Previously, Sydney and Zack share a kiss and expand their plans to include more small towns and more heists.
Zack sat in the bed in their shitty room at the Lamplighter Inn and flipped through the channels on the small TV perched on the dresser, next to the bags of foreign cash that Zack thought weren’t safe outside. Morning light filtered through the fabric vertical blinds and left bars of light across the floral bedspread that Zack had kicked off in the night. It was their first night sleeping in a bed for a long time and Zack slept long. Sydney still lay in a pile of blankets in the other queen bed. Zack looked over at her still shape. He licked his lips, remembering the kiss they shared.
What were they now? Was it only a kiss?
Zack’s blood suddenly ran cold as the picture on the television changed. He turned the volume up. It was some news cast, featuring a photo of Sydney and him, with the words BC BANK ROBBERS REMAIN AT LARGE above them. Sydney groaned and sat up.
“In other news, the whereabouts of the main suspect in Cranbrook, BC’s recent daytime bank robbery, Sydney Trebuchi, are still unknown. Police have also identified this man, Zachary Cooper, as an accomplice in the robbery. Anyone with any information on their whereabouts are asked to reach out to Crime Stoppers.
A 1-800 number flashed on the screen below their photos. The photo of Sydney was a grainy security still frame of her face in the True North Branch they used to work at. Zack’s photo was one of him at a family reunion, wearing a collared shirt and standing in front of the huge willow tree at his Aunt’s house. Zack wondered where they got his photo from.
The news anchor blared on about some news about an upcoming election, but Zack had stopped watching.
“You see that?” Sydney asked. Her hair was mussed from sleeping and she sounded groggy. She wore an oversized faded Tragically Hip T-shirt that looked amazing on her.
Zack pried his eyes away and muted the television. “Yeah.”
Sydney slid out of bed, pulling the covers with her, and sat at the little table who the rickety chair that was featured in every hotel room Zack had ever stayed in. She flipped open her laptop and the blue light illuminated her face.
“What are you doing?” Zack asked. He was curious about his family, but he also knew that once he opened that can of worms, it wouldn’t close again. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to face their disappointment. Again.
Sydney shot him a quick glance. “Aren’t you curious about what they know? How close they are?”
Zack was, but he was also afraid. He hadn’t checked his email since they had left home. An email from him mom and dad would break his heart. He didn’t respond.
Sydney clicked on something and the computer suddenly blared.
“I went to school with Zack Cooper.”
Zack shuffled out of the bed and stood behind Sydney’s chair. Derek Ziegler, one of Zack’s bullies from high school, sat on a couch in what looked like a living room. Derek had put on a few pounds since high school, and he wore a Dodge dealership shirt. Zack noticed that he had tried to grow a beard to hide some of the acne scars he had.
“What’s this?” Zack asked.
Sydney shrugged. “Some viral clip.”
In the video, Derek leaned over and spoke into a microphone. “Yeah, I know Zack Cooper. Guy was a total loser in high school. I knew he wouldn’t amount to anything. If he’s caught up in illegal stuff, stealing from hard-working Canadians, I wouldn’t be shocked.
“You know, once, in our grade ten year, coach ran us so hard—”
Zack slammed the laptop.
Sydney whirled, her hair tickling Zack’s face. “Zack!”
Zack felt the heat in his cheeks. “You don’t want to hear that, Syd.”
Sydney smiled. “Why? Is it embarrassing?”
“Never mind,” he answered. “It’s almost seven-thirty. We should get going.”
Sydney flung the laptop back open. The video continued to play. “—Zack crapped his pants. He’s been crapping his pants ever since, I bet. You hear that Browner? We haven’t forgotten!”
Zack sighed. Sydney giggled and closed the laptop. “Browner? Ouch.”
Zack shook his head and he stuffed a few of his remaining clothes into his duffel bag and backpack. He walked past and Sydney reached out and grabbed his hand.
“What are we doing, Zack?”
Zack huffed. “I need to change. Become Ryan. Supposed to be there for ten, if you forgot?”
He tried to keep walking, but Sydney didn’t let go. “No, Zack. I mean, what are we?”
Zack turned and looked at Sydney. She bit at her lip, and Zack realized that she was nervous. He closed his eyes and thought. How could she still be interested in him when she just watched the video where Derek shared one of Zack’s most embarrassing moments. With the world.
Zack let his head drop. He wanted to pursue a relationship with Sydney, but he ruined her life. She was a fugitive and a wanted criminal. Because of him. How could she possibly want him? She was probably just wanting to let him down easy. Be sure that Zack didn’t have any wild ideas that he was in her league, whatsoever.
He smiled and squeezed her hand. “I get it. It was only a kiss, right?”
Sydney’s eyebrows furrowed. “Zack. Look at me.”
Zack did. She was gorgeous. Her messy hair and just-woke-up state was vulnerable. Endearing. Disarming. Her eyes communicated an empathy that he had been told was a lie from all of the TV and movies he watched. Was it truly genuine?
“What do you want us to be?” she asked, nibbling at her bottom lip.
Zack wanted her to be his girlfriend. She was safe, fun, smart, cute. “Why don’t you be the Bonnie to my Clyde?”
