you.

Suddenly Maddox and Julie are confronted by Jack and Bobby, who have entered the alley from the main street. Their guns are drawn on Maddox.

Jack: FBI. Put the gun down!

Maddox looks frantically at each agent, but he doesn't move to release Julie at all.

Jack: Put the gun down, Maddox!

Maddox turns quickly, as if he will run in the opposite direction. But then Dimitrius and Myles appear from that direction, also with their guns drawn on him.

Maddox: (after a minute; to the agents) You'll never take me --- or her --- alive!

There is tense silence. Jack, Bobby, Dimitrius and Myles don't change their stance.

Julie: (with forced calmness) Trey, put the gun down.

Maddox thinks about it.

Julie: (to Maddox)Give them the gun. And then . . . We can talk.

Maddox seems to be about to agree. But suddenly he becomes angry and jerks Julie tighter. It's all Jack can do not to shoot him.

Maddox: (to Jack) Back off! Back off or I'll shoot! (indicating that he'll shoot Julie)

Julie: (to Jack and all) Back off! Do what he says --- back off!

Jack considers, then he signals the others to back up a few steps. They do so, maintaining their firing stance.

Julie: More! Back off more!

Jack stares at Julie, then he signals the others to back up a few more steps. They maintain their firing stance throughout.

Maddox momentarily becomes a little calmer again. He continues to hold the gun to Julie's back and have his left arm around her neck. She is still grabbing the arm around her neck with both hands.

Julie: Trey, I'm begging you (she holds her hands up, pleading) Please. Don't do this. We can talk. But you have to put the gun down. . . . (more calmly) Trey, put the gun down and then you and I can talk.

Maddox softens his grip on Julie a little. Then suddenly he is enraged again. He begins to jerk her and shake her a little. She flails at his hold with her hands.

Maddox: (to the agents) No! I won't let you take me alive --- me or her, either!

Julie: (shouting) Trey, don't do this!

Maddox: (growling into Julie's ear) I will do this!

Maddox now puts the pistol to Julie's head. She hears him cock the trigger. Everything is happening very fast now.

Julie: (talking to Maddox over her left shoulder; she is grabbing his arm with her right hand and flailing her left arm in front of him) Then tell me to my face! Look me in the eye!

Maddox, surprised, grabs Julie's flailing left arm. He keeps the gun in his right hand on her. He angrily lets go of Julie a little as he spins her around to face him.

Maddox: (twisting Julie's left arm, as she struggles, close to her face, staring her in the eyes) I will kill you before I let them take you from ---

A gun is fired. In grainy, stop motion, Maddox falls backwards, away from Julie. As Maddox falls, Jack knocks the gun in Maddox's hand out and away from him. Julie stumbles backward a little. Her right hand is in her right coat pocket.

Cut to Julie standing quietly, with her hands at her side.

Julie's chest is heaving and her face is somewhat distressed. In a minute she looks up and over at Myles. Myles has his gun drawn on her and he looks at her hard. She gulps for air a little. Then, keeping her hands by her side, she opens her palms so Myles can see her hands are empty. When Myles nods at her, she raises her hands slowly until they are up by her head. Myles continues to hold his gun on her as he comes over, takes the gun out of her right coat pocket and searches her for other weapons. Then he nods to her that she can put her hands down.

After Julie puts her hands down, she covers her eyes with one hand for a minute, composing herself. Then she looks up at Myles. He studies her, but not unkindly. Myles puts his hand on Julie's shoulder and begins to escort her down the alley. A police car is parked on the street.

Jack and Bobby stand up from where they were checking on Maddox's body. Dimitrius walks up with the gun Maddox had used in a plastic bag.

Dimitrius: (handing the bagged gun to Jack) Fits the description of the gun Julie said was stolen from her.

Jack studies the gun,. Then he studies Julie as she walks away from them, down the alley, toward a police car, with Myles escorting her.

Continue reading at Part 4 (Conclusion) . . .