I realized I did the math wrong when I was trying to figure out how much each dude would get. Math is not my strong suit. I'm going back and fixing that. Oops. Thanks to siege98 for pointing it out! Math's tough, guys, and in my defense, I was a history major. Thanks for still reading and reviewing! I'm already halfway done with the next chapter, so fear not, kind readers! I'll try to have it up in the next day or so. Also, and you probably don't care about this, but the city of Pittsburgh is going bananas, my beloved Buccos are playing the Cards tonight in St. Louis in the playoffs. The playoffs, you guys! We haven't seen post-season baseball since 1992 here in the Burgh. Let's go Bucs!

Will has never been good at waiting.

And standing here? Waiting for the phone to ring, waiting for the cops to figure out a plan to get Mac out of there, waiting for his wife to be safe and in his arms? It's torture.

"I can't…I can't really help that much, but I want to give something, I want to help get Mac out of there. And I can't do anything else, and I just need to do something," Jim offers, and it makes Will think of Mac Rudy-ing him on Valentine's Day, and it makes his heart hurt. Good God, he loves her. And it's been twenty minutes, and in forty minutes they're going to shoot her, and if that happens they might as well put a bullet in his brain as well.

"Jim, I appreciate it, really, but it's not necessary," Will says. Jim's a good kid, and he loves Mac. Will knows that Jim is almost as scared as he is, and he wants to be able to reassure Jim that everything will be okay, but Will's never been very good at comforting other people, especially when he's thisclose to losing it himself.

"She has to be okay," Jim mutters. "She has to be." Will doesn't say anything, because what's there to say? Yes, she has to be okay.

His phone rings and it's his attorney, telling him they're working on the money, and to hang tight.

Hang tight? Hang fucking tight? Will feels like punching someone in the face, and Lonny notices his fists clench and throws his hand on Will's back.

"I won't ask you how you're doing, because I think I know the answer to that," Lonny says. "But she's smart and she's strong and if anyone can make it out of there, it's Mackenzie." And Will nods, because all those things are true, but what if, what if, what if?

And he turns his attention back to the bank, where God knows what's happening inside, and he waits.

The happy mood seems to dissipate out in the main lobby of the bank.

They were openly glaring at each other now, and Mac couldn't hear words, but she could see through the glass office door that they were arguing about something.

Mac wasn't sure what had gone wrong, but things were starting to splinter, and before she knew it, Lurch was barreling through the office door and pulling her up out of the chair, his fingers digging painfully into her arm.

"We can get more," he says, tugging her out into the lobby and pushing her towards the phone. "I don't just want one. That's bullshit. She's worth more."

"We talked about this," the Captain replies, and though he seems calm, Mac can hear a hard edge to his tone.

"No, you just decided, we didn't talk about anything," Lurch argues. He grabs Mac and pushes her, hard, towards the phone. "Call your husband. Tell him the price just went up."

"No," the Captain is firm, and he reaches for Mac and pulls her away from the phone. "You're not in charge here. She's not calling anyone. We said six. You don't like it? You can leave. There's the door. She's going back in that office until we hear from her husband, and we're not discussing it anymore." Mac's sure she's going to have bruises on both arms from where the two are playing tug-of-war with her, and her terror ratchets up a notch when she registers that Lurch is pulling out a gun and pointing towards the two of them.

"Fuck you," Lurch growls. The Captain pulls out his own gun and points it right back at Lurch.

Things are going badly very quickly, and Mac can feel her body shaking. She sneaks a look over to where the rest of the hostages are sitting, wide-eyed, watching the exchange.

"Don't," the Captain says calmly. "I'm taking her back to the office. We're done discussing this." He pushes Mac towards the office, and only when she's safely back behind the door does she let out a choked sob.

She presses her hand to her mouth and tells herself to breathe.

Through the door she can see the Captain striding back over to where Lurch has put the gun away, yelling and throwing his hands in the air. She grips the edge of the seat and holds her breath.

She needs Will. She needs him, and she risks pulling out her phone to send him off a text message.

I don't mean to make you worry, but things are starting to unravel in here. So I do hope you've got a plan.

She places the phone on her lap, watching as the three continue their fight. Every once in a while one of them will point back to where she's sitting, and she shrinks back into the chair. Her phone lights up and she glances down to see Will's reply.

What do you mean unravel? Are you okay? We're working on it, just try to stay calm.

Right. Calm. Stay calm.

They're starting to fight with one another. I'm still back in the office, so try not to worry. But things are getting ugly, and I'd rather not stick around to watch it all implode if it's all the same to you.

