by Dale Mayer
“You contact me and let me know what happens.” He pulled out a card and tucked it into her purse, then handed it to her, which she had already forgotten about. She reached for it gratefully. “Your phone is in there too. If you’re worried at the hospital, you give me a call.”
She clutched the purse against her chest and nodded. The door shut in front of her, and she tried to settle herself, knowing a very unpleasant process would begin soon.
*
Logan hated to leave Alina, seeing the lost look on her face. If she’d been happy to go, it would’ve been a different story. He couldn’t imagine a rape kit would be anything other than incredibly violating. But he didn’t know what had happened to her while she’d been here. This place would also be gone over with a fine-tooth comb, including the bed. They would have to look for bodily fluids there as well. She was dressed when found, but that didn’t mean jack when it came to being violated. He quickly retraced his steps to the apartment. He phoned Levi while in the elevator and asked, “What excuse did you give the police for us entering the apartment?”
Levi said, “You could hear her calling for help.”
“Good enough.” He hung up and realized it was nothing but the truth. He might not have heard it clearly on a physical level, but his intuition certainly had. He was damn glad he had come anyway. Who knew where the hell Alina would’ve ended up if they hadn’t gone in then?
Organized chaos ensued in the apartment. Colin was led out in handcuffs. Harrison stood off to the side in the hallway outside the apartment. He nodded at Logan when he returned and said, “They want a statement from us, and then we’re free to go.”
“That’s to be expected. Can we do it here or do we have to go to the station?”
One of the detectives said, “We can talk right now if you want. We’ve already spoken with your boss.”
“Good. Thanks.”
“He told us everything about why you came here in the first place.” The detective pulled a card out of his shirt pocket and handed it them. “I’m James Easterly. If you find out anything new while you’re working on your own job that pertains to Alina’s situation, I’d appreciate it if you’d call me. Our budget is very tight, and our officers are overworked. I’m not against accepting help if any is coming.”
Surprised at the man’s attitude but happy to hear it, Logan accepted the card. “In that case, fire away and let’s get through this. We have a lot of work still to do on our end.” He waited a moment, then added, “By the way, Jackson says ‘hi.’”
Easterly gave a start of surprise, then his eyes lit up. “Now that is good news. I’m glad he asked you to come.”
It took about an hour to go through the full retelling of information while the detectives taped the entire process. Logan wished he had a copy of it himself. Still, he hadn’t lied, and, if Alina was going to be okay now, it was all in the hands of the Boston police.
When they took their leave and were in their rental car, Harrison said, “It’s not a good idea to split up or go alone to the other addresses.”
Logan gave a laugh. “Isn’t that the truth?” He shook his head. “We’ve done a lot of missions but have never come across something like this. Our focus now needs to be finding the other three women before they are moved out of the country.”
The police still hung around, standing outside the apartment with Colin beside them.
A sharp noise echoed as they watched a red streak cross Colin’s head as he collapsed to the city street.
“Oh, shit.” Logan unbuckled his seat belt, opened the vehicle door and bolted toward where the circle of men had been. They were scattered at this point, squatting on the ground, weapons out. Logan kept behind the police vehicles until he got to the side. They all waited. But no second shot came. The gunman had done exactly what he had intended to do—and had left.
Chapter 4
Alina was given a small hospital room where she waited until somebody could see her. When the nurse arrived, she said, “We’re waiting on the detective to come and take photographs of the evidence. Please strip down and put on this hospital gown.”
And then it started. How horrible to go through something like this to find out if she’d been molested while she’d been unconscious. Did she really want to know? Then she decided she did. Ignorance was bliss in a lot of ways, but it would forever haunt her to wonder what if.
She stripped down to her skin, folded her clothes, setting them on the side of the small bed, and put on her hospital gown. Chilled, she sat up in the bed and pulled the blankets over her. Seeing herself naked had been an eye-opener.
She was scratched, with bruises all over her body; and her hands, wrists, and ankles were chafed as well as sore, bloody, and scarred—already turning colors from being restrained. She didn’t even know how long she had been out.
It seemed like forever before a female detective came in. She had a gentle smile when she explained she would take photographs. She wasn’t the one administering the rape kit—that would be a nurse or doctor—but Alina had to lie still while her injuries were photographed. And that was when she realized there were more than she even knew. Including bruises around her neck.
When she was asked to roll over to show her back, Alina asked the woman, “Does it look that bad?”
“It’s bad, but I’ve seen a lot worse,” the policewoman said quietly. “Let’s hope he didn’t rape you at the same time.” When she was done, she left her card. “If you ever need anything, call me.”
Even if it was a platitude, it was still nice to hear. After this had happened, it certainly made her reassess how she felt about human nature.
Then the nurse came in with a package. She calmly explained it was a rape kit. And, although the process might be uncomfortable, it was necessary. It would be done as fast as possible. As a nurse, Alina had seen the kits but had never administered one.
She’d gone to her doctor for her regular yearly checkups, so the internal exam was something she was accustomed to. When it was over, she lay there for a long moment and asked, “Can I leave now?”
