by Mia Taylor
Instantly, Lily was on her feet, looking at Luke’s head, her face twisted with worry.
“Let me see your head,” she murmured, keeping her voice low, lest the cons returned. Luke brushed her away, giving her a tense smile.
“You need to lie back down on the ground,” he murmured and she eyed him with confusion.
“Why?”
But he didn’t need to answer. The unmistakable sound of helicopter blades whirring overhead overtook the sound of the sirens outside.
They weren’t getting off the roof, not while there was chopper out there.
The bank robbery had officially become a hostage situation.
Chapter Three
Demands
Luke stared impassively at the four as they retreated back into the bank, their tension tangible.
I should have known these clowns were bears, he thought grimly. Not that he had invested a lot of time or energy looking into the string of robberies that had occurred over the past months, but now it all made sense.
Somehow, they hadn’t figured out that Luke was one of them but they would when they saw how fast his wound had healed.
And the girl might see it, too. What a damned disaster.
The robbers were less of his concern than the other hostages, particularly the beautiful, timid blonde who seemed more worried about him than herself.
It was fate that made me come in here, Luke realized. Catching her eye outside on his beat had not been an accident. He had acted on natural instinct, following her gaze inside.
To protect her.
It seemed ridiculous when he really thought about it, but he knew that she and the others would be in much worse a situation if he had not come in when he did. On the other hand, he was sure that the minute the robbers figured out that he was a bear, shit was going to hit the fan, to what end, he couldn’t say.
I need to get these idiots out of here before they start to panic.
“What’s going to happen?” the scared blonde asked him. Luke could see her craning her neck to see the injury which was already healing.
“What’s your name?” Luke murmured, keeping his eyes trained on the pacing four as they muttered amongst themselves.
“Lily. Lily Brenner.”
“Lily, I’m Luke.”
He darted his eyes toward her and offered her a half-smile but remained firmly between her and the robbers.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the security guard reaching into his belt.
“Don’t!” Luke hissed, his eyes bugging as he realized what the old man was intending. “Don’t even think about it!”
The guard glared at him balefully.
“I have a good shot from here,” he whispered. “And so do you!”
Luke gritted his teeth. There was no way to explain that no matter how many bullets they put into this group, it would only result in certain death for the one who shot them.
Except me. I could take shots at them, weaken them, but for how long? One of me against four of them. The odds aren’t good. And if they have silver on them, just in case…
It was a long shot that they might, but it wasn’t a risk he could take.
The ringing of the bank phone caused everyone to perk up.
“Who the hell is that?”
The question was directed at Luke, who grimaced.
“Have you never watched a movie in your life?” he demanded with some annoyance. “It’s the police. There’s your hostage negotiator.”
D and J looked at one another as if trying to decide what to do next.
“You should answer that,” Luke sighed. “Before they storm this place and take you out.”
“Shut up, Luke!” J snapped, waving his gun around erratically, and Luke willed him to look up.
“I won’t shut up,” Luke retorted, unfazed by J’s theatrics. He wouldn’t be harmed by a bullet and if they were focused on him, they wouldn’t be looking at Lily—or the guard who was still making the cop very nervous.
Think, you old fool. There’s a reason we haven’t been disarmed.
Of course, there was nothing Luke could say aloud, not without exposing them all.
“Answer the damned phone, J!” Luke exploded. “Do it!”
Abruptly, the phone stopped ringing and Luke wracked his brain to remember if the hostage negotiator would try again before they stormed the bank.
“Listen to me,” Luke hissed. “Think of a list of demands and tell them what you want.”
“They won’t give us what we want,” D snarled back. “You need to stop talking before I put a bullet in you.”
“You need to buy time,” Luke insisted. “Who do you think knows more about this, you or—”
The bullet shot out, catching D in the shoulder and sending him spiralling back. Lily screamed, her hand flying up to her mouth to silence herself, but no one was paying her any mind.
“Oh shit…” Luke muttered, spinning to fly over the guard, knowing that he was about to be riddled with gunfire.
“Get off of him!” J screamed, sounding akin to a feral animal. He hovered over Luke, who used his body to cover the quivering guard.
“I’ll shoot again!” the old man screamed and Luke resisted the urge to knock him unconscious, if only to keep him quiet.
“Move.” J’s voice had suddenly gone eerily calm.
“No.” Luke met J’s eyes and they held each other’s gaze.
“You don’t think I’ll shoot you?” J hissed. “I have no problems shooting a cop. I will—”
The phone rang again and D yelled out to him.
“Just answer the phone, J. Forget about the guard… for now.” The threat was unmistakable and they stared at one another for another minute, but J eventually turned to do what he was told.
D is in charge. Or one of the women. J is just unstable. If he wasn’t, he would have noticed that I’m a shifter already. He’s too caught up in his own mind, trying not to shift under pressure to notice anything else around him.
“Yeah?” J barked into the phone as he snatched it up. His eyes were still fixed hatefully on the guard.
