Lance gave a jerk of his chin. “There’s a stun gun in the left front coat pocket,” he said. “Pretty sure it’s dead or defective. I’d presume he’s got more weapons on him, but I didn’t search him.”
The pair looked around the room, obviously uncertain about the right course of action.
“What the hell are you doing?” Lynn snapped from behind the two. “Get that man up and detained on this gurney before he’s functional enough to hurt someone!”
The leaner of the two turned to glance over his shoulder. “You want us to detain the guy on the floor? The one that’s half unconscious?”
His colleague, with broader shoulders and a donut belly, added, “This guy’s a sheriff.”
“Yes,” Lynn said, “he also came striding in here, attempted to kill apatient, and then pointed a gun atme. Or did you miss that part?” Her tone sharpened. “Your job is to make this place safe for the rest of us. Get his ass on that bed and strap him down.”
Morty was clearly coming to, based on the way he sucked in a hard breath and moved an arm to prop himself up. He groaned again, the sound morphing into something like a slurred insult.
Lance pushed to his feet. “Gentlemen,” he said, “if you aren’t up to it, I’m gonna need you to clear a path. Lifting that deadweight over my shoulders is gonna hurt like hell.” Which would be his excuse for dumping the piece of shit none-too-gently onto the gurney that had wheeled up at the door.
“Absolutely not!” Lynn said, projecting her voice from the hallway.
Morty moved a hand over his coat like he was looking for something and his eyes popped open. He had the eyes of a man who was out of control.
Lance had seen the type too many times before.
“Freak,” Morty muttered, finally getting a foot underneath himself enough to use the wall at his back to help him stand. “You’re a—”
The security twins stepped in front of him, visually and physically cutting him off. “Sorry, Sheriff,” the larger one said, “but you don’t get to break the rules.”
“Let go of me,” Morty demanded as the pair hauled him bodily toward the doorway. Morty struggled like a petulant child. “You can’t do this! I’m a goddamn sheriff!”
Another pair of hands joined in when they reached the gurney, and the three men wrestled with the older man to get him into position on the bed. Lance watched in frustration as Lynn helped strap the bastard down until he was restrained enough that someone else could let go. She stepped back, her back to the door, and they watched in a strange unison as the spitting and cursing Sheriff of Leeland County was wheeled away.
When it was quiet again, Lynn released a breath and stepped properly into the room, easing the door quietly shut. For a moment, Lance swore he saw her shoulders shake.
He opened his mouth and took a step forward.
“The doctor will be here soon to talk to you,” she said, straightening and facing him. “I told him the situation as I hadwitnessed it, which was enough to earn me security, but he’ll want the full version from you. I imagine the police will, too.”
Lance rolled his jaw. “The full version, huh?” It wasn’t like he never told people. But he’d had a lot of time to scour the internet in the last few days, and he’d seen some of the shit that was still brewing. Probably being so open about what he could do was more dangerous than it ought to be.
Lynn came closer and lowered her voice. “If you can think of another way to explain that damage to his uniform, and explain what you might have done from your bed to save me in time, then you should be fine to leave out theotherdetail.”
He raised a brow. “I thought you told your boss?”
She shrugged. “I must have blinked for that part. It all happened so fast.”
He grinned.
“Also,” Lynn added, speaking faster, “while the doctor’s here, I’m going to slip out and call the lawyer Jenna and I roped in to deal with that department. She’s definitely going to want to know about this. And she might want to talk to you, too, if that’s okay?”
A firm tap sounded at the door, but Lance kept his eyes on Lynn and his expression calm. “Yeah. Thanks.”
Her eyes warmed with a smile she didn’t let show on her lips and she moved back as the doctor strode in.
Lance shifted his focus to the silver-haired man with practiced patience. He might have been able to get dressed, but it looked like he wasn’t escaping the hospital anytime soon.
Chapter twenty-two
Captured
The mountain road wasbumpy, and the cab of the truck was thick with anticipation and an undercurrent of dread. Jon had both hands on the wheel, his eyes straight ahead as his mind raced. He hadn’t driven the roads of the mountains past Misty Glades in close to two decades, and just like his grandfather’s property, time had changed them. He couldn’t afford to drive too recklessly.
