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“No, ma’am,” one of the MPD tactical officers said. “We wouldn’t want to chance tipping them off.”
“How long will it take to get everyone into position?”
“A few more minutes.”
Sam spent that time with her eyes glued to the window where she could see the man holding them hostage. He was talking with his hands, waving the gun around. Shelby would be terrified. Sam was terrified for her—and Noah, who was hopefully sleeping through the nightmare.
“Are we sure that snipers wouldn’t be more efficient?” Sam asked Terrell.
“What if we miss? He’s got a gun pointed at them.”
He was right, and Sam knew it, but she couldn’t seem to speak around the enormous lump in her throat. So she nodded to acknowledge what he’d said. While she waited, memories of Shelby and Noah ran through her mind, starting with the day she and Nick had met the petite woman who’d become one of their closest friends, Sam’s Tinker Bell. After she’d planned their wedding and become a close friend, they’d wanted to keep her in their lives, so they’d asked her to help with Scotty when he’d first come to live with them.
She and Noah—and Avery—were family to them.
“Keep breathing, Sam,” Freddie said quietly. “They’ll be okay.”
Of course, he had no way to know that for certain, but she appreciated his confidence.
The smashing of glass startled her, and she’d known it was coming. She couldn’t begin to know how shocked Shelby would be. Everything happened fast. Sam held her breath until she heard both suspects had been neutralized, and then she ran for the door. “Let me in,” she said to the officer at the door. “She’s my family.”
The officer stepped aside.
Sam bolted toward the room where they’d been held.
Shelby was still on the sofa, holding Noah as she sobbed uncontrollably.
Sam went to her, put her arms around her and held on tightly. “It’s over. You’re safe.” She kept one arm around Shelby while she called Avery. “They’re safe.”
“Oh, thank God. Tell Shelby I’ll be there soon.”
“We’ll transport them to GW.” Sam decided that was necessary because of Shelby’s advanced pregnancy. “We’ll meet you there.”
“Tell her I’m coming.”
“I will.”
“And I love her.” Avery’s voice cracked on a sob. “More than anything.”
“I’ll tell her.” She closed her phone. “Avery’s coming, and he loves you more than anything.”
Shelby was sobbing too hard to speak.
Sam took Noah so the paramedics could tend to Shelby. Holding Noah in her arms, Sam followed the paramedics outside.
“Ma’am?” the pimply Secret Service agent called to her.
“I’m going with her. Follow us.”
“But—”
Sam turned her back on him, handed Noah to a paramedic, followed him into the back of the ambulance and took Noah back. Thankfully, the little guy was sleeping through all the trauma. He’d be sad to miss the public safety vehicles, though. He was obsessed with his toy police cars and fire trucks.
“How is she?” Sam asked the paramedics as they drove to the George Washington University Hospital.
“Her vitals are good, but we want to get her on a fetal heart monitor ASAP.”
Sam hoped and prayed that the baby was safe and that Shelby would recover from the horrible shock. As she fished her phone out of her pocket she realized she didn’t have the BlackBerry she needed to call Nick. So she called the White House switchboard.
