On the Hunt …
"Constable Hansen, where are you heading at such an increased rate of speed?" Wilder asked over the radio as he and Fraser met him driving an RCMP Jeep like a bat out of hell.
"There was a sighting of a dirt bike just outside of Spencer Falls, the witness said the young man had a rifle strapped across his back. We believe it to be Omar Zaman, and we're heading to the post now." Hansen's voice was sharp and high as he relayed the message over the radio.
"Understood, will follow." Constable Wilder turned the four wheel drive around and followed Hansen back toward the post.
"Omar revealed himself to draw us away from the post, he knew Inspector Thatcher would stay behind to coordinate the operation." Fraser spoke as he hung onto the safety bars.
"And we've played right into his hands." Wilder gritted his teeth. He might not like the Inspector all the time, but she was a good officer and he was proud to have served with her.
Fraser wasn't about to let anything happen to Meg. He'd just found her again, they had both finally gotten past their relationship fears enough to be honest with each other. A knot began forming in the pit of his stomach as he thought about her being in danger. He'd felt the same way when Ben had been kidnapped the year before.
"Fraser to post, respond post." Fraser radioed, wanting desperately to hear Meg's voice.
"Post here." Maggie's voice greeted him.
"Post, we have visual on the base, what is your status?" Fraser spoke as he saw the small building come into view. All the rest of the officers and their vehicles sat surrounding the post.
"Fraser, we are ..." Maggie didn't finish her sentence. Fraser heard her groan then go silent. In the background he heard Aurora bark then a hurt yelp.
"He's in the post." The Jeep skidded to a halt at the side of the building. Fraser wished Ray were with him to back him up but he was more relieved that the American detective was guarding his son. The Mountie determined to go in and protect Ray's most precious person, Maggie, for him.
Fraser walked quietly into the post. Every Mountie on duty was backed up to the wall. Maggie lay unconscious on the floor behind the desk, the radio transmitter still in her hand. She was breathing. Aurora lay on the floor beside her, blood matting her fur from a gunshot wound. In the center of the main room stood a young man, a hand gun to Meg's head and a rifle strapped across his back. Fraser recognized him as the young man from the surveillance footage. Hana stood on the other side, her lip split and terror in her eyes.
"Stop there." Omar shouted, pressing the handgun muzzle harder against Meg's temple. Fraser saw the terror in her dark brown eyes. Fraser nodded as he took a step backward.
"Don't do anything, Mountie, or your woman is dead." The young man threatened. Meg took a deep breath, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks.
"If you had actually wanted her dead, Omar, you would simply have walked up to the windows in the rear of the building and put a bullet through the back of her skull." Fraser stood his ground, his eyes going from the young man to Meg. She looked at him, shocked at the calm tone in his voice.
"I want to hear her say she's guilty first." Omar jerked Meg's arm up. He stood a bit talker than her, lean bodied and dark, haunted eyes.
"Omar, let this go, this won't bring our family back." Hana begged her brother. She saw the same bitter little boy from so long ago.
"I am guilty, Omar. It's my fault your mother, sister and uncle were killed." Meg confessed. She was breathing hard.
"Don't speak, both of you would say anything to get me to release you." Omar tightened his grip on Meg's arm.
"I live every day with what happened in the terrorists' camp. I wake up screaming at night, terrified again, seeing them shoot Amina, repeatedly." Meg's voice cracked. She was trembling.
"I wake up the same way." Omar relaxed his grip. His dark eyes looked into the distance, back to the darkest days of his life.
"Omar, no one has to die today." Fraser pointed out, trying to make him see reason.
"I have already died, when I was nine years old. Every day since then I have lived as a dead man without my family." Omar shouted. The Mounties surrounding him edged closer.
"You weren't the only one to lose family that day. When I got back I lost my baby, a little girl, her name was Alice." Meg choked out.
"Your baby was better off, she never knew her mother to be the devious, heartless bitch you are." Omar hissed into Meg's ear.
