by Ciana Stone
“What the heck is going on?” Hannah asked as she and Bryson reached the crossroad. They’d just left the church and planned on going into town for a late lunch at the diner. Only Main Street was blocked off. Physically blocked by a police cruiser with lights flashing.
Bryson backed up, turned and took the road one block down that paralleled Main Street. “Cut through there and we can park behind Mama’s bakery,” Hannah directed.
Once they’d parked, they entered the bakery through the rear entrance. No one even noticed them enter the front of the bakery. What people were there, stood clustered in front of the windows that looked out onto Main Street.
“Mama?” Hannah spotted her mother at one of the windows.
Stella turned at the sound of her name and hurried over to Hannah and Bryson. “What’s going on?” Hannah asked.
“I don’t know. A police car rode through a few minutes ago and the deputy used the big speaker on the car to tell everyone to stay inside.”
Hannah looked at Bryson and he shook his head and shrugged. “I can call Bronson and see if he knows anything.”
“Do.” Hannah urged him and then took her mother’s arm and hurried over to the window. She looked up and down the street. “I can’t see enough.” She suddenly jerked. “The roof!”
Before Stella could do more than gape, Hannah yelled to Bryson.”Come with me!” and took off around the counter, through the kitchen and to the stairs that led up to the second floor. Outside of the rear window was a fire escape that led to the roof.
Bryson tugged to get the metal ladder to lower. “Damn, how long’s it been since this thing was greased?”
“Johnson administration?”
“No shit.” He grunted, pulled and suddenly it came down. Fast. Both of them jumped out of the way as it clanged into place.
“Come on.” She headed up the ladder first.
Bryson followed and as soon they were on the roof, Hannah took his hand and hurried to the front of the building. Looking over the edge of the building gave them a bird’s eye view of the street.
And the first thing they saw was Jaxon Riggs climbing out of a truck with what appeared to be a rifle case in his hand.
“What the hell?” Hannah asked.
“Just wait,” Bryson advised.
She nodded and together they watched and waited.
*****
Ranger Zeb Childress was up to date on the situation by the time he walked into the Cotton Creek Police Station. Everyone started introducing themselves at once, but it was the tall quiet man standing off to the side that caught his attention.
He shook hands with Assistant Chief Tom Greene. “Tom. Looks like you have the town buttoned down.”
“So far. But we’ve got a sight of nervous folks.”
“No doubt. We’ll send someone to reassure them shortly. Now, where’s your shooter?”
Tom turned and gestured to Riggs. Zeb walked over to him. “Zeb Childress, Texas Rangers. And you’d be Sergeant Riggs?”
“Just Riggs.”
“Have it your way. So, what do we have?”
“This way.” Riggs turned and motioned for Zeb to follow. They took a rear staircase to the second floor of the building and made their way to one of the windows in the front. Riggs pointed across the street.
“The office has curtains that start about two feet down and cover the width of the wide front window there.”
“I don’t see movement.”
Riggs gestured to one side where a sniper’s rifle was set up on top of a table. “Have a look.”
Zeb cursed when he peered through the scope. There was a middle aged woman sitting beside a man in a suit, a man on the floor with a young brunette woman working on what looked like a wounded man. Across from them, deeper into the room were a man and woman, both armed. Zeb squinted and looked again, then his head jerked up.
“Is that a kid on the floor?”
“The perp’s daughter.”
“Is she—”
“Don’t know if she’s alive.”
“Familiarize me with the people in the room.”
“The wounded man is Cooper Quinlan. His father, Lucas, is the older man sitting in the straight-back wooden chair beside the middle aged woman who is the receptionist for the doctor. It was Quinlan who alerted us to the situation.”
“Alerted you, I’m told.”
“Correct.”
“So he knows about your service.”
“He knows I served. I worked for him a few years back and got him out of a scrape in the Middle East.”
“I probably don’t want to know the details.”
“You don’t have jurisdiction so it wouldn’t matter, but no.”
