School shooters were categorized as being desperate and feeling completely alone. They showed up for revenge, most of them at their breaking point. This complete separation from their peers and reality made them incredibly unpredictable.
Safety before stupidity, or so her instructors in the academy would say. Now she had to go about and see what she could do for whoever else was inside the school and pray that even without a weapon she could be useful.
Deciding that her uniform shirt with shiny gold badge was a surefire way to draw attention to herself, she quickly took it off. The black uniform trousers and her white undershirt would hopefully give her a better chance of blending in with anyone else still inside. She then tucked her cell phone inside her pants pocket and grabbed her handcuffs, placing them in the alternate pocket.
Next she took a couple of zip ties from her belt’s leather side pouch. As quietly as she could, she instructed the two teachers to zip tie the doors shut after she left. If the shooter did come back, or God forbid he had a partner, she didn’t want them being caught by surprise. If they weren’t able to open the door, hopefully they’d move on.
Confidant that the students were calm and the one who was near panic was now quieting down enough, Leah slowly opened the door and peeked her head out. When she didn’t see anyone she nodded toward Mr. Snyder to do as she told him. As quietly as she could, she closed the door and winced when the heavy weight of it made a clicking sound.
She stood motionless in the hallway, her eyes scanning from side to side as she watched and waited for any signs of the shooter. She still had no idea if he was alone. There could have been two or several for all she knew. After only seconds, she made her way toward the front offices. The second shot she heard seemed like it had come from that direction. She saw a pair of white sneakers sticking out from behind a bathroom door. They lay there motionless as she approached.
Pushing open the door, she was met the frightened wide eyes of a teenage boy. His thigh was soaked in blood and had a steady trail seeping out onto the floor. When he started to open his mouth she quickly covered it with her hand and whispered to him to be quiet.
“Don’t make a sound. I’m a cop. Can you tell me how many there were? Use your fingers,” she instructed him, afraid to move her hand.
He looked like he was nearing shock, and the last thing she needed was him screaming. He held up one shaky finger and then pointed to his leg.
“I know, kid. I’ve seen worse, though. You’re going to be fine.”
It was a bald-face lie. Other than training videos, she hadn’t seen any real gunshot wounds, minus hers of the other day. She saw the hesitation in his eyes and wondered if he could sense her deception.
“Promise you, kid. This is nothing.” Although she was already whispering, she leaned closer down to him and smiled. “It will leave one hell of a scar though. Chicks will probably dig it.”
For a brief, fleeting moment she saw a smile work its way up the corners of his mouth. The kid had guts. She knew damn well his wound had to hurt like hell. It was a wonder he was even still conscious and hadn’t passed out from the pain.
She sized him up and figured he was at least forty pounds heavier than her, but she had to try and drag him out of the hallway and into the bathroom all the way. He was a sitting duck out there, and since he’d seen the shooter he was also a liability that the assailant might not want sticking around to identify him.
With little effort she was able to drag him into the farthest stall, propped him up against the handicapped bathroom wall and took his T-shirt off. Tearing it in half, she tied it tightly around the wound while balling up the other half underneath the knot. She hoped it was as easy as it looked in the damn videos she had watched. He was losing a lot of blood and needed medical attention fast.
She flipped her phone back on and sent a quick text to Darren. Teenage male victim. Handicapped stall. Boy’s restroom. East Hall.
Before he could reply, she turned it back off, leaving nothing to chance. She took a few seconds to reassure him that he was going to be fine before leaving him in the stall. Her conscience told her she might have just lied to the kid. His wound was bad. It didn’t matter it was in his leg. People had bled out from less than that before. She prayed they could get a medic in here for him quick.
Just as she got back into the hallway she heard another shot followed by several screams. This time she was certain of its location. The faculty lounge which was just around the corner from the front offices seemed to be the location. By her recollection, she’d had heard three shots. They all sounded like they’d come from the same gun. She hoped her instincts were right and there was only one shooter. The idea of trying to sneak up for a closer look and find a gun pointed in her back didn’t seem like the best way to help whoever she’d heard scream.
Quietly, she walked several yards down the hall, trying not to step on any of the papers or any other items lying around the floor, certain that if she did, it would make some sort of noise and alert their trigger-happy visitor.
The whole school had the feel of a ghost town. The wide corridors were empty and quiet, but in the distance she could hear feet scurrying on the tile floor. It pained her to think of the panic some students must be feeling. The ones that hadn’t gotten out yet must be scared witless as they tried to find places to hide.
She wished she had a way to get to all of them simultaneously and ease their worry. Hopefully the boy in the bathroom was the only one injured, but she doubted it. Whoever was firing off the shots wasn’t doing it for sport. At close range he would have to be blind to miss his intended target.
A loud sound reverberated through the school and stopped her dead in her tracks. She was startled, and it took her a moment to register the sound. Then it hit her.
Shit.
