Chapter 2 - Sirens at the Gate

The first siren became audible less than seven minutes later.

David heard it before anyone else.

His head snapped toward the front windows.

“No.”

He whispered the word under his breath.

Sylvia rushed into the dining room.

“You said there wouldn’t be an ambulance.”

David looked at her with pure disbelief.

For once, he did not bother hiding his anger.

“I’m not the one who called it.”

Blue and red light began flashing across the snow outside.

The Christmas candles reflected the colors against the dining room windows.

One of David’s colleagues stood.

“David, you need to let them in.”

David turned toward him.

“Stay out of this, Michael.”

Michael did not sit down.

“I heard what happened.”

David’s expression sharpened.

“You heard nothing.”

The front doorbell rang.

Then came a hard knock.

“Emergency medical services.”

Nobody moved.

A second knock followed.

“Open the door.”

David walked toward the foyer.

His steps were stiff.

He looked like a man approaching a courtroom where he already knew the verdict.

Two paramedics entered first.

A police officer followed them.

Behind the officer stood another man in a dark overcoat.

David recognized him immediately.

So did three of the attorneys in the dining room.

United States Marshal Thomas Hale had spent years assigned to federal judicial protection.

His presence was not normal.

He had come because my father had made one call.

Hale scanned the room.

“Where is Anna?”

David pointed toward the kitchen.

The paramedics hurried past him.

One knelt beside me.

“Ma’am, how far along are you?”

“Twenty-nine weeks.”

“Where is the pain?”

“My lower abdomen.”

He checked my pulse.

The second paramedic began preparing equipment.

Hale remained near the doorway.

His eyes moved from me to the broken phone pieces.

Then to the counter behind me.

Then to Sylvia.

“Who pushed her?”

Nobody answered.

I raised my hand slightly.

“She did.”

Sylvia recoiled.

“That is not what happened.”

The police officer turned toward her.

“Ma’am, I need you to stay where you are.”

Sylvia laughed nervously.

“This is ridiculous.”

She pointed toward me.

“She stumbled.”

Michael spoke from the dining room.

“No, she didn’t.”

Every head turned.

David stared at him.

Michael looked pale, but his voice stayed steady.

“I saw Sylvia follow Anna into the kitchen.”

Another guest slowly stood.

“I heard Anna ask to sit down.”

A woman at the far end of the table lowered her wineglass.

“I heard Sylvia tell her she wasn’t allowed to sit.”

Sylvia’s mouth fell open.

David looked around the room.

His witnesses were disappearing one by one.

The people he had expected to protect him were suddenly remembering that they had careers of their own.

The paramedic touched my shoulder.

“Anna, we’re going to move you onto a stretcher.”

I nodded.

David stepped forward.

“I’m her husband.”

Hale moved between us.

“No.”

David froze.

Hale’s expression did not change.

“You are currently part of the reason she needs protection.”

The words struck harder than shouting would have.

The stretcher rolled through the doorway.

As the paramedics lifted me carefully, I looked back at the Christmas table.

The food I had spent thirteen hours preparing was still there.

Turkey.

Potatoes.

Gravy.

Candles.

Crystal.

Everything Sylvia had considered important.

Yet nobody was eating anymore.

David stood beneath the chandelier, surrounded by people who would never look at him the same way again.

Then Hale’s phone rang.

He answered.

Listened.

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And looked directly at David.

“The Chief Justice is on his way.”