Chase heard puffing sounds, but what he heard came from inside the house. He shot up out of bed, and as soon as he opened the bedroom door was facing a wall of fire. “Caitlin!” he shouted. He picked up the comforter and beat at the flames enough to get to the living room. “Caitlin!” he shouted again. Flames were climbing the curtains and walls, and the smoke was thick and black. He couldn’t find her! “Caitlin!”
Caitlin slapped Red’s rump and let him run out the barn and she followed, stopping suddenly when she realized that the house was on fire too.
“Chase!” she screamed as she ran back towards the house. The flames were so high she couldn’t get near the front porch, so she ran around to the side of the house. Over the roar of the fire, she could hear Chase yelling her name.
“Chase!” she screamed. She picked up a wooden ottoman next to an Adirondack chair and threw it through the side living room window. “Chase!”
Caitlin saw something smashing the rest of the window out, and Chase dove through the window at the exact moment that the entire front part of the house exploded. Chase landed on the ground, rolling on the patchy mix of sand and grass. Caitlin had intuitively hit the ground. She got up and ran over to him, beating out a few flames that were burning on his clothing and rolled him over. He was out cold and had a bleeding gash on his head. She grabbed his hands and tried to drag him further away from the flames, but he was double her weight – and was dead weight. Holding both of his hands and leaning all her weight backwards, she heaved but could only move him a foot at a time. She kept at it, heave and pull, heave and pull, as the heat from the flames scorched them both. When she was gasping for breath, she stood up and grasped his hands again to pull. Another explosion from inside the house blasted debris in all directions. She was hit solidly in the upper chest with a fragment of a four-by-four, and was knocked to the ground.
When Chase came to, his first thought was that he was dead. The second was that he hurt too badly to be dead so he must be alive. As his thoughts cleared, he jerked into alertness. “Caitlin!’ he croaked, but he couldn’t seem to get any part of his body to work. He took a deep breath, focused and rolled over to see her lying on her back not five feet from him. Combat training kicked in, and he crawled on his elbows to her, gently touching her but not moving her. “Caitlin! Wake Up! Cait!” He moved a hand to her chest, and he could feel her breathing. Thank God!
Another explosion went off, this time in the barn, and Chase raised his head enough to see a fireball flash at least fifty feet up the sky. He thought of his horses - Smoky and Red had never stood a chance. He laid his laid his head down next to Caitlin’s and closed his eyes to the relief of darkness.
“Here they are! Don’t move them! Don’t let them move until the paramedics get here!”
Chase stirred. He knew that voice. That was his older brother, always bossy, always loud. “Range,” he breathed.
“Jesus Christ, whatever went off flattened the barn. What kind of explosion makes that kind of fireball? I saw it, heard it from eleven miles away.”
That was Larson’s voice.
“Lie still, and don’t try to move!” Range ordered.
Chase opened his eyes. “Is Caitlin still alive?” he croaked.
Larson, his second brother, appeared in front of him. “She’s alive. Both of you are going to be okay. Ambulances are on their way!”
Chase gripped his brother by the arm. “Dad’s got the numbers. Call, Hank Stubbins, tell him I want around-the-clock security on Caitlin. Only ones we know and to trust no one else - until Hank shows up, only my brothers. Only people I trust. Call Blake. Tell him what happened and tell him to take his vacation, now. He knows.”
Larson nodded and promised. “I’ll take care of it.”
Chase looked up as his father knelt down beside him. “Ambulances are coming up the lane now, son. You’re alive, and that’s all that counts.”
“No,” Chase croaked. “Caitlin is alive, that’s what counts.”
* * * * *
Blake’s phone rang at 1:30 am, Monday morning. Blearily he checked the exchange and realized it wasn’t a number he recognized.
“Blake Ford,” he growled. He swung his feet off the bed and turned on the lamp. He grabbed a pen and pad from the top of the nightstand and wrote down some pertinent information. He walked out of the room and made several more phone calls.
“Who is it?” Valerie said sitting up and yawning.
Blake got out of bed. “I have to go on assignment, Val.”
“In the middle of the night?” she exclaimed.
“It’s important,” Blake said getting up and heading for his closet where he kept a suitcase, semi-packed at all times. He started gathering up clothing.
“When will you be back?” Valerie asked, getting up and pulling on a robe.
Blake shook his head. “I don’t know yet.” He walked over and kissed her. “This is part of my job, Baby. Sometimes I have to leave with little or no notice. I’ve explained this before.”
“I know,” Valerie said seriously. “Do you need me to drive you to the airport?”
“No, Hank is picking me up.”
“Call me as soon as you can,” Valerie said.
