Know Me Well (Wishful 3)

“Oh no. We’re here. We’re not leaving without what we came for.”

Did she know that voice? Hard to say. Hard to even hear over the thud of blood in her ears.

“Where’s the safe?”

Riley couldn’t drag her gaze from the gun.

When she didn’t answer fast enough, the gunman took three quick strides and stuck it in her face. “Where is the safe?”

She flinched back, lifting her hands to shield her face. “In…in the office.”

“Get moving.” He gestured with the gun.

Riley didn’t move, her eyes fixed on the weapon. Matte black. Some kind of revolver. In the back of her mind, she could hear Liam drilling her on what to do in exactly this situation. They’d spent hours practicing disarms for various weapons in various positions, but in the end he’d told her, If somebody comes in with a gun, you give them what they want. Nothing they can steal is worth your life.

“Woman, I said move!” He was behind the counter, shoving the gun into her face before she could blink.

Riley recoiled, stumbled, and crashed to the floor, her head cracking against the wall hard enough she saw white. The gunman swore, grabbing her arm in a bruising grip and hauling her to her feet. He shoved her into the office, calling for his accomplice.

“Unlock it.”

She considered, just for a moment, opening the money safe, giving them the cash she had on hand. But no one robbed a pharmacy for cash. So she moved to the controlled substances safe. Her hand shook so badly, she entered the code wrong the first time.

“Hurry up!”

“Just give me a minute! You’re making me nervous, and if I get this wrong again, the system will lock me out.”

Forcing herself to slow her breathing, Riley started again. She hesitated, considering her opti

ons. How much time had passed since she hit the panic button? Probably not nearly as much as it felt like. Locking them out of the safe would likely get her shot. She finished the code, and the door unlatched.

“Out of the way.” The gunman didn’t wait for her to comply. He snaked an arm around her neck, jerking her back and pressing the gun to her head.

Riley yelped, reflexively grabbing at the arm around her throat and dropping her chin to keep him from cutting off her air. But he didn’t seem inclined to choke her.

“Be still, woman!”

There was no standing completely still. She was shaking too badly. But she dropped her hands.

Think. Think, she ordered herself.

His partner was staring, and even through the mask, Riley could tell he was horrified. “Man, don’t hurt her.”

“Shut up and fill the bag. Everything.”

As the other guy emptied the safe of all the class 2 drugs, she could see the insurance bill laying on the desk. With the insurance lapsed, anything they got away with would be forfeit. Even if it was recovered, it would go into evidence. She’d be out the cost of all of it. All her hard work would be for nothing. There’d be no recovering from that loss.

She hadn’t worked her ass off only to watch two idiot drug seekers piss it all away.

Anger made her a little bit steadier. Wiping sweating palms on her lab coat, she felt the bump in her pocket. The Epipen. Could she reach it? And what would he do if she did?

Moving slowly, she slipped a hand into the pocket, curling her hand around the injector. Slowly, she fumbled to remove the safety release. Her captor’s grip was firm, but didn’t obstruct her airway, and the gun seemed to be more about making a point than about really hurting her. Surely, if he was going to kill her, he’d have done it once the safe was open?

The other guy was more than half through dumping the contents into a duffel bag. “I don’t even recognize half these drug names.”

“So what? If it’s in the safe, it’s valuable.”

The cap popped off. She didn’t dare try anything while the gun was pressed to her head. Her assailant’s body was long and wiry and acrid with sweat. He was nervous, too. She felt it in his posture. A shot of epinephrine to a system already flooded with adrenaline might just give him a heart attack. It might kill him. Riley waffled at that. She didn’t want to kill anyone.