A.I. Evolution: The Fall of Lucien

Chapter 41

Alan'd stands behind the police car and stares at the front door of the bank for a moment. "I have to find out what is going on in there and who this person is that thinks she can hold off the entire police force and get away with it."

He turns to see the eyewitness still standing off to one side on the sidewalk, when he gets an idea. He motions her over. "What was your name again?"

The young girl jumps at the sudden question aimed at her. "Lucille, sir."

Alan'd smiles at her to put her at ease. "It's OK, you're not in trouble. How old are you and where do you live?"

Lucille relaxes and smiles back at him sweetly. "I am eleven and I help out in the kitchen at the clinic around the corner."

"I see," smiles Alan'd. "Did you manage to see anybody strange entering the bank this morning? Say a young woman that seemed nervous or looked around strangely before entering the bank."

Lucille steps forward off the sidewalk to the police car. "There was a woman with a large cloth slung over her shoulder. She had stopped and looked around just as you said before entering the bank."

Alan'd smiles, as he thinks. "Finally, maybe we are going to get a break." He looks up to get Paul's attention, and motions him over, before turning back to Lucille. "Did you get a good look at her face?"

"Oh yes, she is very beautiful, with long blond hair, and pure white skin."

Paul stops beside Alan'd. "What do we have, sir?"

Alan'd smiles at him. "It seems this young lady got a good look at our shooter before she entered the bank." He turns back to Lucille. "Could you describe her to a police artist for us?"

Lucille brightens right up at the chance to help the police. "Oh, yes, I could do that, thank you for letting me help. She won't be killing anybody else, will she?"

"That is what we are trying to prevent, Lucille."

Paul takes Lucille's hand and guides her around the corner of the street where they have set up their command center out of sight of the bank and introduces her to Cathy the sketch artist.

Alan'd watches them go before turning and heading to the van to check on the technician's progress. He opens the door and steps into the tight quarters. "Any luck, George?"

George looks up to him. "No, at least not with getting any signal from the cameras inside, but I do have a plan."

"Let me guess. You want to get our own camera situated so we can observe what is happening inside."

George smiles at him. "Yes. I have researched the building plans, and it seems that there is a thin wall between the coffee shop next door and the lobby of the bank. It was a small window before the coffee shop was built, and it seems that it was just boarded up. It would only take a second to drill a small hole through the wall, so we can slip a small camera through and get a clear picture of what is happening."

Alan'd smiles happily. "Good, how long will it take to set it up?"

"About half an hour. The wall is very thin, and the drill will have to turn very slow, so it does not cause the wall to vibrate."

"OK, get on it. We have to know what is happening inside," states Alan'd, frankly.

He leaves George to his task and rounds the corner to the command center. The tent is a flurry of activity as men prepare for an assault on the main doors if need be. He goes to the far corner where Lucille is pointing at the picture the artist is drawing. "The face is a little narrower and the nose is long and perfectly shaped."

Alan'd steps up and looks down on the electronic tablet that Cathy is working on. "How is it going?"

Lucille looks up at him all smiles. "This is fun. I have never been part of anything so exciting before."

"It would be even more exciting if we could identify the woman in the bank," he smiles.

Cathy makes the changes that Lucille had indicated. "Is that what she looked like?" as she turns the screen towards Lucille.

"Yes, that's her," says Lucille happily. "Who is she?"

Cathy looks at the picture. "I will start searching for people that are close to this image and then we can narrow it down."

Alan'd looks closer at the picture. "It does not make any sense, but I would pull up an image of Helena Rembrandt, the daughter of Joseph Rembrandt."

Cathy punches away at the tablet and soon has a picture of Helena filling the small screen and shows it to Lucille. "That's her," says Lucille, excitedly.

Alan'd stares off into space for a moment, trying to figure out what Helena could be doing. Cathy speaks up into the silence. "Isn't her father in trouble for what he authorized the attendants to do to the mental patients in the clinics he owned and operated all over the city?"

Lucille looks from one to the other. "He is her father. He owns the clinic I work at. The other workers talk about him and the terrible things he had them do to the poor patients. He is a very bad man."

Alan'd continues to stare off. "Yes, he is, but what does his daughter have to do with it and why is she holding up a bank. Her father owns half the buildings around Vatican City; he has more money than just about anybody else in the country."