Christmas Rescue at Mustang Ridge

by Delores Fossen

  Oh, God. She relayed the news to Jake, but as soon as she finished, she heard Billy’s voice again.

  “They’re coming straight for the front door.” His words came out so fast that they ran together. “It’s locked, but they could shoot their way in.”

  And no doubt would.

  “Get away from the door, Billy,” Maggie ordered. “Don’t try to fight these guys head-on, but if you get a chance, take them out.”

  She glanced at Jake and saw the fear and concern in the glimpse that he gave her. It was a risk to have bullets flying with patients on the second floor. Maybe the ceilings were reinforced so a shot couldn’t get through. But there’d be an even greater risk to the patients, and them, if the gunmen took control of the place. They might have orders to eliminate all potential witnesses.

  “Watch the elevators,” Maggie warned Billy. “They can’t get to the second floor.”

  “I understand.”

  And when Billy hung up, she turned off the phone’s ringer. If he called back, Maggie would still see the caller-ID screen light up, but she couldn’t risk the gunmen following the sound of a ring.

  The front part of the building was too far away for Maggie to hear what was going on there, but maybe Billy would have a chance to keep them updated. She hoped that Billy would be able to defuse whatever was going on at the front of the building.

  “The SUV door just opened,” Sheriff Marcus relayed to them. “Two men. Maybe more. I think there’s someone else in the backseat. But the two I see are wearing ski masks, and they’re armed to the hilt.”

  That didn’t help steady her already raw nerves. With the two at the front of the building, they had at least four gunmen converging on the building. Yes, there were four of them with Billy and the sheriff, but Maggie figured she was nowhere up to holding off an attack.

  Still, that wouldn’t stop her.

  She could barely move her body, but she had a gun and she could shoot.

  Maggie thought of Dr. Blake and Betsy and hoped they’d managed to find a place to hide. The best way to keep them and that marrow safe was to make sure the gunmen didn’t get deep into the building so they could attack anyone. That was no doubt exactly what Jake was thinking, too.

  There was another shot, and she could tell from the sound of it that it had been fired closer to them than the first. The gunmen were definitely on the move.

  The next shot proved that.

  It slammed first through the window and then inside. Without the reinforced glass to hold them back, that’d make it much easier for the gunmen to get in the building.

  “Get back!” Jake yelled to the sheriff.

  But Jake didn’t take his own advice.

  He leaned out into the hall and fired.

  Maggie wanted to shout for Jake to at least take better cover behind the doorjamb, but he stayed put, with his gun ready and aimed.

  More shots came from the back of the building, and in between those rounds, Maggie heard the sound of the door being bashed in.

  Followed by footsteps.

  Jake pivoted, leaning out so he could fire a shot. It blasted through the air. And it wasn’t the only blast. Two bullets came Jake’s way, blistering past him as he ducked back inside the room.

  He cursed. “Sheriff Marcus is down,” he said.

  And Jake leaned out from cover and started firing.

  * * *

  THE BULLETS CAME AT HIM, but Jake didn’t stop shooting. He couldn’t. He had to give Sheriff Marcus a fighting chance to stay alive.

  Using the sides of the exterior building for cover, the two gunmen bashed their weapons against what was left of the door, and it didn’t take them long to finish the job. Jake could barely see them in the shadows, but they came through firing nonstop.

  One of them, the guy on the right, focused on Jake, the other on Marcus, who had already been shot in the shoulder. Jake knew that because he’d seen the bullet slam into the man.

  Marcus dove to the side, into the room at that end of the building, and Jake heard the sound of the door slamming. Hopefully, Marcus had a way to lock it so he could regroup. Maybe, just maybe, his injury wasn’t so bad that he wouldn’t bleed out before he could get medical attention.

  God knew when that would be.

  He doubted any of the medical staff could or would respond with all the bullets flying. Jake hoped that was true anyway. He didn’t need anyone else shot tonight.

