Page 9 of Final Approach (Lake City Heroes #4)

“Guilt? Realization that they’d failed and wanted to make up for it?”

“You believe what you want. I’ll believe what I know is true.” He swept past her and pointed down the short hallway off the living area. “Last room on the left. I don’t think you’ll have trouble finding it.”

“Do you have any coffee?” she asked.

He hesitated, then nodded. “I think there’s some left. Dad’s the coffee drinker. Mom can’t stand the stuff. If you’re wanting her to drink it to help wake her up, good luck.” He walked into the tiny kitchen and turned on the coffee maker.

“Well, we can try, right?”

“I guess.”

“You get it ready and I’ll wake her up.” The guys were still outside, and through the storm door she could see them talking. Waiting on her. Not wanting to push too hard and shut Mrs. Brown down completely. Assuming she could get her up and coherent. Kristine knocked on the closed door.

No answer.

The blessed smell of strong coffee reached her. She knocked again. “Mrs. Brown? It’s Kristine Duncan. I’m a federal agent. May I come in?”

Still no answer.

She tried the knob and it twisted beneath her palm.

She opened the door and stuck her head inside.

Mrs. Brown lay curled in a fetal position, eyes shut, face pale.

Almost translucent. Her left shoulder rose and fell with each breath, but the delay between breaths worried Kristine.

It seemed like her breathing was much too slow to be normal.

She stepped to the bed and gave the woman a light shake. “Mrs. Brown?”

Nothing.

Kristine gave her a harder nudge.

Still nothing.

She felt her pulse, and while it was there, it was definitely too slow. She pulled out her phone and dialed 911.

“What’s your emergency?”

Kristine rattled off the situation and turned to find Jacob in the doorway staring at her, eyes wide with fear. “Go get the other two agents,” she told him.

“She OD’d?” His voice trembled.

She met his gaze. “I don’t know what happened, but the ambu lance is on the way. She’s breathing and she has a pulse. All good things. Do you know what she took?”

“I’ll get the bottle.” He went into the bathroom across the hall, returned with the bottle, then ran toward the kitchen, yelling over his shoulder, “I’ll get the other feds.”

“Tell them to bring Narcan!”

Nathan and Andrew joined her, matching frowns and concern on their faces while Jacob hovered in the background, tears tracking his cheeks.

“What’d she take?” Andrew asked, pressing the Narcan into her hand.

“Percocet. It’s an opioid-based drug.” She passed him the bottle and continued to monitor the woman’s breathing.

It was still there—slow, but there. “The Narcan will help counteract that and I’m trained to administer it.

” She did so and waited. Sometimes it took a couple of minutes for the person to regain consciousness.

“Come on,” Nathan whispered. “Wake up.”

“Call CPS,” she said, keeping her voice low. “They’re going to have to get involved in this.”

Andrew left the room.

“Suicide attempt?” Nathan asked, too low for Jacob to hear.

“Only she can tell us that.”

“Mom?” Jacob asked, coming closer. He looked at Kristine. “Is she going to be okay?”

She glanced at his hands twisting in front of him and walked over to take them in her own. “Your mom is getting the best help she can and you’ve done a great job assisting. In fact, can you grab me a cold wet washcloth?”

“Yeah.” He ran from the room.

Kristine heard the sirens in the distance and checked the woman’s pulse once more. It was still slow, but faster than before. Jacob was back with the dripping cloth, and she used it to touch various pulse points on the woman’s body.

Still, she didn’t stir, but at least she was breathing easier.

The paramedics arrived and Kristine showed them the bottle.

“Percocet 2.5mg/325mg. One to two tablets every six hours. Filled yesterday.” The prescription came with ten tablets.

There were four left. But how many were in there before the woman swallowed her dose?

“She could have taken up to six pills,” she said.

“One dose of Narcan administered. You may need to do another.”

“Got it.”

“Dad took a couple of the pills,” Jacob said from the door. Kristine hadn’t seen him. “I know because I got him two before he left yesterday. He has migraines and sometimes that’s the only thing that will help him.”

“That’s helpful, thank you.” Kristine turned toward the paramedics as they started working on the woman, giving her more drugs to counteract the overdose. “Could be up to four.”

“Got it.”

The second dose did the trick. It didn’t take long for Mrs. Brown to gasp. Her eyes opened and for a moment, she simply lay there. Blinked, then frowned. “What’s ... what?” She lifted a hand, then dropped it.

