“Are you conscious?”
“Barely. Come on in.” Chris attempted to sit up, found it a struggle and laid back again.
Deej slid onto the thick mattress at Chris’ side. “You, my friend, sure know how to lean heavy on the drama.”
“Sorry.”
“Do you remember anything?”
“I think so. Though some of it is foggy and some of it may be stuff they wanted me to think happened.”
“Do you remember being grabbed?”
“Yeah, and the note. Christ, you guys thought I was dead?”
Deej gently slugged Chris’ arm. “A couple of times.”
“Noah and Audrey?”
“As far as I know, they were never told. Beth talked to them earlier today. They’re excited to see you.”
“When can I leave?”
Deej smiled and pulled a toothpick out of his jacket pocket. “Never were terribly patient if I recall correctly.”
“I think I’ve earned the right to see my kids.”
“And you will. But you need to spend a little more time being evaluated. They don’t want post-traumatic stress syndrome to rear its ugly head a year down the road.”
“Christ, Deej. I just wanna go home.”
“I know, buddy.” Deej left the toothpick to dangle in his mouth and crossed his arms. “Do you by any chance remember who saved your ass?”
Chris looked to the window at the brilliant ray of light peeking in. “Where the hell am I anyway?”
Deej gnawed on the toothpick. “Sweden, and you didn’t answer my question. Do you remember how you got out of there, who took Bryan Holden down?”
Chris turned to face him.
“Your wife.”
Chris closed his eyes. “I thought so.”
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“You’re not gonna just forget that are you?”
Chris looked at his friend of close to twenty years. “She was the one who wanted out. She was the one who couldn’t be happy. That’s one of the few things that I remember with crystal clarity.”
A doctor who looked like the proverbial blonde Swede pushed his way into the room. “Hello! Glad to see you alert.”
Deej stood up as the doctor swooped in to listen to Chris’ heart, look into his eyes, ears, nose and mouth and made him cough with a tap to his back.
“I think we can remove the intravenous drip and let you have some scrumptious hospital fare.” He let the stethoscope fall to his chest. “There’s a lovely woman waiting in the corridor who’d like a moment of your time.”
Chris glanced at Deej, at the image of his kids and back to the doctor. “Is it my wife?”
The doctor was grinning a stupid grin. “I believe so.”
“Tell her I don’t want to see her.”
The doctor’s grin disappeared in a second flat.
Deej shook his head, stood up and walked through the door.
***
Beth wrung her hands together and nodded. “I understand.”
Deej snatched a Styrofoam cup and poured coffee from a carafe in the lobby. “Could that guy be any more stubborn?”
Beth smiled because of course he couldn’t be. “I can’t even blame him. He’s been through so much.”
“So have you! So have we all! He could at least take a minute to say thank you for saving his pigheaded ass.”
Beth stood up. “Some things change, some things don’t.”
Deej flopped onto a worn lobby chair. “Carrie Anne Heasley is on her way to deprogramming at the Institute. Turns out it was all a lie. She’s not pregnant at all, thank God. But poor Joanna King wasn’t as lucky. She had her baby this morning.”
“I heard. I’m heading up there now, and then in to see George.” Beth planted a kiss on Deej’s ample cheek. “Thank you for everything.”
“You did it, sweetie. You broke through.”
Beth shrugged because there was nothing to say to that. She’d never felt like more of a failure. She punched the elevator button and rode up two floors.
Joanna King was sitting up in bed surrounded by flowers and family. She tilted her head when Beth entered as if she almost knew her and then turned her attention away once again.
“Hello,” Beth said as she stepped in with a gentle knock. “I’m Beth Stoddard--”
The person she recognized from photos as Joanna’s mother leapt to her feet and threw her arms around her. “How can we ever thank you?”
The woman pulled away and Beth glanced around at the gleaming eyes. “I just did what anyone in the same circumstance would.”
“We understand that your husband was held as well. Is he all right?”
Beth sucked in a breath. “He’s doing well thank you.”
The woman tugged her arm and pulled her toward the other waiting family members. “This is my husband and my other daughter Melanie and her husband Jim.” A young man stood up and shook Beth’s hand.
“Melanie and Jim are taking the baby.”
Beth studied Joanna’s sister who looked so much like her. Nestled in her arms was a bundle of pink. Beth peeked into the blanket at the perfect little features of a baby girl. She touched the wisps of her sandy-colored hair. “She’s just beautiful.”
Joanna’s mother clapped her hands near her face. “She is. Jo is in no position or shape to care for a child right now. Even if the circumstances weren’t so odd, she’s only twenty-years-old. We’ll tell her everything when she really returns to us. We can only hope that she understands our decision, but at least the baby will be with her family.”
“Do you have children, Mrs. Stoddard?” Melanie asked.
“I do. A ten-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl. It doesn’t seem they were ever this small though.”
The baby’s grandmother smiled and adjusted the blanket. “She was a bit early. With Joanna’s gunshot wound, they felt it best to do an emergency caesarian.”
“What’s her name?” Beth asked as she looked at the bundle and felt a sharp stab of something foreign and strange, but maybe not all that surprising.
