Niyah
He raised a small handgun and pulled back the slide. “It’s ready to fire. All you have to do is point and shoot.”
Xander raised a chastising brow and shoved the gun in her hand. “I just told you what to do with this. Point and shoot. I need you to protect yourself.”
Xander kissed her forehead just as Bella burst into the room. “We’re taking hits from every front!” She ran over to the bag of guns. “They’ve surrounded us!”
Xander ran toward the door. “Point and shoot!” he repeated on his way out.
Niyah looked down at the gun. It didn’t feel right in her hands. But, if need be, she was prepared to defend herself along with Xander’s family. Bella dug through the duffel bag. She pulled out a big shot and a box of bullets.
Senator Creed racked his shotgun and ran out of the room. Whereas he went left, Bella’s dad, armed with Donna’s gun, went to the right.
Taylor’s dad grabbed his wife and ushered the other women into the bathroom. “Get down and keep the door locked.”
“I have a gun,” Niyah protested. “I can help.”
Mr. Montgomery grabbed her arm and gave her a stern look. “Keep them safe,” he commanded.
“I will,” Niyah promised with a nod. She jumped. The gunshots had gotten closer. In fact, it sounded like they were inside the house. Mr. Montgomery stepped out of the bathroom and pulled the door closed. Niyah turned to the other ladies. “It’s gonna be okay.”
Mrs. Devereaux pulled a small handgun from her bosom. “I’m not staying in here.” She pushed past Niyah and opened the door just as a deafening boom filled the room.
Mr. Montgomery’s body flew backward and crashed through the bathroom door.
Niyah’s mouth flew open, but her scream was stifled by the horror of the quarter-sized hole in his chest. Mrs. Montgomery, on the other hand, had no trouble finding her voice.
The scream that poured from her throat chilled Niyah to the bone.
“James!” she cried, pushing through to get to her husband. She threw herself over him, shielding him from the armed man standing over them.
“Oh, my God.” Niyah was looking into the face of evil, and it was familiar.
It was the Asian man she’d run into at hospital; the one who’d been dressed like a doctor.
With a shaky hand, Niyah raised the gun and pointed it in his direction.
He didn’t seem at all threatened. In fact, he smiled.
It was then that Niyah noticed he was puppeteering Bella by a fist full of her hair.
He yanked her in front of him to serve as a human shield.
Bella was still holding the box of ammunition. Unfortunately, the shotgun was on the floor by the duffle bag. With Bella in tow, the man with the gun backed away from the bathroom.
With her hands raised in surrender, Bella’s mother stepped forward. “Please,” she begged. “Please, don’t hurt my baby.”
With every step backward step the gunman took, Mrs. Devereaux bravely stepped forward. “Take me,” she bartered. “Please, take me.”
“I don’t want you!”
Niyah could do nothing to help Bella, so she dropped to her knees and grabbed Mrs. Montgomery by the shoulders. “Let me in here,” she urged.
Niyah tried to pull the terrified woman off of her husband, but she had melted herself to him. Thankfully, Dr. Creed pulled herself together and joined them on the bathroom floor. “Martha, you have to let us work.”
The doctor’s words must have gone unheard because Taylor’s mother refused to move.
Niyah took a deep breath and prepared for the backlash she was about to receive.
She crawled behind Mrs. Montgomery, wrapped her arms around her, and forcibly removed her from her husband.
Niyah took the elbows and backward headbutt while Dr. Creed took position on top of Mr. Montgomery.
“Mrs. Montgomery, please calm down,” Niyah urged. “You gotta let us help him.”
Though still shaking like a leaf, she seemed to finally understand that she was in the way. When Niyah let her go, Mrs. Montgomery inched over to the wall and sat. She wiped her tear-soaked face and nodded toward her husband. “Go.” The word came out in a quiver.
Dr. Creed was doing chest compressions, so Niyah crawled over to help. “What do you need?”
“Pulse?”
Checking his pulse while he was receiving compression was nearly impossible, but Niyah worked it out.
“It’s faint,” she revealed.
“Apply pressure,” Dr. Creed instructed.
Niyah could see the fear in his eyes when she pressed down on the wound. “I got you, Mr. Montgomery,” she whispered.
Blood loss made her hands more slippery with each compression.
Heavy footsteps prompted Niyah to look up.
Lincoln and Lucas had entered the room with weapons pointed at the gunman.
