Page 57 of Protecting the Newborn

Ruston gathered up every bit of his strength and got to his feet so he could get to that open door. He made it there one staggering step at a time, and he hoped Duncan was doing the same. Someone was moving in his direction, anyway. If it was the killer, then he’d no doubt have a clean shot.

But no gunshots came.

“Where’s Gracelyn?” he heard Duncan ask through the strangling coughs.

That gave Ruston another jolt of adrenaline that fueled him to move even faster to the door. He stepped out, the fresh night air engulfing him, and he nearly tripped over something. No, not something.

Someone.

For a horrifying moment, he thought the person on the ground was Gracelyn, but it wasn’t. It was Nelda Martin, one of the deputies guarding the doors. She was in a crumpled heap, and there was blood on her head.

Cursing, Ruston stooped down to check for a pulse while he frantically scanned the parking lot that was just on the other side of a grassy area. There were some vehicles, including a Saddle Ridge cruiser that Nelda had likely used to come to the hospital, but there was no sign of Gracelyn.

“Hell,” Duncan snarled when he stepped outside. “Is Nelda alive?”

Ruston nodded. “She’s got a pulse.” He kept looking. Kept listening. And he finally heard something. The sound of an engine being revved. A few seconds later, he saw the black SUV speeding out of the parking lot. He caught a glimpse of the driver.

Someone in a gas mask.

And he saw Gracelyn. Just for a second.

His heart dropped.

Because, like Nelda, she was unconscious and there was blood on her head.

“Gracelyn!” he called out, running into the parking lot.

“She’s in that SUV?” Duncan asked.

“Yeah,” Ruston managed, and he tried to tamp down the panic that was crawling through him.

“Use the cruiser,” Duncan insisted. He rummaged through Nelda’s pocket, came up with the keys and tossed them to Ruston. “Go. I’ll be right behind you as soon as I get her some help. I can use one of the other cruisers to track you.”

Ruston caught the keys and didn’t waste a second. He ran straight to the cruiser, jumped in and started driving. Fast. As if Gracelyn’s life depended on it.

Which it did.

He practically flew out of the parking lot, and some of the tightness in his chest eased up just a little when he spotted the SUV. Again, it was just a glimpse before it disappeared around a curve. But at least Ruston knew what direction it was going.

Out of town.

Well, maybe. A sickening thought occurred to him, that maybe there was more than one SUV, that the one he saw was meant to lead him in the wrong direction. That was possible, but since he didn’t have a lot of options, he went after it. He had to get to Gracelyn and stop her from being killed.

The image of the blood on her head flashed in his mind, but he had to shove that aside. That would only tear apart his focus, and right now, he needed all the focus he could get. He had to catch up with that SUV.

The plates on the SUV were almost certainly bogus, so Ruston knew he wouldn’t be able to rely on that even if he got the license numbers. He had to keep the vehicle in sight and follow it to wherever they were taking Gracelyn.

And that gave him another flood of thoughts.

Gracelyn must have been alive if the driver had taken her. If he’d already killed her, he would have just left her in the hospital. So, this was a kidnapping.

Why?

Again, that brought some bad thoughts. Maybe to use Gracelyn to lure him out? But why not just take him along with her?

Ruston thought back to what had gone on in the hall of the hospital. He’d only seen one person, so it was possible the kidnapper couldn’t get both of them out. Even if he’d managed to hold both Gracelyn and him at gunpoint, it would have been difficult to get them out of the hospital and into the SUV. Gracelyn and he would have fought back.

The image of the blood flashed again.

---