Sabra's becoming increasingly weak. Her blood pressure is dropping, he said. Based on what I've told you, is there anything you can advise him to do?"
"Get her to the hospital."
"We're working on it," she said grimly.
The man approaching with a long and purposeful stride could only be Galloway. He was tall and slender, but even in shirtsleeves he exuded an air of authority. "Bill Galloway," he said, confirming his identity as soon as he joined her and Dr. Giles. They shook hands.
Gully hobbled up to her in his bandy-legged run.
'Jesus, kid, if I don't die of a heart attack after tonight, I'll live forever."
She hugged him. "You'll outlive us all."
On the fringes of the growing group she noticed a stout man dressed in a white cowboy shirt with pearl buttons.
He held a cowboy hat similar to Doc's in his hands. Before she could introduce herself to him, he was rudely elbowed aside.
"Ms. McCoy, I want to talk to you."
She recognized Russell Dendy immediately.
"How's my daughter?"
"She's dying." While the statement seemed unnecessarily harsh, Tiel was fresh out of compassion for the millionaire.
Besides, if she were to make a dent in this stalemate, she must hit them hard.
Kip was standing in the background, capturing this suspenseful conference on videotape. The camera-mounted spotlight was blinding. For the first time in her career, Tiel felt an aversion for that light and the invasion of privacy it represented.
Her blunt response to Dendy's question took him aback momentarily, which enabled Galloway to draw the other man forward for an introduction. "Cole Davison, Tiel McCoy." The resemblance between Ronnie and his father was unmistakable. "How is he?" he asked anxiously.
"Resolute, Mr. Davison." Before continuing, she looked at each of the men independently. 'Those young people mean what they say. They took an oath, which they intend to uphold.
Now that they know Katherine is safe and receiving medical attention, there's nothing to stop them from carrying out their suicide pact." She used the words deliberately to emphasize the seriousness and urgency of the situation.
Galloway maintained his professional detachment and was the first to speak. "Sheriff Montez says this Doc is a large, brawny man. Couldn't he simply overpower Ronnie and get control of the gun?"
"And risk another casualty?" she asked rhetorically.
"Two men tried force a little while ago. It ended in bloodshed.
I think I can safely nix that idea on Doc's behalf.
He's been trying to persuade Ronnie to end this peaceably.
He'd lose any advantage he's gained with the boy if he suddenly tried to jump him."
Galloway ran a hand through his thinning hair and watched the chopper with Dr. Garrett and the newborn lift off. "The hostages aren't at risk?" he asked.
"I don't believe so. Although there's no love lost between Ronnie and Agent Cain or the Mexican men."
They exchanged an uneasy look all around, but before Tiel could ask what it portended, Galloway said, "To summarize, Ronnie and Sabra are bartering with their own lives."
"Exactly, Mr. Galloway. I was sent to tell you that you have half an hour to get back to them."
"With what?"
"Clemency, and freedom to go on their way."
"That's impossible."
"Then you'll have two dead kids on your hands."
"You're a reasonable person, Ms. McCoy. You know I can't make that kind of blanket deal with an alleged felon."
Despair and defeat settled on her heavily. "I know, and, honestly, I appreciate the position you're in, Mr. Galloway.
I'm only the messenger. I'm telling you what Ronnie told me. My gut feeling is that he means to do what he has said he will. Even if he's buffing, Sabra is not."
She looked pointedly at Dendy. "If she can't have Ronnie, live with him freely, she's willing to take her own life. If she doesn't bleed to death first." Back to Galloway, she said,
"Unfortunately for you, it's not my gut feeling that counts.
The decision doesn't rest with me. It's yours to make."
"Not entirely, it isn't," Dendy declared. "I have a say in this. Galloway, for godsake, promise the boy anything. Just get my daughter out of there."
Galloway checked his wristwatch. "Half an hour," he said briskly. "Not much time, and I've got some calls to make." They turned in unison toward the van parked on the apron of the parking lot.
Gully was the first to notice that Tiel didn't fall into step with the rest of them. He turned and regarded her curiously.
"Tiel?"
She was walking backward. "I'm going back."
"You aren't serious?" Gully's exclamation spoke for all of them, who were looking at her with unmitigated dismay.
"I can't abandon Sabra."
"But-"
She shook her head firmly, checking Gully's protest before it was out. Continuing to backtrack and widen the distance between them, she said, "We'll be waiting for your decision, Mr. Galloway."
CHAPTER 14
TIEL stood facing the door of the store for a full ninety seconds before she heard the bolt being released. As she reentered, Ronnie eyed her warily.
She dispelled his suspicion. "I'm not carrying a concealed weapon, Ronnie."
"What did Galloway say?"
"He's thinking it over. He said he has to make some phone calls."
"To who? What for?"
"I gather he doesn't have the authority to grant you clemency."
Ronnie gnawed his lower lip, which had already been so brutalized it was raw. "Okay. But why'd you come back?"
"To let you know that Katherine is in excellent hands."
She told him about Dr. Emily Garrett.
"Tell Sabra. She'll want to know that."
The young mother's eyes were half closed. Her breathing was shallow. Tiel wasn't sure she was completely aware and listening, but after describing to her the neonatal specialist, Sabra whispered, "Is she nice?"
"Very. When you meet her, you'll see." Tiel glanced over at Doc, but he was taking Sabra's blood pressure, his eyebrows pulled together in the steep frown she'd come to recognize. "There's another very nice doctor waiting to take care of you. His name is Dr. Giles. You're not afraid to fly in helicopters, are you?"
"I did once. With my dad. It was okay."
"Dr. Giles is standing by to whisk you off to the hospital in Midland. Katherine will be glad to see you when you get there. She'll probably be hungry."
Sabra smiled, then her eyes closed.
By tacit agreement, Tiel and Doc retreated to their familiar posts. Seated on the floor with their backs propped against the freezer chest, legs extended in front of them, watching the second hand on the clock tick off the time limit Ronnie had imposed, it was the ideal moment for Doc to ask the question that Tiel expected from him.
"Why'd you come back?"
Even assuming that he would ask, she had no clear-cut answer prepared.
Several moments elapsed. His jaw was dark with stubble, she noticed, but it must be going on twenty-four hours since his last shave. The webwork around his eyes seemed more defined now than earlier, a distinct sign of fatigue.
His clothes, like hers, were grimy and bloodstained.
Blood was a cohesive agent, she realized. It wasn't necessarily the comingling of blood from two individuals that formed an irrevocable, almost mystical, bond between them. It could be anyone's shed blood that united people.
Consider survivors of plane crashes, train wrecks, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks, who had developed lasting friendships because of the trauma they had shared.
Veterans of the same war spoke a language among themselves that was incomprehensible to those who hadn't been there and experienced similar horrors. Bloodshed at the explosion in Oklahoma City, the public school shootings, and other unthinkable events had soldered former strangers together so solidly that the relationships would never be severed.