Chapter 2

Misty had hoped she could find a moment to hit the emergency button under the counter. The gunman didn’t ask the tellers to empty their drawers, during which time one of them could have tripped the silent alarm or at least slipped a dye pack in with the money.

They were going after the bigger haul. The vault. And it sounded as if they knew what they were doing.

As the manager, security guard, and Gabe were marched into the teller area, Misty hoped a customer would come up the steps, see what was going on, and call the cops. She listened carefully, but all she heard were the sounds of traffic and her coworker’s sniffles. She glanced over at Betsy, a young mother of two, and hoped nothing would happen to her. To any of them. Even her slimy manager, Adam.

Gabe caught her eye and gave her a pointed look. She gave him a slight headshake. She didn’t want him trying to be a hero. She couldn’t believe her lousy luck. After all this time, finally moving back to the city as an independent woman, the last thing she needed was for her childhood crush to feel like he had to rescue her—like a surrogate big brother.

If he lived through this, he’d tell Parker. If he didn’t live through this, she’d die. She’d adored Gabe during their years growing up in the South End. Their brownstone was three doors down from the Fierros, and when they were young, it wasn’t easy to find kids in the neighborhood to play with. But the Fierros’ door was always open to her, and Gabe had always treated her kindly. Of course, it was probably just because she was Parker’s little sister, but she had hoped there was more to it. To say she liked him would be tantamount to saying bears liked picnic baskets.

She had hoped they’d run into each other at some point and was secretly thrilled to see him here today. Although she would have preferred they’d met at a different time and place.

“On the floor!”

The robber’s harsh voice jolted her out of her musing.

The security guard and manager lay face down, but Gabe walked around them and went down on his knees in front of Misty. She was the only one standing, and to be honest, she was leaning against the vault to keep her knees from shaking. She was dizzy and felt like she might faint.

Gabe’s reassuring presence calmed her somewhat. He gave her a quick smile then lay down with his hands braced on the floor next to his shoulders.

“Okay, lady. Face the lock.”

As soon as she turned around, the criminal whistled. “Ha. I knew she’d have a spectacular ass. That’s why I asked you to do this, sweetheart.”

She wanted to argue with the guy, tell him she wasn’t his sweetheart and refuse to cooperate, but he’d probably call it “being mouthy,” and that wouldn’t help right now.

Adam was giving directions to her, but she barely heard him.

“What?” she said with a tremor.

“Tell her again.” The gunman kicked the manager’s leg.

“I said turn the lock to the left four times all the way around. Then stop at zero, and turn it to the right three times. Stop at twenty-one.”

Misty did as he said, spinning the dial left four times.

“Not like that. It’s very sensitive—and old. Turn it slowly and carefully.”

Misty took a deep breath and let it out, trying to relax. She had already forgotten if she had gone around three times or four. Her hand shook. “I don’t think I can do this. Can my manager take over, please?”

The gunman placed his foot on the manager’s ass. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” He chuckled. “Sometimes there’s a code the manager can dial in, but I’m betting you don’t know that either, sweetheart. So you’re my choice for doing this. Pull yourself together.”

“I’ll do it,” Gabe said.

The gunman rolled his eyes. “The customer wants to be a hero again. Fine. I don’t like the way you look like you’re ready to spring, anyway. But understand, I have my gun trained on your girlfriend.”

“Shit,” Gabe muttered.

“I can do it,” Misty said. “Seriously. I was just nervous, but I can do this.”

“Awww… Isn’t that sweet? They’re both trying to protect each other. Well, forget it. There are two of us and two of you. And we have weapons. We win.” He scanned the others across the floor and asked, “Does anyone else want to be a hero?”

The other tellers either shook their heads or murmured, “No, sir.”

“Good.” He waved his partner over. “Keep an eye on this one.” He nodded toward Gabe. Then with a nasty smirk on his face, he said, “I’ll keep my eye on his girlfriend.”

