SEIZED, A Romantic Suspense Novella Read online

He stopped and pointed the gun at the group again. “Give me an educated guess.”

  “His blood pressure is low, but stable. Pulse tachycardic, but again, stable,” Bill said, nodding at the anesthesia machine, which continually beeped out the fast heart rate and numbers blinked as the blood pressure fluctuated. “Dr. Hodges had stopped most of the internal bleeding, so he’s probably lost about one to one-and-a-half liters.”

  “Is it a painful way to die? To bleed out?” Wilkes asked, moving closer to the inert patient, the only movement, the rise and fall of his chest. “Is it an easy death or will he suffer? Did my wife suffer when she bled out?”

  “It would depend—” Dr. Smith started to explain.

  “On what?” Wilkes fixed him with narrowed eyes.

  The physician swallowed hard. “Was she conscious or unconscious at the time?”

  “I don’t know. They said she was…alive…when she went into surgery.”

  Pain laced Paul’s voice. Despite his current rampage, the loss of his loved one tore at Judy’s heart. She glanced at her friend and saw a tear running down Karen’s cheek as she understood his pain, too.

  “If she was still alive when she went in, then the anesthesia would’ve kept her from feeling any pain,” Bill spoke up.

  Judy suspected he wanted to ease the gunman’s mind with the truth. She’d seen one person bleed out while conscious in her life and it hadn’t been pretty or easy for anyone, not the patient or the staff.

  Suddenly, the phone on the wall rang, startling everyone, including the gunman, who turned to stare at it a moment as if he’d forgotten why he was in the OR. He blinked when it rang a second time then pointed the gun directly at Judy.

  “Answer it.”

  Careful not to make any sudden move with the barrel of the gun pointed at her, she slowly rose from the floor and walked to the phone. Wilkes hit the speaker phone as she lifted the receiver.

  “OR-4, Judy Edgars speaking.” If it was the SWAT team leader she wanted them to know it was her and hopefully they’d recognize her as Dave’s wife.

  “It’s Lydia, Judy. It’s been twenty minutes and I’m at the OR door like Paul demanded.”

  Wilkes motioned for her to hang up then grabbed her arm and hauled her through the suite’s doors once more. Years of walking with Dave and his purposeful stride had her double-timing her steps to keep up with Paul as he strode in a militarily brisk pace back to the main entrance.

  Would this be her chance to use the Succinylcholine on him? Did she dare, before she knew more about the bombs? What would Dave do?

  Dave. She needed to call him again. How to do it without tipping Paul off to her actions? If she timed it just right…she stumbled, nearly pulling him down with her.

  He released her to keep her from pulling him down with her and pointed the gun at her once more. “No tricks, Ms. Judy. I don’t want to shoot you, but I will.”

  Kneeling on one knee, she froze to the spot where she’d fallen, her hands up next to her head to show submission. “I’m sorry. I’m just not used to walking so fast.”

  He reached down and grabbed her right arm with his free hand. “Don’t do it again.”

  “I promise I’ll try not to,” she said, bumping her hidden earpiece as she lowered her left hand once more, the phone dial sounding in her ear.

  ***

  They’d pulled up outside the doctors’ office building connected to the hospital. Matt’s wife, Katie, stood beside the open door.

  “No alarm system?” Dave asked as they entered the quiet building.

  “It wasn’t too difficult to bypass and the lock was a piece of cake,” his sister-in-law said before she was engulfed in her husband’s arms for a brief hug. “Someone really should have a talk about the lack of security in this facility with the higher-ups.”

  “Someone really should have a talk with you about your criminal skills, my love.” Matt released her and she gave brief hugs to the others, including her former WitSec handler, Castello.

  Katie had been forced to spend her formative years in the camp of a radical paramilitary group. She’d eventually left the group and put their leader behind bars, but not before she’d perfected her skills with bomb making, use of all sorts of guns and become an expert lock-picker. Despite the danger, they all knew she was an asset to the small rescue group.

