Page 27 of Guarded

Bodies. On the floor beside a bed. The cries were louder now, turning into sobs. Someone moved just out of view on the far side of the bed.

The team secured the room. “Suspect down,” Tuck reported. “Two wounded.”

But not dead. Not yet. “Clear to send the EMTs in?”

“Yes.”

Matt signaled to one of his subordinates. “On the double.”

“Suspect’s dead,” Schroder reported a moment later. “Wife and one daughter wounded. Wife is critical.”

“Bringing the girls out now.” Bauer. “Youngest appears uninjured. Older one has GSW to the thigh.”

Matt curled his hands into fists where they rested beneath his armpits. “Copy that. EMTs coming to you.” He headed out of the command center and jogged the block to the target house.

Bauer was coming toward him, a little girl cradled in his arms. He reached the sidewalk where the ambulance was moving into position and set her down on the grass, a bandage wrapped around her thigh. Blackwell appeared carrying her sister a moment later. The little girl was huddled against his chest, her thin arms wrapped tight around his neck, her face pressed into his shoulder.

Matt’s heart ached at the sight. Bauer and Blackwell were both daddies, and he was about to be. Seeing kids suffering or dying was the hardest part of this job. It never got any easier, and it never went away. Matt wished Harding was still alive so he could punch him repeatedly in the face. How could a father fucking do something like this?

Matt crouched down next to the wounded girl while Bauer adjusted the bandage. “Hi, Amy. I’m Matt.”

Her big brown eyes darted to him, wide with shock, her skin chalky. Her teeth chattered, her whole body trembling.

Matt reached for her hand, wrapped his fingers around her icy cold ones. “You’re safe now. These men are going to look at your leg and make you feel better, okay?” he said, nodding at the approaching paramedics. “And look, here’s your sister.”

Amy let out a sob and cranked her head around just as Blackwell knelt down beside her. Erin raised her tearstained face and burst into tears when she saw Amy, reaching for her older sister. “I want my mom,” she cried, glancing around frantically for her. “She’s hurt real b-bad.”

“People are looking after her right now,” Blackwell said, stroking the girl’s trembling back. “They’re going to take her to the hospital where the doctors can help her.”

“D-daddy sh-shot at us,” the girl sobbed. “He was hurt t-too.”

Matt shared a look with his guys. These two girls would forever be scarred by what had happened today, but at least they were alive.

He and the others moved back as the paramedics took over. “How’s the mother look?” Matt asked when they were out of earshot.

“Two bullets center mass. Fucking coward shot her and the older girl, then blew his own head off when he heard us coming.”

Schroder was coming across the lawn, peeling off his latex gloves, the others behind him. “Girls okay?” he asked in concern, looking over where the paramedics and victim assistance personnel were with them.

“As well as can be expected,” Matt said. “I just hope their mom makes it.” After going through this, they were going to need the love and support of a parent more than ever.

“Doesn’t look good,” Schroder said, his face grim. Then he looked at Matt. “How about you? We heard what he said.”

“I’m good.” Pissed as hell at Harding, and yeah, a little shaken at how close these girls had come to dying. But mostly he just wanted to get this wrapped up as fast as possible so he could get back to his wife and baby.

Chapter Seven

“I wish they’d stop pumping me full of fluids,” Briar grumbled as she rolled slightly to reach for the call button. This was the fourth time she’d had to relieve herself since lunch. “I’ve got no place to put them anymore.”

Trinity chuckled from the pullout chair next to the bed and set her e-reader down. “I really do love you, but I don’t want to help you with your bedpan.”

“I don’t want you to either. Gross.” She settled back into position, not quite flat on her back, turned slightly onto her left side to help alleviate the pressure of the baby on her aorta. This bed rest thing already wasn’t fun. She had to mentally gear up for the coming weeks ahead of her. “What time is it, anyway?” She reached for her phone on the side table.

“Almost seven. At night,” Trinity added.

Briar shot her a wry look. “Thanks for the clarification.”

She’d heard nothing more from Matt since he’d called from the airport in North Carolina hours before. Things obviously hadn’t been resolved peacefully yet. Had they rescued the girls and their mother? She looked up a few news network sites she mostly trusted but the only story she could find about it said merely that there was a hostage situation happening at a home in a residential neighborhood.

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