“Okay, so the guy tending the wounded man is obviously the doctor. And with him?
“A local woman, Cody Sweet. The armed couple are Belinda Smith and an unsub we know only as Mitch.”
“Do we have plans of the building?” Zeb asked.
“We do. Downstairs.”
“Show me.”
They returned to Tom’s office and went over the floor plans. It took them only minutes to work out a plan. Zeb ran through it twice and then looked around. “Is everyone clear?”
A chorus of affirmatives had him nodding. “Then let’s get to it.”
He looked at Riggs and Riggs nodded, put the comm unit in his ear. As Zeb and the police officers headed out of the station, Riggs headed up to the second floor and got into position, his eye to the scope of his rifle.
*****
“What the fuck are you doing?” Belinda screamed at Lucas.
He looked up at her. “Pardon?”
“What are you doing? Are you texting?”
“Hardly. You said you want money. I was checking my accounts to see how much ready cash I have on hand.”
“About fucking time. So?”
“So, I am going to need to speak with my bank and have funds wired here if you want the money today.”
“Then get the fuck on it, Grandpa.”
Cody saw the flash of annoyance that crossed Lucas’ face, but to his credit he merely lifted his phone to his ear and a few seconds later started talking. “Kenneth? Lucas. I need to have some funds moved.”
Doc tapped Cody’s hand that was placed over Cooper’s bullet wound. They’d managed to reinflate his lung, but he was losing blood fast. She looked at Doc as he spoke. “He’ll die unless we get him to a hospital.”
She looked up at Belinda. “You have to let us call for an ambulance or Cooper will die.”
“Like I give a shit.”
“You will when you’re charged with murder.”
“I’ll be long gone and they’d never fucking find me, you stupid bitch.”
“Oh? Really?” Cody took Doc’s hand and put it in place of her own and then stood. “Belinda, be realistic. Even if Quinlan gives you the money, how’re you going to get out of here?” She started slowly toward Belinda. “You think you and Mitch here are just gonna drive away? They’ll have the Rangers after you before you can say Jimmy crack corn.”
Cody continued forward, one slow step at a time. “Think about it. Doc can’t save him. He’s not a surgeon. Let us call an ambulance and get Cooper out of here. You still have the rest of us as hostages.”
“Shut up,” Belinda screamed at her.
“Just think about it.” Cody took another step closer which put her only arm length away from Belinda. “Just call the ambu—”
She never got the rest of the sentence out. Belinda swung her arm and caught Cody in the side of the head with the gun. Cody saw stars and careened to one side, fighting to keep her balance.
By the time her vision righted, blood was streaming down her face. Belinda grabbed Cody by the front of her shirt and jerked her close, jamming the barrel of the gun against the cut on Cody’s head. “Listen to me you stupid cunt. You’re going to sit the fuck down and do exactly what I say or I swear to god, I’ll shoot you. You hear me?”
“Yes.�
�� Cody believed the threat. The woman standing in front of her wasn’t the Belinda she knew. This woman was crazy. And dangerous. “I’m sorry.” She backed away and sat down on the floor beside Cooper.
When she looked at Doc, Doc shook his head. Cody didn’t know what to do, but if someone didn’t do something, Cooper was going to die.
A split second later, a voice came from beyond the door of the reception area—the door that led to the examination rooms.
“Belinda Smith? I’m Ranger Zeb Childress and I’m here to talk to you about how we can peacefully resolve this situation.”
“Don’t you step a foot in here or I’ll kill them all, you hear me?”
“I hear you, Ms. Smith. We don’t want anyone to die. Is everyone in there okay?”
“Cooper’s been shot,” Cody shouted.
“Shut up!” Belinda pointed the gun at her.
“Is that right?” Zeb called. “You have a wounded man? How about we call an ambulance and get him transported to a hospital.”
“He’s fine,” Belinda yelled.
“He’s not!” Cody argued and then screamed “Doc!” as Cooper started convulsing. They both tried to hold him still but it went on for a good fifteen seconds and then he went limp.
