Maya Banks - Softly at Sunrise

She swallowed hard, refusing to give in to the rising panic. She’d withstood the very worst and survived. She would survive this. Her babies were counting on her. Ethan was counting on her. She wouldn’t put him through the hell of her dying all over again.

“Please lower the gun,” she said, allowing her voice to shake. “I can’t think when I’m terrified that you’re going to shoot me. Just lower the gun. I’ll do whatever you want.”

He was wracked by clear indecision. Jennifer started to move, but Rachel put her hand out, pulling her closer to her back to shield her.

Finally he lowered the gun, but he still kept it away from his body. He trained it on the far wall and then settled his hard stare on her.

“You tell them that I want that restraining order lifted and that I want to be able to have access to my daughter. I want that bitch of my wife up here so she can see how serious I am. If she’s not here quickly, I start shooting.”

Rachel hastily punched her contacts button and hurriedly scrolled to Sean’s number, praying he was on duty. She was taking a huge risk in not dialing 911, but she trusted Sean, and he’d let Ethan and his brothers know the situation.

When it started dialing, she put the phone to her ear and kept eye contact with Jennifer’s father so she could be prepared for any sudden mood swing or movement on his part.

“Rachel, fancy hearing from you. How are you, girl?”

Sean’s cheerful voice immediately calmed some of her stark terror.

“This is Rachel Kelly,” she began as if she didn’t know Sean and as though she were calling a regular dispatcher. “Kent Winstead is here in my classroom with a gun, and he has some demands. If his demands aren’t met, he said he’ll start shooting the children.”

More terrified sobs rose from the children crouched under their desks.

Sean was immediately all business. “Simple yes or no, Rachel, are you on speaker phone?”

“No.”

“Okay. I’m going to patch this in to the local and state police. Do you know if any police are already on scene?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, stay with me here. Tell me what his demands are. Let’s keep him appeased. We’ll get you out of this, sweetheart.”

Kent was already growing impatient, and a scowl had darkened his features. His grip on the gun tightened, so she hastily relayed the demands he’d given her. Kent relaxed some when she began to list all he’d asked for.

“I’m being patched in to the person in charge on scene,” Sean said. “I’ve relayed everything you’ve just told me. I need you to keep him talking. Throw him a bone and ask him for his wife’s number so we can call her.”

Rachel let the phone slide slightly from her mouth as she looked at Kent. “They need your wife’s number so they can call her. They’ll do it now.”

“That’s good. That’s real fucking good,” Kent said, nodding his head adamantly. “Let the bitch know what she’s done. She’ll come crawling back, but I don’t want her sorry ass anymore.”

“The number,” Rachel prompted softly.

As he recited the number, Rachel relayed it to Sean.

“Okay, stall for me, sweetheart. Try to keep him calm. A S.W.A.T. team is getting into position even as we speak. My dispatcher has called Sam and has apprised him of the situation. Let him know we’re calling his wife now.”

“They’re calling right now,” Rachel said to Kent.

He nodded his satisfaction, and then he stared toward the windows with a frown. As if deciding he was putting himself at a huge risk, he crossed the room and positioned himself in a corner where there was no clear shot through the window. He wedged himself between two bookcases but kept the gun trained in Rachel’s direction.

“Daddy, please don’t do this,” Jennifer pleaded. “I don’t want you to have to go away. They’ll put you in jail, and I’ll never see you again.”

Rachel squeezed Jennifer, hoping she got the message to remain quiet. Reminding Kent of the huge mistake he’d made would only heighten his agitation, and it could make him do a very stupid thing.

Desperate people did desperate things.

Kent’s expression hardened. “I’m not going anywhere except home with you. It’s your stupid mother who’s going away.”

Jennifer began to quietly sob and buried her face in Rachel’s back.

“What’s taking so long?” Kent demanded. “What are they doing? You need to let them know that if I even think they’re jacking me around, I’ll start shooting. If they don’t think I mean it, just try me.”

Without warning, he pointed the gun upward and shot.

The room exploded and reverberated with the retort. Plaster flew everywhere. Screams rose and utter panic ensued.

“Rachel! Rachel! Goddamn it, Rachel, are you there? Talk to me. Are you all right? Give me the situation.”

Rachel had immediately squatted, covering Jennifer’s body with her own. They huddled together beside the desk, and Rachel put out her hand to try to calm the other children.

“Stay where you are,” she whispered urgently. “Don’t move. And be quiet. Don’t say a word. Don’t do anything to draw attention to yourself.”

“Rachel!” Sean roared.

She put the phone back to her ear. “I’m h-here.”

“Are you all right?” he demanded. “What the hell just happened?”

“It was just a warning,” Rachel stammered out. “He wants to know what’s going on and why it’s taking so long.”

“Damn right,” Kent snarled. “You tell those bastards they better not screw around and piss me off.”

“Hurry, Sean,” she whispered. “He’s very unstable.”

“Tell him we have his wife on the phone and that she’s agreed to drive right over. It’ll take her at least twenty minutes.”

When she relayed the information to Kent, his lip curled.

“I know damn well it only takes fifteen to get here, and she better be here in that time.”

“Fifteen minutes,” Rachel said faintly. “He’ll give her fifteen.”

“Get off the phone,” Kent snapped. “You’ve been on there long enough. You told him what I wanted. Now we’ll see if they deliver.”

Wordlessly she ended the call, not wanting to risk angering him by saying anything further. By now, Sean would have a very good idea of the threat they were dealing with. She just had to pray that the police would be able to bring about a peaceful end to the standoff and that none of the students would be hurt in the process.