Gabe narrowed his eyes, and his lips compressed into a thin line, but he got up and moved to the lock.

The robber kicked the manager again. “Start over.”

“Turn the dial carefully four times to the left. When you get to zero, begin turning right,” Adam said.

Gabe did as he was told, and when he was slowly approaching the third revolution, he confirmed, “Stop on twenty-one?”

“Yes.”

He reached the mark. “Now what?”

“Two revolutions to the left, and stop on forty-four.”

Gabe did that, then asked, “And now?”

“One revolution to the right. Stop on thirty-five. That should unlock the mechanism, then turn the wheel to the right to open the door. It’s heavy.”

Misty wasn’t worried about a heavy door. With Gabe’s muscles, he could probably lift a safe over his head…not this one, though. In height, it spanned from floor to ceiling, and its width took up most of the side wall. It was like a room in itself. Gabe continued to follow all the manager’s directions, but when he turned the wheel, it didn’t open.

The gunman kicked the manager hard and said, “Don’t fuck around with me. Did you give him the right combination or not?”

“Yes. Sometimes it takes a second.”

At that moment, something clicked, and the gunman pushed Gabe out of the way. He yanked on the handle and grunted as the door opened. “That’s better.” He grinned and grabbed something out of his jacket’s deep front pocket…two backpacks that folded up small and flat.

His partner had taken out identical packs from his own jacket pockets. “Should I empty the drawers, boss?”

“Depends. Are there any dye packs in there?” he asked Misty.

“Yes,” she said.

“Brownie points for honesty.” He handed Misty his backpacks and said, “Go in there and fill these up.”

She took the backpacks and pushed open the heavy door enough to enter the vault.

“Hey, numb nuts. Toss me yours, so I can give her more to fill.”

A second later, she was shoved in the back. As she stumbled forward, the door slammed shut, encasing her in complete blackness. “What the hell?” she cried. For a moment, she didn’t know if she was alone or not.

“It’s me, Gabe. Relax. They can’t get you in here.”

She spun toward his voice. “Gabe? I can’t see a thing in here. Where are you?”

A warm hand found her arm and gently caressed it on his way up to cup her face. “I’m right here. We’re safe.”

She lurched into his strong arms and grasped him around his waist. He held her for a moment, then extricated himself gently.

“Wh-why did you do that?” she whispered.

“Misty, I couldn’t let anything happen to you. The minute he didn’t have his weapon pointed at you, I took the opportunity to keep you out of harm’s way.”

“What about everyone else out there?” she cried.

“You didn’t see the way he looked at you. Plus, I wouldn’t be surprised if they took you with them, for insurance for their getaway.”

She hesitated, not knowing how to feel about that. “You realize we’re stuck in here until morning.”

“I’m sure the criminals won’t wait that long to be caught. As soon as they leave, someone will call the cops, and the fire department will come too. They’ll be able to cut through the door and get us out in no time.”

She huffed. “You watch too much TV. This vault was created in the 1920s, back when bank robberies were a lot more common. This thing is made of steel-reinforced concrete. Not the kind of concrete used in construction. Something much stronger. The walls are over a foot thick. The door, as you saw, is even stronger. I was told the bank was actually built around the vault.”

“Are you saying the FBI couldn’t even get us out? This is a federal crime, so the feds will take over from the local police. TV doesn’t lie about that.”

“The feds have no more access to this vault than I do.” She swayed, then caught herself and laid her head on his chest. He didn’t hug her. In fact, he stiffened.

What’s that about?

* * *

“Gabe, do you still see me as a little girl? Is that the problem?”

Jesus. Gabe backed away a step. “What problem? There’s no problem. Well, other than being stuck in a safe.”

“I was just looking for a little comfort, and you backed away. All I can figure is that you still see me as Parker’s little sister.”

