by Julia Bright
Megan made a beeline to the back of the room on the left side. She pushed open a door and they all three went in. He made an assessment of the closet and shook his head.
“The walls are sheetrock. Bullets will rip through this. We need something more solid. Come on.”
He led them out through the dusty office to the main room. Before he stepped into the hall, he paused and listened. Nothing, no sounds. The robbers weren’t on this floor. Maybe they’d stopped below. There was no way they knew about the helicopters lifting women to safety.
“We’re going through the door at the end of the hall where Megan climbed through the vent,” he said.
Megan shook her head. “It’s locked.”
He gave her a quick smile. “Good thing I know how to pick a lock.”
“Yo, chief, looks like the bathrooms are cinderblock walls,” Ghost said in his ear.
“Thanks.”
Lorelei lifted a brow and looked at him funny. He tapped his earpiece. With a quick glance down the hall he saw they were clear. The building was set up so at the elevators the hall jogged to the side. It wasn’t a straight shot, which was good. If the idiots came through the door they’d bashed open, they wouldn’t see them in the hall without moving past the elevators. As luck would have it, the bathrooms were closer to the door where they were headed.
They moved fast, neither Lorelei nor Megan were burdened with children or injuries. Once at the door with the padlock, he turned to Lorelei and then glanced to the bathroom doors.
“Test both of the bathroom doors. We need a place to hide.”
“Sure.” Lorelei and Megan went to the bathroom and he could hear both doors opening. They would at least have a place to hide if needed.
He pulled out his multi-use tool and began working on picking the lock. It took him five seconds before the lock popped open.
“We’re golden. Let’s go, ladies.” Whisper pushed the door open slowly, making sure they were in the clear. There was no noise in the stairwell. They were going to get out of this alive.
Lorelei and Megan followed him into the stairwell. He shut the door, praying the assholes didn’t find a way through one of the halls over to this side before he got Lorelei and Megan to safety.
“Hey, Cap, I need you to make sure the cops know we’re coming up. We don’t want any surprises.”
Ghost grunted. “Sure thing. I’m talking to their commander now. They have SWAT about to enter the building.”
Whisper wanted a piece of this. “Get me on the team.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Ghost said.
“I made a commitment to rescue those men.”
Ghost’s voice stayed calm as he replied. “They may not want you in on their party.”
He grunted, wishing he could make it happen. “I know but try, please.”
Lorelei glanced back at him as they mounted the steps to the last stretch before coming out on the roof. The door opened and a guy in full SWAT gear greeted them, his rifle at the ready.
“Hands up. Rest them on the top of your head,” the SWAT guy commanded.
Megan yelped but put her hands up. Lorelei lifted her hands too. Whisper held up his hands and placed them on his head as he exited the stairwell and moved into the sun. He was well aware of possible news crews taking photos so he ducked his head and turned to face the SWAT guy. The man glanced at the women then to him.
“Cap, am I good?” Whisper asked.
“You bet. We just got off the line and you should be good to go,” Ghost said.
“Thanks.”
The SWAT guy motioned to him. “You, sir. Come this way.”
Lorelei placed her hand on his arm before he could step away. “Thank you.”
He gave a quick nod. Thanks for saving people was sometimes hard to take. He was just doing his job. There wasn’t anything heroic about his actions.
She was still there, and she hadn’t dropped her hold on his arm. Her warmth filled him. The most natural thing to do was lean in. Without any further thought, he brushed his lips over hers. The feel of her lips shocked him, but he tried to play it cool. First kisses were torture, but with this woman it felt right.
He stood tall, ending the kiss. She placed her fingertips on her lips, her eyes wide. With a quick wink, he turned and followed the SWAT team member to a tent set up on top of the building.
“Hello, Sergeant Davidson,” a man who appeared to be in charge said. “We can’t allow you to head down with our guys, but we would like your input.”
Whisper gave the man a sharp nod. There was no use in fighting them. They wouldn’t let him go, and they held all the firepower at the moment. He pointed to the diagram of the building they had laid out on a table.
“The robbers are in this stairwell, or they were two minutes ago. They have two AR-15s, one HK237, and the guy in green has a Glock. Yellow is on something. One man wearing a t-shirt, so I’m thinking he’s a customer, is down. Of course, they are dangerous, so everything could change. They were enraged I’d helped the women escape.”
“Got it.” The SWAT guy relayed what he’d told them.
Whisper turned away from the SWAT team and pulled out his phone. “I’m going to hang up, Cap. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Sounds good,” Ghost said.
He turned back to the man directing the operation and met his gaze.
“I’m Hanson. Can you tell us anything else? Anything we can use against them. Did you catch their names?”
He shook his head. “No, they were using chess piece names. King, Bishop, Castle, and Knight. King is yellow, blue is Bishop. Red was knight, and Castle was green. By the way, here’s a key to open the stairwell door here at the bottom of the stairs.” He pointed to the schematics. “Your team might need this. Also, it seems like the management company padlocked the doors. It’s hard to go through. We wrenched open the doors on four and they were open on ten.”
“Thank you. That’s good intel. Do you think you could describe them?”
