The Baby's Guardian (14 page)

This one shook the entire building.

And Sabrina got a whiff of something that caused her heart to pound even harder.

Smoke.

“What now?” Shaw cursed.

The building’s fire alarm started, the shrill noise filling the flop room. The sound didn’t do much to steady Shaw’s nerves, which were already on full alert. His body was primed for a fight, but he hoped it wouldn’t come down to that. There’d already been enough battles to last him a lifetime.

Shaw drew his gun and tried to finish the call with Lieutenant Rico. Whatever was going on out there, it couldn’t be good, but maybe Rico already had everything under control. However, Shaw knew that wasn’t the case when the lieutenant came back on the line.

“We have a big problem,” Rico yelled over the piercing alarm. “In addition to the car bombs, someone set a fire in the men’s bathroom. The fire department’s on the way, and I have men responding with fire extinguishers. But I’m short-staffed because a lot of officers are at the memorial service.”

Well, that explained the smoke and the blasts. “How bad’s the damage?”

“We’re just now assessing the situation. But I can tell you the car bombs have broken windows and damaged
other vehicles. We probably have some injuries. There were three blasts, two from the parking lot across the street and one from a car parked illegally curbside. We’re closing off the area until the bomb squad can give us an all clear, but Captain, you should evacuate. We don’t know if there are any other explosives or fires.”

Hell, this was not what he wanted to hear.

“Keep me posted,” Shaw ordered the lieutenant, and he put his phone away so his hands would be free.

There were no windows or secondary doors that he could use for evacuation, so he would have to get Sabrina out through the main hall. And he probably shouldn’t delay. The smoke wouldn’t be good for her or the baby, and that was especially true if the fire wasn’t limited to the men’s room.

“What’s happening?” Sabrina asked.

He shook his head. “I’m not sure, but we have to get out of here now.”

Her eyes widened, and her hands dropped from her belly to her side. “Is it safe to do that?”

She looked terrified and likely was, but this was something he couldn’t sugarcoat. “It should be safe, but just in case I want you to stay next to me, and if anything goes wrong, keep down.”

Sabrina nodded. Then, she nodded again when he motioned for her to walk with him toward the door. She certainly didn’t look confident about this, but then neither was Shaw. He couldn’t wait though because if the fire spread, then they could be trapped in a burning building.

As if the building had heard him, the overhead sprinklers came on and began spraying water all over the
room. And on them. Shaw tightened his grip on his weapon, disengaged the lock and cracked the door just a fraction so he could peer out into the hall.

He held his breath and braced himself for an attack.

Thankfully, there wasn’t one. There were some officers scurrying toward the front of the building, but his end of the hall was empty.

Well, other than the spray from the sprinklers and a few wispy threads of smoke.

“Smoke,” he mumbled under his breath. He remembered the fire at the hospital. The gunmen had used it as a literal smokescreen to help them escape.

Was this a smokescreen, too?

Was it meant to cover up something else that was going on?

If so, Shaw had to trust that his officers would put an end to it before it became a bigger threat. Right now, he had to focus all his energy on saving Sabrina.

“This way,” he instructed her.

Sabrina moved directly behind him, but he could sense her hesitation when she realized the direction where they were headed. “We’re going out through the dispatch exit?” she asked, her voice practically a shout over the fire alarms.

“Yeah.” And Shaw was well aware that the last time he’d taken her through that door, Danny had fired shots at them. But Danny was dead, and he couldn’t do a repeat attack. “The parking area off dispatch is secure. Guarded at all times. A person wouldn’t have been able to get in there and plant a bomb.”

He hoped. He also hoped another gunman wasn’t perched on a rooftop.

Shaw continued to lead her down the hall, but he stopped when he reached an open office door to his left. No one appeared to be lurking there, ready to strike. But just in case, he checked that room and then over his shoulder.

Hell.

There were open doors behind them, too. At least a dozen of them. He hadn’t considered open doors and empty rooms a threat before, but he certainly did now. He needed to hurry and get Sabrina out of there because he was getting a bad feeling about all of this.

“Why is this happening?” she asked.

