I continue forward to find out for myself what’s going on.
“Robbie.”
Trix’s voice pulls me back. I pause, following her voice to the back corner cubicle. She’s kneeling on the floor with Lance, his protective arm shielding her away from… something.
Nora stands in the middle of everything. Her shaking hands are raised up high. Her face is pure white, even more so than usual.
There’s a man a few feet in front of her.
My stomach drops.
He’s holding a handgun.
“Call for help,” I whisper at Lance, but he already has his phone out.
Trix reaches for me. “What are you doing?” she asks, reading my face.
I step forward. “Stay down.”
“Robbie.”
I force one foot in front of the other and her voice fades behind my pounding pulse.
“Alex, please, just calm down…” Nora says, barely above a whisper.
So, this is Alex.
I’ve been meaning to have a chat with this prick.
He shuffles forward a step and Nora recoils away from him and the gun. “No, I will not calm down!” he says, prompting a few muffled screams from the staff. “Either you get the list now or you’re dead!”
Nora doesn’t budge, far too frightened to move.
I step toward them, coming up on Nora’s left. “Hey,” I say.
Alex twitches, but his gun hand stays firm. He clearly has experience with a gun and might not be afraid to use it. “Stay back!” he says.
“Hey, hey…” I show my steady hands. “It’s all right, man. There’s no need for that. We can talk this out.”
“I’m not here to talk. I’m here for what’s mine, and that’s it.”
“Okay,” I say, easing closer. “In the meantime, how about you point that thing at me instead?”
“Rob, no,” Nora whimpers.
“It’s okay, Nor.”
“Back off, man,” he growls. “This doesn’t concern you.”
“Oh, it does.” I gesture for him to sway in my direction. “When you point a gun at my friend, I find it very concerning. Point it at me instead. Please.”
Alex sneers for a second before obliging. “Happy now, tough guy?” he asks, attempting to intimidate me.
I swallow my fear, looking anywhere but the barrel. “Very,” I say. “Now, tell me why you’re here and I’ll see what I can do.”
He glares at Nora. “She knows what I’m here for and she better get it now before I start shooting.”
“Nora,” I say, hoping to get her away from this. “You heard the man. Go get what he wants.”
Nora hesitates. “I… I can’t. It’s not here.”
Alex lunges forward a step. “Whaddya mean it’s not here?”
“I mean, it’s not here!” Her voice trembles. “We keep the client list off-site now after, well…”
After this prick tried to swipe it.
“Where is it?” he asks, annoyed.
“With a private security firm,” she answers, still shaking. “I can’t get it now. I’m sorry.”
“Then, you’ll give me what it’s worth.” He points the gun at her again. “Five million. In cash. Right now.”
“Hey,” I say, shifting in front of Nora again. “What’d I say? Stop pointing that at her.”
He ignores me.
“I don’t have that kind of money here,” Nora says.
Alex flexes his jaw. “Then, we’ll go get it. You and me, bitch. Let’s go.”
I stretch my arm, purposefully forcing Nora backward. “She’s not going anywhere with you,” I say.
“You want to die, asshole?!”
“Not particularly.”
“Then, get out of my way!”
“I can’t do that.”
He scoffs at Nora. “Christ, woman, is there a man in this office you haven’t fucked?”
“Alex.”
Clive’s booming voice startles everyone. He stands in the corridor by the stairwell door, looking calm but furious in the eyes.
“What are you doing, man?” he asks Alex.
Alex spins around to face him instead. I take Nora by the arm, seizing the opportunity to put more space between her and that damn gun, but she digs her heels in, unwilling to abandon Clive.
“I’m finishing what we started,” Alex answers.
“By terrorizing a bunch of innocent people?” Clive shakes his head. “This isn’t you.”
“Hey, this was supposed to be quick and clean, but then you had to choose that pretty, little whore over me! As far as I’m concerned, this is on you.”
“You can still walk away from this.”
“There is no walking away,” he says. “The people I snitched on — they know and they ain’t happy. If I don’t give them something by tonight, they’re gonna make an example out of me.”
Clive says nothing.
“Come on, man.” Alex twitches, desperate. “Help me out. You owe me that.”
“I don’t owe you anything, Alex.”
“Then fuck you, Clive!” Alex’s finger wraps around the trigger. “Fuck you. Fuck your cushy new life. And fuck her.”
Alex turns around and points the gun at Nora again. Nora gasps in horror, her fingers clinging to my protective arm as Clive charges toward him from behind.
The gun fires.
I react to the deafening sound by grabbing Nora and lunging toward the line of cubicles behind us. Others scream as Clive and Alex collide and fall to the floor, the gun fumbling a few feet away. Lance emerges and rushes in to grab it before Alex can get it back.
I keep Nora shielded until I see Clive overpower Alex on the floor. As soon as he’s pinned, a few other staffers run in to help, Sexy Santa included, and I finally take a second to breathe.
Thank god that’s over.
I rest on my knees as adrenaline rattles my veins. My heart races, making it difficult to think or even hold my breath. I think of Melanie.
Will she even believe me when I tell her about this?
“Robbie?” Nora asks.
“It’s okay, Nor,” I say. “It’s over.”
“You’re bleeding.”
I look down. There are spots of red along my left side. I touch my shirt and even more bleeds through, soaking my fingertips.
Oh, that can’t be good.
“Shit,” Nora whispers. She shifts onto her knees. “Here, sit down.”
Trix appears on my other side, her expression just as panicked as Nora’s. “Was he hit?” she asks.
“No,” I say. “I’m fine.”
Nora pulls up my shirt and they both gasp.
Oh, that’s really not good.
“Ambulance…”
