The first thing she did was hand Daniel one of the new T-shirts and commandeer his scrub top as a dust rag. One sofa was covered with fake leather. It was also placed in front of the hearth. She wiped down a place for Daniel and pointed. “Sit.”
“You forgot stay.”
“That was implied,” she countered. “I’ll see what I can do about finding firewood before it gets soaked.” Although she had no experience with tin roofs, the noise was enough to convince her the rain was coming down with such fury it might already be too late to bring in dry wood.
“There should be a dry stack on the porch. Just watch yourself. It looks less sturdy than I remember.”
This whole place looks ready to fall down around us, Kaitlin thought. “Right. How much do I need to bring in?”
“Five or six split logs and kindling.” Frowning, he studied her. “You’ve never built a fire, have you?”
“I’ve seen it done. Can’t be that hard.”
“It is unless you want to burn up all your wood in a hurry and run out,” Daniel told her.
“Okay, okay. This time I’ll let you show me what to do.”
“Smart lady.”
“So you’ve said. I do wish my skill set included more practice in things like this.” Because I may have to handle everything by myself pretty soon. “How are you feeling? It’s about time for another pill.”
“I figured.” He leaned his head against the leathery back of the couch and sighed. “Go get the wood and I’ll tell you how to build a good fire. Then we can look for my meds.”
Kaitlin opted to reverse priorities. In seconds she was handing him a tablet and bottle of water. “I may have to go back to town for more to drink,” she said, thinking out loud.
“Check the cabinets first. I imagine they drank all the liquor but there may be canned juice or something left.”
“Okay. Six pieces of split logs, coming up.”
It struck her as she headed for the ramshackle porch that they were in deep trouble. She’d do her best, of course, but Daniel should be in a hospital. And she should be at work on the ambulance crew, studying for her paramedic exams in her spare time. Instead, they were hiding from a hit squad miles and miles from adequate emergency services. Kaitlin shivered. Should Daniel take a turn for the worse his very life could hang in the balance.
She didn’t want that responsibility. Not even a little bit.
* * *
Fighting to remain conscious and alert, Daniel counted the minutes until he could watch Kaitlin construct the base for the fire and get it going. It was more than a matter of comfort for him, it was necessary if he hoped to recover quickly. Being chilled might feel right with a fever but it was contraindicated. Kaitlin had to know that from her own training.
Any other woman thrust into this situation might have panicked or wept in despair. Not Kaitlin. She was made of sterner stuff and it occurred to him, not for the first time, that her sojourn on the street might have toughened her up to face this very trial. Anything was possible, particularly if a person relied on a heavenly Father and trusted Him in all things.
Doing that had been more difficult for Daniel after his earthly father’s untimely demise, yet the hours he’d been held captive as an undercover cop had helped turn him around. Without the faith, the ability to call out to God for strength, he knew he’d have given up. And that would have surely led to his death at the hands of some of the same men who were pursuing him now.
This time, his physical strength was compromised. But he had a partner. A brave cohort who had not only rescued him once, she kept doing it. Unspoken prayers of thanks and pleas for her continued safety raced through his mind so rapidly they were little more than flashes of insight.
That was enough. Daniel knew in his heart that God had heard and would act. His greatest hope was that the divine answer would mirror his fond requests. He wasn’t trying to order God around the way he had Kaitlin, he insisted to himself. He was humbly begging that the One they worshipped would have mercy on them and let them go on living.
The concept of living led him straight to an image of the two of them as a permanent couple. Despite the ridiculousness of such a thing, Daniel had to admit the notion had some merit. If any woman had the courage to become a cop’s wife, it was Kaitlin, providing she cared for him enough to consider him more than her patient. When he was well, assuming he did recover, he might break down and ask her out on a date. They had teased about it before and she hadn’t exactly turned him down.
Fighting sleep in spite of the pain, Daniel chided himself for planning anything in the future. Without divine intervention, he wouldn’t be alive then.
ELEVEN
Kaitlin was growing more and more concerned about Daniel. Surely the antibiotics would have helped him by now. She’d made certain he got each dose on time. And he’d been drinking water, although he had lost a lot of hydration via perspiration.
The fire in the hearth had settled into an orange-red glow and she’d dutifully added sections of split logs just the way he had instructed. The fire must not go out until they were ready to move on, she’d told herself, managing to awake from dozing in time to keep the room warm.
Daniel was stretched out on the couch, his head pillowed on an armrest, the blanket tucked tightly around him, while she leaned back in a wooden rocker she’d dragged in from the porch when she’d gone after a second load of wood.
When he awoke he’d certainly be better, Kaitlin assured herself. Perspiration signaled a break in his fever. Mags had included a digital thermometer but it had apparently gotten lost when she’d pitched their supplies into the truck so she could only guess. Touching his damp forehead was out of the question for several reasons. One, it would wake him. And, two, she knew she would enjoy stroking his brow too much. There was an instinct to soothe with touch that she hadn’t realized she possessed until now. Until Daniel.
