by India Kells
“No offense, but she doesn’t look pregnant. She looks … stunned.”
One of the guards disguised a snort with a cough. Mac ignored him.
“And how will we pass this thing for my sister-in-law?”
Wesley went around her, that annoyed expression on his face. “That’s not important. With a couple of blankets on the stretcher, from a distance, nobody will notice.”
Right on cue, the two EMTs came in, and were surrounded and sedated in no time. Two security guards switched clothing with them. By the door, Mac took Matthew’s coat and handed it to Wesley who carefully avoided her gaze as well as her touch. The black pea coat was a tad snug on him, but it would do. As he was buttoning the coat, she took Matthew’s woolen cap and placed it on his blond hair. Mac pulled the collar up, and Wesley locked gazes with her. For an instant, she would have given her soul for one kiss from this man. She remembered why it was preferable to steer clear from him, for the sake of her family. And for his.
When he looked away, the connection was broken. The team was prepared. The doll, wrapped up like a mummy with a bulging belly was strapped on the stretcher. The two guards in disguise nodded, ready to roll. Mac put her coat on and touched her gun in the small of her back.
Show time.
Chapter 28
The small village of Almirth was a quick drive from the castle by car, but at the back of an ambulance, bouncing in front of the strapped doll, with Wesley ignoring her, Mac thought it was the longest ride of her life.
The health center of Almirth had been relocated in the old town hall when a brand new building was designed. Now doubled in size, it has been in renovation for the past year. The new entrance was sheltered behind another construction. Just before they got out, Wesley looked at her.
“It has been arranged. The last delivery room, at the end of the corridor on the second floor has been set for us. It’s not in the delivery yard, and is isolated enough to see threat coming. All patients are on the first floor. Stay close.”
They exited and rolled the stretcher past the nurse who nodded at them and past the delivery ward. After a quick elevator ride, they went to the end room. Once in place, they deflated the dummy, folding it with the blanket on the stretcher so the guards could return at the truck and start surveillance.
Once in the room, Mac removed her coat, checking her ammo. The phone in Wes’ pocket buzzed twice. “The men are in place. We just wait.”
Mac went to the window, carefully looking out without being seen. “No news about Jenny?”
Wesley checked his phone. “Nothing yet. But I’m sure everything is going fine.”
Mac turned to answer when the lights blinked before going out. Wesley took his side arm and came near the door. “That was quick,” he murmured when peeking through the door. “Shit.”
“What shit?” Mac came behind him and before he answered, she knew. There was smoke coming from the hallway. “As you said, he was quick, and no surprise there. We were expected.” The fact that Jenny had been about to deliver any day now must have been taken into account.
Wesley opened his mouth to reply and the fire alarm went off.
Mac peeked through the window and saw nurses and doctors rolling patients out of the building. The police and firefighters would be soon here. Calvi was smart, getting everyone out, leaving only who remained inside to shoot.
Wesley checked the hallway again, but this time, it was almost completely filled with smoke. He looked at her and Mac nodded. There was no doubt Calvi was in the building. And with him, so were his men. Only with the entire team already in place could they have started a fire so quickly. Wesley and she had to get out of the room and find better positions, otherwise they would be trapped.
Wesley went first and kept low. Before following him, Mac checked the emergency staircase behind them and locked it. The last thing they needed was to be surprised.
Apart from the light coming from the windows in the empty rooms, only the red glow of the emergency light colored the smoke. Mac found it difficult not to cough and her eyes started to water. She crouched even farther, almost on her hands and knees. At least in this position, they were able to see the legs of possible targets coming in their direction.
They were approaching the main staircase. Wesley took position across the opening, attempting to see if someone was downstairs. Mac remained on the other side, trying to back him up. As there was still nobody, Wesley continued to the remaining part of the hallway. When Mac made a step to follow him, gunshots erupted. Mac fell back and Wesley didn’t have a choice but to leap forward. One or two men were coming up the stairs and now, Mac and Wesley were separated. Which may be a good thing, giving them both a better view of their targets.
As Mac took position and started firing, she heard a loud boom in the background. After a moment, she realized that someone was trying to force the escape door open. Good or bad guys? She looked at Wesley shooting at the men, when she noticed the smoke billowing strangely behind him. The air had been stirred. Even though it would put her in a vulnerable position, she crouched forward. It took only two seconds for the haze to reveal one form, and then another. Mac spared one precious moment to aim, and the two silhouettes were on the ground before they could really make her.
Wes, still trying to get a clear shot at the men in the stairs, nodded at her.
Behind, the sound of something trying to knock the escape door down became more insistent. Mac had no choice. She had to crawl back, find a steady position to shoot them dead.
As she signaled Wes, gesturing her intention, he shook his head. No surprise he wouldn’t agree with her plan.