“Put them on speaker!” Luke yelled. He raised his body slowly from the guard, his eyes trained on J. Lily put her hand on his arm.
“You’re going to get yourself killed,” she rasped, the fear in her voice clear. “Please, stop putting yourself between us and the guns! Stop talking to them like that!”
“What’s your name?” Luke demanded of the guard, his eyes still on J. He was trying to listen simultaneously to the conversation, one-sided as it might be.
“George.”
“George, if you fire that gun again, I will kill you myself,” Luke swore. “Am I clear?”
“I-it didn’t even do anything to him,” George muttered. “Look!”
Luke didn’t need to look.
“…have a cop in here!” J was saying into the phone. “If you don’t back off, we’ll kill him!”
He hadn’t put the call on speaker phone, leaving Luke only one side of the conversation.
“Oh God,” Lily whispered. “Oh my God.”
“Don’t stress,” Luke told her, reaching for her hand to squeeze it comfortingly. “Nothing is going to happen to any of us, all right? We’ll get out of here safe and sound.”
“How can you sound so damned confident?” George squealed. “They’re losing it!”
“George, it sounds like you’re losing it,” Luke said calmly. “Just sit still and be quiet. We’ll be out of here before you know it.”
“What’s your name?” J called out and Luke swallowed a smirk.
I already told you, you unbalanced idiot.
“Officer Ressling. Luke Ressling.”
J recited the name back into the receiver of the phone and Luke silently prayed that the negotiator was a bear, too. If so, they might have a chance of getting out of there before matters went truly awry.
“You have an hour to get us a helicopter and…” he looked desperatel
y at his companions.
“Three mil should do it,” one of the women supplied.
“Three million dollars in cash. No funny business. You know, like… uh, dye packs… or trackers, or… um… you know what I mean.”
Luke wished he would put the negotiator on speaker but there was nothing he could do about it now. The conversation was almost done and he knew that the negotiator would do whatever he was asked, especially now that they knew a cop was involved.
“Don’t call again until you have everything.”
J slammed the phone down and moved back toward George, his weapon raised, but one of the women stopped him.
“Leave them, J,” she intoned, her voice even. “Killing them is the last order of business.”
“He shot D, K!” J whined. “He can’t just—”
“You’ll do as you’re told!” K shot back and J had no choice but to heed her words. He remained in place, glaring at them from behind his mask, but Luke was starting to get a better grasp of the situation.
“You should let one of them go,” Luke suggested. “It shows good faith and you don’t need all of us, do you?”
“No one asked you!” J roared. “Shut up!”
“No, honey,” K replied, sashaying toward him, her eyes narrowing, and Luke suddenly realized he was about to be caught. “I think we’ll keep all of you.”
Luke shrugged nonchalantly.
“Suit yourself,” he replied. “But I’m saying from my experience—”
“You get a lot of experience in hostage situations working the beat, Officer?” K purred, her face close to his. Her eyebrows raised and a look of understanding crossed over her face.
And now she knows I’m a bear.
“I have a lot of experience in a lot of things, K,” he replied. She bristled at the use of her initial and even through her balaclava, he could see her jaw twitch.
She grunted in annoyance.
“Great,” she muttered and spun away. She moved toward her crew, waving them in as everyone else remained hunkered on the floor.
Luke watched as she explained the situation to the crew and the other three robbers turned to gape at him in disbelief.
“Shit!” J cried and the unnamed female punched him in the arm.
So, is this going to make matters worse or better? Criminals or not, they won’t risk exposing themselves. If they were willing to take that risk, they would have shifted and run by now.
For a moment, Luke wondered why they didn’t just make a run for it anyway. They would likely get out alive.
But that would rouse more questions and they would have left a hot trail behind. They still might if they feel trapped enough.
“What do you think they’re saying?” Lily asked, her eyes darting nervously between Luke and the others.
“They’re just trying to figure out a plan,” Luke assured her. For the first time, he realized that they were still holding hands.
“Why did she look at you like that, Luke?”
Luke cast her a sidelong look, impressed by her astuteness in noticing.
“No idea,” he lied. “Who knows how criminals think?”
I should know after being raised by dear old Dad.
Lily continued to watch him, but Luke was far too consumed with what the others were doing.
His eyes fell on the tellers, two of whom had slowly raised their eyes to look at him desperately from the opposite side of the room. They seemed to be silently willing him to do something.
I’m doing the best I can for all of us, he assured them silently, but of course they had no idea.
“Luke,” Lily breathed in his ear and he turned to look at her. “Will the cops give them what they want?”
“Yes,” Luke replied, although he couldn’t be certain. With four suspects, they wouldn’t want to risk human life by upsetting them and ensuring a kill shot while they had no outside visibility was low.
They have no choice but to send a chopper… which will probably be shot out of the sky the minute it’s in the air.
A prickle of worry twined its way down Luke’s spine. J might be impulsive, stupid even, but K and D certainly were more composed and organized.