She’d been so busy trying to keep Taylor’s dad alive that she’d nearly forgotten that they were in the middle of a standoff.
It had also occurred to her that Xander hadn’t been seen since he’d handed her the gun she was ill-equipped to use.
“Put that fucking gun down!” Lincoln roared.
The gunman pulled Bella directly in front of him. “Shoot me!” he dared.
Lincoln raised his gun to eye level. It appeared he was about to call the man’s bluff.
“Linc!” Lucas snapped.
“I got him,” Lincoln assured.
“He doesn't have me,” the man contradicted with a chuckle.
“Lincoln, please,” Mrs. Devereaux implored.
Dr. Creed counted out the CPR. “Twenty-eight. Twenty-nine. Thirty.”
Breath. Breath.
Niyah looked over at the gun near her knee and decided to stick with the only tool in which she was skilled at using.
She crawled over to the trash can, snatched the top bag out, and tossed it to the side.
She grabbed the clean bag from underneath and folded it.
To keep air out of the chest cavity, she used the plastic bag to seal the wound.
“Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty.”
Breath. Breath.
“You drop that fucking gun!” Lincoln demanded.
“No, monsieur, you drop yours.” Surprisingly, the voice that came from out of nowhere was female.
Niyah looked up from Mr. Montgomery’s chest wound and gasped at the sight a woman pressing the muzzle of her gun to the back of Donna’s head. If the woman’s presence was a shock to Niyah, it was a thunderbolt to the man holding Bella. “Sloane,” he called through a heavy breath.
Instantly, he turned white. In his eyes was a look of disbelief as he assessed the woman. There was no doubt in Niyah’s mind. The man was staring at a ghost from his past.
“Sloane!” he repeated.
The woman jerked her head toward the door. “It’s time to go, mon amour.” She was black, on the lighter side, and spoke with a heavy French accent. “Let the woman go.”
Niyah took in the room and quickly realized the gunman wasn’t the only one shocked by the woman’s presence. The look in Bella and Lucas’ eyes certainly suggested a level of familiarity.
To Niyah’s surprise, the man lowered his weapon and shoved Bella toward Lincoln. Lucas stepped up and pulled Bella into his arms.
The woman turned to the intruder. “Call off your men,” she commanded.
With no argument from the gunman, he pressed the gadget in his ear and gave the order to retreat. Well, the order was in Japanese, but Niyah assumed it was meant to direct his men to stand down.”
The woman snaked an arm around Donna’s neck. “I’m just going to hold on to this beauty until we are safely on our way.”
Lucas pointed his gun at the woman. “You’re fucking dead!” he sneered. “Y-you’re supposed to be dead!”
With a smirk, she dragged Donna backward through the doorway. “I thought so too. But, as it turns out, I’m not that easy to kill.” She glanced at the man holding Donna. “And lucky for you, I’ll say.”
Like a confused lovesick puppy, the man followed. Mrs. Devereaux darted toward the doorway, intent on following them, but Lincoln stepped in front of her. He nodded toward Bella. “Go. See about Bella. I got Donna.”
“Okay.” The terror in their mother’s eyes was heartbreaking.
When Lincoln followed them from the room, she walked over to Bella and pulled her in arms. Lucas kissed his fiancée on the forehead and followed his brother.
As soon as the shooter and the ghost left the theater, Niyah sighed with relief. For the first time, she was able to fully assess her surroundings. Though Lincoln had been covered in blood, he didn’t seem to have been injured. So far, Mr. Montgomery appeared to be the only injured party.
Niyah looked behind her to find Andrew curled up in the fetal position in a far corner of the bathroom. “Andrew,” she calmly called.
He didn’t respond. “Andrew!” She was more stern when she called him again.
He jumped and snapped instantly awake. “Yes?”
“Call an ambulance!”
“No. We need an adult trauma center,” Dr. Creed interjected. “Tell them we need a medivac to UI Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.”
Andrew appeared to pull it together and went in search of a phone.
“Where is Xander?” Niyah asked. “Where is Mr. Devereaux? Senator Creed? Where are they?”
Tabitha Creed checked Mr. Montgomery’s pulse. “Stay focused on our patient, Doctor. Trust that everyone else is okay.”
Though she didn't have Dr. Creed’s faith, Niyah kept her head down and did her very best to keep Mr. Montgomery alive.