He shook his head. “They had caps on and bandanas covering their faces.”
Hanson turned back to the plans and focused on what was being said on his headset. Whisper blew out a breath. He was alone for the first time since this all went down. He’d saved Lorelei, he only wished he could have done more.
While he’d been retrieving Megan, the police had begun evacuating the women. They were being loaded into a bird and flown a couple hundred yards away to an open field next to a park. Then the helicopter swung back around and picked up the next set of women. Whisper stepped to the side of the cinderblock stack the police had set up behind. He searched for Lorelei, finding her being clipped into the harness. She was talking to the police officer helping her. Then her gaze swung his way and he could see the worry on her face. The drive to keep her safe grew as his chest expanded.
The cop patted her on her shoulder and her attention turned away from Whisper. The winch on the helicopter rolled and she lifted off the roof. Emotions washed over him. She’d been so brave. The way she’d gone back into the building and hadn’t freaked out when the bad guys had been close was amazing.
He watched until Megan was in the harness being lifted to safety. The women would be interviewed before they were allowed to leave, and the cops would try to figure out if anyone helped the robbers on the inside.
Whisper stilled. He couldn’t be interviewed by the cops, or let his name get into public record. He had to keep a low profile.
His phone was already out, calling Ghost before he made a conscious thought to call him. The line was picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“We need to keep my name out of this.”
Ghost chuckled. “Already on it. Your name will be redacted.”
“Like always.”
“Yep. We’re just a bunch of black marker lines in official papers. Don’t worry, kid, we’ll take care of you.”
“Thank you, seriously.” He blew out a breath as the str
ess melted away.
“You’re welcome. Once you’re done, come to base.”
“Sure thing.” He hung up and returned to the SWAT command.
“Everything okay?” Hanson asked.
“Sure thing. Do you have a cap and something to cover my face?”
Hanson grunted and moved to a large plastic case where he pulled out a cap and black scrap of material that wrapped around and covered the lower half of his face.
“No news stations are set up high enough, and we’ve been able to keep the news out of the air with the rescue operations happening. Soon, they’ll be clamoring to get the best shot and put it on air. Vultures, all of them. They’d run into that building with us if we’d let them. They wouldn’t even consider how dangerous it was.”
Whisper snorted, thinking most news reporters would be shocked to know how his team operated. If they’d been anywhere else but here, his team would have taken these idiots out so hard and fast they would be begging for jail time.
“Where are your men now?” Whisper asked.
Hanson shook his head. “Searching. That building is freaking huge. It’s a labyrinth. We’ve tapped into the bank’s cameras and it doesn’t look like any of the men are dead. Two were shot, but they aren’t dead yet. The woman you carried up, she’s being treated. She’s already at the hospital. Her odds of making it are good.”
Whisper heard the rapid gunfire and saw the look change on Hanson’s face. The grim set of his jaw relaxing was the only sign the altercation had been favorable for the cops.
“I’d like you on a headset.” Hanson turned and handed him a radio and headset.
Whisper put it on and shoved the one for his phone into his pocket. He adjusted the volume and the earpiece so it was comfortable.
The day was warm, the sky clear, and the heat was ramping up. He stayed silent and listened to the radio. The man wearing the red bandana had been taken down. That left three of them to get rid of. He wished he were down there, but he got why they needed him to stay out of it. He didn’t know their team, and they didn’t know him.
There was no way those idiots would get out of this. They should just give up, but guys like those robbers were stupid and didn’t know what was coming for them.
It took the police another thirty minutes to clear the building. Two of the robbers, Green and Blue came out alive. After they sounded the all-clear, he and Hanson headed down to take a look. He walked the man through his movements with Megan and Lorelei.
“You’re lucky you’re still alive,” Hanson said.
“This was a cakewalk. Sure it was stressful, but the odds were better than some situations I’ve been in. Of course, I’ll deny I said that if asked. Heck, I’ll deny everything.”
Hanson chuckled. “Well, just keep that SWAT hat on and the face cover and no one will know who you are. Where did you park your truck?”
“Over at the coffee shop.”
“We’re trying to control every vehicle in the lot here, you know, checking people out. We want to make sure no one on the inside was involved with these four.”
A little worry slid through him. “You know my name will have to be washed off the official report.”
“Don’t worry. No one will know you were here. As far as anyone knows, you’re just another customer of the coffee shop caught up in the mess of evacuating people.”
“Thank you.” Ghost must have done a good job greasing the way for him. He was lucky to be in Ghost’s group, under his command.
Hanson glanced at him then continue to the lower floors. He stopped before they stepped into the main bank lobby. “I was military before I became a cop. I know there are people, men like you, who do things the rest of us would never understand. Thank you for your service. I’m sure you’ve saved people so many times it’s crazy.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I’m just a normal guy. Nothing special.”
Hanson coughed and said bullshit at the same time before opening the door to the bank. The SWAT team had been precise once they’d entered this area. Yellow was on his back, mouth open. He’d died fast and hard. Blue and Green had been tagged, but they both were alive. He and Hanson headed up the other stairwell and found Red on the sixth floor. He’d died hard too. Whisper shook his head at the waste of it all.
