Guns 'N' Tulips (3 page)

Rourke raised his gun, pointing it at
Connor’s chest. “Drop the weapons. Both of them.”

“Rourke? What the fuck?” Connor asked.

“The guns.” The man’s flat voice and dead
eyes made the skin on the back of Connor’s neck crawl. Plan B had
better be damn convincing or he’d be a corpse before the hour was
up. Slowly, he lowered Neil’s gun to the tiled floor, then his own
MP5 and raised his empty hands.

“Stop dicking around, Conman. I want the
other one too.”

Connor reached into his shoulder holster and
dropped his pistol on top of the MP5s. At least he still had the
security guard’s gun, and his own Glock 27 tucked into his ankle
holster. Sweat beaded on his forehead as Rourke ordered Frank to
collect the weapons. If Rourke figured out Connor was still armed,
it would be game over.

Rourke’s aim never wavered. “Neil wouldn’t
rat me out. You on the other hand…” He let the comment trail
off.

“Listen, man. I’ve got no reason to turn on
you.” The most believable lies were those that contained some
truth. Connor infused his words with as much conviction as he
could. “I live in a shithole apartment. My fiancée dumped me. I’ve
got no money and no reputation. Thanks to the media plastering my
face all over the news, I can’t even get a job as a security guard
at Wal-Mart.”

“Fuck you,” Neil spat. “You turn us in, the
cops will take you back.”

Despite his gaze being glued on Rourke,
Connor noticed the attentive expressions of the hostages upon
hearing the word “cop.” Shit.

Lily
jumped forward from behind Owen. “So I
was
right. You are that cop who took bribes in
exchange for overlooking mob activity.” She turned to Rourke. “The
Chicago PD won’t touch him with a fifty-foot pole. He’s the perfect
scapegoat. Now the superintendent can claim he’s cleaned up the
department.”

What the
hell was she up to? It actually looked like she was
defending
him. He glanced at Rourke. The
dude was watching Lily through narrowed eyes. Time for damage
control. Like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, Connor
strutted closer until he towered over her in that way she hated and
ran a hand up her arm. “Sounds like you know the superintendent
pretty well. I’m not surprised.” He wound his hand into her
hair—Christ, he’d missed the feel of it sliding through his
fingers—and gripped it at the base of her neck, forcing her back to
arch. “I hear he has a thing for… how should I put this?” He paused
and thrust his hips at her. “Women with big mouths. You look like
you might fit the bill.”

Rolling her eyes, she looked at Rourke. “Why
don’t you shoot them both? The world could do with a few less
bastards in it.”

Bastards
.
She
had
gotten his
message. The knot around Connor’s chest loosened and he barely
resisted the urge to wrap his arms around her. Of course, that
would ruin everything. Instead, he laughed and stepped back, a
smirk curving his lips.

Rourke raised a brow. “The lady asks a good
question.”

Conner raised his arms and spun around in a
lazy circle. “Go ahead. But you’ll never get into the safe without
me.”

Lily tapped her watch. “I’d get a move on if
I were you. The police should be here in a couple minutes.”

“
Sorry to
disappoint you again, honey,” Rourke said, a confident smile
brightening his normally dark expression. “Roads are all closed
because of the parade. Cops won’t get here for at least ten more
minutes.” He jerked his head toward the rear of the bank where the
safe would be located. “Frank, go with him. I’ll stay here
and
take
care
of our
guest.”

Ice slid down Connor’s spine. Was Rourke
planning to kill her while he was cracking the safe? “Uh...
Rourke?”

“What!”

“The bitch has quite a mouth. I was counting
on being the one to shut her up.”

“Tell you what, Conman. Get the job done in
three minutes or less, and she’s yours. Otherwise”—he licked his
lips and trailed the barrel of his gun between Lily’s
breasts—“she’s all mine.”

Lily shuddered, and Connor knew exactly how
she felt. Turning, he loped down the hall. Three minutes to crack a
fucking bank vault and immobilize a thug. St. Patrick had better be
listening to his prayers now.

“Wait!” Lily shouted. The bank had just
installed a virtually impenetrable state of the art vault. Connor
would never be able to open it. But she could help him delay Rourke
until it was too late.

Connor slowed his charge to the safe room but
didn’t stop. Rourke gripped her elbow, his fingers digging into her
flesh. “Stop interfering, or I won’t wait three minutes to have at
you.”

She forced down a deep breath. “Our safe is
new. It’s the latest technology. No one can crack it. But…” She
hesitated.

“But what?” Rourke barked, impatience
hardening his tone.

“But I… I can help.”

“You? If our expert safecracker can’t do it,
what makes you so sure you can?”

God, she
hated everything about this man. “Because it’s a dual-dial
mechanism. It takes two codes to open the vault, and
I
know one of them.” A lie. While the vault
was a dual-dial system, it had been configured to open with only
one dial and only one code. A code Joe knew and she
didn’t.

Connor spun around and stared at her, his
eyes narrowing when Rourke shook her and demanded, “Who has the
other?”

She looked at Joe lying on the ground. Would
he ever forgive her? His angry eyes said no. Steeling her spine,
she indicated him with a nod. “Joe does.”

“
Lily,
for Pete’s sake. Don’t
help
them,” Joe snarled.

Sally, one of the tellers, hissed at him. “Do
whatever they say, Joe. These guys are the Bank Bandits. You know
their reputation.” Her eyes jogged between him and Lily as though
willing him to understand.

They’d been told that should there ever be a
robbery, they were to cooperate. Money could be replaced, people
couldn’t. But Joe didn’t believe in placating criminals; he
believed in fighting back. Something she agreed with in principal…
though now that she was caught in an actual hold-up, she understood
why Connor had always told her not to resist. That would just get
everyone killed.

