Page 2 of Andy

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Nixon said before he closed the door.

Andy didn’t know which room the other men who worked for the bank and the two other male customers had been led to. He wasn’t complaining about being shoved into the room with the women, but he wondered why they were putting the rest of the men into the other room. Leaving him in here with the women probably meant they weren’t here to rape the women. Maybe the robbers thought the bank manager was a man and wanted to separate the rest of the workers from the manager.

Andy glanced around the room, taking in what he had to work with. There was a copier and boxes of paper and not much else.

“Any of you still have your phone?” one of the women asked in a hushed whisper. No one spoke up.

“Shit. We’re screwed,” a different woman said.

“Who has access to the vault?” Andy asked. “Are they in here or in the other room with the men?”

“I’m the person with the keys,” a short woman with long black hair said. She was maybe five feet tall, thin, looked like a strong wind could take her out. His muscles tightened as their gazes met. No matter how small she was physically, she seemed like a force to be reckoned with.

“I wonder if the robbers believe the manager is one of the men,” another woman said.

The short woman shook her head. “No clue. I’m Mel, short for Melrose.”

“Andy,” he said as he focused on their supplies. He moved to the copier and squatted next to it, lifting one end.

“What in the world are you doing?” Mel asked.

“Judging the weight. I think we should move it away from the wall so people can hide behind it. If they start shooting, the copier might slow the bullets down enough for you to survive.”

The air in the room stilled as fear crossed over the women’s faces. A few of them moved out of the way so he could move the copier away from the wall. Next, he moved a few boxes of paper, stacking them next to the copier. Mel helped him move the boxes, worry evident on her face.

“It may not stop the bullets.” He shook his head, worry flowing through him. “I mean, it might help. Just stay down. The lower you are, the better the chance of survival.” He glanced around the group, meeting each of their gazes. They were afraid, which he didn’t blame them. Being unarmed with an enemy threatening harm was one of the worst situations to be in. “You all should get behind the copier.”

“What about you?” Mel asked.

He shrugged. He had no body armor and nothing to defend himself with other than a pen he’d shoved into his back pocket. He knew how to kill a man with a pen if he had to, but he didn’t need to tell these women that information.

“I’ll be fine.”

Mel rolled her eyes. “You’re full of bullshit.”

He might have chuckled at her calling him on his BS. She was right. He wouldn’t be fine if they started shooting. They were trapped in this room with nothing to defend themselves with except he had a pen. Depending on the ammunition those guys were using, a box of paper and a copy machine wouldn’t stop the bullets, but it might allow one or two women to survive if the men started firing.

Mel's lips turned down in a frown, and her shoulders squared. "Did you laugh at me?”

He sobered. “Sorry. I’m just trying to work through everything and make sure most of the people in the bank survive.”

Mel stepped closer and lowered her voice. “What do you think they are going to do?”

“No clue. But I’m assuming one of the tellers pressed a panic button at some point.”

Mel shrugged. “I don’t know if it went through. I can hope that the police were contacted, but we won’t know until the cops show up. This isn’t a bash and grab. They’re taking too long.”

“Is there anything you all have that they might want other than money?”

Mel shook her head. “Unless it’s something in one of the safe deposit boxes. But we don’t know what’s inside those.”

Andy nodded. “No precious jewels or anything like that?”

She shrugged. “Like I said, we don’t have anything out of the ordinary.”

“Okay, then?—”

The door opened, and Andy stopped talking. Reagan came in, holding his weapon casually at his side. The door bumped close behind the guy as he stepped back and ran into it. The man was sloppy. Andy guessed the guy had never been in the military.

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