Page 4

Chapter

Four

GRACE

Though he’d stopped for food and coffee on the way up, we’d said very little. The whole of the drive, all I’d wondered was when would we hear from them? The farther north we went, the more I worried we weren’t going to hear from them at all.

And I couldn’t focus on that right now. When Bones put the car into park and blew out a breath, I twisted in the seat to look at him. “Is it okay to ask a few questions now?”

He rubbed a hand over his face, then frowned at me. Only instead of looking annoyed, he actually appeared puzzled. “Yes.”

That eased one major concern. “Are we staying in the car or going with you?”

Another brief frown and then he glanced toward Goblin in the backseat before he looked at me again. “With.”

Real relief spilled through me. Staying in the car was definitely not safer. “Second question?”

One corner of his mouth inched higher, but he nodded.

“Where are we going?”

To my shock, he actually chuckled. I didn’t think I’d heard the man laugh before. No, not even a little laugh or hint of humor. He barely smiled. Glower? Glare? Frown disapprovingly? Those he definitely did.

“There’s a small bank just off the plaza back there where we have a safe deposit box. We can pick up some papers, more currency, and keys for a safe house outside of Lyon.” He checked his watch. “We have a little under an hour before it closes.”

“Okay. We can take Goblin inside?”

“Yep,” he said with far more confidence than I felt.

“Just need to gear him up.” Gearing him up turned out to be putting him in a work vest. For me, it was just buttoning up the oversized shirt I’d dressed in, rolling up the sleeves and accessorizing it with a chunky belt.

I wanted to stay in my sneakers, but he was right, the sandals would draw less attention.

For his part, he was dressed in basic black on black, with a sports coat thrown on. The man looked elegant in what was essentially combat gear. He removed his weapon with care and secured it in the car. Then he held his hand out.

“Taser.”

At my hesitation, he straightened and met my gaze.

“We’re not going into a fight. This is just to get to the safety deposit box and come back out. But we don’t have time to work around the metal detectors.”

That made sense. I passed it to him. I still had my phone. Once he locked up the car, he passed me Goblin’s leash then set his sunglasses in place. I followed suit. When he took my hand in his, I didn’t fight the grip, just fell into step.

The warmth of his palm on mine offered a kind of comfort. It also helped to settle my racing heart. As we followed the road up to the boulevard, I stared across at the huge Place Bellecour—the pedestrian square was huge and old. There was a statue of Louis XIV in the middle.

“They installed a guillotine there during the French Revolution.”

“Well hopefully, not something we need to worry about today.” His dry response almost made me smile.

“Hopefully. It’s not there anymore.”

Bones led the way around the corner, Goblin trotting neatly at my side. “I’d be more concerned if it was still there.”

“Fair,” I admitted, scanning the area and the people making their way. The French language settled over me like a familiar blanket, though I caught snippets of Italian, German, and English from the passersby. “Think it would send a message if they did put one back?”

At the door to the bank, Bones pulled the door open. “Definitely. And it would only be popular in some quarters.”

I couldn’t really disagree with that. It was cooler inside the bank. Light filtered through the glass windows. Some were fashioned in deeper hues and offered an almost golden light to the bank’s interior.

Nudging my sunglasses up, I scanned the area. There were conversation areas along the front wall of windows with comfortable chairs and low tables. Along the other wall, heading toward the back, were a series of offices.

Two guards were readily apparent, one right there in the lobby, where visitors could approach the bank counter. The other was stationed closer to the main doors. We’d passed him on our way in and when my gaze collided with his, I smiled automatically.

Bones gestured to the desk to the left of the bank counters, so I followed him with Goblin firmly at my side. He was such a good boy. Thankfully, no one commented on his presence nor urged us to take him back out.

We had to wait a moment before the concierge was free to speak. Bones approached him to sign in, “ Parles-vous anglais ?”

“If he doesn’t,” I said softly. “I can translate.”

“ 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 so l!” 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, he glanced 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 he insane ?

“ 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.

Sirens wailed in the distance. It was like someone unmuted the sound and it all rushed back in. Bones glanced down at me.

“You didn’t stay put,” he said.

“You didn’t leave me behind.” To be fair, he had moved across the room, but I got it. He wasn’t abandoning me.

When he extended his hand to me, I clasped his. “We need to go,” he murmured and I followed his glance around the room.

“We didn’t get the box.”

“There are others,” he told me. “C’mon.” With my hand firmly in his, he headed for the doors and jerked his head to Goblin. The good boy trotted right along with us.

“ Monsieur !” One of the others called, but Bones just unlocked the door and let us out. Then we were striding down the street. It took no time and forever, then we were back in the car with Goblin.

The sirens were getting closer. I caught the sight of flashing lights behind us as Bones started the car and we pulled away.

“Seatbelt,” he murmured to me and I glanced at him and then down at the gun I was still holding. He covered the weapon with one hand. “Seatbelt,” he repeated.

My hand was still sticky and red, so I used the other to pull the seatbelt over and buckle it in. Then Bones reached to flip open the console and pulled out a pack of wet wipes.

I cleaned my hand, then the hilt of the gun. Another glance behind us showed we were navigating our way from the Place Bellecour.

Away from the bank.

From the robbery.

“Not staying in the car wasn’t safer.”

“No,” he said easily, covering my hand on the gun once more. “But you did good.”

Did I?