“I can’t see you at all.” Gabe hoped sidestepping the question with humor would kill the topic. How could this woman think he perceived her as a little girl? She was a full-grown, gorgeous, well-developed female. “Let’s try to find a light switch. I’ll take the right side of the vault. You take the left.”

“My left or your left? I think I’m facing the door, and you’re facing the back wall. Wait. Actually, I don’t know where I am.”

“Just slide your hands along any wall, and we can play Marco Polo until we find each other again.”

“Fine.” She didn’t laugh.

Parker hadn’t mentioned anything about not hooking up with his sister, but Gabe couldn’t imagine that he’d condone that.

Patting the wall next to him, working his way toward the back, he figured they could just talk and keep track of each other that way. “Look, Misty. I don’t think of you as that little girl. Not anymore. I’ll admit, until I saw you today, the picture of you I had in my head was more like a cute twelve-year-old kid. But you’ve obviously…changed.”

“So have you.”

“Not as much as you have.”

“Well, I guess…” She sighed. “Never mind.”

“No. What?”

“I guess I’ll just have to hug myself.”

Gabe slapped his forehead. “Misty, I…” He didn’t know how to finish that sentence. I’m afraid to? You turn me on, and you’re not ready for what I might want?

“You what?”

“Where are you?” Gabe reached out a hand and grabbed something soft and round. “Oops. I was looking for your arm, not your… Sorry.”

Misty giggled.

“Okay. You reach for my arm, and I’ll find yours,” he said.

“What for?”

“I want to give you that hug.” I’d be an ass not to.

“Okay.” He felt a soft touch on his upper arm and slid his hand along it until he found her shoulder. Then he enveloped her in a warm hug. Holding her close, he tried to visualize the little girl she once was. Maybe that way, he could keep a lid on his libido.

She grasped him tight and leaned against his chest. He felt protective of her, and in some ways, he liked it. Shit. This is not good. He still didn’t want her dependent upon him, long term, but this was one of those temporary circumstances in which his first responder traits wouldn’t rebel.

“Don’t worry, Misty. I’m sure they’ll have us out of here before long.”

“I still doubt that.” After a long silence, she added, “I hope we have enough air to survive in here until morning. Do firefighters have any idea how much oxygen a person needs?”

There was an exact formula for that, and it took him a minute to remember it. “How big is this vault?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. Maybe twelve by twelve? Something like that?”

“I’m pretty sure we’ll be okay.” People used up more oxygen if they panicked and hyperventilated, so the best thing he could think of to do was keep her calm. “If worse comes to worst, we can always share some oxygen, like underwater divers.” Did he really say that?

She was quiet.

“I was kidding,” Gabe said. What a dumb joke. Get your head out of the gutter, Fierro.

“Oh.” She sounded somewhat disappointed.

He stroked her back and said softly, “I’m sure the fire department must be here by now. Relax. Firefighters can get into anything.” Including a lot of trouble.

“I hope you’re right.” After another long silence, she said, “I doubt we’d hear gunshots through this door.”

“Shit. Don’t even think that way. Your coworkers were cooperating, and the gunmen probably decided to leave before getting caught.”

“Linda is pregnant. Again. She has three little kids at home. Betsy is a mom of two. I can’t help worrying about them.”

Maybe talking about her coworkers would distract Misty from their predicament, but it would use up more oxygen too. Now Gabe had to decide whether he believed his own words.

“Worrying won’t help your coworkers. It will just get you worked up. You need to stay calm.”

“Don’t you worry about your fellow firefighters?”

He thought about that for a moment. They were all well trained to handle themselves in any emergency. Usually, he was too focused on the fire or whatever situation required his full attention. But yeah, there were times when somebody was in danger and he worried, especially if he couldn’t help…or it was one of his brothers.

“I guess so.”

Gabe wanted to lean over and kiss the top of her head, but that might open the door to a precedent he didn’t want to deal with later. If she expected more, he could probably blame it on the moment, but he didn’t want to mess with her head…or his.

