Page 54 of Yankee in the Wind

The man ignored the question, and instead looked past Jack. Footsteps were approaching.

“Fox,” the man said, “drop your gun and kick it to your left, or I’ll blow Lilly’s head off.”

“You won’t do that,” Fox said. “You need Lilly alive to get out of there. It’s hard using a dead body as a shield.”

“Fox!” Jack warned. “Do as he says. He’s holding a gun right under her chin.”

The last sentence wasn’t for Fox’s benefit but for Ace’s and Michelle’s. They would hear him via their earpieces. However, no reply came from either one. Had Ace not defeated his opponent? Was he injured, or worse, dead?

“Listen to your friend, Fox,” Lilly’s captor said, and began to slowly walk backwards, dragging Lilly with him, using her as a shield so Fox wouldn’t get a clear shot. “I’m getting very impatient. And when I get impatient, I do irrational things.” He jerked the muzzle of his gun upward, driving it deeper into the soft area under Lilly’s chin.

Lilly cried out in pain. Jack saw her eyes fill with tears. Hopelessness spread in them.

“Fine,” Fox finally capitulated.

Jack heard him put the gun on the ground then kick it away.

“Well, was that so hard?” Lilly’s captor said sarcastically. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got places to go, people to see…”

He walked sideways with Lilly still in his clutches, heading for the front exit.

Through his earpiece, Jack suddenly heard Michelle whisper, “Lights out in three.”

Jack glanced at the spot where his gun had landed, while counting in his head.

One.

Two.

The lights went out in the entire building, and the MRI machine finally shut down.

In the darkness, Jack lunged for his gun. Meanwhile, he heard shuffling, cursing, and grunting, and a cry of pain coming from Lilly. Lilly’s captor was trying to get away with her as his hostage. Jack searched the floor for his gun, but it took him several seconds to find it. Finally, he gripped the handle and rushed toward the opposite wall. He heard somebody crashing into a stack of pallets, the sound indicating that a stack was collapsing.

“Got the gun,” Jack whispered into the microphone.

“Me too,” Fox replied in the same way.

“Fox, cover me,” Jack said.

“Roger that,” Fox replied.

“Michelle, lights on in three,” Jack ordered.

Again, Jack counted in his head.

The lights came on, and at the same time, the MRI machine started humming again.

Jack stared in the direction that Lilly’s captor had taken and saw the stack of pallets that had collapsed. Next to it, Lilly lay, groaning. Jack raced to her.

“Lilly, are you alright? Oh my God, are you shot?”

He reached her and crouched down, letting his eyes roam over her body.

“No, he slammed me against the pallets when the lights went out,” Lilly said, wincing as he helped her up. She breathed hard.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine.” She pointed to the front exit. “I recognized his voice. He was the one pretending to be Henry Sheppard.”