The nurse looked at her in surprise. “The doctor hasn’t seen you yet.”
“Oh,” she said. For all she knew it could be another several hours. “How long until I get the results on the rape kit?”
“A day or two if I can get a rush on it. Otherwise it could take weeks.”
While she lay there, she considered how the hell she was supposed to get home, wondering if her vehicle had been towed or if it was still at work. She also should contact her supervisor. She wasn’t sure when they expected her again because she didn’t know what day it was. Her memory seemed to be quite trashed. She pulled out her phone and called her supervisor. When Selena answered, Alina explained what happened. Between the woman’s cries of distress, Alina got the answers she needed. But she wasn’t allowed to return to work.
“No, no, no.”
In general, Selena was fair but could be a bit of a hard ass. But right now, she was all soft.
“You should take a few days off. I also don’t know where your vehicle might be. I’ll call security and see if it’s still in the parking lot.” A pause followed while she scratched out notes. After noting Alina’s license plate, Selena said, “I’ll call you right back. Are you sure you will be okay?”
“I’ll be fine. I’m in the hospital right now, waiting for the doctor to see me.”
“I’ve got you down for four days off, starting today. Call me if you need longer.”
Then she hung up. “Well, four days off right now would be nice,” she whispered to the empty room. But this wasn’t going to be a vacation, so she’d rather be working.
Selena phoned a few moments later. “I’ve given your license plate number to security. They’re looking for your vehicle. Please take care of yourself.” She hung up.
While Alina waited for security to call her back, the doctor walked in. He took one look at her and said, “I hear you’ve been through an orde
al, young lady.”
Something about the father figure and his gentle tone brought tears to her eyes.
He reached down and gently patted her on the hand. “You’re going to feel this way for quite a while. You should take it easy and give yourself some time. Getting over shock and trauma is hard. There is no real way to make it easier on yourself. But you have to do it if you want to feel safe and secure again.”
She stared up at him. “How does one do that? And, when I do feel better, I’ll return to work—where I was kidnapped. I don’t even remember the hours before it happened. I woke, tied up in a strange apartment.”
He nodded. “Some people are never able to really relax in the same environment again. If that’s where you were taken from, that makes a lot of sense. However, since you were kidnapped from work, it would help if you could piece together those hours before your kidnapping.” He shook his head. “The trauma will often cause short-term memory lapse, but those memories will return. Do you have somebody you can stay with?”
She shook her head. “No, not really.”
“It would be good for you if you weren’t alone. Particularly in the beginning. You can expect nightmares and a general sense of not feeling safe.”
She nodded, but she had no idea who she should call. It wasn’t like she had a lot of friends in her life. Mostly coworkers. She didn’t have a boyfriend, hadn’t for a long time. And, although she wanted to go home, she wasn’t looking forward to being alone there either. He was right; it would take time.
He gave her a thorough physical exam and said, “I’ll have some blood tests run to see what drug they gave you.” He looked at the injection site. “If you don’t have any other symptoms, we are probably dealing with an allergic reaction here. I’ll get the nurse to give it a good cleaning, as well as your wrists and any other lacerations and put ointment on them.” He wrote his notes on his tablet and added, “After that you should be good to go.”
As he turned to walk away, he stopped and looked at her. “Do you have any way to get home?”
She shook her head. “I’m from Somerville. Security at the hospital is checking to see if my car is still there.”
He glanced at her and asked, “You work in a hospital?”
She smiled. “I’m a nurse.”
He nodded. “Good. Then I don’t have to worry about you looking after yourself because you know how important it is.” And yet behind his words was a question.
With a nod, she said, “I promise I’ll take care of myself.”
“Good to hear. You’ve been given a huge second chance at life. I can’t imagine what would have happened if you hadn’t been rescued. Talk about having a guardian angel …”
She smiled. “Yes, he’ll always be a hero to me.”
Then the doctor was gone, and the nurse returned. And like Alina had done many times herself, the nurse washed her wrists, back, neck, and all her bruises and lacerations. When she was done, she said, “Okay, you can get dressed now.” As the nurse walked out, she joked, “And I’d dress fast if I were you, as a man is here to get you, and he’s”—her voice dropped to a low whisper—“gorgeous.”
Alina’s instinctive reaction was fear. “I don’t have anybody taking me home.” She could feel it trembling right through her. She grabbed her pants and the rest of her clothes, and quickly dressed.
When she put her boots on and straightened, the nurse returned, saying, “He’s definitely here to pick you up. He said to tell you his name’s Logan.”
Instantly the fear inside her drained, and she sank onto the bed. “Oh, my God. He’s the man who rescued me.”
The nurse leaned closer. “He looks like a hero.”
As Alina walked outside to meet Logan, the nurse’s words rolled inside her head. She caught sight of him standing there, on the phone, waiting for her, and she realized the nurse had been quite correct about one thing. Damn, he’s gorgeous. It said much about her life that she hadn’t noticed this before. She plastered a smile on her face and strode forward, already feeling like she wasn’t quite so alone.
*
As Logan finished the call to Levi, Alina appeared in front of him. With a big smile on her face.
