Bound by Danger (12 page)

Every exposed white tooth gleamed with menace.

Chapter 9

Dave spied Charlie at one of the department stores at the Killeen mall and hurried to intercept him. “Charlie, Marilyn informed me you left her at your place and came here in search of Deidre.”

Charlie glared at him.

“I was worried. Marilyn said you stormed out of there like you thought Deidre might be in some kind of danger. Do you have any idea where she might have gone?”

“The mall. She always goes to the mall when she needs to cool her heels.”

But they’d searched the mall and there was no sign of her.

“Somewhere else then? It’s been hours and we’ve searched everywhere. And now the mall’s closing.”

“We?”

“Marilyn tagged along.” He pointed to her as she walked into the store.

Charlie stared at the floor, then shook his head. He looked up at Dave. “Unless…unless she went to the mall in Temple.”

“Okay.” Dave turned on his heel and hurried out of the store, leaving Marilyn with Charlie.

After pulling his phone off his belt, he punched in several numbers. “Bill, notify our men to search the Temple mall.”

“By the time we get there, it’ll be closed,” Bill said.

Dave didn’t respond. Bill knew he had to search the area around the Temple mall next, if it was closed by the time he got there.

“We’ll get right on it, Dave.”

A twist of guilt sprang up in Dave’s gut as he jumped into his truck. He just had to find her safe and sound.

***

“Hey!” a man shouted from behind Deidre’s vehicle. “We’ve got the police on their way!”

The raccoon-eyed man’s mouth clamped shut in a scowl, then he vanished from her sight.

“Hey, miss, are you all right?”

Deidre’s neck hurt something fierce as a sharp pain radiated across her back. Was she all right? She didn’t have a clue.

“Miss, we can’t get your driver’s door open. There’s smoke filling the car. Give me your hand, and I’ll pull you through the passenger’s side.”

The raccoon man didn’t kill her after all. She smiled.

“Miss! Give me your hand.”

The shattered windshield hung in sections still raining to the floor in chunks. Her eyes burned. She had glass in her eyes and her mouth…down her shirt even. She stared at the deflated bags.

“Pull her out of there, if you can. She’s in shock.”

Deidre moaned as a man’s hands wrapped around her arm and tried to ease her out.

“Wait, I’ve got to get her seatbelt unbuckled.”

Her seatbelt clicked open. A man’s firm grip grabbed her arm again, and she groaned. Her upper back arched with pain.

“Did someone call for an ambulance?”

“Here it comes.”

Deidre rubbed her eyes. “I’ve got glass in my eyes.” Her eyes teared up. She shivered uncontrollably.

“Don’t rub them, miss.”

The glass burned and tears ran down her cheeks. Her whole body shook as the man pulled her over the console. “I’ve got glass in my mouth.”

He pulled her from the car and led her to his parked vehicle. She sat in the man’s sports car. Lights flashed in colorful patterns all around her in the dark.

“Miss, your name?”

Somebody handed her bottled water. She rinsed out her mouth and spit on the ground, then reached up to wipe away the tears.

Hands dissuaded her. “Don’t rub your face, miss.”

The uniformed cop hovered over her. “Your name, miss?”

“Where do you hurt?” someone else asked.

“My back hurts. I can’t turn my neck without it hurting.” She stared at tiny glass cuts on her hands and the slivers of blood dotting the skin. Her hands shimmered, decorated in crystal.

“Miss, we’re going to place a collar around your neck.” She nodded.

“Don’t move your neck. Just sit still. We’ll do everything.”

“Here’s her purse, Officer.”

“Did you strike your head? Were you wearing your seatbelt? Miss, what’s your name?”

She ground her teeth on the glass. Her mouth—it was still full of glass.

“The glass.” She didn’t want to swallow. Would it cut her insides up?

“We’re going to lay you on a board. It’s not going to be comfortable, but it’ll keep you still so they can check for spinal injuries at the hospital.”

The police officer leaned over her. “Are you Captain Deidre Roux?”

She didn’t want to talk. Her body shivered nonstop. The glass was gritty between her teeth. She tried to nod but the vice they had strapped her into precluded that. Her neck and back filled with pain. The backboard made it worse.

