Lewis Security

by Glenna Sinclair

  “Sure. Anything worth doing is worth doing right. And if it wasn’t for you coming back that night, I’d be in the clear. They don’t have a single damn clue that I did it. Not one.”

  “You’re right. They’re clueless. I’ve gotta hand it to you. You did a good job.”

  “I know I did.”

  “How did you get in without a record of your key card being used?” I asked. “I mean, just out of curiosity.”

  “Oh, that was easy. The same person who hacked into the security system hacked into that, too. All they had to do was delete my entry. Piece of cake.”

  Something stirred in my memory. “Did you ever leave tonight, or did stick around, waiting for me?”

  “I stuck around. I didn’t want to miss you coming back.”

  “What if I had come right back? What if I missed my wallet right away?”

  “Then I would’ve pretended I found it lying around somewhere, no big deal. I’d have to find another way to corner you.” Damn. I was hoping if he came back in, there would be a record of his re-entry. Even if he managed to do something to the security footage, there would at least be proof that he’d been there at the same time I was.

  “Gotcha.” I looked at the camera again and felt the clock ticking down on my life. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. He was teasing me again. Twisting the knife. Why didn’t he just get it over with? Not that I wanted him to. I wanted to buy myself as much time as possible. “So, what’s the point? Why bother cornering me? Are you going to try to pay me off?”

  His silence startled me at first, but not half as much as the donkey bray of a laugh he let out once my words sank in. “Son of a bitch, I never thought I’d hear something like that come out of your mouth! Suggesting I could pay you off for your silence!”

  “Well? Why not? I could use the money, and you took plenty. I’d like to do a little traveling, maybe even go back to school—or, hell, pay off my student loans. I could really use help with that.”

  “And you would accept the money in exchange for your silence?” he asked.

  “Of course.”

  “But the cops think it was you because you haven’t given them anybody else to go after. Isn’t that true? How could I trust that you wouldn’t turn on me just to save your own neck?”

  “I’m sure we could come up with a story for me to tell them. You’re smart enough to pull this off, so I know you’re smart enough to spin a story of what I saw that night. Meanwhile, your alibi is solid.” Something occurred to me. “How did you get all those pictures from the bachelor party if you weren’t there?”

  “Just because I posted them to social media doesn’t mean I was there. I had my buddy text them to me, and I put them up like I took them. That, plus the few pics that I was in, made it look like I was there all night.”

  “Wow. I never thought about that.”

  “Besides,” he added, “everybody was so drunk, I doubt they would remember me disappearing for a little while.”

  “It’s the perfect cover.”

  “It really is. As soon as my friends decided on that night for the party, I knew it was time.”

  “You did a great job. You really thought of everything, didn’t you?” It was unnerving, hearing his footsteps, knowing he was walking around back and forth behind me but being unable to look. What was he doing?

  “I had to, didn’t I? You don’t rob a bank without thinking everything through, down to the last detail.”

  “Agreed. I know I couldn’t pull something like this off in a million years.”

  “There was just one thing I didn’t plan on. One thing I couldn’t have foreseen, you know?”

  Ice filled my veins. “I’m sorry I messed things up.”

  “You didn’t—not really. I still got what I wanted. But you’re a loose end now. Up to this point, I was relying on your memory blanking out. But that won’t be the case forever, will it?”

  “Who knows?” I asked. “I might have forgotten forever. I might have blanked out to protect myself, something like that. I don’t know how my brain works.”

  “Right—but I can’t take that chance, can I? I should’ve known Little Miss Perfect would be the one problem in my perfect plans. I’m sorry, but this is just something I have to do.” He stopped pacing directly behind me. I felt his breath, hot and sour, on the back of my neck. He heard fabric rustling as he pulled something from somewhere. A weapon? The world started going gray…

  Wake up! The voice was a scream in my head. Not my voice, either. His. Marcus. Stay awake! Don’t let him do this to you! But what was he trying to do? That was the problem. I had no way of knowing what I was defending myself against. I did have to stay conscious, though. That was one thing I could control.

