Page 10 of Own

“Oui,” the man said. “How can I help you?”

“I need to get into?—”

The doors at the front slammed before Bones could finish his sentence and there was a distinct bang from a gun even as the metal detectors shrieked. Goblin snarled next to me and I looked back to see three men, all in ski masks and wearing all black and sporting weapons stalking inside.

This was not happening.

The guard closest to the door was already down, one of the men struck him with their weapon as another one fired his gun again. The sound reverberated through the building.

“Allonge-toi sur le sol!” The one still on the move yelled as he headed straight towards us and the concierge. I dropped. They wanted everyone on the floor, so I got on the floor.

Bones didn’t. He stood there, eyeing the men as they approached. Goblin’s lips peeled back as he snarled at the men. “No,” I whispered to Goblin. “Down. Please.” I patted the floor next to me because one of those guns was swinging toward the dog.

The man near the door locked them and then stalked forward following his friend and he had his weapon down but a black sack in hand. “Téléphones dans le sac ! Baissez la tête ou vous êtes le prochain!”

For all his blustering, the man sounded terrifically young. The closer he got, the more I could see his eyes. He was jittery and almost painfully lean. Bones still hadn’t gotten down, heglanced down at me, then back at the men. The concierge was down as well, his hands over his head.

“Stay here,” Bones told me and I stared up at him. Was heinsane?

“Téléphones!” The man repeated, thrusting the bag at others, he wasn’t quite to us yet, but they were getting devices from the others. We weren’t in the direct line of sight but…

Movement jerked my attention back to where Bones had been. Where the hell had he gone? I didn’t want to twist around, so I focused on the men. Three of them were hustling people out from the counter. Fortunately, the bank wasn’t that busy, or maybe not so fortunately.

The other guard was also down, then one of them stalked closer to me and Goblin, but he just dragged the concierge up and muttered at him. As the man stumbled away with them, a pen hit the carpet and rolled toward me. It was one of those very fancy, metal pens.

I palmed it and pulled it closer to me and really wished I had my taser or Bones had his gun.

Or something.

The three masked men were split up. They hadn’t moved everyone together so they were trying to cover all of us. The man who’d dragged the concierge away was currently threatening him near a door that went behind the bank counters.

Bones was… there. I caught him crouched near one of the sofas. He was just a few feet from one of the men. That was two, the third—the one who’d been screaming for telephones—paced back and forth between me and them.

If he kept looking in that direction, he’d see Bones whether the man moved like a shadow or not. Goblin’s low growls vibrated against me. Another shout from the man with the concierge and there was the sound of a blow.

A woman near the desks began to cry and I swallowed hard. How the hell had we walked right into a bank robbery? This couldn’t be real, right?

The man nearest Bones swung his gun around, his movements were getting even more nervous. He yelled at them to hurry. No doubt they were worried about getting caught. The man closest to me yelled at the other and Bones stayed absolutely still.

Okay, this wasn’t working. The tension stretched so tight, I wanted to vomit. I pushed myself upward, fanning myself like I was too hot.

That got me noticed. Mr. Telephone Man whipped around and waved his gun right at me.

“Revenez sur le sol!” He was bringing that gun up toward Goblin but I shifted in front of him. It wasn’t hard to pretend I was faint. My heart was racing so fast, I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t pass out.

When the man leaned down to yell at me, I jammed the pen right into the soft spot below his jaw. Gazes locked, he stared at me, puzzlement clear in his eyes as his mouth opened. Blood flowed down the metal pen and onto my hand.

The guy dropped without another word. Bones was already on his feet. He disarmed the robber closest to him in a blur of motion before he slammed the man headfirst into a column.

The clatter of a gun to the floor yanked my attention back to the man collapsed in front of me. I reached for the weapon, wrapping my bloodied fingers around it. Then Goblin lunged upwards, sinking his teeth into the third man’s arm.

I hadn’t even seen the guy move, but his weapon also went flying as Goblin wrenched him down. Bones was just there, finishing the man with two brutal hits—one to his throat and the second to the back of his head.

Then they were all down.

I slid my gaze back to the man with the pen in the soft part beneath his jaw. He was dead.

I was almost certain of it.

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