Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 5

his nose. He stumbled backward, blinded by the pain and fell on his ass. Blood gushed from his nose as he lay sprawled on the floor.
    There was another shout from across the room.
    "Who the fuck tripped the alarm? There's cops outside!"
    "Shut the door! Now!"
    Ben lost track of exactly what else was going on as he was dragged to his feet and shoved over in the direction of where the customers had been herded, a gun against his back. A hard push landed him back on the floor, blood still flowing from his nose. The vision in his left eye was kind of fuzzy too.
    I'm gonna die, I gonna get killed by some fucking bank robber , Ben thought.
    "How many are out there?" one of the men demanded of his buddy.
    "I see two cop cars already and I hear more sirens. Fucking hell, SWAT's probably next."
    The mention of SWAT made Ben think. Tyler was working today. That probably meant his team would get the call. Please, oh please God, let Ty get me out of this alive , Ben prayed.
    ****
    When the SWAT van parked, Tyler immediately began giving orders to assess the situation. They needed access to whatever video feeds the bank had, as well as information from the officers who were first responders.
    A uniform cop with a name tag that read Ives was sent to Tyler.
    "What do we know?" asked Tyler.
    "Roughly thirty minutes ago a silent alarm was triggered. My partner and I were less than two minutes away on another call. When we arrived there were shots exchanged and the one suspect we saw coming out the door immediately went back inside. About two minutes later, an older woman was shoved through the door. We got her safely to cover. She claims there are four suspects, all in plastic masks, all armed," reported Ives.
    "What about hostages? It is the middle of the day."
    "At least a handful. She couldn't give a number. Only that there were a few customers in the bank and some staff."
    "Any idea why they let her go?"
    "She was the messenger. They gave her a slip of paper saying they would kill the hostages if they weren't allowed to go free."
    Tyler made a low a grunt of frustration. It wasn't like this was something he hadn't seen before, but it seldom made it any easier. "Just great. Thanks. Stay close I'll probably have more questions."
    Ives nodded.
    Ducking back into the van, Tyler went toward his communications officer, Caldwell. "We have eyes yet?"
    "Only sort of. These guys had a game plan. They disabled all but one camera. Judging from the angle and the limited view, I suspect the lens is partly hidden by a light fixture housing. They probably didn't know it was there."
    "Is Vodder on the roof yet?" Tyler asked.
    "Yes. He looking for a place to drill through, but it's an older building and there maybe be too many layers of ventilation and wiring to find a good spot."
    "Understood. Let me see what little we've got so far."
    The communications man spun the video monitor slightly so Tyler had a better view.
    It was a sucky angle, but some information was better than none. Tyler counted seven people seated on the floor along the wall, five women and two men. He could only see two of the people well. A woman who looked to be in her forties had a hand on a blond man, whose head was bent forward, hands holding his face. It took a moment for Ty to puzzle out what was going on between those two, then he realized that there was blood all over the man's hands and splattered down his shirt. Gunshot wound?
    "We're going to need a paramedic for that one," said Tyler. The blond man raised his head and gave Tyler a decent view of his face. Tyler's heart just about stopped. It was Ben. No. Oh fuck no. Tyler clenched his jaw, willing himself not to have a freak out. He thought back to the morning. Ben had said something about on-site computer work. Tyler cursed himself for not putting together the name of the bank and Ben's job sooner. Ben usually spent most of his time in a corporate high-rise. Aw hell, why today? Why this bank? It didn't matter how good Tyler and his team were, there were times when the hostages didn't make it out alive. That thought just about broke Tyler's iron control. Why the hell hadn't he told Ben he loved him? Was he going to regret that omission forever?
    "Captain?" said Caldwell.
    "That's a lot of hostages." It was a mildly stupid comment but it was the only thing that Tyler could think of to cover his gut-knotting fear.
    "Yeah, I know. The negotiator's supposed to get here any minute now."
    "Good." Tyler couldn't take his