The Baby’s Guardian

by Delores Fossen

  She was turned so she could still see Shaw, and she watched as he lifted his gun and fired a shot of his own. The blast was even louder, because he was so close, and she pressed her hands even harder over the baby to try to shelter her from the noise.

  “He’s up there,” Shaw called out, pointing toward the building directly behind the car. He scrambled to the other side of the door, away from the gunman.

  Good. At least Shaw was semi-protected now, and they knew where this monster was. That meant he could be stopped.

  Well, hopefully.

  Even though Sabrina couldn’t see the building’s exit, certainly other officers had responded by now. Maybe even someone with a rifle who would have the firing range to shoot the guy.

  Shaw handed her the car keys through the broken window glass. “Without getting up, turn on the engine, put the car in gear and start driving forward. Only tap the accelerator with your hand to get it moving.”

  Sabrina shook her head. “No.”

  “Yes!” Shaw insisted, shouting over the next round of shots. “It doesn’t matter if you can’t see where you’re going. When the car rolls forward and gets to the headquarters building, someone will tell you what to do. They’ll pull you out and get you to safety.”

  That wasn’t why she was shaking her head. “And you’ll be out here in the open.”

  “Not for long. I’ll run and get in front of one of the other cars.”

  And while he was doing that, he could be shot.

  “Think of the baby,” he reminded her.

  It was a dirty way to get her to cooperate. But it was also an effective one. Sabrina desperately wanted to do something, anything, to keep Shaw safe, but she couldn’t do that at the baby’s expense.

  Their child had to come first.

  She could see Shaw through the crack in the open door. Well, she could see part of him, anyway. That was more than enough for her to see his resolute expression. He wouldn’t back down on this.

  “Do it,” he ordered, his voice booming over the shout of the nonstop barrage of shots. Those shots were literally tearing the car apart.

  When the shots made it to the dash, so close to her head, she knew she couldn’t wait any longer.

  “Stay safe,” she told Shaw.

  Sabrina reached up, shoved the key into the ignition and started the car. Somehow she managed to put it into drive. There was no need for her to touch the accelerator as Shaw had suggested because the car started to inch forward.

  She caught just a glimpse of Shaw before he left the cover of the passenger door and started to run.

  Oh, God.

  The shots were nonstop. One loud blast after the other. It took her a moment to realize some of the shots were coming from headquarters. Someone was returning fire.

  Sabrina couldn’t tell if Shaw made it to the cover of another vehicle. She couldn’t tell anything, other than that the car was indeed moving, and the gunman was continuing to shoot. She put her head against the seat, squeezing herself into as tight a ball as possible so if there was an impact, the baby wouldn’t be hurt.

  “Turn the steering wheel to the left,” someone shouted. She recognized the voice. It was Lieutenant Rico, who’d talked to them earlier.

  Sabrina did as he instructed.

  “Turn it slightly to the right now,” Rico added. Like Shaw, he had to shout over the sound of the gunfire. “You’re almost here.”

  She waited for the impact of the car bumping into the building. But there wasn’t one. Instead, she felt the car turn to the left, toward the covered area where the dispatcher’s office was. And she soon realized why. There were two officers who had hold of her bumper and were guiding the vehicle. The moment the vehicle came to a stop, one of them pulled her from the car and hurried her inside.

  There were at least a half dozen cops waiting there, and they didn’t allow her to stay close to the door so she could see what was going on. A uniformed cop took her by the arm and put her in an interrogation room about twenty feet away.

  “What’s happening out there?” she asked him.

  But he only shook his head and headed back to the door. “Stay put,” he warned.

  She did, because she didn’t know what else to do. And she prayed while she heard the shots continue. God knew how close those shots were coming to Shaw. Maybe he’d even been hit, but that was too painful to even consider.

  Sabrina counted off the seconds, hoping that each count would end the attack. Finally, the shots stopped. She could hear the shouts of officers barking out orders.

  What she didn’t hear was Shaw.

