Undercover Jeopardy. Kathleen Tailer

I want everyone’s cell phones. Now!” She turned to see their leader, Jackson, swinging his gun around and carrying a trash can. He walked down the line of hostages and waited impatiently as they each deposited their cell phones in the metal can. The captives were all in different stages between panic and disbelief. A couple of the women were crying, and a few of the men were pale and withdrawn, but they all complied with Jackson’s orders. When he came to Daniel, he stopped and Bethany held her breath, hoping that neither Jackson nor Daniel would start an altercation. Being undercover meant sometimes walking a thin line between the legal and illegal. Her participation in this bank robbery had been authorized by her handler at the FBI, so they could trace the stolen money and make bigger arrests, but it was hard to see anyone get hurt. Still, she would blow her cover in a heartbeat if any of the robbers tried to kill an innocent victim. The problem was that she knew Daniel was a fellow officer who would do everything within his power to foil this robbery. She held her breath, not sure what to expect, her body tense and ready to react.

      “Was this man giving you trouble?” Jackson asked, looking between Daniel and the other robbers.

      A cold sweat ran down her back. Should she tell their leader that Daniel was a cop? Her mind focused on the heaviness of Daniel’s weapon resting in the waistband of her jeans. If he saw Daniel’s police badge or somehow discovered that she’d known he was law enforcement and hadn’t said anything, it could blow her cover. But if she did tell, Jackson might lose his temper and try to hurt Daniel, and she would be forced to intervene. There was no telling what he would do if he found out one of the hostages was a detective with the local police department. This entire assignment could blow up in the next few moments if she didn’t quickly think of a solution. Her mind was spinning when surprisingly J.P. solved her problem for her.

      “He was mouthing off. I had to show him who was in charge,” J.P. offered with a sardonic grin.

      Bethany blew out a breath of relief, her dilemma temporarily fixed. She watched Jackson carefully, waiting for his reaction.

      Jackson finally nodded, apparently accepting the response, and pointed his gun at Daniel’s head. “Give me your cell phone.”

      Daniel’s pulled out his cell phone that was clipped to his belt and in the same motion, surreptitiously pushed his detective shield into his pocket, hiding it from view. Bethany noticed and quickly looked down so it seemed like she wasn’t paying attention. He dropped the phone in the trash can with the others and Jackson continued down the line, none the wiser.

      Suddenly a shot rang out, and J.P. shrieked and grabbed his side. A dark circle of blood appeared on the hoodie near J.P.’s abdomen, and J.P. slowly sank to the floor, his face contorted with pain. Bethany crouched, her weapon ready, searching the room for the source of the shot. Would the next bullet take her out?

       TWO

      Bethany turned just in time to see a security guard slip back behind a corner in the hallway leading to the back of the building. She fired back, but made sure her shots were high. Good grief! Hadn’t Jackson cleared the building? She noticed Jackson motioning to Terrell, the big, well-built robber who had locked the front doors and was closer to the guard’s hiding place than any of the other robbers. They had all studied the floor plans of the bank before the theft, and they all knew that if Terrell was careful, he could sneak up on the guard from behind and disarm him by going through a second hallway that was accessible from behind the tellers’ counter. Terrell nodded to Jackson and silently disappeared through the door. Bethany hoped Terrell would be reasonable and not hurt the guard. He was a true believer in the cause, but he wasn’t by nature a violent person. A few minutes later, they heard some shouting from the hallway, and Terrell led the security guard out with his hands up and forced him to join the line of hostages. He had been disarmed and had a recalcitrant expression on his face, but he didn’t look injured. Bethany was instantly relieved. Her biggest dread in participating in this crime was that someone innocent would get hurt or killed. It was bad enough that J.P. got shot. She surely didn’t want any other casualties.

      “Trying to be a hero?” Jackson sneered when the guard and Terrell reached the group. The guard didn’t answer, and Bethany glanced at her watch. Things were going downhill, fast. They needed to get into the vault, get what they came for and get out of here. This whole robbery was taking way too long. A wave of anxiety washed over her as she watched Jackson motion to the guard with his gun. “Sit down with the others.” The guard complied, warily eyeing J.P., who was still laying on the floor, bleeding and moaning loudly and intermittently. He was right to be worried. If J.P. weren’t hurt so badly, he surely would have been so angry about being shot that he would have killed the guard outright just for revenge. J.P. had always been the one wild card in the whole operation. It was almost a blessing that he was out of the mix and wouldn’t be able to hurt anybody. Still, she didn’t want him to die.

      As Jackson gave orders for Terrell to sweep the place and make sure no one else was hiding in the back, Bethany went over to J.P.’s side. She put her rifle down and pulled up J.P.’s shirt so she could examine his wound. The fabric was already soaked with blood. He grabbed her arm and squeezed her hard. “I can’t believe he shot me. Help me, Hailey. He wasn’t supposed to shoot me.”

      Bethany nodded and met his eye, trying to reassure him. “Sure thing, J.P. Just let me take a look.” Hailey was her undercover name, yet it still sounded odd to her ears. She thought she’d eventually get used to it, especially since she’d been undercover for a year with this group.

      She examined the wound carefully, then gingerly rolled him to his side so she could see if the bullet had gone out his back. Thankfully, she found an exit wound. Even though it was bleeding profusely, she thought it was merely a flesh wound. If she could just stop the blood flow, he should be back to his normal nasty self in only a few weeks. She carefully pulled off her hoodie, found some scissors in a drawer in a nearby worker’s desk and cut the sweatshirt into strips, thankful for the latex gloves that the robbers were all wearing that kept her hands free of the blood. She kept her mask in place and still had on the black T-shirt she had been wearing underneath the hoodie, but now it was clear to everyone that she was a woman. There was no way to hide her body shape or her dark blond hair that was pulled back in a slick ponytail. She made a bandage out of the fabric and applied pressure for a few minutes before wrapping the rest of the strips around him to securely hold the bandage in place. Once she finished dressing his wound, she tied a knot and leaned over him.

      “Alright, J.P.,” she whispered for his ears only. “You lie still, okay?” She put his hands on top of the knot. “Hold that bandage right there as tightly as you can to stop the bleeding. Got it?” She squeezed his arm. God, please save his life and change his heart.

      She grabbed her rifle again and stood. At least now J.P. had a fighting chance. She glanced nonchalantly in Daniel’s direction, but a sliver of fear slid down her spine when she saw the look on his face. His eyes were burning into her like hot coals. It was obvious that he had recognized her, and anger and frustration radiated from his head to his toes. Now that he knew who she was, would he blow her cover? She met his eyes, which were following her every movement. Maybe it wasn’t anger she saw there but confusion and hurt instead. She looked away, not ready to confront Daniel or the emotions that caused a tightening in her chest.

      * * *

      Bethany Walker, his ex-fiancée, stood not twenty feet from him. Daniel still couldn’t believe it. But what was she doing robbing banks? He sat up a little straighter and watched her carefully as she tended to the other robber. He wanted to march right over to her and demand an explanation, but something inside of him urged caution. Bethany was a top special agent for the FBI. She had to be on assignment. Still, law enforcement was in the business of preventing crime, not creating crime, so why was she involved in an illegal activity like bank robbery? In Daniel’s book, Bethany’s actions violated the oath of a law enforcement officer. How could she protect and serve if she was the one wielding the rifle?

      Daniel’s attention was quickly diverted as the leader abruptly shot another stream