Chapter 18 #2
Instead, she saw him swing his gun around toward the fencing that was the outside door of the garden center.
Her own gaze swung in that direction and she saw a lone figure step into view.
The chain link didn’t give her a clear view of the uniformed officer making their way toward the gate, but it didn’t take more than a glimpse of his face to know who it was that was heading straight toward the armed man.
West.
He had his hands up in the air, the burning San Antonio sun reflecting off of his sunglasses.
Noelle had no idea what the man was thinking!
Walking out into the open, even with his Kevlar vest and that helmet thing that looked like it came right off of a battlefield.
All she could think of was Tracy and their daughter.
What was West thinking?
“Tony,” he called out in a calm, clear tone. “I’m Major Cooper with the Texas Rangers. I just want to-”
All she could see was the way Tony’s arm was shaking.
And the way his finger was inching toward the trigger.
No.
Not again.
Somehow she was up on her feet.
Somehow she closed the distance and grabbed his arm.
The gun went off and that’s when she realized what she’d done.
“Noelle!”
West was there, trying to reach his arm between the gate and the wall.
Tony pushed back against her, throwing them both back from the fence.
The whole room was full of sound.
Shouts.
Screams!
And her ears were ringing.
Her body shaking.
What was happening?
Noelle hit a wall.
Her back slammed against something.
And then she felt a weight fall on her.
Tony’s face, very nearly in hers, eyes wild, teeth bared. “Bitch!”
Noelle tried to bring her arms up between them, but they were trapped and her breath caught in her lungs.
“Get off of her!”
She wasn’t sure how or why she heard the words.
Maybe it was because it was nearly screamed into her ear, but Tony, who had been crushing her, was suddenly gone.
“Take him!”
She heard the voice again and relaxed. Feeling, oddly for her, boneless.
Then, over her, a face she wanted to see.
“McCrae.”
His eyes were dark, his face all hard lines and stormy expression.
She wanted to draw him like this.
Hard and menacing, but his eyes were... different.
His eyes were filled with worry and something else.
Love?
Or was that her own emotions projecting onto him?
“Baby, damn it! What the fuck were you thinking?”
“That’s what her mother’s going to ask!”
West was at her side helping her to sit up, moving McCrae further to her side.
Noelle reached out and grabbed West’s arm. “What were you doing?”
Her heart was in her throat.
“When I saw you walking up... and he pointed his gun at you... and then-”
“You grabbed him!” McCrae shook her by her arm. “He could have killed you! What the ever-loving fuck were you doing?”
She heard the frantic tone of his voice, but she didn’t hear anger, she heard the fear in his voice. It echoed the fear that she’d felt.
He helped her stand up as she leaned forward to get on her feet.
She looked at West for a moment before turning to look McCrae square in the face.
“I was thinking of Tracy and their daughter. I saw that Tony’s arm was shaking.
His finger dangerously close to the trigger.
I couldn’t let their baby lose her father!
I couldn’t let another little girl grow up knowing that terror! ”
Her next breath caught in her throat and Noelle lifted her free hand and placed it over her heart.
“I couldn’t look at Ciela and know that I let another father die without... without trying to do something.”
She didn’t know what she expected at that moment.
She half expected McCrae to yell at her, and she would have let him.
She certainly wouldn’t have argued, she was just too exhausted.
The rush of energy that had gotten her on her feet was gone and in its place was bone-numbing exhaustion.
McCrae didn’t yell.
No, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her so tight she wasn’t sure if he was trying to suffocate her or comfort her.
In the end it felt like a mix of both, but as he held her close, his arms locked around her, trapping her hands between them, the world around them seemed to whirl with movement and she let it.
Because being held by McCrae King was just the kind of comfort she needed at that moment.
* * *
DUVAL
It wasn’t until Blue and Oxy had the man locked up tight in cuffs that Duval let Noelle take a look at the man who’d held her captive.
Tony looked up at him and then dragged his gaze over to Noelle’s shaken face.
“H-how did you know?”
Duval wanted to turn his body to put himself between Tony and Noelle, but she leaned back and put her hand on his arm, moving him back.
He looked at her expression and saw her determination.
An expression his mother told him that he’d been born with.
They were both stubborn as hell.
Noelle gave his arm a few gentle pats and he had a feeling that she was trying to reassure him.
Still in his loose embrace, she turned to look at Tony Coolidge. “How did I know that it was you?”
His expression turned into a soft smirk. “Yeah. How did you know it was me?” Before she answered, he shook his head. “Those images on TV were shit.”
Duval felt Noelle shake a little and he saw her mouth lift up in a smile.
“I work with bones and faces,” she explained.
“What I had to work on for you was a grainy black and white photo. There wasn’t any contrast.” She pressed her lips together and released them.
Duval saw her skin go from pale pink to warm.
“Looking at you today, I saw the highlights and shadows on your face, looked at the bone structure under your skin and recognized the resemblance to your cousins.”
“Those bastards.” Tony dropped his chin and Duval lost sight of his eyes.
Oxy and Dally lifted Tony up onto his feet once his handcuffs were double-locked. Dally gave Duval a smile. “He keeps using that word…”
The hard line of Oxy’s jaw relaxed. “But I don’t think he knows what it means.”
West’s voice reached his ears. “Does Noelle need any medical assistance?”
Duval turned and saw uniformed deputies usher the other family out from the garden center, the children clutching their mother’s clothes.
He turned to look at Noelle, gently moving his gaze and his hands over her, quietly searching.
“I’m okay,” she told him. “I just want to see my baby and my mom. I want to know they’re okay.” She paused and looked at him. “Everyone else is okay, right? They all got out in time? Your mom? Your sister?”
He saw her working herself up and pulled her back into his arms, holding her tight. “They’re all fine, ‘Elle. Everyone got out but you. They’re all worried sick about you.”
His words had an unintended effect.
Startled, she pulled away from him. “I want to see them, McCrae. I… I need to see them.”
“Okay, babe. I’ll take you to them.”
He took her hand and led her outside. They didn’t get more than twenty feet when they were surrounded by the families.
His family.
And now hers.