Betrayed by Trust (15 page)

“I’ll see you later,” Dan murmured, giving my arm a little squeeze before he turned to leave.

That slight touch was as good as a hug, but the warning surged like an icy wind as he left. “Dan, wait!”

He leaned back around the doorframe. “What? Do you need me to pick up some milk, or something?”

I had no idea what to warn him about. “Just … be careful.”

His gaze grew sharp and focused. “I will.” He nodded once, then paused a moment, as if he might say something else, but all he said was, “I’ll see you tonight.” Then he was gone.

“I gotta go, too.” Barry said, pushing past Kalisa as if he was eager to get away from Dan’s and my public display of affection and cryptic communication.

I still hadn’t made it to the bathroom. “Me, three.” And I headed to the ladies room before joining Kalisa for our training session.

An hour later I was pretty happy with my performance at trying to find people remotely. My feeling of anxiety had been overridden as I concentrated on the work Kalisa had me doing. She’d been showing me pictures of strangers, then asking me to pinpoint what city they were in. When she’d started training me months earlier, I’d only been able to locate people about ten percent of the time. Now I knew how to reach for a feeling like balancing on a rubber ball, and my accuracy had gone up to nearly fifty percent.

“It will be interesting to see if you keep this level of skill after the baby is born. Your superior performance could be hormone related,” Kalisa said.

I shrugged and stood up from the table where I’d been working. “Maybe this is why my mother always seemed to have eyes in the back of her head. I never could get away with anything.” It was fun trying to exercise all the weird abilities Kalisa was testing me for and training me to use, but it wasn’t that important to me.

Kalisa chuckled. “Mine, too. But even if you do retain some of these new abilities, they could be unreliable for a while after the birth, until your hormones get back to normal.”

“I wouldn’t call a fifty percent hit rate all that reliable to start with.”

“It is compared to what most people can do, especially when you have the whole world to choose from.” Kalisa pulled the maps into a stack and zipped them into a portfolio case. “We don’t need to worry about that. You’ll be on maternity leave for a couple of months, and by the time we start testing you again, your body will have settled down. Then we’ll see where you are.”

“I’ll probably be back in the butler’s pantry, keying in—”

A wave of fear struck like an icy tsunami. My whole body went cold. My heart raced and I started shaking.

Dan! Dan was in trouble.

D
an left the Hall of Records with copies of the death certificates of half a dozen people in a zippered courier’s pouch tucked under his arm. All of the deceased had died in the last six months, but none of them had any connection to either the Trust or the Golden Path—at least not as far as he knew. He liked getting out of the office, but there was no obvious reason why Kincaid needed this info for a directors’ meeting in the morning. That was hardly surprising, though, since Kincaid wasn’t in the habit of confiding in him, and as director of the southwestern district the man had a lot of irons in the fire. Dan cut across the grass, stopping at a vendor’s cart on the sidewalk.

A few minutes later, with a soft pretzel in hand, he paused beside an open trench guarded by concrete barricades, waiting for the light to change. Traffic was thin, and a couple dashed across the street, hand in hand. Most office workers had either already left the downtown area for home or had found their way to happy hour. Marianne would be more than ready to head home by the time he got back to the office. Maybe he should have taken Mackson up on his offer to take her; she tired easily these days.

Kincaid hadn’t brought up the idea of putting Marianne in protective custody again, much to their relief. She seemed to think the matter was settled, but Dan was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Kincaid had an agenda, and Dan didn’t believe for a second that the man was at peace with the current situation, especially since he’d disabled the interior cameras and mics. Sooner or later the director would do something more than monitor them, and Dan was going to be ready. Marianne was his to protect, and no one was going to take her from him. Not the Golden Path, and not Kincaid.

The light changed. Dan stepped off the curb, and then as in combat, everything happened at once, in slow motion.

A car raced toward him from the left.

Behind him, a voice shouted, “Look out!”

Reflexes honed years ago took over, and he dove for cover.

Something struck him.

The lights went out.

M
arianne?” Kalisa was beside me, with her hand on my shoulder. “Sit down, girl. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I didn’t move.
A ghost?
Is that what I’d felt? My fear notched even higher.
No. Dan isn’t dead. I’d know.

“I have to go.”

