Read Online SEIZED, A Romantic Suspense Novella by Suzanne Ferrell - Free Book Online

even though it was his area of expertise. That he’d kept his calm thus far was a miracle.
    “Want to be next?” Wilkes aimed right at him.
    Forcing her fear deep inside, Judy stepped between them, hands raised in submission. “Please don’t. He’s just scared. We’re all scared.”
    “Right now he needs to keep his mouth shut. You all do.”
    Out of the corner of her eye she could see the tall nurse anesthetist, Bill, sliding along the wall toward the tubes and cords of the anesthesia machine. She needed to keep Wilkes focused on her and hopefully get him to lower his weapon.
    “We’d all be less scared if you told us why you were doing this? What did Dr. Hodges and the senator do to you?”
    He lowered his arm slightly, pointing the gun out to the side, moving in to invade her space once more, intimidating her with his anger. “Stop trying to get inside my head, Judy. I said to shut up.”
    Despite her common sense telling her to back up, she held her ground. Her daddy had always told her a bully just needed someone to stand up to them. Of course, she doubted he was talking about gun-carrying, bomb-making lunatics. “Why? Or are you going to execute me like you did Dr. Hodges? I don’t know what your beef was with him or the senator, but I’ve done nothing to you.”
    For what seemed like an eternity, she stared into the deep blue abyss of Wilkes’ eyes—hatred and pain staring back at her.
    Then he blinked, his look changing to despair. Growling, he ran his free hand over the back of his neck—the same motion of frustration Dave had used during a fight when he knew he was wrong—and backed up two steps.
    “They killed her.”
    “Who? Dr. Hodges and the senator?”
    He pointed his gun at the OR table and the patient bleeding out onto it. “He started it.”
    Slipping her hand in the pocket with the syringe, she loosened the cap at the same time edging to the side to still hide the anesthetist’s movements towards the tubing from the anesthesia machine lying curled on the floor. “What did he do?”
    “He slammed his sports car into the back of her and shoved her beneath a semi.”
    “I’m so sorry, Paul. What was her name?”
    “Betsy. She was the one who brought me back when the nightmares started. She was light and sweetness. She was carrying our son.”
    His anguish tore at her heart. To lose a wife and unborn child would destroy any man. Send him over the edge for revenge. Maybe getting him to talk about her would make him see what he was doing was so wrong.
    “Would she want you to be doing this?” she asked hesitantly, hoping to keep him focused on her and not Bill, who had his foot finally tangled in the cords.
    “No. But she’s not here.” He turned from the bedside back toward Judy, every muscle in his face and neck tight with anger. Gone from his eyes was the despair of a man still grieving for his family. They’d shuttered, closing off everything but his rage.
    Her heart stuttered as he narrowed the space between them.
    “She’s dead. Cold, in the ground, dead.” He waved his gun hand at Dr. Hodges’ corpse and the inert patient on the table. “And they took her from me!”
    A loud crash sounded behind her. They both jumped. He pushed her to the side and rushed past her toward Bill, his gun aimed at her friend. “What the hell are you doing?”
    Judy, didn’t hesitate a second. She pulled the syringe out of her pocket and whirled, slamming the needle into the exposed skin where Wilkes’ shoulder met his neck and pressing the plunger down fast.
    “Ah!” The gunman swung around with his gun arm, clotheslining her in the shoulder and knocking her hip into the metal operating table. She lost her balance and hit the floor with a grunt.
    “What the hell…” he grabbed at his shoulder where the syringe was still imbedded.
    Scrambling backwards out of his way like a crab on hot sand, Judy prayed the medication would work before he shot her. She watched him as if seeing a movie