A Baby Before Dawn. Linda CastilloЧитать онлайн книгу.
her? Was he already amongst the throngs of people in the lobby?
“Where is he?” the second clerk asked.
Lily scanned the atrium. Several groups of people gathered near the potted palms in the center of the room. A few more stood near the gift shop. Beyond the glass revolving door, the lights of an ambulance flashed red and blue.
“I don’t know,” Lily said. “He was in the cafeteria. He had a gun and fired a shot at me. I think he may have followed me up here.”
“Honey, maybe you ought to sit down.”
The older clerk rose and moved around the counter. “I called nine-one-one.”
Lily didn’t think the cops could get there fast enough if the gunman decided to start shooting. She took one more look around the room, but didn’t see the man. “Where’s security?”
“They’re on the way,” said the older clerk. “They’ve been tied up all night with this blackout. People get crazy when it’s dark. Whole city’s gone mad.”
A gunshot shattered the relative peace of the lobby. On instinct, Lily crouched low, shocked the man would open fire with so many people around. In her peripheral vision she saw both clerks duck. To her right, a young security officer ran toward her, his pistol ready in his hand.
“Halt! Security! Drop the weapon now!”
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
The security officer clutched his shoulder and went down. Lily saw blood on his uniform. She looked around wildly but couldn’t spot the shooter. Screams filled the atrium as people scrambled for cover.
Dropping to her hands and knees, she crawled toward a grouping of furniture and potted plants. She could feel her breaths coming hard and fast. Her heart pounded so hard she thought it might hammer its way right out of her chest.
Setting her hand protectively over her abdomen, she peered over the back of the sofa. The lobby had gone nearly silent, as if holding its breath in anticipation of the next burst of violence. The shooter was nowhere in sight. Had he gone? After her encounter with him in the cafeteria, she was surprised he’d ventured into a crowded area. Unless she was the target.
The notion was ludicrous considering her humdrum lifestyle. These days all she did was work, in anticipation of the birth of her child. She was saving as much money as possible so she could give her baby the security she deserved.
Lily might have believed all of this was random. That she’d just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then she remembered he’d whispered her name, and she knew this was not indiscriminate. But why on earth would someone target her?
She thought about the security officer who’d been shot. From where she crouched she could see him on the floor. Clutching his shoulder, he spoke into his radio. The need to help him taunted her. If she hadn’t been pregnant, she might have attempted it or at least tried to find an EMT to help her move him out of the line of fire. But she had to think of her child now. That meant staying put until help arrived. Where the hell were the police?
Movement to her right snagged her attention. Adrenaline burst through her when she realized it was the gunman. He walked calmly, brazenly among the frightened, cowering people, pointing his weapon but not shooting. As if he were searching for someone in particular.
Looking for her?
Terror closed over her like a giant, smothering hand. Closing her eyes, Lily fought a rise of panic. From his bulk, she could tell this wasn’t the same man she’d encountered in the basement, which meant there was more than one shooter. What in the name of God was going on here?
Gun drawn, the man systematically searched the atrium. People whimpered as he passed them by. Lily prayed he didn’t shoot. A terrible sense of helplessness descended over her. Crouching lower, she raised her head and peered over the sofa back. The shooter was less than thirty feet away, his eyes narrowed and scanning, the gun ready at his side.
Knowing she had mere seconds before he discovered her hiding place, she looked around for another. The front revolving doors were too far away; she’d have to cover too much open ground to reach them. Behind her, a dark hallway led to the public restrooms and a bank of pay phones. She didn’t get down here often, but she was pretty sure there was an emergency exit at the end. If she could reach the hall, she could sneak out the door undetected. But she had to move. Now.
Never taking her eyes from the man with the gun, she crawled backward toward the darkened corridor. Twenty feet away, he ordered several people facedown on the floor. Lily prayed he spared them, but she didn’t stop moving.
She was midway to her destination when a subtle noise from behind her nearly stopped her heart. She looked over her shoulder to see the dark figure of another man rush her. All she could think was that there was a third shooter, and her pulse went wild. A yelp escaped her an instant before he pressed his hand to her mouth.
“If you want to live, don’t make a sound,” he said, and dragged her into the corridor.
Chapter Two
If not for his military training, Chase would have surely walked into a bullet. It wasn’t the first time his instincts had saved his life. Maybe this time, they’d saved Lily’s life, too.
He almost didn’t see her. Not because of the darkness or the throngs of frightened people. When he’d entered the hospital ten minutes ago, he hadn’t been looking for a pregnant woman.
But a man never forgot certain things about a woman he’d once loved. Chase had spotted Lily from thirty feet away in near total darkness. Despite her bulging midsection, he’d known immediately it was her. He would know her if he were blind and deaf. He would know her by touch alone. By smell. By the way she breathed.
He couldn’t believe she was pregnant. Couldn’t believe she’d moved on to another man so quickly. He had to bank a quick rise of jealousy.
But there was no time for petty emotions now. From the balcony above the atrium lobby, he’d counted two shooters, possibly three. He didn’t like the odds, but he’d faced worse. For now, he had to focus on moving her out of there without either of them getting shot.
Lily struggled against him as he pulled her into the darkened hall. Terror and panic came off her in waves. She thought he was one of the gunmen, that he meant her harm, but there’d been no time to identify himself let alone talk her into letting him help her.
“It’s Chase,” he whispered. “Calm down. You know I won’t hurt you.”
She went still, but he could feel her trembling violently. Her breaths came in fast, short bursts from her nose. He’d approached her from behind and wrapped his right arm around her abdomen, placing his left hand over her mouth. Her body pressed flush against his. It was more lush than he remembered and so soft and warm that for a moment all he could think of was sinking into her and never letting her go. That the old attraction was still sharp after so many months shocked him almost as much as her pregnancy.
“I’m going to take my hand from your mouth,” he said in a low voice. “Don’t scream or those goons with guns are going to come calling. You got that?”
She nodded.
Slowly, he removed his hand.
She turned to face him. In the semidarkness her big green eyes looked black against her pale complexion. As always, she’d pulled her long curly red hair into a no-nonsense ponytail at her nape. She looked the same as last time he’d seen her. The same as in every dream he’d had about her in the months they’d been apart. Except for the soft roundness of her belly.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered.
Because he wasn’t quite sure how to answer, he eased her to arm’s length and looked her over. “Are you all right? Did they hurt you?”
“I’m