Chapter 18
NOELLE
Every breath, every soft moan, reminded her that the man just a few feet away was dying.
Noelle listened to Tony’s half of the conversation on the phone.
His tight, clipped words.
His bursts of anger.
And every few minutes, a kick, landing squarely on the wounded man, bleeding out on the ground.
“Please.”
The word came out because she couldn’t… wouldn’t stop it.
“Please, let me help him.”
Tony dropped the handset of the phone to the counter before turning his attention back to her.
“What,” he spoke through clenched teeth, “do you want from me?”
“I want to help him.” She gestured at the man on the floor. “He’s bleeding out. Please, let me try and help.”
Tony opened his mouth to speak.
“Let us go!”
Noelle turned her attention to the woman and her children cowering behind the table of plant starters.
The woman’s face was livid red, her face streaked with tears.
Her children clung to her, one sniffling, one hiccupping along with soft sobs.
She felt for the children. She couldn’t do anything else.
Even their mother’s fear pulled at her heartstrings.
“Please, let us go!” The woman pulled one of her children around from her back to hold him in front of her. “I have small children!”
Noelle bit back her own words.
She had a little girl, too.
She just wasn’t sure if that would soften Tony toward her.
Noelle knew that she was in his crosshairs with or without his gun.
“You,” he shifted and pointed a finger at the woman. “Shut up!”
Instead of quieting her down, the woman dissolved into tears and Noelle watched her children cling to her, their knuckles nearly white with pressure.
She understood their fears.
She felt them, too.
She just wished that she could cling to Ciela at that very moment.
She wanted to be there to comfort her baby and receive comfort in return.
She had to get out of there first.
Breathe, she told herself. Breathe.
“Miss…”
She turned her head and saw the manager who was trying to muster up a smile.
“Miss, th-thank you f-for t…”
He didn’t get to complete his thought.
He was gone.
Bile rose up in her throat and she had to cover her mouth so she didn’t vomit on the floor. The taste on the back of her tongue almost made her regret her restraint.
Tony turned his head back and looked at her, narrowing his eyes.
Then he turned to look at his manager on the floor.
And smiled.
“Asshole.”
She lost the battle and heaved absolutely nothing onto the floor.
It tasted like misery on her tongue.
* * *
DUVAL
He couldn’t watch the screen, so he was grateful that he’d been sent in.
No, he wasn’t allowed to breech the garden center.
That was left to cooler heads.
The plan was simple, but simple could just as easily go to hell as complicated.
And when it simply fell apart it was always… spectacular as a fail.
He stood stacked behind Jack and Blue, breathing in and out.
Jack turned her head and gave him a nod.
A single drop of her chin.
He knew what she meant.
She had his back in this.
They all did.
Better than that, they had Noelle’s back.
They all knew her, knew her family.
And even if he wasn’t involved with her, they’d do everything it took to save her.
It was more than their job.
It was who they were.
They were Texas Rangers.
Better than that, they were S.W.A.T.
Special Weapons and Tactics.
They had skills.
They had heart.
And when it came down to it, he’d trust them with his life and then some.
Today, he was trusting them with his future.
The phone in the garden center rang.
Not the first phone they’d called.
According to the cameras, he’d never put the handset back on the phone.
Fox was calling on the second phone. The second register.
The phone rang again and again.
“You should pick up the phone.”
Duval felt his heart kick against his ribs. Noelle’s voice.
He couldn’t see her, but he heard her.
“Those cops don’t have a single thing to say that I want to hear. Why bother talking to them? We both know I’m not getting out of here today.”
“You never know…”
Duval heard her voice quiver.
“They have questions, Tony. They want to talk to you about those questions.”
“They want to railroad me.”
Duval heard the man’s tone.
Hard.
Intractable.
Heated.
“They want to find out what happened to Aracely. They want to talk to you.”
“They want to put me behind bars.”
The phone rang again and again.
In his ear, Duval heard West’s voice.
“If he doesn’t re-establish contact, we’ll have to push the schedule up to breach.”
In order, each member of the team responded in barely a whisper that they’d all heard West’s words.
The phone kept ringing.
* * *
NOELLE
Besides the manager who lay dead a couple of feet away, the silence surrounding the garden center drew her attention for another reason.
S.W.A.T. was outside.
That meant McCrae was outside.
She didn’t see them, but she knew that they were there.
The phone call had to be Fox on the other end of the line.
Just knowing that the team was close gave her hope that had been flagging earlier.