  “You’re distraught,” he murmured.

  “I’m what?”

  “You’re distraught. You just found out the cops think you did it. The big guys at the bank think so, too. On top of all that, George is with them. He doesn’t want you around anymore. He doesn’t trust you. And you always did everything you could to be a good little assistant, didn’t you?”

  The sound of his voice made me sick. He thought I was such a joke. I always knew he resented me for always coming first in George’s eyes. He wanted to be the star, the one everybody looked up to, the one on his way to bigger and better things. What I didn’t know was how he hated me—in fact, I’d always sort of thought he wanted to hook up with me and only teased because he liked me. How off-base could a person get?

  “So what do you want me to do?” I asked.

  “I want you to sit here like the good girl you are and let me do this. I mean, it’s not like you have a choice. I would rather it be this way, but we can do it another way if we have to.” Hard, cold steel pressed against my temple. I whimpered. “Trust me. Either way, there’s only one outcome for you.”

  “Please, don’t.”

  “Do you think I want it to be this way?” His hand shook almost as much as his voice. “I don’t want to kill you. I don’t want to kill anybody. It was never supposed to be this way, damn it. I tried for months to take a little bit here and there through the computer. Just a little bit, something the customers wouldn’t miss. But then they pulled that audit six months ago. Remember?”

  “Yeah, I do,” I whispered.

  “I knew I couldn’t keep up with that. I already came too close to getting caught. So I had to do it the old-fashioned way.”

  “Why, though? Why do it at all? What’s so important that you had to keep trying?”

  “Let’s just say I owe a lot of scary people a lot of money, okay? The stuff I stole before was enough to get some of them off my back, but not all. I’ve been giving them everything I can for as long as I can, but I’ve had to borrow from other people to cover it. You wouldn’t believe the mess I’m in.”

  “Oh, Peter…”No wonder he was so desperate. “How did you manage to go through your life when you knew this was hanging over you? I never would’ve known.”

  “That was the point. You don’t walk around telling people you owe money to loan sharks. It’s not something to be proud of. I would’ve lost my job—who would trust me to work in a bank? And I needed the job so I could have access to the money.” The gun pressed even harder against my temple. “Don’t tell me you feel sorry for me, because I know you don’t. Nobody’s that fucking nice, Lauren.”

  “But I do feel sorry for you,” I whispered. “I’m sorry you had to live like this for so long.”

  “Shut up! Stop talking!”I squeezed my eyes shut and a single tear rolled down my cheek when he almost punched the gun into my temple. “Just stop. I don’t want your sympathy.”

  I nodded. Saying anything else was too risky.

  “I’m gonna have to do this,” he whispered. “I need to shut you up. I’m sorry. I really am. You shouldn’t have come back that night.”

  No. I’m too young. There’s too much I have left to do. I thought I had so much more time—sixty years, maybe seventy. Time
to travel and fall in love and have babies. How was I supposed to know I didn’t have time to do all those things? My heart screamed out for more time. I saw things flashing before my eyes—happy moments, sad moments, moments I would never have again. And Marcus. Talking with him, kissing and holding him. I wouldn’t get to tell him how sorry I was for our fight. I was wrong to take my desperation out on him. I should’ve told him how I felt when I had the chance. He would never know how happy I was every time we were together.

  Even behind my closed eyelids, I could make out flashing lights.

  “What the hell?” The pressure on the side of my head relaxed, and I dared open my eyes to see a miracle. Red and blue light flooded the room. The cops were there. How did they know? It didn’t matter as long as they were there and they were going to help me.

  I sneaked a look up at Peter. He was soaked with sweat, and his eyes were wide and wild. “What the hell are they doing here? Did you bring them here?” He jabbed the muzzle of the gun at my head.

  “No! How would I even know I needed them?”

  “You must’ve told them something. Or that fucking boyfriend of yours! He brought them here!”

