Key Witness. Christy Barritt

pushed Elle back to the ground. She stumbled until she hit the wall and sank to the floor. Her hand went to her cheek, and she felt moisture there. Blood? Tears? Both?

      Denton looked over at her, his eyes full of concern. “Are you okay?” he mouthed.

      She nodded, grateful to be alive. But how much longer would that be the case? The robbers were obviously losing it, getting out of control. This whole situation could spiral into something much bigger than even they had planned.

      “Thank you,” she whispered back.

      The men were pacing now, as if trying to figure out what to do next.

      “Good gravy, you didn’t know the manager was gone for lunch?” Ringleader let out an expletive and stared at his partner in crime.

      “He usually goes earlier.”

      “Usually isn’t good enough.” He turned back to Julie. “You need to figure out a plan B.”

      “Me? Me? How am I supposed to figure out a plan B?” Panic claimed her voice, her limbs.

      “You have to know another way to get into that vault.”

      Julie’s head swung back and forth. “Not without a key and a code.”

      Ringleader cocked the gun at her. “Think a little harder.”

      She half moaned, half screamed. “I’ve been trying. I have. There’s nothing I can do!”

      The gun fired. Elle screamed as Julie disappeared from sight, sinking below the counter.

      Denton jumped to his feet. Elle slapped her hand over her mouth, disbelief filling her.

      Julie. The robber had just shot Julie.

      She lifted a prayer as tears rushed to her eyes. The seriousness of the situation hit her at full force. This was bad. Really bad.

      “Stay down!” Ringleader swung around, his gun aimed at the crowd, as if telling them that any one of them could be next.

      Elle’s gaze flew to the potted plant beside her. She’d seen something fly from the man’s belt when he swung around. Her eyes widened when she spotted a cell phone there. Had the robber’s cell phone really just flown off his belt and into the plant?

      Elle glanced back up at him. He didn’t seem to notice the device had slipped off. If she reached her hand out just a little, she could grab it.

      But if he caught her, what would he do? Slap her again? Something worse? The thought of Julie flashed through her mind.

      She glanced over and saw Denton staring at her. He’d obviously noticed the phone also. What was he trying to tell her? To forget about it? To grab it? What was the right thing to do? She wrestled with her choice. Flexed her fingers. Glanced back up at the robbers. They all seemed distracted by the second teller fumbling through her boss’s desk.

      This was Elle’s chance.

      She willed herself to move quickly and without notice, for her motions to be as fluid as flowing water. Before she could second-guess herself, she extended her hand. She grabbed the phone and slipped it into her coat pocket.

      Her gaze darted around the room. No one appeared to see her...except Denton. His furrowed eyebrows showed his apprehension.

      At least she’d now have some proof of who these men were. Maybe it would help the police put them behind bars.

      Elle reached into her pocket and opened the phone. She held her breath, afraid of making any noise or drawing attention to what she was doing. Her heart rate slowed a moment when no one seemed to notice her. She felt the buttons until she found 9–1–1. She prayed the man wouldn’t notice his phone was gone, that he wouldn’t realize Elle had taken it.

      “Any of you want to be next?” Ringleader’s voice didn’t rise in pitch. He sounded so detached at the moment that Elle felt a chill race through her.

      “She’s dead. Is she dead? Did you kill her?” Shortie’s voice, on the other hand, rose in panic. “What are you doing?”

      “They’re going to pay!”

      As the minutes stretched on, Elle watched the two men pace and listened to them mutter. Every second Julie was without medical care put the woman more at risk. Elle wished more than anything she could go check on the teller, that she could give the robbers the money so they’d be gone.

      The phone burned in her pocket.

      Had the dispatcher heard what was going on? Had they sent help?

      Elle prayed that the answer was yes.

      Shortie looked at the front door. “Do you hear that? Sirens. We’ve got to run before they get here, man! The police are right around the corner.”

      Ringleader grabbed his bag of cash and darted to the door.

      Elle breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t noticed his cell phone. No one else had been hurt.

      Just as the robbers stepped out the front door¸ the Ringleader reached for his waistline. Felt the empty space where his phone was. Then he looked up. Looked at Elle. He knew she had his phone. She’d been closest to him. Certainly, her gaze held telltale guilt. The robber’s eyes narrowed before he pulled his finger across his throat.

      Elle sucked in a breath. He was going to find her. And when he did, he would kill her.

      * * *

      Mark Denton saw the robber make the throat-slitting motion as he ran from the bank.

      He looked over at the raven-haired beauty and saw that her face had gone ghost-white.

      What Elle had done had been incredibly risky, but she may have just saved all of their lives—at least the life of the bank teller.

      With the men gone, Denton jumped from the floor and propelled himself over the counter. The bank teller had been shot in the stomach. Blood stained her shirt. Denton took off his jacket and placed it over the wound to stop the bleeding.

      “Someone wave the ambulance inside. She needs help. Now!”

      Elle rushed to the door. She paused momentarily at it, as if she were afraid the robbers might be waiting on the other side for her. But she stepped outside anyway.

      Denton already admired her spunk and guts. Not everyone would have handled themselves so well in a situation like this. Denton, a former SEAL, now worked special operations for a Department of Defense contractor, and even he’d been thrown off-kilter some. He knew moves that could have taken down the robbers, but there were two of them and they had guns. Plus, there were too many people who could have been casualties if something went wrong. He’d taken the restrained approach. He hoped it had been the right one.

      “It’s going to be okay,” he told the teller. Her eyes drifted shut, as if she were losing consciousness. He had to keep her lucid until the paramedics got in here.

      “They’re on their way!” Elle shouted from the door. “Over here!”

      A moment later, two EMTs came into view, pulling a stretcher behind them. Elle closed her eyes, as if praying. This teller was going to need some prayers, not just to recover from the physical wounds but to overcome the emotional impact of what had just happened to her, too. He lifted up a prayer, as well.

      As soon as the EMTs took over, Denton stood, his hands and undershirt now covered with blood. But he was alive. As of right now, they were all alive. The police began swarming the place and soon Denton would have to give his account of the incident. For now he was satisfied to know that everyone else was okay.

      Elle approached him, taking in the sight of his blood-stained hands. “Are you all right?”

      “I’m fine. That was a gutsy move on your part, though.”

      “I saw an opportunity and had to take it.” She shoved her hands into her coat and pulled out the phone.