He finished at the bank a little after noon and one of the cops got his truck from the coffee shop parking lot and drove it to him a few blocks away and out of the view of the cameras. He stopped for a burger and ate it before he made it to the base. Once on the base, he found Ghost and the team in their usual spot.
“Whoa, you’re a hero,” Beatle said.
“What?” Whisper asked.
“Don’t worry. The people you rescued are all giving bogus descriptions of you. One lady said you were dark-skinned. Heck, you’re pale compared to me.” Beatle chuckled before he headed over to the coffee pot and poured himself a mug.
“I don’t want to be a hero.”
Ghost slapped him on the back and squeezed his shoulder. “Well, you aren’t here. You’re just another operative who saves the world time and time again.”
He chuckled a little. “That’s how I like it.”
Fletch held up his hand. “So I have to say this is the most we’ve ever heard Whisper say in one sitting.”
He rolled his eyes and moved closer to Fletch. “Shut up. I talk.”
“Sure you do,” Fletch chuckled.
“Time to get to work. Let’s go for a run,” Ghost said.
“Sounds good to me.” Whisper needed some air to clear his head. He’d kissed Lorelei. That, more than facing the bank robbers, made his heart pound and his palms sweat. Her lips had been so soft, so perfect, and he couldn’t wait to touch her again.
6
The moment Liam’s lips touched hers, Lorelei knew she was lost to him. He’d been so sure of himself. Not that she needed saving but having a man who valued himself was a nice change of pace from the needy guys she’d dated in the past year, and he was miles above her ex who had manipulated her then cheated on her.
The day was getting better, mainly because they weren’t being held by deranged idiots. She looked for Liam, but he wasn’t in the interview tent the police department had set up, nor was he at the station. All bank employees were fingerprinted and asked additional questions as a precaution. They were sure there wasn’t an inside connection with this group, but they had to be positive. It was all part of working at a bank.
The sun had dipped low by the time she arrived home. She’d exchanged numbers with Megan, hoping the girl would be okay. Megan had gone to the bank to open her first savings account. She’d wanted to go alone because as she said, she’d depended on her parents too much and needed to grow up. Lorelei thought she’d done a lot of growing up in the last few hours.
When Megan’s dad arrived, she broke down and cried on his shoulder. Lorelei told him and then her mom how brave Megan had been. They’d looked shocked.
She wished Liam had texted, but he must have been busy doing something somewhere. Before the sun went down she’d been fine, but after it was dark out, she felt shut off from the rest of the world.
Fear raced over her nerves, making her flinch at every noise. Maybe she should call a friend and have them come over. They could watch TV, maybe eat some popcorn. As she went for her phone, it buzzed, and she yelped before laughing and picking it up. She saw the text from Liam and her heart leapt. Hey, how are you doing tonight? Just checking in.
How could he sound so calm? She was freaking out, and he sounded like what happened had been an everyday occurrence. She typed in her reply with shaky fingers. It’s dark out and I’m alone. I was fine before the sun went down. I guess I’m fine now, just jumping at every noise.
She hit send before she could change the words. Telling Liam she was nervous may have been too needy. What if he thought she was too much trouble?
Want me to stop by? The question only made her slow for a few seconds. Then she hit
the Yes in the center bar of her screen before she had time to think. She didn’t want to admit that she wasn’t really that scared.
His reply came back fast. Give me your address.
She typed in her address and smiled when he said he was headed out and didn’t live far away. She checked her reflection in the mirror then picked up a little around her house. Ten minutes passed then another five. She was about to give up when there was a sharp knock on her front door. Before she opened the door, she peeked out the side window and saw Liam standing there, a small smile on his lips. She pulled the door open wide, her breath heavier than it should be.
“Hey,” Liam said.
“I feel a little ridiculous having you come over. I’m safe.”
His lips thinned and he shook his head. “I’m glad you asked.”
She glanced around his shoulder. “Is something wrong?”
“Not really, I just wanted to see you.”
“Oh.” She was staring at him and knew she should do something, but she wasn’t sure what. Then she remembered she should ask him in. Her face heated and she blew out a breath. “Um, come in.”
His lips twisted up into a deeper smile and her heart warmed. He stepped in and she took a long sniff as he passed by. He smelled good, like spice and the outdoors and man. Her muscles squeezed as desire filled her.
Liam glanced around her main room before turning his gaze on her. “I poked around the back yard and the front. No one has been in your flowerbeds, no footprints close to the house.”
She narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to the side. “How long were you out there?”
He shrugged. “Five minutes, maybe eight. I just wanted to be thorough. You need new locks on your windows though.”
She blinked, wondering if she’d heard him correctly. “New locks?”
He moved to the kitchen and pushed back the curtains. She watched in horror as he lifted the window without touching the lock.
She moved close, pushing the window closed before opening it. “I thought it was locked.”
“It should be, but it’s not. I just need to install a new locking mechanism. For now, I have some wood dowels in my truck bed, those should block the window so no one can open it.”