“Reset the alarm codes, computer log-ins, and out of an abundance of caution, the POS and payroll system log-ins. There’s no way to know what all he might have tried to get into while he was working here. Speaking of… I have to terminate him as an employee.” I allowed a harsh laugh at the last part.
I sat down in the desk chair and logged into the computer while Gabriel positioned himself in the doorway where he could see both into the main part of the shop and the rear entrance. He had been right to come; I could concentrate fully on what needed to be done instead of worrying about watching my six.
When Hugo had decided Jocelyn and I should be able to reset all of Dove Creek Pawn’s security measures, we’d had Garret take us through the processes. I was able to work smoothly through it all—most of which was simply being able to follow the series of prompts. Others dragged on longer—two-step verifications that required texting a code and entering it.
I kept my head down and worked diligently, but had to move around and stretch my back after a while. I wasn’t sure if it was the squeaky office chair or my spine cracking that caught Gabe’s attention, but he turned when he heard me.
“You okay?”
“Yeah,” I said. ‘Okay’ really wasn’t the correct description for everything I was feeling, but my progress toward having the shop secure again was good, so that was what counted. “I’m almost done here.”
I felt my partner looking at me, studying my profile.
“That’s not what I meant,” he said.
My fingers paused over the keyboard, and I turned my head to look at him.
“I can’t talk about it now. Ask me again later.”
He nodded. “Fair enough.”
And he would. Once we had taken care of the shops and stopped by the hospital, I knew Gabe would bring up my wellbeing again. But for the time being, I needed to be last on the list of priorities.
“Is there anything else you should be concerned with? Would he have accessed employee records or stolen personal data?” he asked.
“I don’t think so. He would’ve had to break into that on the job and we didn’t get any alerts to that affect. Besides, it seems like he’s more about just breaking apart the Amasai, not getting in to steal anyone’s stuff.”
“What makes you say that?”
“He told me he was destroying our HQ to make it so I’m free to choose. He’s about the big gestures—burning our house down. That’s why we have to protect the shops… We can’t let him get inside, anywhere.”
“And then there’s your apartment… Where else does he know about?”
“Joss and Dylan’s—what was my house,” I said and thought back to anywhere else we had been that was even tangentially related to the Amasai. Remembering Thanksgiving, I blanched. “My mom and Hadden’s house.”
“It’s okay,” he reassured. “I’ll call Dylan and warn them about going home. You call your mom and give her a heads up.”
“None of us will be safe again until he’s… out of the picture.”
My partner read my misgivings, as clearly as if I had spelled them out in flashing neon.
“There may be a way to neutralize him without… you know.” He paused and looked toward the front of the shop. “It’s fully light out now. I feel sorry for him if he goes to your mom’s alone, looking for trouble, but you should call her all the same. I’ll go make some coffee and call Dylan.”
As he disappeared into the break room, I palmed my cell phone and pulled up my mom’s number. She answered after one ring and I started with the usual: “I’m okay, Dylan’s okay,” like all the other times I had called her early with a warning or bad news. I gave her the run-down about headquarters and Creed.
“One of these days, I hope to have you call me at dawn with some good news for a change,” she told me, her tone dry as a bone.
“I hope for that, too,” I agreed. “But for now, just promise you’ll keep your eyes open.”
“Always do, Remi-Jean.”
The scent of fresh coffee alerted me to Gabriel’s return to the office.
“I know. I’ve gotta get back to it, but I’ll keep you posted. Love you, Mom.”
“Love you, too.”
I hung up the call and accepted the steaming mug Gabe offered. “Thank you.”
“Any time. There was only the hazelnut creamer left in the fridge, not the French vanilla you like. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” I said before taking a careful sip.
“Is there anything I can help with besides keeping an eye out, or…?”
I shook my head. “Almost done here. Just need to reset the main password on the computer. Viviana will be the one taking care of Sofia and Daniel today with Hugo…” I trailed off, unable to speak the words.
“Rem?” Gabe prompted.
Shaking myself, I finished what I was saying. “Anyway, Vivi won’t be in today, so we’ll just stay closed since Sunday isn’t a very busy day. I’ll call Jackie and give her all the new codes for tonight.”
He didn’t call out my brief lapse in keeping to the task at hand. At least, not in so many words.
“We can stop by the hospital on the way to the other shop,” he said.
“No, let’s go straight to the shop. We won’t do Hugo or Garret any good in the waiting room and I’ll fail Hugo completely if I don’t get everything secure.”
“You haven’t failed him at all.”
His tone was too gentle. I expected someone to yell at me, like I was yelling at myself on the inside. How could you have chosen such a man? Why didn’t you listen to Yescha and Michael? As it was, his gentleness and non-judgement brought tears to my eyes.
His hand landed on my shoulder, and I shook my head.
“Later. I’ll break down later.”
Chapter 15
The weak winter sunlight slanted across the parking lot, dappled by high clouds. I hadn’t noticed how cold the night had gotten and the sun was no match for the chill in the whipping wind. Stuffing my hands into my pockets, I hunched my shoulders against it.
