Chapter
21
“What
did they do with those girls?” Howie asked suddenly.
Both
Nick and Kevin turned to stare at him.
“Huh?”
Kevin asked.
“Those
girls, the friends of one of the hostages inside. The one Brian is taking care of.”
“Oh
my God. They’re probably still outside,”
Nick said. “I can’t believe we forgot
about them.”
Kevin
got the attention of one of the nearby officers.
“Could
you go out and get those young ladies?
I’ll be the press and anyone else there who figures out that they are
involved are tearing them apart. Shit, I
can’t believe we didn’t get them sooner.”
“Sure
thing. We’ll go find them.”
“Make
sure they know what’s going on,” Kevin added.
A
few moments later, the four girls were escorted inside. They all looked shaken. Howie walked over to them.
“We’re
sorry we didn’t have you brought in as soon as they put us in here. Did they bother you out there?”
“A
little,” Ellie said.
“I
thought they were going to pay them off,” Marie spoke up flatly. “Why won’t you pay them off?”
“What
do you mean?” Nick asked, confused. “We
are. They are taking care of it right
now!”
Marie
shot him a dirty look. “No, they are
not. I don’t think a bunch of armed SWAT
teams moving in on that building means we are paying them off.”
“What?”
Kevin exploded. He whirled upon the
nearest cop. “What the fuck is going on
out there?” he bellowed.
“Take
it easy, Mr. Richards. I will get in
contact with Lt. Daniels or Lt. Stevens if you like.”
“Damn
right! I want to know what the hell is
going on!”
“Easy,
Kev,” Nick said softly, shaken at his outburst of rage.
“I
will not take it easy! That is Brian and
A.J. in there! Their lives are at stake,
and there is no way these bastards are going to screw it up.”
“Don’t
you think they know that?” Nick shouted.
“Jesus, Kevin, I’m as terrified as you are! We all know what is at risk here! They are in that building over there with
fucking guns up to their heads. Don’t
you think we realize the danger in the situation? I don’t know what is going on either, but we
have to trust that these people will do their best to get them out of
there.” Tears glistened in the corners
of his eyes along with raw emotion as his fear, worry, and rage came to a
head. Howie saw he was about to lose it,
but wasn’t sure what to do to stop it To
his surprise, Marie took care of it.
“Wow,”
she said in a voice that caught everyone’s attention. “Lila was right. You all really do care for each other I mean really care. I never quite believed her.”
Kevin
and Nick stared at her in astonishment.
Grief permeated Kevin’s green eyes, while a solitary tear ran down
Nick’s cheek.
“We’re
as close as you can be to family without actually being family,” Howie said
softly.
“I
don’t want to lose them,” Nick said quietly, doing his best to harness his
emotions. He let out a nervous
laugh. “I’m scared shitless here.”
“We
don’t want to lose Lila,” Becca said.
“And we won’t. Not as long as I’m
around.”
Kevin
managed a tiny smile. “Then I’m glad
you’re around.”
“Excuse
me,” Julie interrupted. They turned to
acknowledge the other girl. “We still
need to figure out what is going on out there.”
“Damn
it,” Kevin muttered and darted away. The
others turned to follow.
“We’re
going in,” Stevens informed them. “We
can’t wait anymore. The situation is too
fragile, we can’t risk taking any more time.
We are going to move in and get them out with force.”
“Through
the back?” Howie said skeptically.
“Yes. It will be tricky, I won’t lie, we only have those double doors to work with. But we will have people ready to move in the
front as soon as we get the ball rolling.”
“Is
this going to work?” Becca asked. She
did not look optimistic.
“I
have complete faith in the abilities of my men.”
“That
doesn’t quite answer my question.”
“This
is our best shot.”
“Why
am I not encouraged?”
A.J.
was finally released when they were convinced he was not going to cause them
trouble. Well, released involved him
being flung off of his feet and slammed into the floor. Brian cringed, but A.J. climbed back to his
feet. He refused to let them win. To Brian’s surprise, A.J. did not come over
and sit down by him, but instead plopped down over by the cashier, who was
still seated against the other wall.