Cody felt it, the lack of life in his body. One moment she could feel his heart beat hammering beneath her hands and the next it was gone. “Oh god.”
She hadn’t really meant to say it aloud—it just popped out.
Lucas Quinlan had already thrown himself down on the floor and had Cooper’s body in his arms. When he realized that Cooper was gone, he let the body fall, leapt to his feet and rushed Belinda. “You bitch, I’ll kil—”
A gunshot rang out and Cody nearly screamed when she saw Lucas stop in mid motion, throw his arms out wide, stagger back and fall. He nearly fell on her. She rolled to one side and his body fell beside her, his mouth opening and closing as blood pumped from a wound in his chest.
At that point, Bernice gained consciousness and started crying.
“Shut up!” Belinda screamed and kicked Bernice. “Shut the fuck up!”
Cody didn’t even realize she was moving until she’d landed in front of Bernice, blocking her from Belinda’s view. “Leave her alone, Belinda. She’s your daughter for God’s sake. You have to stop this or they’ll take her away from you. You—”
“Like I give a shit?” Belinda screeched. “I hate the fucking brat. Always have. She’s never been anything but a weight around my neck. Having her ruined my life.”
“Then let her go. Let her go into the next room with the Ranger. You don’t want—”
“I’m sick and fucking tired of you telling me what I do and don’t want,” Belinda screamed, spittle flying from her mouth. “You think you have all the fucking answers don’t you? Well, let me tell you something, Miss High and Fucking Mighty…”
Zeb had no doubt that the situation had escalated beyond the point of resolving it without the loss of more life. He spoke into his comm unit. “Riggs?”
“Here, boss.”
“You have a shot?”
“No, she’s out of my line of sight. You’ll have to draw her to you.”
“Copy that. Stand by.”
After sucking in a deep breath and releasing it slowly, Zeb opened the door and stepped into the room.
Mitch whirled with his gun pointing at Zeb. “Hold it or I’ll blow you away.”
“You’re going to want to drop that weapon, sir.”
Mitch laughed. “Or what?”
“Or I’ll be forced to pull on you and you understand that I don’t draw my weapon unless I intend to kill. So, lay the weapon down and you can walk out of here. Otherwise I’m going to have to put you down.”
“Fucking try.” Mitch boasted and almost immediately hit the floor with a shot to the center of his forehead, nearly landing on Lucas.
Belinda started screaming bloody murder about how she was going to kill all of them and took two shots at Zeb, who dove for cover behind the door. She moved closer, firing again. Cody scrambled to get on her feet with Bernice in her arms. Cody made her way back across the room, intent of getting Bernice out of danger.
She saw Lucas roll over and fumble on the floor and realized after a few seconds what he was doing. He got hold of Mitch’s gun and raised it with wobbly arms.
Just then, Zeb spoke quietly. “Riggs, take the shot.” Then he stepped back into her field of vision and said, “Belinda.”
Cody saw Belinda look at him and a split second later the side of her head exploded. Almost simultaneously two shots rang out. Cody felt something slam into the back of her head and she staggered but righted herself, clinging to Bernice who was wailing.
Zeb raced across the room to her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, feeling a little out of touch with reality. In the next few seconds, the room filled with police and emergency medical technicians. Cody watched with an odd sense of detachment. It didn’t feel real—it was like watching a movie.
The only reality was the little girl in her arms who was sobbing against Cody’s chest.
Suddenly, Riggs was there.
Riggs take the shot.
Cody reached up to feel the back of her head and felt something wet.
Just then Riggs was in front of her. “Are you okay? Cody? Can you hear me?”
“Take the shot?” She looked at him and then at her hand. Blood stained it and she frowned. Her legs buckled and Riggs caught her, lowering her gently to the floor. He peeled Bernice away from her, despite Bernice screaming and kicking, trying desperately to hold onto to Cody.
