Grabbing and Going

It was the end of March. New York City, being in a northern part of the United States, was coming out of winter at around this time. But that was long ago for the King of Beasts. Now, they were headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, and winter had never had much of a grip here. The heat of the Nevada desert city was what Mary Bishop knew - well, as much as a pasty, bespectacled, air-conditioned inaction girl like herself could know.

"Huh. Gonna hit 88 degrees on Tuesday." she said quietly, looking at the screen behind her counter. This was Mary's "data center" - a bulky computer and security system that looked to have fallen out of 2002 or so, but was sophisticated enough to manage all of Grab-N-Go's needs. She could pull up a homepage that aggregated local news and weather, or browse footage from the three security cameras in the store - one pointed at the register, another in the back of the store by the alcoholic drinks, and a third manning the storeroom. She'd often browse the Internet during slow periods. There were very few slow days at Grab-N-Go, but no shortage of slow periods.

Of course, a slow period had to end sometime.

The man strolled in, looking nervously around. He had a ski mask covering his features, and you'd only wear a ski mask in the heat of Vegas for one reason. Mary looked him over as he hesitated again. The nervousness, the pauses, and he was shaking. Whoever this guy was, he was new at this. She calmly extended one hand under her counter, flipping a switch, and continued to watch the masked man.

Finally, he came to a decision upon realizing the store was empty aside from Mary and himself, and he did what Mary knew he would do and pulled out a weapon. A standard-issue pistol. Nothing crazy, but more than enough to kill Mary easily. He brandished the gun, forcing out the words "Th-this is a holdup! Open the cash register!"

Mary complied.

"C-count it out!" he sputtered, waving around the gun. Mary rolled her eyes internally - the lack of experience with a gun was blatantly clear. Absolutely a first-timer, for sure. She counted out the money, totaling to five hundred and sixty-seven dollars and 48 cents, and slid it across the counter. He snatched it up sloppily, coins scattering in his grip, and he turned and ran out of the store. Mary closed the register and opened a new window on her PC. She noted the message that popped up and began to type.

-All clear?
-All clear. Took the bait.
-Description?
-White male, about six feet. Wore a ski mask, had a pistol, was extremely nervous. No gun training.
-We got him on radar. Thank you.

The police nabbed the robber less than five minutes later. The tracking chip embedded in one of the bills was barely needed, but it was good insurance against smarter criminals. And, of course, all of the money save the change was counterfeit.

Mary knelt down, double-checking the real cash register that was placed directly below the decoy one. Several thousand in assorted bills, all accounted for as usual.

-Mary? We got him.
-Great. Can you get my play money back to me when you get a chance?
-Of course. Thanks again.
-No, thank you.

Grab-N-Go didn't get robbed very often.

There were reasons for that.