Our time inside had been long enough to allow Gabe’s car to cool off, so it took a couple minutes for the heater to blow warm again. When it did, I stuck my hands in front of a vent.
“There are only a few days in the year when I’d really need it, but days like today make me want a parka for hunting,” I said.
“True,” Gabe agreed. “But I can’t move as well in one.”
Soon enough, the heated air blowing into the car’s interior had me plenty warm. If it weren’t for the continuing urge to batten down the hatches against another attack from Creed, the warmth and the white noise of tires on the highway might’ve lulled me to sleep. God knew I was tired enough.
When we neared the Westview city limits, I turned to Gabe. “Do you remember where the shop is in the newer part of town?”
By ‘newer,’ I meant the area of commerce and subdivisions that had been built out during the early 2000s. The heart of the city had shifted out of the old downtown, to the south and east, closer to Whitewing Lake. It bordered my mom’s neighborhood, which had sparked the revival of the large and ornate foursquares.
In fact, it was the same freeway exit that led to my mom and Hadden’s that Gabe took.
“Yeah, I haven’t been inside in a while, but I pass by when I’m running errands.”
From the exit, it took almost no time at all to reach the shopping center where the newest of the three shops in our chain was located. There were only a handful of traffic lights, and the only places that were busy at that time of the day were churches and donut shops.
Since nothing in the area opened until noon on Sunday, the pawnshop was already closed. It was the only location of the three not to maintain round-the-clock hours.
I scanned my key to get in the back door and disarmed the alarm system. This time around, we weren’t as on edge since it was fully daylight and direct heat from Creed was unlikely. As we strode through the short hallway
, Gabriel paused at the door to the employee break room.
“I’ll do coffee duty again.”
“Sounds great,” I told him. “There’s one of those single service brewers in there, so you won’t have to make a full pot.”
We went our separate ways—Gabe into the break room and me a few doors down to the office. I settled myself into the desk chair and logged into the computer. Since I had just gone through the rehearsed steps of the system resets, I started moving through them more quickly than back in Dove Creek. My only limitations were my typing speed and how fast the wi-fi moved.
I was grateful for the caffeine Gabe had been supplying; after sitting still for several minutes, staying alert was getting more and more difficult. My partner hadn’t lit in one place since we had walked in, so I guessed he was fighting the fatigue, too. We still had a long day ahead of us.
“Dylan sent a text—he and Jocelyn finished downtown and are heading to the hospital,” he said from the doorway.
“I won’t be much longer here.”
It took a little while, but by the time I finished, I was satisfied Creed would have to go through hoops if he wanted to ruin us financially. And by the time a hoop was breeched, we’d know.
The after-church crowd was filling the shopping center by the time we left, hustling from their cars into the chain restaurants that dotted the square. Clouds had gathered, blotting out what little sun there had been that morning, and the breeze blew chillier. I didn’t blame people for huddling in their coats and jogging across the parking lot.
Putting my hand to my mouth, I covered a yawn as I settled back into the passenger seat and waited for the heater to warm back up. The trip to the hospital wasn’t a long one—the sprawling Westview Memorial campus was on the edge of downtown, so it was only a matter of hitting the freeway and going down a few more exits.
I was glad we didn’t have to go far, or else the throaty rumble of the Chevelle’s engine would have lulled me to sleep. Despite the worry and unknowns, a pervasive exhaustion was elbowing its way in. If I didn’t stay on the move, it would knock me down.
“How’re you doing?” I asked my partner. “Sleep-wise, I mean.”
One hand on the wheel, he glanced over. “I’m fine. For once, I got some extra sleep yesterday. You?”
“Tired, but I’ll make it.”
The hospital’s main building loomed ahead, a visitor’s parking lot sprawling before it. Gabriel pulled in and found an empty space not far from the front, so we wouldn’t have to hotfoot it too far in the cold.
I thought of my last visit to the hospital when Casey had to spend a few days there. The very same elevator that had carried us up to the floor with the surgical unit took Gabe and me up again. The nagging feeling of dread was also the same—there was nothing I could do to change this outcome. Hugo’s fate was in the hands of a capable surgeon… and God.
Meredith came over as soon as we got to the entrance to the waiting area, her face pale and eyes red. It was the first and only time I had seen a ripple in the surface of her serenity. I offered her a hug, and she held on for dear life.
“I’m so glad to see the two of you,” she said.
“Is there anything we can do?” Gabe asked.
Meredith let go of me and wiped under her eyes. “Not really. He’s still in surgery. They’ve updated me a few times to let me know he’s doing fine, but… it’s been hours. I can’t imagine it’s fine if…”
Her voice trailed off to a whisper and Gabe hugged her, murmuring something that must’ve been comforting because she gave him a wan smile and nodded as she let go. She dabbed the corners of her eyes with a tissue and visibly pulled herself back together.
“The kids are with Vivi?” I asked.
“Yes, they’re at our house. What did you do about the shop?”
“Closed it for the day,” I told her. “Even this close to Christmas, Sundays aren’t very busy.”
“Christmas… It looks like we’ll be spending it here,” Meredith said.
“Since it’s only three days away, that seems likely,” Gabriel agreed.
“Speaking of Hugo being here for several days… He told me a while back about the two of you taking over for him when the time came.”
