Love or Justice (10 page)

CHAPTER NINE

Laurie read all through the morning and afternoon, while Dante wrote a report on the Evan James visit. He titled it “The guy who I almost killed and why I wanted to kill him, but didn’t.” He erased it and put an official title on the report before he sent it. The title was too long anyway.

Mostly, Dante watched Laurie read a book. He could see it was a book on justice from the title. He guessed it was from one of her law classes. She would find a comfortable position on her back, propped up by a pillow. Then she would turn on her side and read like that for a while. Then she would sit on the couch facing forward, cross-legged. After a while she would start all over again. He didn’t know why he was watching her read, but after he finished his report, he started looking into the kind of classes she would have taken at her college this semester. He tried to find something online that would be comparable.

David’s cell phone rang. He seemed embarrassed to be called at work as he checked the number.

“Boss? It’s my wife.” David looked up, worry tightening the lines around his eyes.

“She’s pregnant, David. Take the call.” Dante nodded.

“Yeah, okay.” David flipped the phone open and rushed into the kitchen.

Laurie sat up on the couch. She put her book down. She toyed with the remote but didn’t turn on the TV.

“Can’t hear him from here?” Dante smirked.

“No.” She smiled. “Can you?”

“Is eavesdropping ethical, counselor?”

“It is if your friend is about to have his first baby!” she hissed.

Dante chuckled, and her eyes glowed.

David walked back into the room. His hand with the cell phone floated down to his side. He stared out the window, wide-eyed, his breathing shallow.

“Everything okay, David?” Dante put the laptop down.

“My wife thinks she might be in labor, but it’s too early. She’s not supposed to have the baby for another month and a half!” His brow furrowed.

“Well, babies can come early sometimes. I was a month early. Is she going to the hospital?” Laurie hung over the back of the couch.

“She’s waiting for the doctor to call her back. Then her mother’s taking her.”

“I thought her family was all back home?” Laurie clasped her hands together.

“Her mother flew in after I left for this assignment. She didn’t want Mary to be by herself during the last trimester.”

David started pacing.

“Are you excited to have your first child?” Laurie beamed at him. She rocked back and forth on the couch.

“Yeah. I’m…” David stared at the end of the couch.

“Really nervous?” she supplied.

David laughed.

“Yes. I mean. I could be a father tonight. A father!” He threw out his arms.

“Don’t get too excited yet. Sometimes a woman can have a false alarm this close to the delivery.” Laurie put up a hand of caution.

“I know, but she said she was in a lot of pain. Like a contraction. Her water hasn’t broken, but I hope she’s okay.”

“I’m sure her mother is taking good care of her.” Dante leaned back in his chair.

“It must be hard to be away from her.” Laurie propped her chin on her elbow.

“Yes. It’s been hard. I mean, I love my job.” David glanced at Dante and back to Laurie. “You’re a great lady, Ms. Laurie. But it’s been tough being away from her, especially now.”

“It must be difficult to give up being with the one you love for your job. It’s a tough sacrifice to make.” Laurie sat back on her knees and ankles.

“I don’t think of it that way, Ms. Laurie. It’s a privilege, you know. To protect you. Well, to protect a witness. You’re making the world a better place, right? Keeping bad guys off the street.” David continued to pace.

Dante smiled, watching the two of them. David sounded so young. He could picture David as a kid, watching a cop movie, deciding what he wanted to be when he grew up.

“Yes, David. Soon you’ll have a baby to make the world safe for.” Laurie leaned forward onto the couch again.

“I will! I’ll have a baby. I’m having a baby.”

His eyes unfocused as he stared out at the volcano in the distance. His brows were arched, his face a shade or two paler than usual. He began to scan the horizon, as if he was trying to see Mary through the trees.

“How many babies do you want to have?” Laurie raised her eyebrows at him.

“Oh, lots of them. I love kids.” David turned toward her again. “How about you, Ms. Laurie? Do you want kids?”

“Someday, when I find the right man and fall in love.” Laurie turned on the couch, looking at Dante. “Do you want children, Dante?”

Dante paused. His gaze locked with Laurie’s for a moment. Images of a pregnant Laurie flashed in his mind. Then her carrying a toddler on her hip or giving the baby a bath. He was willing to bet she’d make a fantastic mother. With those kind eyes, that easy smile, the way she pushed her own fears aside to hike, and smile, and laugh with him. Yes, she would make a fantastic mother.

“Yes.” His heart leapt when he said it. “I mean, when the time is right. When I meet the right woman.”

Laurie smiled at him.

Dante smiled back. They looked at each other for a heartbeat or two in silence.

David’s cell phone rang. He didn’t even ask for permission. He just picked it up.

“Hello?” He listened intently. His expression changed, his smile fading. “No, no. Mary. You were right to call me. It’s okay. Don’t cry. No, you weren’t bothering me. You’re never bothering me. I love you.”

David strode into the kitchen, talking fast to stop the tears on the other end of the phone.

“False alarm.” She shrugged. She looked just as disappointed as David did.

Dante chuckled.

David strode back into the room.

“She called the doctor. He thinks it’s just an upset stomach.”

“Next time, David. Next time.” Laurie shook her head. “You have a month and a half to go. You don’t want to have the baby this early anyway.”

“No, I know.” He still looked a little disappointed as he settled down onto the windowsill.

Dante and Laurie shared a look before Laurie flipped on the TV.

***

Later that night, David’s false alarm was all Laurie wanted to talk about as they got ready for bed. Laurie sat on her bed, pulling her nightclothes out of her bag.