Sydney frowned. “You know how that ends, right?”
“No, actually. But, if you want to be with me, I want that too,” Zack said.
Sydney smiled. “I’d like that.”
The phone rang. Zack picked it up. “Good morning. This is your wake-up call.”
“Thanks,” Zack answered, before hanging up. “Syd, did you set up a wake-up call?”
Sydney nodded. “We’ve got big plans today, Clyde.”
They packed up the room quickly. Zack perfected his look as Ryan, and then packed the car. They grabbed a few muffins and bananas from the continental breakfast before leaving town.
The sun was already low in the east, shining into Zack’s eyes and making the golden fields of rural Alberta shine all the brighter. The road wound along a muddy river and Sydney pointed out the otherworldly colours and swirling patterns of the hoodoos. It was a magical place, a beauty that was different than the mountains he was used to.
They drove into Drumheller, passing all sorts of kitschy dinosaur statues and theme-parks when Sydney turned to him. “They died, you know.”
Zack followed a gradual turn in the highway that lead into town, flipping down the visor as the sun settled directly in their path. “Who?”
Sydney was looking out as they entered the town. Small brick buildings passed and Zack turned into the quaint Western downtown. “Bonnie and Clyde.”
“Oh.”
“Will you keep me safe, Zack?” Sydney asked.
Zack pulled into an angled parking space and shifted the car into park. “I’ll do my best. It’s just about ten. You ready?”
Sydney spent a little bit of time readying her laptop and her ‘unmarked surveillance van’ set up. Zack straightened his tie and admired Sydney as she got in the zone.
When everything was in place, Zack opened the door and stepped out into the cool summer air. He popped the trunk and grabbed his rolling luggage and strolled into Drumheller’s True North branch.
The branch manager, Michelle, was kind and helpful. Alerting the bank that they were coming seemed to make the entire operation smoother. Zack asked the prepared questions about foreign currency storage, policy, and access, and Michelle lead him to another similar room set apart from the bank’s main vault. She even handed him the key to the locker.
They trusted him. All he needed to do was have insider knowledge, a badge that identified him as someone from True North, and the bank acted as though everything was perfect.
Zack explored the room where the foreign currency was held, noting that they had even stored some ancient ATM’s in the room, along with the boxes and shelves of old stuff from the eighties and nineties that was completely obsolete.
Zack found the ledger where the bank logged the foreign currency deposits and withdrawals. They had made a more recent deposit, three weeks ago. Prior to that, the last entry was five months before. Zack made a note of each thing that he saw for the false audit, and then took out the Drumheller SecurBag. It was heavier than the Three Hills one, which made sense because Drumheller was a bigger town that saw more tourism.
Zack dumped the contents into his own SecurBag and put the empty one back in the storage locker.
It felt mundane. Zack looked around the room and noted that the video surveillance in the foreign currency room was obsolete. Old cameras in the corners pointed nowhere. Zack saw that the one that actually would have captured him robbing the bank was completely unplugged.
He put everything back the way that he’d found it and rolled his luggage out into the bank’s foyer.
“Thank you Michelle and team. I hope you have a wonderful day!” he said.
The tellers and Michelle waved at him and Zack waved back as he walked towards the exit. He wasn’t sure if a bank robbery had ever gone so well—
“Oof!” A voice said. Zack had run right into someone and bowled them over.
“Are you alright?” Zack asked. He put out a hand and helped the man he’d knocked over up.
The man groaned and got to his feet. “Thank you…Zack? What are you doing here?”
Zack felt his stomach plummet. His mouth had gone dry and his mind raced, trying to come up with some kind of answer. It was Bernard, his dad’s closest friend. He had known Zack since he was a kid. He wore sneakers and jeans, with his trademark tucked in t-shirt that had some punny quip on it. This one said, ‘it’s a great day to play with my wood’ overtop a picture of a pile of lumber.
Bernard stared at Zack with an incredulous look on his face. “Zack?”
Michelle and one of her bank tellers had walked over to make sure Bernard was okay. “Are you alright, sir?” Michelle said. And to Zack, “Do you know this man?”
Zack gulped. He let out a nervous chuckle and clapped Bernard on the shoulder. “This is an old family friend of mine, Bernard.”
Bernard waved and smiled at Michelle, but Zack could see his mind processing. “Hi. I’m alright, thanks. Zack, is everything okay? Have you spoken to your family? They are worried sick!”
Michelle’s face bunched up. “Zack? Who is that?”
Bernard pointed at Zack. “He—”
“Zack is my first name,” Zack blurted, “I go by my middle name these days.”
Michelle’s expression had morphed into suspicion. “Ryan…what is going on?”
Zack smiled. “Everything is fine, Michelle. Bernard, tell my family not to worry. I’ll be in touch soon. Have a great day!”
He turned and left Bernard standing with Michelle in the bank. The automatic doors whisked open and Zack hurried to the Corolla.
Sydney was wearing headphones that she pulled down around her neck as Zack stuffed the luggage in the back and hopped into the car. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Zack grunted as he shifted in his seat and yanked at his seatbelt. “I just ran into someone I knew. We gotta skip town.”