Page 27 of Her Steadfast Hero

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David took one look at Bernardo, and all of his anger left. The man looked like he had aged twenty years since the previous day.

“You should have called.”

“You just captured three prisoners and damn near died doing it,” the lieutenant governor said quietly. He was seated behind his massive desk, his arms folded in front of him. Carmen was standing over him, she looked like she wanted to cradle him in her arms.

“Tell me the situation and what steps you’ve taken.”

“We think there are ten of them. They’ve been releasing patients for the last two hours. Two have died because they took them off the machines that were regulating their breathing.”

Sarah’s fingernails dug into his forearm.

“The others? Where have they been taken? Who’s taking care of them?”

Bernardo looked up at her, his expression helpless. “Almost all of our caregivers are in the hospital. Almost all of our medicines and equipment…”

“Haven’t you pulled in the personnel from the two regional clinics? They have medicine,” Sarah said.

“Yes. But right now I’m more focused on trying to get the rest of the hostages released.”

“Carys and the other doctors?” Sarah asked.

“Dr. Adams is the one American doctor. They have actually contacted reporters and told them their ransom demands. They are demanding it of the American government. They are so stupid. America will never give into their demands. Nobody will. These animals must be put down.” At last Bernardo seemed to have some life in him.

“What steps have you taken?” David asked again.

“Right now they have us running around handling all of the patients they are releasing. We can’t handle anything more. But I have been in contact with the US, they are sending in a team to rescue the hostages.”

“Who are they sending?” David asked.

“A Navy SEAL team, Black Dawn.” If it had been Army Rangers, then David would have heard of them. SEALs not so much.

“When will they be here?”

Bernardo looked at his watch. “Fourteen hours.”

“Okay, then this is what we need to do. Get that damn hospital cleared of patients. Sarah, can your round up the medical personnel we have on the island and get whoever is available to the hotel? We’ll make that the new hospital.” God bless her, she just nodded.

“Bernardo, you’re the face of this island, you’ll need to work as the hostage negotiator. Whoever we can get out of that hospital before the SEALs get here, the easier their job will be.” David turned to Joaquin. “Do we have a real count of how many bad guys are in the hospital?”

“No. We think there are ten.”

“Then we need a real count. That’s our first priority. We work with the patients who have been released. We have prison records, and we know the men who escaped. We have them identify pictures. I want to know who the hell is in that hospital,” he growled.

Joaquin nodded.