Overwhelming Force. Janie Crouch

robbers needed to hear: that they were smart, in control. The man ripped off his shirt and dropped it to the ground.

      “I’m going to take off my jeans, okay? Not trying to give anyone a show, but you’re smart to check and make sure I really don’t have any weapons.”

      Strong muscular legs came into view as the man kicked off his boots and socks and then took off his jeans. Black boxer briefs were all that was left on the negotiator. Laura sort of hoped the robbers would let him in, not only so he could negotiate them out of this mess, but so she could see his face. Would it be as impressive as the rest of him?

      “Miss Laura—” Samantha giggled “—that man only has his underwear on.”

      Laura smiled. “I know, sweetie. He’s silly.” She bounced the baby on her legs, thankful she wasn’t crying anymore.

      “So as you can see,” the negotiator continued, “no weapons. Well, one, if you know what I mean. But I generally only bring that one out for the ladies.” Laura could hear the smile in his voice. “Do you mind if I come in and talk? It’s a nice day but still a little chilly out here in just my drawers.”

      “Fine,” the guy behind the bank manager finally said. “Get in here. But if you do anything suspicious at all, I’ll start killing people.”

      The guy grabbed his pile of clothes and quickly squeezed through the door. The manager relocked it and the bad guy got away from the danger of the door and pointed his gun at the negotiator.

      Laura could feel her jaw literally drop when she got her first full look at him.

      Standing there in his boxer briefs was Joe Matarazzo.

      She never thought she would see him again. Had hoped she would never see him again. And now it looked like her life was in his hands.

      Just went to prove that behind every worst-case scenario, there was a worse worst-case scenario.

      * * *

      JOE KNEW HE would never hear the end of this little striptease from his Omega colleagues. But he’d been certain he couldn’t get into the bank any other way. These two guys were paranoid, frantic. Joe knew immediately he needed to put himself in a position of seeming to be the beta. Let them feel like they were alpha.

      Joe’s pride, his true feelings, his personality, didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting everyone out of the bank safely.

      If they had asked him to take off his boxers, he would’ve done that, too. But he was glad they hadn’t.

      Joe quickly assessed one half of the bank as he put his jeans back on. The bank manager seemed scared to death and had some bruising on the side of his face—probably took a punch—but otherwise appeared fine. An injured man, also a bank employee, sat propped up against the wall. Looked like he also had received a blow to the side of the face. Bloody, but not life-threatening.

      All the bank employees being alive was a good sign. It meant these two guys probably didn’t want to hurt anyone. Probably had planned to rob the bank and things had escalated.

      No one was dead yet, so that meant there was a very good chance that Joe could get everyone out unharmed.

      “I’m Joe, by the way,” he told the two men as he pulled his shirt back over his head.

      “You expect us to tell you our names so you can get a bunch of information on us? No way, man.” Both men had their weapons aimed directly at Joe.

      Joe wanted to point out the flaws in their logic: how was he supposed to get any information? He’d just gotten almost naked in front of them so they knew he didn’t have any communication devices. And even if he did, what would a bunch of information do versus two very real guns?

      But pointing out the logic flaws would only put them more on the defensive.

      “No, nothing like that. I was just wondering what to call you.”

      “You can call me Ricky and him Bobby,” the older of the two men said, sneering.

      Joe recognized Ricky Bobby. “Yeah, I saw that movie.” Joe smiled. “The kids, Walker and Texas Ranger. Hilarious. Anchorman was my favorite though.”

      The men’s weapons lowered just the slightest bit. Good. Just keep them thinking about Will Ferrell and movies. Based on their coloring and size, Joe guessed Ricky and Bobby to be brothers.

      He turned casually in the opposite direction so he could see the other half of the bank as he crouched down to put his shoes back on.

      There were the kids. Good. A little girl alternating between coloring and watching what was going on and a baby in her mom’s lap. Joe glanced at the mom’s face to see how she was holding up.

      And found the angry eyes of Laura Birchwood.

      Joe felt the air leave his lungs.

      Man, she hadn’t changed at all in the six years since he’d seen her, well, except for the two kids part. She still had wavy brown hair and a face more interesting than it was traditionally pretty. But it was still the face he’d never been able to ever get out of his mind.

      The pain that assaulted him at the knowledge that Laura had moved on so completely from him took him by surprise. She obviously had found herself a husband and had a couple of kids, given the cute little baby who bounced on her knees.

      After what he’d said to her when their relationship ended, Joe couldn’t blame her for moving on. It still hurt like hell though.

      Joe stood from putting on his boots and looked at the two men. He needed to focus.

      “Ricky, Bobby, I want to help you guys. They sent me in here to figure out what we can do to work this out peaceful-like.” He carefully didn’t use the word cops in case that was some sort of trigger word for the two men “There’s nothing that has been done here yet that makes the situation terrible. You guys and I can walk out of here right now and everything can be made right.”

      That wasn’t totally accurate. Ricky and Bobby would be doing some jail time for this little stunt. But it would be much worse if they killed someone. Joe didn’t really think they were just going to walk out with him, but it was worth a shot.

      “No,” Ricky said. “They’ll shoot us as soon as we come out. Or at least arrest us.”

      “Nobody wants to shoot you. I promise you that,” Joe quickly interjected. He needed to keep the level of paranoia as low as possible.

      “Well, we’re not going out there. Not until we have what we need.” Bobby looked over at the bank manager.

      Okay, so they did want something. Probably money. That was good, something Joe could work with, something he could talk to them about.

      Something that provided him leverage.

      “That sounds reasonable. Is what you need going to hurt anybody?”

      If what they needed was to blow up a bank full of people while the press was watching to make some sort of political or religious statement, then it was going to be time for Joe to pull out the sunglasses to signal SWAT awfully quick. But Ricky and Bobby didn’t seem to be the political statement types.

      “No,” Bobby said. “What we want is ours. We just want it back.”

      To the side, Joe heard Laura’s baby start to cry. He needed to get her and the children out of here. Right now. He couldn’t stand the thought of Laura being hurt again. Or especially her innocent children.

      Joe had hurt her enough once. Maybe he could begin to make that right by getting her and her family out of danger.

      “Alright, I can do that. That’s why I was sent in here. To see what it is you need and help find a way to get it for you. That’s my only job here, figuring out a way this can end okay for everyone.”

      Again, that wasn’t actually true, but the baby’s cries were getting louder. Ricky and