  One the men tried to open the door where Marcus had disappeared. The other made a beeline for Jake.

  Jake fired at him, and the guy ducked behind a medical cart loaded with equipment. He shot at the other guy, too, and sent him scurrying to the recessed area to the left. Good. At least he had them pinned down. For the moment anyway.

  The moment didn’t last long.

  The man behind the cart took aim at Jake and fired. He had to jump back so he wouldn’t be shot, and the bullet tore away a chunk of the doorjamb where he’d just been standing.

  Maggie cursed. “Are you trying to get yourself killed? Stay back.”

  Jake hated the fear in her voice. The worry. It was for him, but his worry was for her. If he didn’t end this now, Tanner’s men would somehow get to Maggie.

  Another shot slammed into the jamb. Then another.

  Jake had lost count of how many times the gunman had fired, but he figured he’d have to reload soon. Jake did something to help that along. He grabbed some of the hard plastic building blocks from one of the tables and he tossed them out into the hall.

  The guy fired again.

  And again.

  Jake stuck out his hand and fired, too. That left him seven more shots, and he had two magazines of extra ammo in his pockets. Of course, he didn’t want to take the time to reload, either. Especially with two gunmen this close and more God knew where in the hospital. He wanted to do some damage control now.

  He threw out another handful of blocks.

  The shots came.

  And Jake timed it so that at the first pause, he leaned out, took aim and fired. Since he couldn’t risk just wounding this assassin, he double tapped the trigger, and both shots went into the guy’s chest. He flew back, slamming into the wall and gasping.

  Jake fired another shot. This time to the head, just in case the guy was wearing Kevlar.

  One down.

  Three to go.

  And the most immediate threat was the guy in the recessed area. He started shooting, and the man had far better cover that his fallen comrade since he was concealed behind thick block wall. At least he couldn’t head upstairs and loop around behind them since there was no way out of there. Of course, maybe he didn’t want to escape. He was probably loaded down with extra ammo and could shoot up the entire place.

  He was certainly doing a good job of tearing apart the doorjamb that Jake was using for cover.

  Jake heard other shots, too. Not nearby. But from the other side of the building where Billy was. The two gunmen had no doubt gotten into the building, and Billy was alone without backup. Jake wished there was a way to get to him, to help, but he wouldn’t make it an inch in the hall without getting shot. Plus, he couldn’t leave Maggie alone for even a second.

  The guy in the recessed area kept shooting, but the others stopped. Jake prayed that was a good sign, but he knew full well it could go the other way.

  Behind him, Jake saw a flash of light, and when Maggie put the phone to her ear, he realized someone had called.

  “Billy,” she relayed in a whisper.

  Hell. He hoped his deputy was okay. Billy was a good lawman, but he was young and had never faced anything like this.

  “He took out one of them,” Maggie said. “But the other got away. Billy thinks he’s on his way back here.”

  Jake felt the punch of relief that his deputy was alive, but there wasn’t much relief in another killer headed their way.

  “Tell Billy to protect the doctor, Betsy and the others,” Jake said.

  Yeah, it was a r
isk. Jake might need the deputy to help with the gunman, but it could be an even bigger risk for Billy to try to get to the rear of the hospital where they were.

  Maggie repeated to Billy what Jake had told her, and she paused. A moment later, she clicked the button to end the call.

  “Billy said the gunman headed our way is using some kind of handheld device to pinpoint us,” she added in a whisper. “Maybe a thermal scan.”

  Jake would have cursed if a hail of bullets hadn’t come right at them. More of the doorjamb went, and the bullets tore through a part of the wall.

  Bullet by bullet, the gunman was taking away Jake’s cover, and if he managed to do that, Jake would have no choice but to move back where he wouldn’t be able to fire until the gunman was right on them. Jake glanced back at Maggie and the locked office door near her. “Try to open it,” he said. Because it might be the fastest way to shield her from the gunmen.

