"Instinct"
It was dark when Lindsay awoke. The place where Danny usually lay beside her was empty, and maybe it was her mother's intuition but she knew something was wrong-something was terribly wrong.
It was just then she heard the baby monitor crackle and the distinct voices on the other end coming from her daughter's room. The first was Danny's panicked voice, but the second she recognized and it sent chills down her spine-Shane Casey.
She didn't even question how he had managed to get into their house, let alone their daughter's nursery. At that moment she only acted on a combination of motherly protective instinct and cop's intuition, and sliding out of bed she reached for the gun in the top nightstand drawer. Without even turning on the light she shoved the clip into place and clicked the safety to "off". Then she headed for her daughter's room.
Lindsay crept along the deserted hallway. She only knew Shane Casey was in her house that she wasn't sure what he planned on doing next and she wasn't taking any chances. She found Danny where she expected him to be, in the doorway of the nursery, clearly he had kept Casey talking because at the moment it was all he could do to keep the other man from firing the gun he was holding.
Not that that would stop him. Lindsay thought.
Lindsay slid along the wall and as soon as she had an opening she appeared there in the doorway in her pajamas holding the gun steady. At this moment she wasn't even breathing, at least it didn't feel like it.
"Let her go." She whispered in a low voice, but Shane Casey only laughed. Clearly he had no intention of giving up his position.
"You took everything from me!" Shane Casey raged at them, "Now I figured it was only fair to take the one person you value most." He readjusted his hold on Lucy who whimpered, she hadn't started crying yet.
"I can't get a clear shot." Lindsay muttered to Danny out the side of her mouth. She still had the gun trained on Casey, but the last thing she wanted to was inadvertently hit her daughter.
For a long time the three of them just stood there in a standoff. Lindsay had been in this situation numerous times in the field, but never in her own home particularly when her own daughter was the hostage. Casey raised his gun again intent on firing at Danny and it was when Casey held Lucy away from him and prepared to fire Lindsay saw her opening, she fired.
Everything seemed to happen in slow-motion she saw Shane Casey crumple to the ground beside the crib and Danny dart forward to catch their daughter before she hit the floor as Casey lost his grip on her. It was only then Lucy began to cry (Lindsay figured the sound of the gun had scared her). She only breathed again when Danny and Lucy were safe once again in her arms and she was left staring at the crumpled body on the floor of the nursery.