Page 54 of Every Last One
“Get over here quick,” Kreiger barked, and waved his arms.
She set her headset back on her desk, and so did Brice. They went over to where Kreiger was at the table with Neal and Luis.
“Look.” He pointed at Luis’s laptop.
Neal’s expression was grim, and she understood why the moment she saw the screen.
Mickey stormed into a patient room, and a few moments later, he returned to the hall with a female nurse. He nudged her in front of him and was holding his gun to her back.
Her gaze was frozen on the screen, and her insides were slush. “Do you recognize that nurse?” she asked Luis.
“I think that’s Maria Torres.”
Torres…The name ricocheted around in her head like a metal ball. “I spoke to her. She was with Phoebe Chapman. That must be Phoebe’s room.” She wouldn’t need to remind anyone here that Phoebe was the child awaiting a heart transplant. That fact would be fixed in all their minds. And if he took the nurse,what was the status on the girl and her mother? “I assume there aren’t cameras in there?” she said to Luis.
“None in any patient rooms for privacy reasons.”
On the screen, a doctor seemed to come out of nowhere, and he attacked the gunman. There was a brief struggle followed by a blast of light. The doctor went down. A pool of blood blossomed in the doctor’s torso.
Torres pushed the gunman aside and ran to the fallen doctor. She took off her lab coat and wrapped it around the doctor’s waist.
“Oh my God. Was he…? He was just… shot.” Luis was stammering. No one else was saying a word.
Torres remained leaning over the doctor protectively, and he reached up and affectionately touched her face.
“The gunman’s just standing there like he’s in shock,” Brice said.
But seconds later, he was ripping Torres away from the doctor. She was screaming and batting at his arms, but it wasn’t enough to get him to release her. He hauled her back to the room she had come out of. Torres was resisting, dragging her legs behind her.
The door was slammed shut behind them, and the doctor was left in the hallway bleeding out.
The command vehicle was silent for several beats. It was like everyone was holding their breath.
“Can you zoom in on his face?” Brice asked Luis.
“Yes.” A moment later, the doctor’s face filled the screen.
Sandra was going to be sick. “Is that who I think it is?”
“That’s Jordon Maddox,” Luis confirmed.
She heard the emergency director, but she was numb, her mind immersed in the past. The images of Sam in his final moments, created by her imagination. She wasn’t there. She didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to her brother. But basedon his injuries, he would have looked much the same as what appeared on the screen. Sam never received help in time. The negotiator had failed her brother by not talking down his shooter fast enough. She refused to fail Jordon Maddox any further, and not because he was Ilene Maddox’s son and her influence with the director could cost Sandra her job. No, she’d save Jordon for Sam.
TWENTY-NINE
2:30 PM
The gunshot was so loud, Gail’s ears were ringing. Instinct had her wanting to hide away someplace with her daughter, but she couldn’t move her. She was trembling as she looked toward the empty doorway. Maybe if she could shut the door and flip the lock, they’d be safe. Though that hadn’t stopped the gunman from demanding entry. And could Gail really abandon Maria and her unborn baby? Protect her own like a coward? She cast one more glance at Phoebe before leaving her side. She ran to the door and caught a glimpse of a man in doctor scrubs lying on the floor in a pool of blood.
Maria was hunched over him, wailing. “Hang in there, baby. Hang in there.”
The gunman hustled over and yanked Maria away from the man. Then the gunman was beelining straight for Gail, dragging Maria with him.
Shit!Gail scrambled to shut the door, but the man pushed it inward and herded her back into the room. She took up position at her daughter’s bedside again, placing herself in front of her daughter. “Leave us alone!”
The man came right over to her. He was so close that Gail could smell his breath and feel its warmth on her face. “I’m theone who gives the orders, not you. See this right here?” He held the gun up, pressing the muzzle to her cheek.
She drew back with a yelp. It was still hot from being fired. Gail glanced around the gunman at Maria. She was facing the doorway, her eyes blank.
