Fiction: Bank Robbers and Invisible Guardians

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by River and hosted at her blog here. This week's prompts are: off the beaten track, cheeky old fella's goin' fishin', bouquet, marketing, cape, crease. I didn't use cheeky old fella's goin' fishin' and crease. I had used crease and then edited it out and then forgot to put it back in.

Fiction: Bank Robbers and Invisible Guardians
At 7:45 am, Austin Jane entered into Second Moon Bank's parking lot. It was a sunny, cloudless Sunday morning with a cold wind weaving through the air. Austin shivered as he closed the car windows. It was his habit to drive with the windows down. Even in freezing February, he couldn't resist the wind in his face.
    As Austin pulled into the space between a van and a truck, he thought about robbing the bank. It would be an easy job. Bank Manager Keith was too cheap to hire more guards and the few cameras were installed back in the 1990's and were never upgraded. Most of the locks on the doors could be picked with a credit card. Austin sighed and got out of his beat-up Buick. His left knee ached but he ignored it. He didn't want to rob a bank. He was just an old fella who lived a simple life and yet, why did the landlord complicate things and raised his rent by 200%? The cheek of that brat. Yet, Austin knew he could not alter anything by robbing a bank. But he would ask Keith for a raise. There was a 99% certainty Keith would say no but Austin still wanted to try the 1%. In ten months, it would be his twentieth year working at Second Moon Bank. He might just retire then.
    Inside the three-story building, it was hot and stuffy. Keith insisted on keeping the heat high during the cold season as if that would lure patrons to their bank. Austin walked passed the large cut-out of a cartoon martian with his red cape flapping behind him while he held out a shiny toaster. The bank's new marketing was: open a checking account and get a toaster, just like the good old days. Keith thought it up and he was so proud of himself that he gave himself a raise.
    Austin typed in the four digital number and entered the door marked Bank Employees Only. He put his lunch in the fridge, went to his locker, pulled off his coat and put on his suit jacket. Before closing the locker door, he took a sniff of the faded bouquet of lilacs hanging against it. He went out and stood behind his usual teller window. Keith had removed the chairs thinking his employees would be more alert but instead, being on their feet all day made them more tired.   
    It was Sunday but still, plenty of patrons came. Soon, there was a line at Austin's window. After lunch, there was a lull. Austin grew sleepy. He didn't have a good night sleep since the raised rent. But one shift in his leg and the pain in his left knee woke him. He should have noted the quietness of the place or that the two security guards were lying on the floor or that everyone was on their knees in the center of the bank. When he blinked and tried to clear his mind, a bullet went through the glass but it got struck there. Knowing Keith, he had probably chose the cheapest bullet-proofed glass. Austin watched the bullet teetered slightly and then it dropped onto the book he had been reading, Off the beaten track: Travels after retirement for dummies. 
    "I said get out here!" shouted the robber wearing a baseball jacket. He held two sacks in one hand and a gun in the other. His face was covered by a black ski mask.
    Austin got out behind the window and out toward the center of the bank where patrons and employees were kneeling.
    The other robber, wearing a denim Jacket, was by the front entrance doors.
    "Get down on the floor!" Baseball Jacket shouted while keeping the gun pointed at Austin.
    Austin started to kneel but jerked upright as pain shot through his left leg. "I had knee surgery last week. I can't bend my knee all the way until next week."
    "Will you get down!" whispered Keith near Austin.
    "I said, Get down!" repeated Baseball Jacket.
    "You moron! It doesn't matter!" said Denim Jacket. "Just let him stand!"
    "Don't call me moron, moron! It's the principle of the thing!" said Baseball Jacket. He waved his gun at Austin. "Get on your kneels or I'll shoot."
    "I tell you, it's impossible!" said Austin. What the hell is wrong with the guy? thought Austin.
    "What the hell is wrong with you?" said Denim Jacket as he came close to the other robber. "Come on, let's go! The car's here!" Both of the robbers' had large dark eyes and thin lips. Must be brothers, thought Austin. They really ought to use ski masks that showed only the eyes - much harder to be identified.
    "We're not leaving until this guy kneels." Baseball Jacket pressed the gun at Austin's head. "Get down or I'll blow your head off!"
    "I said let's go! Guy's not going to wait much longer. Now come on!" shouted Denim Jacket. He was standing by the doors again.