Which means they have to know that they won’t get very far on the chopper.
Luke swallowed, knowing what he would do if he was any one of the robbers, but he tried not to think about it.
The snipers might get a shot but the bullets won’t slow them. I need to get in touch with the 22 and warn them that we’re dealing with bears. The cops are going to need to stand down or George and Lily are going to pay the price for it.
“What is it?” Lily asked and he was again struck by her power of observation.
“Hm?”
“You got a look of pure stress on your face. What are you thinking? What did you just realize?”
“Nothing,” he replied quickly. “Everything is fine.”
He felt his hand grow damp but Luke realized it wasn’t his hand that was sweating—it was Lily’s.
“You need to trust me,” he murmured. “Everything is going to be fine.”
But as he said it, he wondered if he was trying to convince himself or her.
Chapter Four
Bridezilla Returns
Something was happening underneath the stress of the situation but Lily couldn’t identify it.
She felt like Luke might know the kidnappers or that they knew him.
He’s a cop. Maybe he’s arrested them before and they recognized him? That would make matters worse for us, wouldn’t it?
Lily felt like there was a silent conversation happening, like the robbers and Luke Ressling were having a private conversation.
But it was more than that. The bruise that Luke had acquired from the butt of the gun had all but disappeared like it had been nothing more than a tap. She had seen blood on him but there was no sign of a cut anywhere.
You’re reading too much into everything because your amygdala is in overdrive. You need to breathe.
It was much easier thought than achieved, even as she continued to cling to Luke’s hand. He made no move to remove it from her clutches and she relished the slim sense of comfort it gave her.
Everyone had tentatively sat up and the robbers were far too consumed with their own whispered conversation to pay them any mind.
In fact, they seemed almost careless as they spoke amongst themselves.
That one, D—he’s not hurt by the gunshot which I know hit him. Is he wearing a Kevlar vest?
It was certainly a rational thought, but two men with miraculously healing wounds in one hostage situation…
Stop thinking. Stop overthinking.
But it was impossible. Her mind was overflowing, taking in every detail that her eyes could handle until her brain felt like it was going to explode. The adrenaline was pumping full force in her veins, causing an almost heady feeling in her head.
Luke’s confidence was unflappable, however, and she tried to suck in his stoicism.
I don’t care how much training he has as a cop—he should be panicked by this. Any normal human should be panicked by this!
The phone rang again and Lily jumped, but she realized it wasn’t the bank phone ringing. It was her cell.
“Oh…” she muttered, her face paling to a near-opaque.
The four robbers turned to look at her with anger and she fumbled to turn it off, but not before she saw it was Sasha calling. She also noted that there were four missed texts she hadn’t seen.
Lily gritted her teeth and shot the others an apologetic look, but as quickly as they had turned to her, they resumed their conversation.
“Why don’t they collect our cells? Your guns?” Lily demanded. The more she considered what was happening, the more she realized how bizarre this heist was.
“It doesn’t matter,” Luke told her and she again wondered if he knew more about what was going on than he let on.
Suddenly, the room was filled with the sound of phone
s dinging and chiming and Lily knew that their situation had made its way to the news.
“Everyone turn off your phones!” K ordered as she came to the same conclusion. “D, turn on the TV.”
She nodded toward the mounted screen on the wall. Lily shot Luke a nervous look but his attention was fixed on the television as D did what he was told.
Instantly, a newscaster appeared before them and there was no doubt that the media had caught wind of the events unfolding inside the credit union.
“…number of perps inside the building at this time nor the number of hostages,” the reporter was saying. “Demands have been made but no one has been released yet.”
“Vultures,” D muttered, shaking his head. “How do they get on the scene so fast?”
“What is taking the cops so long?” the nameless female demanded. “They should have called back about our chopper by now.”
“They will,” Luke called out to her and his assurance was met with a baleful glare. “Trust me.”
“You’ll answer when they call,” K told him. “That way, if anything goes wrong, you can consider yourself responsible.”
She grinned coldly and looked deliberately at Lily. The expression on K’s face made her blood turn to ice.
“Nothing will go wrong,” Luke replied with a flippancy which unnerved Lily. “You’ll get your money and your helicopter and you’ll be out of here soon.”
A cruel smile formed on K’s lips.
“Yes,” she purred. “We will.”
Why does she look so smug? I’d be terrified if I was her. The place is surrounded. There are cops everywhere! Even if they get on the chopper safely and fly away, they’ll be tracked and picked up…
Lily gasped when her eyes fell back on the screen.
“What?” Luke asked but she barely heard him. Her eyes widened as she stared at Sasha’s face, gushing into the camera.
“My maid of honor is inside that bank!” Sasha moaned, tears pooling in her luminous eyes. “I need her! The police are just standing around and she’s supposed to be planning my wedding!”
Lily’s mouth gaped.
Is she seriously more concerned about her wedding than my safety?
She didn’t know why that was surprising. It was typical of Sasha to make the moment about her.