Joanna’s father, who hadn’t spoken, cleared his throat. “We’ve all decided that we’d like to name her after you, Mrs. Stoddard. We’ve heard you called Beth. Is that your given name?”
“It’s Elizabeth actually, and I can’t tell you how honored I am.”
Joanna’s mother gathered her near once again. “You brought our daughter home.”
Beth had to get away, had to get out of the loving embrace of a family no matter that the road ahead of them would prove to be long and arduous.
“Please let me know how all of you are doing,” she said as she backed to the door and scooted through without looking at Joanna again. She hurried into the elevator, grateful that no one else was along for the ride.
What in the world was the matter with her? She’d managed to save her husband’s life; George and Joanna were both alive after the grueling episode. She’d be on a plane back to her kids in just hours. What in the world was the matter?
Beth looked at herself in the shiny chrome of the elevator car. The face she’d seen her entire life stared back--round eyes, high cheekbones, long neck, hair gathered into an elegant bun--but she didn’t recognize herself anymore. Not for the simple reason that someone had zapped her will once before, but because she didn’t know this person who was feeling these things, wanting what she hadn’t wanted, not wanting the things she had.
Had she given up when she should’ve fought?
Had she let him go without really telling him why?
The elevator dinged and opened on the third floor. Beth stepped out and glanced at the card she held. She moved toward room 418 and gently rapped on the door.
“Hello.” She pushed the panel aside and stepped through. George lay fast asleep in a rumpled bed with tubes running from various points of his body. Beth tossed the blazer she clutched over the back of a chair and grabbed his hand.
“He hasn’t regaine
d consciousness since the surgery.”
Beth spun to see a nurse she hadn’t noticed switching IV bags on a pole.
“What exactly is his condition?”
“Are you his wife?” she asked as she adjusted a dial.
Beth turned back to George’s classically handsome and ashen face. “No. I’m--” and she stopped because she had no idea what to say.
The nurse didn’t seem to care who she was after her initial inquiry. “The bullet nicked an artery in his neck, but missed the carotid. Very lucky. He lost a tremendous amount of blood and was heading toward a stroke. He was fortunate that he received such good care so early in the game. He wouldn’t have lived otherwise.”
The nurse walked out with the squeak of her shoes echoing in the still room. Beth took George’s hand and raised it to her cheek. “George,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry this happened to you. You were so brave, coming in there like that to help me. I’m sorry any of it happened. I’m also sorry that you’ve loved me for so long. I know that I haven’t made it easy for you and for that I’m truly sorry.”
Beth set his hand back to his side. He was getting wonderful care as was Chris and Joanna King.
She wasn’t needed.
Her job was done.
Nothing left to do now but go home.
Chapter 26
Chris sat in the solarium and looked out at the parade of trick-or-treaters--everything there from the traditional witch to a campy Lady Gaga. Who would’ve thought that kids in Sweden acted exactly like kids in the states or Canada for that matter on October 31st? The goblins, superheroes and pop culture icons filed past and held out their bags for the nurse at the end of the row to drop a miniature candy bar into.
Noah said he was going to be The Headless Horseman and scoffed at Audrey’s Little Mermaid choice. Chris had just been so damn thrilled to hear their voices that the rest was kind of a blur. Nothing mattered except getting back to the same side of the world that they were on. He was watching a particularly fussy ghost argue why he’d rather have the Krackle than the M&M’s when he felt a sharp jostle to his wheelchair.
“Eyeing the chocolate are we?” Deej teased the wheelchair into a mock roll one more time before he flopped down onto a couch just beyond it.
“I’m more of a Lifesavers kind of guy myself.”
“Who knew?” Deej flipped a roll of Wild Cherry onto Chris’ lap. “I remembered.”
“Thanks.” Chris pulled the orange string and watched the top peel off. He popped a bright red ring into his mouth. “They’re transferring me tomorrow.”
Deej nodded and glanced out at the parade. “So they tell me. A week of evaluation back at the Institute--but this time you’ll be the patient instead of the guy waiting in the hall.”
“I’m fine. I don’t know why the hell I’ve gotta do this.”
“Because it’s procedure, protocol, whatever you wanna call it. Just a week. You’ll be out in plenty of time to spend the holidays with your kids. By the way, have you reached them?”
Chris nodded and crunched. He was already reaching for piece two. “I talked with them a couple of times. I miss them like I’ve never missed anything in my life.”
Deej tilted his head. “And Beth?”
Chris shook his. “Her mother answered and put the kids on both times.”
Deej snatched the roll of Lifesavers and popped one out for himself. “You’re going to have to talk with her sometime, Chris.”
Chris turned to glance at the tail end of the parade complete with a giant walking pumpkin. “I didn’t know Halloween was celebrated in Sweden.”
“We’re near a base. These are mostly American kids.”
Chris didn’t face him. He just kept his eyes locked on the dwindling festivities. “How many guys did we lose?”
“Three. One was an undercover post. They got him before we even infiltrated. Two others were shot. One died right at the scene, just above the stairwell. Another was hit at the gate, but died in the ambulance.”
“And how many psychotic Flora-Sky followers?”
