The Lawman

by Martha Shields

  However, the anger gave her strength and bolstered her courage.

  She could do this. She would do it.

  “Caitlyn, are you okay?” Tabitha asked.

  “Yes.” But her voice was weak, scared.

  “Dr. Walters?”

  “We’re fine, but what are you doing? You can’t seriously be bringing a baby.”

  “Shut up!” Hines ordered.

  The grunting sound that followed told Tabitha he’d hurt Dr. Walters some way.

  “Hold that baby up so’s I can see him.”

  “You can’t see anything from there,” she said. “It’s too dark.”

  “All right, then. Come around the car, but real careful so’s I can watch you. You,” he called to Caitlyn.

  “Yes, sir?” Cait said in a frightened voice that Tabitha had never heard. No doubt Hines had bullied—or beaten—them into submission. The little weasel had a lot to pay for.

  “I’m gonna untie your hands so you can take the baby for me,” Hines told Caitlyn.

  “Oh, no, you don’t.” Tabitha stopped dead at the front of her car. “The deal is you let them go. I don’t come another step closer until—”

  “Who’s got the gun, lady?”

  Tabitha stared at him. Her eyes were getting accustomed to the dim light now. She could see his wild, abnormally wide eyes. He was no doubt on drugs. No telling what he’d do. She shouldn’t push him, shouldn’t warn him that she would fight back in any way. If he was off guard, her plan stood a better chance of working.

  “You’re right,” Tabitha told him, trying to sound contrite. “I’ll hand the baby to Caitlyn.”

  All his senses on alert, Jake had seen Tabitha’s headlights bouncing across the field. Calling in the forces, he hid his car in the shadow of a hill and sneaked across the dark expanse behind the cover of Tabitha’s, blessing her for placing it between him and Hines.

  He reached the cover of her car just as she was rounding the front of it, just in time to hear the anger in her voice as she questioned Hines’s order that Caitlyn get the baby.

  “Shut up, Tabitha,” he whispered into the dark. “You’re only going to make him mad.”

  Jake breathed a sigh of relief when, after a brief pause, Tabitha acquiesced.

  “Good girl. Let’s keep him occupied for five minutes. That’s all it’ll take for Burl to get here.”

  “Put the baby in the truck when she gives him to ya,” Hines ordered.

  “Yes, sir,” Caitlyn Matthews said.

  Tabitha stopped a few feet away from Hines. “Don’t you want to see him first? He’s a beautiful boy. I picked the very best one for you.”

  Jake cringed. He could hear revenge in the quietness of her voice. Damn. All he could do was get in position and hope Hines had enough sense to quit while the quitting was good.

  But the man was too stupid. Licking his lips, Hines moved forward with Caitlyn, his eyes on the wiggling bundle in Tabitha’s arms.

  While his attention strayed, Tabitha caught Caitlyn’s gaze.

  “Damn,” Jake whispered. “What are you up to? Just hold on. Please! Burl will be—”

  Caitlyn froze for half a second, just enough to make her stumble.

  Hines grabbed Caitlyn’s arm. “Hey, you—”

  Tabitha threw something at him that looked like white powder. It arced the air in slow motion, the cap whizzing past Hines’s head as he ducked. Then she grabbed the blanket from around the so-called baby. Out sprang Billy. Tabitha threw the cat at Hines, too.

  Billy screeched as he landed on Hines’s head. Instead of hanging on and clawing, the cat used the man as a springboard for a flying leap into the night.

  Squatting low, Jake ran to the front end of Tabitha’s car. His heart hammered in his chest. His feet felt like lead weights.

  “Billy!” Caitlyn cried, turning to where Billy had disappeared.

  “Caitlyn,” Dr. Walters called. “Wait.”

  She hesitated, spinning back toward the doctor.

  It seemed to Jake that everyone moved in slow motion. Everyone but Hines.

  He lunged at Tabitha. “You bitch! That weren’t no baby. I’m gonna kill you.”

