Midnight Hero - By Diana Duncan Page 0,40
them talking. Keep them talking.” As long as they were talking, they weren’t killing.
“Ten-four.” Wyatt strode off.
“Excuse me.” An authoritative female voice demanded his attention.
He spun around and came face-to-face with a woman. She appeared to be a few years younger than his mother, tall, regal, with blue eyes as icy as the freezing rain pummeling his head. “I assume you are the person in charge?”
Great, just what he needed. A curious bystander or, worse, an irate neighbor complaining about all the noise. “Yes. You need to vacate the premises immediately, ma’am.”
The brunette clutched her fur coat more tightly to her chest, and fear slashed her arrogant mask. “I’m Dr. Ellen Chambers. My daughter Bailey works in the mall. I’ve been trying to reach her for hours.” She paused to clear the tremor from her voice. “You just mentioned hostages. What’s happened?”
She had his immediate attention and sincere empathy. They both had loved ones in the hot zone. “Dr. Chambers, I’m Officer Aidan O’Rourke. Let’s move across the street to the command center. You look like you could use some hot coffee, and the family liaison officer will update you on what we know so far.”
“O’Rourke?” Her voice frosted over, colder than her eyes, as she studied him. “The resemblance is unmistakable. You’re related to Conall.”
“Yes, ma’am. My brother Con is dating your daughter. He’s also inside the mall.”
“I might have known.” Dislike hardened her sharp features. “Trouble sparks in that boy’s wake. Along with a lot of dangerous pheromones. If I were a betting woman, I’d wager my Russian fox coat Conall O’Rourke got my daughter into this mess.”
“Command, this is Alpha Five.” Hunter’s transmission broke over Aidan’s headset. “Snipers in position. Ready with that ten-twelve. Over.”
About damn time. Aidan held up a hand that wasn’t as steady as he would have liked to Dr. Chambers. “Command. Go ahead, Alpha Five. Over.”
“I have a confirmed visual. Alpha One is signaling for all he’s worth.” Aidan heard the grin of pride in Hunter’s voice. “He might be flying solo, but he’s already taken out two suspects. Over.”
“Ten-four. Continue surveillance.” Sweet relief streamed through Aidan. He closed his eyes and breathed a brief, silent prayer of thanks. Then he confronted Dr. Chambers’s antagonistic gaze. “No, ma’am. Con did not get Bailey into this mess. But he will get her out.”
Inside the mall, crouched behind the One Hour Photo booth, Bailey watched Con’s capable hands begin to execute a graceful, complicated ballet. “What are you doing?”
“The red dots…the laser sights fixed on us? They’re coming from the parking lot. Alpha Team’s snipers can see us as well through their night vision scopes as if we were standing right in front of them. I’m telling them what’s going on.”
“How do you know it’s them, and what they’re doing?”
“For one thing, if bad guys were behind those rifles, we’d already be dead. As far as knowing what SWAT is up to, we’ve set up incident sites together so many times, we could all do it in our sleep.” In response to Con’s hand motion, the red dot on her chest bobbed back and forth, and he grinned. “Wave to Hunter, sweetheart.”
Hunter Garrett. The wide-shouldered, soft-spoken cop with a golden mane of hair and the menacing grace of a stalking lion. His sharp, blue-gray eyes didn’t miss a trick, and his southern-bred manners were impeccable. He had a face as beautiful as an angel and the unerring trigger finger of the devil. If Hunter had his rifle trained on her, she had nothing to worry about. She sent him a wave, along with a wan smile.
“The boys in black are on site and ready to kick bank-robber butt.”
Wild hope cut through the dulling edge of pain and terror. “Will they break down the door, storm in and rescue us now?”
He laughed. “Only on TV. When engaged in a standoff, usually the longer the scenario drags on, the better.” He shook his head. “No, we’re in for a wait.”
“What about Syrone and the hostages? Syrone needs a hospital, and this kind of stress can’t be good for Nan or the baby.”
“We need time for the suspects to relax and climb off the razor edge of reactive behavior. Time for SWAT to plan and rehearse a dynamic entry if needed.” Con rubbed his hand over his hair. “Time buys lives, darlin’.”
Her emotions seesawed from high to low for the millionth time. “Feels like we’ve been trapped in here forever.”
He moved as if to take her in his