Chapter Six #2
He had to nudge that feeling aside, again, when Livvy pulled to a stop in the spot reserved for Renegade Canyon Sheriff’s Office. They both glanced around, checking to make sure there was no sign of trouble. There wasn’t, so they went inside.
And soon saw that here was the trouble.
“Thank God you’re here,” the on-duty nurse, Marilyn Darnell, blurted. She was hunched down behind her desk, and there was a look of raw panic on her face.
“What’s wrong?” Ethan couldn’t ask fast enough.
“I just heard that a gunman’s been spotted,” Marilyn said, her voice as tight and tense as her expression.
Hell. What was going on? He didn’t have to wait long to find out. His phone rang, and he answered it right away when he saw Grace’s name on the screen.
“Livvy and I are here at the hospital,” Ethan let the sheriff know, and then they moved behind the reception desk, taking cover in case a shooter came running in.
“I’ve got a report of an armed man wearing a ski mask,” Grace informed them. “Last seen in the patients’ wing.”
Ethan cursed. Because that was where Sunny was. “Have shots been fired?” he asked.
But Grace’s response wasn’t necessary because at that moment Ethan heard the too-familiar sound of gunfire. Two back-to-back shots. And yeah, they were in the patients’ area.
Grace must have heard the shots as well because she, too, did some cursing, “The security guard on duty is Teddy Mercer,” the sheriff explained.
“He’s just let me know that he’s been shot and is pinned down by the nurses’ station.
According to Teddy, there are other injuries, possible fatalities as well.
He didn’t sound good, Ethan. And I’m on the way there now,” she added as she ended the call.
It wouldn’t take Grace and other deputies long to respond, but no way could Ethan just stand by when lives were on the line.
Then, he thought of Livvy.
Of their baby.
“I’ll be careful,” she insisted, as if she’d known exactly what he had flashed in his mind.
There was the sound of another gunshot, and Ethan knew he didn’t have time to debate this with her. They had to do their jobs. They had to act now.
“Find an office and lock yourself in,” Ethan instructed the nurse. Better that than her using a desk for cover or running outside and into an escaping gunman.
Livvy and he drew their guns and started moving, and Ethan positioned himself in front of her while they hurried up the hall and toward the back of the hospital to the patients’ rooms. It wasn’t a huge building by anyone’s standards, but it seemed to take a couple of lifetimes for them to reach that area.
They pulled up at the mouth of the corridor and peered around the corner of the wall.
Ethan didn’t see a single soul on the right, but his stomach dropped to his knees when he saw the security guard, Teddy, slumped against the wall next to the nurses’ station.
There was a puddle of blood around him, and he wasn’t moving.
The irony was that medical attention was likely steps away, but no one could safely get to him.
Ethan had to try to settle down his heartbeat drumming in his ears so he could hear what the heck was going on. There wasn’t any more immediate gunfire, but there was someone moving around several rooms up from them. Possibly the shooter. Possibly a patient trying to stay out of the line of fire.
He considering calling out, identifying himself and then demanding the gunman surrender. But that could possibly lead to a hostage situation. In fact, that could already be happening.
“Wait here and cover me,” Ethan told Livvy.
Until he added that last part, he could practically feel the argument Livvy was about to dole out. But the truth was that staying put was not only the safe thing for her to do—it meant she could watch his back and maybe stop anyone else, including him, from being shot.
Ethan glanced around himself again, assessing his surroundings. There were five rooms on each side of the corridor in both directions for a total of twenty, and about half the doors were open. It was possible that some of those were empty or that patients had tried to barricade themselves in.
But it was equally possible that the shooter was in one of them.
He eased away from the wall, and keeping his steps as light as possible, Ethan started moving. With rooms on both sides of him, he had to go slow, checking each one before continuing. When he reached the sound of that movement, he stopped and listened.
Footsteps and whispers.
The door was partially open but not wide enough for him to see inside. Gathering his breath, Ethan eased it open with his boot, automatically bringing up his Glock.
And he took aim.
A female nurse and a patient were cowering on the side of the bed. Not Sunny. Nor was the shooter in sight.
Where is he? Ethan mouthed.
The women were clearly terrified, but the nurse motioned toward Ethan’s left. So, that was where he went. Still keeping that slow pace, he checked the next room. Empty. And he kept moving.
He cursed, though, when he sensed movement behind him and saw that Livvy had stepped out into the hall. Hell. He didn’t want her in the middle of this. But Ethan didn’t get a chance to make it clear he wanted her behind cover.
That was because of the muffled scream.
It was coming from just one room over, and Ethan hurried there, pulling up by the door frame and peering inside. His stomach dropped when he saw the woman in the corner of the room.
And the ski-masked man behind her.
He had his arm hooked around her neck and a gun pressed to her head.
Again, the woman wasn’t Sunny. But Ethan knew her. She was Leslie Stewart, the high school librarian, and he had a vague recollection of someone saying she’d needed an emergency appendectomy.
“Help me,” Leslie muttered, and the woman’s face was a mask of sheer terror.
The man shifted the gun toward Ethan. And fired. Ethan ducked out of the way barely in time, but the bullet shattered a chunk of the doorframe. He prayed the shot hadn’t gone into the room across the hall and injured someone there.
“I’m Deputy Oakley, Renegade Canyon Sheriff’s Office,” Ethan called out. “Put down your weapon.”
He hadn’t expected that to work. And it didn’t. There was the sound of more movement, and several moments later, Leslie and her captor appeared in the doorway.
“Come at me and she dies,” the man snarled.
Ethan couldn’t see his eyes. Heck, nor any part of his face or hair. And he didn’t recognize the voice.
So, who was this?
Soon he hoped to get the answer to that, but for now, Ethan was forced to duck into the room across the hall for cover.
The gunman took cover, too, by keeping his back pressed to the wall as he dragged Leslie along with him to the next room.
Clearly, he was looking for someone, and Ethan decided to test some waters.
“If you’re here for Sunny,” Ethan called out, volleying quick glances into the hall, “she’s been moved.”
That stopped the thug in his tracks, and it gave Ethan some critical info. Yeah, the guy was here for Sunny, which meant this was likely connected to Sunny’s attack and Zadie’s murder. It was possible her killer was right here, just a few yards away from Ethan.
“Where the hell is she?” the gunman snapped.
“In here behind me,” Ethan lied without hesitation. He definitely didn’t want this SOB checking any of the other rooms since Sunny would be in one of them.
Ethan glanced out in the hall again and saw that the gunman had turned in his direction. His gun was aimed at Ethan, too.
The man still had Leslie in a chokehold, but the woman’s gaze met Ethan’s.
Just for a split second. Enough time for him to motion for her to drop down.
It was a risk. Anything they did at this point was.
But at least Leslie wasn’t in the immediate line of being shot in the head since the gun was no longer pointed at her.
Thankfully, Leslie understood, and she let her legs give way. The gunman tried to catch her, to pull her back in place as his human shield.
But he must have realized it was too late.
The thug readjusted his aim instead. Ready to shoot Ethan.
Before Ethan could fire, though, two shots blasted through the corridor.
For a heart-stopping moment, Ethan thought he’d gotten it all wrong, that the thug had indeed managed to shoot Leslie.
But she was unharmed and was scrambling away from the man who’d taken her captive.
The man wasn’t fine.
Far from it.
Ethan whirled to his right and saw Livvy. She was now in the center of the hall. She was in a classic shooting stance, her Sig Sauer trained right on the thug. And she clearly hadn’t missed.
The two shots she’d fired had hit the gunman in the head. And with his eyes already blank and lifeless, he dropped to the floor.