  There was the sound of the dispatch office door opening, and Sabrina peered around the corner, hoping this was someone with good news.

  It was Shaw.

  And he had blood on his face and the front of his shirt.

  Nothing could have held her back at that point. She hurried toward him, catching him in her arms. “You’re hurt.”

  “Not much. Just nicks from the broken glass.” He used his arm to wipe away some of the blood and sweat, and he pulled her closer to him. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” Sabrina lied.

  She didn’t have any physical injuries, but it would take her a lifetime or two to forget those images of the bullets coming at them, and Shaw scrambling for his life across the parking lot. “What happened to the shooter?”

  He brushed a kiss on her forehead and pulled back so he could look into her eyes. “He might be dead or at least injured. We think one of the sharpshooters from the SWAT was able to take him out because he stopped firing.”

  That sent her heart pounding again. “You think? You mean he could be getting away?” No. This couldn’t continue. It had to stop.

  “Shh,” he whispered and pulled her to him again. “We have a team making their way to the top of the building. It shouldn’t be long before we know for sure.”

  “And if he’s not dead?” But Sabrina wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer.

  Especially when she heard another shot.

  This one wasn’t a thick blast as the others had been, but it still sounded close. “What’s happening?” she asked.

  Shaw shook his head. “My men will give me an update as soon as they safely can. Don’t worry. If the gunman tries to escape, we already have officers assembled at the base of the building. He won’t get away. If we can take him alive, even better. Because we might finally learn who’s responsible for these attacks.”

  Sabrina clung to that hope. She also clung to Shaw. It was probably stupid to hand him her heart and well-being this way, but she couldn’t stop herself. He’d just saved her life again. A real hero. And she was falling hard and fast for this particular hero.

  His cell buzzed, and Shaw jerked it from his pocket. But it obviously wasn’t a call he expected because he cursed under his breath.

  “Newell,” he greeted, but the greeting was more like a growl. He pressed the speaker phone button. “You picked an odd time to call.”

  “It’s important. I want to know why you’re having me followed.”

  “Now isn’t a good time to talk.”

  “Why am I being followed?” Newell pressed.

  Shaw took a deep breath. “Because you’re under investigation.”

  Now, Newell cursed. “Because of those poker earnings I had deposited into my account.”

  “Among other things. Look, someone just fired a couple of dozen shots at Sabrina and me, and I don’t have time for this conversation.”

  “Make time…sir.” But Newell didn’t say the title with much respect. “This is my career, and it’s the most important thing in the world to me. I don’t know what you think I did, but I’m innocent. I’m a good cop.”

  “Then the evidence will prove that.” Shaw didn’t give the officer a chance to say anything else because he hit the end call button.

  The dispatch door flew open. Shaw turned, though he still stayed protectively in front of her. It was Lieutenant Rico w
ho came walking toward them.

  “We got him, Captain,” Rico announced, looking straight at Shaw. “He’s injured, but he’s talking. And he wants to talk to you.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Shaw didn’t ask the identity of the wounded gunman. He had one goal—to get to the man while he was still alive so he could get some answers.

  But he didn’t want to do that unless Sabrina was safe.

  “Stay with Lieutenant Rico,” Shaw told her, knowing he’d get an argument, but he stopped it before it could start with a quick kiss.

  Yes, it was a cheap shot, and Sabrina deserved better, but he didn’t want to risk her going outside again until he was positive the area was safe. Right now, he wasn’t positive of that at all.

  Shaw peeled off the grip Sabrina had on his arm and hurried to the dispatch door. “I won’t be long,” he told her, but he wasn’t sure that was true. He wanted to get as much from the shooter as he could and that might take a while.

  He ran across the motor pool parking lot and out the side entrance where a uniformed officer was standing guard. There were lots of officers, just as Shaw expected, but the bulk of them were near the back of the building where he’d spotted the gunman. The guy had likely tried to escape using that route, and he’d been shot when he wouldn’t surrender.