  Tabitha brought the pepper spray up, but couldn’t get off a single spritz before Hines knocked her to the ground. Standing over her, his eyes wild, he brought the gun down in a wide arc.

  Tabitha screamed and curled into a ball.

  “Freeze!” Jake shouted, not even trying to keep menace from his voice. “Police.”

  Hines froze in midswing and cut wild eyes toward Jake. “Don’t shoot.”

  “Throw the gun away,” Jake ordered. “Now.”

  Hines straightened and tossed his pistol away.

  “Put both hands in the air, and move away from her.”

  Hines stuck both skinny arms toward the sky and took two steps back.

  “Miss Matthews? Dr. Walters? Are you okay?”

  “Yes,” Dr. Walters answered. “We’re fine.”

  “Are you both untied?”

  “Caitlyn is,” Dr. Walters said.

  Caitlyn looked at him sharply, but Dr. Walters’s head didn’t turn toward her.

  “Yes. I’m untied,” she said. “He untied me so I could take the baby.”

  “It weren’t no baby!”

  “Shut up, Hines,” Jake spat. “Miss Matthews, would you please turn on the headlights in both of these vehicles? Backup is on the way, but they need to see where to come.”

  While Caitlyn complied, Jake kept his gun on Hines.

  “Billy! Oh, thank goodness.” Caitlyn switched on Tabitha’s headlights, then lifted the cat from Tabitha’s car. He’d evidently hidden in the nearest place that smelled familiar.

  When the area was lit, however, Tabitha still hadn’t moved.

  “Tabitha?” Jake asked. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes,” she said, but the smallness of her voice worried him more than convinced him.

  Jake could hear the backup forces moving in. His first duty was to subdue Hines and handcuff him. In lieu of that, all he had to do was keep his gun trained on the kidnapper for another two minutes, until Burl Terry brought in the troops.

  But all Jake could think about was Tabitha. Had Hines fired a round he hadn’t heard? Was she bleeding there in the shadows where the headlights didn’t hit?

  He had to know.

  Taking two steps to the right, he squatted down, keeping his gun and attention trained on Hines until his other hand touched the woman he loved.

  He glanced down. “Are you all—”

  “Watch out!” Dr. Walters shouted.

  “No!”

  Jake’s head turned in time to see another gun in Hines’s hand.

  Jake straightened his arm and squeezed the trigger of his own gun, but fire slamming into his chest made his shot go wild. He gasped and went down to one knee.

  Jake heard thuds and grunts behind him, but barely.

  “Jake!” Suddenly Tabitha’s arms were around him. “Jake, you’re hurt!”

  He leaned into her, vaguely aware of people streaming into the area. “I can’t…”

  “Oh, my God. Somebody help him. Please!”

  His weight made her fall back, but she held on to him, taking the brunt of the fall. Even so, pain ripped through his chest.

  “Dr. Walters, he’s been shot. Help him.”

  Jake heard tears in Tabitha’s voice. Opening his eyes, he saw them streaming down her face.

  A strong hand lifted his arm. Jake wanted to scream at the pain, but the best he could manage was a low grunt.

  A voice he recognized as Dr. Walters’s cussed. “He’s wearing a vest, but Hines’s lucky shot got him right under the arm. We’ve got to get him to the hospital. STAT.”

  Burl Terry’s grim voice came from above. “A helicopter’s not sixty seconds away.”

  “Tell them to hurry,” Tabitha pleaded. “You can’t let him die.”

  “We’re going to do everything we can,” Dr. Walters
told her.

  Something soft was stuffed under Jake’s arm.

  “You need to let go of him, Miss Monroe, so we can lay him flat.”

  “No.” Tabitha squeezed him, but not too tight. “I won’t ever let you go, Jake White,” she whispered against his ear. “I love you. Do you hear me? You can’t die. I won’t let you.”

  “Over here!” Burl called to someone.

  But Jake didn’t care who it was.

  Tabitha loved him. Nothing else mattered.

  Seventeen

  Tabitha had never seen this side of a hospital.