He grinned at her. How was he supposed to explain that Colin was shot dead in front of a yardful of cops? He decided to put that off for now. Besides, he didn’t want her stuck in town when they could drive her home or to her workplace to get her car. Not like they needed anything else on their job list, but maybe they could get a little more information from her.
Harrison had been on the same wavelength. Neither of them wanted to see a woman who’d already been victimized left alone, stuck at the hospital, looking at a half-hour taxi ride to get to her vehicle.
“Hey,” he said. “You look great.”
She snorted. “Great? I hardly think so. On the other hand, I’m done here, and that makes it a lot easier to face the rest of my day.” She took a deep breath and asked, “Any news on the kidnapped women?”
He shook his head, then wrapped an arm around her shoulders and asked, “Are you ready to leave?”
She let her arm drape around his back, as she nodded. “Yes. So the nurse was right? You’re here to take me home?”
“Yeah. Harrison and I didn’t feel good about leaving you here alone.”
She squeezed his waist and gave him a grin. “I don’t know how to thank you,” she confessed. “I wasn’t looking forward to figuring out how to get home. I could take a cab, but I would worry about sitting in a stranger’s vehicle, wondering where the hell he was driving me. I don’t know this area well …” She shook her head. “This is much nicer. I really appreciate it.”
He gave her a gentle hug. “Come on then. Harrison’s waiting outside.” He glanced at the cuts and bruises on her face and neck. “Do you need a prescription filled?”
“No, I don’t think so. He didn’t give me one, and the nurse said I could go.”
He gave a chuckle. “Meaning you think you can take care of yourself after this?”
“If it wasn’t for the rape kit, I probably wouldn’t have come at all,” she admitted. “But it was a good idea to run some blood tests to see what injection he gave me.”
The double doors opened in front of them, and they took two steps outside. She stopped and lifted her nose to smell the air. It was cloudy and smelled like rain was due any moment.
“Remember to enjoy every day after this. Nothing like surviving a horrible event to make you realize how good some things are in your world.”
He led her toward Harrison, leaning against the car waiting for them. She smiled and let her arm drop from Logan to reach up and hug Harrison.
He gave her a gentle hug in return and said, “Glad to see you looking so good. Let’s get you home.” He opened the back door and waited until she slipped inside. He closed it and asked Logan, “You want to drive, or you want me to?”
“I’ll drive,” Logan said. He’d do better with something to keep his mind occupied instead of the warm feeling of having Alina in his arms. He wasn’t sure what to think about her hugging Harrison too. He was hoping she was leaning more toward him. On the other hand, he wasn’t in Boston for very long, and the last thing she needed was a relationship that wasn’t going anywhere. Right now, she needed a man who would be around, one she could trust. And even then, it would take her a while to get to that point.
But she was a sweetheart. And he really admired her gumption. What was not to love about a woman who could stand up after what she’d been through and get feisty with her attacker?
As he got inside the vehicle and turned on the engine, he checked the area—heavy multiple-lane traffic. He turned and asked Alina, “Any idea how to get to where we’re going?”
“Not a clue,” she said. “I’ll give you the address of the hospital where I work. Your GPS can give you the rest.”
She quickly rattled off the address, and Harrison punched it into the car’s navigation system. Logan followed th
e directions, getting on the main freeway. “It’s not very far away, is it?”
“My apartment is closer than my work,” she said. “But my vehicle should still be in the hospital parking lot. I’m waiting on the security guard to call me when he finds it.”
“Smart to have somebody check that it’s still there.”
“I spoke to my supervisor. She gave me four days off to start,” she confessed. “But I can’t decide if I’d be better at work, where at least I’ll have something else to think about, or if I should never go back, because I’ll always be looking over my shoulder, terrified of being kidnapped again.”
“Two sides of every coin. You must be ready to face people and questions, and anybody who might know anything about this in their prying looks and intrusiveness. But you also don’t want to stay home where your own thoughts are running around in circles.”
She settled into the vehicle and said, “True enough.” Alina stared out at the traffic.
Logan kept an eye on her, checking the rearview mirror as he followed the directions.
After being quiet for a long time, she said, “You know? It’s bad enough this happened, but I almost feel like work will be a bigger issue. Because I can’t remember anything outside of having a cup of coffee with Colin in the lunchroom. So …”
Harrison turned to look at her. “He likely drugged your coffee. You probably got up, headed toward your car, and he caught you as the drug took effect.”
She frowned. “But how do I return to work knowing I was taken from there?” She shook her head. “I don’t know if I’ll feel safe at home either, but at least I wasn’t kidnapped there.”
Logan could understand how confused she felt, but that wouldn’t change the fact she had to adjust to both. “Are you independently wealthy?” he asked in a calm voice. “If not, you have to return to work and face that demon.”
“I was prepared to,” she admitted. “Until I spoke to my supervisor, who told me to take time off. But her words hit me sideways, and I’m not sure I could ever go back. I’m so confused right now.” Her voice darkened in pain. “But I am not independently wealthy. Although I do have some savings, I don’t have enough to retire.”