"This isn't how our mother would have wanted you to be, Brother, this is senseless." Hana faced him, hoping her brother was still in there somewhere.
"From what the Inspector told me of your mother, she was a peaceful woman who wanted to help her children."
"Your precious Inspector Thatcher is a murdering whore." Omar charged venomously.
"Inspector Thatcher is no such thing." Constable Hansen charged, stepping up, his weapon drawn. The young officer's hero worship clouded his judgment. Omar tightened his grip again, moving the hand gun from Hansen to Meg's head. Every officer in the room tensed.
"Hansen, stand down." Fraser held his arm out to reign the younger officer in.
"Inspector Thatcher has done nothing but help Spencer Falls. She's saved so many families from falling into Ambrose McConaughey's clutches. She's saved more lives than anyone." Hansen answered, only making the situation worse. "She saved my life, she was there the night my mother died, she took me aside and told me it was over." The young Mountie's hands shook so badly his gun rattled. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. Two white wolves silently crept into the hall leading into the main room from Meg' office. The Mounties standing around the room looked at each other, wondering about them.
"Constable Hansen, I said stand down." Fraser repeated himself. If Hansen moved much more the veteran Mountie fully intended to slug him. Hansen blinked a few times, finally coming out of his reverie. He stepped back into line against the wall.
"Everyone out, or I will kill her." Omar growled, pushing the gun into Meg's skin until her head was nearly laying against her shoulder.
"Go on, everyone out." Meg ordered. She didn't want to see any of her officers hurt, especially Fraser.
"You as well." Omar shook his gun toward Fraser then toward Hana. The Mountie raised his hands, looking at Dief, who had gotten into position to pounce. With Fraser's signal, Dief lunged toward the gun, latching onto Omar's arm. Fraser stepped across the few feet between them and grabbed the young man's arm. The handgun fell to the floor and Meg pulled out of Omar's grip. She headed for the handgun on the floor. Omar came across with his left, grazing Fraser's cheek. Meg landed on her back, pointing the gun up at Omar. Fraser stumbled back enough for Omar to pull his sniper rifle into play. All three stopped in their tracks.
"I may die today, but I will but a bullet where it counts." Omar trained the gun at Meg. Just as he squeezed the trigger, Aurora took her turn. The lady wolf hit Omar in the back. Meg managed to fire a round at nearly the same moment. Fraser heard a scream and saw the young man slump to the floor.
"Fraser, I'm hit." Meg's voice made the Mountie's blood run cold. He knelt on the floor beside her, pulling out his handkerchief and pressing it to a bleeding wound in Meg's left side. Hana rushed to the injured woman, her eyes full of tears as she took off her jacket and began using it as a pillow behind her head. Fraser didn't look up, his eyes were locked on Meg's paling face.
"Fraser, I have to tell you something." She looked up at him, fear and pain contorting her features.
"Shh, Meg, it can wait until you're better." He applied pressure to the wound, his hands covered in her blood.
"No, now, Fraser." She tried to smile but couldn't. "I just wanted to say I love you, always." She struggled to breathe, to stay awake and alive.
"Meg, stay with me, just stay with me." A sickening lump formed in the pit of Fraser's stomach.
"Constable Fraser, they've got an ambulance on the way and a helicopter." Wilder knelt down on the other side of Meg. The Mountie just nodded.
"You're going to be alright, Meg, help is on the way." He saw her begin to slip away. "Meg, don't go, stay and fight. Fight for me, Meg, don't take the easy way out again and leave me." Benton leaned even farther down talking into her ear.
"Leaving wasn't easy." Meg managed, her brown eyes meeting his. Two first responders came through the door, one guiding a gurney.
"I'll take over, Constable." The more senior of the two laid a reassuring hand on Fraser's shoulder. The other knelt down in the spot Hana had just vacated and started to work. Hana and the senior responder pulled Fraser to his feet. Maggie began to come around. She'd been hit from behind. Fraser helped her to his feet, his own legs beginning to weaken as they worked on Meg, trying to stem the flow of blood.