“Where?”

Where indeed? I paused for a moment, considering. Dan had been going downtown, but if he was hurt, he’d be taken to a hospital. Ambulances didn’t always go to the closest hospital. Where would they take him?

A feeling of barely balancing on an over-inflated rubber ball made me clutch the back of my chair, but the vertigo I experienced wasn’t physical. Instead of fighting it, I let myself go with the floating, falling sensation just as I did while playing Kalisa’s games.

And then I knew. “University Hospital.” Experience told me I had a fifty-fifty chance of being wrong, but I didn’t doubt my knowledge as I headed out the door.

I almost ran into Barry. I turned to scoot past him, but my belly got in the way.

He caught me by the shoulders. “Marianne, wait. I need to talk to you.”

“I don’t have time!”

He didn’t release me. “Kincaid sent me. We just got a call,” he said. “There’s been an accident.”

“I know! Let me go. I have to go to him!”

Barry shook his head. “Not alone. I’ll drive.”

We took Dan’s Mustang. The trip to the hospital was a blur, while images of Dan, white faced and bloody, flashed in my brain. I couldn’t tell if they were real clairvoyant visions or just the products of my fear. All I could do was twist Mark’s
MIA
bracelet and pray. I wasn’t very religious, but now I hoped my prayers would tip the scales in Dan’s favor—even though praying hadn’t helped us find Mark.

I hated not knowing what the situation was. “Who called about the accident?” I asked as Barry maneuvered the Mustang through traffic. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. Probably a bystander. The call went directly to Kincaid. He sent me to find you.”

I reached for the now familiar floaty feeling that I got during Kalisa’s experiments, trying to learn how badly Dan was hurt, but I couldn’t find it. The only thing inside me was fear and a driving urgency to get to him.

Evan felt it too, violently kicking and punching my insides, and I started rubbing my belly, trying to sooth him. “Shh. It’s all right, baby. Daddy’s going to be okay.” I hoped I was telling Evan the truth.

The baby settled, but I continued stroking my belly, and crooning to my little one. “It’s all right.”

Barry glanced over with a peculiar expression on his face, and I realized I’d been saying all that aloud. I didn’t care. Dan and I talked to Evan all the time now, since we’d picked out a name.

Barry pulled into a ten minute parking spot near the emergency room entrance. He was slow to realize I needed help getting out of the car, but after a second he came around and assisted me with surprising care and competence. I didn’t like that he kept a hand on my back as I waddled through the automatic doors and up to the triage desk. It felt possessive, but I didn’t have time to set him straight.

The nurse had already signaled an orderly to bring a wheelchair. “You should have gone around to Labor and Delivery, dear, but we’ll get you over there. How far apart are your pains?”

“I’m not in labor,” I said, then gasped as Evan kicked my liver. “Stop that!” I pressed on my belly.

“Her husband was just brought in,” Barry told the woman. “Dan Collier. Hit and run.”

The nurse nodded and checked her log. “He’s in bay three of the second room on the right, but you’ll have to wait. The doctor is with him now.” She looked at me critically, then gestured for the orderly to bring the wheelchair closer. “You’d better take the chair. Head wounds bleed a lot and we don’t need you fainting and hurting yourself, too.”

Head wound.
“How badly was Dan hurt?”

“I don’t know,” the nurse said. “The doctor will speak with you as soon as he’s finished examining your husband.”

I bit my lips and blinked back sudden tears. I’d barely kept it together so far, and now the horrible possibilities crashed into me like a tidal wave of terror. I’d come to depend on Dan’s quiet strength and steady affection, and had started to believe it would always be there. He made me laugh when I was down, and praised whatever I cooked no matter how awful it was. I loved how when we were relaxing on the couch at night, he would talk to Evan about what they would do together when he was older. Our marriage had started as one of convenience, but it had become so much more than that. I’d been afraid to admit it, but I’d fallen in love with my husband. What would I do if he suddenly wasn’t there?

My legs trembled. I must have gone white, because Barry hustled to get me into the wheelchair.

“Are you okay?” he asked, bending down to look into my face.

“I need to see him. Now.” I had to know how bad it was. Had to know if the gift I’d been given was going to be snatched away from me just as I realized how valuable it was.