The police officer scribbled on his pad, then stuck her driver’s license back in her purse. “Can you tell us what happened?”

“He tried…he tried to kill me.”

“She’s in shock.” The paramedic and another lifted her into the ambulance.

“Hey, Milton,” a policeman said. “This is that car those pesky agents were looking for.”

She heard their words but like everything else, nothing made sense.

“Well, let ‘em know we got the woman. She’ll probably be transferred to the military hospital. She’s got military ID, she’s an Army officer probably stationed at Fort Hood.”

“Right.”

Deidre gritted her teeth and clenched her hands as the ambulance pulled onto the interstate. Every little twist and turn sent jolts of pain through her back and shoulders making her head hurt something awful.

“When we get you to the hospital, they’ll take some x-rays. The police are leading the way. One of the officers needs to get a statement from you still,” the paramedic said.

“He tried to kill me.”

“Should we run the sirens?” the driver asked.

“No.” He jerked his finger at his friend. “New at the job. He likes to run the sirens whenever he can.”

Deidre tried to smile. Her lips curved up, but the tears rolled down her cheeks again. The glass scratching her eyes made her cry. It wasn’t the raccoon man. He didn’t get her this time, but she was sure he would try again. She’d be better prepared
next
time.

***

By the time Dave reached Deidre’s hospital room, her eyelids were shut tightly, her breathing whisper soft.

Bill nodded to him in greeting as he rose from the chair. “Doc said she’d be all right. Just wanted to keep her overnight for observation. Gave her some painkiller for the whiplash to her back and shoulders. She was suffering from mild shock when they brought her in, disoriented, kept asking for you. I think her brother was a bit miffed.”

Torn between being happy she’d ask for him and angry he hadn’t protected her better, Dave felt his stomach churned with mixed emotions. He crossed the room to her bed and touched her cheek. She licked her lips, and he instantly wished it was his tongue moistening them instead.

He glanced over at Bill, who cocked an eyebrow. “I guess you’re my relief.”

“See you later, Bill. Thanks.”

“Charlie’s with Marilyn in the coffee shop. He thinks I’m an undercover policeman.”

“Good. I’ll take it from here.”

“There’s a pot of coffee.” He pointed to the plastic container sitting near the door. “I didn’t drink any or it would have kept me awake. I’m going to get a bit of shuteye.”

Bill walked out the door as Dave pulled a chair up next to the bed. He reached over and touched Deidre’s hand gripping the thin white blanket for dear life. She whimpered and he squeezed her hand. “Shhh, I’m here, Deidre,” he whispered. She sighed deeply.

Headquarters still didn’t want to move Deidre and her brother to a safe house. Whatever were they thinking?

After another twenty minutes while she slept, Dave spoke to Charlie in the waiting area, then Charlie headed to Marilyn’s place for some much needed rest. Dave sat down on the chair next to Deidre’s hospital bed and sipped a fresh cup of coffee. He ran his hand over Deidre’s arm. Suddenly, his stomach cramped severely. He headed for the restroom before he upchucked on the floor.

***

Deidre stirred, then stared at the unfamiliar surroundings. She glanced at the clock, 4 A.M. Thinking she’d heard a strange noise, she tried to sit, but pain radiated across her back. No collar though, and no truss or anything. She was going to be just fine, once she returned home.

Rolling over onto her side, she managed to slip out of bed. If she didn’t turn her head, and she moved slowly, she could ignore the pain. Her senses fuzzed a bit, and she assumed she’d been given some medicine. She pulled her clothes out of a wall locker.

Reaching down to slip the straps of her sandals onto the back of her heels was the hardest thing she’d ever done. Well that and trying to fasten her bra in back. After dressing, she walked into the hallway, and then made her way to the back stairs.

For a second, she rubbed her temple, trying to figure a way to get home. A taxi.

She called for one right away.

It seemed like an eternity before she finally reached her home. She stared at the dark apartment. Nobody would bother her here tonight. If anyone was looking for her…anyone with blackened eyes, he would believe she slept at the hospital.

Taking each step at a snail’s pace, she finally made it to her second floor landing and fumbled with the key in the lock. Smiling, she turned the key right side up.

She locked the door behind her and threw her purse on the couch. Home sure looked better than a hospital room. There was no sign of Charlie though. She shook her head, which was a total mistake as soon as the pain shot through her neck, making her groan.

