Page 14 of Deadly Holiday
While Cooper stood guard, Mitch raided the storage room, returning with a metal tray. He crouched down and crept to the end of the hall and tipped the edge, using the reflective surface as a mirror to allow him to see around the corner.
“Three men standing outside an exam room, and one farther down in front of a set of double doors,” he reported quietly.
“Four guards?” Apparently Ortega had added two to his entourage after leaving the cafeteria. Cooper rubbed his jaw. Yeah, they could handle that. If there weren’t more hiding somewhere. “What about the doctor and her staff?”
“Negative.” Mitch shook his head, rocking back on his heels. “My money is that they’re all in the first room.”
They needed a distraction. The guards were too far away for them to take out. The minute he and Holden stepped around the corner they would be sitting ducks.
“I’ve got an idea.” Mitch pushed to his feet, rising to his full height and motioning for Coop to follow him. “But you aren’t going to like it.”
Back to the stairwell, Cooper felt apprehension clenching his gut. Holden’s constipated grimace didn’t exactly leave him with a warm and fuzzy feeling.
What they found waiting for them made him even more agitated.
“Before you start yelling,” Celina whispered from her spot on the stairs, “Victor sent us. You weren’t answering your phone, which by the way, made me extremely nervous.”
Next to her was Olivia, gun drawn and looking pissed.
“I turned my phone off because we’re on a sensitive op here.” Cooper gritted his teeth, realizing his whisper echoed off the walls it was so loud. “What the fuck is so important?”
“SWAT’s been delayed,” Celina whispered back, laying a hand on his arm. “There was an accident on the freeway, the whole northern lane is out of commission and traffic is backed up for miles. They’re taking a detour, and Victor tried the local cops, but they’re up to their eyeballs with the holiday scrambles and the accident too. They’re going to be later than anticipated, and Victor thinks you should stand down and wait.”
“Wait and leave all the kids and their families in danger?” He shook his head. This could not be happening. “Tell me that was not a direct order from him.”
Celina exchanged a look with Olivia. Olivia sighed and looked at Cooper. “It was not,” she said. “But I think he believes you will follow his wishes.”
Cooper was in hell, pure and simple.
And then it got worse.
Mitch shrugged. “There’s still my idea.”
Celina and Olivia’s gazes swung to him. “Which is?” Celina asked.
Ten minutes later, pressed against the wall of the surgical ward, Cooper and Holden watched as Celina and Olivia, dressed in nursing scrubs, pushed a lab cart ahead of them down the hall towards the guards. Their task was to distract them long enough so the men could move to a closer position.
Kill me now.
Cooper had tried everything to talk Celina out of it, but she’d insisted. “I want this night over so we can take our child home and scrub this awful memory from our minds.”
Nothing he said would dissuade her, and Olivia and Mitch told him to stop worrying about a dozen times.
Seeing the women approach, the guards came alert and turned their guns on them. “Hold it,” one man said.
Fear seized Cooper, the breath stealing from his lungs. Celina was a highly skilled agent like Olivia, who could take care of herself, but seeing a gun pointed at her set off all of his natural instincts to protect her all over again.
“We gotta move.Now.” Holden shoved him hard, snapping Cooper back to reality. Forcing his emotions aside, Cooper turned on his training, knowing it was the only thing that would get him through these next critical moments.
“Dr. Kyan requested labs to be drawn on her patient,” Celina was explaining as they moved down the hall, getting into closer position. They had maneuvered the guards around so their backs were to Mitch and Cooper, giving them a chance to get near.
“Nobody told us you were coming. We need to check with the boss first,” the guard said, his eyes narrowed.
“Fine by us.” Olivia lifted a shoulder in a shrug, appearing unconcerned. “Delaying the patient’s surgery won’t hurt us any. We can just come back when you get this all straightened out.”
“Wait.” Another guard grabbed Celina’s arm when she made to wheel the cart around. “I don’t want to be the one who delays this surgery, do you?”
“Hell, no.” The third lowered his gun. “Pat them down for weapons. Then we’ll check with the boss.”
