SEIZED, A Romantic Suspense Novella (8 page)

“And once one entrance is breached, all of them will explode.”

She collapsed her scope and pulled it back through the door. Wiggling backward onto her knees she grasped the hand Matt offered and stood. “There’s good news, though.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“There’s no timing mechanism on this entrance.”

“He gave us a time limit. We have to assume there’s one someplace.”

She slipped the scope back into the bag full of tools she had strapped across her body. “The best place would be the main entrance, in plain sight to scare Judy and anyone else thinking to escape that way.”

“Makes sense. Let’s try to meet Dave and Jake up front.” Matt eased her in front of him. “Castello?”

“I’ll guard this door. Don’t want anyone getting too anxious to go in or out.”

Suddenly a gunshot thundered beyond the door.

The trio crowded to the windows and peered down the hallway. No movement. They could hear screaming and yelling. Some of it sounded like Dave calling for Judy.

“You two go. I’ve got this covered.” Castello said and they took off at a dead run around the corner.

***

He stood behind Senator Klein, half hiding from the gunman when he made his appearance and half to keep the trembling politician from bolting.

Jake had basically dragged the bastard up from the ER, his entourage in tow. They’d been arguing the whole way and only stopped when Dave had stepped between them and their boss, sniper rifle in hand. He’d given them no uncertain terms—shut up and back off or he’d do it for them. He’d also reminded the senator that his son was also a hostage in this mess, and quite possibly the catalyst.

That did the trick in getting his cooperation.

Over the senator’s head, Jake’s gaze met his. He gave his brother-in-law a go-ahead nod. He was ready for whatever happened.

Jake lifted the wall phone and dialed into the operating room where Wilkes was holding Judy and the others hostage.

As he listened to Jake talk, Dave’s heart thudded loudly in his ears.

He needed to calm down. This would be the most important shot in his life.

Judy needed him.

Inhale
.

Exhale.

He willed his body to relax.

Suddenly, there she was.

Halfway down the operating suite’s hall, she stood stiff just outside the open door to the operating room, her skin pale against the dark-blue scrubs, the surgical mask hanging loosely around her neck, her hair pulled back in the blue paper shower-type cap she wore, dark eyes wide with fear. He could see the gunman’s fingers wrapped around her arm.

Rage, hot and heavy, gripped him.

No one had the right to scare his wife or hold her in their grip. No one had the right to threaten the mother of his children. Ever.

She was
his
. His to love. His to touch. His to protect.

Jake pulled the senator forward and handed him the receiver.

Dave moved in behind the senator, his gun raised. His eyes locked on Judy’s, he nodded, hoping she’d try to maneuver the son-of-a-bitch out the door and give him a clear shot.

She shook her head no.

No?

What the hell was she thinking?

As he watched, her head whipped to the left, back into the operating room. She pulled back slightly.

What was going on? Did the bastard threaten her?

The silence was shattered by a gunshot, the sound echoing out of the room and down the hall.

He felt it like it had pierced his soul.

“Judy!”

Shoving the senator out of his way, he lunged for the door, Jake’s body stopping him before he could jerk one open. “Stop!”

He struggled against Jake, the need to get to Judy clawing at him. “Get out of my way, Carlisle.”

“No, Dave! You’ll set off the bombs!”

The words were like a slap to the face. He froze.

Arms come around from behind, pulling him back from the chasm that separated him from his love. “Dave. Try to get it together, bro,” Matt’s voice in his ear cut through the pain, bringing him back out of his panic.

“It wasn’t her, Dave. He didn’t shoot her. We could see her. She’s okay,” Jake said.

“But for how long?” He looked at his family standing around him, his heart gripped with pain, silently asking them what they were all thinking.
How long before the bastard decided to shoot the others or her?

A loud crash sounded down the OR hallway.

He tried to lurch towards the door once more, only the steely arms of his brothers holding him back. “Wait. We don’t know what that was.”

“Fuck it, I have to get in there!” He struggled once more.

“Look!” Katie said, pointing at the window.

A man in scrubs darted out in the hallway, Judy right behind him.

