UNION COUNTY, N.C. -- Hostages, a kidnapping and a bank robbery -- it's all part of a bizarre chain of events even the FBI calls unusual.

Monday morning, a robber held up the First Citizens Bank in Indian Trail. A bank employee stood in tow with the armed robber, but investigators say she was a victim being held against her will.

"About once a year we might see a bank robbery as sophisticated as what we saw yesterday," said FBI Special Agent David Drew.

The bank robbery scheme started at the bank employee's home in the New Salem area. 

A Union County Sheriff's Office report shows the robbers busted in through a back door of the house. They then allegedly tied up two children before taking the kids' mother in her own SUV to the Indian Trail bank where she works. 

The two bandits were able to make off with some $25,000. However, in an unusual twist, the men took the mother back home.

"When you do see sophistication like that and that amount of planning, it also leads to quite a bit more evidence," said Drew.

Investigators have looked for evidence at the bank, the family home and the bank worker's SUV, which they found abandoned near the family home.

"These men did what they had to do to make this happen," said Chief Deputy Ben Bailey.

Bailey said his officers might have been able to intercept the bandits before they made it back to the family home.  The problem is that the 911 call came from the bank and they weren't alerted to the fact that children were left tied up at the home. 

NewsChannel 36 asked if there was any chance the victim knew her kidnappers. Bailey said he doesn't believe so.

"Obviously the suspects did know details about the victim in this case," Bailey added. "We'll exhaust our means to find out how that was possible."

There was a three-hour span between the home invasion and the time of the bank robbery.  Investigators are working to put a timeline together of all that happened during those hours.