Precious stones
Dallas had been sure this job was a burst when he heard the shots, he had never been a coward but he was thinking it's time to go. He remembered the seven thousand dollars he had hidden under the loose boards in his apartment that had been his insurance if he needed to get away quickly.
"Take the bag and get a move on, we'll cover you" "Meet me at the Pizza inn at twenty fourth avenue just before midnight" Harryman, the boss tosses a bag at him.
"As he takes to the street, he's surprised to hear no more shots,he walks briskly though, taking back roads, he's tempted to check the haul.
The boss, Harryman had gotten some good Intel that some diamonds were coming to the safety deposit box at the Bank. With only a day to plan,they hadn't had enough time to work out all their measures, this was as unprepared a job as the perfectionists Harryman had ever done.
The sound of Sirens interrupt his thoughts and he ducks into the side street, stumbling over a girl with red hair, he losses command of the bag as he was about to check it when he heard those sirens. The contents spill out, making an untidy mess on the street floor.
Sarah saw the yellow haired man stumble suddenly over Tarna, he must have been in a hurry. She was about to apologise when the contents of the bag he held spilled into the street. Her mouth froze as she recognized wads of Benjamins , necklaces and rings. Her brain makes the connection quickly, the haste, the direction he was coming from, the bag, the money and jewelry, did he jump when he heard a siren? He may be one of the thieves, as she makes the connection she watches as Tarna oblivious to the possibility starts to help yellow hair pick up and put the loot back in the bag.
She opens her mouth to tell Tarna to stop but the words change into a scream as she watches the man bring out a switch blade from under his coat.
Tarna feels sorry about running into this stranger and upsetting his luggage, she sees some cash, a lot actually and quickly begins to help him put them back into the bag while apologising
"Sorry Mr" ' I'm sorry Mr" she repeats.
Dallas's hand clutches like a vice on the bag as the little thief was trying to take from him, if he lost that bag even his " insurance " wouldn't be enough to save him from the boss , with one hand shooting for the bag he takes out his switch blade with the other. Two little girls shouldn't be a problem he thinks.
The last thing he remembers is his back ramming the passenger door of a taxi as the ground reaches forward to claim him.
"I swear, I saw something pass and that man was flung on the taxi" Sarah says again for the tenth time.
Tarna decides to give up and agree with her friend after they spend the next three blocks just arguing about some hairy blur shape Sarah claims she saw move past the yellow haired man. Tarna sees that it was wise not to talk about the ivory purse she hadn't managed to give the yellow haired man, she thought it felt heavy and she had put it in her bag while her friend gapped openly at the man flung on the car, it wasn't that Tarna wasn't surprised at what happened, but between the dreams and all that occurred she was just tried of being afraid and wasn't going to be afraid unless there was actually a reason right in front of her.
They split up at an interception near their houses, Tarna's house was at the opposite end of the street from hers.
"Bye Redhead", "bye brownie". They both giggle and smile. The tension of the afternoon forgotten.
The few minutes to her house, Tarna bounces with excitement, she barely stops herself from opening up her bag and checking out what she had found.
" Hey Mum", she walks over to the fridge, takes out a carton of milk, grabs some bread with her other hand and runs to her room
She throws her bread on the bed and takes a long drink out of the milk carton.
"Now for the moment of Truth" she giggled.
She sat on the bed pulling out the ivory bag and spills the contents on her bed, her eyes climb up larger and larger as she surveys each of the contents.
Emeralds, Sapphires, Diamonds, Rubies of various sizes and a Green stone the size of a cat's eye.
Blink Blink...Her phone rings, ( her favourite Justin Bieber song plays) she ignored her phone as she fingers each of the stones, twenty seven of them, she spends more time fingering the Cat's eye, it's larger than any of the other stones, smooth on all sides and green, it arrest the eyes at every turn, and when she puts it up to the light , it seems to change color moving from one hue to another. she doesn't remember how long she spends fingering the jewel. Her thinking is sheltered by a knock on the door, " Honey, Sarah's here" " coming mum," she replied.
Tarna quickly packs away the stones into the ivory bag the she puts it in her school bag and puts that under the bed. Taking another gulp of the milk ', she flys down the steps to see her friend. Right then the T.V starts to talk about the robbery of the bank.
" Early this Afternoon, witnesses say five armed walked into Chase Bank on Helm street and carried out an armed robbery. The suspects who stormed the bank and fired shots carried away valuables and cash. Unfortunately all suspects escaped the scene of the crime.
In a surprising turn of events, one of the suspects was caught a few blocks from the scene of the crime, police and bank officials say all the loot from the Robbery was recovered from him. The suspects who Police identified as Dallas White, a thief involved in several other robberies.
Correspondence say he is at The New Saint Theresa Hospital under heavy guard and while he recovers from an accident. He was found fleeing the scene with a bag containing all the items missing in the Bank Heist.
The screen flickers to a scene showing the bank after the heist , then short clips from bystanders showing Dallas on the floor near a yellow cab.
At this Sarah and Tarna exchange a look, they quietly watch everything the News Says.
Another Scene flickers into view of the same man on an hospital bed, the doctors attaching peripheral to him and the police chasing out the camera man.
"The hunt for the remaining suspects will continue meanwhile the district police is committed to keeping everyone safe."
"In other news, correspondence report the..."
Tarna motions to Sarah, Sarah not seeing the gesture feels her grab her hand and they both go upstairs to her room. In her room they both began to talk at the same time.
" The man in the street..." Sarah says
"We were very lucky..." Tarna says
"You go first"
"You go first"
"Jinx"
"Jinx"
They both laugh, relieving some of the stress and sit on the bed.
Tarna grabs her bread and says " you go first". She eats while Sarah talks.
" The man in the street, he's the one on the tv, see I was right, he was one of the robbers" .
" wow, we were lucky today, feels almost like an adventure, and the cops found all the loot, if he didn't run into us he might have gotten away with the crime."
"It would seem we are heroes." She finishes with a laugh.
Tarna watches Sarah while she eats her bread. She listens while her mind works a bit on what's going on. She wants to tell Sarah about the stones but... She crushes the thought, Sarah is her best friend, of course she has to know.
"Sarah let me show you something"
She reaches out and brings out the purse, then spills the contents on her bed.
Sarah gasps as Tarna goes to slide the bolt on the door.
"Where did you get this? How did you get this?"
Tarna quickly explains how she moved to put in the ivory purse when she saw what happened to the yellow haired man. She had wanted to tell Sarah while they walked home but after their arguments she wanted her friend to first simmer down. She finishes by picking up the cat's eye and asks Sarah to see if she feels strange.
Sarah confirms the color change but nothing else
" what do we do now?" " We have to return it to the bank" " The police are looking for..." She drifts off, seeing the look in Tarna's eye she came to the same conclusion.
" The police say they have found everything, also they bank confirms the same, so who owns these?" They both look at each other dumbfounded.