Dave shook off the arms holding him and raised his weapon, taking aim.

Judy slammed the man into the wall, her arm at his neck, just like he’d taught her when she’d been helping him learn a self-defense course years ago. He paused his finger from pressing the trigger, watching them through the scope.

She was talking to the man, stopping to point out the window at him. She nodded at him.

He didn’t lower his aim as he watched, but he returned her nod.

Slowly she eased her body back, looking behind her. Two others dragged a man with a tube hanging out of his mouth across the hallway.

“Is that the bomber?” Katie asked.

Still focused on Judy, Dave lowered his weapon as she released the other man and let him head back into the operating room. Then she strode to the door, stopping a foot away. He met her there, his hand pressed to the glass. Stretching her arm out, she placed hers on the other side, their fingers spread.

“Are you okay? Did the bastard hurt you?”

She gave him a soft smile, the kind that made him want to pull her into his arms and hold her tight. “I’m fine. He didn’t hurt me, just has me scared shitless.”

“We’ll get you out of there quick. What did you take him down with?”

“A syringe of Succinylcholine. Bill’s hooking him up to an anesthesia machine. He’ll be completely paralyzed for a while.”

“Judy,” Katie stepped up to the window. “Can you tell me what you see on the door handle?”

Judy slowly turned her eyes away from them to step back a bit, lowering her hand from the glass. He wanted to force her to keep it there, to keep looking at him, her dark eyes reassuring him she was okay.

“I can send you a picture to Dave’s phone.”

Stepping back, she pulled the smartphone from where she’d hidden it in her scrubs pocket and focused on the door. A moment later his phone buzzed. He slid his finger over the text-message icon and a picture of the door with C-4 compound wrapped around it appeared. Centered on it was a cell phone with wires coming from it into a small device imbedded in the explosive material.

“Crap.” Katie shook her head.

“What?” he asked, his gaze meeting Judy’s worried one through the glass.

“See this?” Katie enlarged the photo. “The guy has the cell phone as the timer. It’s probably rigged to send a signal to the detonator below.”

“Can’t we just pull the wires?” he asked, not liking the tension around his sister-in-law’s lips and eyes.

“I’d have to be in there and really look at it. He could have a second trip wire to prevent that. See these five dots?” She pointed to the dots on the page.

“What are they?” Matt asked.

Katie looked at Judy. “Are they blinking?”

She leaned in without touching the bomb. “Yes. They appear to flash on and off in a sequential order.”

“What does that mean?” Dave asked, his chest tightening with renewed fear.

“They’re a code sequence,” Katie said.

“Code sequence?”

“He’s got it set so that if the right kind of code is entered the timer shuts off. Once that circuit is broken we can safely dismantle it. The problem is if we don’t have the right numbers to enter the code in the right order…”

“Well, we’ll just wake the SOB up and force him to tell us.”

“I don’t think we can,” Judy said through the glass.

“What do you mean, we can’t?”

She turned her head and yelled, “Bill!”

The long, lanky anesthetist stuck his head out the door. “What?”

“How long did you say that Succs would keep him paralyzed?”

“The Succinylcholine? It’s going to keep him out for twenty minutes. Longer if I hook him up to the gasses. Right now the ventilator is just making him breathe.”

“You’d best find some way to get you all under some cover then.”

“Oh, shit.” Bill stuck his head back in the operating room, the door closing behind him.

Judy stared into Dave’s eyes a moment then she looked down at the timer. Everyone else studied the picture. According to it, they had less than five minutes.

With a sinking heart, Judy raised her gaze from the cell phone timer to meet Dave’s across the glass. Unshed tears filled his eyes, making her own spill down her cheeks.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t say that,” he said, his hand once more on the glass. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I did. I gave him the Succs and now he’s useless to us.” She fought back the panic. She knew what she had to do. “David, tell my babies how much I’ve always loved—”

“No! Don’t go there, Judy. We’ve still got time. I can come through the ceiling panels to you and Katie can talk me through disarming it.” He was already pulling the rifle strap off his arm and over his shoulder. “Luke, move those panels out.”