What could she say to convince him? Instead of fighting, she mouthed to him to be safe, and crawled back into the smoke.
Now isolated, with so many sounds coming from the shooting, the sirens outside, it was difficult to pinpoint any real threat coming her way. She decided to hide in the last room, almost facing the battered exit door. That way, at least she had a chance of an unobstructed view and an escape point, if needed be.
Mac leaned behind the door of the room, her throat raw due to the smoke.
The escape door whined under the hits and soon couldn’t resist anymore. It flew off its hinges and crashed on the floor.
Mac still waited. She had time on her side and she needed to use it wisely. One step too fast and it would be over.
Instead, she closed her eyes, and focused on the faint noise of their footsteps and hoped they wouldn’t be looking inside the rooms, convinced that she was at the firefight farther down the hallway.
Now was the time. She couldn’t wait any longer to avoid losing them in the smoke and put Wesley in danger.
Her move was calculated, and when she went out of the room, she didn’t hesitate.
Immediately, she recognized Calvi’s bald head from behind. There weren’t two, there were four. Three men surrounding Calvi. Her move was to jump out of the room and drop them all dead, but she shot two of them down, two guards. There was no time for her to fire more bullets as they swerved to retaliate. Instead, she rolled to her feet and sprinted for the escape door. She ran as quickly as her legs could, trying to find cover under the flight of stairs. Two bullets whistled past her head. She didn’t stop, remaining out of sight of her two pursuers. She was glad they both came after her, at least Wesley had his section contained for now.
The building only had two stories and as she arrived to the main floor, one quick try at the door confirmed that it was blocked from the outside. She had to go lower. It was out of the question to bring the fight elsewhere. And Calvi wouldn’t risk it either, she was certain of it. Instead, she headed for the basement. The door was unlocked when she rushed through it.
Smoke was less dense in here, most of the area was flooded with neon lights. Piles of boxes, two metal racking. Two doors at the end. No time to wait. She went for the doors, and started firing at the two neon lights. Immediately the room became dark apart from the window on the
door leading to the staircase. For a brief moment, Mac feared Calvi had run back for Wes, but when the escape door burst open and the two men started firing blindly inside the room, she was relieved.
The exit door finally closed behind them, darkness returned and the shower of bullets stopped.
Silence stretched for a long moment, as Mac couldn’t detect any movement coming from them.
Someone stumbled on an object and cursed. Mac laid on her side and saw a form trying to crawl behind one of the racking. She fired one bullet and hit, not killing him, but it was a body hit. Unfortunately, the man was still a threat. The two targets fired in her direction and that’s when Mac realized she had made a mistake by revealing her position. As bullets started to become more and more accurate, she backed against the door behind her. Blindly, she tried to open it, but it was locked.
“Are you trapped, little scarlet mouse?”
The voice of Calvi made her blood freeze, but instead of moving, she tried to locate where he was speaking from. If she was to make a move, she had to make the right one. One that would count.
The second man moved, and moaned. Mac prayed the blood loss would make him pass out quickly.
“Don’t be afraid of me, little mouse. I don’t want to kill you. I only want you to suffer. As we speak, my mercenaries are on their way to kill your man.”
It was a lie, a way of taunting her, but her jaw locked at the thought of this man touching her family. Again, she dared to peek where she had shot Calvi’s man. The man had almost crawled out of sight, his feet were still visible, unmoving.
“Come on, little mouse, speak to me. You’re there, near that door. I can almost see you.”
Mac heard movement to her left and decided to slither toward the man she hoped was dead by now. As she did, she noticed motion and fired. Calvi cursed and started laughing. “It always amazes me how women can be so dangerous when they’re resentful. Especially when they’re at fault. It will only finish the way I intend. The man you cherish dead at your feet and you, begging for me to end your life.”
His voice seemed to come from another position, but she couldn’t be sure where he stood. As she knelt to get a better view, the escape door opened and closed.
Mac rushed to the door and found it blocked from the outside. She was trapped. As she went to check on Calvi’s man, she found him dead, as she hoped. Smoke was making it more difficult to see and breathe.
Frustration closing in on panic, she picked up her phone and dialed for Gabrielle.
“Mac! Damn it, where are you?”
“Gab, listen, Calvi just escaped. Check the outside doors.”
“I’m dealing with the police, all the doors are covered, where are you?”
“Locked in the basement. Wes?”
“I don’t have news yet. The two guards who drove you here were found dead. I have a team prepared to go in. I’m sending someone for you now.”
Gabrielle ended the call and Mac went for the door, but made sure to be ready if it wasn’t friendlies coming in.
But the man who opened the door was definitely one of their own. He nodded and they both went straight outside where Gabrielle was waiting for her. Mac examined the building and saw smoke but no fire.
