Damn that stubborn man.
She ran down the sidewalk, grateful for her flats rather than her usual mile-high heels. Pushing past hysterical parents and concerned onlookers, she detoured toward a commotion right at the edge of the barricade of police cars.
Four officers attempted to hold a crazed Cooper, and they were losing the battle. Izzy stepped up, put on her calmest face, and moved into Cooper’s line of sight.
He caught sight of her and instantly stopped struggling, as if all the air had whooshed out of his body. He sagged against the officers, his face grief-stricken.
“He’s still in there. No one’s seen him.” Tears streamed down his face, and his breath came in wheezing gasps, as if he couldn’t take in enough oxygen.
“I can handle him.” Izzy nodded to the officers, who stared at her in amazement, as if they couldn’t believe her appearance had managed to calm this savage beast.
“Cooper.” She put a hand on his arm. “You aren’t helping. They need to focus their attention on the students and the situation, not on you.”
For a long, tense moment, no one seemed certain what Cooper would do next. He swallowed, his hands fisted, his face turned toward the school, watching as kids sprinted out accompanied by SWAT team members.
He nodded, suddenly looking sheepish and crumpled into her arms, a broken man badly in need of the right glue to put his pieces back together. Izzy was that glue, and Riley was one of the missing pieces. Izzy only hoped she could repair the damage.
She looked over Cooper’s shoulder at the officer who appeared to be in charge. “I’m sorry. I’ll take him off your hands. We’ll wait at the church for word.”
The officer blew out a relieved breath and gladly foisted responsibility for Cooper off to her.
Cooper held her so tightly, she couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t complain. Sobs wracked his big body and tears wet her neck where he pressed his face against her skin.
Lifting his head, he stared at her, his cheeks wet from his tears. “I knew. I knew something was wrong. I shouldn’t have let him go to school today. I can’t lose him any more than I can lose you,” he moaned in pure agony.
“He has to be okay, honey. He does. He has to be.” She set him back, holding his arms and looking into his eyes. “Let’s go to the church. They might already have information for us.”
She grabbed his arm and led him down the street. Their cars were now blocked by several news vehicles. No matter, he needed the walk to the church on this cold brisk fall day.
“He doesn’t answer his phone or his text messages.” Cooper’s devastation struck deep inside her.
“He’s probably holed up in a safe place and doesn’t have his phone with him.” She stroked the tight muscles in his back, trying to relax him, but for once her touch didn’t seem to help.
“I don’t know what I’ll do if something happens to him.”
“He’ll be okay, Coop. He will.” Izzy wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince Cooper or herself.
“I heard on the police radio that they have at least a dozen kids down, and they can’t find the shooter. He’s in the building somewhere. Oh, God.” Cooper’s face distorted with agony and pain, while more tears slipped down his cheeks. He buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shuddered with sobs.
Izzy rubbed his shoulder, glancing toward the cop studying them with equal parts of suspicion and annoyance. “All the more reason for us to get out of their way and let them do their jobs.” She pried his hands from his face and gently kissed his tear-stained cheeks. He managed a feeble smile.
“We need to go.” Izzy tugged on his hand. He took a few staggering steps, then found his stride and allowed her to lead him down the street past crying parents and hysterical kids. His blind faith in her meant more than he could possibly imagine, especially in the wake of tragedy.
And she loved him all the more for relinquishing that control to her and trusting her to handle the situation better than he could.
Chapter 21—A Ray of Hope
Cooper was a hot mess of emotions. If it hadn’t been for Izzy, he’d have completely lost it and probably ended up arrested. Instead he followed her to the church, more than happy to let her take charge. It felt good to relinquish control while he coped with the tragedy of the situation. He’d always assumed losing control would put him into a claustrophobic panic, but with Izzy, it felt right and comforting to know she had his back. And, God, he needed her to have his back today.
He paced the floor of the large conference area in the church. All around him he heard the quiet sobbing of some parents and the heart-wrenching wailing of others. A flat screen TV across the room showed SWAT teams and uniformed officers, guns drawn, running into the building.
At times, a group of students with hands above their heads would run out of the building, flanked by armed escorts, or a stretcher would be wheeled out, or a student would stagger out being held up by friends. Each time, he stopped his pacing and joined the countless other parents searching for their children. It’d been game day so the football team wore jerseys to school, even the non-varsity players, making it hard to identify individual team members. But Cooper knew Riley’s walk, knew how he held his head, and how he stood taller than most of the boys his age.
Cooper didn’t see Riley anywhere.
Parent after parent received word from their kids via cell or text or saw them on TV. Some rushed from the room to go to the hospital, others were reunited with their kids as they were brought into the church.