“Just one question,” Cal said. “What made you storm that cabin? Without help? Without backup of any kind?”

She took a sip of her drink. “There was an emergency case I remembered. Years ago, when I was a senior resident in trauma...”

It was a victim the police couldn’t get to. The apartment was surrounded by SWAT, uniforms, dogs, negotiators and medical. There was only one entry and it took hours while the suspect held the victim with a gun. After hours of trying, in an act of life-threatening heroism, one officer breached the apartment through a hole in the wall and eliminated the suspect. He was a young SWAT officer with a family who braved death to save an innocent. And he was too late.

“Not only had the victim been assaulted for hours, she was critical from a gunshot wound to the head when they finally got in. She was pregnant. It was a tragedy of huge proportions and we couldn’t save her. I thought, maybe stupidly, that I had a chance in this case. I thought I might have to kill them to get Chelsea out but I also thought if I fired one round and they gave up, I wouldn’t have to kill them and maybe could save her before any more damage was done.”

“You weren’t scared?” he asked.

“Of course, I must have been.”

“Don’t you even know?” he asked.

She smiled contritely. “If I let being scared stop me from doing what I think I have to do, I wouldn’t get far. Would I?”

He shook his head and laughed. “You were lucky,” he said. “You might be an ace in the operating room but in this, you were lucky. Let’s not do that again, all right?”

“I hope to never do that again,” she said. “God, I must have gone mad. I don’t put the bullets in. I take them out!”

Be able to be alone.
Lose not the advantage of solitude.

—Sir Thomas Browne

Chapter 7

Maggie became a legend. Word spread around the county in about thirty minutes. Phones must’ve rung through the night because Enid and Frank showed up at 6:00 a.m. and Tom Canaday wasn’t far behind them. There were others from near Sullivan’s Crossing—a couple of members of the search-and-rescue team, one of the deputies from Timberlake, the county postal deliveryman. For the love of God. Maggie was amused that they made her out to be some fierce avenging angel who swooped down on two giant, armed men who were holding a little girl against her will.

As a bunch of locals gathered on the store’s porch, Sully tried to help. “This story might’ve got a little embellished here and there,” he said.

“Did she kick in the door?” Frank asked.

“Yeah, she did that,” Sully relented.

“Blow a hole in the ceiling of that little cabin?” Enid wanted to know.

“It was a shotgun so not a big hole, but there’s repairs to do,” Sully said.

“And she shot one of them in the nuts?” someone asked.

“More or less,” Sully said. “She’s touched that gun under a dozen times in her life. You reckon she’s a good enough shot to do that on purpose?”

“Makes me shiver to think she is,” Frank said. “I heard she had ’em in two shots. I’m gonna be way more careful what I say around her.”

“I think you’re all being just plain ridiculous!” Sully said. “It was a damn fool thing she did with pretty poor odds!”

“If I’m ever in trouble, I want her on my team,” Enid said. “Maybe the lot of you should be careful what you say around me.”

“Aw, you’re carried away, that’s all,” Sully sulked. “She’s just a girl! Don’t encourage her!”