“Thanks, Bill,” I said, and suddenly Mo woke, his radar telling him we were leaving.
No sooner had we stepped out of the shop than I heard, “Pepper.”
I turned to see my mom and, of course, Mo had to hurry to her.
“How are you feeling?” my mom asked between the hugs and kisses she was giving Mo.
“Feeling good and the bruises will fade with time,” I assured her.
“Wonderful. I am so glad I ran into you. It saves me a call and a trip. Would you mind if Mo came with me?”
Mo barked, understanding, and sat leaning against her leg, letting me know he wanted to go with her.
My mom explained, “I am meeting with seniors today regarding some senior programs that will be changing, for the better, but there are always those ready to complain and, of course, I will listen. But Mo makes a great distraction. The seniors love him and he loves them. And he seems to knowwhich one of them will be a problem. He will save me time and energy.”
“No problem, Mom, he’s all yours. I can pick him up at your office later.”
“Perfect. We need to get going, Mo. Don’t want to be late. Toodles,” she called to me as they hurried off.
The timing couldn’t have been better. I intended to take Mo home and drop him off since he wouldn’t be allowed in the bank. I wanted to drive over to the only bank in Chesterfield and take a look around and maybe if I were lucky, Henry Walker might be there, and I could talk with him.
I got in my truck and headed there.
Twenty minutes later, after parking, I slipped on sunglasses so I wouldn’t get too many stares and headed into the bank. I spotted Henry Walker right away talking with a blonde woman. I was about to walk toward him when I caught sight of none other than Stone.
He was sitting behind a desk as if he worked there, talking with a woman who one would assume was a customer. That’s when I took a better look around and recognized a few FBI agents who had worked on the Willow Lake Bank heist and were now pretending to work here or acted as customers.
When I looked back at Stone, he glared at me and I knew there and then I had just walked into an undercover op.
I smiled at him and wisely turned around to leave.
That’s when I ran into two masked, armed men and found myself stuck in another bank heist.
CHAPTER 26
The man I ran into grabbed my arm before I could even step back.
“Inside,” he said, pressing the gun against my side as he pushed me back into the lobby.
The second man locked the door behind us and flipped the sign to CLOSED.
“Everyone, sit on the floor,” the guy holding me barked. “Hands up. Now.”
Chairs scraped and shoes shuffled as customers lowered themselves to the floor. Arms lifted awkwardly in the air just as was done during the first robbery.
Apparently, this was becoming a familiar routine.
I had my phone in my hand, having intended to take a few photos of the place, and went to raise my arm like everyone else, but he stopped me.
“Not you,” he ordered near my ear. “You’re staying with me.”
Okay, now that was different from my last bank heist experience. No hostages were physically detained. Wasn’t I the lucky one to be the first?
Across the room, Stone had gone very still where he stood behind the desk. The woman with whom he had been speaking with had turned and I recognized her. She was one of the FBI agents I had seen collecting evidence at the scene of the Willow Lake Bank heist.
With so many FBI agents on hand, I had nothing to worry about, then my eyes met Stone’s.
Concern flashed across his face before he quickly masked it and went to step forward.