“Fourteen. That’s twenty-six better than last time.”
Chris turned to him. The guy looked so tired. How many victims had the Holden clan claimed? They didn’t all die--some lived to remember. “Is it really over? Have we wiped them out?”
“Bryan Holden is dead and he was the mastermind behind the revitalization. Harold’s other kids seem to be healthy and recovered from Jaelyn if they remember it at all. He was the sick one. Maybe we should’ve anticipated it.”
“Did you really think I killed myself?”
Deej sighed a noisy sigh. “Truth?”
Chris rotated the roll in his hand. “Truth.”
“I did. For a little while, I did. I’d talked to you not long before, remember?”
Chris nodded and kept rolling.
“I knew you were hurting. I felt it. I also know how much you loved Beth. It wasn’t a stretch for me to imagine you not being able to find a way to live your life without her in it.”
It made sense. Deej had seen it all, heard it all, witnessed the wild and consuming love that had blindsided Chris so quick and fast that he still wasn’t sure what hit him. “What made you investigate then?”
Deej met Chris’ gaze and held it. “Your wife. She didn’t believe it.”
“I guess she knows me pretty well.”
“She was amazing. She took what her gut told her and combined it with these miniscule little clues that she found. You would’ve been proud of her.”
Chris sucked in breath, grateful that he caught it for the first time in so long. “Is George still here?”
Deej stretched his short, but powerful legs. “He was wounded pretty badly. He’ll be here for a while and then probably transferred to a hospital closer to his home in New York.” Deej tilted his head so he was certain that Chris was looking. “He did a helluva job too, Chris. We probably would’ve lost more if he hadn’t been at the helm. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s true. I’ve never known you not to respect the truth.”
“He did it for Beth.”
“He did, just like you did twelve years ago. But he also did it because it’s his job.”
Chris tossed what remained of the roll to Deej. “You know I suspected him. He was my first thought, that he’d arranged it somehow. He’d like nothing better than to see me crash and burn and disappear.”
Deej shrugged and pushed up. “But he forgot that and remembered that he was a professional agent who swore to protect what he could.”
Chris let his head fall back and examined the suspended tiles of the ceiling. “Everyone loves George.”
Deej’s strong palm patted Chris’ shoulder. He pointed the wheelchair toward the exit and wheeled Chris through.
***
Beth slid her palm over her father’s hand that rested on her shoulder.
“Good to have you home, Elizabeth,” he said softly as they stood and watched her children whisk down the walk with trick-or-treat bags in hand. Thank goodness her brother Miles had come with his own two children and taken the lot of them out. She wouldn’t have found the energy.
“It’s nice to be back.”
The doorbell rang and Francine instantly appeared, snatched the huge orange bowl brimming with treats and opened it. “Trick or treat!” the voices echoed through the corridor of her parent’s house. Nothing had changed in all these years, but everything was altered.
“Come sit with me, Elizabeth. We haven’t really had a chance to chat.”
Beth followed her father to the bench hidden beneath the stairs. As a child it had been her dreaming spot. Though she’d always loved joining in the rough and tumble play of her brothers, it was equally as welcome to hide in this tiny little corner of the world and conjure up images of princes and snow white steeds. Beth sat on the brocade-covered cushion and made room for her father at her side.
“Terrifying ordeal you’ve been through.”
; “It’s funny, when you’re in the middle of it the danger isn’t so imminent. It’s like something kicks in and you just persevere. It’s only later that it all becomes so evident.”
Her father nodded, reached for his pipe from his shirt pocket and lit. The flame from a smiling jack-o-lantern placed in the hallway winked. “So, what are your plans now?”
Beth tucked her legs beneath her. “For so long I’ve been saying that I had things to figure out. I guess it’s the time to do that. I’ve decided that I want to write a book about the Jaelyn experience and add information about this new one as well. I’d been tossing the idea around even before I left Chris. Now I’ve decided that the story needs to be told.”
Her father inhaled and then blew a perfect smoke ring like he used to do to Beth’s delight when she was a little girl. “I think that would be a wonderful and noble thing to do, Elizabeth.” He patted her leg and gave a charming smile. He was a handsome man, and it wasn’t hard to see how her mother had chosen to abandon her hopes and ambitions when she fell for him almost forty years ago. “I love you unconditionally, Elizabeth. I know you know that. You’re my only daughter and I want nothing more than your happiness. But now I’m going to play the devil’s advocate.”
He shifted and gripped the pipe firmly in his hand. “I want you to think long and hard and deeply about the things that are important to you in your life. You’ve been through much, and I know that perhaps it’s not even a fair time to ask you to delve into the deep recesses of your heart, but, darling, don’t let things slip away that you may find yourself missing later. Really examine those hidden places inside, Elizabeth. If you can live with--or without--what you find there, then you’ll be happy and enjoy a life free of regret.” He stood up, kissed her forehead and then leaned back on his heels to peer behind him when the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it, Francine. I’m right here and I so enjoy watching the children.”
He walked away and Beth heard his banter with the trick-or-treaters at the door. She sat quiet and still, staring at the jack-o-lantern and trying to decipher the message that her father had most certainly sent her way.
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