  “Do we know what kind of bomb it is?” Katie asked, falling in behind her spouse.

  “Not yet. First we have to gain access to the building without the police or the gunman knowing we’re here,” Jake said, bringing out his phone for the others to look at. “We wanted to keep Dave’s phone open in case Judy calls again, so Luke sent the building’s schematics to mine.”

  “Where is the computer geek?” Katie asked.

  “He stayed behind until Sami got there and is on his way. He’ll meet me when we split up.” Jake pointed to a spot on his phone. “We’re here. Between this building and the hospital is a brick firewall about a foot thick.”

  Dave nodded. “Judy’s mom said the hospital wanted to keep the nursing students living in the dorms safe from the male patients and doctors when she was a student here. Where’s the hospital morgue?”

  “At the bottom of these stairs,” Jake pointed to another spot on the floor plans, down the long corridor in front of them, “is a boiler room that heats both buildings. The morgue is just on the other side of it.”

  “We’re going through a morgue?” Katie whispered as she followed behind her husband, with Dave in the lead, Jake behind her and Castello bringing up the rear. “I hope there aren’t any dead bodies in there.”

  “I’ll protect you,” Matt said over his shoulder.

  “Can the chatter, you two,” Dave said, not trying to hide his irritation, even though his brother and sister-in-law weren’t deserving of it. The guy who did deserve it was hiding behind a series of explosive-rigged doors. Right now he wanted to storm the OR, kill the man who had his woman hostage and wrap her in his arms. But reality called for a more careful assault on the culprit and to do that he had to tamp down the rage soaring through him.

  They entered the empty stairwell and descended to the basement, the only noise was their shoes on the old tiled stairs.

  At the first floor level a door led out to the street.

  Jake stepped out of line. “I’ll meet you inside, once I see what the situation is outside.”

  “This guy expects Senator Klein to be here, so there’s going to be a lot of high-priority security over by the ER,” Dave said. “The SWAT leader is Captain Johnson and the negotiator is Collins. He’s completely by the book.”

  “Talk and stall,” Jake said, looking straight at Dave. They both knew that was the usual protocol, but tonight things were different. Their gunman had an agenda and a ticking bomb. More importantly, he had Judy.

  Jake slipped his wireless receiver into his ear then turned to Katie. “This alarm disabled, too?”

  She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “No one will hear you coming. Stay safe.”

  With a nod, the FBI agent strolled out into the chaos on the street and ER bay.

  “Let’s go,” Dave said, leading the others down into the belly of the hospital.

  They wound their way through the pipes feeding steam heat to both buildings. Some steam hissed from loose valves over their heads, making sweat roll down between Dave’s shoulder blades. At the brick wall separating the boiler room from the morgue stood a steel door. No lock existed on this side. Few people knew they were connected, except the maintenance crews. The lock from the hospital to the morgue was another thing. Hospital policy kept it locked to keep out the morbid curious or pranksters looking to steal dead bodies.

  They slipped inside and the sudden drop in temperature sent shivers through Dave. He looked at the others and saw they’d had the same creepy feeling. Luckily, tonight there were no corpses on slabs—at least not yet.

  Just as he was ready to open the main door from the morgue into the hospital,
his phone buzzed. He halted the group and pulled out his phone, hitting the speaker button again. “Judy?”

  “Is Senator Klein here, Lydia?” Judy’s voice shook with the question. Her fear fueled the rage Dave barely had leashed.

  “Jake’s gone to find out what he can about the Senator. Do you know why this guy wants him here?”

  “Good. His son is still on the OR table and stable for now, Lydia, but he’s still bleeding.”

  Dave listened closely as he heard a deep voice in the background. He couldn’t make out what was being said.

  “Mr. Wilkes says he’s not to leave with the other evacuees. He wants only one policeman to bring the Senator up to this door.”

  She paused.

  “Yes, I can see the counter on the cell phone.”

  More mumbling. “There’s thirty minutes until this goes off. Wilkes wants to see the senator in ten, or he’ll trigger it earlier.”

