Page 52 of Captivated with Them

Chapter Twenty-two

Ryan

––––––––

I WHEELED MYSELF UPthe ramp leading up to the front of the courthouse.

People shot me sympathetic glances, perhaps guessing from my age and my missing leg that I was a veteran, and held open the door for me. Though there were plenty of people around, it wasn’t as busy here as I thought it probably was first thing in the morning. We’d deliberately timed ourselves to arrive toward the end of the day. The trial might go on for several days, but hopefully Rue would have given her testimony by now, and the Capellos wouldn’t be keeping such a tight leash on her.

As expected, the SUV containing Capello’s men had followed me to the courthouse, and we planned to use that to our advantage. We’d confused them by it only being me who’d caught a cab here, Kodee paying the driver extra to help me with the wheelchair on this end. With only one vehicle themselves, they’d clearly made the decision that Kodee was staying at the apartment and it was better to find out where I was going. What they didn’t know was that Kodee had caught a second cab right after me.

I hoped we were going to time this right.

I passed through the courthouse doors and joined the line of people waiting to go through security. One of the guards spotted my wheelchair and motioned for me to go through the disabled access.

I hesitated.

Shit. I didn’t want to go through yet. I needed Kodee to go through with his part of the plan.

The security guard frowned at me, and reluctantly, I started to wheel myself toward him. He gave me a nod to say he was ready for me.

A muffled shout came from outside. “Guns! Those men have guns!”

I pictured Kodee standing outside the courthouse, pointing at the SUV parked across the street and yelling at the top of his lungs. With the current political climate, everyone was terrified of shootings, and his yell of alarm instantly had the correct effect.

Outside, people screamed, while those waiting at security pushed past each other to get through. The security guards shouted at them to calm down, and a couple of others pulled their guns and ran outside. I was in luck. The guard who’d been manning the disabled access had been one of those who’d gone to help.

I hoped Kodee had gotten somewhere safe. I didn’t want anyone thinking he was the enemy and taking him down with a bullet.

Quickly, I wheeled myself through security while everyone’s backs were turned. The metal detector sounded, but when a harried guard glanced in my direction, I just motioned at the chair. The guard hesitated, clearly trying to decide whether to come after me or go and help his colleagues in the chaos. The courthouse was chronically under-staffed, with staff having to move from the courtrooms to the entrance, and we were definitely taking advantage of that.

I could hardly believe I’d made it through security without being challenged. My heart pounded, and a trembling had taken over my limbs. I used my hold on the wheelchair to steady them.

I reached the bathrooms and made use of the disabled toilet. One thing about being in a chair, as an obvious amputee, was that no one questioned you. I’d been questioned plenty of times when, wearing my prosthetic leg, I’d parked in a disabled spot and climbed out of the car. The general public seemed to think that unless a disability was glaringly obvious, they had a right to question you about it. By contrast, when you were clearly disabled, no one wanted to ask you anything—in fact, most of them could barely look you in the eye.

I rolled myself into the bathroom and locked the door behind me. My heart was beating fast, but I knew how to keep my cool—on the exterior, at least. There wouldn’t be cameras in the bathroom, but I still felt paranoid, and checked the corners of the room, just in case.

Working quickly, I reached beneath the chair. The individual pieces of the gun had been wrapped in cloth and fastened to the metal parts of the chair with straps of strong Velcro. We hadn’t known if the wheelchair would be taken off me to be put through an individual scanner, and we’d hoped the metal would have been thought to have been a part of the wheelchair, if it had been checked in more detail.

Unfastening each piece, I placed the parts of the gun in my lap. When I had each of them, I set about reassembling it. I placed the barrel into the slide, then put in the spring. Then I pushed the slide back onto the receiver, pulling right back, making sure I snapped the inner components in position, and inserted the magazine, and finally pulled the slide back to lock it in place.

I worked quickly and deftly. It was something I’d done hundreds of times before, and I would have been able to do this with my eyes shut. Even so, I was still poised for a banging to come at the door, for guards to demand to know what I was doing in here.

Miraculously, I was left alone, and I hid the reassembled gun down the back of my jeans and covered the butt with my shirt.

Taking a deep breath, I unlocked the door and let myself back out into the corridor. The disturbance Kodee had caused at the front of the building hadn’t reached back here. I hoped he’d managed to slip away without the security guards noticing.

The trial was taking place in the main courtroom. People in suits buzzed around, looking important. They threw me a few cursory glances, but no one challenged me. The gun felt like a boulder secreted beneath my shirt, though I knew no one could see it.

Where was Rue? Was she still waiting to testify, or had she been called in already?

There was a good chance the Capellos would have their men keeping an eye on Rue and making sure she did exactly what they wanted, but if I found her, I now had the gun, and I’d shoot anyone who stood in my way.

I couldn’t see any sign of Rue out here. The trial was already well underway. There was a chance she was already in the courtroom, perhaps even taking the stand. We’d made the decision to snatch her the moment the trial was over, but now I was wondering if we’d made a mistake. Perhaps we should have tried to take her sooner, even if it meant she didn’t testify and Joe Nettie going free and potentially coming after her.

No, these trials could go on for days. Once she’d testified, the Capellos wouldn’t feel the need to focus on her so intently. She’d have done what they wanted. Rue would be just another girl to traffic to them.

With no other choice, I pushed my way into the courtroom.

---