The nearest paramedic leaned in. “Mrs. Brown, how are you feeling?”

“Um ... I don’t know. Weird.”

“How many Percocet pills did you take?”

She stared at him and the man repeated himself. “Three. I think. Maybe four? I needed to sleep so bad. I got the kids taken care of and...” Her eyes teared up. “I just wanted to escape for a little bit,” she whispered.

An alarm went off and a paramedic moved in. “Her oxygen is dropping. We need to get her to the hospital.”

They swept out the door and Andrew joined her. “CPS is here.”

“Already? That was fast.”

“The social worker, Billy Freeman, was close by doing a home visit with another family. Dropped everything and came right over.”

“I’m not leaving her!” Jacob’s shout carried right to them.

Kristine and Andrew made their way outside to find the teen gripping the gurney that held his mother, preventing the paramedics from lifting her into the ambulance.

Billy placed a hand on Jacob’s shoulder. “I’ll make sure you’re updated every step of the way.”

“No, I’m going with her. I can’t leave her.”

Kristine stepped forward. “Jacob, let her go. She needs to get help now. You don’t want to keep her from getting that. We’ll work out the details of you going to be with her while the doctors are with her.”

He locked his gaze on hers. “Promise?”

“Yeah.”

He let his hand fall away, and the woman was immediately loaded up and headed toward the hospital.

Seconds after the ambulance disappeared, a sharp crack sounded and the dirt in front of her spit in all directions.

AT THE FIRST SHOT , Andrew grabbed Jacob and yanked him behind the nearest Bucar. The kid shook, trembling from head to toe, but didn’t make a sound. Two more bullets followed the first and then it was quiet. “Stay here,” he said. “You got it?”

Jacob nodded, eyes wide with fear and bewilderment. “Yeah. I’ll stay here. Where are you going?”

“To see if I can find the shooter.”

“Be careful,” the kid whispered.

With a light squeeze to the teen’s shoulder, Andrew rose to look around.

Kristine stood next to the other Bucar, and Nathan was just hauling himself up off the ground.

The social worker rose and positioned himself slightly behind Kristine, his eyes bouncing from one person to the next.

His gaze landed on Jacob and relief filled his features.

As Andrew passed them all, he motioned for Nathan to follow him, then aimed himself in the direction the bullets had come from.

Nathan fell into step beside him. They crossed the road and hurried through the trailer park’s main entrance.

The homes were lined up one after the other.

About twenty on one side and twenty on the other. A dirt road ran between the rows.

“I’ll take this side,” he said to Nathan.

“I got this one.”

They scanned each row one by one, looking for anything that might indicate a shooter had just fired three bullets from that area.

They arrived at the end without seeing a single person. No doubt they’d all hunkered down at the sound of the gunshots. Nathan holstered his weapon and planted his hands on his hips. “He’s either hiding out in one of the homes or he’s long gone.”

“My guess is gone, but we need reinforcements to knock on doors.” He put in the call for backup with the local PD. Once they arrived, Nathan and Andrew headed back to the scene to find local officers there along with the crime scene unit.

Kristine was speaking with Garrett Harder, the CSU lead on this scene. Everything was under control at the moment. Except ... where was Jacob?

He scanned the area once more and saw the social worker had the kid in the back of his car. Andrew loped over to it and knocked on the window. The glass slid down. “You taking him to the hospital?”

“Yes. I promised I would.”

“Okay, good. Thank you.” The man nodded and Andrew gave Jacob a small wave, said a quick prayer for his protection and his mother’s recovery, then checked his phone.

He needed to talk to Hank. Had someone discovered Hank had talked to Andrew and sent a gang member to take him out?

He wasn’t quite sold on that idea, simply because he was still alive.

The Serpentine Network shooters didn’t miss.

Then again ... who knew? Only Hank would be able to answer that question.

He walked back to find Kristine and Nathan in conversation about the next steps to take.

They arranged protection for the family.

Mrs. Brown would have it in the hospital.

After Kristine got the information from her, a police officer would be dispatched to each home where the kids were staying.

Andrew didn’t think it was completely necessary, but it’s what would be done for the next couple of days. They’d revisit the threat after that.

They still needed to talk to the TSA agent, who was now sitting in an interrogation room. Mrs. Brown—who might very well be unquestionable for the next several hours—was the one who could wait. He sighed. “Let’s talk to Colleen Pearson,” he said.

Kristine nodded. “I’ll meet you there.”