No More Games

Chapter Nine

The rear of the building was guarded with a heavy iron door that could only be opened by a series of select sequences and codes. A door that highly protected would take more than a year to crack even with the best code breakers assigned to crack it. The only problem was that they didn't exactly have a year. They were lucky that the Director had given them an hour to wrap this case up.

Bobby rolled his eyes at the thought. He probably wanted it gift wrapped and delivered to him with a pretty bow on it too.

They'd been lucky, though, when an off-duty bank manager had allowed them use of her access codes. That was at least one less headache down. Just a few dozen more to go.

"Tedesco is in the main lobby with the hostages," Tara reported from the bullpen. She had remained behind with Lucy only because ten squares blocks of the city had been cordoned off because of Tedesco's so-called "bomb". It was partially a ruse to keep the streets clear of bystanders and the media, but it was also just in case the dummy bomb turned out to be real.

None of them doubted Bobby's skills in explosives or the fact that this creep was only out for the fame of it all, but it was always better to be cautious.

"All other corridors are clear."

Bobby couldn't help the little smirk that curled to his lips as Tara's voice filtered in through his earpiece. It was a smirk of manly pride. In fact, his lips still tingled from Tara's kiss… or rather kisses. The initial contact had shocked him to like, just life it had after the MojoGogo concert. Yet, he hadn't retreated this time. After that night, he'd promised himself that if he was to ever gain another chance with Tara, he would make sure to do it right.

And while kissing her senseless in the locker room might not have been the right thing to do, exactly, at least it was a start in the right direction. They could always talk later.

He fell back into focus as he felt Myles shift beside him. As much as he would like to sit there and daydream about Tara for the rest of the night, he had to remember that he still had a job to do.

Leland moved in front of him, following closely behind D as Bobby took up the rear. Working so many ops like this had taught them to move as one, silent like a shadow that was ready to strike at its prey.

Light could be seen as they crept around one last corner. Two voices reached their ears. Since the security cameras were not equipped to record sound, they could only assume that the first belonged to Tedesco.

And they instantly recognized the second as belonging to Jack.

Sue watched as Jack tried to negotiate with their captor, her hands buried in the thickness of Levi's fur. It was partially to keep him calm—he'd remained tense after Jack went sprawling to the floor (no one hurt his second-favorite human) and she could feel how on edge he still was—but it was mostly for her own comfort.

They should have been rescued by now. She still had faith that they would, but it was coming in at a close second to the fear inside of her that told her none of them were ever going to leave this bank alive.

And that made her begin to regret a lot of things. Okay. That was a lie. She only regretted one thing and it involved the man willing to make a bargain with the crazed maniac with a bomb strapped to his chest.

Jack was willing to stay behind if everyone else was let go.

And the man in the sweatshirt was actually considering letting him do it!

At least for a moment, anyway.

"What good would you be when all of you together would be so much better?" she saw him ask, but something told her that Jack was just wasting his breath. A deal wouldn't be made.

"I'm with the FBI," was Jack's reply. "I'm the best leverage you can have if you let them all go."

Jack's admittance of being FBI didn't even seem to faze the other man. He didn't even blink. "Including Blondie and her mutt?" He shot a glance in her direction and Sue had to restrain Levi from charging. Wrapped her arms around the canine's neck, she pulled him back to her and forced him to lie back down. She couldn't resist shooting a daggered glare back at him.

Jack never turned away from the other man and for that, Sue was thankful. Turning away would have shown a sign of weakness and Jack Hudson was anything but weak. "Especially her." He barked in response. His eyes suddenly turned dark and intense and Sue could swear she'd just felt her heart flutter like a butterfly's wings inside her chest.

She hated to admit it but she was just as susceptible to those dark chocolate eyes of his, no matter how good she'd become at hiding it. The deep, dark power of those eyes always made her weak in the knees as her stomach did massive summersaults in her belly. It was almost just as wonderful as when he smiled at her with that flirtatious little curl of his lips and that heart stopping wink of his.

She suddenly felt the urge to fan herself because of her errant thoughts, but then she mentally chastised herself. Now was definitely not the time to sink into a fantasy about Jack Hudson. And by the way Levi was pawing at her, he felt exactly the same way.

Taking his sudden affection as a cry for attention, she continued to stroke him behind the ears. That wasn't what he was looking for. He continued to paw at her and then look away.

Frowning, she checked to see if Jack and their captor were still in the middle of negotiations and followed Levi's gaze. Her own traveled past the clerk's desk and toward the darkened hallway beyond. She had assumed that it only led to the bank's vault, so what had caught her furry companion's attention?

If she would have blinked, she would have missed the minute movement in the shadow. Her heart suddenly leaped into her throat as hope suddenly surged. The cavalry had finally arrived!