Crab Town by Iii Carlton Mellick Page B

the money is.” Sailboat picks up the scrawny man.
    “You have all of it already,” says the bank manager. “The vault’s empty.”
    “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

    When the bank manager originally opened the vault for Nine, she couldn’t believe it either. The vault was practically empty.
    “This is it?” she asked him.
    The bank manager nodded. “You’re disappointed. I completely understand.”
    “You completely understand!”
    “Trust me, I’m even more unhappy to see it empty than you are. Filling a couple bags full of money for you wouldn’t have been a setback at all for this bank, had you come just a few days ago.”
    “What happened?”
    “The owners of Liberty Bank came yesterday and cleaned out the vault. The bank hasn’t been doing very well this past year, so I guess the owners decided to take the money and run.”
    “The fat cats knocked off their own bank?”
    The bank manager frowned. “Regrettably, that’s exactly what they did. They stole everyone’s money and took off, leaving only enough to keep the bank going for a few more days while they made their getaway.”
    Nine sighed and started packing up the measly leftovers. “Desperate times…”
    “Desperate, indeed.”

    When Sailboat returns from the vault with the bank manager, he has an irritated look on his face but he’s not accusing the scrawny guy of lying anymore.
    “Help Nine up,” Doomsday tells him. “Those escaped hostages surely called the cops now. They’ll be arriving any minute.” Sailboat nods and goes to the wounded girl.
    Doomsday looks over at Johnny Balloon, who is cuffing the unconscious security officer behind the counter. “You should go. You don’t want to be here when the cops show up.”
    Johnny gives her a thumbs up.
    When Sailboat tries to pick up Nine, she mumbles, “We’ve got to carry out Jack’s plan.”
    “He didn’t tell us his plan.” Sailboat says as he lifts her. The wounded woman has lost a lot of blood and can’t stand on her own feet without assistance.
    “We have to figure out what he wanted us to do,” Nine says, her eyes rolling back and forward. “He said that Doomsday is the key.”
    Sailboat shakes his head. “Forget about it.”
    Doomsday looks over at them as she takes the bags of money from Sailboat and tosses them onto her shoulder. “No, maybe she’s right. Maybe we can figure it out. He also said that he wouldn’t tell us the plan because if we knew we would never want to go through with it. What could he possibly have in mind that we would never want to go through with?”
    Sailboat assists Nine to the exit as she sways and staggers. “I have no idea. It could be anything.”
    “…that also requires me…” Doomsday mumbles, running it over in her head. Then she stops in her tracks. “No, it couldn’t be that…”
    “What?”
    “The bomb. There’s no way he wanted me to detonate the bomb…”
    Sailboat isn’t listening anymore.
    She contemplates out loud, “How would a plan involving the bomb fit in with the plan of robbing the bank… There’s no way.”
    They can hear the sound of police whistles coming from the distance.
    Her eyes light up. “Unless…”
    “Let’s move!” Sailboat yells, as he pulls Nine through the door.
    Miss Doomsday follows, her Tommy Gun leading the way.

Outside the bank, Little Sister was acting as the lookout. This was the usual job for her. Being only fifteen years old, Jack didn’t want her getting involved if shooting broke out. She wasn’t even allowed to carry a gun.
    Jack had told her that this time he was going to take longer than usual, so besides lookout Little Sister had to prevent people from entering the bank. She dressed in a police uniform, her blue dreadlocks hidden under a hat. After the others went into the bank, she set up a barricade and directed cyclists and pedestrians around the block.
    It wasn’t uncommon for teenagers to work for the police department. Instead of going to school,