Dante took out his nightshirt and sweats, laying them beside his sleeping bag. He was determined to sleep in his own bed tonight, no matter what happened. He had been on dangerous ground the last couple of nights, but he mentally committed himself to stopping it tonight.

“I don’t think I could do it. Be away from my husband when I’m about to give birth.” Laurie ran a brush through her hair.

“Lots of people have to, military wives, police wives when their husbands are on long assignments, Marshals Service. It’s just something that happens. Love the man; you have to love the job too.”

“Yeah, I guess, but God that must be hard.”

“It is hard. I’ve seen a lot of men do it. It makes them crazy. David’s doing well with it though. He’s going to be a great Witsec Inspector.”

“Well, he should be doing great with it. Apparently he has the best teacher.” Laurie winked at him.

Dante laughed.

“Don’t pay any attention to Rick.” Dante shook his head. “He trained me, so if that tells you—”

“Intruder!” Max yelled from downstairs. The sound of several gun shots followed, then return gunfire.

Laurie sucked in a breath, and stared at Dante in shock.

Dante grabbed her, dragging her into the hall. He unlatched the safe room with a swift motion. Without a word, he thrust her in, slamming the door.

As soon as Dante closed the safe room door, David burst through his bedroom door.

“Laurie?” was all David said. Dante pointed to the safe room.

“This way.” Dante got out his gun and moved down the hall.

Dante never expected a gun battle here. He led David to the mouth of the hallway where they crouched down low to the floor. Dante could hear shots and return fire. Max and Cheyn were both still fighting. Dante intended to give them cover.

He gestured to David to cover the left. He crouched close to the right side of the hallway and inched his way forward until he could see out over the living room. Then he ducked back behind the wall. He was just above Max, who was hiding behind a protrusion in the stonewall that housed the fireplace.

Max shot across the room at a man behind the couch.

Dante aimed. When the man popped up again, Dante let off a round. The man flew backward, and lay on the floor. Dante crouched back down again.

He could still hear gunshots coming from the living room below him. He maneuvered himself to see where else Max was aiming. There was another man hiding just outside the door to the patio. The man’s gunfire hit the stone wall with a sharp rapping and the tinkling of broken stone. Dante took aim, but the assailant saw him. Dante ducked behind the wall.

Two more shots came. One to him, the other to Max. The former missed, the second didn’t.

Dante turned back to the scene just in time to see Max crumple to the floor. He took aim at the assailant and fired. The man crumpled to the ground as well.

Dante heard continued gunfire on the left side of the house. He crawled over to David, who shot and then ducked for cover. There was an armed man crouched on the other side of the counter toward the open front door. He used both as an effective shield from the gunfire. Dante took aim, but had to duck as a bullet flew at them, narrowly missing his head.

David returned fire. It caught the man in the neck. He fell to the floor. All was silent.

“Where’s Cheyn?” Dante glanced down into the kitchen.

“Kitchen floor. He’s bleeding, but I don’t know where he got shot.”

“Any more of them?”

“I don’t think so, I only saw one.”

Dante grabbed his cell phone. He punched the radio button.

“The Hilo safe house has been assaulted. Two officers down. Three assailants dead. Requesting immediate back-up and medical assistance!”

“Copy that, safe house. Back-up and medical assistance is on the way,” responded the voice on the other side of the phone. Dante stuck the phone back in his pocket.

“David, we have to secure the house. I’m going to crawl out to the end of the landing. I need you to cover me.”

“Yes, sir.”

When Dante was halfway down the landing, a shot rang out from a part of the kitchen below where David was crouched.

A scream came from the hallway behind Dante. Oh God. Laurie was out of the safe room.

The bullet grazed Dante’s arm, as he instinctively covered his head and pitched to the side. He cried out as searing hot pain tore at his flesh.

David returned fire, but missed.

The gunman fired back at him.

David tried to move back to the wall, but it was too late. The shot caught him in the neck. He fell to the floor.

Laurie screamed again and rushed forward.

Dante returned fire, hitting the gunman right between the eyes.

Blinded by rage and pain, Dante lunged for Laurie.

She leaned over David, clutching at the front of his shirt. She was already half-way to sobbing.

Dante’s wounded arm sent searing hot waves of pain up his shoulder as he grabbed Laurie by both her arms and hauled her back down the hallway. With a look of absolute fury, he shoved her into the safe room.

Dante swept his gun and his gaze over the hallway. He strained his ears for every sound. He heard David gasping for breath, and that caused Dante to pray as he crouched low beside him.

David’s shocked eyes stared up at him. His hot, sticky blood poured out, pooling on the carpet.

“Stay with me, David. Just stay with me. The medical team’s on the way.”

David made an inaudible rasping noise. Tears welled in his eyes. David’s eyes pleaded with Dante to do something.

Dante tore off his shirt. As he pressed the waded up shirt to David’s wound, Dante saw David’s eyes go blank. They stared up at him, emotionless, vacant.

“David! David!” He tugged at the man’s shirt.

David didn’t move. His blank eyes stared back at Dante.

Dante swore. He pounded his fist on the floor, which sent shock waves up his injured arm. But pain was good. It kept away the mind-numbing grief that threatened to close in. The pain made Dante crawl away from David toward the stairs.

He went corner to corner down the stairs with long sweeps of his gun. He checked on Max, who was bleeding from the abdomen.

Max was trying to stop the bleeding, so Dante ran to the supply closet for the first aid equipment. He tore off several strips of gauze and gave it to Max to press to his wound.