The school had auto door locks in case of a lockdown. Someone must have triggered them. Who in the hell would trigger the damn locks when people were trying to get out? That controversial security aspect, which was being tried out in their county first before the rest of the state received them, was meant to keep people out of the schools. It was a precautionary measure to keep fugitives from entering the school. It wasn’t meant to lock a gunman inside.
Well, this had bad written all over it now. Not only was she the lone officer in a high school with a shooter, but she had no weapon. To top that off, now she was locked inside with him with no immediate chance of help coming in to aid her or the victims.
She cursed the Governor for signing into law last year the requirement that officers weren’t allowed to wear their sidearm unless on duty. Talk about the law coming back and biting those that enforce it right in the ass.
By now she was sure Cole had gotten word of the shooting and that she was inside. He undoubtedly also knew the doors were now locked, since the system was linked to the emergency dispatch center. She could only imagine the worry plaguing him. He would probably be yelling at someone to keep from dealing with his fear.
She took a steadying breath and rested for a moment while she considered her next move. The academy prepared them for every situation, right? All she had to do was fall back on her training and she would be fine.
Shaking her head, she wondered why she bothered trying to convince herself. She was a rookie cop, only on the force for a few months. The fact of the matter was this scared her. Not for herself, but for the victims who felt trapped and alone.
Also, the unknown scared her. Training or not, she didn’t know if she’d choose the right thing to do. She could go with her instincts and do everything in her power to protect everyone here, but in the end would she make a mistake? Would she screw something up? Would someone die because of her?
She closed her eyes and promised that if she ever got out of here she would never complain about Cole’s overbearing and arrogant ways again. What she wouldn’t give to have her chief shouting orders at her right now and telling her what to do.
Chapter 9
Cole listened to Colby read the latest message from Leah. He tried to ignore the churning in his gut, knowing she was in the school with no weapon. In the past several minutes since he’d found out she was inside, he had reminded himself more than once that she was a good officer. She’d graduated at the top of her academy class. If they were going to have any rookie in there, she would be the likely candidate. Despite her being the logical choice, he couldn’t ignore that she was more than just a mere rookie officer. She was his Leah, and right now, she was unarmed.
SWAT from their larger neighboring city had just pulled up on scene. While he had training and experience in urban warfare situations, his department wasn’t filled with the most seasoned officers when it came to violent crimes. There was no way he was going to make a stupid mistake out of male pride and cost innocent civilians their lives, so he’d placed a call asking for assistance. They were experienced and trained daily for situations just like this. His duty was to protect his community, and that was all he cared about. As he walked over to talk with SWAT’s commanding officer, an exasperated Colby caught his attention.
“Mother fucker!” Colby shouted at whoever was on the other end of his phone.
Cole stopped dead in his tracks. Leah was the first thing that came to his mind. If anything happened to her, he didn’t know what he’d do.
“What is it?” he asked.
Colby blew out a breath of frustration. “We’ve got a problem, Chief. Those damn auto locks the state had installed last spring have been activated.”
“What the fuck? How in the hell did that happen? Who activated them?”
“No clue. The call just came in from dispatch. It must have just happened. We should have moved quicker.” Colby shook his head.
“We can’t do anything about could’ve, would’ve, should’ve. We’ll just need to strategize and figure out another way to get in.”
Cole didn’t miss the hesitation in Colby’s expression. There was something he wasn’t saying. Whatever it was, it was bad.
“Don’t stand there staring at me with fucking doom and gloom. Spit it out, damn it!”
“These locks are set up with a failsafe so no one can get in. The idea was that in the event of an emergency, no outside force could gain access, regardless of threats made. The timer began just minutes ago. Those doors are locked for the next three hours. We have no way of getting inside. Short of blowing a hole through one of the doors with explosives or breaking a damn window, we’re completely screwed.”
Fuck. Shit. Damn.
That was the last thing he needed to fucking hear. Whoever the shooter was, Cole didn’t guess he was the sit-down-and-talk-about-his-feelings type. Just knowing that he had gone to the extremes of taking a shotgun into a school and opening fire proved that he wasn’t thinking much about the consequences of his actions. That, coupled with the fact that blowing doors off their hinges and breaking windows was a surefire way to agitate someone who already had an itchy trigger finger and was clearly having a bad day.
Now the gunman was locked inside with God only knew how many civilians. A majority of the student body and teachers had been able to escape, but head counts indicated there were just over one hundred people still unaccounted for. The registrar who worked the office was still inside, so they didn’t have any idea if the number was smaller due to school absences.
Cole raked his unsteady hand through his hair. “All right, you guys, standby. I need to have a chat with SWAT and see what can be done.”
“What can be done? That’s my fucking partner in there! You think I’m going to leave her safety to a bunch of strangers who don’t even know her?” Colby shouted back at him.
He wasn’t in the mood for this shit. Like he didn’t care what happened to Leah or something? Bullshit! He cared more than any of them, but he couldn’t lose damn focus and go in half-cocked on some sort of rescue plot based on misguided strategy.