"WE'RE CALLING HER HUSBAND!" She hears Lurch scream, and she shoves the phone off her lap and it clatters onto the floor. She only has time to push it with her foot under the desk before he's grabbing her again, dragging her out far more roughly than last time.

"No," the Captain says, but this time Sparky pulls out his gun and levels it at the Captain.

"You're not in charge anymore. Two against one," he says. "I'm not walking out of here with only one million while you get four, you greedy asshole. You couldn't have done this without us, and it's about time you acknowledge that. She's calling her husband and she's asking for more. Got it?" Lurch grabs Mac's hair and she winces, but doesn't make a sound as he pulls her towards the phone.

"Make the call," he demands, and Mac's hands shake as she picks up the receiver. "Tell him we want more."

She dials Will's number and he answers on the first ring, with a breathless,

"Hello?"

"They want more," she whispers.

"Mac? Are you okay? Sweetheart, what's going on in there?"

"They want more," she says, her voice a little louder.

"How much more?" He asks, and she repeats the question back.

"Nine," Sparky says. "Still shouldn't be a problem."

"Nine," Mac replies.

"I'm going to need more time," Will says, his voice desperate.

"He needs more time," Mac tells Sparky; she sneaks a glance over at the Captain and sees his arms crossed over his chest, his mouth set in a firm line.

Stay calm, she thinks to herself. Stay calm.

"No," Lurch shakes his head. "No. No. He had one hour. He's got a half hour still." He grabs Mac's hair and pulls hard enough that she can't stop the cry of pain that slips out of her mouth. "Tell him."

"You've got a half hour," Mac says, and Sparky reaches out and hangs up the phone before she can get another word in.

"We need to get her out of there," Will insists as soon as he hears the dial tone. "Now. Now."

"They're working on it," Lonny attempts, but Will isn't having any of it. Mackenzie is terrified. He can hear it in her voice. And she's panicking. He could hear the underlying panic in her tone, and he knows Mac, he knows that she's not prone to panicking, so if she is, something is wrong. She knows how to read people, read situations.

Unravel.

That was the word she used. Things are starting to unravel.

Will's damn smart. He can read between the lines. They've turned on one another, and that makes them incredibly dangerous.

And that sound she made. That wounded sound. He can't get it out of his head.

Will wasn't sure if their threat was sincere before, but he's sure now. They'll kill her. Oh fuck.

He has to put his hands on his knees and take in deep, gulping breaths. He feels Charlie's hand on his back.

"What happened?" Charlie asks, and Will is aware of every precious tick of the clock, but the panic is threatening to overwhelm him. "Will?"

"They want more. They want nine million. They're…Mac said they're starting to unravel. That was what she said. Unravel."

"Jesus," Charlie mutters.

"I need to…I need…" Will straightens up, and begins to pace. "I need…"

"Sit down," Charlie instructs. "You need to sit down. I'll make the calls. Just sit down." He guides Will to the curb and Will sinks down. Jim drops next to Will, and then drops his head into his hands.

"Fuck," Will hears Jim whisper. "Fuck."

"I think that was a mistake," the Captain speaks up after the phone is hung up. Mac is frozen to the spot, her scalp aching, and her pulse racing.

"No one asked you," Lurch tells him harshly, and the Captain laughs a little. The sound makes Mac's blood run cold.

"You might as well just shoot her now," the Captain says. "He's not going to be able to do it. You didn't give him enough time."

"He has plenty of time," Sparky chimes in. "Shut up."

"If you had listened to me," the Captain continues, ignoring Sparky. "I would have told you that. He has his guys working on getting the six, and now you want nine? That might take a little more effort. He can't do it in a half hour, and you can't back down now. You might as well just kill her now. She's useless."

"Shut. Up." Lurch's fists clench as he moves closer, but the Captain's grin doesn't falter.

"Useless," the Captain repeats. "Here, I'll do it for you." And he pulls out his gun and levels it at Mac.

"Don't," Sparky's gun is out and pointed at the Captain. "She's our nine million dollar paycheck. Don't you dare." Mac doesn't dare move, she doesn't dare even breathe.

Will, she thinks. I love you.

Lurch pulls out his gun and points it at the Captain.

"Put it down," he instructs. The Captain finally turns his attention away from Mac and she commands her feet to move; she starts backing away slowly, trying to get out of the line of fire without drawing their attention back to her. She hits the island in the middle of the lobby and starts to inch her way around as they continue their standoff.

Her fingers dance along the cool marble as she slowly makes her way around. They haven't glanced back over in her direction once. She can see Lurch's arm trembling from the effort, and for the first time she can see the Captain is nervous.

Mac's not sure which one fired first, but suddenly there's a hale of bullets and she doesn't think, she just drops to the ground and covers her head and prays.