“The lady is quick-witted as well as beautiful.” I opened my mouth to say more, but someone took hold of my arm and yanked me sideways. I turned, expecting to see one of the Merry Men. Instead Mr. Handsome Undercover Policeman had a hold on me. In his jeans and T-shirt, he had blended in with the rest of the shoppers who stood over at the photo counter, and I hadn’t seen him before. The police guy towed me over to the counter, keeping his gaze not on me but on Little John, who stood nearby. He held a sword loosely in our direction while he walked along an aisle, shoving Dori-tos into his bag.
78/356
I hated that I noticed, at a moment like this, that the hot police guy was every bit as tall and good-looking as I’d remembered. He was probably six foot two. His wavy brown hair looked mussed, and his deep brown eyes were intent, serious.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I’m being held up like everyone else, and I suggest you leave the crazy men alone.”
That’s when the reality of the situation hit me. I was as powerless to stop Robin Hood as everyone else who was being held at sword-point. “This can’t be happening,” I said numbly.
The police guy’s gaze slid over me. “You’re brave; I’ll give you that. But right now it’s better to stay still. I know these guys’ MO.
They’ll take a few things and go. There’s nothing here worth risking your life for.”
Of course he knew their MO—modus operandi, or method of operation—the police had studied the surveillance tapes. They’d been searching for these men. I noticed an open cell phone lying on the dis-posable cameras behind us. I whispered, “You called the police, didn’t you?”
“Everything will be okay,” he said.
Two older ladies dressed in polyester outfits stood by my side.
One of them whimpered, and the other pressed her lips together in an angry grimace. Next to them, a teenage girl shivered. She was blinking back tears.
Everything would not be okay. I was already processing the outcome. Robin Hood and his men had never seen firearms. They wouldn’t care when the police pointed guns in their direction. Robin Hood wouldn’t listen when the police told them to drop their swords.
And the police wouldn’t expect archers on the tops of buildings. Even if the police somehow did capture the entire group of Merry Men 79/356
without bloodshed, what could Robin Hood tell them that would make sense? And what would happen when the Merry Men told detectives that I had brought them to Rock Canyon?
The police were probably not going to be particularly understanding about that part.
Robin Hood and Friar Tuck strolled up. Robin Hood smirked at us. “Now, if you good folk would be so gracious as to take off your jewelry and any coin you have on you. Put them in the good friar’s sack and we’ll be much obliged.”
Friar Tuck held out a rough-hewn sack to the girl. From the look of it, they had brought the sacks with them from the Middle Ages. It figured. They must travel with them. After all, you never know when you’re going to meet someone you want to rob.
The teenage girl pulled off two earrings shaped like ice cream cones. She dropped these and a pinkie ring into the sack, then pressed herself as far away from the men as she could get. Friar Tuck turned to the older ladies. The first trembled as she put her wallet into the sack.
The second sneered. “You remind me of my ex-husband, except he didn’t smell quite as bad.”
“I’m flattered, I’m sure,” Friar Tuck said, then pointed to their rings. “We require those lovelies as well.” As the first woman tugged off her rings, I turned to Robin Hood, pleading, “You shouldn’t take their wedding rings. They have sentimental value.”
He laid his hand against his chest. “And I assure you they will have sentimental value to me as well.” I glared at him, but didn’t argue anymore.
Next to me, the hot guy took off his watch and a class ring. I barely noticed it was Rock Canyon High’s color—bright blue—before he dropped it in the sack.
80/356
I pulled off the one piece of jewelry I wore, an opal ring my mother had given me when I turned sixteen. It also had sentimental value, but it was pointless to bring that up.
This was such my luck. I was being robbed by the guy I had wished here.
Robin Hood held out his hand for my ring. I dropped it in his palm, but instead of putting it into the bag, he took hold of my hand and slipped it back onto my finger. “Your ring is not what I will steal from you.” Still holding onto my hand, he slowly pulled me into an embrace. I looked up to ask what he was doing, and as our eyes met, he bent down and kissed me.