Page 121 of Seven Deadly Sins

She didn’t have the heart to tell them she didn’t have one. All she had was the intense desire to keep any of them from dying that day. Her phone rang. She glanced at the screen to see Liam’s face on the screen. “Hey.”

“Tell me you’re okay.”

“I’m okay.” She glanced out the window.

He stood on the other side of the chief’s car. For the first time since strapping on the wire and vest she had hope they’d all get out of this just fine.

“What’s going on in there?”

“Nothing, really.” She shot a quick glance to where Stephanie sat slumped in a chair, the bag of money at her feet. “I think we’re waiting for orders. Did you get your business taken care of?”

“Not completely. I had to come back.” He cleared his throat. “There are two fans of Robert’s that we know of. I left one in a standoff with the FBI on top of an apartment complex.”

“There will be more.” She fell into a hard plastic chair. “There’s no way of getting them in one spot with the hopes of Robert being there, is there? Is it feasible to put something on the news they’d believe?”

“Let me talk to the man of his we have locked up. Find out some more details about this group. Right now, you’re the main concern.”

“No.” She shook her head. “Stopping Robert and his misguided followers is top priority. Otherwise, people keep dying.”

“I’ll never want what someone else has again.” Tears poured down Stephanie’s cheeks as she lifted her gaze to meet Harper’s. “Am I ever going to see my family again?”

“Gotta go, Liam.” She hung up wanting to tell him so much, but now wasn’t the time. She pulled her chair in front of Stephanie’s and took the woman’s hands in hers.

“I’m not going to lie and say we’ll get out of here. I don’t know that for certain. What I do know is that I will do everything in my power to reunite you with your husband and children.” She gave her hands a light squeeze.

“He says you’ll fail.”

She moved the woman’s hair. What looked like a hearing aid nestled in her ear. “He’s speaking to you?”

She nodded. “He hears everything I say.” Her eyes flashed through her tears. “I don’t care anymore. I just want to go home, but he won’t stop talking. Oh, it’s not always him. Unless he wants me to do something, it’s a recording reciting the seven sins over and over until I think I’ll go insane.”

Mental warfare. “Stand strong, Stephanie.” She wanted to call Robert a coward. A man who used women to do his dirty work. But, if she said what she really felt, he might press the trigger and blow them all up.

She stood and studied the layout of the bank. Manager’s office to the right of the tellers. A couple of cubbies for other bank staff. A small hall that led to restrooms and an exit door. If not for the camera, she could sneak people out the back door. Better her and Stephanie perish than all of them. She had some heavy thinking to do.

She moved to the front window and stared into the growing dusk to where Liam stood, offering support simply by being there.

Behind him, the bomb squad arrived.

~

Every ounce of his being wanted to storm the bank and get Harper out of there. Liam paced the area behind the cars. They’d offer some protection should the bomb strapped to Stephanie be detonated. Should the worse happen, there was small consolation in the fact those inside wouldn’t feel a thing.

“Stop that pacing.” The chief crossed his arms. “You’re making us all nervous.”

“You should be nervous because of the situation.” Liam spotted movement in the building next to the bank. “Didn’t you clear the other buildings?”

“Absolutely.” The chief narrowed his eyes. “No one should be in that drugstore.”

“Somebody didn’t follow orders. I’ll get them out.” Skirting around the cars, Liam approached the pharmacy from the back.

He turned the knob on the door leading to the alley. Locked. He banged with his fist. When no one answered, he shot the lock. No secrecy for him. Not when the situation was this dire.

“FBI. Come on out.” Gun at the ready, he stepped into the pharmacy. “This building should be evacuated.”

Silence. The hair on his arms stood at attention as he moved through the part of the store where they filled prescriptions. A fluorescent light flickered overhead.

He could only think of two people who wouldn’t announce themselves when he’d called out. Robert or Lucy. He guessed one of them hunkered down in the drugstore to watch the day unfold.