Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

table where Reggie continued to wrestle with the four new deputies. Welch was leaving a trail of bloody handprints behind him.
    Dropping to her knees, she crawled over to him. ‘What are you doing? Get back.’
    Welch’s arm was bleeding profusely, dripping on the floor. ‘Shiv,’ he said, pointing.
    Daphne could see it lying against the leg of the overturned table, hidden from the deputies’ view. It didn’t shine, wasn’t metal. It looked like plastic. It looked harmless. But it couldn’t be, because every time Reggie lunged, that was what he reached for.
    ‘Get back. I’ll get it.’ Going flat on her stomach, she reached and closed her fingertips over the strange-looking knife, then crawled backward, away from the fray. She held the knife over her head. ‘He had a knife,’ she yelled, then placed it on the floor, far away from the action.
    The deputies holding Reggie stared, eyes flaring wide. Two of the deputies drew their weapons, one aiming at Reggie’s chest, the other at his head. A third smacked Reggie in the back of the head with his club, stunning him long enough to cuff one wrist.
    Daphne turned back to Welch, who was lying in the shadow of the judge’s bench. His arm still bled, but wasn’t gushing, so that was good. She was more worried about the blood pooling at his hip. ‘He got you twice,’ she said.
    ‘No shit.’ Welch tried for a smile but grimaced instead. ‘Hurts like a bitch.’
    ‘I guess so.’ The court reporter had left her sweater on the back of her chair when she’d fled the courtroom and Daphne grabbed it, pressing it to Welch’s hip, surveying the courtroom as she applied pressure.
    By the prosecution table, Cindy screamed and kicked even as she was being cuffed. On the other side of the aisle the deputies finally cuffed Reggie’s other wrist, having had to use a stun gun first. They shackled his ankles with plastic restraints and Cindy abruptly ceased her thrashing, breathing hard. Her shoulders sagged as she stared at her son, her face grim with impotent rage.
    Realization dawned. That conniving bitch . She attacked me to create a diversion so that Reggie could escape .
    Cindy glared at Daphne, venom in her eyes. ‘You’ll pay for this,’ she spat as the deputy jerked her to her feet. ‘You took our son from us. I swear to the living God, you will know how this feels.’
    Daphne’s composure remained intact as Cindy was removed from the courtroom, even though her heart hammered like a wild thing. She maintained her outward calm only because she knew that Ford was protected. A well-trained bodyguard had her son’s back, whether he’d wanted one or not.
    Plus, she’d learned the hard way that losing it at times like this didn’t help anything. Welch still needed her to keep pressure on his wound. As long as she had a task to focus on, she’d be able to keep herself together. After that, she’d find a private place to fall apart.
    The four deputies who’d subdued Reggie dragged him back to the holding cell while the second wave of uniforms finished clearing the gallery and moved the table off Reggie’s defense attorney.
    When the courtroom was finally emptied, a team of EMTs rushed in and Daphne stepped back to give them room to work. She didn’t realize how rigidly she held herself until Grayson gently took her hands, making her flinch violently.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ Grayson murmured. ‘I didn’t mean to scare you. Your hands are covered with Welch’s blood.’ He began to clean her hands with disinfectant wipes.
    ‘He’s going to be okay, right?’ she asked, more for reassurance than anything else.
    ‘Looks like it. When you’re less tense, I’m going to yell like hell at you for grabbing that knife. You could have been killed.’ He released her hands, clean now.
    ‘You would have done the same thing,’ she said shakily.
    Grayson shrugged. ‘I’m still going to yell like hell at you. Once I’m able to breathe again, that is.’
    ‘Join the club.’ Daphne fought the trembles she felt coming on. She cautiously ran a hand over her hair and exhaled, relieved. Her smooth twist was still in place. Good thing Cindy didn’t get her claws in my hair . That would have been embarrassing as hell .
    One of the EMTs came over to them. ‘Either of you need medical attention?’
    ‘No,’ they answered together.
    ‘Is Deputy Welch going to be okay?’ she added.
    ‘He should be fine. We’ve got a rig waiting outside for him. Mr Defense over