  Jake heard the movement at the rear door. Heard the footsteps, too.

  And he cursed.

  It wasn’t Sheriff Marcus, that was for sure, because Jake hadn’t heard the man open the door where he’d taken shelter. Marcus had likely been right about someone else being in the backseat because this person was coming from the outside and into the building.

  Another gunman, no doubt.

  It made Jake wonder just how many assassins Tanner had sent after them. And how many more he’d continue to send. Yeah, if they got out of this alive, he’d have to move Maggie and the others far out of Tanner’s reach.

  If that was possible.

  “Don’t shoot,” the man said.

  Jake froze because he recognized that voice.

  “It’s David,” Maggie whispered, obviously recognizing the voice, too.

  Well, now they knew the identity of Tanner’s latest accomplice. His own son.

  Not a surprise.

  But it did surprise Jake that David had asked him not to shoot. Jake had no plans to negotiate with David or any of Tanner’s goons.

  “Don’t shoot,” David repeated. His voice was broken. A terrified tremble.

  Jake figured that particular emotion could be faked, but it sure didn’t sound it.

  “If you shoot me,” David said, “you’ll kill us all.”

  Well, that got his attention and didn’t let go.

  “It could be a trap,” Maggie reminded him.

  Yeah. Jake was anticipating that. He didn’t trust David any more than he did Tanner. But what puzzled Jake was why the shots had stopped.

  Jake scurried to the other side of the door so he could get a better look while still keeping a small amount of cover. He glanced out and nearly froze from the stunned surprise.

  In that glimpse, he saw David, his hands lifted high into the air as if surrendering.

  “Please don’t shoot,” David begged.

  Jake risked another glance out into the hall.

  Oh, hell.

  Things had just gone from bad to worse.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Maggie could tell from the sound that Jake made that this wasn’t good news.

  She’d heard David, of course, heard his pleadings for Jake not to shoot, but obviously Jake saw something that made him hold fire. It had to be something critical, a game changer, because there’s no way Jake would have trusted Bruce Tanner’s son.

  David was their most obvious suspect.

  Since Jake’s attention was fastened to whatever was going on out there in the hall, Maggie turned and tried to unlock the door.

  “David’s got what appears to be a bomb strapped to his chest,” Jake said. “It looks real.”

  “It is real,” David shouted. “That SOB you just killed popped me with a stun gun earlier when I was going to my car, and he put this thing on me.”

  Oh, God.

  Maggie had figured it was something bad, but she hadn’t counted on it being this bad. Bullets were one thing, but a bomb could do a lot of damage, including kill everyone in the building.

  The bone marrow might even be destroyed.

  It broke her heart to think that Sunny might not get what she needed to live. And if she was killed in an explosion, Sunny would have no other donor. It was as if Tanner was giving Sunny a death sentence, too.

  That infuriated her.

  And terrified her.

  She worked even harder to get the office door open. It might not help to get to another room, especially if there were a lot of explosives strapped to David, but she wanted to get Jake and her as far away from that bomb as possible. Sheriff Marcus, too, though she wasn’t sure he could hear her if she shouted for him to take cover. Maybe, though, he could hear David and Jake and had already done whatever he could to protect himself.

  “Does the bomb have a timer on it?” Maggie asked, though she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. In her mind, she could see the seconds ticking away to their deaths.

  “Not that I can see,” Jake answered. “But it appears to be sticks of dynamite taped to some kind of vest.”

  “The sticks are all wired together, I don’t know who has the detonator,” David added. “But the dead guy said it would go off on impact.”

  In other words, if Jake shot David, the whole place might blow up. It was a good thing Jake hadn’t shot David on sight. They might already be dead.

  That got her working even harder.

  The pain was running through her hip and side, but Maggie used the doorknob and wall to lever herself higher. Every inch was an effort, and she was in a cold sweat by the time she made it to her knees.

  “Do the hired guns know Tanner sent them on a suicide mission?” Jake asked. Not for David’s sake. But probably to rattle the gunmen.

