He held the paddles in place and said urgently, forcefully, ‘Stand back.’
‘Want to get closer, doc?’ Lowlife chuckled.
Cody froze. Never before had he heard such an evil chuckle. It was a match for that hideous laugh. He tried for reasoned and calm. Tried very hard. Snarled, ‘Stand back. If the doctor gets zapped, so will you.’ Dumb idiot. Hadn’t thought of that, had he?
Behind him Harper was hauled back so fast she lost her balance and fell into the man behind her, who also lost his balance.
The hand holding the gun wavered, the fingers tightening as Lowlife struggled to remain upright.
The air stuck in Cody’s chest as he waited for the explosion as the trigger was inadvertently pulled. It didn’t happen.
Instead, Harper dropped lower, fell to the floor. Deliberately? Lowlife no longer had her by the throat, or the gun at her head. Cody sprang forward, his shoulder aimed directly for the assailant’s chest. They went down together, sprawling across the floor while the gun spun out of reach.
Harper crawled after the weapon as Cody worked at subduing Strong by flipping him on to his stomach and planting a knee in the small of his back. ‘Don’t even bother trying to get away.’ Sometimes it was a bonus being a big man, Cody admitted as he looked around for Harper.
She was standing now, holding the gun as though it was about to go off and shoot her. Her hands were shaking and her eyes were wide with shock.
Cody’s heart squeezed for her.
Jess called from the bed in a terrified voice, ‘Still no sign of cardiac function.’
Harper blinked, shook her head abruptly and shoved the gun into the waistband of her scrubs. Rushing across to pick up the paddles from where Cody had dropped them moments ago, she instructed, ‘Stand back,’ and delivered a jolt of electricity. And another, and another.
‘Jess,’ Cody called as the man under his knee squirmed and started swearing loudly. ‘Go get help. Let everyone know we’ve got Strong under control, but as soon as the police arrive I’m more than happy to hand him over.’
Harper was zapping Mick like her life depended on it. ‘Come on. Don’t leave us now.’ Tears ran down her cheeks and her bottom lip trembled.
‘Harper. Stop.’ Cody desperately wanted to go and wrap his arms around her, take away some of the shock presumably making her react like that. As if he’d get away with doing that. Even in the circumstances he knew Dr Harper White would not thank him for showing her concern—especially in front of the staff. Her reputation for being strong, solid and independent went before her, and in the week he’d been working here he hadn’t seen anything to negate it.
Suddenly the room was full of gun-toting men dressed in the dark-blue overalls of the armed defenders squad and Cody relaxed for the first time in what seemed like hours but according to the wall clock was little more than ten minutes.
He couldn’t help himself prodding the man beneath him as he stood up. ‘You’re history.’ What he really wanted to do to the guy wasn’t going to happen even though the creep deserved every moment of pain for what he’d done to Harper White. The fear in her eyes would stay with him for a long time. And then the anger. She was something else; she really was.
As cops grabbed their man, Cody crossed to Harper. ‘It’s over, doctor.’
Her hands were shaking as he took the paddles from her. ‘Mick—he didn’t stand a chance.’
As her fingers oh-so-gently closed Mick’s eyes she said quietly, ‘I’m sorry, Mick Frew. I am so sorry.’ Then she slashed her sleeve across her face. ‘Damn.’
Cody muttered around the road block in his throat, ‘We weren’t exactly given much of a chance.’
Watery eyes met his as her fingers went to her temples, rubbed hard. ‘Unfortunately you’re right.’ Then she straightened up to her full height, bringing her head to somewhere about his shoulder.
A few unruly curls had escaped the wide band meant to keep them in place and were now stuck to her moist cheeks. Cody’s fingers itched to be able to lift them away and tuck them behind her ears. But he didn’t dare. He already loved this job, and wasn’t going to spoil anything by getting offside with this particular doctor.
So why was he wrapping his arms around her and hauling her shaking body close to his? Because he needed to hold her against him. However briefly, whatever the outcome, he just did. Tucking her head against his chest, he dropped his chin on the top of her thick, soft hair and held her. Breathed in her scent of citrus and residual fear. Her being in his arms gave him strength, helped him settle his jittery muscles. He hoped he was giving the same back.
She’s a perfect fit for my body. The realisation banged through him, made him tense.
Made Harper lift her head and look at him with puzzlement beaming out at him from watery eyes. She sniffed once and plastered a tight smile on her mouth. ‘Let’s go face the second round. There’ll be questions from all directions.’
Slowly Cody unwound his arms from that warm body he shouldn’t be noticing in any way. From somewhere deep he found a smile that was entirely for her. ‘You did good, doctor. Really good.’
REALLY? I DID a good job? Of what? Harper asked herself as she stepped out of Resus One. Their patient was dead, the assailant had been taken down by Cody and she felt like a toddler who’d just had a huge sugar fix. The shaking had started in earnest now that she had nothing to focus on. That impending migraine had also become reality.
Turning to Cody, she saw his jaw tighten. His mouth flat-lined. Feeling out of sorts too? He’d been so calm in there, so reliable. Yet she’d felt a tremor in his body in that all too brief moment he’d held her close. His hug had been like a welcoming home, a comfort, a much-needed place of calm and care and warmth. Only during that hug had she known for sure how rattled he’d been by what had gone down. She liked that he’d shared the whole episode, including the fear. She stepped closer to him, still needing his strength, his deliberate calm.
Which was enough to make her step away again. She must not need anything about him, from him. Needing something from a man had got her into trouble before, had led to the wrong marriage for her.
‘Hey, Harper, are you all right?’ George stepped up to her. He was head of the department and her brother’s friend—which meant Jason would already know about this, damn it all.
She swallowed, pain from where her throat had been flattened more apparent now she wasn’t on high alert. ‘I’m fine.’ Her voice came out as a high-pitched squeak. Great. Now she was sounding like that sugar-overloaded toddler.
The department was in chaos with police going about their business while nurses and doctors hovered around the area, looking like they didn’t know what to do or where to go, so they resorted to staring at Cody and her.
George took her arm. ‘My office. Both of you. Jess, you too. Where’s Matilda?’
Jess shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen her. I’m on lunch break now, so can I go to the canteen? My boyfriend’s there.’
‘Of course you can, as soon as you’ve talked to the police. They’ll want to ask you all a few things.’ George looked around at his staff. ‘Okay, everyone, we have a waiting room full of patients, and one in