Chapter 54

I could tell this morning that something was wrong. I should've listened to my guts and stayed in bed. But I didn't listen. I just stood up and got ready for the day. But I could never have guessed how bad it'd turn. Nothing could've prepared me for that twist of fate.

Bip! Bip! Bip!

   This morning, I woke up a little on the edge. My belly was uncomfortably twisted, telling me that something was wrong. But I didn't listen and just stood up, blaming it on my nervosity. You see, today was my first day of work  and I really wanted everything to go smoothly. Walking out of my room, I tip-toed toward the bathroom, taking a nice warm shower to wash sleep away from me. I was careful to cover my whole body with lemon-perfumed shower gel and to brush my chocolate brown hair neatly once I was done. I was quite a tidy person, but I had reasons to. Being the daughter of Robert MacCarthy, a well-known politician who was the attention center of a whole country, I had been raised into never doing anything which could embarrass my father. I was always mindful of looking neat, displaying good manners and doing well at school. Though, I had to admit I was a little shy and anti-social. Because I wanted to preserve Daddy's reputation, I never got drunk, never drove too fast in my car and never dated a bad boy. I guess I was the type of glass girl who was accidentally irritating because she never trespassed in her life. Though, there I was.

"Come on, Joan!" I urged myself, brushing my teeth in front of the massive mirror in my bathroom. "Don't be late!"

   Another thing I needed to say was that my father was the director of bank, in addition of being a politician. Having freshly graduated from Quarlet High School, I was immediatly hired in my father's bank, even though at first I'd only be a secretary. But I was fine with that. Finding a job in such a prestigious establishment when you were only 18 was almost unbelievable! I couldn't say no, especially since that was my father's idea. That was important for me to make him proud, because he raised me on his own ever since my Mom died from a cancer when I was ten. But my Dad was always there for me, that's why I had to give my best to satisfy him!

"Welcome!" Greeted me a young woman in her mid-thirties with a friendly smile, as soon as I arrived. "You must be Miss MacCarthy. Please, follow me. I'm gonna escort you to your desk."

"Thank you very much..." I trailed off, looking at the badge she had pinned on her chest for her name. "Florence."

"You're welcome!" She waved off, already walking across the tables. "Mr MacCarthy told us that his beautiful daughter would be working here since today!"

   The first thing Florence did was to give me a pin stating my name. Then, she introduced me to several employees who'd be my collegues since today. They all greeted me and seemed very friendly, so my worry should've dissipated, but that wasn't the case. For some reason, the knot in my belly only tightened.

"Nice to meet you, Miss MacCarthy!" Grinned an eldery man, shaking my hand in his larger and spongy one. "My name's Charles Stealman, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Likewise." I politely smiled even though I knew I'd have forgotten his name in a few minutes.

"Good day, Miss MacCarthy!" Grinned a short brunette with her hair chopped at the chin. "I hope you'll like it here. My name's Elizabeth Bradley!"

"Nice to meet you, Elizabeth." I replied, my smile being more genuine this time. "And I'm sure I'm gonna love it here."

"You know, you can call me Lizzy!" She giggled frankly. "I'm working in the same office as you, so if you need help, don't hesitate to ask."

   Lizzy had a personality which was the exact opposite of mine: She was as loud as I was shy, as talkative as I was introvert and as bubbly as I was quiet. But having her around made my first morning of work much easier. True, she was permanently chatting, but that was reassuring to have a girl my age around while I was working. She had brown jaw-lenght hair, just a little darker than mine, slightly tanned skin and wide, doe-like brown eyes. Compared to my rather pale complexion and my greenish blue eyes, she looked extremely lively.

"I'm not hearing you talk about yourself a lot, Miss MacCarthy!" She eventually pointed out with a side smirk, causing me to look up from my paperwork. "Is something wrong?"

"No. Nothing!" I chuckled, awkwardly waving the question off. "I'm just a little nervous because it's my first day of work, that's all."

"Don't be nervous!" Laughed the chatty brunette, nonchalantly leaning against her desk. "Everything will be just fine!"