  She knew Jake had killed one of the men. She’d heard the bullets as they’d thudded into him. And according to Billy, one of the men on his end of the building was dead, too, but that left two others.

  And David.

  This bomb thing could be a hoax designed to draw them out into the open. In fact, it was exactly the kind of stunt Tanner would pull.

  “No, I don’t think they know,” David growled. “They’re no doubt in this for the money. Well, money’s not going to do you any good if you’re blown to smithereens.”

  If the gunmen had any reaction whatsoever to that, Maggie didn’t hear it. Maybe, though, Jake could keep working on them, though she figured even if the bomb wasn’t a hoax, it might take a miracle to get the gunmen to surrender.

  “I need to shoot the lock on the door,” she told Jake when she couldn’t get it to budge.

  He volleyed glances between her and the hall, and even though it was too dark to see his face clearly, Maggie knew the debate that was going on there. He didn’t want her moving around. Especially since she was gasping every time the muscles moved in her hip.

  That seemed to be with every movement.

  But he couldn’t very well leave David and the other gunmen unguarded to help her with a door.

  “Shield your eyes,” Jake reminded her.

  She did. Maggie took aim at the lock, turned her head to the side and fired.

  The sound was deafening, the metal bullet ripping through the metal lock, and the jolt seemed to go through her entire body, rattling and shaking her. Not good. Because it also rattled the pain, and it hit her so hard that she had to fight to keep hold of her breath.

  While she kept a grip on the gun with her right hand, Maggie used her shoulder to push the door open. Finally. She hadn’t counted on it opening so easily, though, and with her thigh still partly numb, she wasn’t able to stop her forward momentum in time.

  She tumbled through the opening and braced herself to smack face-first onto the floor.

  But she didn’t.

  That’s because someone in the pitch black reached out for her. Caught her, too. But it wasn’t to save her, Maggie soon realized.

  No.

  The person knocked her weapon from her hand, dragged her to her feet.

  And he put
a gun to her head.

  * * *

  JAKE HEARD MAGGIE’S GASP, and he reeled in that direction only to see her being dragged into the other room.

  “Maggie?” he shouted.

  No answer.

  The fear crawled through him, and he kicked the hall door shut. Locked it, too, even though the door frame was so damaged he didn’t know if the lock would hold. It didn’t matter.

  Nothing mattered at this point but Maggie.

  He braced his right wrist with his left hand and moved toward the room. The doctor’s office. And he prayed he’d find her alive.

  He made a quick peek into the room and saw the partially open exterior door that led straight into the office. And he saw Maggie. She was there, standing, among all the shadows. Except she wasn’t exactly standing on her own. Someone was behind her, and the person had an arm curved around her waist. Anchoring her in place.

  “Stay back,” Maggie warned him. “He’ll shoot you.”

  Jake was staying back, using the wall and jamb for cover, but he couldn’t stop himself from taking another quick look.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t see him until it was too late.”

  Jake hated that she felt the need to apologize for being taken hostage. And there was no doubt that she was someone’s hostage. The gun to her head was proof of that. But her captor was keeping his own head hidden behind hers.

  “Who are you?” Jake asked.

  “Why don’t you come in here and find out?” the man said.

  It was Wade.

  And the slimeball actually sounded pleased with himself. Jake wished he could get close enough to tear the man limb from limb.

  “Maggie shouldn’t be standing,” Jake said, though he knew it wouldn’t do any good. He just wanted the idiot to poke out his head so Jake could get off a shot. “She’s hurt.”

  “Hurt?” Wade grumbled. “You mean she had the harvesting done. Yeah, I know all about that. I’m supposed to collect that, too, in case Tanner needs it for some kind of leverage.”

  Tanner. Who else?

  Since Jake still didn’t have a clean shot, he tried again to get Wade to move. “I’m guessing the bomb’s a fake or else you wouldn’t be this close to it.”