“Yes.” The officer was young, and his shaky voice didn’t inspire confidence that he would be able to keep his head when all hell broke loose.

The officer pushed a button on his shoulder. “Officer McDaniel reporting. Checked on the silent alarm. It was a code eight. All’s clear. Going on my dinner break.”

A voice answered back, giving him a code. X pressed the gun tighter to his temple.

“Code four.”

“Rafe?” X questioned.

“He told them it was a false alarm and that he’s okay.”

“Smart move.” X removed the gun from his temple. “Get his hands tied.”

KC tied his hands then moved back to watch the others lying on the floor.

“Lock and watch the door.”

Rafe went back to the front of the building.

“Ten more minutes,” the little weasel reminded X. He reached down to grab a handful of Casey’s hair, jerking her face upward. “You stupid bitch, the Predators weren’t the only one willing to pay for my help, the Bandits and I have had this planned for weeks. We had this arranged for next weekend, but you firing me made us step our plan up before you could delete my codes.”

“You didn’t have to shoot Jack.”

The security guard was leaning up against the cashier station with blood coming from his shoulder.

Lonnie shrugged. “I never could stand him, anyway. I fooled everyone but him. He was constantly watching me.”

“You didn’t fool me, either. I knew you were dirty. No one kissed more ass than you.”

Casey’s words enraged Lonnie. His foot struck out, kicking her in the stomach. She huddled over, gasping for breath.

“You think you’re a big man, kicking a woman? Let’s see how brave you are with a man.”

Lonnie turned to Max with a hate-filled expression that quickly turned to alarm when Max pulled his hands free and grabbed Lonnie’s legs, jerking them out from underneath him. The sound of a loud, meaty thunk sounded through the bank when his head hit the tiled floor.

Then all hell broke loose.

Chapter 21

Casey found herself jerked to her feet by Jackal.

“Get her behind some cover,” Max yelled.

Casey saw Max stand, pulling his gun from behind his back and firing at X as he ran to jump over a low wall. His gun came up to fire back at Max and shattered her glass wall as Max dove behind her desk.

Jackal shoved her back behind the cashiers’ booths, jerking his gun from behind his back then firing at the men guarding the customers who were frantically trying to escape the bullets flying around the room.

“Stop shooting! Someone’s going to get killed!” Casey screamed.

Jackal lowered his gun, reloading it. “They don’t plan to leave anyone alive. That’s why none of them are wearing masks,” he snarled.

It had never entered her mind that the men would brutally kill them all whether they cooperated or not. Her frantic gaze searched for Gianna and her other employees, wanting to make sure they were okay. Many of them had managed to make it to the break room which had a steel fire door. Casey gave a relieved breath, seeing her friends were safe. The only ones still exposed were Jack and the police officer who had tried to block a bullet aimed at her.

“We have to help them!”

“If we try to get to them, we’ll be sitting ducks,” Fade said, taking a shot at one of X’s men.

Casey tried to scoot behind Jackal, attempting to crawl close enough to Jack to drag him behind some cover.

“Stay still.” Jackal jerked her back as a bullet tore through the wood by their heads.

“Fuck!” Jackal muttered. Taking her arm, he dragged her backward to a door. Casey felt the carpet burning her skin as she was pulled along the carpet. “If we get out of here alive, I’m going to kill Max myself.”

Fade dived headfirst into the back room as two of the Bandits came around the side of the booths.

Casey screamed as she was roughly shoved through the doorway with Jackal falling on top of her. Fade slammed the door closed. The sound of bullets hitting the door had Casey placing her hands over her head.

“This door isn’t going to hold them for long.”

“If we can get to the vault room, we’ll be safe in there as long as Lonnie doesn’t wake up,” Casey said shakily.

“Lead the way, then. Another minute and we’re all dead if they get inside.” Fade flinched as another round of bullets hit the door.

“Go now!” Jackal yelled when the gunshots stopped.

The three of them crawled along the floor toward the vault room where Casey rose to her knees to key in the code to open the metal door. Once inside, they slammed it closed. The vault light was blinking green, so Casey hastily placed her hand on the lit screen, and the metal door slowly started to open.

“Thank God!” Casey said, jumping up to run inside as they heard kicks on the wooden door from the room they had just crawled from.

“Don’t thank him yet! How do you close this motherfucker?” Jackal snapped.

Casey ran to the vault door, reaching for the handle then slamming the door closed, enclosing them inside. They were safe for now. Even if Lonnie regained consciousness, it would take thirty minutes to reset the timer.

Casey fell to her knees, trying to slow her frantic breathing. “It can’t be opened for thirty minutes. By then, the police should be here.” Casey saw the two men stare at each other.

“What?”

“You think Max has time for the cops to get here?”

Casey swallowed in fear. Max was still out there, and he didn’t have a metal door protecting him from the bank robbers. She stood up, going for the display board by the metal door, beginning to key in the override sequence.

“What are you doing?”

“We have to help Max!” she screamed at the two men.

Jackal’s arm went around her waist, pulling her away.

“Stop! We have to help him!” Casey fought against him like a crazy woman. Her nails cut into his arm around her waist. When that didn’t work, she managed to lift his arm enough that she could bite down on one of his hands.

“Dammit!”

Casey felt a hand go to her neck as she continued to struggle frantically, and her vision quickly began to dim. Whimpering, she tried to keep fighting.

“I have to help him…” she pled to the merciless face that was staring down at her.

“Max would kill us if you were hurt. Sorry, but you’re not going to open that door.” Jackal’s face tightened into a merciless mask.

Casey tried one last time to escape his hold, but her legs gave out as the darkness spread through her consciousness…

* * *

Max fired his gun, trying his damnedest to hit X. The son of a bitch managed to avoid being struck by the flying bullets. When he saw KC run toward the cop lying on the floor, Max stood, giving him cover as he dragged him into Casey’s office behind the desk.

“You crazy fucker, what in the hell are we going to do now?” KC scooted next to him.

“Beats the fuck out of me. Just try to get out of here without getting your head blown off!”

“That’s what I was trying to do.”

“KC, I’m going to kill your ass, traitor!”