"Fraser, Aurora, she's hurt." Maggie found her furry companion lying on the floor panting, blood pooling around her. Dief whined at his daughter's side.
"Sir, I've called for a second ambulance, we'll have the wolf taken in for treatment." Constable Wilder spoke softly as Maggie knelt down to tend to Aurora's wounds.
"Let's get her to the helicopter, guys, rush." The senior responder hollered as they lifted Meg onto the gurney. Fraser walked them out to the front porch. He couldn't watch them work on Meg. His stomach churned just thinking about her lying there so helpless. Another set of responders brought in a body bag for Omar.
"She's tough, Fraser, she'll be barking orders again in no time." Constable Wilder assured his superior officer. Fraser nodded. A third set of responders took Aurora out through the front door.
"Are you alright, Benton?" He took a deep breath to calm his stomach
"Yeah, Maggie, I'm fine. Are you okay?" She looked down at all the blood covering his hands and his tunic. There was so much of it.
"It's her blood." Fraser answered, a shuttering breath erupting from his chest.
"Let's get you cleaned up." Maggie led Benton around the post to the back where they kept a water hose and turned it on for him to wash the blood from his hands.
"She's fought so hard already, Maggie." Benton said after a few minutes. He was pale; paler than Maggie had ever seen him before.
"She's strong, Benton, Inspector Thatcher will be alright. She's a fighter, she knows you're waiting for her." Maggie looked her brother in the eye. He knew she wouldn't tell him something like that if she didn't believe it to be true.
"I won't lose her again." Fraser thought to himself as he tried to wash away the blood on his hands. The sight of it made him retch. He headed around the corner, pulling at his lanyard and buttons as he went. Fraser leaned against the side of the post, panting as he pulled his red serge loose.
"Constable Fraser, the Inspector's asking for you." Wilder's voice called out from around the corner where Maggie stood silently. Fraser rounded the corner, pale and unsteady. He took a deep breath, collecting himself.
"Thank you kindly, Constable Wilder." The Mountie responded. Dief was on the officer's hells. Dief trotted forward, making a pest of himself, trying to figure out why his human was so upset. Fraser stroked the wolf's ears, distracted with his own thoughts as he made his way to the ambulance.
"Meg," He called to her as they loaded into the back of the ambulance.
"Sorry, Constable, the sooner we get her in the air, the better she'll be." The senior responder lifted the foot of the gurney into the waiting ambulance.
"Where are you taking her?" Fraser asked, his mind racing.
"Yellow Knife as far as I know." The responder answered. Maggie walked up to the ambulance, her face full of concern. Fraser wasn't one to wear his emotions on his face or his sleeve. When the world was falling apart, he was the one standing tall in the face of a crisis.
"Benton, I'll drive if you want to go." Maggie offered. She saw him nod. He was finally coming back to the Fraser that everyone knew and counted on.
"I need to check on Ben." Fraser shook his head, his first priority being his son. Maggie pulled out her phone and dialed Ray. She took a few minutes to fill him in on what had just happened. Ben's first question had been about Meg's welfare.
"Is Inspector Thatcher going to be alright, Dad?" He sounded almost afraid.
"I don't know, Son, I'm coming to get you in a moment, we'll go to the hospital later." Fraser wanted to hug his son and make certain the boy was safe for himself.
"I'm okay, really, Dad, go to the hospital. I would want you to go if it were Mom or Aunt Maggie or Uncle Ray. I know Inspector Thatcher is important to you." Ben pointed out. Fraser didn't care if he was fourteen or not, he wanted to pull him into a hug, more proud of his son than he could express.
"I'm lucky to have you." Fraser whispered, taking Maggie's hand for a moment and squeezing her fingers gently. He felt loved, a rare and new thing to the ole' Mountie.
"I'll take care of Ben, you need to get on the road." Ray said from the background as Ben pulled away.
"We'll pray for Inspector Thatcher, Dad." Ben offered.
"Thank you, Ben." Fraser told his son he love him before leaving to find Ray and Constable Wilder.