   At the same time, just as if fate wanted to prove Lizzy wrong, the phone rang. Since it was the one on my desk, I picked up.

"MacCarthy Bank, hello!" I exclaimed, bringing the phone to my ear. "What can I help you with?"

"Hello, Miss!" Replied a low voice at the other end of the line, making me shiver. "You can help me by telling your boss that he's got until today 12:00 AM to fulfill our contract, otherwise we're gonna attack the bank."

"Sir?" I asked, my heart skipping a beat. "Sir?!"

   But it was too late. Whoever had called had already hanged off. I hanged off as well, feeling a drop of sweat run down my back.

"A problem?" Enquired Lizzy, raising an eyebrow at me.

"T... This man on the phone!" I whispered, looking down at the said phone as if it was haunted or something. "He said he was going to attack the bank!"

"Don't worry about it!" Shrugged Lizzy, apparently not fazed whatsoever. "That's probably just a prank!"

   Lizzy's cheerful demeanour almost made me forget about the threat for the rest of the morning, but I felt my bellyache grow even stronger as the clock ticked on. Eventually, the clock reached 12:00 AM.

"You see!" Triumphally exclaimed my co-worker. "We're at lunch time and nothing bad happened! Do you want to have lunch with me?"

"No thanks." I declined, feeling genuinely sorry. "I already promised to have lunch with my father today. Maybe tomorrow!"

"Go on then, Daddy's little princess!" Enthusiastically laughed Lizzy, pulling a sandwich out of her purse.

   I waved at her and made my way to my father's office. On my way, I crossed several employees who were heading toward the canteen to eat. My belly twisted painfully as I remembered the phone call. How many people were going to eat without knowing about the threat hovering above their head? When I arrived in front of the glassy door of my father's office, I delicately knocked.

"Here you are, Joan!" Warmly gritted me Dad as soon as he swung the door open. "How's been your first morning of work here?"

"Very well, Daddy." I almost automatically replied, shyly looking down.

"Ah, I wasn't expecting less from you, my dear!" Grinned Dad, wrapping his meaty arm around me to pull me into his office. "I knew I've raised an intelligent daughter!"

   During lunch time, Dad's loud manners once again contrasted with my shy attitude. Of course, while doing political meetings, he was more mesured. But I nonetheless listened with interest to anything the man who raised me on his own for the last eight years had to say. It took me a while before I finally dare to bring up what was bothering me.

"You know, Dad..." I began, uncomfortably shifting on my seat. "Today, we received a phone call."

"Yes?" Encouraged me my father with a warm smile.

"The man at the other end of the line said that you had until midday to fulfill their contract..." I explained, feeling my throat becoming very dry. "Otherwise, they'd attack the bank!"

"Did they told you their name?" Asked my father, his back straightening.

"No, Dad." I shook my head, toffee brown locks falling over my face. "He hanged off before I could say anything."

"Well, that's nothing you should worry about!" Strongly affirmed my father. "This is nothing more than a prank!"

"If you say so, Dad..." I muttered, returning to my eating.

   I felt my shoulders unwind after I talked things out with my father. I trusted him so blindly that I felt stupid for having got so worried over a prank! Dad was a very smart man, if he told me there was nothing I should be scared about, then there was nothing I should be scared out. I almost wanted to laugh at my own stupidity. I was ready to leave my father's office when I heard a high-pitched scream; Lizzy!

"Lizzy!" I yelled, running down the hallway.

   I froze dead on my tracks when I saw what was going on; A bunch of armed men was walking around the building, pointing their guns at the face of the employees. All of them were wearing black pants, boots, sweaters and jackets. They also had matching balaclavas to conceal their features.

"Come on, ladies and gentlemen!" Urged them a tall man with the same low voice I heard through the phone. "Kindly put the money in the bags, and we'll be gone without causing a mess!"

   Panic washed over me as I stood on my shaky legs. The bank was being robbed! I did the first thing I could think of; I ran back toward my father's office. But once I got there, I only found the door locked.

"Daddy!" I called out, terrified at the idea that something bad might happen to him. "Daddy, are you alright?!"

