Chapter 0004

Darcy walked up the stone steps and entered the Bank to be greeted by a security guard.

‘Afternoon, Miss,’ he said politely. ‘How can we help you today?’

There was not much he could help her with, unless he knew how to freeze time and blast two armed men into oblivion. She smiled to herself before replying.

‘Hi,’ was all she could say, before casually walking toward the information desk.

The man behind the desk was a big beefy man with hardly any hair, and he did have an exceptionally large mustache, which made Darcy smile. Her appearance was thin and she had nearly twice the amount of black hair growing down to her shoulders, which came in especially useful for different hairstyles. He grinned at her and his thin mouth formed a smiled behind his mustache.

‘Howdy Miss,’ was all he said as he eyed her up and down. If Darcy had to guess, she would say he was in his fifties, although the lack of hair and greasy mustache made him look older. He stared at her, which creeped Darcy out. But she put on the charm.

‘Howdy to you,’ she replied with a giggle. ‘I’m interested in a safety deposit box, but I know absolutely nothing about it.’ She played the dumb girl very well and kept giggling all the way through as she sat down,

‘Well there Missy. You’ve come to the right place. Do you have an account here?’

She eyeballed the name on his desk as he spoke. Phill McIntosh. He had two ‘ll’s’ in his first name. Was he making a statement?

‘I don’t think so?’ She paused, hoping that her naivety would come across. ‘You see, I’m not particularly good with numbers and don’t really visit banks.’

Phill looked at her while stroking his mustache.

‘Ok. That’s no problem. I can help you.’ He leaned in close from across the desk and instantly the smell of tuna hit Darcy in the face. This guy must like it a lot.

‘Oh! That’s so kind of you,’ was all she could think to say.

‘First thing. Do you have any I.D?’

This was going to be a problem. Even if she did, Darcy Freeman did not exist yet. She smiled cheekily at him.

‘Silly me. I’ve left everything at home. I didn’t think it was important.’ She giggled again, trying to stop herself from being physically sick.

He smiled.

She smiled back. Phill looked at her for what seemed like an eternity. Her instinct told her to get up and leave, but Darcy held her cool.

‘Well, well. There’s not much I can do without I.D. I need to set up an account before giving you a box.’

‘I’m so stupid.’ Darcy buried her hands in her face, trying to act all sad, as if she would burst into tears at any moment.

‘Now!’ Phill stretched over and placed a clammy hand on top of hers. ‘No need to think that. Let me see what I can do.’ He stood up sliding his damp fingers across hers. She was going to be sick.

Phill had left, leaving Darcy feeling slightly nauseated, but he was off to see what he could do. She looked around the bank, watching the tellers from behind the glass and people coming and going. Benjamin Franklin had once said, ‘Remember that time is money’. Watching the activity around the bank, it seemed money was all that mattered and not a moment should be wasted. Her thoughts quickly came back to the plan. More importantly, had the security thugs arrived to stop her. She hoped Phill could help. Darcy could hide the device in the safety deposit box and wait. ‘Was that It? Doesn’t seem an exceptionally good plan’.

Phill had returned with his grimy mustache and moist hands. He was holding papers in his hand.

‘You’re in luck Missy.’ He slid the papers across the desk toward her.

‘I spoke to the bosses and they agreed to let you have one, but you are gonna have to provide some details about yourself.’

Darcy picked up the paperwork and scanned down the form. Name, address. Profession. Reasons for use. She looked at Phill, with a big smile. He had no idea.

‘That’s so nice of you Phill.’ As she said his name his mustache lifted as he formed a creepy smile. He passed her the pen.

Of course, Darcy lied when filling out the form. She had always seen herself as Paige, Paige Wilde. This was a wild plan. At present she lied about living at Harry’s place and used that address as her own. Hopefully, he had never been there. Profession? She hesitated for a moment and Phill noticed.

‘Don’t worry if you’re unemployed, just put that down,’ he said to her.

Darcy did not look up, she put down Nurse. Why Nurse, she was not sure? But Paige Wilde was a great nurse. Her reasons? Catch guys from the future who wanted to kill her as she was a time travelling thief. But Phill did not look like he could handle that. So, she put, ‘store family heirloom.’

She slid the paperwork back after signing her name. Phill looked it over and stood up.

‘Ok, Miss Wilde. Follow me.’

Darcy obediently got up, following Phill as he walked towards the stairs. She had better come up with a better plan than just wait.

Unbeknownst to Darcy, Four blocks away, a light appeared down an alley, like the one Darcy created when she arrived in 1980. A blinding light struck the ground, generating an orange energy field. For two seconds, bins rattled, rubbish flew away in the gust, and as quickly as it arrived, the light and energy field were gone. The two security men were back, beginning the hunt for their prey.