"Sit," said the Bandit.
"Why?"
"We've got to give Wilbur time to collect the diamonds, get out to the spaceport, and take off."
"Shit!" she exclaimed. "I hadn't thought of that."
"It's not your job to think of that," said the Bandit.
"What if they alert the spaceport after we're on our way there?" asked Blossom.
"Then we'll improvise," said Dante.
"They won't alert the spaceport," said the Bandit with such conviction that no one challenged him.
The five of them waited in silence for almost two hours. Finally the Bandit got to his feet.
"It's time," he announced.
The others got up and followed him to the door. They took the airlift down to the main floor, then were about to walk out through the airlock when Dante stopped by the desk, spoke in low tones to the clerk, allowed the cashier to scan his retinagram, and then rejoined the party.
"What was that all about?" asked Matilda as they emerged into the hot, oppressive Heliopolis day.
"I paid for the Bandit's room for another month."
"That was stupid," said Virgil. "He's leaving today, and who cares who knows it?"
"If two Democracy soldiers hang around waiting for him to come back, that's two less that'll be on our trail once we leave Heliopolis," answered Dante. "As for the money, I'll take it out of what we steal from the bank, or I won't need it anyway."
"I approve," said the Bandit. "That's good thinking, Rhymer." He turned to Matilda. "Are you sure you want to be part of this, ma'am? You can wait in the ship if you prefer."
"If things get rough, she'll be more help to you than I will," Dante assured him.
The Bandit shrugged. "Your choice."
The bank was 200 yards away. The Bandit walked with an easy spring to his stride, as if he was walking down a thoroughfare on Deluros VIII or Earth itself. The others struggled to keep up with him.
"It might be best for you four to wait outside," he said when they finally arrived at their destination.
"Not unless you make it an order," said Matilda.
"It was just a suggestion. The only order is: stay behind me, and make sure none of you gets between me and anyone else."
They entered the bank, the Bandit first, then Dante and the two women, and Virgil bringing up the rear. It was a small building, tightly-bonded titanium beneath a wood veneer. There were a couple of coat closets, a huge water bubbler, a quartet of chairs carved from some alien hardwood, and holographs of the bank's founders on the walls. There were three tellers—two human, one robotic—behind a counter, and a well-dressed executive in a glassed-in office. Six customers were lined up at the windows, five miners and a small, wiry, 86-year-old woman—Gloria Mundi.
The Bandit waited until one of the teller's window was open, and then approached it.
"Yes, sir?" said the clerk, a middle-aged man. "What can I do for you?"
"You can start by emptying out the drawer in front of you," said the Bandit calmly.
"I beg your pardon?"
"This is a hold-up. Give me all the money you can reach without moving your feet. Then we'll go to work on the rest."
"I know who you are," said the clerk nervously. "You work for Men, not against us. This is some kind of joke, right?"
Disable him now, thought Dante. Your ten seconds are almost up!
"Give me your money," repeated the Bandit. "I won't ask again."
Suddenly lights started flashing and alarms began ringing. Metal bars appeared where open doors and windows had been. Two screechers suddenly appeared in the robot teller's hands. The clerk whose adrenaline readings had precipitated all this ducked down behind the counter, completely out of sight.
The Bandit whirled and sent a laser burst into the robot teller. It knocked the robot back against the wall, melting one of its arms, but didn't totally disable it. Another burst took the robot's head off its body, and it collapsed to the floor.
The Bandit then fired through the barrier where the clerk was hiding, and the man's body fell over with an audible thud. Next came two holo cameras and the third teller. A laser blast just missed him, and the Bandit turned and pointed a deadly finger at the executive.
"You'll never get away with—" yelled the executive, but the Bandit's lethal arm fired again and his sentence ended with a moist gurgle.
The Bandit looked at the carnage. No one was left alive except two customers, a man and a woman.
"Get in that corner," he ordered, indicating where he wanted them to go. Finally he turned to his confederates. "All right," he said. "Start collecting the money—fast! Concentrate on Far London pounds, Maria Theresa dollars, New Stalin ruples, and other Frontier currencies. Only take credits that haven't been bundled; there are too many ways for the bank to have marked the others."
Dante and the others quickly went to the tellers' windows, removing large wads of cash from them.
Two police officers burst into the bank. The Bandit fired at one, killing him instantly. Virgil straightened up and shot the other with a screecher, firing through the teller's window.
"Where the hell's the safe?" asked Matilda, staring at the blank wall behind the windows.
Dante looked around. "It's got to be in the office." He raced into the room and couldn't spot it.
"It's a bank—it has to have a vault!" said Matilda.
"Of course it does," sand Dante. "Let me think." He examined the office. "Something's wrong here. No one has two coat closets, not on Heliopolis II." He opened the first. Nothing but a fresh white shirt. Then he tried the second—and hit paydirt.
"Santiago!" he called out.
"What is it?" answered the Bandit.
"Got a helluva complex lock here," said Dante. "It'll take me the better part of twenty minutes to break the code."
"Step back," said the Bandit, entering the office.
Dante stepped away from the safe. The Bandit made a swift adjustment to his arm, and then he fired—and the door to the vault simply vanished amid a cloud of acrid smoke.
"Get to work!" said Dante, racing into the safe just ahead of Matilda and Blossom.
Dante found a pair of cloth bags and tossed them to the woman. Then he quickly rummaged through the office until he found a briefcase and began filling it with cash. After about two minutes they'd emptied the vault of all its cash.
"Where are the safety deposit boxes?" asked Matilda.
"Don't bother with them," said the Bandit.
"We need all the money we can get!" she objected.
"There's a Democracy garrison four miles east of town. It's almost certainly tied in to the alarm. They figure to be here any second. It's time to leave."
Matilda ceased her objections instantly, and raced to the door.
"No vehicle," she announced.
"I put in a call for one," said the Bandit.
"Let's hope it arrives ahead of the soldiers," said Matilda.
Dante took a quick look out the door. "No such luck."
"They're here already?" asked the Bandit, more surprised than alarmed. "They were faster than I thought."