Chapter 45 Lauren
Lauren
Abloodcurdling scream tore from Lauren’s throat as the bullet crashed into Zach’s chest. Someone was pushing her, and she no longer had control of her own body as she fought against it.
“Zach!” His name grated in her throat again. She could remain composed when she was playing a part, but she’d just witnessed a bullet tear into Zach from a short distance. The panic was unfiltered and uncontrollable as she battled against anything keeping her from him.
“Zoe, get me something I can use to tie them up. Lauren, call for help,” Anthony demanded.
Anthony. Anthony was here, but there wasn’t any relief. Her world was shaken, and she couldn’t process what she’d just seen.
“He shot Zach,” she screamed. The mic was on. The team was close, but not close enough. Everything had happened in the span of a few seconds. She hadn’t been able to give them enough of a warning.
Zoe turned and ran down the hallway, and Lauren continued to thrash as Anthony held her back.
“Let me go!”
“Get out of here! I have to restrain them!” Anthony shouted back.
Her frame sagged, and she grabbed her heaving chest. If Anthony was helping them, she needed to get out of his way. She panted as her mind began functioning again. She could help. How could she help?
She darted to the door across the hallway. It was a tidy bedroom, much like the one she’d stayed in with Zach the night before. She pulled the heavy blanket off the bed and grabbed the top sheet. Bundling it in her arms, she ran back to the secret room where Zach had been shot.
Zach had been shot. She still couldn’t understand it. Tears ran down her face, and sobs wrenched from her chest as she hurried to his side. Blood was everywhere, and Zach lay on his back, unconscious.
No. This couldn’t be happening. He had to be okay. She pressed her fingers against his neck, feeling for the artery. A faint but steady pulse thumped against her fingertips.
“Zach’s been shot. We need medical assistance immediately.”
Anthony pressed his knees into a man’s back and tied a cord around his wrists. Zoe knelt on top of Eric’s back, pinning him to the ground where he lay groaning. Her shaky hands wound a cord around his wrists.
“Zach, please,” Lauren begged as she gathered the sheets in her hands and tied them over the gruesome wound on his upper arm. The fabric was sopping in no time. She needed…
“Zoe, I need a rope.”
Zoe glanced at Anthony, who’d just finished tying the other man. She fumbled Eric’s wrists in her hands. “I can’t get it tied. Help me.”
Eric heaved, tossing Zoe off his back and quickly grabbed her and a gun from the floor. Positioning her body in front of his, he wrapped an arm around her chest and pointed the gun at her temple. “Don’t move and do exactly what I say.”
Anthony jerked to a halt with wide eyes. A look of horror in his features.
“Don’t do it,” Zoe rasped. “Don’t do anything he says.”
Eric jammed the gun into Zoe’s temple, and she let out a faint whimper.
Anthony glanced at Lauren, but his expression was impossible to read. Finally, his muscles loosened, and he raised his hands in surrender.
“Get the mics, get the guns, and get this mess cleaned up before the cops get here,” Eric demanded.
When Anthony didn’t move, Lauren started looking for a weapon. Who knew how far away the team was, or if they’d encounter resistance along the way. Eric had been prepared for them, but he hadn’t expected Anthony to switch sides.
Zach’s weapon. She remembered the pistol was strapped to his ankle. With Eric’s attention on Anthony, she slowly reached for the gun.
“I said, get this mess cleaned up!” Eric shouted.
She slowly unclasped the holster and slid out the gun. It was heavy in her hands, and she recalled the training from the last few days.
“You’ve got five seconds to move,” Eric snarled.
The cops weren’t here yet. Anthony was out of time, Zoe had a gun to her head, and Zach…
She’d had one day of gun safety training and one lesson of target practice. Neither of those had prepared her for use under pressure.
Lauren used her knee to press the sheet firmer against Zach’s wound and aimed the barrel of the gun at Eric’s side. Her hands shook as she gripped the handle tighter, hoping and praying to steady it.
She took Anthony’s last second to aim before squeezing the trigger.