Midnight Hero - By Diana Duncan Page 0,38
bad guys are hunting me. I’m as defenseless as a naked pawn on a chessboard. I can’t run, can’t evade. Can’t fight. All I can do is pray SWAT reaches me before the hunters do. The odds aren’t great.”
“Remember, one pawn can still win the game,” Bailey said softly.
“This will even the odds some.” Con passed him the Uzi and the Kevlar hood.
Syrone tried to return the gun. “You can’t give me your weapon!”
Con had known from the minute they’d discovered the wounded man he couldn’t do anything else. If the robbers found Syrone defenseless, he was dead. At least Con had given him a fighting chance. Unlike his own dad, maybe Syrone would go home to his wife. Wouldn’t leave devastated kids. “I have. I’ll kill the emergency lights before we leave. Anyone who ventures in won’t be able to see, and they’ll be silhouetted against the doorway. Just look real carefully before you pull the trigger. My teammates will tear a strip off my ass if I armed the guy who shoots them.”
“Will do.” Syrone offered his right hand. “Don’t get tagged and bagged, Conall.”
Con shook the broad hand. “Likewise, Syrone.”
Syrone gave him a broad wink. “Too bad you’re a wimpy SWAT boy. You would have made one hell of a Marine.”
Con chuckled. “We’ll settle that on the shooting range after you’re healed.”
“Lord willing, it’s a date. Our second. So I might let you hold my hand.”
Bailey unfastened the straps on her vest. “He should have this, too.”
Syrone’s glance collided with Con’s. Both combat experienced, each knew what the other was thinking. If the enemy got past the barricades and close enough for a body shot, Syrone was doomed anyway. Syrone offered a weak wave. “You’re on the run, you need it more. Besides, it would make me look fat.”
Bailey was too smart to miss the unspoken message. She planted a kiss on Syrone’s cheek. “Stay safe.”
“You too, Bailey.” Syrone leaned into his pillows and propped the Uzi across his lap. “Look after one another.”
Con glanced at Bailey. Sorrow and tenderness softened her face. He held her gaze, telling her without words he, too, found it unbearable to walk away from their injured friend. “Will do.”
Con knelt and tugged the Kevlar hood over Syrone’s head. He spread his leather jacket over the other man to add an extra layer of warmth. “Watch this for me,” he whispered in Syrone’s ear. “There’s something special, something sparkly for my girl in the pocket. If they take me out, make sure she gets it.”
Syrone’s eyes widened. “You bet,” he whispered back. “Guard it with my life.” A frown creased his brow. “Like you told me, you’d better plan on giving your love to your woman personally.”
“Always wise to have a backup plan.” Con rose. He disabled the emergency lights, and then boxed in the open side of the mattress with a third dresser. Sealing Syrone inside what he sincerely prayed wasn’t his final resting place. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he led Bailey out of the store and into the darkened mall.
Keeping to the shadows, they crept toward One Hour Photo, intending to fill their squirt guns. He’d feel better when he had a weapon again.
Using the crowbar Bailey had added to her pack while she was waiting for him to set off the sprinklers, he broke into the booth and then the locked cabinet containing acetic acid.
“Careful not to get any of this stuff on you,” Bailey cautioned. “It’s extremely caustic.”
They loaded the four squirt guns and then exited the booth.
Bailey swayed on her feet, and he grabbed her shoulders. “Steady, sweetheart.”
She pressed her palm to her forehead. “I’m a bit lightheaded.”
He rolled his wrist and consulted his watch. “No wonder. It’s nearly seventeen hundred and you haven’t had anything to eat or drink all day. Not to mention the toll of stress and trauma. Once I get you out the access door to safety, make them feed you, okay?”
“I don’t have much of an appetite.”
“You need to eat. Promise me you will.”
“Okay.” Still too listless, she glanced toward the mall’s main doors. “I guess we head back toward the bank now.”
Without warning, an enormous explosion shook the building. Grinding crashes rolled up the walkway from the bank end of the mall, and then a series of smaller crashes echoed in succession.
Bailey jumped. “What was that?”
He had to force his heart out of his throat and back into his chest before he could speak. He sidled around the booth,