Page 5 of Andy

“Okay. Thank you for telling us that. Do you know what they want?”

Mel shook her head, trying to think if they’d said anything specifically. “No. No demands yet.”

“Okay. Where are you inside the building?”

“I’m in a back office. I snuck out of the room they were holding me in.”

“Don’t move again. We’re working up a plan.”

“Okay. Just don’t shoot Andy. He has a thick beard and is wearing a sports jacket. The robbers are wearing masks of old presidents.”

“Thank you. Stay on the line and give the operator updates. She’ll pass along any information.”

Mel had wanted to hang up and go search for Andy to find out what was going on, but she stayed on the line since they’d asked her to.

Worry for her friends and colleagues blossomed. What if these robbers did something terrible? The customers who’d showed up today could end up dead just because they’d decided to go to the bank this morning instead of this afternoon or tomorrow. And what about Andy? The man was infuriating, but she didn’t want him to get hurt.

Agitation began to get the best of her, and she wanted to lay the phone down and open the door to check what was happening, but she didn’t dare crack open the door. The risk was too big.

The operator kept asking her if everything was okay, but she had no new information. She couldn’t sit here and do nothing. Quietly, she set the phone receiver on the desk and turned to leave when she heard something bang against the door and then a noise like someone yelling.

Her hands flew to cover her mouth as panic filled her. Something knocked into the door like someone was out there struggling. Was Andy taking the robbers down, or was he getting beat up? She needed to look.

Chapter 3

Andy only had to take out the two men, but he wasn’t sure exactly where they were. He found a place to hide where he could see most of the main area. The guys robbing the place weren’t that smart. Reagan hadn’t rejoined them, and they didn’t seem upset about it. Maybe they knew Reagan planned to get one of the women and have sex, which would explain why they seemed unworried that their friend hadn’t come back.

The Nixon robber had grabbed some money but wasn’t taking huge stacks of cash. This was about something else. The C-4 in that man’s pocket gave Andy a clue that they planned to kill, but who? Would they ambush the police outside, or were they striking a personal vendetta against the bank employees?

Nixon was talking to the other robber, who was wearing a Clinton mask. He couldn’t hear everything, but it was enough to know things weren’t turning out the way they thought they should.

Andy had seen more than one raid by a terrorist cell go bad. When the ones doing the terrorizing started infighting, the situation usually devolved. If the SEAL team and other allied military personnel were out of danger, they would sit back and watch the cell devolve fully. This wasn’t one of those situations. Too many civilians were in the thick of this.

Though it was wrong to assume, he had to believe the men were still alive and locked away in a room somewhere. The women he’d left in the copier room were still at risk. Then there was Mel. What the heck was it with her? He wanted to spend more time with her, but it wasn’t going to happen here in this bank building.

He guessed the closing on his house would have to wait. Hopefully, not for long. He really wanted that house.

Nixon yelled something at Clinton, and Andy focused his attention on the pair. He might be able to take them both out, but the angles weren’t right, and again, he didn’t have backup. With his team, they would have one of them with sights on Nixon, and he would take down Clinton. He couldn’t trust that the sight on this firearm was correct either, and he didn’t have time to test it.

Clinton disappeared from view, and Nixon began stalking his way, his body language stiff like he was still angry. Andy had to do something now.

He set the rifle down and positioned himself so he could move fast. Nixon came closer, mumbling something that Andy couldn’t make out. He forced his body to calm down as he quickly went through one scenario after another.

Nixon had no idea he and Mel had escaped from the copier room. Whatever the beef with the bank or anyone else, the guys were bad at what they did. The first mistake was putting him in a room with the women. If they’d placed him with the men, he wouldn’t have been able to move so freely without one of the men alerting the robbers. He’d found that men not seeped in the structure of the military couldn’t allow some random guy to take charge, and to them, he was just a random dude.

Women were different. They listened and worked together for the good of the group. He was sure some of those women he’d left in the copier room were very capable and could have probably come up with a better end to this if given the proper training and equipment. But he didn’t have time for them to work it out. None of them had the time, not with those idiots carrying around blocks of C-4.

Nixon had a block of the explosive clay, too. What were these guys planning? Normal people didn’t walk around with C-4 in their pockets. It was time to take Nixon down.

Andy waited for Nixon to turn his back, and then he moved, pushing open the door he’d been hiding behind and pulling Nixon into the room with him so fast the guy didn’t even have a chance to make a noise.

The first punch made Nixon’s knees weaken enough the guy dipped, but he didn’t drop like Reagan had. Andy took another shot to the side of Nixon’s head, and the guy sagged in his arms.

He lowered the man quietly, then used the zip ties to bind his arms and legs. Now Andy had two packs of C-4, and all he had to do was retrieve the third. Piece of cake.

His breathing needed to slow before he went out there to take down the third guy. Slowly, he drew in a breath, then let it go in four counts. That helped, but he was still too worked up. Flying blind and working without the net of his team made this much more difficult. The stakes were high because civilian lives were at risk. He didn’t know what the police were planning, and he just hoped he wasn’t taken out by friendly fire.

Andy moved to the door and glanced out, not seeing Clinton. He still had the rifle he’d picked off the first guy and moved down the hall, heading to the main part of the bank.

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