  “Babe, no way will the senator’s handlers let him come within shooting distance of that door. We’re in the building. I’ll try to get there before the ten-minute deadline. Maybe I can take him out with one shot if you can get him in front of the window. It’s a risk, but it’s the only hope. You have to do it.”

  “Lydia, please tell David I love him and my babies.”

  The anguish in her voice tore at his heart. His Judy never showed fear.

  “Don’t you give up, babe. I love you. I’m here.”

  He clicked off then bent over double. “Dammit!”

  Her fear was so palpable it choked him through the phone. In all their life together, he’d never seen Judy afraid. Not once. Not even when she was pregnant with their first child.

  The message the sergeant gave him said he was needed at home as soon as his shift ended. Judy had never sent him a message like that. Something must be wrong.

  His heartbeat pounded in his ear as he opened the door.

  “Judy?” He called when he didn’t see her in the living room or in the townhouse’s kitchen.

  “Up here, David.”

  David? She only called him when she was mad or upset.

  Cautiously, he locked up his service weapon in the gun cabinet then started up the stairs, all the time trying to figure out what he’d done to piss off the normally calm and cooperative woman he’d married.

  “Judy?” He called again as he stopped in front of the half-closed bedroom door.

  “In here.”

  He pushed the door open, his breath catching in his throat.

  There she stood with her back to the door, hands on her hips.

  Naked.

  “Judy?” Was something wrong with her? She’d had a doctor’s appointment today. Had there been bad news?

  Slowly she turned.

  He focused on her face. Her eyes glistened with tears, but there was a soft smile on her lips.

  “What’s going on, babe?”

  She simply pointed down.

  His gaze traveled down her body. There was a trail of body paint, from just below her breasts—a vine pattern in a rusty color—that swirled down and around her abdomen, stopping at a word.

  BABY

  “You’re pregnant?”

  “Yes!” She jumped up and down like a happy little child then threw her arms around his neck. “I had Sami do the henna art, because I wanted to celebrate for more than one day. It will last for weeks and we can smile every time we see it. We’re having a baby! Isn’t it wonderful?”

  He swallowed his terror watching her happiness.

  For the next nine months he hid his dread of losing her. She’d survived not only that first birth, but the others as well. He’d been less afraid the other two times.

  Now that fear was back.

  “Hold it together, man,” his brother Matt said laying a hand on his back, bringing the present back into focus.

  “Take some deep breaths. We can do this,” Katie whispered.

  Castello moved around them, opening the door to peer out into the hallway. “Suck it up, Edgars. Your woman needs you.”

  And those words hit him like a command, pulling him out of his own despair.

  With a deep breath, he straightened and nodded to Castello. “We’re one floor below the OR. At the end of the corridor to our left is an elevator and set of stairs leading to the back entrance. Hopefully, the stairs won’t be full of SWAT waiting to storm the place.”

  They headed out single file with him in the lead chanting his friend’s words in his head.

  Your woman needs you.

  Chapter Four

  To prevent the battering of his body by the gale-force winds, Jake kept close to the side of the building, making his way up the sidewalk as best he could toward the Emergency Room entrance. Beneath his shoes crunched areas of frozen sleet and pellets of salt the hospital’s maintenance crew had spread to prevent too much ice from forming on the sidewalk. Occasionally he slid on the errant spot they’d missed.

  The bastard gunman couldn’t have picked a more crappy night to pull this stunt.

  As he neared the ambulance bay he slowed to study the chaotic scene up ahead.

  Something wasn’t quite right.

  A small contingency of police and hospital personnel were moving patients in wheelchairs and gurneys to the older part of the hospital, away from the new annex where the operating room and emergency rooms were located. A very small amount of police presence for the situation.

  That was the problem. He’d expected to see half the police force and the SWAT van in place. Where were they? Had the roads gotten so bad they couldn’t get here?

  Spying a young officer on the perimeter of the area stopping anyone trying to approach, Jake headed his way, slipping his credentials out of his pocket.

