Page 1 of Andy

Chapter 1

Andy Hawkins stepped into the bank and tugged at the sleeves of the jacket he’d thrown on for some crazy reason. He didn’t want to wear his uniform to the closing, but he also didn’t want to look like a slob when he bought his first house. There was something about plunking down cash and owning property that called for respect. Maybe he should have just worn a shirt with a tie, but he wanted this to be special.

The house he was buying sat almost an even distance directly between Bear and Wild’s place. He would live about fifty feet closer to Wild, but in the grand scheme of things, he was midway between them. They could easily walk over to his place, or he could go to theirs. When he was on a mission, Ingrid or Ava could easily check on his place without going out of the way.

Being close to both Bear and Wild would be good for him. They’d both settled down and were doing well with the women they’d chosen. Heck, Harry and Jax were doing great, too, but he couldn’t afford to live close to either of them, and he didn’t want to live in a high rise.

He doubted their good luck would rub off on him. Dating was complicated and way too much trouble. He could be the fun uncle and forget women.

Heat circled through him, just thinking about how his last girlfriend had betrayed him. She’d fucked another guy in public, and the video had been live-streamed. It felt like everyone on base had seen the video and laughed at him. He’d almost lost it.

Bear and Harry had to pin him to the ground as Wild talked him down. That moment hadn’t been one of his best. Anger and pain whipped through him, but he pushed it away. He hated thinking about that, but the memory of being so embarrassed kept him from dating. No one believed that he was done with women, but it had been nine months, and he hadn’t touched a woman once in that time.

Buying the house was a step toward emotional maturity. It would be good for him to have something to be responsible for outside of work.

“Hello, sir. How can we help you?” a man wearing the bank’s name tag on his shirt asked.

“I have an appointment with Mr. Colbert. It’s for?—”

The door opened behind him, and he heard the unmistakable click of a rifle being cocked. He stopped talking as everything slowed around him. His reflexes were on high alert, though he had no weapon.

“No heroes today and we all walk out of here alive. Everyone get on the floor!” a man screamed behind him.

Panic flashed on the faces of the customers and bank employees. Andy watched as the man he’d been speaking to slowly held up his hands and moved to lower to the floor. Andy followed his example, knowing he had no way to take these men out without someone else getting injured.

“That’s it. Everyone on the ground,” a different guy said.

Andy made note of the people in the bank. There were four customers, two women and two men. All of them were older than he was. Luckily, none of them had kids with them. One man and two women were working behind the main teller counter. He’d seen two men in an office to his left and three women in the other offices. He hoped no one tried to take any of these men on. The robbers had serious guns that were real. They weren’t using some kid’s toy they’d painted black. The men meant business.

The three men who’d come in to rob the bank wore masks that looked like ex-president Halloween masks. There might be cameras outside positioned to get their license plates or maybe had caught their faces before they slipped on the masks, but the cops could sort that out later.

Right now, his main goal was to stay alive. The guys with the guns hadn’t shot anyone yet. He had hope that they wouldn’t go off and kill someone before they left.

One of the robbers came close and tapped Andy’s arm with the end of his gun. If Andy had been in the field, he would have made the guy regret walking into the bank this morning, but there were innocent civilians here, and he had no backup.

“You, suit guy, get up, but leave your phone on the ground.”

Andy slowly stood, making sure he didn’t make any fast moves as he set his phone on the floor where he’d been. He heard a few women whimpering as one of the other robbers, a man wearing a Reagan mask, had the female tellers stand.

“Move,” the robber wearing a Nixon mask standing next to him said as he pointed Andy toward the back of the building.

The robbers rounded up the other customers and made them head to the back with Andy and the female workers. The two male customers looked to be around fifty. They didn’t look fit enough to take on the robbers, but they weren’t totally out of shape, more like weekenders who probably were fit years ago. He hoped they didn’t get the wise idea of attacking the robbers because they would just piss these guys off and accomplish nothing.

“You all look like trouble,” Regan said as he waved them into the room with his gun.

Andy stepped in and moved away from the door. So far, no one had been physically threatened, and it didn’t seem like the robbers were going to cause problems.

“They won’t all fit in this room,” Nixon called out to Regan.

“Fuck,” Regan said. “Just take the two male customers and put them with the bank employees.”

“There are three men,” Nixon said as he met Andy’s gaze.

“I don’t care. Just put those two guys in with the other bank employees.”

Nixon motioned to the two older men. “You heard him. You two, move.”

Andy stayed silent, not wanting to piss off the guy with the gun or make him suspect that Andy was already running through plans, just trying to find something that would help them all get out of this alive.

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