Jo crouched by the door and looked at the group. “Is everyone all right?” Several nods. She focused on Barbara. “You doing okay?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice a tiny bit stronger.

“We’re going to make it out of here,” Jo said.

“How do you know?” Ward asked.

“I know something about these situations,” Jo said.

“Are you law enforcement?”

Jo shrugged. “Something like that.”

“Are the police out there?” Mandy asked.

“I need to use the bathroom,” said Darlene.

“Hold it.” That was Cameron, but there was no malice in his tone.

Jo smiled. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to, if you can.”

Darlene smiled. “I guess I can.”

“I’m sure we’ll have to wait a while, but we’re going to make it out of here,” Jo said. “Someone will be here soon to help us.”

A few of the others asked questions, wondering what the police would be doing and such, and Cameron just kept saying that he couldn’t believe the hostage takeover had happened.

“When this is all over, I think I’ll sleep for a week,” Barbara said.

A few of the others smiled. Jo glanced at Sabrina, who had been quiet since the lights went on.

“How are you doing?” she asked her.

Sabrina forced a smile. “I dream about something like this happening sometimes, but I never thought it actually would. People keep telling me I should work somewhere else . . .” She glanced around the room. “Maybe I will. Maybe I’ll quit.”

“It’s not over yet,” Ward muttered.

That brought the mood down quickly, so Jo leaped in with a reply. “It’ll be fine.”

They lapsed into silence. She listened at the door, but she didn’t hear anything.

The clock in her head had counted about thirty minutes since the men had left with Rico when she heard pounding feet and voices on the other side of the door.

“Did they come back?” Darlene whispered.

Jo stayed alert, then shook her head. “I think it’s the police.”

Seconds later, that was confirmed.

“Police! Police!” a voice yelled in the hallway.

“In here,” Jo called out. “We’re safe. There are eight of us. We’re unarmed. They took a man named Rico with them.”

“Stay away from the door,” the voice said.

Jo moved back to her spot, placed her hands on her knees, and watched the door. The knob rattled, and the door swung inward. Three SWAT team members stood in the hall, rifles at the ready. They shined a light into the room, staring at everyone, and then one of them spoke.

“You,” he said to Sabrina. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” she replied.

He nodded at her. “Stand up slowly and raise your arms.”

Sabrina carefully got to her feet, keeping her hands where the officers could see them. The one who’d spoken had her move into the hallway, where she was quickly searched by another. When he finished, she was escorted away.

They did the same with Jo next. As the officer searched her, she saw the driver’s licenses that Grunt had discarded. After, she was escorted down the hall and into the bank lobby, which was abuzz with activity, far more so than the sleepy scene she’d walked into before the robbery. Sabrina stood in the corner, already being questioned by an officer. The woman looked calm. Now that the crisis was over, was she in shock? Jo wouldn’t have blamed her. It had been a scary situation. She didn’t see any sign of the hostage-takers. Had they gotten away or were they already on their way to jail? And where was Rico?

An officer took Jo to another part of the lobby, where yet another uniformed officer stood guard. Jo glanced around, taking in everyone’s belongings still lying where they had been thrown on the floor. She wondered when she could get her own things back. Rolling her neck, she finally felt some tension leave her. She knew, though, that it would be a long while before she could fully relax. As she drew in a deep breath, a man in a dark suit and tie approached. Jo guessed him to be in his thirties. He was on the shorter side, wiry, with a stubble of hair on both his head and his chin.

“I’m Detective Holton,” he said. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” Jo replied, her voice level and calm.

They were about the same height, and he looked her straight in the eye. Jo introduced herself, and he noted her name, then held up a finger, stepped back, and murmured into his phone. A command center would’ve been set up somewhere outside, and a slew of law enforcement personnel would be assisting in his investigation of the bank robbery. Holton would be getting someone to check Jo’s background, and they would soon discover her military history. It would be interesting to see what they thought of her after that. It didn’t concern her all that much, but she was a bit worried that they’d discover what had happened while she’d been in Colorado. She was thinking about that, pondering options, when Holton wrapped up his call and approached her again.

“Where’s Rico?” Jo asked.

“We’ll get to that,” he replied. “Describe the three men who robbed the bank.”

His answer had her worrying about Rico, and she hoped the bank employee hadn’t been hurt or killed, despite how poorly he’d reacted under pressure. Holton’s reply also told her that the hostage-takers had probably gotten away—otherwise he wouldn’t be pressing her for information about them.

“Tell me about the men,” he said again.

CHAPTER FIVE

Jo drew in a deep breath and began. She treated the situation as she would have had she still been in the military, relating information with as few words as possible. She was efficient, specific, with little emotion. She’d get to her feelings later.

She told him what time she’d arrived at the bank and how she’d barely approached the table in the middle of the lobby when the hostage-takers stormed in. Holton asked for descriptions of everyone in the bank, including the three men, and she told him what she’d observed. He didn’t ask a lot of questions at that point. He was looking for anything that might help him in the moment, any clues in their hunt for the assailants.

She fixed hard eyes on him. “Where are they now?”

He contemplated her for a moment as he scratched the stubble on his chin. “We’re looking for them. Did they give you any indication where they might’ve gone, or what their plans were?”

She shook her head. “They didn’t say a whole lot, and they were careful not to reveal anything to us. Efficient, well planned. They didn’t waste time.”

He nodded, then briefly went over everything she’d told him again. As he did so, Jo saw that the other hostages were being gathered in the bank lobby as well, separated from each other for private interviewing. Several were visibly shaking, while others wore blank faces, still in shock.

“We’re going to take you down to the station for more questioning. Before we do that, is there anything you need?”