When Cassidy entered the kitchen, the first thing she noticed was the silence of the room. Calling out to Eleanor and Horace, Cassidy was surprised when they didn't answer. She walked through the kitchen and pushed open the side door into the office. She froze in place at the sight that met her eyes.
Tied to chairs, Eleanor and Horace were both gagged and bound hand and foot. In front of them stood a rather agitated man, carrying a gun and wearing a stocking mask over his face. Pointing the gun at Cassidy, he turned back to Eleanor and Horace and said, "What the hell are you two running here - a three ring circus? I come in to rip the place off and I stumble across the damn clown car! Are there any more of you idiots about to walk in on me? Or is she the last?"
Cassidy thought it was rather strange that he was asking Eleanor and Horace questions since he had them both gagged and they couldn't answer. But since he did have the gun and she was on the receiving end of it, she decided not to push her luck by questioning his sanity.
Looking back at Cassidy, the man waved the gun at her. "Ok bitch, open the safe and show me the money, or these two get it."
Cassidy was fairly quick at thinking on her feet. She knew that the safe was fairly well hidden and that the chances were good that the man didn't know that there really was a safe. Cassidy also knew that there was precious little in the safe to satisfy the man, even if she did open it. Knowing that he was looking for ready cash, Cassidy decided to lure him out of the office. Hoping to convey an "I don't care" attitude, Cassidy said gruffly, "There is no safe. I am their accountant. I would know if they had a safe. The only money these two old codgers have is out in their cash register."
Pushing her with his other hand, the man forced Cassidy out of the office, back into the restaurant. Cassidy breathed a sigh of relief at having gotten him away from Horace and Eleanor, but she wasn't sure what to do now. How was she supposed to keep him from killing her and then going back to finish them off as well? Cassidy's mind was racing as she crossed the room as slowly as humanly possible when one is being pushed by a gun toting madman.
When she neared the cash register, Cassidy realized that there was a chance that she could lure the man out of the restaurant with the promise of taking him to a bank machine or some other place to get cash. Still fleshing out the plan in her mind, she worked with painstaking precision opening the cash drawer.
When the drawer flew open, the man reached around Cassidy and pushed her to the floor. He jerked the bills out of the register and stuffed them into the pockets on his jacket. Cassidy realized that he hadn't come prepared to stash the cash which caused her to worry. Surely a sane person would have come to commit a robbery prepared to put the loot somewhere logical. Cassidy knew that she had to work fast.
"Look," Cassidy said, "I know there's not a lot there. You look like a smart guy, pulling off this kind of robbery in the broad daylight. Let me take you down the street. I can easily add $500 to your take by going to one bank machine. I'll even shield you from the security camera. I know that a smart man like you knows that you can use all the money you can get. And I know you are smart enough to not pass up a chance to add a little extra to your take."
The man seemed to be weighing Cassidy's offer. She held her breath, waiting for his response.
Jesse Turner had finished his phone call with Van as quickly as possible. Van had known for several weeks that Cassidy was special to Jesse. When Jesse had finally broke down and told him how much he liked her, Van had laughed in the big man's face. Van had said, "I never took Jesse Turner to be a coward. If you want her, go get her!"
That had been all it had taken to convince Jesse that he had a chance with Cassidy. He had never met a woman like her before. All full of passion one moment and spitfire integrity the next. She kept him on his toes and made him want more. Each night, he left her at her door, wishing that just once, she would forget what he had said about not trying to distract him. He wanted her to pull him into her apartment and make wild passionate love to him.
But each night passed, and Cassidy didn't cross the line in the sand that he had drawn. Instead, she was a perfect lady, always shaking his hand and thanking him for an interesting evening.
Finally, Jesse hadn't been able to take it any more. With a flash of insight, he had realized that Cassidy needed to know that he wanted her. He had learned that she wasn't very experienced where men were concerned and that no man had ever told her that she was special. Jesse knew Cassidy was special. Now he just needed to tell her.
Flipping his cell phone closed, Jesse resolved to go tell Cassidy immediately how he felt. He didn't care if Eleanor and Horace were there to witness his declaration. Some things were worth the risk. And Cassidy Meadows was one of those things.
Jesse had spent the majority of his adult life honing his instincts to always detect the unusual. When he stepped around the corner of the building and started for the front door of the diner, he felt the hair on his neck stand up. Knowing better than to ignore his body's hunch, he quickly scanned the area around him.
Glancing into the window of the diner, Jesse saw the reason for his sense of unease. Although the man had his back toward the window, Jesse could tell from the look on Cassidy's face what was happening. Dropping into a crouch, Jesse shuffled to the other side of the plate glass windows that lined the front wall of the diner.
Squatting beside the building, Jesse reviewed his options. For whatever reason, an unknown man was holding Cassidy in fear. Since he wasn't holding another person to his body, nor was he grasping Cassidy close, the man must have a gun. A knife would have required a different stance.
Shaking his head to clear it, Jesse flipped open his cell phone and called 911. After identifying himself and explaining the situation and location, he disconnected the call. Peering through the nearby glass, he could see the man now had Cassidy by the arm and was dragging her toward the exit. Another 20 feet and they would be walking out the door of the diner. Jesse had to make a decision fast.
Never before had Jesse been so torn. In all of his life, he had never wanted to protect another human being with the intensity of his desire to protect Cassidy at that moment. He had done enough work in his field to know that such an intimate connection with a hostage would cloud his perception of the situation. But he had no choice. Cassidy was his life now and if this man hurt her, he would never forgive himself.
As the man paused inside the door of the diner, Cassidy noticed that he seemed to be thinking. She realized that he must have figured out that walking out with a stocking mask over his head was a dead give away. Not knowing what to say, Cassidy simply stood quietly beside him as he anxiously shifted from foot to foot. Finally, he ripped the stocking off of his face and pushed her out the door, saying, "Not one word or I'll make you regret it."
Cassidy saw the flash of movement on her right seconds before she felt the impact of the flying tackle. The gunman and Cassidy fell to the concrete. The force had been enough to down them both, causing the gun to go clattering across the sidewalk. Cassidy saw it land at the edge of a newspaper bin.
With more intuition than vision, Cassidy recognized Jesse as the one who had knocked her and her assailant down. She also realized that Jesse was big enough to keep the man detained while she got the gun. Cassidy scurried across the short distance that separated her from the weapon. Bracing herself, Cassidy grabbed the gun and swung around to face the two men.
Both Jesse and the gunman were looking pretty rough by this point. The combined impact of falling forcefully onto the concrete, and the ensuing blows that the two men were exchanging made them both look rather beat up. Right as Jesse landed a sledgehammer blow to the man's face, Cassidy braced herself against the wall of the diner.