  “Sorry, sir, no visitors are being let in tonight,” the cop said, holding up his arm to prevent Jake from just strolling in.

  Putting on his I’m-FBI-and-I’m-in-charge face, Jake flipped open his credential case for the younger man to see. “Agent Carlisle, FBI, and I need to speak to the officer in charge here, pronto.”

  The policeman dropped his arm. He took the credentials to study them a moment and handed them back before turning and pointing toward a tall, lean, older man passing through the sliding doors leading into the ER. “That would be Lieutenant Brush, sir.”

  “Thank you, officer…?” Jake asked as he pocketed his credentials and studied the chaotic activity inside the ER bay.

  “Wilson, sir.”

  “Wilson, is the SWAT team on their way?”

  “Not yet, sir. The lieutenant hasn’t told me to watch for them. They may be at the other emergency.”

  Jake snapped his head around to focus on the younger man. “Other emergency?”

  “Someone called in a bomb threat to the State House just before we got the news from upstairs to evacuate. We were on duty as protection detail for Senator Klein and happened to be here to help get people out of the building.”

  No SWAT. That could be a good thing. One less thing for their team to deal with, but who called in the other bomb threat? Was it real? Or had the lone gunman upstairs set it up as a diversion?

  “I’ll check in with your superior then.” He started to walk away, paused and looked back at the officer who’d returned to his duty guarding the perimeter. “Wilson, one of my associates will be arriving soon. Blond, about six-two, average build, name of Luke Edgars. He’ll probably be carrying a laptop. Let him in when he gets here, okay?”

  “Yes sir, Agent Carlisle.”

  As he wove his way through the chaos of stretchers, wheelchairs and staff, he pulled out his phone and hit the button for his youngest brother-in-law.

  “Just pulling up behind Castello’s SUV, Jake,” Luke said as he answered.

  “Try to get closer to the ER. There’s an officer by the name of Wilson securing the perimeter. He’s expecting you. I’m gonna need you up here.”

  “Where’s everyone else?”

  “Should be getting close
to Judy. See you in a few. Oh, and you work for the FBI today, got it?”

  “Woo-hoo, a promotion. Got it.”

  Jake shook his head. Luke, the youngest of Sami’s older brothers, was a cross between a college frat boy and computer genius with intuitive field skills. Some day he was going to run into a case that forced him to grow up and harness that brain of his.

  He dialed Matt’s phone next.

  “You’re on speaker. How do things look out there?” Matt, always to the point, asked.

  “Seems someone called in a bomb threat to the State House moments before our guy took Judy and the others hostage.”

  “Think it was our bad guy?”

  “You know I never like coincidences, so for now I’d say yes. A good way to keep off the SWAT team’s radar. Usually a smart move, only this time he’s done us a favor.”

  “How do you figure that?” Matt asked.

  “Because,” Dave broke in, his voice strained, “they’d want us to stand down and there’s no way in hell I’m abandoning my wife to this maniac, no matter who thinks they’re in charge.”

  “Right,” Jake said. “Let me know when you’re outside the OR. In the meantime, The Boy Wonder and I are going to see if we can take over the situation out here. Anything else I need to know since we split?”

  “The gunman wants Senator Klein brought up to the main OR door. He gave the nurse ten minutes to see that happen,” Katie added.

  “His people aren’t going to let that happen,” Jake said, already scanning the area for the senator and his people.

  “You find a way to make it happen, Jake. Judy’s life might depend on it.” There was silence for a moment. “I can’t lose her.”

  Jake swallowed hard. He’d done whatever it required to save Sami, just as Dave would do to save Judy. “I’ll get him up there, even if I have to kidnap him myself.”

  Jake pressed the off button, pocketed his phone and pulled out his credentials once more. Donning his agent-in-charge face, he strode through the ER doors and straight up to the man Officer Wilson had pointed out. “Lieutenant Brush?”

  The older man turned and gave him a once-over from head to toe. “Yes. You are?”