Lord, show me when to move. How to do this fast so I can take him down before he shoots me or anyone else.
It felt so natural to cry out to the Lord in the heat of the moment, when she was facing death with no way to fight back. But did she do that on ordinary days when there was no peril, or with a patient whose condition she didn’t know how to treat? Even then, she relied more on her knowledge and less on the God-given wisdom that the Bible told her to ask for.
Give me that wisdom now, Lord.
When she got out of this, which she had to trust would happen, she was going to quit treating God like a friend she only called when she was in a jam and needed help. Kira would start fresh and work on having a real relationship with the Lord. One where she was in more constant communication with Him, about anything happening or nothing at all. Especially about her fear.
She had to cultivate a closeness with Him that she’d never had before, or she would be calling herself a Christian when, in reality, she was missing something huge about what her relationship with God could be.
Sax turned back from the window. “Hate to break it to you, bro, but the cops are here. SWAT teams. There are all kinds of flashing red and blue lights out there.”
“So they know something is going on.” Stuart shrugged, but Kira wasn’t all the way convinced he didn’t care that the police were here. “It was gonna happen. And now I can ask for what I want.”
“You think this is a situation where you have any leverage?” Sax pulled back the shoulder of his tank top to reveal an angry scar below his right collarbone. A gunshot wound from a long time ago. “What do you think happens when they’re done talking and they decide you need to be taken out? Good luck. I’m not part of that.” He shook his head. “I’m not here to get shot again.”
“Too bad, because I guess I don’t need you.” Stuart leveled the gun at him.
“What if you do?” Desperation tumbled the words from her mouth, and Kira suddenly had to find a plausible reason Stuart should care about this random inmate—or so he thought.
She cleared her throat. “He has family, right? I mean, everyone does.” She tried to shrug. “Maybe they’re important and you can negotiate with them. They might even be rich enough they can give you money. You never know. This guy could be somebody.”
“He’s new. No one knows much about him.”
“See?” Kira didn’t know what else to say.
“I kill him, it’ll just be for pleasure. Not for the paycheck.”
Sax reacted to that. “Someone’s paying you? Bro, get me in on that action.”
“I don’t need any more help. This is a solo operation now.”
Kira could see that. He’d killed the guard who’d helped him breach the prison in the first place and kick off this whole situation. The cartel guy was out in the hallway still, where he’d attacked Luca.
She couldn’t see through the window in that door, off to her right.
Was he out there? Was he hurt?
She sniffed back tears.
The phone on the desk beside the pharmacy cabinet rang again. Stuart swept his arm back and forth, aiming the gun at her and then Sax in turn. He backed up and used his free hand to hit a button on the phone. “What?”
“This is Lieutenant Rutherford with the Renegade Police Department. State your name.”
Stuart said, “I don’t gotta tell you nothin’.”
“I’d like to find a way to resolve this situation peacefully.”
Sax lifted one hand and tapped his shoulder, ostensibly reminding Stuart of the police’s idea of “resolving” situations. Kira wasn’t sure that was necessary. Why did he feel the need to warn Stuart? She would much rather he was taken down—and quickly—so they could get out of here.
Rutherford said, “Can you tell me who is in the infirmary with you?”
“I’m sure you’d like to know that, Lieutenant.” Stuart sneered the last word as if it was a slur. “I got a live one right here.” He looked at her. “Get over here.”
She didn’t move.
“Now!”
Kira stumbled, caught herself, and walked to him. Stuart grabbed the back of her neck, his fingers tangling painfully in her hair. She gasped.