Barry exchanged a look with the triage nurse. She conferred with someone on the phone, then nodded, and Barry pushed me through a pair of automatic doors that led to the treatment area.

Dan lay propped up on a narrow emergency room bed. Bandages wrapped his ribs, and several scrapes on his left shoulder looked red and raw as if they’d been recently disinfected. The nurses had obviously cleaned him up a little, but there were still remnants of dried blood on the side of his face.

A doctor clipped a thread from a line of sutures on Dan’s forehead, then set aside his tools. “Next time, try not to dodge into a concrete barricade.”

Dan barely smiled. “I’d rather there wasn’t a next time.” Then he saw me, and his smile broadened for a second. Then he frowned. “Why are you in a wheelchair? Are you okay? Is the baby coming?” He started to sit up, wincing, but the doctor pushed him back with a hand on his chest.

“Hang on there,” the doctor said. “You’re not going anywhere, yet.”

Tears sprang to my eyes. I couldn’t speak. Dan was okay, or nearly so. I hadn’t lost him, and he wasn’t horribly injured. My fingers pressed against my lips, and I drew in a shaky breath.

“She’s fine,” Barry answered for me, then bent to see my face. “You are, right?”

I nodded, then held my hands out to Dan, so Barry rolled me close to the side of his bed. I grasped the hand he held out to me in both of mine and kissed it.

“The chair is just a precaution,” Barry explained. “She looked a little wobbly when we got here.”

“How far along are you?” the doctor asked.

I finally found my voice. “Thirty-six weeks.”

“Your first?”

I nodded.

“Any pain?”

“No.” I waved my hand impatiently. “Just the occasional Braxton Hicks.” I looked at Dan. “What happened?”

He ignored my question. “Doc, would you take a look at her? Make sure she’s okay?”

“I’m fine! You’re the one who’s banged up.”

Dan turned his beautiful brown gaze on me. His left eye was starting to blacken. “Please? It will make me feel better.”

I cocked my head at his blatant manipulation. “That’s low.”

Dan lifted one shoulder in a small shrug. “Whatever it takes to get the job done.”

How could I say no? “Fine.”

“I’m admitting you for observation,” the doctor said to Dan. “You took a good bump on the head when you got that cut. All signs are good, but I want to make sure there’s no concussion before we send you home.” He raised his hands as Dan looked like he was going to object. “It’ll be easier on your wife if you let us keep an eye on you overnight.”

I grinned as the doctor turned the tables on Dan.

Dan slumped against the backrest. “Okay. But you’ll make sure she’s all right?”

The doctor turned to me. “Let me check the boards. If there’s nothing pressing, I’ll give you a quick exam while they move him upstairs.” He slipped through the curtain.

“You’re going to have one hell of a shiner,” Barry said, moving around to the other side of the hospital bed. “What happened?”

Dan grimaced in disgust. “Some asshole didn’t think the stop light applied to him. Lucky for me, my wife told me to be careful.” He squeezed my hand. “That, and some guy shouting,
‘Behind you!
’ in my ear. I jumped out of the way just in time. Unfortunately, I jumped into a concrete barricade.”

“Your guardian angel should be more careful,” Barry said.

“I’ll tell him that, right after I thank him for saving my life.” Dan snorted a small laugh, then winced and pressed a hand to his bandaged side.

I hated seeing him in pain, but I forced myself to smile. “You’ll have to get in line.”

“Thanks for driving Marianne over,” Dan added after catching his breath. “Whose car did you take?”

“Yours.”

Dan pointed at a plastic bag that held his clothes. “Marianne, would you grab my wallet out of my pants?” Then he directed his attention back to Barry. “I’ll pay your fare back to the office, of course.”

Barry’s lips compressed, and he shook his head. “No way.” Then he gave us a half smile. “But I can tell when I’ve been dismissed.” He glanced at me, then turned back to Dan. “Call me if I can help.” He came back around to my side of the bed, then bent and kissed me on the cheek. “Take care of yourself.” He pressed the car keys into my hand, and left.

The muscles in Dan’s jaw jumped as he watched Barry go. I locked the wheels of the chair and stood up so I could look into his bruised face.

