Chapter 29
TWENTY-NINE
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 the one 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.
The man snatched Maria by the wrist. “Only God can help you if you go out that door.”
“You fucking bastard! You didn’t have to shoot him!” Maria was shaking, but her eyes were steel.
“Mommy?” The sound of Phoebe’s cherubic voice stood in contrast to the hell in this room.
Gail took her daughter’s hand. “It’s all right, baby. Everything is going to be all right.”
“I’ll be the one who says what will be all right or not. You hear me?” the gunman hissed. “Son of a… Urr.” He gripped at his hair.
The reading on Phoebe’s heart monitor ticked up speed and became erratic.
Gail stepped forward, standing on her toes to put her eyes near level with his. Face to face, she buckled inwardly as it sank in that this man could end her life with a bullet, Phoebe’s too. But to hell if she’d let him frighten her daughter to death. “You will back off. You hear me?”
“And why would I do that?”
Gail’s eyes drifted briefly to Nurse Torres, who was slowly shaking her head. She proceeded anyhow. “You might be a shit, but you’re hurting a little girl here. My little girl, and I won’t stand for that. Am I understood?”
The man stared back at her, but she held her ground, stiffened and squared her shoulders.
“Am I understood?” she repeated, talking firmer than she imagined possible. Tremors danced through her body.
The man said nothing, didn’t move, and Gail was just about to scream out when someone spoke. It wasn’t anyone in this room. Then she remembered she had found a lucid moment to call 911 between Maria being taken from the room and the gun going off.
“Who is that?” The man angled his head.
The voice sounded again.
“Where is that coming—” He met her eye. “It’s you. You’re on your phone?” He moved like he was going to search her, and the thought of his hands roaming her body had her gagging.
She was pinned in a corner in more ways than one.
Squeezing past him was risky and would leave Phoebe completely exposed.
If she denied his accusation that might anger him more than her trespass.
She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and held the device in front of his face. “Say hi to the nine-one-one operator.”
“You bitch!”
He slapped her across the face with such force that she lost her balance and toppled to the floor. Her phone went flying across the room. She instinctively cried out and silenced herself as her vision pinpricked and was bathed in white light.
There was a crunching noise, and she was quite certain he’d stomped on her phone, destroying it.
The heart monitor was beeping loudly. There was movement in the room and words spoken between the gunman and Nurse Torres. All while Gail lay helpless on the floor, her sweet, innocent daughter was going into cardiac arrest, and there was nothing she could do for her.
Everything in her world faded to black.