As they moved in close, Bernadette moaned and Peter spun and drove the heel of his right hand into to the chest of the nearest attacker but not hard enough to kill him. Bernadette took advantage of her legs free of her skirt to hit the second attacker in the side of his head with a sweeping inside crescent kick. Peter put the last one down with a neck lock that shut off the flow of blood to the brain. He would wake up in a few minutes with a sore neck and headache.

Bernadette helped Peter drag the three unconscious muggers behind a dumpster. He ripped their pants and shoes off and threw them in the dumpster and said, “By the time they get moving, we will be inside. Our five minutes is almost up.”

When Peter eased the door open, he could see Terry standing near the ladies’ room like he was waiting for his woman to come out. It took Peter less than 30 seconds to open the office door. Inside he relocked the door, put a chair up against the doorknob, and joined Bernadette in searching the office. There were no windows so they felt comfortable switching on one light at a time. Bernadette quickly found a wall safe but both knew there wasn’t enough time to even try to open it. Instead they concentrated on the two four-drawer file cabinets whose locks were simple.

Peter found two empty cardboard boxes and began dumping any documents that looked important into the boxes. He wanted to be in and out in no more than five minutes. They were pushing the time. Without getting into the safe, they had done all they could. Peter called to Bernadette it was time to break off and leave.

They each picked up a box and headed for the door when they heard the door being unlocked. Peter moved the chair he had placed under the doorknob. The door swung open and several men started to enter. Peter and Bernadette flanked the door. There was a sudden commotion at the door as Terry charged, pushing everyone inside. The group was surrounded by three people pointing guns at them. Peter spoke, “No talking. Anyone even looking like they are reaching for a weapon will die. Everyone on the floor face down. We’re just looking for a chance to kill you. Don’t give it to us.”

Bernadette pointed out O’Hara. Peter walked over to where he was lying uncomfortable on the floor and showed his I.D. that he was a federal agent. He then grabbed O’Hara by the front of his suit coat and pulled him to his feet. When he had O’Hara away from the others, he said, “I’m going to give you two minutes to open your safe. If you don’t, I’ll put the first slug in your knee and go on from there until it is open. You won’t be alive if the safe doesn’t get open in two minutes.”

“You don’t scare me. The FBI does not operate like that.”

Peter chuckled, “We are nothing like the FBI. I don’t intend to arrest you if you cooperate. That’s the good news. The bad news is if you don’t cooperate you will die or almost die, depending on how I feel. Now open the safe.”

O’Hara hesitated and Peter shoved the sound suppressor on his 9mm hard into O’Hara’s throat, just under his chin. He looked hard at O’Hara and said, “Last chance.”

O’Hara moved to open the safe, and it was open in less than 30 seconds. Peter put O’Hara back on the floor and not very gently. After dumping the contents of the wall safe in one of the boxes, Terry and Peter collected wallets from all the men. Bernadette was out in the hall. O’Hara hadn’t gotten a good look at her.

Bernadette and Terry, carrying the boxes, went out the back door to the Ford wagon. Peter stayed behind to give them more time for the getaway. He pulled the phone out of the wall and took all the car keys. The door to the office required a key to open from either side. Seeing two of the guns had left the room, one very big man started to get up. Peter hit him behind the neck with an axe kick that drove him back on the floor. No one else moved. Peter took a picture of each man, then left, locking the door from the outside with O’Hara’s key.

The wagon was standing by to pick him up as he left the alley. As Peter got in the car, he was smiling. Bernadette knew what he was smiling about. She, too, had seen the three muggers dumpster diving for their shoes and pants. They wouldn’t forget attacking the romantic couple in the alleyway.