Leah was important, but so were the innocent civilians inside the school. He couldn’t forget that. It was his job to protect and serve all, not just one. No matter how important she was, he couldn’t lose focus. Even if she was the most important thing in his world.
“Look here, Officer Colby. Last time I checked I was the chief of police. Not you! So unless you want me to send your ass back to the station to man the phones, I suggest you shut your damn mouth and let me do my job. We have more than an officer in there. There are people’s children in there. We clear?”
Colby glared at him but nodded in agreement. No matter how badly he wanted to be pissed at Leah’s partner for being insubordinate he wasn’t. Emotions were running hot right now, and he understood the kid’s worry.
“Chief Bottego?” One of the SWAT commanders broke away from his group and approached Cole and Colby.
“That’s me. You are?”
“Commander Matthews. This is my SWAT unit. We got most of the info from dispatch while we were en route. Did I hear right that you have an officer on the inside?”
“Yeah, but she’s unarmed. And she’s a rookie. Not much experience with this sort of thing.”
Commander Matthews gave him a knowing nod. The man’s stance alone told Cole that he was also former military. They had a way about them. He could always sense one of his former brothers in arms.
“You have contact though? She’s feeding you information?”
“Affirmative,” he replied. “But this school is equipped with an experimental automatic lockdown system. It activated minutes ago. A breach of any kind right now is going to be tricky.”
“Copy that. Do we have a definite suspect count? Can we get a location? If possible, we might be able to enter from the opposite end of the school and avoid alerting the perpetrator.”
“Negative. All we know is there is one shooter confirmed. There could be more. Nothing is definitive right now. She alerted us to one casualty but shut down comms to avoid being detected.”
“Sounds like a smart rookie. Has the hostage negotiating team arrived yet?” Commander Matthews asked.
“No. My training in counter terrorism and hostage crisis would have me the go-to guy for the county. You want a hostage negotiator, you’re looking at him.”
“Something tells me this is your first stab at it, too.”
Cole nodded in agreement. He was the most trained in the area for this type of situation, but he’d never practiced all that he learned. It was a hell of a lot different sitting in some classroom in Washington, DC, than it was following through.
“No worries, brother. We’ve got your back. Semper Fi.”
After shaking his hand, Commander Matthews headed back toward his team’s tactical assault vehicle. As Cole had suspected, he was former military, obviously a marine. Just like the old saying went, “Once a marine, always a marine.” They would always have each other’s backs.
He needed to see about setting up communication between himself and the shooter. By now, he figured there would either be demands or something else going on. By witness accounts and from what he’d heard since being on the scene, the shooter was fairly quiet. The knowledge was a double-edged sword. Not having him shoot at people was a definite plus, but it also meant he was silent and gave them no clues as to where he was in the school.
Cole’s biggest worry right now was finding out what the shooter’s plan was, and more importantly, if he was acting alone. There were still too many unanswered questions, and no matter how much he tried to push it out of his mind, he kept coming back to Leah being on the inside.
His Leah.
Alone and with no gun to protect herself.
He muttered a curse under his breath. Pissed off that he wasn’t staying focused, he kicked the tire of his Tahoe in frustration. Before he did anything, he needed to pull his shit together and fast. His job, first and foremost above everything else, was to protect the people of this city. Leah was one of the best rookies he’d ever had the privilege of working with. Her actions, the way she carried herself, hell even
her damn test scores were the best in the damn department.
Focus, Bottego, he chided himself.
“Chief, you need to listen to this,” Colby said, standing a few feet away with a teenage girl.
He let out a breath and made a mental note that once this was all over he would hold Leah in his arms and not let her go for a good couple hours.
“What’s up?” he asked Colby.
“This here is Julie. She’s a senior here. Says she knows the shooter.”
Cole shook the girl’s hand. “Julie, what can you tell us?”
“I don’t know him really well. Just that his name is Jesse something or other. He was a student here until about two months ago. He was a transfer student from one of the bigger schools. Jefferson, I think. Anyway, he was only here for the first semester. After the winter break he received his third suspension and get expelled.”
The girl trembled as she spoke. Something told him she knew more but was hesitant to say.
“Is there anything else you can tell us? Anything at all? Sometimes the smallest thing may not seem like much, but it can really help us.” He saw the hesitation in her eyes. “Do you still have friends inside, Julie?”
Looking up at him, she bit down on her lower lip and nodded.
“Is there something else you want to say?” he asked her.
Nervously, she scanned the crowd before answering. “We’ve had some problems with gangs here lately. I’ve only got a few more months until graduation. I have a scholarship to State. I want to study to become a veterinarian. Just a few more months and I’ll be out of here.”
“Julie, I know you’re scared. I understand, but you have friends in there. There are innocent people in there who could be hurt if we don’t do everything that we can to get them out of there. Alive.”
When Promise Meets Passion Page 9
