𝗣 𝗬 𝗥 𝗢 𝗠 𝗔 𝗡 𝗜 𝗔 | BOOK THREE

F O R T Y

[graham eaton]

I adjust my weight and exhale as I peer in through the doors at the bank. Jolene is in there. Atticus returns, exhaling sharply.

"Dad's got guys trying to find a way in." He says. "I've lost contact with Anya."

My heart plummets deeper into my stomach, forcing a deep exhalation from my chest. I place my hands on my hips and bite down on my lip. Zeke and our father approach us, eyebrows furrowed.

"Sorry to hear about your Fiancées, boys." Zeke says. "I've got Jax scouting the perimeter, looking for an alternative entrance."

I cover my face with my hands momentarily and groan. Our girls are in there. With a gunman. Jax approaches and shakes his head, a heavy sigh escaping his lungs.

"Only a vent up top. We followed the ventilation map path and saw that it leads to a large service vent in the hallway on the second floor. We could get in easily but there's a sensor at every corner of the building. He'd know we were going in." Jax says, crossing his arms over his chest in defeat.

I raise an eyebrow and look at Atticus, wonder filling my mind.

"Atticus was an electrical engineer. He might be able to disarm the sensors." I say.

Atticus furrows his brows and exhales sharply.

"I'd need to take a look at the system. Then I'd need to access the mainframe. Jax, can you lead me to it?" He asks.

Jax nods and leads Atticus to the roof. My father furrows his brows and approaches me, grabbing my upper arm, making me turn to face him.

"What--What are you doing?" I ask, furrowing my brows now.

He shakes head and exhales sharply, biting down on his lip, one of his many nervous twitches. He narrows his eyes and purses his lips together as he places his hands on his hips.

"What are you doing, Graham?" He asks quietly.

I furrow my brows and shake my head, unsure of what he's implying.

"What do you mean, Dad?" I ask, raising one eyebrow at him. "I'm not doing anything."

He clenches his jaw, flexing every muscle in the lower half of his face as he turns to look where Jax and Atticus went.

"You're putting an idea in your brother's head. And I don't appreciate it. You both know that you don't have any jurisdictions here. You shouldn't even be here." He says.

Jax and Atticus return, looking a little more pleased than the last time we spoke.

"I can't disarm them, but I can trip them all at once. Make it look like a system failure while someone sneaks inside. The gunman wouldn't even know." Atticus says, crossing his arms over his chest.

I smile and nod, exhaling sharply. We might have a shot at getting in there unnoticed.

"Let's do it then," I say. "How long do you need to get in there?"

Atticus opens his mouth to speaks but my father steps forward, eyes narrowed in my direction.

"Take it easy, tiger. We're not doing that." My father says. "You need to understand our concerns today."

I raise an eyebrow and shake my head.

"Why not? Atticus can do it, let him!" I exclaim.

My father frowns tightly and exhales sharply, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"We're potentially facing a serial killer here," My father says quietly, almost too quiet to hear.

The world mutes partially, muffled behind the noise of my pounding heart, throbbing in my ears.

"What?" Atticus asks, his voice quiet and shaken.

I try my damndest to comprehend the information I've just been given, but cannot. Nothing in my mind can piece together a sentence of knowledgable information except one small three-word sentence--question, actually.

"He's a murderer?" I ask, the words escaping my throat in a breathy sound, weak and constricted.

My father nods slowly, exhaling sharply as he looks at Atticus, then back over at me.

"If he's the same guy Zeke and I have been sleeplessly tracking down, then yes. And a dangerous one at that." He says. "The reason we cant sneak in through the vents is because of how explosive this guy could be. If it really is him, if he discovers we're cheating, he will snap. And I don't mean losing a few more people in that bank, I mean everyone in that bank dies, including himself."

I'm nauseated, my head filling with air and draining of blood. I stumble slightly, catching myself on Zeke's shoulder. He helps me stand and i raise my head to look at my father.

"Jolene and Anya don't stand a chance in there. Jolene is his next target. If it gets to that point, he'll use her specifically for ransom." I say, feeling the burn in my eyes as tears threaten to spill over. 

My father nods. Jax, Zeke, Atticus, my Father, and I all stare at each other wordlessly, breathlessly. I shake my head, pursing my lips together.

"I'm not gonna let that happen," I say, biting on my lip, shaking out the nerves stretching to my fingertips. "We're going in. We're saving them."

My father shakes his head and frowns even tighter now.

"No, you're not. You're not going in there and getting yourselves, let alone fifty innocent civilians, killed." My father says.

I roll my eyes and smile momentarily.

"Dad, no offense, but this is bullshit. If mom was in that bank, you'd risk your life ten-fold for her." I state, shaking my head now.

He glares at me, obvious anger stretching through every limb in his body.

"That is complete and utter bull, Graham. Watch your mouth." He says. "What I did to save your mother all those years ago was part of my job."

I shake my head, scoffing at him.

"I can't believe you. You aren't going to let us save them. Dad, those are your future daughter-in-laws. You can't do this." I say.

He shakes his head.

"No, Graham, I do want to save them. But this is also about the greater good of the fifty other people inside that bank." He says.

"Bullshit, Dad!" I exclaim. "You don't want to save them, not like we do. Well, screw that. I'm going in there."

I brush past him, approaching the truck to grab my jacket and gun. My father grabs my arm and rips me back.

"No, you aren't." He says. "If you do, I'll have no choice but to arrest you upon your exit."

I shrug, ripping my arm out of his grasp.

"Fine. Just know this--After I'm done in there, there will be no jury in the nation, let alone worldwide, that will convict me for wanting to save fifty helpless people." I say.

I walk away from him and approach the truck, changing out of my firefighter gear back into my jeans and tee, grabbing hold of my gun.