Clearing his throat, Connor said, “I can’t
crack a dual-dial fast enough. Either they open it, or we leave now
empty-handed. Your choice.”

Rourke tightened his grip on her arm, making
her wince. “If you’re lying, bitch, I’ll kill you.”

She ran a protective hand over her belly and
lowered her voice so Connor wouldn’t hear. “Trust me. I want my
child to survive this. But we need to hurry.” If the cops showed up
when the Bandits were still in the bank, they’d have a full-blown
hostage situation on their hands, which would likely end in a
bloodbath. And she’d be the first victim.

At Rourke’s signal, Owen rushed forward and
pulled Joe up by his arm. “Let’s go. Hands up where I can see
them.” After shooting a glare at Lily, Joe got to his feet and
started for the vault room.

Rourke shoved Lily in front of him. “Move
it.”

Lily hurried ahead to catch up with Connor.
Maybe she could signal her plan to him somehow. As soon as she came
up beside him, he spoke under his breath. “I won’t let him hurt
you.”

“I know. I just—” She clamped her mouth shut
and looked ahead.

“What?”

“How could you do this, Connor? How could you
be involved with these guys? You’re better than this.” Even after
everything he’d done, she knew he wasn’t a bad person. Something
was seriously off.

“Pretend to trip.” She was about to ask why,
when he growled, “Now.”

She stumbled and Connor’s hand shot out,
grabbing her arm to steady her. He shook her a little and glared at
her. “Hurry up, we don’t have all day.”

What was his problem? Had she hit a nerve?
When he pulled her closer, she understood. From behind, Rourke
would think Connor was forcing her to walk faster.

“You know their MO, so if you want to stay
alive, do what I say, and for the love of God, don’t blow my
cover.”

Her gaze flew to his face. “Your cover?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re still a—”

He cut her off. “Yeah.”

Oh, thank heaven!
She tightened her lips together to suppress the giant grin
that threatened to spread across her face.

He showed no reaction other than a brief
twinkle in his eyes before growing serious again. “No matter what
it might look like, just know, I never stopped loving you.”

She pressed a hand to her stomach as relief
warmed her chest. Connor had treated her badly and he had a lot of
explaining to do before she could even think of forgiving him, but
if she were perfectly honest with herself, she’d have to admit that
she’d never stopped loving him either. Connor had been her fiancé,
the man she adored, and she’d missed him so much. They’d had such
plans, such dreams, and this baby was only the beginning.

Even though she’d finally started to move on
and rebuild her life, her very existence had begun to feel like a
beautifully wrapped box with nothing in it—an empty
disappointment.

Connor’s admission changed everything.

He winked, then pushed her toward one of the
dials on the safe door. “Open it and make it fast.”

Owen did the same, propelling Joe with more
force than necessary against the other dial.

Rourke arrived, demanding details. “How does
this work?”

Connor spoke before she could. “They both
have to enter their codes at the same time.”

“Get on with it.”

Lily looked at Joe, hoping he’d caught on to
her plan. Beads of sweat dribbled down the sides of his face. “On
the count of three,” she said.

They turned their dials. She entered three
digits, then stepped back and held her breath, hoping Joe hadn’t
entered the real code. Connor pulled on the latch and… nothing.
Elation swept through her. Joe had stopped fuming and started
thinking.

Rourke exploded. “Do you both want to fucking
die?” He shoved his MP5 into Joe’s face. “I was only going to kill
the bitch, but I have no problem killing you too, dickhead.”

Oh no! Lily pulled on Rourke’s shirt. “Let us
try again, please. Maybe my hand slipped.”

Rourke
turned and rested his gun against her temple. His voice low and
menacing, he asked, “What do you suppose would happen if
my
hand suddenly slipped,
sweetheart?”

“You’d shoot me.”

“That’s right.” He smiled. “Now be a good
girl and do it right.”

The hysteria in her voice was not entirely
feigned when she looked up at him, her eyes filling with tears. She
lifted a trembling hand to her cheek and cried, “I… I forgot the
code!”

Connor
watched Lily’s act, his heart filling with pride.
Forgot the code, my
ass.
Lily never forgot a
damn thing.

Rourke was getting pissed, the perfect setup
for Connor’s plan. “Uh… Rourke. Maybe it would help if you stopped
pointing the gun at her head and gave them some space.”

Muttering under his breath, Rourke lowered
his weapon and took a couple steps back. Lily glanced at Joe, and
they reached for the dials simultaneously. Left, right. Lily moved
hers forty-five degrees to the left, but Joe’s dial spun completely
around. “Shit!” Joe swore, wiping his hands on his thighs. He shot
Rourke a worried glance over his shoulder. “I’m sweating like a
pig.”

Rourke looked at Lily then Joe. “Last chance,
asshole. Another fuck-up and I’ll be redecorating these walls with
her head.” His eyes glittered with malice. Oh yeah. Rourke knew
Lily’s game, but he wasn’t going to play. Connor glanced at his
watch. If Rourke was right and the cops would take an additional
ten minutes to arrive due to the parade, they had about four
minutes left.

Owen cleared his throat. “Boss, you sure this
is a good idea? I mean we can’t be here when the cops show up.”

“We’ve still got time,” Rourke said.

Joe nodded to Lily. Once again, she raised
her hand to turn the dial. Left. Right. Rourke moved up behind her.
Pressing himself against her back, he ran a hand over her stomach.
Her fingers shook and she released the dial. “You’re making me
nervous. How can I remember the code when you’re breathing down my
neck?”

“No problem. Tell me the code and I’ll do it
for you.”

“The locks have a fingerprint sensor. Only
people who’ve been registered with each code can enter that
code.”