Cody wanted to tell him to let her hold Bernice, that Bernice was afraid.
Then it hit her. Something slamming into her head. The blood.
She’d been shot.
She felt for Riggs’s hand and stammered. Why was it so hard to talk?
“Promise me.”
“What?” He leaned closer after yelling. “We need a doctor!”
“Promise.”
“Promise? Yes. Anything.”
“Don’t let them put her in an orphanage.”
“Cody, I don’t understand.”
“Take care. Take care of Bernice. Promise.”
“Take care of her. Yes, I will.” He looked around. “We need a doctor now!”
She saw him look at her and wondered if someone had turned off the lights. It was suddenly so dim. “Riggs.”
“I’m here, baby. I’m here.”
“You were the one.”
He must have replied because she heard a murmur, but she couldn’t understand the words anymore. Nothing much made sense except the touch of Bernice’s hand and her sweet face.
I love you. Cody wanted so badly to say it, but her lips no longer worked. Nothing seemed to work.
She felt separated from herself, as if the part of her that could think was no longer associated with her physical body. Nothing hurt because there was no feeling. There was only emotion and the dimness intensified until there was no light.
Love for the people in her life flooded her and grief for what she’d never know with Riggs and Bernice.
And then blinding white wiped away everything and she was gone.
Chapter Thirteen
Hannah spooned another mound of dough onto the cookie sheet. Bernice, who stood on the stool beside her, pressed the dough with her hands, shaping it into what was technically a cookie.
“I like chocolate,” Bernice said as she molded the dough.
“Me too.”
“My mommy like chocolate,” Bernice says. “Where my mommy?”
“I told you honeybun, your mommy went to live with the angels.”
“My mommy no mad no more?”
“No, she’s not mad anymore.
“Me so sad.”
“Don’t be sad sugar. You have me and Miss Stella and Mr. Billy and Bryson and you have Jax, too. In fact, he’s gonna be here soon to pick you up and take you home.”
“Me sad. Me miss my Cody,” Bernice said and wiped a fat teardrop from her cheek.
“Me too, sugar.” Hannah swiped at her own tears and then shook her head. “Okay, let’s get these cookies finished and in the oven and while they cook I’ll read you a story. Would you like that?”
“Me like story.”
Hannah smiled and turned her attention back to the cookies. It didn’t take long before they were in the oven and the prep bowls were cleaned. “Okay, punkin doodle,” she said to Bernice. “Let’s go sit on the couch and I’ll read to you.
“Me get book.” Bernice tore off out of the room.
Hannah felt emotion well up and she fought to keep the tears at bay. Cody loved Bernice so much. She would have loved being here, baking cookies and reading stories.
Hannah had never imagined Cody would like such things, but she’d fallen in love with Bernice. She’d been willing to give her life to protect Bernice and that was some kind of powerful love. Hannah would do everything in her power to make Bernice feel she had the kind of love Cody wanted for her.
Stop it, she told herself. It did no good to let the emotion overtake her. Bernice needed her to be strong. She needed everyone around her to be strong. She was so young and had lost so much.
They’d all lost.
The phone rang and she wiped her hands on a dishtowel before answering. “Hello? Jax? Are you okay?”
Her legs almost went out from under her and she grabbed the counter for support. “Okay, I have to call Bryson. Yes, yes, I will.”
She hurriedly called Bryson. “I’m going to the hospital. No, I don’t know but I’ll call you as soon as I know anything.”
Hannah turns off the oven. “What do you think about taking a little ride with me and Bryson, sugar-boog?” she asked Bernice.
“Me like Bryson.”
“Then let’s get your hands washed. He’s on his way.”
“Me do it. Me can do it. Me needs my tool.”
Hannah smiled and moved the stool over in front of the sink. She turned on the water and squirted some hand soap in Bernice’s hands when the child climbed onto the stool.
As Bernice washed her hands, Hannah said a quick prayer that when they got to the hospital she’d find what she had been wishing for.