Thief number two watched him suspiciously, but A.J. made a big show of
comforting her and seeing if she was all right.
Brian knew better. He was
planning something. He fought down a
rush of panic that mowed its way from his stomach to his throat. Why does he have to play the hero? he
wondered, his heart threatening to fall to his feet.
“Lila?”
he whispered. For a moment he got no
response. Then her lips began to move,
and after a moment, sound accompanied the movement.
“Why
did you lie to me?” she whispered tearfully.
Her eyes were fluttering, and she was shivering.
“Lila,
it’s Brian. Can you hear me?”
“I
didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean for it to
happen. Oh God, tell me this didn’t
happen…”
“Lila. Lila!”
He wasn’t sure if she was hallucinating or not.
“Help
me,” she moaned softly.
He
shook her, gently at first, and then more roughly. He took her hand and squeezed it. “I’m here.
I’m going to help you, but you have to help me a little too. Look at me.
Lila.” This was not good. She looked like death. Even her lips were colorless.
Suddenly,
her eyes opened wide, and she grunted in pain.
“Brian,”
she gasped out.
“Hey,
hey,” he said, letting out a breath of relief.
“I’m right here.”
“Okay…”
“Things
might start happening here in a minute, but I want you to know that I’m not
going to let go of you. We’re going to
get out of this together. I’m going to
get you out of this. I mean that. I promise.”
He wasn’t even sure if she’d heard him.
Her eyes were fluttering again, and her breathing had gotten even more
rapid and shallow.
A.J.
came over to him then, and settled down next to him.
“We
need to do this now,” Brian murmured.
“I
know.”
“What
do I need to do?”
“Get
to that exit. Hopefully both of them
will be occupied with me. Get to that
back door. Get through it. That’s your job.”
“What
about you?”
“Don’t
worry about me. I’m creative.”
“That’s
what I’m worried about.”
A.J.
smiled. It was a sad smile, and the
realization of what it meant hit Brian square in the chest, and he almost burst
into tears. It was a smile of parting, a
smile that said remember me.
“I
can’t let you do this.”
“I
don’t plan on dying B-Rok.”
“You’d
better not.” He drew in a ragged
breath. He could only pray that the
agony in his back wouldn’t slow him up too much. There was no way he could let A.J. down, not
when he was willing to sacrifice himself.
“You
know how much you mean to me Bone, don’t you?”
A.J.
looked away for a moment. He knew if he
met that gaze, and looked into those deep blue eyes, he would lose it. He couldn’t do that. Not now.
“Yeah,”
he croaked. “I know.” He opened his mouth to express the same, but
the words stubbornly refused to form.
“You
don’t need to say it,” Brian said softly.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
“Thank
you.” Those two words said more to him
than any words any one could have put together.
Brian
gathered Lila up in his arms, preparing for what the next few moments would
bring.
“Ready?”
A.J. asked. The tension in his voice was
unmistakable.
“Ready.”
“Get
away from the wall. Get out on the
floor, give yourself a clear line to the door,” he murmured under his
breath. “Use her as an excuse.”
“Okay.”
A.J.
stood and edged away from him.
Brian
struggled to push himself to his feet, an action that immediately caught the
attention of both criminals. Until that
moment, they had been more worried about the phone, and securing their money
from the outside.
“She
has to get out of here,” Brian said, allowing the desperation to leak through
into his voice. “She’s going to die.”
“She’s
not important.”
He
sank back down, now located away from the wall.
Behind him was a small opening that A.J. had told him lead to the double
doors. He hoped he could get through it. As he did this, A.J.’s
eyes lingered no the spot Brian had been leaning up against the wall. He stared curiously at the red stain that had
manifested itself there. His eyes slowly
traveled from it over to where Brian now kneeled, and horrible realization
dawned on him. How had he missed the
blood? He could feel the rage heat up
past the boiling point. He signaled
roughly across the room to the cashier, who began to wail and cry, and carry
on, just as he’d told her. As he’d
hoped, both thieves did an about face at her sudden outburst.
As
he leapt into action, everything happened at once.
***
