Page 13 of Raider Unleashed

Raider studied the plans. “Has anyone been inside? Do we know for sure that the vault is in the back corner?”

“Yes,” Denlo nodded, “I’ve been in and it’s in the back corner. The tellers are in front and there are offices off to the side.”

“But you can’t see this wall from the front of the bank, right?” Raider asked as he tapped a line on the prints.

Denlo conceded that it was blocked by the offices.

“Well, fuck me. We really don’t know what the hell is going on. Shit.” He stared at the blueprints some more.

“Can’t you just blow a hole here in the front and we can go up?” Denlo demanded.

Raider stared at him. “I can blow a hole here in the front,” he pointed to the plans but then you’re gonna be too close to the front window and even a small blast could shatter it. We need to come up behind the line of teller stations but over to this side.” He turned to Baker. “Let me see the basement blueprints.”

Baker put those on the other bed. Raider scanned them for a minute, then turned and looked at the bank’s blueprints once more. “We’ve got a serious problem.”

“No, we don’t,” Denlo growled as he stood up. “You need to blow a hole and make this fucking work.”

Raider straightened. “I can blow a hole but the storage space isn’t deep enough to do it where we’d be in the clear whichmeans in order for me to blow the hole and not break the front window or make the vault door vibrate too much, I have to blow a hole here.” He pointed to an office space.

Baker bent over and looked at both sets of blueprints. “Shit, he’s right. The storage space isn’t deep enough. He’s gotta blow it in the office.” Baker blanched as he said the words.

“So blow it in the office. What’s the big deal?” Denlo argued.

“You ever been in a bank office?” Raider asked. “They’re fucking tiny usually. If I blow a hole in this one and there’re chairs or a desk or a filing cabinet above, it’s gonna come crashing down on top of us and make a hell of a noise.”

“He’s right,” Wells agreed. “It could also set off the vault door if it was a big enough piece of furniture.”

Denlo glowered. “I don’t give a shit what you have to do but you’re gonna get us into that bank tonight.” He gestured with his gun. “You two, back to your room.” Baker and Wells looked at each other and Baker gave a little shrug. They headed out the door.

Denlo turned to Piper. “He’s in here with you. If he does anything stupid or tries to leave, it’s on you and I’ll kill him and you. Understand?”

Piper nodded and Denlo went out the door. She turned and held up her hand to Raider to stop him from saying anything. She cocked her head. Raider listened. Denlo entered his room and turned the TV on and then it sounded like he was making a phone call because Raider could hear him talking but couldn’t hear what he was saying.

Piper sat down at the table. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this, Raider, but I didn’t have a choice.” She kept her voice low and barely glanced at him.

Raider remained anchored in the middle of the room between the double beds. “How come you didn’t have a choice? What happened to the original explosives guy? And where thehell is your backup? I didn’t see any in the pharmacy parking lot. They may be ATF but I can usually spot them a mile away.”

Piper refused to hold his gaze. Raider’s chest knotted. “You don’t have backup, do you?”

She shook her head once.

Raider swore. “Does your boss at the ATF even know you’re here?”

“I told him before I got on the plane but there was no time for him to do anything. I’ve only been here a day. I’m assuming he’s putting things in place but…” she shrugged.

“You’ve got no idea and no way to check.” Raider wanted to put his fist through the wall. This whole op was impulsive and reckless, not like the Piper he knew. She was a great agent. Solid, knew when to push and when to back off. Yeah, she might have pushed a little hard sometimes, but she had never been one to risk her life. He stared at her.

It would be so easy to yell at her, tell her how stupid this all was, that their lives were in danger because of her stupidity and her ego. But he held back. Being out of control now wasn’t gonna help either of them. In his gut, he knew there had to be more to the story, a lot more.

He crossed his arms over his chest and took a steadying breath. “Why did you get on the plane?” There had to be a reason. Piper might be impulsive, but he could not recall a time when she’d been totally reckless. There was always a method to her madness.

“The Snake.”

“What?” Raider asked completely confused.

“The guy who’s running this job. I call him the Snake,” she said with a sigh. “He has a Snake tattoo on his arm. I’ve never seen his face, but I’ve seen the tattoo.”

Raider frowned. This was personal for her. “Out with it, Piper.”

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