Rocking and observing him in the warm glow from the fire, she thought back over the events that had brought them here. Taken one at a time they were unlikely. Together they were unbelievable. From the initial call to help a wounded hermit to the hospital escape to the race in her truck and even the confrontation in the immense parking lot, it had been an amazing adventure.
One that actually began years ago. If she and Daniel hadn’t been acquainted in the past, if she hadn’t felt she owed him long-delayed thanks, she wouldn’t have gone to his room to check on him and wouldn’t have been there when Letty tried to trick him.
Hey, when a plan came together, it came together, she mused, smiling. A soft chuckle escaped unbidden and her patient stirred.
Kaitlin went to him and laid a hand lightly on his forehead. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I was run over by a train and didn’t hear the whistles,” he said. “How long was I out?”
“Seven logs and a little more kindling,” she said. “It’s almost time for more meds.”
“Then it must be almost dawn.” He started to try to sit up, reeled and fell back.
“Don’t push it,” Kaitlin warned. “There’s no reason to hurry. While you were out I checked the storage areas and did find juice. Some bottled water, too, although it probably tastes like plastic if it’s been sitting here too long, particularly during the hot summer.”
“Better that than nothing.”
“That’s what I figured. Can I bring you a drink?”
“Sure.”
Returning with one of the smaller bottles she’d bought herself, she found him once again asleep. The time on her phone indicated at least another forty-five minutes before she’d need to dose him again so she returned to the rocker to sit. And wait. And watch. And pray. Exhaustion insisted she shut her eyes. Just for a moment.
Kaitlin didn’t know she’d fallen asleep until she heard Daniel shout, as if his pain had pushed him over the edge of reason and into h
ysteria.
* * *
Reality vanished. The cement floor beneath his body was icy cold. Gritty. Daniel was finally alone in the abandoned warehouse but had been bound, hand and foot, and gagged. His captors had taken turns beating him, then trussed him up before going to pick up others and celebrate, apparently believing he was either deceased or soon would be.
Struggling to take a deep breath, he felt sharp pains in his side. Parting kicks when he’d been down and helpless had probably broken ribs. Not that such injuries were his biggest problem. He’d heard them discussing his fate. He knew the worst.
Heart pounding, he struggled against his bonds. Couldn’t move. Had they broken his leg, too? Something was causing worse agony near his left knee than anywhere else.
Blackness came and went as he fought unseen foes. Broke loose. Scrambled across the littered floor, pulled himself up and ran for his life.
* * *
Initially, Kaitlin tried to keep the blanket tucked around Daniel. She failed. Not only were his arms flailing, he was kicking with both legs despite obvious pain. She had to make him stop.
“Daniel!”
A muscular, swinging arm caught her across the shoulder and sent her to the floor. She bounced up. Tried again. “Daniel! Wake up!”
Shouts, cries, gasping. He wasn’t conscious, yet his body was in full battle fury.
Kaitlin ducked twice more before she was able to get close enough to throw her arms around his neck and shout his name in his ear.
Results weren’t immediate. As he continued to gasp for breath and his resistance dropped he began to weep.
Unsure of what to do, she stayed where she was, changing to murmured reassurances once he stopped trying to knock her away. “Shush. It’s okay, Daniel. You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
And she did. On her knees beside him she pressed her cheek to his, absorbing some of his tears with her hair and murmuring soothing words. His shoulders shook with sobs. His arms encircled and held her as if she were his only lifeline.
Kaitlin supposed his nightmare had been brought on by the fever and didn’t begrudge him the comfort of her embrace. She was drawing strength from it, as well, she realized. The only thing that truly bothered her was seeing his tears. Once he became fully aware of what was going on, she was positive he’d be mortified.
The sobs waned, replaced by a gulping struggle to stop. She leaned away. His eyes were open but he looked disoriented. “It’s all right,” she said tenderly. “You were having a nightmare.”
“No.” Daniel shoved her away as if she were an aggressor and swiped at his damp cheeks. “Did I...did I hurt you?”
Without thinking she touched her arm where his swing had connected when he was blindly striking out. “No.”
He pushed himself into a sitting position, his teeth gritting until he was stable. “The truth.”
“Okay, I didn’t duck fast enough the first time I tried to get close to you. But it’s just a little bruise, if that.”
“I could have done worse.” Anger joined the pain in his face, his glittering eyes.
“It was the high fever,” Kaitlin explained. “You were delirious, that’s all. It won’t happen again.”
Humility and fury melded in his expression. She’d never seen him like this. For that matter, she’d never witnessed the same mood in anyone. It brought out a desire to hug him again while also warning that she’d best keep her distance.
Finally, Daniel blinked to clear his vision and looked straight at her. “It wasn’t because of any fever,” he said flatly. “It’s a leftover condition that got me put on extended leave from my department.”
“Can it keep happening?”
“Yes.”
“How did it start?”
“With the kidnapping. I told you I got grabbed. What I didn’t say was that even after I escaped it left me with scars you can’t see. I thought I was getting better but my chief up in St. Louis disagreed when I kept thinking I was being stalked.”
