Chapter 19
Attack
Norris jumped back and nearly out of his skin. Gasping for breath, he glared at Welsh as he mentally steadied himself.
“Shit, Welsh! That’s a good way to scare a man half to death!”
Welsh grinned, and it wasn’t a pleasant sight. “Guess I’m gonna hafta do it twice then in order to succeed. So answer the damn question. What are you doing here so early?”
“I have to see the comptroller. There’s a deduction on my paycheck I don’t understand, and I want her to tell me what it’s for,” Norris shot back, grateful that a past occurrence suddenly popped into his head.
It made his excuse sound convincing. Turning the tables, he stared back.
“What are you doing here? Is it your day off?”
“Nah. I called in a fake sick leave. I have a few things I needed to do today.”
Welsh moved past him without any further explanation. Norris followed the man inside.
Stopping by the front desk where the pink ladies usually sat, Norris watched Welsh approach the admissions office. This was it, he told himself. He was about to witness a kidnapping, and there wasn’t a fucking thing he could do about it.
Unless maybe…
A sudden sense of purpose filled him. Jerking his phone from his pocket, he hit the redial button.
“What?” Rhyne answered.
“Welsh’s here,” he whispered then hung up. It was all he needed to say.
Across the way, on the other side of the elevators, was the fast lab. Norris strode purposefully toward it, hoping he wouldn’t alert the guy. Once inside, he ignored the two waiting patients and went straight to the storage room as Nora hurried after him.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” she demanded.
“There’s a man out there who’s going to try and abduct Miss Lockhart. I need to find something to stop him. Where’s your sedatives?” When the woman continued to stare at him in disbelief, he yelled, “Tell me! Where are the sedatives?”
Rather than tell him, she pointed to a nearby cabinet. Finding it unlocked, he grabbed the first vial and an empty syringe from a drawer, threw her a hasty word of thanks, and rushed out.
He emerged from the lab in time to find Welsh gone. Confused, Norris scanned the lobby when he heard screaming coming from the inner admissions office.
Dashing toward the sounds of a struggle, he managed to remove the cap with his teeth, jab the needle into the vial, and draw the contents into the syringe.
Armed, he ran down the short corridor and entered the first cubicle where he half-jumped, half-slid over the desk to reach the rear of the office.
The screams had stopped, but he could hear someone whimpering. As he neared the small room the women used as a lounge, he could discern movement in the hallway. Then he heard a deep voice whispering.
“Scream again, and I’ll break your fucking neck.”
There was scuffling. Whimpering. More sounds of a struggle.
Knowing how sensitive Rhyne had said their hearing was, Norris took that opportunity to move in and prayed Welsh would be too involved in trying to contain the woman to realize they weren’t alone.
He took a quick peek around the corner to see what the situation looked like. Welsh was crouched on the floor, his back to Norris. He had Miss Lockhart in his arms, trying to contain her as she struggled in his grasp.
Holding the syringe in his right hand, Norris raised it above his head and jumped the man, plunging the needle all the way into the guy’s neck, below the skull and next to the spine.
Welsh roared as Norris jammed the sedative into his body. Rising up, he shoved Norris away, sending the lab tech flying halfway down the hallway. Norris managed to scramble back to his feet as he faced the man whose eyes were glowing a bright red. Blood red. The sight of them chilled him.
“Grace, run!”
He charged the man again, hoping to knock him down. Or, failing that, at least make Welsh stumble. Anything to give Grace enough time to get away.
Welsh bellowed again as he reached behind him and pulled out the syringe. At the same time, Norris lowered his head and aimed for him the same way he used to tackle an opposing team’s player when he played football in high school.
Snarling, Welsh rotated his arm, bringing his fist up and underneath Norris’s chin. When it connected, the blow snapped Norris’s head backwards, instantly breaking his neck.
Norris never felt the pain.
* * *
Grace heard the man ask for her by name. At the sound of his voice, her body froze.
Norris had been right. He’d tried to warn her but she’d been too obstinate to listen. No, she’d been too stupid. Now her stubbornness was going to cost her dearly.
Dropping the files in her hand, she bolted for the back door when she realized she didn’t have her purse. Which meant she didn’t have her key fob.
No key fob, no car.
It took her a split second to make her decision. Forget the key. She’d have to make a run for it and hope she could find safety.
Behind her, Marcia yelled at the man to stop. She was abruptly cut off. At the same time Welsh bellowed, “Hey! Heyyy!”
Grace grabbed the handle of the exit door. A hand came from out of nowhere to grab her other arm. She was jerked backwards hard enough to almost dislocate it from her shoulder socket. She cried out from the pain as he pulled her backwards, away from the door.
“Shut up, bitch!”
Turning around, Grace tried to fend him off, but he was clearly stronger than her.
“Stop! Help! Someone help! Marcia! Susan! Call security! Ca—”
A hand smashed across her mouth. She tasted blood on her tongue.
“Scream again, and I’ll break your fucking neck.”
His threat was meaningless. She knew what he’d do to her, but there was no way she’d go willingly.
Welsh suddenly grunted, as if someone had knocked all the air out of him. He let her go and whirled on the person standing behind him, giving him a hard shove that sent him flying toward the front desk. Grace stared in surprise as Norris got back to his feet and faced down the man.
“Grace, run!”
Something wiggled. Her eyes dropped to the syringe embedded in Welsh’s neck just as the man reached behind him to grab it and jerk it out.
She scrambled backwards, trying to get far enough away so she could get back on her feet when she saw Norris charge the man. Welsh’s arm made a circular motion, bringing his fist upward until it connected with Norris’s chin.
Grace screamed when she heard the muffled snap of bones breaking. The lab tech’s body dropped into a heap on the linoleum tile floor. Not done with him, Welsh dropped to one knee and rammed the syringe into the man’s eye.
In full panic mode, Grace ran for the rear exit again. This time she slammed the levered handle, opening the door, and sprinted for the parking lot.
Welsh grabbed for her hair as she exited the building and managed to snag a bit of it. Sheer terror gave her the strength to resist the hard jerk. It was followed by the sting of pain as the portion ripped from her scalp, but she kept running.
A movement appeared in her peripheral vision.
Terror gave her a surge of energy, enough to sprint across the employee parking lot and into the adjacent field where the helicopter landing pad was located.
It wasn’t until she heard the sound of deep growls and the smacking of flesh that she paused to catch her breath and glance behind her.
Rhyne was sitting on top of Welsh’s stomach and furiously pounding his fists into the man’s face.
His own face was streaked with blood as Welsh tried to shake him off, but Welsh’s movements were becoming slower, making her wonder if whatever was in the syringe Norris had injected him with was starting to take effect.
When the man’s arms finally fell to the ground, Rhyne stood up. He was breathing heavily as he glanced over at her. Before she could say anything, he held out a hand and gestured to her.
“Come on! We gotta get out of here now before the cops show up!”
Trusting her instincts, Grace ran back to him, and they headed back to the parking lot when she remembered.
“I don’t have my key fob!”
“Don’t worry. I have mine. Now move it!”
They’d barely made it to his car when they heard the piercing shriek of sirens approaching the hospital.