  He was right. Marcus was out there somewhere. He was watching. Hope bloomed in my chest even though I told myself not to let it. He was capable of anything.

  “He isn’t my boyfriend. And he didn’t even know I was coming. The police—maybe they saw that I swiped in—”

  He closed his eyes. “Shit. Goddamn it!” By this time, his shirt was plastered to his back with sweat. He was losing control, if he ever had it in the first place. I cringed and tried to cover my head as he waved the gun wildly, not paying any attention to where it pointed. He could blow my brains out without even trying.

  Marcus! You’d better get in here fast!

  Chapter Twenty-Three – Marcus

  “What’s taking so long?” I got out of the car and ran to the line of cops standing at a distance from the bank. “We need to get in there and get her out. Here.” I handed over my laptop so a handful of them could watch as Peter waved the gun around.

  “I don’t know why you’re using the word ‘we’, kid.” A fat, old cop who looked like he was a little past retirement age sneered at me.

  “I know the building. I know how to get in without barging through the front. What were you planning to do? Walk right in?”

  “Maybe, kid. Listen, Montez’s squad might deal with you, but we don’t have to.”

  He spoke too soon, though, because Ricardo squealed up to the scene seconds later. “Looks like you do,” I fired back. He wasn’t worth my time, anyway. I ran to where Ricardo was climbing out of his car.

  “I’m going in,” I said.

  “No, you’re not.”

  “Yeah, I am. Your SWAT team’s not here yet, and we might not have enough time.” I followed him to where my laptop sat on the trunk of one of the cop cars. “Besides, I’ve been watching this guy for weeks. I know him. I know how he thinks. If I have to, I can talk to him.”

  “I’d rather do the talking.”

  “Fine, so let me go in from the back and surprise him. You know I can handle this.” He stared at the monitor. “Ricardo. We don’t have time to wait for a team to get here. She doesn’t have time. He’s losing it.” I jabbed a finger at the screen, where images of Peter ranting and pacing and swinging the gun around proved my point.

  “Montez, you can’t seriously be thinking about letting this guy inside. This is a hostage situation,” the fat, old cop argued.

  “We don’t know what it is until we talk to him. He lured the girl there. It wasn’t so they could talk over bank records,” Ricardo countered.

  “But we’re here. He’s gotta know he’s surrounded. What’s he gonna do, blow her brains out anyway?”

  I made a move for him, but Ricardo stepped in front of me. “You can stand down at any time,” he barked at the cop. Then, he looked at me. “All right. You armed?”

  “Always.” I slid my Glock from the waistband of my jeans.

  “Okay.” He looked around. “I want three officers providing backup to this agent. He gives the commands back there.” He handed me an earpiece, and I clipped a mic to the collar of my shirt. “Go get her.”

  I could hardly believe I was doing it. Me, who’d never done anything like that before. Running around to the back of the building, using the code I had set to unlock the heavy metal door. Not exactly the same as sitting behind a desk, watching things happen. “There’s a small supply room to the right of this door,” I whispered to my would-be team. “I’ll go first and make sure we’re not in his line of sight, then you three can follow when I signal you and duck inside. If he sees any of us coming in, I want it to be me.”

  What would he do when he saw me? Would he hurt her? Maybe worse? Would he do it just because it was me in there and not some random stranger? There was no time to wonder where he was in his head. I opened the door without a sound and slipped inside, gun raised.

  “What am I supposed to do now?” His voice was shrill. “You’re the smart one, right? What am I supposed to do?”

  “I don’t know.” She sounded more together than he did. “Maybe you should try to get away while you still can. They’re probably only out there because I’m here, and I’m not supposed to be. They don’t even have to know you’re here, you know?”

  She was so damn smart. But was he crazy enough to buy it? I kept my back to the wall and made sure we were clear before waving the other guys in. They ducked inside the supply room. I held up a hand to keep them in place while I slid along the wall and looked out around the corner.