Knowing that Tony stood there while his manager died, bleeding out on the floor, didn’t give her a lot of confidence that he could be talked into letting them go or putting down his gun.
She’d never come face to face with a man like Tony. If he could stand by and let a man die, whether he liked him or not, she could easily see that he could have killed Aracely.
She couldn’t imagine being so cold.
Noelle knew that she wasn’t a people person.
She liked her solitary time probably more than most people, but she wasn’t someone who could easily take a life like Tony had done.
She just had to focus on keeping things as calm as she could.
She had no idea what S.W.A.T. was planning, but she knew they had a plan.
They would just have to wait for it to happen.
* * *
DUVAL
West’s voice was suddenly in his ear again.
“We’re not going to be able to talk him down.”
Duval swore he heard his own teeth grinding in the back of his mouth.
He barely held back a snarl, but he did it so he could hear West’s plans and orders.
“If he doesn’t get back on the phone we need to take action. He’s already killed one.”
Duval felt his heart stutter in his chest.
He was well aware of this fact.
“Oxy, Dally, and Myles. You’ve got the front.”
“Covered.”
Duval knew the voice was Myles.
He was taking point with that group.
“One of you will come around front, draw his attention. The other two go in through the delivery gate, shields up. Less lethal.”
Less lethal.
Duval heard the order and knew that he needed to hear it.
It was only too tempting to go for the other option.
They did need answers about Aracely’s death.
Would it really be satisfying to see him die or see him living a long, long time in a prison, paying for his crimes?
He didn’t want to give it an answer out loud or even in his head.
As a law enforcement officer, it was up to him to be compassionate at times and neutral as much as possible.
He needed to keep his head on straight because he was just getting in deeper on this case.
Aracely’s body had been found on his family’s land.
And now, his… his girlfriend, his… lover, was being held hostage.
If he went off the deep end, he’d be threatening his career.
Probably, putting a nail in it.
Getting kicked off the team?
He didn’t want that, but he knew he’d give up the team and his career as a Texas Ranger if it meant keeping her safe.
“Hey.”
Jack poked him in the chest.
He didn’t feel it so much with the Kevlar vest, but he saw her teasing gesture and her pointed look.
“Are you listening?” She only mouthed the words, but he understood them.
He nodded.
West continued. “Jack, Blue, Duval. Stack up. Enter through the automatic door.”
Duval nodded. Management had turned off the electronics on the door so they could approach it and not set it swinging open.
It was unlocked. All they had to do was pull it open.
Duval knew he’d be the one to do that.
He couldn’t take point on this.
West had already drummed that into his head.
His job was to get Noelle to safety while Blue and Jack helped to subdue the gunman.
As much as he wanted to be the one to take him down, he couldn’t wait to hold her in his arms again.
And likely never let her go.
“I have the shield.” That was Blue who was already up front beside the door.
“I’ve got less lethal.”
Duval thought that Jack sounded even less enthused about it than he did.
Looking through the clear glass of the door, Duval saw it when Tony turned his head toward the opposite wall.
Pushing himself forward, Duval got to the other side of the doorway, within easy reach of the door handle.
He’d be ready to open it a soon as they got the ‘Go.’
Now, he just had to wait for that right moment.
Fuck.
He didn’t want to wait.
“Ready.”
He heard West’s voice again.
“I’m making my approach.”
Jack shook her head. “Shit, Tracby y’s going to kick his ass…”
Duval couldn’t see what Jack was looking at.
She turned her head toward him and smiled, mouthing the words. “You’ll see.”
He narrowed his eyes. No, he wasn’t. At least not until he got to see the bodycam footage.
“Alright, folks.” West’s voice came through the comms clear as day. “I’m about to make a hell of a distraction. Get ready to move.”
“Ready.” The word was repeated over and over by all the of team members and Duval reached for the handle on the door.
“Hey!”
He heard Tony’s voice even through the closed heavy, glass doors.
"What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
Tony again.
West’s voice came through and they could all hear a note of dry humor in his voice. “Let’s move.”
* * *
NOELLE
What she saw turned her blood cold.
A sensation she’d only felt one other time in her life.
The moment she learned that her husband was dead.
She’d lost all semblance of warmth and life in her body as she waited to hear about her daughter.
This was different.
This she saw coming.
“Hey!”
Tony’s voice turned her head in his direction.
She’d lowered her chin moments before, unwilling to continue to look into the barrel of his gun, but when she heard his shout, she wanted to see if this was it, the last moment of her life.