    "But he must kneel. It's how it should be done," said Baseball Jacket.
    "Let's go, moron!" said Denim Jacket. Baseball Jacket walked over to Denim Jacket. The two shouted at each other for a bit. Then Baseball Jacket shot Denim Jacket in the arm. Denim Jacket dropped his sacks. "You shot me?"
    Baseball Jacket laughed. "That's what you get for calling me a moron."
    Denim Jacket aimed at Baseball Jacket but Baseball Jacket ran. Denim Jacket rushed after him. Everyone started scrambling and shouting. Austin looked for a safe spot to hide but there were too many movements and the brothers weren't exactly good shooters but they were moving around so much that no place was safe. A few people got their stray bullets.
    Austin suddenly noticed a scent very close. The musky cologne, like the scent of dead mules, was unmistakable Keith. "Keith, what the hell are you doing?"
    "What do you think, Jane? You seemed to have an aversion to bullets so I'm protecting myself by staying behind you," Keith replied.
    The jerk! But it was true, every time Austin thought he was going to get shot, he didn't but he didn't want to be anyone's bulletproof vest. He tried to loosen Keith's grips around his waist but it was futile, as if Keith had grew to have the strength of a hundred. "Get your hands off me!"
    "No. I have a family and you— don't." Keith's breath blew on the hair on Austin neck. Austin did mind being a bachelor but he would never want to be in Keith's place. The way Keith talked, you would think he loved his family but everyone knew he wasn't kind to his wife or children.
    Denim Jacket and Baseball Jacket were still at it. Austin tried to loosen Keith's arm again but couldn't so he moved toward a corner wall and Keith moved with him. Suddenly Denim Jacket was pointing his gun Austin's way. Austin shifted to his left, balled his hands into fists and squeezed his eyes shut. Shots were fired. Shoutings and screams kept on. Then there was silence.
    Austin opened his eyes. A bullet fell by his shoes, followed by a few more. The bank was almost empty with a few wounded here and there. Both brothers were on the floor and unmoving.
    "Let go!" Austin shouted. He turned his head slightly behind him.
    Keith groaned. He loosened his hands around Austin's waist. Austin turned around. Keith's right shoulder was soaked with blood. "You're not bulletproofed. I've been shot," he said and slumped to the floor.
    Austin looked around and found a chair, set it upright and sank down into it. His left leg was aching like hell. Later, he would regret going to work on a Sunday. It wasn't worth the extra pay nor the promised promotion from Keith. Anyone would be foolish to believe anything Keith said. But Austin was through with Keith, with the bank and with the whole thing. No more work on Sundays and no more work.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The guardian sighed and sank down on her own cloud chair. Why was it exhausting protecting an old fella who did nothing but work and sleep?
    But Angela had to do her job or else she would be reassigned to watching brats. Those weren't fun as they tend to do more dangerous and stupid things. At least, this Austin fella was careful even if his luck kept straying him toward danger. That first five bank robberies were much easier. Angela was able to use chairs and all kind of furniture to kept Austin from getting hurt. The sixth one was going well until one of the bank robbers set the place on fire. In his haste to run out of the building, dumbass Keith pushed Austin aside and caused him to hit one of the shiny queue barrier post and broke his kneecap. Angela was too late to stop his fall. She had sleepless nights about that.
    This last one was brutal. Two idiots, who, not only did not know how to aim, but were moronic enough to shoot each other while dozens of people were about. Angela had to stand in front of Austin and took the shots. She didn't get hurt of course but it took a lot of her energy to block the bullets but one did get past and hit that dumbass of a manager. Angela would probably get scolded for that but it wasn't her fault. Not entirely.
    Often, Angela had wished Austin would move somewhere without banks or morons with guns or bank managers who didn't use his employees as bulletproof vests but Angela had no say where Austin lived or how he lived. Her job was to protect him until his final day. Angela smiled. The Austin fella wasn't ambitious but he was kind. Angela would have given Keith a bloody nose and forced him to let go.
    But there was good news. Austin was moving to a smaller home with lower rent and cutting his hours at the bank. That should make it easier for Angela, at least, until the next robbery. But now that Austin had decided to quit his job when the year is done, Angela believed her time will be even easier after that.