Ethan, Donovan, Sam, and Garrett stood watching the newly formed team comprised of Nathan, Joe, Swanny, Skylar, and Edge as they went through their drills at the firing range.

Skylar and Joe were the two standouts and were the most probable candidates for the sharpshooters on the team. Edge was a big son of a bitch, and while he shot well, his specialty was obviously going to be in hand-to- hand. He was a former MMA fighter and brute force was his strong point. Hell, he just looked like a mean bastard. But he also had history in the military, and he was disciplined and had intense focus. A very solid addition to KGI.

Sam went for his phone, looked at the LCD, and then lifted it to his ear.

“Hey, Sean, what’s cooking? You getting fat and lazy over there in your cushy office?”

Sam’s expression went from teasing to complete business in two seconds flat.

“Oh shit. Give me the rundown.”

Ethan, Donovan, and Garrett immediately forgot all about what the others were doing and turned their full attention to Sam.

“Son of a bitch!” Sam swore. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! Is she okay? What the hell’s going on? Do you have S.W.A.T. on scene?”

A prickle of unease snaked down Ethan’s spine. It had to be family-related for Sean to call and for Sam to be so flustered. And most of the family was accounted for. Except for Rachel. But Rachel was teaching. Surely it had nothing to do with her.

Then Sam glanced over at Ethan, his expression grim, and Ethan’s stomach bottomed out.

“Rachel,” he mouthed.

Ethan forgot to breathe. He crowded in close to Sam, straining to hear everything Sean had to say. He only got bits and pieces because Sam had the damn phone glued to his ear, but what he heard chilled him to the bone.

Gunman holding Rachel’s class hostage. Extremely volatile. Threatening to start shooting if his demands weren’t met. A fifteen-minute timeline. Holy fuck. It would take at least twenty for them to get to the school, and that was hauling ass and breaking land speed records.

Ethan whirled on Donovan. “Van, can you get the chopper in the air that quickly? We could make it in ten minutes if we haul ass.”

Sam hung up the phone, but he was already running toward the newly constructed helipad.

“Get the others. I want every man we’ve got on this,” Sam yelled.

Nathan and Joe and the rest of their team scrambled up without hesitation and fell in behind the others as they ran for the helicopter.

Donovan hopped into the cockpit and began flipping switches to get the engines started.

“What the fuck is going on?” Garrett demanded.

The others were crammed into the chopper and were leaning forward to hear what Sam had to say.

“Some crazy mother fucker, a parent of one of Rachel’s students, is having domestic issues. His wife issued a restraining order and is pursuing sole custody in the divorce proceedings. Husband went batshit crazy and went to his kid’s classroom waving a gun around, and now he’s threatening to start shooting if his demands aren’t met.”

“And what are his demands?” Ethan bit out.

“He wants the restraining order rescinded.” Sam snorted. “Fat chance of that happening. He wants custody of his daughter. Yeah, like that’s going to go over well. And he wants his wife up at the school in fifteen minutes, which can’t be good. Even if he doesn’t go off his rocker and start shooting kids, you know he’ll end up killing her.”

“Did Sean say if Rachel was okay?” Ethan asked, fear nearly choking him.

“She’s scared out of her mind, but Sean says she’s doing a very good job of keeping the guy calm. She’s cooperating fully, trying to keep him appeased. She called him instead of 911.”

“That’s our girl,” Garrett said, pride in his voice. “She’s smart and she’s a fighter. My money is on her.”

Ethan rubbed his forehead tiredly. He’d never been so damn scared in his life. “You guys don’t understand.”

Nathan eyed him sharply. “What don’t we understand?”

Ethan sucked in a deep breath. “She’s…pregnant. We’re having twins. We just found out. This kind of stress can’t be good even if she doesn’t get herself shot.”

The others looked dumbstruck.

“I’d congratulate you,” Sam said grimly, “but right now I’d prefer to get her out in one piece so we can celebrate like hell later.”

Ethan nodded his agreement. “I can’t lose her. I can’t lose them ,” he said with quiet desperation.

Oh God, he’d already gotten luckier than any one person could ever hope for by having her miraculously restored to him after he’d thought she was dead for an entire year. Was he doomed to lose her to fate after all?

Garrett put his hand on Ethan’s shoulder. “You aren’t going to lose her. We’ll go in and kick some ass. Fuck what the local police say. We’ll take out this asshole, and then everyone can go home to their parents, and Rachel can come home with us.”

Ethan bumped knuckles with Garrett and muttered a hooyah. Garrett rolled his eyes. “Only because this involves Rachel will I let you get away with that Navy bullshit.”

The helicopter touched down just off the school premises, and Sam was already on the phone with Sean, who was on scene.

“We’re coming in,” Sam said in a hard voice. “You make damn sure no one gives us any grief.”

Ethan’s heart was in his throat. Flashbacks of his time with Rachel since her return played over and over in his head.

The memory of those two fuzzy blobs on the monitor that pulsated, signaling life, and the look of incredible joy on Rachel’s face as they realized what those two blobs meant was rich in his mind.

He couldn’t lose Rachel or their babies. He’d fought too damn hard to get his life back. He wasn’t going to let it all slip away now.

They ran onto the paved parking lot of the middle school exactly eighteen minutes after Sean had first placed his call.

“Sitrep!” Sam barked. “Where are we on his timeline?”

Sean looked relieved to see Sam but gestured toward the chief of police and the sheriff. Sean wasn’t senior on the scene even if he was the point of contact.