Dan’s gaze returned to me as I took his hand again, and his brow furrowed. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

I rolled my eyes and snapped, “Yes! I’m fine!” Then I glanced away as an echo of the fear I’d felt for him washed over me, and tears filled my eyes. I kissed the back of his hand. “You scared the shit out of me,” I said softly. “I thought I’d lost you, too.”

Dan clearly understood what I hadn’t said. His eyes looked suspiciously bright too. “I’m sorry, babe. I won’t leave you. Not if I can help it.”

I tried to smile, but tears trickled down my cheeks anyway. I dashed them away, but they kept rolling down my face. I knew Dan meant what he said. He always did. I also knew that no matter how good your intentions, some things were out of your control.

A tall guy in scrubs pulled the curtains aside with a rattle of the hooks, and strode briskly into the bay. “Hi! I’m Hank. I’ll be taking you up to your room.” He checked Dan’s
ID
bracelet and something on his clipboard. “What’s your name?”

“Dan Collier.”

“Good. I’m taking him up to the third floor,” Hank told me as he walked around the narrow bed unlocking the wheels. “Room 318.”

I stepped back out of the way, until the back of my knees bumped against the wheelchair. I sat down again.

“There you are.” Dan’s doctor said as he reappeared.

Did he really expect to find me somewhere else?

“Come with me,” he said, unlocking the brakes on my chair. “I have a few minutes free to set your husband’s mind at ease. Then I’ll let you join him upstairs.”

Half an hour later I found Dan propped up in bed in a semi-private room that, for the moment, he shared only with a uniformed police officer.

“Unfortunately, the car that almost hit you was missing its plates. That’s about the only thing the witnesses are able to agree on. Other than that, none of them could give a consistent description of the vehicle or the driver. I’ll leave you the case number anyway. We’ll be in touch if we learn anything.” The cop nodded to me on his way out of the room.

Dan looked exhausted as I pushed his longish hair off his brow and kissed his forehead.

“No wheelchair?” Dan said by way of greeting me. “Damn.”

“I’m fine. The baby’s fine. Don’t need it.”

“That’s great. But the chair would have made it easier for us to get out of here.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “I’m sure they’ll bring one tomorrow when you check out.”

“Close the door,” he said softly.

I looked askance at Dan, worrying for a second if that bump on his head was worse than the doctor had thought, then did as he requested.

I returned to his side and took his hand between mine. I needed to touch him, to feel his warmth and strength. “What’s up?”

Dan answered in a low voice, as if he feared being overheard even through the heavy door. “I don’t think this was an accident.”

A jolt of fear made my hands tighten on his. “Why not?”

“An accumulation of things that aren’t quite plumb.” He stuck out the thumb on his free hand. “Kincaid wanted to sequester you, even though there’s no indication that the Path has you on their radar.” He straightened his index finger. “Then he put surveillance on us without getting permission, or even telling us that he’s doing it.” A third digit joined the first two. “Cindy is called away unexpectedly, right after you find that invoice, so I have to go downtown.” He folded his thumb and spread four fingers. “And perhaps most telling: the car that almost hit me was accelerating.”

“Someone
tried
to hit you?” Disbelief colored my voice, but I believed him. I just didn’t want to. “To kill you?”

Dan put the tips of his fingers against my lips to quiet me.

“Did you tell the police this?”

My husband shook his head. “And when they asked me why someone might want to kill me, what would I have told them? That we’re at the center of an international occult power play?”

“But why would someone want to kill you?”

Dan clasped my hands with both of his. “You’re close to term. Kincaid wants control of the baby. That won’t happen unless I’m out of the picture. How better to do that than have me run over? Who’s going to look out for you if I’m dead? You’d be alone and vulnerable. Your doctor—a company doctor—says the baby is in distress, knocks you out, does an emergency C-section, then tells you Evan was stillborn. They might even put a dead baby in your arms. You’d be none the wiser. Kincaid would have control of the child, and eventually, Aldwyn’s power.”

I tasted bile, and horror seized my breath. Dan’s story was fantastic, paranoid, and entirely possible.

But was it true? Kincaid had made no secret of the fact that he wanted to be the next Chairman of the Trust’s board of directors. Having control of the Altesse heir might give him the leverage he needed. But would he have planned something so extreme?