Shaw heard her, but he didn’t answer. He kept his attention on their surroundings. When they were outside and away from the blare of the alarms, he’d give her his theories. Maybe it was a terrorist attack. Or maybe it was an attack of the ordinary variety. If there was such a thing.

But he also had to consider that this was linked to everything that had been going on for the past two days. The hostages. Sabrina’s kidnappings. The subsequent attacks. That’s why he couldn’t let down his guard. Nor could he hang around and take control of this new crime scene. He had to get Sabrina far away and to a safe house.

The tile floor was slick from the overhead sprinklers. Shaw slowed so Sabrina wouldn’t slip. It seemed to take forever, but they finally made it to the door, and Shaw placed his hand on the push handle. He wouldn’t just shove it wide open, though the smoke and the need to get
Sabrina out of there made him want to do just that. But he couldn’t. He had to make sure the area was indeed secure.

He didn’t hear any sounds, other than the fire alarm, but Shaw felt the movement behind him. He turned, and in that split-second glimpse, he saw Sabrina.

Her eyes wide with fear. The gloved hand over her mouth.

And her attacker pressing a gun to her head.

S
ABRINA’S HEART SLAMMED
against her chest.

Her breath froze.

She couldn’t see the person who grabbed her from behind, but she felt his viselike grip on her shoulder. She felt it more when he hooked his arm around her neck and crushed her back against his chest.

In that same split second, he jammed the gun to her head.

She tried to call out to Shaw, but the person loosened his grip on her throat so he could slap his hand over her mouth. Not that Shaw would have heard her anyway over the noise.

But then Shaw looked back.

And no doubt saw that things had just gone from bad to worse.

Shaw automatically lifted his gun to aim it at her attacker, but the man’s only response was to jam his own weapon even harder against her right temple. He didn’t have to issue a verbal threat because Sabrina had no doubt that he would shoot her or Shaw.

The man shoved her forward to get her moving. Shaw moved, too. Without lowering his gun, he backed up
until he ran into the door. Her attacker used the barrel of his weapon to motion for Shaw to open it.

Oh, God.

He was going to get them outside so he could kidnap her. But who was this, and why was he doing this to her again?

She tried to glance over her shoulder, but the man rammed his chest into her back and propelled her forward, almost into Shaw. The motion sent Shaw into the door again, and he must have hit the push handle, because it opened.

Sunlight spewed into the corridor, and she felt the fresh air reach her lungs. She still couldn’t draw a full breath because her chest was tight with fear. She wasn’t afraid for herself but for the baby and for Shaw.

Shaw continued to back up while he shot volleying glances behind him, at her, and at her attacker. Could Shaw see the man’s face? Did he know who was holding the gun on her?

Despite all the fear and the adrenaline, Sabrina tried to cut through the panic and figure out who was doing this. Rouse? Gavin? Maybe even Newell? It certainly wasn’t Dr. Nicholson, but then maybe it was no one she even knew.

This could be yet another hired gun.

At the gunman’s urging, Sabrina stepped from the building. So did he, and he kicked the door shut behind them. He also maneuvered her so that she was turned toward the dispatch officer, who drew his weapon the moment he spotted them. The gunman was using her as a human shield.

What should she do?

The adrenaline was knifing through her now, and it was hard to keep control of her breathing. Much more of this, and she’d hyperventilate. The only thing that kept her from totally losing it was Shaw. Even though his gaze was fastened on the gunman, Shaw was right there, and she believed with all her heart he would do whatever it took to get her out of this.

But she needed to help.

How?

She glanced around, looking for a weapon or something she could possibly grab if she got the chance.

There wasn’t anything.

Sabrina considered dropping to the ground. Yes, the fall would be risky, but it wasn’t as risky as having that gun pointed at her head. Even if the man’s immediate plan wasn’t to shoot her, something could still go wrong.

The dispatch officer reached for something on the desk just below the keys. A phone. But the gunman obviously saw what was happening.

He turned his gun and fired.

Sabrina braced herself for the gunshot blast, but it was merely a swooshing sound, barely audible over the noise of the fire alarms. That’s when she realized he was using a gun rigged with a silencer.

