Page 51 of Tucker
Irelay the message and we all lie beside Frannie and cover ourselves. Withinthirty seconds, loud bangs sound below, followed by an unbelievable amount ofgunfire. I’m near the window, but the rays of sun filtering through theskylights only show me clouds of what I suspect is tear gas.
Icouldn’t hear the detective even if I tried. We just lie there holding tight toone another, waiting to see if we’ll survive. When the noise fades a little thewoman looks at me and I ask, “What’s your name?” I know she said it when thedispatcher asked, but I can’t remember now.
“Jenny.”
“Leah,”I reply, and she nods.
“We’regoing to have a hell of a story to tell, Leah.”
Ican’t argue with that.
Thedetective continues to talk to me for the next forty-five minutes while theresponse team clears the mall one level at a time. I couldn’t tell you much ofwhat she said or asked, but her voice in my ear, a link to the outside worldthat hasn’t turned into a nightmare, was a welcome comfort.
Finally,we hear a grating metal sound and Zoe cries out.
“SWATis prying open the elevator doors now,” the detective informs me. “Please standback and follow their directions when they enter.”
Afew seconds later, the doors are wrenched open and I look up into the gas maskcovered face of our rescuer. My first thought is that he looks like a giant bugand a honking laugh escapes my chest. Relief filters through my panic and Ilaugh.
Ijust can’t stop laughing.
Chapter Fifteen
Tucker
I’venever felt so helpless in my entire life. She’s in there, but there’s nothing Ican do. Law enforcement has dragged me back behind the sawhorses twice now. Theonly reason I haven’t tried again is because they threatened to lock me up.It’s bad enough to be out here. If I were trapped in a cell with no idea what’sgoing on, I’d lose my fucking mind.
EvenMason’s pull at the FBI doesn’t get us many favors here. It’s too big, toopublicized, with too many expected fatalities. Leah. My Leah is in there,defenseless against men armed with assault rifles if the shouts I’ve overheardfrom the patrol officers are true.
Dare,Justus, Jeremy and Landon are all gathered around me, terrified of theimmediate future. We could lose them all. “Oh my god!” a woman cries frombehind us. “It must be some kind of biological attack! Look!”
Herfinger is pointing to Landon, who is clad in his daytime sun protection suit,although you could hardly fault her for jumping to that conclusion. It doeslook like a hazmat suit.
Herpronouncement scares off most of the crowd gathered around us as they fear somekind of airborne attack. Every few minutes we can hear it again, gunfire. Itseems to go on forever. I was a soldier. I know what an assault rifle can do,and it fills me with a fear I’ve never experienced before.
Itwas different when I was at war. I had friends I cared about, people I wantedto protect, but no one I loved like Leah. When this is over, when I see hersweet little face and body safe and in one piece, she’s mine. To hell with theage difference or what Dare thinks. Life is too damned short.
Ijust need her to be okay. The words beat in my head like a mantra, like aprayer to all the gods I’ve never believed in.Just let her be okay.
“They’regoing in,” Dare says, and we watch as they break through the glass doors and astream of SWAT guys rush in. The next few minutes are a nightmare. The sound ofgunfire being exchanged fills the air, and we can see tear gas emanating fromthe broken doors. Finally, they start to bring people out and it doesn’t look good.
Mostare on stretchers, though a few are led out on foot. My eyes meet Dare’s and weboth shove our way past the barriers again until we get to the ambulances.“Sir! You have to stay behind—”
Theagent doesn’t get a chance to finish. Dare turns on him with a look thatclearly says he’ll have to kill him to stop him. “My sister and my wife are inthere. I’m going to be here when they bring them out.” He points to Landon,Justus, and Jeremy. “They’re family too.”
“Fine,”the agent relents. “Don’t get in our way.”
Myheart races when I see them leading a group of people out, seemingly unhurt,then plummets when Leah isn’t among them. The last two people in the group stepcarefully through the broken glass and Dare yells, “Ayda!” at the same timeJustus calls Sadie’s name.
Werush to meet them as they’re being examined by the paramedics, but they’re notinjured, just shaken and scared.
“Idon’t know where Leah is!” Ayda sobs. “Or Zoe and Frannie. We split up!”
Dareholds her close. “It’s okay. They’ll find them.”
Sadiedives into Justus’s arms while Landon and I stare into the dark hole where thedoors used to be, willing Zoe and Leah to come out.
Finally,a stretcher is being rolled out and while I can’t tell who is on it, relieflike I’ve never felt before floods through me at the sight of Leah and Zoewalking behind it.
