Free Standoff by Sandra Brown Page A

now."
    "How is she?" Doc asked, joining them.
    Tiel looked at his shoulder. "Are you hurt?"
    He shook his head. "The bullet only grazed me. It stings, that's all." Through the tear in his sleeve, he swabbed the wound with a gauze pad, then covered it with another and asked Tiel to cut off a strip of adhesive tape.
    While he held the square in place, she secured it with the tape.
    "Thanks."
    "You're welcome."
    Up to this point no one had given any attention to the unconscious man. Ronnie approached, transferring his pistol from one hand to the other and drying his damp palms alternately on the seat of his jeans. He hitched his chin toward Cain. "What about him?"
    Tiel considered that a very good question. "I'll probably get years in prison for doing that."
    Doc said to Ronnie, "I recommend that you let me drag him outside, so his buddies in that bad-ass van out there
    will know he's alive. If they think he's dead or wounded, it could get ugly, Ronnie."
    Ronnie apprehensively glanced toward the outside and gnawed on his lower lip while considering the suggestion.
    "No, no." He looked over at Vern and Gladys, who seemed to be having as good a time as two people on a theme-park thrill ride. "Find some duct tape," Ronnie told them. "I'm sure the store sells it. Bind his hands and feet."
    "If you do that, you'll only be digging yourself in deeper, son," Doc warned gently.
    "I don't think I could get in any deeper."
    Ronnie's expression was sad, as though he was just now fully comprehending the enormity of his predicament.
    What might have seemed a romantic adventure when he and Sabra ran away had turned into an incident involving the FBI and gunplay. He had committed several felonies.
    He was in serious trouble, and he was intelligent enough to know it.
    The elderly couple stepped over the unconscious agent. Each took an ankle. It was an effort for them, but they were able to drag him away from Sabra, giving Doc and Tiel more room in which to function.
    "They're going to lock me up forever," Ronnie continued.
    "But I want Sabra to be safe. I want her old man's promise that he'll let her keep our baby."
    "Then let's end this here and now."
    "I can't, Doc. Not before getting that guarantee from
    Mr. Dendy."
    Doc motioned down to Sabra, who was panting through another pain with Tiel. "In the meantime—"
    "We stay right here," the boy insisted.
    "But she needs a—"
    "Doc?" Tiel said, interrupting.
    "—hospital. And soon. If you're truly worried about
    Sabra's welfare—"
    "Doc?"
    Irritated because she had twice interrupted his earnest appeal, he turned to her abruptly and asked impatiently,
    "What?"
    "Sabra can't go anywhere. I can see the baby."
    He knelt down between Sabra's raised knees. "Thank
    God," he said on a relieved laugh. "The baby's turned,
    Sabra. I can see the head. You're crowning. A few minutes from now you'll have a baby."
    The girl laughed, sounding too young to be in the jam she was in. "Is it going to be all right?"
    "I think so." Doc looked at Tiel. "You'll help?"
    "Tell me what to do."
    "Get a few more of those pads and spread them around her. Have one of the towels handy to wrap the baby in."
    He had rolled up his shirtsleeves above the elbows and was vigorously washing his hands and arms with Tiel's bottled cleanser. He then bathed them with vinegar. He passed the bottles to Tiel. "Use both liberally. But quickly."
    "I don't want Ronnie watching," Sabra said.
    "Sabra? Why not?"
    "I mean it, Ronnie. Go away."
    Doc spoke to him over his shoulder. "It might be best,
    Ronnie." Reluctantly the boy backed away.
    In Cain's doctor's kit, Doc found a pair of gloves and pulled them on—expertly, Tiel noticed. He snapped them smartly around his wrists. "At least he did something right," he muttered. "There's a whole box of them. Get yourself a pair."
    She had just managed to get the gloves on when Sabra had another contraction. "Don't bear down if you can keep from it," Doc instructed. "I don't want you to tear."
    He