She passed his empty room. Reaching her own, she kicked off her sandals and slipped between her satin covers, still fully clothed.

Her eyes closed, but were soon filled with the vision of the black-eyed man again. She knew he’d come for her once more. And it would be soon. She tried to roll over on her side and the effort made her groan in pain.

Neither her Army hand-to-hand combat maneuvers nor martial art skills could save her now. A touch to her shoulder would have sent her off the edge—into the canyon of her nightmares—all the way down to the death she knew awaited her.

The man was pure evil. He lifted his blade to her this time. She’d never give his description to a cop again. But the fight wasn’t out of her.

Give it all you’ve got, Mister Raccoon. I’m not giving up just yet.

The air conditioner rattled on and her front door creaked open. She moaned. Maybe she wasn’t quite ready to fight him just yet. She rolled onto her side all the way this time and slid her feet to the floor. Before she could stand, a shadow filled her room.

“Deidre!”

Dave’s voice hit her like a warm cloak of solace, and she wept for joy.

“What in the hell are you doing back here! Jeez, I leave your side for two minutes and—”

“He tried to kill me.” Deidre reached for his hand, and he pulled her close. She groaned.

“I’m sorry.” He kissed her wet cheek and held her tightly like he never wanted to let go. “But they want to keep you overnight in the hospital for observation. You have to return there at once.”

“They don’t believe he wanted to kill me. I felt safer here.”

“They have an all-points bulletin out on the bastard. He’s armed and dangerous.”

Dave helped her outside to his truck and lifted her as gently as he could into the seat. “I’ve got to get you back to the hospital before the Military Police come after you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Hey, at Fort Bliss we had an officer riding a bicycle who was hit by a car. He got scratched up a bit, not even as badly injured as you, but they wanted to keep him overnight for observation. Like you, he didn’t stay put. The MPs hauled him back to the hospital. Told him they’d handcuff him to the bed if he didn’t stay there this time.”

“Ouch. So where’s Charlie? I thought he’d be at my place.”

“He’d been with me at the hospital.”

“And Marilyn?”

He patted her hand. “Keeping him company at her place now.”

“But visiting hours must be over for you to be still at the hospital with me.”

“They’ve made an exception for me.”

She closed her eyes. “Because you have a concealed weapon’s license.”

He chuckled. “They said whatever pain medication they’d given you would have pretty well knocked you out. For a second there, I’d thought you were walking in your sleep.”

Deidre turned to look at Dave too suddenly and moaned in pain. If Charlie told Dave she sleepwalked, she’d kill him. “Whatever gave you a crazy notion like that? Just because I whimper in my sleep a little when I’m having nightmares—”

“Charlie said you sleepwalk sometimes when you’re overly tired. He even told me you tried to leave your barracks in the middle of the night at your officer training summer camp.”

“I’m going to kill him.”

Dave smiled and ran his hand along Deidre’s arm. “Whatever made you leave there like you did, anyway?”

“I don’t like cold drafty hospitals. And their designer gowns are kind of like my BDUs. Awful.”

“Well, you’re not going anywhere any further without my say so.”

“My boss—”

“He’s been told you have the rest of the week off. Want to go water-skiing?”

“Oh, it makes my neck hurt just thinking about it.” She took a deep breath. “I didn’t see you at the hospital.”

Dave rubbed his stomach. “I became indisposed over a cup of coffee.”

“Oh.” She wrinkled her brow at him. “Tampered with?”

“Tests are being run on it. A nurse gave me medicine for it.”

She didn’t like the sound of that. Barely able to stay awake because the medicine made her so drowsy, she attempted to lean back into the seat, but her neck hurt too much. She relaxed slightly as Dave ran his fingers over her back. His gentle touch warmed her. With the slowest maneuver she could make, she turned to look at him.

His jaw was set and he furrowed his brows. She assumed her leaving the hospital like she had angered him.

He turned to face her and kissed her cheek. “I was worried about you.” His eyes focused on the road ahead of them. “You shouldn’t have left the hospital.”

“I’m really all right. But I’m glad you were the one who came for me.”

He kissed her fingers. “I kind of liked spending the night with you again.”