Page 147 of Girl Between (Dana Gray FBI Mystery Thriller #5)

Out of time, Dana rushed to Amelia’s bedside. “Can you stand?”

“Yes, but what’s happening?”

“There’s no time to explain.” Dana grabbed the girl’s frail hand. “I need you to trust me.”

“Okay.”

Dana went to work disconnecting Amelia from the dialysis machine that had mercifully finished cleansing her blood. Thankfully, the technology hadn’t changed much. Recalling her knowledge from years spent helping her grandfather battle his illness, Dana expertly unhooked Amelia.

A solid crack against the door told her she was out of time. Helping Amelia out of the hospital bed, Dana led her to a spot along the interior wall. Placing the girl’s hands against the wall, she said. “Stay right here and don’t make a sound.”

Dana returned to the door, barricading it with anything she could find, which wasn’t much. She piled the bins in front of the room’s only exit and wedged the IV pole under the door handle, hoping it would buy her time.

Every second counted.

Outside the door Monroe raged, his banging growing louder. Stabbing him in the eye with her necklace was a necessity, but Dana feared she’d kicked the proverbial hornet’s nest. Monroe sounded frighteningly frenzied as he attacked the door. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” he bellowed.

Back at the window Dana could see the glow of police lights below.

She ran her hands along the rusting frame, leaving smears of blood on the glass.

When she’d removed the tarp to flash Morse code, she’d gotten an idea.

The windowpane was intact, but the frame and material supporting it was in disrepair.

Wielding the blunt end of the reflex hammer she’d found in one of the bins she slammed it into the glass repeatedly until a crack began to spiderweb.

Yes! This will work. It has to.

“There’s nowhere to run,” Monroe taunted from the other side of the door.

“Who said anything about running?” Dana called back.

Unlocking the wheels on the hospital bed, she used all her force and slammed it into the splintered window. The first collision only managed to shatter the glass marginally. Shards fell out of the frame in large, sharp pieces. But her second attempt was a success.

Glass erupted from the window, falling out toward the street.

Panting, Dana grabbed the bed sheets and went to work, smashing the rest of the glass from the window.

In her haste she snagged her forearm on a shard of glass, adding to her already dangerous blood loss.

But the injury was worth it. The sound of the window blowing out drew Monroe’s attention.

“You won’t survive the fall,” he warned.

“Maybe, but I’d rather jump and be in control of my fate!” she yelled.

Amelia let out a muffled gasp, and Dana returned to her side. “I-I don’t want to jump.”

Dana put a finger to the frightened girl’s lips and whispered her plan into her ear. When she finished, she said, “Nod if you understand.”

Amelia nodded .

Letting her head fall back against the wall, Dana sucked in deep breaths trying to gather her strength as they waited.

One, two, three more loud cracks, and the door to the room fractured, part of it falling into the barricade, the remainder swinging open on whining hinges.

Dana held her breath as Monroe’s hulking form stepped into the dark room. She and Amelia remained in the shadows until the last possible moment. Then she gave Amelia the signal.

Slipping behind Monroe while he gazed out the window was easy enough; it was getting past her own barricade that was problematic. Something toppled from the pile and alerted Monroe to their escape. But it didn’t matter, they were already through the door.

Now all they had to do was run.

Dana towed Amelia behind her, knowing they wouldn’t get far. But they didn’t need to outrun Monroe, just outlast him.

She’d known the door to Amelia’s room wouldn’t hold. And letting Monroe box them into the room would only give him more leverage. So, she’d hatched her plan to draw him to the window so they could sneak out of the room.

By now the NOPD and the FBI would have the building surrounded. Dana just needed to find somewhere to hide, biding her time long enough for help to arrive.