I opened my mouth to interrupt, to tell her now wasn’t the time because he was going to recover. But she held up a hand and was resolute in what she had to say.
“For now, can you please keep us on the rails after last night’s disaster?”
“You don’t even have to ask,” Gabe said.
“I have no idea what to do about our headquarters… How to fill the gaps in the rotation…”
“Let us worry about that. You focus on Hugo,” I said.
She nodded and embraced us both again, wrapping her arms around Gabe and me at the same time. We gave her a squeeze in return and I found relief in being able to help, in being able to do something.
Joss and Dylan came over to us, cups of bitter hospital coffee in their hands.
“Want a cup, Mer?” Jocelyn asked her sister.
Meredith once again wiped under her eyes and smiled a thin smile. “No thanks. I’ve had enough.”
“How is Garret?” I asked.
“He’s up on the fifth floor. Aric and Stacey are with him,” Dylan said. “They admitted him so they can monitor him for a day or two, but he’s not in any danger.”
“We’ll go up and see them. Let us know if you hear anything about Hugo?” Gabe said.
We backtracked to the elevator to go up another floor and popped out into a similar corridor as on the fourth floor. Instead of a sign pointing one way for the waiting room, there was a sign with patient room numbers listed in blocs. We found the correct bloc for Garret’s room and followed the arrow to the left.
Given that it was the holiday season, the hallways and nurses’ stations were decorated with garlands, tinsel trees, and paper snowflakes—all manner of Christmas finery to cheer up the people staying there. There was also the occasional menorah or kinara outside a patient’s door with LED candles to help them celebrate their traditions. There were more visitors coming and going than normal, but the noise level was low, as everyone remained respectful of those who were there to heal and rest.
Garret was laid up in a room on the corner, tucked away from the comings and goings. I knocked on the door softly, and Aric opened things up. Another round of hugs and areyouokays took place in the doorway before he told us Garret was sleeping.
Gabe and I went all the way into the room, closing the door behind us. In the chair next to the bed, Stacey slept, too, her hand in Garret’s. They both looked so young—were so young—it made my heart ache. Their biggest problems should have been underage drinking and safe sex, but instead they were faced with the threat of death at every turn.
I rubbed the center of my chest and quietly cleared my throat. “How is he?”
“He’ll be okay, in the end. Concussion, smoke inhalation, and second- and third-degree burns on his left side, thankfully only on fifteen percent of his body. They said they’ll keep him here for a few days to observe his oxygen levels and make sure no infection sets in. He’ll have a wound care nurse assigned to him when he comes home.”
His voice was barely above a whisper, but the raspiness from having run into a burning building to help save his twin was obvious. So was his limp green mohawk and the brightness of the ink in his skin because he looked paler than usual.
“That’s good news,” I told him. “What about you?”
“I’m tight. They gave me oxygen and checked me out, then sent me on my way with some lozenges and a clean bill of health. I even got a nurse’s phone number,” he gave a little grin.
“Careful. Isn’t that how Hugo and Meredith started out?” Gabe smiled.
Aric chuckled softly. “Didn’t think of that. But since you mention them… Any updates on Hugo?”
“Not yet. He’s still in surgery,” I said. “Did you see what happened to him? Meredith s
aid a rafter fell.”
“He went in when I did to get Garret out. We got in and out pretty fast, but on our way out a huge beam fell and landed right on him. If it weren’t for Casey, he would’ve… Well, I couldn’t lift that beam, let’s just leave it at that.”
I pressed the backs of my knuckles to my lips, and Gabe gave my shoulder a light squeeze.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Aric said. “This is a great hospital, and—”
“It was Creed,” I blurted.
“What do you mean?”
“He betrayed us,” Gabe answered. “He set fire to headquarters and is in league with Valan and the others.”
“Bastard,” Aric spat.
He stomped across the small distance between us and gave me a fierce hug.
“This must be terrible for you.”
I hugged him back, then waved off his sympathy. “Don’t even think about that. It’s Garret and Hugo who’re paying the price of his betrayal.”
Though I had been beating myself up from the moment I’d confronted Creed and was riddled with guilt, it was not the same as being laid up in a hospital bed.
I had clung to the hope that we would find our way back to how things had been between us in the beginning, once he found the answers he sought. Had longed for the certain, confident man who had attracted me.
And he had found his swagger again, alright. With Valan’s influence.
Aric looked at his sleeping twin, then back to me. “You’re right. There’ll be no forgiveness this time.”
“He made himself our enemy, so that’s how we’ll treat him. Period,” I agreed, but said it with more conviction than I truly felt.
After the way Creed had held me at arm’s length and then left, I wasn’t heartbroken over him—I was plain pissed off. But what would happen if I had to face him in a fight? I wasn’t sure I could do what needed to be done.
Gabriel looked at me in a way that told me he was probably wondering the same thing. His phone signaled a new text message, though, and he pulled it out to check it.
“It’s Joss. Hugo is out of surgery. He pulled through and they’re coming to speak with Meredith now.”
Three Times Burned: A Paranormal Fantasy (Remington Hart Book 3) Page 12