  The sun was up now and already bearing down on him so he worked up a sweat by the time he made it to the crowd of officers. He pushed his way through, wondering just who he’d see lying on the ground.

  Gavin, maybe. It could even be Wilson Rouse or someone he’d hired. It was possible Shaw might not recognize the assailant at all.

  But he did.

  The man was Danny Monroe.

  Shaw cursed. He should have held the SOB even if it meant bending the law.

  “Captain Tolbert,” Danny said, his voice weak. It seemed he was trying to smirk. The front of his shirt was covered with blood, and even though Shaw could hear the ambulance sirens, the man didn’t look as if he would last long.

  “You wanted to talk to me,” Shaw said, once he got his jaw unclenched. He wanted to finish Danny off for endangering Sabrina and the baby. The SOB didn’t deserve to take even one more breath, but Shaw knew each breath could give them answers.

  “Take notes,” Shaw told one of the uniforms who immediately took out a notepad. One of the others took out a mini tape recorder and moved closer. Good. Shaw wanted every word of this taken down so it could be scrutinized.

  “It wasn’t personal,” Danny said, looking right at Shaw. “This was cleanup for my brother. His debts got passed on to me, and I needed to pay them off or die.”

  “It felt personal,” Shaw let him know.

  “I figured it did. That’s why I have to set things straight with you. I want you to go after who put this plan together. Go after the person who hired Burney, because if Burney hadn’t needed the money so bad, he wouldn’t have done this.”

  “Who hired him? I’ll be glad to go after him.” And Shaw didn’t intend to show any mercy. Not to Danny, nor this idiot who’d put this plan together.

  Danny shook his head and dragged his tongue over his bottom lip. “I don’t know who’s responsible. Burney just said we had to get in the hospital lab and get some DNA samples and destroy a file. It was supposed to be easy, but people kept getting in the way.”

  “What people?” Shaw demanded.

  “We thought that woman, Bailey Hodges, had seen us trying to get in the lab the day before we took the hostages. She saw Burney trying to break the new lock, or at least we thought she had. So, we found out who she was. That’s why Burney went after her. Burney had been warned not to leave any witnesses who could identify us.”

  Bailey. Sabrina had said the gunmen were calling out the woman’s name. Now, he knew why. The gunmen wanted her dead. It was a good thing they hadn’t found her.

  Behind them, the ambulance screeched to a stop, and the medics rushed out with a gurney. Shaw knew he didn’t have much time.

  “Why were you and Burney supposed to get the DNA samples?” Shaw asked.

  “I don’t know. That’s the truth. But the bastard who hired Burney will know. That’s why you have to find him. You have to make him pay for killing us.”

  That didn’t tug at any of Shaw’s heartstrings. “Did you ever speak with the man or woman who hired you?”

  “Just today for the first time. Burney handled all the other calls. The other details. I was told what to do. I had to pretend to be a nurse, Michael Frost, so I could call the women we needed to get to the hospital that day.”

  Well, that was another piece of the puzzle that had been solved.

  “Whoever the boss is,” Danny continued, “he was putting a lot of pressure on Burney. Burney owed money, you see, lots of it, and the loan shark was coming after him. That’s why we got desperate and took the hostages so we could get everyone to back off and we could get into the lab. We did what we were supposed to do. We destroyed the DNA file…and took your woman.”

  Everything inside Shaw went still. A temporary reaction, no doubt, because he felt a strong storm brewing.

  The medics moved between Shaw and Danny and began to get him ready to be transferred to the gurney.

  “Whose idea was that, to take my woman?” Shaw demanded.

  Danny shook his head again and drew in a ragged breath. “I don’t know. Maybe Burney’s. Maybe not. Burney thought if anything went wrong, then you’d make the cops back off if we had her.”

  Hell, he might have done just that. He wouldn’t have been able to sacrifice Sabrina and his baby. Not even for this investigation.

  But that didn’t mean the boss of this operation had been the one who ordered Sabrina to be taken.

