I'm new to this so the first 2 chapters didn't come up right, so I'm trying to fix the next chapters.

Thanks for being patient with me.

Chapter 3

Sara was trying to shake off the fear in her head and take in her surroundings. She had to get her head back in the game.

Rule #1: Follow the evidence. Okay, so what evidence did she have? Three heavily armed masked men. All between 5'11 and 6'4. No way to tell how much they weighed due to all the body armor. No way to tell what they looked like due to the masks. One was named Johnny, one named Mark, and one who we'll just call Mr. Talkative for now, since he hadn't said a word.

Rule #2: The evidence never lies. Money was the obvious motive and they were going to get it no matter what. They weren't going to let anything, or anyone, get in there way. Stacy the teller was proof of that. If things kept up like this no one was going to come out of this alive. Screw Rule #2, back to Rule #1. No more Rule #2. All right Sara, listen to what they're saying and try to gather clues. Johnny and Mark were behind the counter talking to each other.

"So what now Johnny? How are we gonna get out of here? What's the plan?"

"First, we're gonna wait for them to contact us. We'll give them our demands, maybe exchange a few hostages for some necessities, then its hello Mexico."

"That's our plan? What if it doesn't work, huh? Then what?"

"It'll work, the way I see it, unless they want a bank full of dead hostages, they'll play. Especially when we show them her." Johnny said as he motioned to the dead teller. "We're probably going to each have to take a hostage to shield us once we leave this place and our demands our met. Then we'll dump them."

Mark motioned to Sara, "I'll take that one, she's nice."

"You take whichever one you want but remember no fun and games until we're home free. You got it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it."

"For now, we sit tight and let the cops come to us."

Sara caught enough of the conversation to raise the hairs on her arms. She wasn't getting out of here anytime soon she realized. And it seemed like Mark had taken a particular liking to one Sara Sidle. Crap. Sara thought God must be playing a joke on her with the men in her life. First, Hank, loser with a capital L, Grissom, who couldn't express a feeling if his life depended on it, and Mark, bank robber extraordinaire. Woo hoo, you go Sidle, you sure do know how to attract the wrong kind of man. You really ought to write a book, "The right thing to do to attract Mr. Wrong." It just screams best seller.

Outside, the LVPD mobile command unit was pulling up. Captain Jim Brass was barking orders left and right. Not only was it his day off, now he had this to deal with. Hostage negotiations with bank robbers never ended up good. And this one had started off with a bang.

"What's SWAT's ETA?" Brass asked as he walked into the command unit.

"10 minutes," answered one of the officers.

"You better make it 5, we don't want these guys anymore trigger happy than they already are. How's it going on breaking into the banks security system?"

"Give me just a few more minutes and we should be able to see everything going on inside." One of the tech operators answered.

"Do we have a secure line established yet?"

"It will be up in 2 minutes." The same tech answered.

"Let me know when it's ready." Brass said as he walked out of the van. He was getting ready to tell on of the officers to let him know when SWAT arrived when he turned to the parking lot of the bank to see it full of news vans and reporters. Damn it. Just what I need, not only will the Sheriff be watching my every move but so will all of Las Vegas. Nothing like a little pressure.

The tech stuck his head out of the van and said, "We've got the line established sir. You ready to contact them?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Brass answered as he walked back into the van.

Inside the bank the phone began to ring. "Show time, Mark. Hello."

"Yes, this is Captain Jim Brass with the Las Vegas Police Department. Who am I speaking to?"

"How bout we not get too personal Captain Brass. I'll tell you what I want and you deliver it, got it?"

"I'll do what I can. First, can you tell me if anyone inside is injured?"

"Not good enough Captain, tell you what, why don't I show you just how serious we are and then you can call me back." With that Johnny hung up. "Hey you two," he pointed to two male hostages inside the bank, "Pick her up and throw her outside the doors." The men hesitated. Sara knew it was from fear. From fear of the men with the guns or from fear of touching a dead body she wasn't sure. Johnny stuck his weapon in the air and shot off a few rounds. "I said throw her outside NOW!" Ya'll come back now, you hear." Johnny added with a small laugh at his own joke.

With that the two men grabbed the teller, one at her feet and one by her arms. Mr. Talkative opened the door of the bank and let the men out. They hurriedly dropped the body and ran back inside.

Captain Jim Brass knew that his day had gone from bad to worse. SWAT had already pulled up and gotten settled while he was on the phone. He saw the doors of the bank open. Two men came out holding the obviously dead body of a woman. Shit. Brass called the bank again.

"What do you want?" He asked trying to mask the anger with indifference.

"Right now, we're kinda hungry, so food would be nice. We want some hamburgers and French fries. And some cokes."

"Is that all?"

"For right now, don't worry captain, I'm gonna give you 15 minutes to get us our food."

"It's not your food I'm worried about. Can you give me an idea of what your more pressing demands might be?"

"Come on now captain, I don't like to do business on an empty stomach. You got 14 minutes now."

Brass heard the dial tone at the other end. He jumped out of the van. "Vega, run down to the nearest fast food joint and get me some hamburgers, some fries and some cokes, and hurry, you've got 13 minutes."

Vega was back in no time flat. Brass still had 6 minutes to spare. "This had better be the best damn hamburgers this side of Vegas, Vega." Brass handed the bags to a SWAT officer and ran back into the van. He called the bank, "I just wanted to let you know that an officer is going to be putting your food outside the door of the bank. I didn't want to spook you."

"I appreciate that captain. I'll send one of the hostages out to pick up the food. If I'm impressed with it I might just send someone out to you."

"That would be good..." Brass said as he heard the dial tone, again.

Inside, Johnny stood there trying to decide who to send out to pick up the food. His gaze settled on Sara. "You," he said, "Come here."

Sara stood up and slowly made her way to where he was standing.

"I want you to go outside that door and pick up our food. Do not try anything funny or try to run away or I'll be forced to kill one of them" He said while pointing to the rest of the hostages.

"Wouldn't dream of doing anything stupid," Sara replied.

"Good, now go ahead and remember, I'll be behind you with this," he motioned to the weapon," pointed at the back of your head."

Sara walked slowly to the door. She opened it and was immediately struck with how bright the sun was in her eyes. She hesitated for just a minute to get her eyes adjusted. That was when her eyes locked with Brass.

Brass felt all the blood drain from his face.

Oh this is just freaking great.

TBC