* * *

Baldy was pacing back and forth, waving his gun. “Now what, Mr. Manager?”

Adam shrugged. “Once the safe is closed and it locks, it won’t open again for eight hours.”

The antsy bank robber stopped pacing in front of him and placed the barrel of his gun against Adam’s forehead. “There has to be an override code or something.”

Adam was shaking so badly inside, he thought his knees would turn to jelly and he might fall or faint. “Th-there’s some kind of emergency code, but only the bank president has it. He’s on a cruise right now.”

“Can you call him?”

“He goes on cruises specifically because there’s no internet or phone. Even if I could get ahold of him, he’d probably realize something was wrong and call the cops.”

The “boss” stomped his foot.

“Well, we tried,” the heavyset one mumbled.

The bald guy’s jaw was clenched, and his face was growing redder. At last, he looked at the ceiling, threw his arms in the air, and yelled, “Fuck!”

Everyone stared at him silently for a few moments.

“Uh, boss?”

“What?” he shouted.

“I think we should probably go.” He nodded toward the front door where a customer was pulling on it frantically, then leaning against the glass, cupping the area around his eyes, and trying to see in.

The smaller guy slumped. “Christ. I’m not leaving with nothing. Everyone empty your pockets into this backpack.” He tossed the flat bag at the manager.

Adam caught it and reached into his own back pocket first. Then he carried the bag to Betsy, one of the female tellers.

“Our wallets are in our purses,” she said.

Baldy ripped the bag out of Adam’s hand. “Open the drawers and don’t touch the contents. My partner will load up the cash.” Then he looked at the remaining tellers. “Next stop, purse city, ladies.”

* * *

Misty wanted to cry. She was trying to be brave, but she really, really wanted to cry. She felt tears burn behind her eyes and tipped her face up, hoping to keep them from running down her cheeks. Gabe leaned away. Maybe he thought she was looking for a kiss.

Then she swayed and bumped against him. Was that bulge… Oh my!

“Misty, I guess we might as well sit down, since we’re going to be waiting for a while,” Gabe said.

Sitting against a solid wall before her legs gave out sounded like a great idea. The place was filled with shelving, but there was a flat surface beside the door. She felt behind her, found the smooth wall, and slid down to a sitting position. She hadn’t told anyone about her legs failing to cooperate lately, even in the best of circumstances. She hoped it was just a weird muscle spasm or something that would go away.

Gabe found her shoulder and scooted down beside her. She couldn’t see an inch in front of her face, but she pictured their legs straight out in front of them like little kids as they sat side by side. Gabe took Misty’s hand in his and gave it a squeeze.

It was comforting and familiar, yet not enough. Her thoughts traveled back to her childhood…

She’d been in love with Gabe as long as she could remember. The first fairy tales she’d heard replayed in her mind when she was little and daydreaming, with Gabe as the handsome prince. Her favorite story was “Sleeping Beauty.” Her favorite daydream was being awakened with Gabe’s kiss.

She had been sheltered. At least, compared to her suburban friends. In the city, she’d had to be watched at all times. That made sense. Cities could be tough places for kids. So many people became hardened or downright toxic. Gabe and Parker watched over her. She didn’t know if Parker had been told to do so, but Gabe certainly hadn’t. Yet when Parker had to go inside to use the bathroom or answer a phone call, she knew she was just as safe with Gabe.

Then, even though her grandparents had taken them to a small town where she was safer, they still watched her like a hawk. She’d rebelled. Breaking curfew. Not telling them where she was going…and now, looking back, she felt terrible about it. She and her brother were all they had left of their daughter. Her uncle was useless, only showing up to borrow money. Now he had all of it. Private studio lessons weren’t cheap. Whatever hope she’d had of a professional dance career couldn’t be afforded anymore, so she had to change her goal. But to what?

After a long silence, she asked, “Gabe, do you have any regrets?”

