Annie beamed at him. “Asshole with a heart of gold.”
“Something like that.” Jack checked the Big Boy Café. Those two sketchy guys weren’t there. Had they slipped by him, or had they taken off? It wasn’t feeling right. He looked inside the bank’s glass doors, and everything looked normal. The line was down, and the bank was emptying out. Good. He didn’t want to be hanging out on Friday evening waiting for some grandma to cash a check.
Jack stuck the toy soldier, a little gift from Hugo, into his pants pocket, but it was uncomfortable. He fished it out and just held on to it.
“We should get back in,” Annie said. “But thanks, Jack. I know you and Kyle don’t get along, and some of the other tellers think you’re difficult, but we do appreciate you. And between you and me, we all feel better when you’re around and not Ernie. Not that I want to gossip.”
Jack shrugged. “It’s good to hear someone appreciates me. And Ernie would stop a bullet or two, so if shit goes down, just duck behind him.”
“You’re terrible!” Annie said with a nervous little laugh.
Ernie, another Vigilance Incorporated security guard, needed Friday afternoons off. That was why Jack was there that particular Friday afternoon. Ernie had mentioned some guy who kept coming around, but he didn’t think it would turn into anything. Funny, Ernie started talking about the crazy guy in September, right around the time that Andy, Jack’s last brother, died. Another funeral for the Masterson family.
Jack couldn’t think about that.
He had to focus on what was in front of him. Ernie was an ex-cop who mostly sat on his ass and collected his check. Jack did more, learning about the network security, learning about the vault, learning about the various financial products the bank sold. He helped out when he could because, no, asshole didn’t translate into lazy fuck.
He blinked and realized Annie was still standing there, waiting for him to say more. He glanced at her hand—still no engagement ring—and thought, fuck it. “Annie, I know you’re just getting out of a thing, and you aren’t dating. But I’d like to take you out sometime. Offer is open.”
“No, I can’t.” The words came out harsh.
Jack could shrug them off. Being rejected was part of the game. It would be fine. He had to grin to show that he didn’t feel like crap, even though he did.
She reached out. “No, it’s not you. I’m not ready. That’s what I mean. My heart...” She sucked in a breath. “I got my heart broken, Jack. And I’m not ready yet. He...cheated on me with my best friend. There is a lot of drama there. I’m just not ready.”
“When you are, come and talk to me.”
“I will.” Annie touched his arm. It felt nice.
The two walked back into the bank, and no lie, it was awkward as fuck. Annie hurried forward, and he got to see what he would be missing out on. Her butt shook in all the right ways. Then she was back at her station, Kyle was back in his office, and Jack started across the room.
Saved Annie from Hugo Mundi. Then got shot down. Damn.
The two guys he’d seen before by the Big Boy Café came through the doors—he recognized their clothes but not their faces. They thought they were cute by wearing ski masks as they came storming across the bank lobby five minutes before five. The shotguns weren’t as cute—sawed off for maximum scatter. If they started firing, they didn’t care who they hit.
Both of them glanced first at the security station, where Jack would’ve been if Hugo Mundi hadn’t needed help out the door. Jack knew the two chuckleheads would’ve shot him dead right there.
Only he wasn’t there.
Jack only had a second to make a decision. He’d charge them, try to surprise them, and then take them down.
But he never had the chance.
One of the bank robbers made him. The dickhead lowered his shotgun and pulled the trigger. Jack Masterson’s shitty life flashed before his eyes, and then he died like his five brothers, leaving his mom behind just like they did.
Except he didn’t.
Instead? Time itself died.
Chapter Two
FOR A SECOND, JACK thought he felt the pellets blowing his rib cage out his back. Then he saw the shot hanging in the air. Frozen smoke hung around the weapon’s muzzle. First fucking thing he did was take two steps to the left, out of the line of fire, and draw his gun, but the shotgun blast and the crook that shot it stayed frozen.
And that wasn’t the only strangeness.
Annie was a frozen statue, a look of horror on her face. Kyle was in the doorway, cowering, and while Jack didn’t want to look at the guy’s crotch, there might’ve been a stain on his pants.
Everyone in the bank was a statue. In the far corner, there was some bit of a smudge, but Jack couldn’t make it out.
Jack winced at a slow ache in his head. He sometimes had migraines, and this felt like the tickle of one starting. He felt sweaty, a bit shaky, but all in all, he was handling this fucking weirdness pretty well. He moved through the frozen bodies. An older woman, pretty good-looking, smelled like expensive perfume. He put a hand near her arm, and, yes, he could feel the heat from her body. Okay. He holstered his pistol.
So, what was happening? Maybe the shotgun blast had killed him, and this was the afterlife? Would he float around forever outside of time? That would get boring.
But he hadn’t been hit. He was still alive. Maybe just the bank was affected.
He moved