  She was still at the desk. He was walking in a circle, still holding the gun. I looked back at the cops and motioned to show them I was going to stay close to the floor. I crouched down, then went to the closest desk and hid behind it.

  “If you go now, they’ll only think I was here when I shouldn’t have been. They don’t have to know you were ever here tonight, Peter. You can still get away. You have your money.”

  “But I can’t be sure you won’t tell them about this. When they’re questioning you, asking why you can back and why you don’t remember anything from the night of the robbery, how do I know you won’t dime me out then?”

  “You’ll just have to trust me,” she said. “It’s your best option right now. You stick around here with a gun and they’ll know you’re guilty of something. Otherwise, you’re free and clear.”

  “I don’t trust you,” he spat.

  “You don’t have a choice but to.” Her voice was strong and clear. I could tell from the way his voice echoed that he was further away than before, so I took a chance and poked my head out just slightly, so she could see me but he couldn’t. The movement caught her eye, and she turned her head far enough to see me. I gave her a thumbs up, then moved my hand in a rolling forward motion. Keep going, I tried to say.

  She sounded even more sure of herself when she spoke again. “At the very least, get a head start. I’ll hold them off as long as I can, Peter. I promise you that. But you’re wasting time. They’re going to come in soon.”

  “Like they’re not waiting out back for me right now,” he spat.

  “You have to take that chance. Please, Peter. The longer you wait, the less chance you have of getting away. You can do whatever you want now. You can leave the country, even. Someplace nobody will ever find you. You have more than enough money to do that, right?”

  “Yeah.” He was starting to come around.

  “So do it. Get away. Go, now.”

  “Why are you being so nice to me? You don’t owe me anything.”

  I was watching when she answered. “Because you got in trouble and you didn’t know what to do. That’s not your fault. People make mistakes all the time. But this? What you’re doing now?” She looked over at me, and I gave her another thumbs up. All she had to do was convince him to come my way.

  “What are you looking at?”

  I froze. So
did she.

  “What?” she asked. Her eyes shifted back to where he stood.

  “I asked what you were looking at.” Fuck! His footsteps were slow, deliberate. And coming in my direction. There was only one thing to do to make sure he didn’t turn on her again.

  I slid the Glock in my waistband and stood up, hands in the air. “She was looking at me.”

  “Marcus, don’t!” She made a move like she was about to jump out of the chair. I shook my head and kept my eyes on him.

  “I should’ve known you couldn’t let her go,” he sneered. “Of course, you couldn’t mind your own business.” He looked at her. “And you tried to tell me he wasn’t your boyfriend.”

  “Hey!” His head swiveled at the sound of my voice. I had to hold his attention. “I’m your problem now, not her. I’m the guy who could stop you.”

  “But you won’t.”

  “Won’t I?”

  He shook his head. “You’re just some pathetic nerd who wants to be a hero. You don’t have what it takes to stop a bullet.” He moved the gun around, focusing it on my body at all times. “Where should I shoot? What would you miss the least?”

  I took a step back to put a little more space between me and Lauren. He was too busy threatening me to know what I was doing, so he followed me.

  “You just had to come in and ruin everything, right? I was gonna go. I was gonna leave and she’d be fine.”

  “She wouldn’t be fine. She would be providing cover for you.” Another step. He followed. I caught sight of her watching us from the corner of my eye. She was terrified, frozen in place. Just run, I thought, but I had a feeling she wouldn’t. She was stubborn like that. I took another step back, away from her and closer to the three cops waiting behind me. He followed.

  “Here’s the way this is gonna go,” he growled. “You’re gonna get the hell out of my way so I can get out of here. I’ll leave you with your life.”

  “Okay. We can do it that way.” Another step.

  “Stop right there.” He leveled the gun at my head. Lauren let out a groan of despair. My eyes darted to hers, then to the door. If there was ever a time for her to go, it was then. She didn’t move. I didn’t know if I loved her or hated her for it.