“Where’s this at?” Vic glanced in the mirrorand glared at the passengers on his bus. This wasn’t happening, hetold himself. Matt was at the gym, where he should be. It wasanother Jag in the lot, not his.
Those hopes were dashed when Kendra told him,“Capital Jeweler’s. It’s in a strip mall, though, so Matt might bein one of the other stores—”
“He isn’t.” Fuck.
* * * *
By the time he reached the next bus stop, Vichad made up his mind. This time instead of just idling at the curb,he set the parking brake and stood as if he planned to exit.Turning to face the passengers, he barked, “All right, listen up!Everyone out!”
Someone near the back moaned. “This isn’t mystop—”
“Now!” Vic enhanced his verbal commandwith a mental slap that had all the riders scrambling out of theirseats. Because he blocked the front exit, they shoved their way tothe rear door. Once there was a bit of a line, Vic pressed therelease for that door and harried passengers poured out onto thecurb.
Behind him, someone tapped on the bus’s frontdoor. Vic whirled to glare at a bored businessman who held aStarbucks cup in one hand, his cell phone in the other. When henoticed he had Vic’s attention, he shrugged at the doors. “Well?”he mouthed.
Vic didn’t think that deserved an answer. Hefelt his power kick in—physically he leaned down to flick on theOut of Service sign, but he heard his own footsteps asanother double clomped down the aisle, checking the seats to makesure no one stayed behind. When the last person slipped through therear door, Vic’s twin stood at the top of the steps, silentlydaring anyone to push past him onboard. How little it would take,Vic thought—one touch and the fare would see him vanish into thinair.
But that scowl kept anyone from coming tooclose, thank God. Vic took his seat behind the wheel and pulled thedoor shut. Then, with barely a look at the traffic behind him, hebarreled into the street, hoping the bus’s bulk would keep mostdrivers back as it usually did. At the curb, the businessman was onhis cell phone, probably already reporting Vic’s behavior, but Vicwasn’t thinking of that now. He couldn’t.
His mind was only on Matt.
* * * *
Traffic slowed to a crawl in front of thejewelry store. Drivers rubbernecked as they inched past, staring atthe collection of cop cars filling the parking lot as if they’dnever seen a police vehicle before. Vic cursed as he ground thebus’s gears, one foot on the gas and the other on the brake to keepfrom leap-frogging into the back of the car in front of him. As heneared the store, he projected a constant litany, hoping to connectwith Matt as soon as he came into range. ::Don’t worry, Matty.I’m on my way.::
It wasn’t until he managed to pull into thefar end of the parking lot that he finally received a response.Matt’s thoughts flooded his own, relief replacing the anxiety thathad gripped him since Kendra’s call. ::Vic, thank God. There’s agunman—::
::I know,:: Vic assured him, thoughthis was the first he had heard about any weapons. The policeweren’t sure exactly what they were dealing with at this point, andthe robbers weren’t talking. ::Kendra gave me a head’s up.That’s why I’m here.::
::Just get me out of here,:: Mattthought, his words grim.
Vic’s bus was too large to fit into atraditional parking spot, but the police had cleared the lot ofeveryone in the other stores, so he just rolled to a stophorizontally across several spaces and applied the brake. With ahydraulic whoosh, the bus stopped. Vic left the key in theignition and hurried down the steps, pushing open the door in hishaste. He barely reached the sidewalk before two police officershurried toward him.
The first was a man Vic didn’t recognize.With one hand on the gun at his hip, the officer called out, “Sir,I’m going to have to ask you to stop—”
“He’s with me,” the other officer called. Vicrecognized Kendra’s voice before he saw the wisps of blonde hairpeeking from beneath her cap. She hurried to catch up to her fellowofficer and stayed the hand on his gun with one of her own. “It’sokay, Billy. I got him.”
Billy shot Vic a nervous look. “Are you sureabout that?”
Kendra flashed him a bright grin. “Trustme.”
As the other officer returned to the squadronof police vehicles staked out in front of the jewelry store, Kendracame over to Vic. Gently she touched his arm, her bow-shaped lipspursing into a knot. “I really wish this wasn’t happening. What’sMatt doing here anyway? He doesn’t strike me as the type who goesin for bling.”
“Long story,” Vic muttered. “How many peopleare in there, do you know?”
Kendra shook her head. “Not a clue.” Removingher cap, she pushed the blonde bangs back from her eyes and sighed.“We know nothing about what’s going on inside. We know there arehostages only because of the cars remaining in the lot after weevacuated the other stores. But how many? And how manyperpetrators, all told? Are there firearms, explosives, weapons? Wedon’t know. No demands have been made yet and nobody’s talking tous.”
Closing his eyes, Vic extended his mind tobrush over Matt’s again. ::Hey sexy,:: Matt joked. ::Yougoing to ride in here like the cavalry or something?::
::Or something,:: Vic confirmed.::How many people are in there, do you know?::
Matt’s chuckle tickled Vic’s spine. ::HaveI ever told you how turned on I get when you come to myrescue?::
Before Vic could reply, Matt opened his mindfurther and allowed a memory to play out behind his eyes. Vic sawthe moment vividly—it was when Matt had first followed Roxie intothe store. ::So she’s there, too?:: Vic asked, watching thememory unwind like a silent movie in his head.
::Don’t even ask me why,:: Mattgrumbled.
Vic counted the people he saw in Matt’smemory. Including Matt himself and the salesman behind the counter,there were six altogether. Then Matt fast forwarded until thegunman entered, adding three criminals to the head count. Vicrelayed the numbers to Kendra.
“Only one gun?” she asked, scribbling downVic’s statement on a notepad she usually carried. “Any otherweapons? Any other clerks?”
“Not that Matt