She thought she was in for another long silence when he finally said, “The past is the past. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

“I wasn’t talking about the past, necessarily. I mean hypothetically, if you died today, is there anything you would wish you had done that you haven’t?”

“Hypothetically? Not really. At least I don’t think so. You?”

“Yeah. But if we get out of here, there’s still a chance.” She wasn’t about to tell him that the chance she wanted was with him.

“A chance to what? Dance professionally? I remember how you loved to dance.”

“Well, maybe. That, or I would have liked to open my own dance studio.”

“That sounds nice. There’s no reason you can’t do that, because we are going to get out of here. I promise.”

Feeling hopeless, she said, “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“Misty, let’s talk about something else. So, tell me about the suburbs.”

“Gee, do you have five seconds?”

Gabe laughed. “We might have five hours.”

Misty took a deep breath, then regretted it, knowing that air might be at a premium soon.

Gabe was speaking again. She had to bring herself back to the present when he asked, “What about school? I imagine you finished high school. Was it public or private?”

“Yes, I finished Saugus High School. It was public, but nice. Fairly new. The kids weren’t too bad, either.”

“Really? Sounds like you lucked out. Some of the kids at Boston Latin were assholes.”

“But I thought that was a good school?”

“Sure. The teachers were good. The classes were good. The kids were assholes.”

“Oh well. You can’t win ’em all,” she said. Kids could be jerks when they were jealous. She imagined a lot of guys would be jealous of the handsome teenager Gabe must have been. He probably attracted plenty of female attention, but she didn’t want to think about that now…or ever.

“So, do you like being a bank teller and want to make a career of it, or is this just a step to something else?”

Misty snorted. “Does anyone want to be a bank teller when they grow up?”

Gabe was quiet, so she forged on. “Yeah, I guess it’s a step. I wanted to dance professionally, maybe doing music videos or live tours, but there really isn’t much call for that around this area. I could save up and go to Hollywood—eventually. But by then, I’d be too old.”

He laughed. “Old? You’re only twenty-two!”

“Almost twenty-three. My birthday is in a couple of weeks. I should have gone to Hollywood or Vegas right out of high school, but I needed to be close to my grandparents until…” A lump formed in her throat, so she just stopped talking.

“Until they left you,” Gabe said.

She sighed. “Yeah. Sometimes it feels that way.” Freakin’ abandonment issues…

He squeezed her hand again. “Well, you have me. I may be a sorry excuse for a relative, but I can be a good friend.”

A friend. Well, she knew where she stood. Or sat, at the moment—thank goodness. Fatigue swamped her, and her posture slumped.

She felt Gabe slide his arm around her back. She didn’t know how he’d react to her leaning her head on his shoulder, but she did it anyway. He didn’t pull away. The two of them sat in a cocoon of silence for a few minutes.

“So, how about you? Did you always want to be a firefighter?”

“Doesn’t every little boy? Especially if the whole frigging family is in the fire service?”

“I wouldn’t know,” she said. “I was a little girl with girly-girl dreams when we lived near you. But I can imagine the pressure you must’ve been under to carry on the family tradition.”

“I don’t mind. I love the job. Right now, my parents are struggling with my youngest brother, Luca. He wants to be a cop.”

“In a family of firefighters? Doesn’t that make him the black sheep?”

He chuckled. “You know it. My mother is usually so calm about our jobs, but with Luca… Well, he’s the baby. And she doesn’t want her baby getting shot.”

“But she’s not worried about the rest of you in a fire?”

He was quiet for a moment, then said, “She knows we can take care of ourselves.”

“The last time I saw Luca, he was about six or seven years old. I have a hard time seeing him as a cop.”

“Just like I had a hard time seeing you as a mature woman, until… Well, there you were. All grown-up and beautiful to boot.”

Misty smiled, not that he could see it. She kept her head on his shoulder. Leaning on him felt good, natural, like coming home. She basked in his warmth, very glad he didn’t pull away.