The dispatch officer collapsed onto the ground, and his gun fell from his hand, landing on the concrete next to him. She wasn’t sure if he was dead, but he certainly wasn’t moving, and there was blood.

Too much.

The gunman positioned her again, moving her closer to the man he’d just shot, and he kicked the gun out
of reach. He didn’t waste any time, and he shoved her forward again. He pulled a set of keys and some kind of remote control from the hooks above the table, and he pressed the button on the keypad so the car’s security system made a loud beep. The lights flashed, and in doing so it identified which car went with the keys he’d taken.

He pushed her in that direction.

Her stomach clenched. He was planning to put her in that car and make a getaway, and unless something happened soon in their favor, Shaw wasn’t going to have a clear shot to stop this monster.

She stared at Shaw, hoping he’d be able to convey to her what she should do. But he only focused on the gunman while they made their way to the car.

When they reached the vehicle, the gunman motioned for Shaw to drop his weapon. “Now!” he growled when Shaw didn’t comply. He moved his gun from her temple to her stomach.

To the baby.

The fear slammed through her. The threat had been horrible enough when it’d been directed at her, but this SOB was threatening to hurt her baby.

Sabrina tried to figure out who’d spoken that threat and launched them into this nightmare, but it was obvious he was trying to disguise his voice. Still, Shaw could no doubt see his face, and unless he was wearing a mask, Shaw knew who they were up against.

Shaw dropped his gun.

Her heart dropped with it.

He was surrendering. He was giving up!

Part of her wanted to scream, to beg him to pick
up his gun again, but she knew she had no choice. He couldn’t risk the baby being hurt.

The gunman kicked Shaw’s weapon under the car, and he took the barrel from her stomach and put it back to her temple. Of course, both she and the baby would die if he shot her point-blank, but she preferred that he keep the gun on her.

But he didn’t.

The gunman aimed it at Shaw.

“Inside the car,” he ordered, his voice still low and raspy.

This wasn’t any better. True, the baby was temporarily safe, but now he had a clean shot of Shaw.

The man kept a tight grip on her, moving his hand from her mouth back to her throat. He squeezed hard and used that pressure to get her moving. He opened the back door of the unmarked car and backed in first so that he was seated. He hauled her next to him, keeping her positioned so that she still couldn’t see his face.

Sabrina considered elbowing him in the gut. She was in the perfect position to do just that. But he had that gun pointed right at Shaw. If she did anything, he would fire.

“Shut the door and drive,” he ordered Shaw. He tossed the keys onto the front seat.

Shaw stood there a moment, and she could see the argument he was having with himself. She was having the same argument. But it was cut short when the gunman scraped the silencer across her cheek. The pain was instant with the metal digging into her skin. He no doubt drew blood. Sabrina didn’t yell out in pain, but it sick
ened her that this person had total control over her, her baby and Shaw.

The veins popped out on Shaw’s neck and forehead, and his hands clenched into fists. For a moment, Sabrina thought he might risk everything and launch himself at the gunman.

He didn’t.

When the gunman started to make another cut on her cheek, Shaw cursed and hurried around the front of the car. He glanced at the fallen dispatch officer and no doubt wanted to call for help. He didn’t do that, either. Shaw threw open the car door, got behind the wheel and started the engine.

“Where to?” Shaw asked.

He met her gaze in the rearview mirror, and Sabrina tried her best to look brave and in control. Shaw had enough on his plate without worrying whether or not she would panic and make this situation even more dangerous than it already was.

“Just drive,” the gunman snarled.

Shaw did. He put the car in gear and drove. He didn’t get far before she saw the security gate. It was tall and metal, and she thought it might stop them. But the gunmen pushed the button on the remote control he’d taken with the keys. The gate slid open.

And Shaw drove through.

“Go left,” the gunman instructed.

A left turn would take them away from the front of the headquarters building and away from the chaos that was going on there because of the car bombings. There were so many officers in the area, all of them scrambling amid the smoke and the fires that the bombs had
created. She saw several injured people lying on the street and sidewalks.