Chapter 5

"Do you take this woman," the pastor intoned, "to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, from this day forward?"

"I do." Those two simple words that I would not regret for as long as I lived: I do. With the blessing of the minister, I gently took my new bride into my arms and kissed her with great joy.

The final days leading to the wedding were busy and along with my work being rushed, I was coming home exhausted each night. Sam was a boundless bundle of energy and I was just getting by on a few hours of sleep each night.

My vacation began the day before the wedding and I started the day out with a trip to the gym. After a workout I felt terrific and quite prepared for the next couple of long days. While Sam was still at school, I went over to her house and talked her mom into letting me get most of the rest of her clothes and belongings that needed to be moved over to what would be our new home.

Finished with that, I went to the grocery store and picked up a bouquet of flowers and a card for Sam. A surprise for her was just the ticket to refresh and energize me. I stopped at the school office and checked in with the secretary before making my way to Sam's classroom.

I opened the door and made my entrance to the giggles and titters of a group of third-graders. With a big grin on my face I presented Sam with her flowers and introduced myself to her students.

"What are you doing here?" Sam whispered loudly, trying to regain control of her classroom.

"I just wanted to see you and give your students a chance to see the man you are going to marry tomorrow; anything wrong with that?"

I spent a few more minutes talking with the kids and answering questions about how we had met. It was a real treat to see how much the students looked up to my wonderful Miss Morse.

The rest of my afternoon was taken up with getting my tuxedo and making sure that I had everything wrapped up for our honeymoon trip. I made sure that my suitcase was packed and the airline tickets were safely stored in my carry-on bag. I went over to my bank and made sure I had all of the traveler's checks. While I was there, I took in the signature cards for my checking and savings accounts that added Sam. The banking officer told me that all Sam would have to do is stop by and show her identification to pick up the new credit and ATM cards that I had ordered for her. With that finished I was ready to leave.

As I got up to leave, three men ran in to the bank and announced a robbery; motioning for everyone to hit the floor. As they displayed their guns, each teller and bank officer moved back from there desks and counters not hitting the silent alarm for fear of getting shot.

My movement to hit the floor was coupled with a quick roll under the nearest desk. As I sat there I heard a shot ring out and the robbers call for everyone to drop their cell phones and slide them across the floor. I guess that they wanted to take no chances. Of course, that didn't apply to me. I was pretty sure that they didn't see me or where I had hidden.

I pulled my cell phone off of my belt and sent a quick text message to my Uncle Bill letting him know the situation. I turned the volume down on my phone to make sure that any messages that came in were silent. Within a minute, a message returned stating that help was on the way and asking me the number of suspects and how where they armed.

I gave as quick an update as I could. Sending text messages was not easy cramped under a desk with the fear of being found out making me so nervous. With the message sent, I tried to calm my breathing and think of my next move. A message from my uncle returned saying that they had five units getting in position, for me to not do anything at all to give away my location and to send him a message if it sounded like the situation changed or the robbers were about to leave. You could feel the tension in the room as the crooks collected the cash from the tellers and prepared to leave. The first two headed out the door as the third covered them. I sent the message to Uncle Bill and, from my hiding place, took a look at the door as they departed.

As soon as the first two got out of the door they were grabbed and shoved prone on the ground with weapons pointed at them. The third robber, who had remained inside, looked at the scene that played out before him. I could see him stop for a moment as his buddies were taken into custody. That moment of hesitation looked like a good chance for me to act. I didn't think much about it when I moved out from under the desk and grabbed a stapler from that desk while moving toward him.

He turned around; I guess planning to hold the rest of the bank hostage, caught my movement from the corner of his eye and started to swing his handgun in my direction. In these moments it seemed that time had gone into slow motion. While he was trying to get a bead on me I found my arm in action swinging that stapler right at the crook. The handgun discharged, I felt the ballistic whoosh of the bullet as it passed by my ear.

I ducked and continued toward the robber as the stapler connected solidly with his skull. He reflexively reached up with his hand to soothe and assess the damage. I powered into him with all my weight causing both of us to hit the floor. As we hit, I had the presence of mind to note the location of the gun and was able to bring my foot around to his gun hand and apply a powerful down kick on his wrist, separating the gun from his hand.

All of this action took about fifteen or twenty seconds and by the time I had tackled and kicked, a couple of police officers had entered the door with their guns trained on both of us. Shouts, curses and commands followed and I soon found myself staring down the barrel of a shotgun. The only move I knew to make was obedience. I tried to calm myself and relax as the officers tried to sort out the situation. My Uncle Bill was the next one through the door and shouted a command to the officer detaining me that I was not the suspect.