Free The Storm Maker by Sid K

Colonel Vyptor asked the owner.
           “None,”
the owner said. “They haven’t come up, though.”
           “They
are seven and have automatics,” said the colonel, “And only six of us, but we
control the high ground.”
           “We
have backup coming,” one of the policeman said, “We called our police chief on
the radio, and he is coming personally.” Just as he finished, they heard police
sirens in the distance.
           “It’s
strangely quiet down there,” Sayett said., “Hey Ho!” he yelled. “SPASI has you
surrounded with twenty guards, come out and live, or die down there.” They had
no way of knowing their numbers so he might as well bluff.
           “We
are here too,” Colonel Vyptor got in the act as well but forgot to mention who
the ‘we’ would refer to, “and we have grenades. My boys are just rumbling to
roll some of them down the stairs with no pin.”
           “Please,”
the owner said. “Our money is in there and other valuables.”
           Colonel
smiled and whispered to him, “Just joking like Sayett,” and then continued,
“Although I wish we had brought some with us, I wouldn’t mind rolling one down
to spook them fellas.”
           No
reply came from down below. The police sirens got very close and soon they
heard  footsteps come up the bank stairs outside. Four policemen barged in with
Lockyett rifles, followed by the chief of police and six more policemen.
           “Chief,”
Sayett said. “Chief Detective Sayett of SPASI.”
           “What
a coincidence, huh?” the chief said. “We were going to have a lunch meeting
today to discuss this very possibility and here we are.” He turned to the
colonel, “Thanks for providing my boys a hand.”
           “No
problem,” the colonel said. “Now what are we going to do with them down there.
Tell me you have some smoke grenades.”
           “They
are still down there?” the police chief asked and then sent a couple of
policemen outside to bring smoke grenades.
           “They
might be gone like rats,” Sayett said. He turned to the owner. “Any water
passageways under that vault?”
           “We
would never build our vault on top of a water passage,” the owner said, “We
take our precautions.”
           “SPASI
isn’t the only one with some know-how of the methods of the crooks,” the chief
laughed. “The House of Banks explicitly forbids building bank vaults on top of
any underground utility passages.”
           “Nevertheless,”
Sayett said, “In a few of the earlier bank robberies, they have escaped through
a dug out passage they had earlier built and connected to utility passageways.”
           As
they were talking, the two policemen returned with six smoke grenades, which
the colonel, Ryft and Woker quickly proceeded to toss down the stairs. The room
down was filled with smoke, but no voice or sound came up.        The smoke
caused coughing and brought tears to the eyes, but nothing happened down there.
Slowly the smoke cleared away.
           “They
had no masks,” the owner volunteered after a while.
           “That’s
it,” Sayett said. “I say they escaped.” He drew his pistol again.
           “Fuck
it,” the Colonel said, “Let’s storm them. Let’s go boys.”
           Ryft
and Woker walked down the stairs carefully with their rifles ready; the colonel
walked behind them and Sayett behind him, both with their pistols drawn. Then
half a dozen policemen followed.
           They
came upon an empty room, an open vault door and a big hole in the ground.
           “Rats!”
Sayett yelled, “Unbelievable. I said, Rats!”
           “Guess
you were right,” the chief said .
           “Let’s
see where that leads,” Sayett said. He looked into the hole and then lowered
himself. Vyptor, Ryft and Woker followed him as did six policemen.