Wordz Press

3 a.m.
Sarah hadn't thought she could get more scared, yet when the robber made his pronouncement, she actually went weak, her stomach churning. She forced her eyes away from Ray's and stared at the robber from behind a mask of aloofness.

Her voice was chilly. "I understand."

Lifting his cell phone to her ear, she began to speak. On the other end, Beck Winters answered her. He was the SWAT team negotiator and there was no one better at his job. They kept the conversation short and blunt.

"They want a chopper," she said. "In the parking lot. You've got two hours to get it. When they leave, I'll be going with them."

From across the tiny room, Ray started to protest, but the man at his side silenced him

with a rough backhanded slap. From beneath his makeshift bandage, a trickle of fresh blood appeared. Sarah held back a groan of her own. She didn't want him hurt but he wasn't getting on that helicopter. If anyone did that, it'd be her.

Beck quizzed her, as she'd known he would, but she couldn't answer his questions with anything but a grunt. Before she even managed two of those, the robber grabbed the phone from her hands and closed it with a flip of his wrist.

"Did he agree?"

"They'll do what they can," she said. "But they may need more time."

"Well, for your friend's sake, I hope they don't."

Green Eyes nodded to the big man at Ray's side. The robber tied Ray's hands again, as Green Eyes tied Sarah's. In unison, they pushed them into the hallway, Sarah following behind Ray with a gun in her back.

She felt a rush of angry hopelessness. She ought to be doing more.

But she couldn't.... And for the very first time, Sarah truly understood the meaning of teamwork.

She was a cop, but she was also a SWAT member. By herself she could do nothing. She had to depend on the men and women outside to get her through this one. The things she normally did for the team were as essential as the officers who busted in with weapons drawn. Why had she never realized that until now?

For the same reason she hadn't realized she still loved Ray.

The real truths of life had a way of getting away from you. When you were covered up in the details of living, you didn't have time for the larger picture.

But she did now.

In the lobby, the robbers tied their hands again, then pushed them both to the floor — on opposite sides from one another. For more than two hours, they sat there, opposite each other, their eyes saying what their hearts couldn't. Sarah wasn't ready to give up, though.

She used the time to work on the knots of the ropes binding her hands. After a while, she thought they were actually getting looser. After a little bit longer, just when she was sure they were, she watched as the big robber came over and spoke to Ray.

The guy's expression didn't change as he talked, but it was clear something was about to happen. A flash of shock and then surprise crossed Ray's face as the robber reached behind him and did something to his ropes. Sarah tensed, her mind spinning; if nothing else, she could create a diversion, do something, do anything....

But she didn't have time.

A second later, Ray turned to her and mouthed three words. She was translating them in her brain I love you when the two men rushed the three remaining robbers and the bank doors exploded open.