“I’m too injured,” the man tried to say, but Maya wasn’t going for it.
“No, you’re not.”
Maya and Josh hoisted him to his feet and sat him down. Rory came over to keep an eye on him. Deputy Wilson was doing his best to administer first aid to Tony. Elena had frozen in place. Where was Bianca?
Stay calm. Focus. She has to be around here.
Out of the corner of her eye, Maya saw Laura backing away from Rory and Agent Kessler. Somehow Laura had grabbed Bianca around her throat and was dragging her back. She had the gun pressed to Bianca’s head. Bianca tried to nail Laura with her elbow, but Laura tightened the grip around her neck. Bianca gasped for breath, her face turning red as she clawed at Laura’s arm with no luck. There was only one place they could go, which was the bathroom.
“No. No,” Maya said quickly flashing through the scenarios in her mind. Send Juniper? Take a shot? There wasn’t time. She didn’t have a good angle and risked hitting Bianca. They had decided on this building because the bathroom was the only place someone could hide. But it was an ideal place to hold and kill a hostage.
The door slammed shut.
“Bianca?” Josh said. “She took her. She took my sister. I’m going after her.”
“Shit,” Maya muttered.We have to save Bianca. Nothing bad can happen to her.“Josh, wait. We’ll get her. She’s going to be okay.”
“You can’t promise that.”
Maya took a deep breath. He was right. She couldn’t promise that. “I know I can’t, but if you go barging in after her, Laura could shoot you both. Right now I think Laura wants leverage and that’s why she took Bianca. Let’s regroup and figure out the best way to get everyone out. Alive. It’s hard, but we need to think about this as if it isn’t Bianca in there as a hostage. What would we do if it was a citizen we didn’t know?”
Anger and fear etched across Josh’s face.
Agent Kessler spoke up. “One of my team coming here is a good negotiator. We could try to talk Laura out or at least into giving up Bianca.”
“No,” Josh said. “We need to take immediate action.”
Maya took a quick glance out the window. The snowfall was picking up. “We’re wasting valuable time debating this. I’m not sure your team is going to make it here. What if we did a muzzle strike with Juniper?”
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
They all stared at the locked door. It was steel, so it would be harder than a wood door for bullets to get through, but still possible.
“A muzzle strike isn’t a bad idea,” Kessler said.
“What is that?” Rory asked.
“I’ll put a muzzle on Juniper. That way when we make entry, she doesn’t apprehend Bianca by accident. Instead, she’ll still rush like she’s going to apprehend, but Juniper will knock them apart. We haven’t trained much on this scenario, but I think it’s our best option and Juniper can do it. We’ll have to be right behind her to constrain Laura and arrest her.”
Maya fought back the fear and apprehension building in her, knowing that she was putting Juniper at risk. This was where being a handler was hard. This was Juniper’s job and what she was meant to do, but it was terrifying to think of anything happening to her. But it could also mean saving Bianca. “It’s dangerous. For Juniper. For all of us. We’ll try talking Laura out first, but I’m betting we’ll have to go in. Maybe there’s a way to distract her. I wish the hostage team was here, but they’re not and we need to save Bianca. We know Laura has the gun—any other weapons?”
“I don’t know about anything else,” Josh said. “But I wouldn’t put it past her to have more. I’ll back you up.”
“No, you won’t,” Maya said. “Not this time. Rory and Kessler will help. You have a conflict with Bianca, and technically you’re still a fugitive.”
She thought Josh might argue, but instead he said, “You’re right. I’m staying, though, and if things don’t go as planned, I’m going to help.”
“Deal. Rory, will you go get the muzzle out of my vehicle?” Maya asked. “Take Elena with you too. She can sit my patrol unit with it running and the heat on.”
Rory nodded. She and Elena headed out into the snow.
“Let’s see if we can talk her into letting Bianca go first,” Agent Kessler said. “Before we put Juniper and ourselves in danger.”
He walked over to the door and stood to the side. Maya, Juniper, and Josh had moved to where they would be out of the way if Laura started shooting. Kessler knocked on the door. “Laura, I know you’re in there and scared, but we need you to let your hostage go. If you allow her to come out unharmed, we’ll discuss further options for you.”
Nothing. Silence.
“Laura,” Agent Kessler said again. “If you don’t come out, we’re going to send in the dog.”
