Gardiner dipped his head and nodded to himself. “All right. Give me a minute.”
“No problem.”
“No!” Kathy said. “You can’t go. Not tonight.”
“People are hurt. It’s my job to take care of them.”
“Dad,” Emily said. “You’ll get sick if you go out there.” She pointed back at the TV. “It’s everywhere.”
The doctor grabbed his coat from the closet. “I’m sure it won’t take long, but don’t wait up.”
“Wait!” Kathy said. She hurried over to the entrance table. “You need a mask.” She grabbed the box of paper masks Gardiner had brought home from the hospital, and pulled one out. “Here.”
There was another knock on the door. “Dr. Gardiner, we need to hurry.”
The doctor’s house sat on the north side of Young Street. A nice, multibedroom home with a big front yard and two-car garage. While large by Great Falls standards, it would have been considered moderate in most larger cities, given the owner’s profession.
Chloe parked the motorcycle down the street and approached on foot.
Light from a television flickered through the windows at the front of the house. As she got closer, she could see at least two people sitting on a couch watching TV. It was tuned to the news, of course. She doubted there was anything else on.
She moved over to the front door, quietly worked the cover off the porch light, and unscrewed the bulb. Once the cover was back in place, she knocked.
When the doctor had finally responded, she used the tactic she’d come up with on the drive over to convince him to open the door. While he said he was coming, the door was still shut, so she placed her ear against it, and heard two women arguing with the doctor to stay.
Chloe knocked again. “Dr. Gardiner, we need to hurry.”
“I’ll call you when I get there,” she heard him say. “And I’ll have them bring me home as soon as I’m done.”
“Please, Dad. Please don’t go.”
“Sweetie, you know I have to. I’ll be all right.”
Chloe chewed on her lower lip, troubled by the conversation.
Crap.
Discarding her original idea, she retrieved her gun.
The deadbolt clunked open, and the doorknob began to turn.
“Put your mask on first,” the older woman — probably his wife — said.
The doorknob recoiled to its original position as the doctor let go, but the door itself was now unlocked.
Chloe turned the knob and eased the door open. The wife was helping her husband put a paper mask over his head while the daughter watched from a few feet away. None of them showed any of the physical signs of being ill.
“Sorry,” Chloe said as she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. “Change of plans.”
The Gardiners turned in surprise. When they caught sight of her gun, they froze.
“Is there anyone else in the house?” Chloe asked.
The man shook his head. “No.”
Had he answered too fast? She looked at the daughter. “Is he telling the truth?”
The girl’s eyes were locked on the gun.
“Hey,” Chloe said. “Is he telling the truth?”
The girl jerked her head up. “What? Yes. Just the three of us.”
She seemed far too scared to lie.
“Okay,” Chloe said. “This is your lucky day.”
“What do you want?” Gardiner asked. “I don’t have any drugs here. But you’re welcome to any money or food you want.”
“I’ve already told you what I want, Doctor — you. I have an injured man who needs your help.”
“Take him to the hospital.”
“Not that easy,” Chloe said.
She looked past them into the rest of the house. Beside the living room, there was a stairway leading up to the second story where the bedrooms probably were, and the open door to a bathroom. Along the back wall of the living room was a wide break, and on the other side was what looked like the dining room. She figured the kitchen had to be back there somewhere, too.
“Into the other room,” she said.
“What are you going to do to us?” Gardiner’s wife asked.
“Save your life.”
Gardiner looked at her like she was crazy. “Please, just leave us alone.”
“Move it!” Chloe barked.
The Gardiners backed into the living room.
“Keep going,” Chloe told them, motioning to the dining area. After they passed into the back part of the house, she signaled for them to stop.
Another quick scan. To her left a family room, and to the right an open-plan kitchen.
“That door,” she said, nodding past Gardiner toward the kitchen. “Where does it lead?”
Gardiner glanced over his shoulder. “That? The…the garage.”
“What do you got parked in there?”
“Um…uh…”
Chloe turned to his daughter. “What kind of cars?”
“Mom’s BMW. And the Yukon.”
A Yukon SUV.
Perfect.
Getting the Gardiners into the Yukon wasn’t particularly difficult. Despite the fact Chloe never directly pointed her gun at any of them, its mere presence was enough to ensure their cooperation.
She had the doctor take the driver’s seat while she herded the two women into the back with her — the daughter, whose name was Emily, in the middle; and the wife, Kathy, behind her husband.
Gardiner turned on the headlights as they backed out of the garage and down the driveway.
“No,” Chloe said. “Lights off.”
He looked for a moment like he was going to argue, so she raised the gun a few inches and he flicked the lights off.
“Which way?” he asked.
“To the left. Keep it slow.”
The Ranch was northwest of Great Falls. The main route out of town would have been via the interstate, the same way she’d come in, but the roadblock eliminated that option. Searching on her phone for a new route, she saw a pair of two-lane highways that led roughly in the right direction. She hoped the air force hadn’t seen it necessary to block those off, too.
“As soon as you can, head down to Central, then go west,” she told the doctor.
At the next corner, Gardiner turned the Yukon left.
“Where are you taking us?” Kathy asked.
“Someplace safe,” Chloe said.
“Safe? We were safe in our home.”
Chloe looked over at her. “No. Not even close.”
“What do you mean?”
Chloe looked back at the road and ignored the question.
As they turned onto Central, she saw headlights several blocks away heading toward them. To the Yukon’s right was a bank with a parking lot that went all the way back to the next street.
“Turn in here,” Chloe ordered. “Now.”
Gardiner hesitated.
“Do it!”
He turned the SUV into the parking lot.
“Pull around the back of the building, and stop,” she said.
Once they were hidden from the main street, she rolled down the window a half inch. Cold air streamed in, threatening to undo the increase in cabin temperature the SUV’s heater had achieved.
At first the sound of the other vehicle was only a low rumble in the distance, but it grew in intensity as it traveled in their direction.
A truck, she realized. A big one. Maybe even a couple of them.
“Don’t be stupid,” she said, flashing the gun at Gardiner and his wife, making sure they got the message. “You don’t want to see me angry. I guarantee it.”
They both nodded, the doctor going so far as to take his hands off the steering wheel and set them in his lap.
The noise was loud now. Definitely two trucks, diesel engines. The first reached the bank and drove past. But as the second was nearing, Chloe caught a flash of red behind the Yukon. She glanced over her shoulder, then whipped her head back around.