"How long has she been in labor?"
"Preliminary contractions started mid afternoon Her water broke about two hours ago. Pains escalated sharply after that, then for the last half hour they've tapered off."
"Hi, Sabra," the doctor said to the girl.
"Hi."
He placed his hands on her stomach and examined the mound with light, massaging squeezes.
"Breech, right?" Doc asked, seeking confirmation of his diagnosis.
"Right."
"Do you think you can turn the fetus?"
"That's very tricky."
"Do you have experience in breech births?"
"I've assisted."
That wasn't the hoped-for answer. Doc asked, "Did you bring a blood-pressure cuff?"
"In my bag."
The doctor continued to examine Sabra by gently probing her abdomen. Doc extended the blood-pressure cuff to him, but he declined to take it. He was speaking to Sabra. 'Just relax, and everything will be all right."
She glanced at Ronnie and smiled hopefully. "How long before the baby comes, Dr. Cain?"
"That's hard to say. Babies have a mind of their own. I would prefer taking you to the hospital while there's still time."
"No."
"It would be much safer for you and the baby."
"I can't leave on account of my father."
"He's very worried about you, Sabra. In fact, he's outside.
He told me to tell you-"
Her whole body jerked as though having a muscle spasm. "Daddy's here?" Her voice was high, thin, panicked.
"Ronnie?"
The news upset him as much as it had Sabra. "How'd he get here?"
Tiel patted the girl's shoulder. "It's okay. Don't think about your father now. Think about your baby. That's all you should be concerned with. Everything else will work out."
Sabra began to cry.
Doc leaned toward the doctor and whispered angrily,
"Why'n hell did you tell her that? Couldn't that news have waited?"
Dr. Cain looked confused. "I thought she would be comforted to know that her father was here. They didn't have time to fill me in on all the details of the situation. I didn't know that information was going to upset her."
Doc looked ready to throttle him, and Tiel shared the impulse.
Doc was so angry his thin lips barely moved when he spoke. But knowing that any outward display of anger would only make the situation worse, he remained focused on the business at hand. "She hadn't dilated much when I examined her." Glancing at his wristwatch, he added, "But it's been over an hour since I did the internal."
The doctor nodded. "How much? Was she dilated, I mean."
"About eight, ten centimeters."
"Hmm."
"You son of a bitch."
Doc's low growl brought Tiel's head up with a snap.
Had she heard him correctly? Apparently so, because Dr.
Cain was regarding him with consternation.
"Son of a bitch!" Doc repeated, this time in an angry exclamation.
What happened next was forever thereafter a blur in Tiel's memory. She could never accurately remember the rapid sequence of events, but any recollection of them always made her hungry for chili.
CHAPTER 6
THE FBI VAN PARKED ON THE APRON OF CONCRETE between the highway and the fuel pumps was equipped with high-tech paraphernalia used for deployment, surveillance, and communication. It was a rolling command post out of Midland-Odessa that had been mobilized and driven to Rojo Flats. It had arrived within minutes of Galloway's chopper from Fort Worth.
There wasn't an airstrip in the immediate area that would accommodate an airplane larger than a crop duster. Dendy's private jet had flown to Odessa, where a charter helicopter had been standing by to whisk him to the small town. Upon his arrival, he had barged his way into the van, demanding to know exactly what the situation was and how Galloway planned to remedy it.
Dendy had made a general nuisance of himself, and Galloway had had all he could stomach of the millionaire even before Dendy began grilling him over the maneuver presently under way.
Every eye was on the television monitor, which was transmitting a live picture from a camera outside. They watched Cain enter the store, where he stood with his back to the door for a time before disappearing from view.
"What if it doesn't work?" Dendy asked. "What then?"
" 'What then' will depend on the outcome."
"You mean you don't have a contingency plan in place?
What kind of outfit are you running here, Galloway?"
They squared off. The other men in the van stood by expectantly, waiting to see who detonated first, Dendy or Galloway. Ironically, it was a statement from Sheriff Marty Montez that defused the explosive tension.
He said, "I can save you both the suspense and tell you right now that it's not going to work."
As a courtesy-and also a smart diplomatic move- Agent Galloway had invited the county sheriff to join the top-level powwow.
"Doc's no fool," Montez continued. 'You're asking for trouble, sending that rookie in there."
"Thank you, Sheriff Montez," Galloway said stiffly.
Then, as though Montez's statement had been prophetic, they heard gunshots. Two came a millisecond apart, one more several seconds later. The first two caused them all to freeze in place. The third galvanized them.
Everyone inside the van went into motion and began speaking at once.
"Christ!" Dendy bellowed.
The camera was showing them nothing. Galloway grabbed a headset so he could hear the communiques between the men in position in front of the store.
"Were those gunshots?" Dendy asked. "What's happening, Galloway? You said my daughter wouldn't be in any danger!"
Over his shoulder, Galloway shouted, "Sit down and be quiet, Mr. Dendy, or I'm going to have you physically removed from this van."
"If you fuck this up, I'll have you physically removed from this planet!"
Galloway's face turned white with wrath. "Careful, sir. You just threatened the life of a federal officer." He ordered one of his subordinate agents to remove Dendy.
He needed to know immediately who inside the store had fired at whom and whether anyone had been injured or killed. While he was trying to find out, he didn't need Dendy yelling threats at him.
Dendy boomed, "Like hell I'm leaving!"
Galloway left the overwrought father to his subordinates and turned back to the console, demanding information of the agents outside.
Tiel had watched with disbelief as Dr. Scott Cain yanked a pistol from an ankle holster and pointed it at Ronnie.
"FBI! Drop the weapon!"
Sabra had screamed.
Doc had continued to swear at Cain. "All this time we've been waiting on a doctor!" he shouted. "Instead we get you! What kind of stupid stunt is this?"
Tiel had surged to her feet, begging, "No, please no.
Don't shoot." She had feared she was about to see Ronnie Davison blown away right before her eyes.
"You're not a doctor?" the frantic young man had shrieked. "They promised us a doctor. Sabra needs a doctor."
"Drop your weapon, Davison! Now!"
"God dammit, all this time's been wasted." The veins in Doc's neck had bulged with anger. If the agent hadn't been holding a pistol, Tiel guessed that Doc would have taken him by the throat. "That girl's in trouble. Life threatening trouble. Don't any of you federal bastards get it?"
"Ronnie, do as he says," Tiel had implored. "Surrender.
Please."
"No, Ronnie, don't!" Sabra had sobbed. "Daddy's out there."
"Why don't you both put down your pistols." Although Doc's chest had been rising and falling with agitation, he had regained some composure. "Nobody has to get hurt.
We can all be reasonable, can't we?"
"No." Ronnie, resolute, had clutched the pistol grip tighter. "Mr. Dendy will have me arrested. I'll never see Sabra again."