  “Were you trying to kidnap her again today?” Shaw asked as the medics hoisted Danny onto the gurney.

  “I got a call from the boss, from the SOB I want you to find. He asked if I had a gun, and I told him I did. I keep a hunting rifle in the trunk of my car. So, he told me to get to the nearest rooftop and fire a lot of shots. Not fatal ones. The boss wants you both alive. This was just meant to scare you, to show you what could really happen if you don’t cooperate. He was going to make that clear, he said, after you were good and scared.”

  So, there could still be more contact and more threats from the so-called boss. And that meant Shaw wasn’t getting in the ambulance to ride with Danny to the hospital. He didn’t dare leave Sabrina alone.

  Shaw looked around at the group of officers and spotted Sergeant Harris McCoy, the hostage negotiator he’d worked with when Sabrina and the others had been taken.

  “Go to the hospital with him,” Shaw ordered. “Get as much from him as you can. And make sure he’s got a guard on him around the clock.”

  Not that Danny was likely to attempt an escape in his condition, but it was possible his boss would try to eliminate him before he could say too much.

  “Yes, sir.” Sergeant McCoy moved to the head of the gurney and started toward the ambulance.

  Shaw waited until the ambulance drove away before he walked back to headquarters. It was a short distance but a long walk, and he knew what he had to tell Sabrina wouldn’t do much to put her at ease. The danger was still there, and as long as it was, she had to remain in his protective custody. That was the official label for it anyway, but he didn’t intend to let her out of his sight again.

  Sabrina was waiting for him in the hall just on the other side of the dispatch door. Rico was there next to her, and he had his phone pressed to his ear. No doubt getting an update as to what had just happened.

  “Lieutenant Rico said the shooter was Danny Monroe,” Sabrina said, her voice shaking.

  “He was. But he said he was just a hired gun and he couldn’t or wouldn’t finger his boss.”

  What little color she had drained from her face. “So, his boss could send someone else?”

  “In theory. But that person won’t be any more successful than Danny and his brother were.�
�� Shaw slipped his arm around her and looked at Rico. “I’m taking her away from this. Sergeant Harris is in the ambulance with Danny. When he finishes the interrogation, I want to know what the man said.”

  “Will do,” Lieutenant Rico assured him. He moved closer to Shaw and lowered his voice. “You wanted the false info leaked that we’d found a pacifier from the missing baby and that we’d been able to extract DNA. I took care of that right after we talked. That would have been about two hours or more before the shooting started.”

  Two or more hours before. Maybe that hadn’t been enough time for Danny’s boss to have gotten the word and order the shooting. Unless the leak had been fast, like from someone in the department. Then, it was possible Newell could have called Danny and told him to fire those shots.

  “Someone was supposed to be tailing Danny,” Shaw remembered.

  Rico nodded. “From what I can tell, Danny practically ran out of the building after he finished talking with you. By the time the dispatcher got someone assigned, Danny was already gone. The officer was on his way to Danny’s place to look for him when the shots stared.”

  Again, Shaw hoped Danny hadn’t been able to make a fast getaway because a cop had any part in this.

  “I’ll call you with an update as soon as I have one,” Lieutenant Rico said, and he walked away.

  Shaw stood there a moment, volleying glances between Sabrina’s troubled eyes and the dispatch door. The last time he’d taken her out that particular route, Danny had fired shots at them. Danny had been adamant that he wasn’t trying to kill them, which might be true, but any of those bullets could have ricocheted and hit Sabrina.

  “Are we going back to the flop room?” she asked.

  Despite the small size, it had its advantages. It was close and safe. Well, except for the fact that Newell might be behind this. He thought of the key to the apartment that O’Malley had offered him. Going there would get Sabrina away from Newell, maybe, but too much could happen between headquarters and the Riverwalk.

  Shaw nodded. “Yeah. The flop room again. I’ll arrange some food to be delivered since you didn’t eat much of your breakfast earlier.”