“The fire hasn’t caught up.”
“No, I bet they used smoke bombs within the ventilation systems. That would be the most efficient way to propagate gas over such a long period of time. Our team is making its way inside.”
“There were at least two in the staircase, I downed two in the western hallway and two in the eastern hallway. One in the basement. Only Calvi fled.”
Gabrielle nodded. “So now, only the entrance and main staircase are to be secured. The main floor is under our control right now.” She stopped talking, listening to her earpiece. “The entrance is secured. And our team has one man in custody. Wesley is well and coming down.”
Relief caught in her throat so violently, Mac started coughing and couldn’t stop. The air wheezing through her throat, her eyes flooded with tears, she was forced to put a knee down, desperate to catch her breath. It was difficult to push panic down and concentrate on inhaling and exhaling. People swarmed around her, she heard Gabrielle shouting for paramedics and before she could react, she was picked up and installed on a stretcher. She wanted to tell them she was all right, but it was impossible to make a sound. When an EMT placed an oxygen mask over her face, she drew a decent gulp of air at last.
As she breathed again, Mac pushed against the hands maintaining her down until someone growled in her ear to stay still. Wes.
She stopped fighting and wiped at her tears to finally see the man standing next to her, a breathing mask on his face, blood on his arm. She reached for his injury but he shook his head.
“Flesh wound caused by wall shrapnel.”
Mac nodded, trying to get her voice back. “I couldn’t get him. Calvi escaped.”
“I know. But his army has been significantly reduced, because of you.”
She wanted to touch his hand, but he stepped back, avoiding contact. “The doctors here will take a look at you. I need my arm bandaged and a check up, too. I swallowed enough smoke to turn into a dragon.”
It was a poor attempt at a joke. One she knew was used to lighten the situation and allow him to escape. After all, it was what she wanted, wasn’t it?
Chapter 29
It had taken Mac most of the afternoon and part of the evening to get discharged from the health center, while being escorted by at least four security guards at all times, if not by Gabrielle or Sullivan. Lance was still with her brother and Jenny, but no information had filtered yet.
The doctors had been worried about the damages to her lungs, or about the chemical compounds that could have made their way to in her bloodstream. After numerous tests and X-rays, she was deemed fit enough to leave. Apart from her hoarse throat, she felt fine. Finally able to move without an escort of doctors, Mac searched for Wes, but he was nowhere to be found.
Gabrielle was waiting for her in the lobby.
“Where is Wes?”
“Gone to overview the security details at the castle. Also, he’s supposed to check in with Lance, to make sure everything is all right on his side, go and enforce safety there if need be. Why? Didn’t he come to see you before he left?”
“No. I also wanted to know if he’s fine. The last time I saw him, he was coughing almost as badly as I was, and bleeding.”
“Flesh wound. Nothing to worry about. As for the lungs, he fared better than you. Probably because he didn’t have to run as much.”
“Good.”
Gabrielle waited a second.
“No, not good. From what Lance and Sully were telling me, you and Wes—”
Mac locked her jaw. “There is no me and Wes. I ended it quickly. It was messing with my head, and I need every single brain cell I can spare to bring Calvi down. Where is your car?”
Mac walked past her friend to the exit door. Gabrielle followed without a word. Reaching the car parked at the curb, they quickly took place and drove away.
Mac looked at the sights of Almirth with different eyes. Now the entire town was at risk. And where was Calvi? Was he hiding somewhere nearby, or did he fall back to his last lair, to lick his wounds and plan his retaliation?
“Gab, any information about Calvi’s men? Those from the health clinic?”
“We could identify a couple of them, but I had to leave way for the police on that one. They agreed to provide us with all they found, but they had to be in charge. I think it’s a male thing. Or a Scottish thing.”
“They’re going to get killed, they’re not trained for that type of man Calvi is.”
Gabrielle shrugged. “It’s out of my hands now. Some of the men were identified. All pretty similar. Assassins, loyal to Calvi and dangerous. They lived under the radar when they joined his crew. They’re suspected of a lot, convicted of nothing.”
“Couldn’t we use Rodriguez on that one, press his
buttons a little more?”
Gabrielle considered her suggestion. “I fear we would lose some edge over him. I think at some point his fear of Calvi would come up, and dampened his fear of his wife discovering he’s a pervert.”
“Yeah. So now, we’re back at square one. A bunch of dead men, and the only one I want to see dead, nowhere to be found.”
“I wouldn’t say we’re back at square one. Your brother and sister-in-law are safe for now. Once the baby is born, we will move them to a safe house, one of Beatrice’s. You can trust her that apart from me and you, and Lance who will escort them, nobody, not even from Purgatory, will know where they will be hiding. They won’t be happy about it, but they will eventually listen to reason.”