Under the Marshal's Protection by Kathleen Tailer

Author:Kathleen Tailer
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2010-09-04T04:00:00+00:00

TEN

A woman shrieked, and a terrified murmur rose quickly from the crowd. A couple of men stood up, but Dominic’s controlled voice rose above the patrons’ voices.

“Federal agents, ladies and gentlemen. Please stay calm, everyone, and stay seated.” He motioned to the men who were standing, and they reluctantly took their seats again. “We’re U.S. Marshals, and we’ll have you out of here as safely and as quickly as possible.”

Dominic’s heart was in his throat as he looked at Jessica’s face. She had a mixture of fear and anger written there, and her body was trembling. The terrifying thought that had to be running through her head was running through his, too. Would her own brother really shoot her?

Detachment. Distance. He couldn’t think about losing her right now. He had to stay focused on Michael. They didn’t want to shoot him, but they would do it if Michael forced them to. The priority in this encounter was to keep the civilians safe while taking Michael Blake into custody. No life could be more important than any other if he was to do his job correctly. With one hand, he kept his pistol pointed at Blake’s head, but he held his other hand palm up, in a motion of restraint.

“Easy, Blake. You’re surrounded. There are two more officers behind you. You’re not going anywhere. Take a minute and think about what you’re doing. We don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

Michael glanced behind him and saw Whitney and Chris, both wearing “U.S. Marshal”-emblazoned vests over black T-shirts with weapons drawn. He pulled Jessica even closer, and his pistol was trembling in his hand. “Stay back!” he yelled, his voice filled with desperation.

“Michael, they want to help you.” Jessica pleaded softly. “I know you’re scared, but please, give them a chance.”

Michael didn’t answer, but instead kept retreating, trying to keep all four officers in sight. He stumbled slightly but righted himself quickly, keeping Jessica firmly in front of him.

“Okay, this is what we’re going to do,” Dominic said in a calm voice, his hand still up in a motion of surrender. “We’ve got a room full of terrified people, and all they want is to get out of here in one piece. Deputies Riley and Riggs are going to direct them out of here so we can talk, okay?”

Michael blew out a breath, then nodded, again pulling Jessica even closer. “She stays with me.”

“That’s fine. Give us just a few minutes to get these other people out of here.” Dominic gave short, efficient directions into his headset, and Jake and Chris moved quickly, motioning for the customers who had been eating in the dining room to follow them. Two ladies were crying now, but for the most part, the other people were just anxious to get out of there. The patrons followed the marshals’ lead and headed for the door, although a few of them kept glancing behind them, straining for a look at the man with the gun. Once Jake had everyone

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.