Page 108 of Protected By Duval
A child cried out and Noelle’s heart squeezed tight in her chest.
She knew that voice.
The man with the gun raised his free hand to his ear. “Get out!”
He jabbed the gun into the manager’s chest.
“No wait... I’m getting out of here.”
Noelle took a step toward the other end of the room.
She wanted to get to her daughter and her mom.
Oh, God... McCrae’s mother and sister!
Tracy and her baby!
She started to run and stumbled when the crack of a gunshot reached her ears.
A crash beside her, and an answering yelp of pain told her that someone had been hit.
Noelle turned her head and saw the manager slumped sideways over a half-stack of buckets, his eyes glassy with pain.
The ground seemed to rush up at her in a panic, and her breath was pushed out of her lungs, her hands that she’d thrown out in front of her immediately started hurting.
She knew she’d scratched them up.
Behind her, the woman who’d blocked her way, was screaming, her kids sobbing.
Instinct told her she couldn’t do much for them, but…
“Mom, go!” She turned on her back and looked at the gunman. “Take everyone else!”
“No!” He shouted and turned his gun from her and pointed it over her head. “Everyone stay where you are!”
“Andy!”
He didn’t look at her, his gaze was fixed over her head, probably at her mother and Ciela. Or any of the other women she knew in the garden center.
The feeling of utter panic and fear made it almost impossible for her to move.
But she didn’t need to move, her head reminded her.
She could do something else, but that meant drawing his attention back to her.
Good.
All thoughts of self-preservation went out the window at the thought of saving her loved ones.
“Tony!”
He froze, his finger wrapped around the trigger.
“Tony Coolidge.”
He lowered his gaze to her face.
Confusion.
