“You’re not going?” Raine couldn’t believe Lucas was still here and wasn’t already rushing home to his kid sister.
“I sent Dobbs after Piper. I plan to ride out whatever happens in the vault. You can stay or go. I’m going to gather what food and water we have in the bank and move it down to the vault. Piper is bringing what supplies she can from our apartment.”
Raine felt her legs trying to buckle at the decision she needed to make. The only family she had was a brother, who lived hundreds of miles away in another state. She guessed it was too late to catch a flight out.
Getting a firmer grip on the back of the chair to keep herself from sinking to the floor, Raine came to a quick decision. She lived alone, without even a cat or dog to keep herself company. If she was going to die, she didn’t want to do it alone in a high-rise, which could come crashing down with her in it if a bomb struck nearby.
“I’ll stay.”
Lucas didn’t try to talk her out of it. “I know this is a lot to ask, but can you keep working until it’s time to go down to the vault? People are terrified enough. I want to keep everyone calm until I can get the doors locked. Having their money handy makes people feel they can weather anything.”
“Not usually when there is a nuclear warhead heading in your direction,” Raine disagreed. “The problem is the computers are lagging. Brinn can’t even get on hers.”
“Just give them the money they are asking for.”
Shit was definitely hitting the fan for Lucas to break protocol.
“Just give the money they are asking for regardless? You’ll lose your job, go to prison. Your career will be destroyed!” Raine tried to get him to reconsider.
“If we come out of this alive, I’ll happily dance my way to prison. When Dobbs gets back with Piper, I’ll have him start bringing up the cash from the vault to make it more accessible.”
“Okay. Do we know when…?”
“In the next hour and a half.”
“Nothing like being given a timeline of when you’re about to get nuked.”
“Tell me about it. They keep shortening the timetable as each new warhead is detected.” Lucas straightened his tie. “Can you send Karina in?”
Wishing she could share his calm demeanor, Raine forced herself to release the support of the chair and return to her station.
“You’re not leaving?” Brinn asked as she changed spots with Raine.
“No. I’m surprised you’re not leaving to be with your fiancé.”
“Harris is picking me up here, and then we’re going to his parents’ house twenty minutes away. I told Lucas I would stay until he gets here.”
Both of them rapidly started dispensing the cash the customers requested. Intermittently, Raine would catch sight of Lucas as he went back and forth from the office’s breakroom to carry what he could find to the vault, dropping off bags of cash to each of the remaining tellers along his trek.
She could see the relief on his face when his sister, Piper, showed up with Dobbs. Setting the two cases of soda down by the breakroom, he went to the side to open the side door, which would allow them behind the counter. He took the plastic bags from his sister, and they followed Lucas down to the lower level.
When thirty minutes had passed and Brinn’s fiancé hadn’t shown up, she become more and more distressed.
“If you want to go outside and wait for him, you can,” Raine offered, not knowing what else to say to the woman.
“He’s not coming.”
“It has to be crazy out there,” Raine offered.
“Lucas lives farther away than our apartment, and Dobbs got Piper here,” Brinn said with a catch in her throat. “He’s gone to his parents’ without me.”
She had only met Harris a couple of times during the bank holiday parties, and he had never impressed her with his overbearing attitude toward Brinn.
“You don’t know that.”
“Maybe not, but we both know Harris is all about his wants and needs, which is why I put off setting a date for the wedding.”
Screams suddenly filled the air, and people began running out of the bank. What had sent everyone running?
“Get to the basement, everyone—hurry!” Lucas yelled from the door to the stairs.
All the tellers began running at once.
Raine bumped into someone coming up behind her, and a shot of pain went through her hip when she collided with the head teller’s desk.
Emma managed to catch her. “Are you alright?”
“I think so. You go ahead. I’m coming.”
“Lean on me.” Emma pulled her arm over her shoulder. The only woman at the bank who had actually made an effort to become a friend to her refused to leave her side.
Raine knew it would be futile arguing with her friend. So, she forced herself to ignore the stabbing pain and head down on the stairs.