Page 3 of Christmas Ransom

Who was he kidding? There was no way he’d have enough money to hold them off. They would kill him, but his real terror was what they might do to Jesse if she were home. Probably the best thing she could do was leave him. He knew she’d thought about it. Maybe this would be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“I have to change,” she’d said, pulling away. “I can’t lose my job.”

He’d watched her walk away, his gut cramping at the thought of her leaving him for good. He kept a pack of cigarettes that he’d swiped from one of the men he’d worked with. Jesse hated him smoking. But once she’d left...

She’d come out dressed for work. She’d fixed her face and pulled her long blond hair up into a ponytail. As with every time he’d looked at her, he was always stunned at how beautiful she was. How had he gotten so lucky? It still astounded him, and he knew he would do whatever it took to keep her.

“It’s going to be all right, baby,” he’d said as he’d quickly stepped to her and leaned down to kiss her. He’d thought she’d pull away, but instead, she’d looped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her. The kiss had started a fire in his belly that slid lower. He’d thought of their bed just inside, thought of her naked.

“I’m going to be late,” she’d said as she drew back. Their gazes had met for a long moment.

“Don’t lose faith in me.” He hated that his voice had broken.

She’d shaken her head and given him a weak smile. “I know you will think of something. You working tonight?”

He’d nodded. A lie. He’d quit the night stocking job at the grocery store in town when he’d realized it wasn’t enough to get him out of trouble—and that Jesse was right. Maybe the simpliest answer had been to go to the bank for a loan. He’d picked up the temporary job through the rest of the holiday—one he had planned to quit once he’d gotten the bank loan.

The truth was that even the loan wouldn’t have held off the goons for long. He was just as good as dead.

He’d been so down that day after going to the bank. He’d thought for sure that he’d lost Jesse. His words had felt like sawdust in his mouth. “I’d understand if you left me. I wouldn’t blame you at all.”

He couldn’t have the men stopping by for the money and finding her home alone.

To his surprise, she’d said, “You aren’t getting rid of me that easily. You’ll think of something, Jud.”

After she’d left, his throat parched from the cigarettes he’d smoked, he knew what he had to do. He’d been left no choice. But the plan hadn’t come together until he’d talked it over with Jesse. It still amazed him how she’d known so much about robbing a bank. She’d been angrier with Carla Richmond than he’d been.

“She deserves this for not giving you the loan,” Jesse had said. “She’s probably had everything handed to her all of her life. How dare she. Someday she’s going to get what’s coming to her.”

BEFORECARLACOULDSCREAM, the Santa-suited robber rushed around her desk to grab a handful of her long hair and drag her toward the lobby. She saw others already on the floor and felt the panic that seemed to suck all the air out of the room. Amelia was crying and so were the tellers. They all looked terrified where they lay.

“On the floor!” the man bellowed, using his hold on her hair to throw her down. Carla stumbled, landing hard on her side, pain shooting across her shoulder as the breath was knocked out of her. “Facedown!” he yelled and kicked her in the side.

She flattened herself facedown on the floor, fighting the pain as she gasped for breath. She tried to see if the others were all right. A teller was sobbing as she emptied out her till into a large bag, the kind Santa might carry toys in, and moved on to the next one. The bank had been about to close, so there were only a couple of customers on the floor, two older women frozen in fear. In all the racket, she could hear the bank manager trying to reason with one of the robbers.

There appeared to be three robbers, all in Santa suits and rubber masks. They wore white gloves on their hands and tall black boots, exposing no skin except for those holes where their eyes peered out—and that slit for their mouths.

One of the robbers had a gun to the bank manager’s head as he led him back toward the vault. The other robber finished loading the money from the tills, then ordered the teller onto the floor to lie down with the others as he followed the bank manager toward the vault. Carla saw that the robber had an extra bag with him along with the one full of money from the tellers’ tills.

She knew she must be in shock because her thoughts seemed to veer all over the place. Bank robberies were rare. The rule of thumb was that if a bank hadn’t been robbed in a hundred years, then it was due. This bank hadn’t been robbed in almost a hundred and twenty. She thought about how much money was in the vault and groaned inwardly. They had more money than usual because of the holidays. Had the robbers known that?

Stay calm, she chanted silently.Stay calm.She realized she was trembling. Her shoulder and side ached, and her scalp hurt from where he’d dragged her by her hair. She wanted to touch the spot on her head, to rub it, but was afraid to breathe, let alone move. Instead, she tried to concentrate on staying calm as she heard crying and praying, and the man yelling at everyone to stay down or die. No one wanted to die here today. Not right before Christmas.

Her gaze flicked up to the man who’d dragged her from her office. He’d moved off to the side, his semiautomatic rifle trained on those on the floor some distance away from her. He seemed nervous and kept shifting on his feet and pulling at the back of the mask.

She watched as he reached up under his fake white beard and scratched hard at his neck. She caught sight of what appeared to be a red rash and realized he must be allergic to whatever material the mask was made of.

But the rash wasn’t the only thing she’d seen when he’d raised the mask. He had a tattoo low on his neck. There were twoJ’s with an odd-shaped heart between them.JlovesJ?

Even though she was sure that she hadn’t made a sound, he quickly adjusted his mask and spun in her direction, leading with the business end of the rifle in his hand. She saw from his expression that he’d realized his mistake in lifting the bottom of the mask. Carla had quickly looked away, but she could feel his gaze boring into her. Did he know what she’d seen? Her heart pounded harder, her breath more ragged. She feared he knew as she heard him advance on her. “I told you to keep your head down!”

Chapter Four

Jud couldn’t believe what had just happened. But the moment he’d seen her expression, he’d realized that she’d seen something when he’d lifted the Santa beard to scratch his neck. His tattoo! The foolish woman. She’d tell the cops. He tried to tell himself that the law wouldn’t be able to track him down by some silly tattoo, but even as he was arguing the point, he knew he couldn’t take the chance.

Jesse wouldn’t wait for him if he went to prison. Hell, she was barely hanging on as it was. If he could pull off this bank job, they’d leave the country. Maybe go to someplace warm, sit on a beach and watch the sunset. Jesse would like that. He could finally make her happy. Maybe they’d even get married.

He’d asked her to marry him, but she’d put him off. He was no fool. He knew that she was hoping for something better. With his share of the money, he could be better. He could give her more than some drunken sentimental gesture like a tattoo. He’d wanted her name embedded into his flesh, but hadn’t had enough money according to the tattoo tech. Maybe if he hadn’t spent so much on the booze before coming up with the idea...