“But somebody is after you. I saw that for myself.”
“Oh, yeah. There’s a price on my head. But my flashbacks are another story. I can never tell what will set me off and I can’t be responsible for what I may do when I’m like that.”
“I’m so sorry, Daniel. How can I help?”
Reaching behind him, under the loose blanket, he produced the pistol he’d taken from Grainger, dropped the clip, worked the slide to clear the chamber and handed the ammunition to her. “You can hold these. I don’t want to be responsible for hurting anybody by accident.”
“What good is a gun with no bullets?”
“It still has shock value,” Daniel insisted. “I’d give it to you if I was sure you wouldn’t try to use it.”
“You could give me lessons. You said I was missing that part of my education, remember?”
“Later. After we’re back in civilization and I’m on my feet again. Right now, those are the only bullets we have. We can’t waste them on target practice.”
“And you don’t intend to show me how to reload, right?”
“Right. You’re too fearless. I knew it the minute I learned that you charged into the house to rescue me after I was shot.”
“Speaking of doing what I’m trained for, I’ll bring you a pan of water and a rag so you can wash up and put on clean clothes while I use the facilities outside.”
“I don’t like you going out there by yourself,” he said, scowling.
“Well, it’s do that or stick around and maybe see more of you than I care to.” Kaitlin knew she was blushing so she turned away to fetch water she’d had warming next to the hearth. “This is from one of the plastic jugs. I sampled it and it truly is terrible tasting so using it to wash isn’t a waste.”
She eyed his bandage. “I’ll change that dressing as soon as you’re ready.”
“I can do it.”
“So can I. If we need to arrest or shoot anybody, you can be in charge. When it comes to medical matters, I’m the boss.”
“Well, when you put it that way...”
As soon as she’d brought him clean clothing she turned on her heel and made for the door. A patient on an ambulance run wouldn’t embarrass her a bit. This was different. It had become personal in less than two days and she didn’t know why, other than the pressure and camaraderie they’d felt while trying to stay alive. Was that enough to bring about such a profound change in her feelings? Apparently, she mused, using the light on her phone to help illuminate her path.
Dawn was beginning to send rays of orange and golden light into the sky beyond the trees, creating a warm glow among the darker trunks and sparse leaves. Now that fall had come, only cedars retained their year-round, conical shape.
A forest she had assumed would be deathly quiet was, instead, filled with odd noises and tweets and rustling.
Kaitlin was almost back to the resort building when she heard a hiss. Background noises ceased. Freezing in place, she expected to see a snake. Seconds later she realize that most reptiles would be hibernating in the nippy weather.
So what had hissed? And what was now making a chirping sound that was far too loud and frightening to come from any bird, no matter how big.
Slowly, cautiously, she began to play the thin beam of her light across surrounding undergrowth. Pairs of tiny green dots appeared close to the ground. They had to be the eyes of raccoons. Kaitlin smiled. “Hello, little guys. Sorry if I scared you.”
Expecting them to run from her she was surprised to see them all look up and to one side, then take off in the opposite direction, disappearing behind the main building.
Although their fear was contagious, curiosity was enough to cause her to pause and raise the light beam. It wasn’t strong. It didn’t travel far. But she saw enough.
Large yellow orbs looked down from the branches of a tre
e she’d passed directly beneath. The panting stopped. The yellow-gold eyes widened.
Kaitlin didn’t know whether to run or stand very still. What she had interpreted as odd bird chirping resumed and she could tell it was coming from the open mouth of the tawny predator.
Right then, right there, she would have traded another faceoff with assassins for this one with a mountain lion.
Should she yell? Run? Stay put and wait for Daniel to miss her and come looking? Disgusted, she remembered that she had all the ammunition in her pockets. Talk about useless.
The light on her phone dimmed so she clicked it off to save battery power. Not that it mattered. If that beast charged she wasn’t going to have time to call anybody.
She did, however, remember the Daniel of the Bible and his survival in the lion’s den where he’d been thrown as punishment. A whisper lodged in her throat.
The big cat shifted. The branch groaned.
Kaitlin said, “Jesus, help me,” just as a sharp crack echoed like a gunshot. Branch, lion and smaller twigs hit the ground in a jumble.
She didn’t wait to see what was going to happen next. Screaming Daniel’s name at the top of her lungs she bolted for the porch, pounding across its wobbly boards to the front door.
Her hand was out, groping for the knob when it was jerked away. Daniel stood in the gap, his rustic cane raised to defend her.
“Lion!” Kaitlin screeched, shoving him backward so she could slam the door behind her, then falling into his arms, as grateful as if he’d fought off the beast bare-handed.
Tears streaked her cheeks and she was trembling from head to toe, giving thanks that he was holding her so she wouldn’t collapse in a heap.
After what seemed like hours, yet was likely only minutes, Kaitlin raised her head to look up at him. “Scary.”
“I gathered. Are you sure? It’s easy to imagine things in an unfamiliar place like the woods.”
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