  Oh, she’d seen people who sat in the emergency waiting room, their faces pale, their eyes bleak as they waited—half hopeful, half fearful—for news about the loved one on the other side of the swinging doors. But she’d never had a loved one to be fearful for until now.

  She’d never had anything—anyone—to lose until now.

  The possibility of losing Jake now, when she’d barely begun to love him, was tearing her apart. She wanted to barge through those swinging doors, into the operating room where Mission Creek’s best surgeon was removing the bullet, and—

  And what? What could she do?

  She’d already seen that Jake had the best care Mission Creek Memorial Hospital had to offer. She’d flown with him in the helicopter, issuing orders right and left about his care, never letting go of his hand, thinking somehow she could impart some of her strength to him, the strength to live.

  Now all she could do was wait. And worry. And wonder.

  What would she do if he died? How would she be able to get out of bed each morning knowing she’d never again see or touch or hold the only man she’d ever loved? The only man who’d ever loved her.

  Though Jake hadn’t said the words, Tabitha knew he loved her.

  He’d checked on her before securing his prisoner. At that moment he’d proved he was a man before he was a cop. A man who cared more about her than his job.

  That moment had held absolute truth, absolute proof that he loved her. That same moment might have cost Jake his life.

  Tabitha fought the stinging tears, feeling helpless and more alone than she’d ever felt in all her years on her own.

  Now everything was up to Jake. Did he love her enough to live?

  Finally, at 3:35 a.m., Mission Creek Memorial Hospital’s chief surgeon pushed open the swinging door.

  Tabitha stood, her stiffness testament to the fact that she’d barely moved for the past six hours.

  Dr. Stephen Carmichael smiled. “He’s going to be okay.”

  “Oh, thank God.” Relief spread through her like a shot of morphine. She nearly passed out.

  Dr. Carmichael caught her arm and led her to the nearest seat. Only when they were seated did he continue. “He’s going to need a lot of care, even physical therapy, in the next few months. The bullet tore into the left cavity of his lung and there was a lot of bleeding. We gave him six units. But he’s young and strong, so barring infection or any other unseen complications, I don’t see why he shouldn’t have a full recovery.”

  Tears streamed down Tabitha’s cheeks. “I have to see him.”

  Dr. Carmichael held her in her seat. “He’s still in recovery.”

  “I don’t care.” She met his eyes dead-on. “I’m going to see him.”

  “You can’t—”

  “Dr. Carmichael, I am the administrator of this hospital. I can go anywhere in this hospital I want to go.”

  He acknowledged that with a crooked smile. “He probably won’t be conscious for several more hours.”

  “I don’t care if he’s not conscious for several more days. I will scrub anything you want me to scrub, but I’m going in there.”

  Dr. Carmichael nodded toward the glass doors to the emergency room to the media held back by Mission Creek police officers. “What about a statement for them?”

  Tabitha frowned. As chief administrative officer, it was her job to update the press. But at the moment she didn’t care. Her job wasn’t nearly as important to her as it had been a few days ago. The most important thing in her life was lying in intensive care.

  “You’re chief surgeon, and you performed the surgery. Why don’t you give them a statement?”

  He shrugged, having done it before. “They’ll ask about you, too. What should I tell them?”

  “Me?” She considered the question for a moment, then smiled proudly. “Tell them I’m waiting at the side of the man I love.”

  Jake always came awake quickly, fully alert. So wandering in and out of consciousness as he shook off the drugs was disconcerting.

  He smiled at the ten-dollar word. Tabitha was rubbing off on him. Although she’d say it wasn’t a ten-dollar word, more like six, but for him—

  “Jake?”

  The sound of her voice brought him fully into consciousness.

  “Are you awake?” Her voice was raspy, uncertain, exhausted.

  His eyelids weighed a ton, but he willed them open. Bright lights stabbed into his brain, making him aware of pain for the first time. His whole body hurt, but his left side felt as if it had been ripped off. “Tabitha?”

  Her beautiful face appeared in his line of vision, making him realize he hadn’t turned his head. Her smile was bright, though tears made her bluebonnet eyes liquid.

