Free CA 50.7 Little Girl Lost by Debra Webb

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    The screech came out of nowhere. An explosion cracked the air.
    Not a bomb, Paul realized at the same time as the feel of hot lead piercing his side registered in his brain.
    He whirled around and fired at the woman preparing to do the same. She hit the marble, more of those ungodly screeches piercing the air as she writhed in pain. He'd gotten her in the shoulder. Her weapon had flown from her hand and spun across the shiny floor.
    Dr. Hancock made a strangled sound before running to the woman. Paul snatched up her gun.
    The woman kept screaming something about two minutes then one minute. The bomb! They were running out of time.
    "Carry her," Paul ordered.
    "This way," Hancock said when Paul would have gone to the front entrance. He'd come in that way. "The rear exit is closer."
    Paul was relatively certain the guy and his woman, who he had figured for Mrs. Hancock, did not want to die, so he followed the two. Jen and the children were in the back parking lot already. Not far enough away from the building. There was no way to know the kind of explosive Hancock had employed.
    "Get back!" Paul waved for them to move.
    The children stared at him and the two hysterical Hancocks.
    Finally, the dark-haired girl turned and started to walk farther away from the building. The other children followed. Paul tried not to be distracted by the girl. They had to move. There was no time for anything else.
    "Hurry!" he shouted.
    Jenna started to run.
    The children did the same.
    Thank God.
    The boom echoed in the air.. .the ground shook.
    Debris rained down on the parking lot. Fortunately they were beyond the primary fallout area. Another boom vibrated the air when the building collapsed in on itself. It would take months if not years to dig through those buried secrets.
    When they reached the farthest side of the parking lot the Hancocks crumpled to the ground.
    "She's bleeding," Dr. Hancock howled. "We need medical assistance!"
    "They're on the way," Jenna said. "The paramedics and the police."
    The ground moved under Paul's feet, and he steadied himself. They were safe now. Jenna rushed over to him. "You okay?"
    He managed a nod that felt disconnected. "We all got out safely. I'm good."
    Paul felt something touch his back, on his left side near his waistband.
    He stared down at the dark-haired girl, who had moved in close to him. She held up her hand. Blood dripped down her palm.
    "Oh, my God, Paul," Jenna cried, "you've been shot."
    The world faded around him. Paul knew he was falling but he couldn't stop the momentum. All he could do was stare into the eyes that were exactly like his.
    ***
    Huntsville Hospital, 4:28 p.m.
    Jenna sat at Paul's bedside.
    "You scared me to death," she scolded.
    Pale-faced, he managed a smile. "Scared myself."
    Though the bullet hadn't done any serious harm, it had taken quite a while in the O.R. to tidy up the damage. Damn the Hancocks.
    True to his word, Hancock had refused to talk. The children had been examined and were in a small ward in the E.R., the only place large enough to keep them all together.
    When the authorities had tried to separate them, the screaming and physical outbursts had begun. Jenna had explained that the oldest, Diamond, would keep the others calm if they were left alone in a quiet place.
    Two FBI agents, one from Birmingham and one from Huntsville, had arrived to look into Jenna's claims about the children's identities. With the institute destroyed there was no way to identify the children. Of course their records at the institute may or may not have reflected their true identities. The employees were being sought. Since Jenna had been there just two days, she knew her coworkers only by their first names, which was of little help.
    Prints had been taken from all the children, but the agents and the local police weren't optimistic. One of the agents had promised to keep Jenna informed if they learned anything at all during the night.
    Jenna wanted to go down to the E.R. and