Page 66 of Every Last One
Maria met Gail’s gaze, not sure what her goal had been in making that declaration. The effect had Maria running cold. “And I will get to him, but first we need to do something withhimso he’s no longer a threat.” She nudged her head toward the gunman.
“He’s not dead?” Gail whimpered.
His chest was still rising and falling. “He’s just out cold.” Not that she trusted he’d stay down for long.
Gail rubbed her arms as she stared at him. “But he can’t hurt us anymore.”
Maria could see that Gail was in shock, likely still reeling from her fall. Even Maria was uneasy having been terrorized by this man. To see him inert was almost difficult for her mind to accept. Still a voice of caution told her she had to snap out of it. “We need to move him.”
Gail looked at her, rubbing her throat. “Move him? Move him where?”
It was a good question, but Maria had one idea. “There’s a storage closet down the hall. It locks from the outside.”
Gail licked her lips. “So if he, uh, comes to then he can’t get out?”
There was a release latch inside if one knew where to look. Maria wasn’t going to obsess about that right now. Besides, they’d have his gun. “Just help me, Gail, please!” She desperately wanted to get this man dealt with so she could get back to Jordon.
Both went over to the man, and they each hooked an arm under one of his and tugged. The man barely budged.
“He’s so heavy,” Gail said, straightening out, and she put a hand to her forehead.
Maria studied the woman. She was still recovering from her fall, and her left cheek and eye where she was struck were swollen and turning purple. There was no way she could physically drag this man down the hall. Maria pressed the gun back into Gail’s palm. “If he moves…” She didn’t want to put the rest into words as if that made her thoughts more an intention and a sin.
Gail licked her lips and nodded. “I know what to do.”
“I’m going to find a wheelchair to bring back here. We’ll load him on it, and use it to get him to the storage room.”
Maria left the room without looking back. Her heart was pulling her toward Jordon, and she couldn’t resist checking on him. She was going toward the nurses’ station that way anyhow.
“J,” she said, sinking down to the floor at his side.
He groaned, and his eyelashes fluttered. “My sweetheart,” he said.
Hot tears blazed trails down her cheeks. “You must hang in there, okay? You will be all right.”You have to be!She checked him over, and the external bleeding had been staunched. But she remained concerned about internal damage, possible bleeding, and infection. His face was pale. “I’ll get you help soon. I swear I will.” She went to get up, but he grabbed her arm, stopping her.
“In my pants pocket… get it. I want you to have it.”
She did as he requested and found a small box. Her heart fluttered. “What is this?”
“My great-great-grandmother’s ring. Will you…” Jordon winced. “Marry me?”
She opened the lid. A gold band with a marquise-shaped diamond. Fresh tears spilled down Maria’s cheeks. She’d been prepared to reason with him, assuming his text was sent out of desperation, as if he expected he would die today. But he had the ring in his pocket. He’d come to work prepared. Was he intending to ask her today anyhow, maybe after work?
Jordon squeezed her leg, and she took the ring from the box and slipped it on her ring finger. “Yes, Jordon Maddox, I will be your wife.” She leaned over and kissed him. “I’m sorry, though, I must go. But I’ll be quick.” She tapped another kiss to his lips, but forced herself to move before her emotions paralyzed her any further. She was torn between her charge, that of Gail and Phoebe Chapman, and the man she loved. But as long as the gunman was breathing, he remained a threat. He’d have come with friends too, who might want revenge.
She ran toward the first wheelchair she could see and marched with it down the hall to Phoebe’s room. Her heart was pounding as she rounded the doorway. Her fears hadher imagining the man was back on his feet and that he’d overpowered Gail and held the gun again.
Maria entered the room. The man was still on the floor where he was when she’d left.
Gail ran over to Maria, and the two of them worked to hoist the man’s dead weight off the floor into the wheelchair. It was intensive labor, and even Maria was heaving for breath. Her job as a nurse had made her strong, conditioning her to lift a patient’s weight. She suspected this scenario had more to do with the risk and her innate fears. Jordon was so pale, and he was drifting. She spun the ring on her finger. Was she going to get the chance to walk down the aisle and marry the man she loved? Or was the bright future they had planned going to combust to ash?
THIRTY-SEVEN
4:05 PM
Sandra was gathered with Brice, Kreiger, and Neal around Luis and his laptop. Live video from the fourth floor was playing out on the screen. Nurse Torres had just come out of the Chapman room and was hustling toward Jordon Maddox. She kept giving furtive looks over her shoulder.
“Where’s the gunman?” Brice asked. “Did you see him leave the Chapman room earlier?”