“David.” She pounded on the glass with her fist, shaking her head. “There’s no time. I need to know my babies won’t be left alone. I
need
you to leave, so you’re safe and can love them for me.”

“Jude…” His shoulders slumped.

God, she wanted to touch him. To cradle his beautiful, rugged face in her hands, kiss him and feel his strength one more time. To give him some of her own.

“Please. If you love me, you’ll do this for me.”

“You know how much I love you.” He was openly crying now, every tear tearing a hole in her heart. “Please don’t ask me to do this.”

“David.” She put on her mom voice. “There’s only four minutes left. You have to go. Now. All of you.”

Matt and Luke grabbed his arms. He shook them off. “Leave me the hell alone!”

“Sweetheart,” she placed both hands on the glass. “Ella, Lily and Wyatt need you. Please, go.”

He placed his hand over hers and whispered, “I love you, babe. You are my life. You are the most important thing in it. I can’t leave you to do this alone.”

“I’ll stay.” Castello said from behind him. “She’s right. Your children need you. No one will miss me. I’ll stay behind.”

“I can’t ask you to do that,” Judy said.

“You don’t get a choice in this one, Judy. Dave and the others go. I stay.”

Dave turned to look at his friend. They exchanged a look that spoke of the bond Castello had made with all the Edgars, his adopted family. The Marshall was wrong. He would be missed. The decision made, Dave swallowed hard and nodded, before fixing his gaze back on her.

Slowly, Dave slid his hands from the glass. Shoulders slumped, he turned and followed the others down the hall, hitting the exit to the ER doors at a jog. As soon as it closed behind him a sob escaped her.

“Judy. Did Wilkes say anything to you about the bomb?”

She shook her head.
She was going to die.

“Judy, look at me.”

Castello’s deep commanding voice penetrated the pain inside her. She dashed the tears out of her eyes and raised her gaze to meet his. “You need to find someplace safe, Frank.”

Lips set in a thin, determined line, he shook his head. “Not happening. I promised your husband. What I need is for you to think. Did Wilkes say anything about the bomb or a code?”

She shook her head, trying to remember. “No, all he talked about was wanting justice for his wife and child’s death.”

“Did he give you their names?”

Dave’s words hit her.
I love you, babe. You are my life. You are the most important thing in it. I can’t leave you to do this alone
. Dave would do anything for her, anything in his power to protect her. Would Wilkes do the same?

“Betsy. Her name was Betsy.”

Five buttons, five letters
.

“B-E-T-S-Y.” She counted the letters on her hand and looked hopefully at Castello. “Do you think he used her name as the code? Could it be that simple?”

He gave her a half shrug. “It’s as good a clue as we have.”

She looked at the timer.
Forty-eight seconds. Forty-seven
.

“What if it’s not right?”

“You’ve got to try it. It’s the only chance we have.”

She reached out to the cell phone, her fingers shaking as they hovered right over the keyboard.

Chapter Six

T
hree feet. That’s as far as Dave made it past the ER doors before his legs gave out. He sank against the brick wall of the ambulance bay, despair gripping him like a vise, squeezing all the air out of his lungs.

“Dave, we’ve got to move a little farther,” Matt said, grabbing him by the elbow.

“No,” was all he managed to get out around the huge hole inside him.

Matt put his hands up in a submissive fashion. “You made a promise to Judy. Do you want to break it by having half the building coming down on you?”

“What’s one more?”

“One more building?”

“No, one more fucking promise!” He surged off the wall, hands clenched. God he wanted to plant his fist into something. He eyed the opening to the parking garage across the street where the senator’s entourage stood beneath the awning—surrounding the bastard, their umbrellas keeping the sleet off him—and started toward them.

“Whoa! You don’t want to do that.” Jake grabbed his arm and spun him around, ducking at the punch he threw his way.

“Let go of me, Carlisle,” he growled and his sister’s husband let him go, but when he turned, sweet Katie stood in his way.

“What other promises have you broken to her?” she asked quietly, taking some of the anger out of him.