Type of work: Chapters of Yesterday to Tomorrow
Genre: Romance, fan fiction
Title: Yesterday to Tomorrow: Chapter Fifteen, A Chest
Author: dreamsinfiction
Fandom: Chris Cornell of Audioslave
Rating: R
Warning: violence, language


Links to Previous Chapters:
Chapter One, Ice Cream
Chapter Two, Waves
Chapter Three, A Breath Away
Chapter Four, Completely platonically
Chapter Five, Don't leave bed
Chapter Six, Not a rebound
Chapter Seven, Kaleidoscope of feelings
Chapter Eight, Shadows of memories
Chapter Nine, Ripe circumstances
Chapter Ten, Domus
Chapter Eleven, Where it all began
Chapter Twelve, A blessing
Chapter Thirteen, Just a quick deposit
Chapter Fourteen, Precious



It was the longest twenty-seven minutes of her life, waiting for her phone to ring again. Granted she had never counted twenty-seven minutes before, but that wasn't the point. And as always Chris was punctual, her phone ringing exactly on time. Catching it as it was thrown in her direction, Alyssa got to her feet, and headed to the tall Martha.

"You hanging in there, love?"

"Okay," she replied, her voice shaking some in response to the concern in his. "For now."

"Is he there? Ready to talk to the cops?"

Her eyes went to the ringleader, "You ready to talk to the authorities?"

"You will do the talking," he stated.

She had no choice but to nod in agreeance.

"Tell them I want the code to crack open the main safe," he said. "And not some fake tech sent here in an attempt to sabotage. They will explain to you over the phone how to open it."

"Chris? He wants to know how to get into the main safe. That they need to tell me how to open it," she stated. "He's not going to talk to anyone. Just me."

She heard voices in the background before he replied, "Love, I'm going to put you on speakerphone, okay? So you can hear everyone and they can hear you."

"Okay," she agreed.

"Miss Morgan, I'm Detective Smleh. We're going to get you all out of there soon, but I need you to answer some questions," another voice said.

"I can't," she replied.

"Yes, you can."

"No. No questions. Just get me the information I need. Or he'll start killing people," Alyssa stated.

The Martha chuckled, "Good girl."

"How many hostages?"

"There's fourteen of us now. The bank manager was shot," she answered, figuring it was safe to answer that.

"Ask them how long it will take to get the info," he instructed.

"How long will it take for you to get me instructions to get into that safe?"

"An hour at least."

Her eyes went to the masked man, "An hour."

"Tell him he has thirty-three minutes. And then I start killing hostages. We'll start with the grandma," he declared.

Alyssa repeated what she had been told.

"Love. I'll call you back in thirty-three minutes," Chris spoke up.

She hung up the phone, holding it out to the leader without a thought.

"You hold onto it," he stated. "And come with me."

Without a thought, she tucked her phone into her back pocket. Her eyes darted to the group on the floor before following the Martha into the vault. Her eyes looked around, noting that all the safety deposit boxes had already been opened and emptied. Past those empty mini-vaults they passed, coming to a stop behind two men, whose masks were on the floor by their feet, and a large vault.

"Do you know what's in there, Precious?" the head Martha asked.

She shook her head, "No."

"Besides about a billion dollars," he began, "that vault holds a very precious chest. One worth more than this entire country's coffers. But not because of the chest itself, but rather what's contained in it."

"What?" she asked, biting her tongue a moment later, wishing she hadn't asked.

"Dozens of diamonds and rubies. Some of them as large as your hand. And the rarest of quality. A single one of those jewels is worth billions," he claimed. "We've been following the chest on its journey from Africa, waiting for it to remain stationary long enough to retrieve it. And now we are blocked by a fucking steel door!"

One of the men working on the door, glanced over his shoulder, giving Alyssa perfect view of his face. His features she instantly etched into her mind. A mistake on his part for certain.

"Go back to the others. Return when your man calls," he ordered.

Not even bothering to pause to question, she obeyed and hurried out of the vault. She would give him no reason to brandish his gun again.

Alyssa came to a halt in the doorway of the vault. Her eyes went wide. In her abscence, one of the men decided it would be a good idea to attempt to sneak out.

It very much wasn't.

A moment later her ears were ringing as a gun sounded near her head, causing her to hit the floor quickly. Braving to look, her eyes opened slightly, looking towards the door where the man had nearly reached. Blood was splattered on the glass. He lay on his side, clutching his stomach. One of the other captives lurched to rush to him, but was instantly stopped when the gun swung to point at them.

"Everyone will remain where they are," a guttural growl came from the man behind Alyssa. "The next fool who attempts to test their own stupidity, will result in the deaths of everyone else here."

Alyssa's phone rang.

Terrified, her eyes went to the man standing over her.

"Answer it," he demanded.

She flipped it open, her shaky hand holding it near her ear.

"Love, are you all right?"

"C-chris-s," she stuttered, tears streaming down her face, "C-chris...."

"Tell him they don't get those thirty-three minutes. They get five. Then I start killing."