An Eye For Danger (book 1)

Chapter 43-FINALE

Chapter 43

“I'm not asking again. Identify your location. Where’s my husband?” demanded Mystery Wife.

My mind hiccupped. Her husband. “Getting a new suit.” I couldn't think of a better code phrase for "sorry, I got him shot, but he's surgery in surgery bleeding to death."

Her breath caught. “Can you maintain?”

I watched the security guard's approach in the vending machine reflection. My hands smeared the machine's buttons with blood. Sam’s blood, everywhere. I’d been clutching my soaked dress.

“Can you maintain, damn it?” she yelled.

“I don’t know. I don't know what to do.” Did I sound like I was maintaining?

The guard’s gaze shot to the Urgent Care entrance and he straightened his posture. I followed his sightline to a sheriff’s SUV. Burke’s men.

“Lay low,” she said. “Do you hear me, get out of sight. We’re coming.” How the hell did she know where I was? Maybe Sam’s phone was being tracked.

The officer strode through the doors and spoke with the guard, who did a lot of pointing at me.

“Too late.” I let out my breath. “They’re already here.”

“Get out. Get out now!”

“I can’t leave him.”

“Move!”

While the guard and the sheriff's officer huddled, I stole around the corner and ducked into a stairwell. Up two flights I jogged, and then down corridors, past room upon room of patients. Everyone looked asleep or dead. I slipped into a suite with an old woman sleeping upright, her mouth gaping and drooling, her dusty skin painted over bones.

She moaned, so I pushed the button on her morphine drip to keep her from waking any time soon. “Trust me, you need it.” Rummaging through her dresser, I found pink and blue flannel nightgowns. Sam’s phone never stopped vibrating. “What?”

“Are you secure?”

Peering out the window to the parking lot, I spotted two patrol cars. “Not for long.”

She let out a tense breath. “Where’s Dad?”

Dad? Sam had mentioned ‘Dad’ on his call to her. And Troy said Daddy wasn’t coming to Sam’s rescue. I stared at the dead-looking lady on the bed. Reynolds? “Dad’s deep asleep.”

“Fine by me. He’s an ass.”

I almost laughed, relieved to be on the same page for once.

“Can you get out of the house safely?” she asked.

“No exit. Family everywhere.” I shivered. “God, I hate relatives.”

“You and me both, sister.”

“I can’t leave him, I can’t.” My voice strained for composure.

“Listen to me,” she barked. “You get yourself up, and you move. I’ll meet you. Name a place.”

Where could I go? This wasn’t a town I knew, and common places like restaurants and churches weren’t open at this hour. And I needed to stay close to Sam. Then my thoughts ran to one place.

“Unless you want to be roasted rabbit, you get out.”

“No. I’ll take my chances with God. And say a prayer for both of us.”

***

Electric candles lit the wood-paneled walls. Four rows of folding metal chairs led to a thick mahogany altar, at the foot of which an aluminum bucket waited for flower bouquets from patients’ families. My wheelchair fit in the back corner, where I could see anyone entering. A shower cap hid my hair, a thick robe and flannel nightgown doubled my size, and the shadows hid my face as I leaned over a Bible. Besides me, the hospital chapel stood empty.