"I'm calling the police, Joan!" He replied through the door. "Hide yourself!"

   I couldn't understand why Dad wasn't opening the door for me to hide with him, but I nonetheless did what he was asking from me. I ran toward the edge of the hallway and hid inside a closet. That maybe wasn't the best hiding place, but hopefully they wouldn't check. Leaning against the plain white wall, I slammed my hand against my mouth to hold back my breath. They were busy robbing the bank, they wouldn't go looking for hiding employees. I was safe, all I had to do was to wait here until the police arrives...

"HELP!"

   I closed my eyes. Lizzy... They were attacking Lizzy, I couldn't stay there without doing anything! I took a deep breath, then ran out of the closet. I stumbled inside our office. Crouching behind her turned down dek, Lizzy was crying as one of the hooded men was pointing a machine gun at her face.

"Come on, bitch!" He growled, this one having a different voice from the one I heard through the phone. "Quit your crying and give me what I'm asking for!"

"Leave her alone!" I cried out, not knowing what else to do.

   The man turned around, only now noticing my presence.

"Well, well, well..." He chuckled, pointing his gun at me instead of Lizzy. "What have we here? A lovely little lady!"

   I wasn't going to lie, the sight of this gun at a few inches of my face terrified me. But I refused to show my fear to this repulsive man who robbed the bank of one of the most admirable men of this country, but didn't even dare to show his face.

"Go away!" I managed to voice out, relieved that my voice wasn't shaking. "You're not gonna find anything here. We already called the police, they'll be here at any moment."

"Really?" Nearly growled the man under his breath, threateningly walking toward me. "You think you can give me orders, little bitch?!"

"Go away..." I repeated, holding his gaze despite the fear devouring my innards.

   He cocked his gun and leveled it up to my forehead. Terrified, I felt time stop until a low, somewhat huskey voice booms inside the room:

"And you, you think you can shoot workers without my agreement?!?"

   The man stepped back, pulling his weapon away from me. Apparently, he was intimidated. I risked a glance at the one who just stepped in. He was definitely taller than the man facing me and had broad shoulders, though I couldn't tell anything more about him due to his black balaclava.

"T... That's her, Anton!" Affirmed the other bandit, seemingly fazed. "She said she had called the cops and that they'd be here at any moment."

"Did she?" He asked, his low voice suddenly becoming excessively sweet. "Well, you won't shoot an employee unless I say so. Understood?"

"Yes, Anton!" Agreed the other, fearfully stepping back.

"Good! All my apologizes, Miss!" Smiled the taller man, stepping straight in front of me.

   His smile vanished to give him a more serious look as he planted his dark brown eyes into mine.

"Excuse me, Miss..." He calmly began, his voice barely louder than a whisper. "I didn't quite caught your name."

"Joan MacCarthy." I sternly replied, indicating by that that I was the daughter of a powerful man.

"Joan MacCarthy, the daughter of Robert MacCarthy?" He nodded thoughtfully, as if assimilating what I just told him. "And did you actually call the police, Miss MacCarthy?"

"Yes, I did." I frowned, hoping to hide my fear. "You better leave, they'll be here soon."

"We'll do just as you say." He seriously nodded.

   For a moment, I watched stupefied as he ordered to his men to leave the building and return to the cars. I couldn't believe they were actually leaving when the tall leader grabbed my wrist and pulled me along with him.

"What are you doing?!" I hissed, struggling. "Let me go!"

"No, we're doing just as you said." He seriously replied, still dragging me toward the exit. "We're leaving, but we're taking you with us. They won't dare to attack us if we have the daughter of Mr MacCarthy with us!"

"Let go of me!" I insisted as I was shoved inside his car by one of his men.

"Easy on her, Mike!" Protested the leader, sitting on the driver's seat.

"Sorry, boss!" He apologized immediately.

   Then, the robbers all went back inside their black cars. I tried one last time to leave the car, but the driver ignited the engine and left quickly, trapping me inside. I've just got kidnapped by robbers! That was a hell of a twist of fate!