  “Hey, sleepyhead.” She touched his face. “Would you like a little water?”

  She was brilliant, his kitten. She knew exactly what he needed. “Please.”

  She twisted, then turned back. “Here. I’ll drip it from the straw.”

  He took several strawfuls, but that much effort exhausted him. Afterward he couldn’t keep his eyes open. But he wanted to know. “What happened?”

  “Shh.” Her cool hand stroked his cheek. “Everything’s fine. You don’t need to rescue anyone. Go to sleep. I’ll take care of you.”

  Jake relaxed. “I love you.”

  “I know,” she whispered with a soft kiss on his cheek. “I love you, too.”

  Jake felt a little stronger the next time he woke, and even stronger the time after that. Tabitha was with him every time he drifted into consciousness, making him feel cared for, safe.

  Finally he woke feeling tired, but with no pain anywhere except his left side. He remembered being shot, but the only thing clear after that was Tabitha telling him she loved him.

  Jake’s lips were so dry they felt as if they were cracking. But he couldn’t help smiling. Where was she? He turned his head stiffly.

  Tabitha sat in the chair next to the bed, more or less. One arm was bent under her head on the edge of his mattress, the other stretched toward him, her hand resting on his arm as if she refused to let go of him.

  Love swept over him in healing waves. He didn’t care what he had to do, what promises he had to make, where he had to go or stay, he was going to make her his woman, any way she’d have him.

  “I love you,” he whispered.

  Her head lifted immediately. She blinked. “What?”

  “I said, I love you.”

  “Oh.” Her face melted into smiles. “I know.”

  “You do?”

  She nodded, then twisted and reached for a plastic cup from the rolling bed table. “Think you’re strong enough to sip from the straw? You’ll get more that way.”

  He nodded and drank the cup dry. As she refilled it, he asked, “What happened after I was shot? Will you tell me now?”

  She guided the straw to his mouth. “You were airlifted to the hospital, then you were in surgery for six—”

  “Not me. Who brought down Hines?”

  “Oh, that. Caitlyn had untied Dr. Walters while you had Hines at gunpoint. When Hines shot you, Dr. Walters tackled him and wrestled his gun away. The other cops arrived just a minute later.”

  “They were right behind me. What about the hostages? How are they doing? How long has it been, anyway?”

  “This is the second day. You slept most of yesterday.” She set the cup back on the t
able and leaned against the edge of his bed. “As for Cait and Dr. Walters, they’re in seclusion. I called them both and told them to take as long as they need to get over…whatever happened to them while they were captive. No one knows what that is. They haven’t said anything to anyone.”

  “That’s not unusual,” Jake said. Wanting to touch her, he lifted his hand.

  She laced her fingers through his. “You’ve had about a million visitors. I wouldn’t let them stay long, but—”

  “You said you know I love you. How? I haven’t told you, have I?”

  Her face softened. “Well, yes, but you didn’t have to. I already knew.”

  “How?”

  “When you bent down to check on me before you put handcuffs on Branson Hines, you proved you were more concerned about me than your job.”

  “You were lying so still.”

  Her smile was shy. “That’s what I mean. For the first time in your police department life, you were a man before you were a cop. I knew right then that you loved me.” Her eyes teared up. “But at the same moment I nearly lost you. Promise you’ll never do anything like that again.”

  “I won’t be able to, because I’ll no longer be a cop.”

  She froze. “What? Why not?”

  “Because you don’t like cops, and I want you.”

  “Oh, no. You’re not going to put that kind of guilt on me.”

  “I realized something that day as I watched you prepare to meet Hines without me, which is something we’ll discuss in depth when I’m feeling better.”

  Her lips twisted. “What did you realize?”

  “That the reason I felt the need to rescue other people was because I needed rescuing myself.” He squeezed her fingers. “Somehow you knew that, and you rescued me.”

  “I did? How?”

  “By showing me the goodness in people. By loving me.”

  “And you love me back.” There was wonder in her voice.

  “Very much.”

  She smiled into his eyes. “You’re not going to give up being a cop. I won’t let you.”