Blake knew what he was hiding from her, but he had a duty to his partner, and he still considered Chase his partner. “I will. Val, I want you to deposit that check, but don’t go crazy until you check and double-check to make sure it clears. Promise?”
Valerie nodded. “I’ll wait until you’re back, and we’ll decide what to do with it.”
Blake kissed her again. “Even if that check is a hoax, when I get back we’re going to do some serious talking about rings and vows.”
Chapter 12
St. David’s Hospital, Austin, Texas
Caitlin sat by the Chase’s hospital bed watching him. His father and his brother Larson were also in the room, but she paid little attention to them. Most of Chase’s family had been there on some kind of a rotational system for visitations since he’d been admitted. There were always at least half dozen relatives in the waiting room. Immediate family only was allowed in the room, but no one questioned her being there. That could have had something to do with the U.S. Marshals on guard duty, or that Hank Stubbins seemed to be in control.
She’d been unconscious when she’d been brought into the emergency room, but had awakened only a few minutes later. The hospital had run a dozen or more tests and x-rays but found nothing. Except for bruises - the worst being on her chest - a black eye and some minor cuts and burns, she wasn’t serious hurt. At her insistence, she had refused to be admitted. Chase had been conscious from the time his brothers had arrived until midway to the hospital when he’d lapsed into unconsciousness. He’d suffered two cracked ribs, some cuts that had required stitches and small second and third degree burns scattered over his body. He also had a concussion and a laceration on his head that required sixteen stitches. This was their second day in the hospital and Chase still hadn’t awakened.
The U.S. Marshals had made their presence known to the hospital administrators and the doctors. Hank Stubbins and Blake Ford were there, butting heads with the Texas District Director of Operations. Although Caitlin hadn’t been admitted, Chase’s ever-vigilant brothers and the U.S. Marshals were guarding her and Chase.
Caitlin ignored most of them, most of the time. Larson’s wife Jessie had brought her some clothing, and the fit wasn’t bad. She’d been released from the emergency room after being attended to, but she hadn’t left the hospital. Once Chase was in a room, she parked herself beside his bed and refused to leave even as Chase’s family members came and went. With the U.S. Marshal Service calling the shots and Chase’s father, as his medical power of attorney, being present the doctors and nurses were cooperating. Any information released to Marc was relayed to Caitlin and the family members. She’d heard enough to know that the Marshal’s service wanted her back in the WITSEC program, and wanted Chase in protective custody until they cou
ld find out who torched his place. At the moment, she didn’t care what they wanted. She only wanted Chase to wake up.
When Marc and Larson murmured something about giving Range and Blasé a turn in the room, they left her alone. Blake opened the door, nodded at her and closed the door again. That’s what Caitlin wanted the most - private time with Chase.
She rubbed his hand between hers and laid her forehead down on their linked hands. “Chase, wake up, please. You need to wake up. Everyone is worried, scared, and we need you to wake up. What’s wrong with you? You’re too hardheaded to let something like this put you out of commission! Wake up, Chase. I love you. If you wake up, I swear I’ll accept this all this macho crap of yours about domestic discipline, and I’ll even try to obey you if it makes sense to me. I don’t like it, and I’ll probably still fight with you about it, but I’ll accept it. I’ll take you exactly as you are, but please wake up! I can’t lose you again. I want to live with you. I want babies. We’re getting up there in age, Chase. If we’re going to do this, we need to get the show on the road.”
“I want that in writing - signed and witnessed,” Chase said in a hoarse voice.
Caitlin’s head shot up. “Chase!”
“Water,” he said swallowing.
She whirled around, poured some water out of a pitcher into a cup with a straw, and held it to his lips.
“Let me tell them you’re awake!”
“No,” Chase said stopping her. “Did you mean what you said? Do you love me enough to marry me and have my babies? Are you serious?”
“Yes, yes and yes!”
“Swear to it, Cait. Because I’m going to hold you to it for the rest of your life,” Chase said softly. “If I’m ready to jump off that cliff, I’m dragging you with me.”
Caitlin smiled. “We don’t have to jump off a cliff to admit that we love each other or want to commit to each other. We were almost blown to smithereens, and they came very close to taking both of us out.”
Chase took her hand. “There are conditions, Caitlin. I need to know you’ll stick and won’t run out on me again. We’re in this together now. It’s not only your fight. It’s our fight. I don’t want you to run off thinking that you’re protecting me, because you won’t be. We’ll find out who did this. We’ll catch them and we’ll get on with the rest of our lives.”
Caitlin looked over to the closed hospital room door. “There’s no doubt about who’s behind this. It can only be Clifford Stevens. The Rigoltees are gone and their organization has been dismantled. No one is trying to find out the hows or the whys behind it. The good guys and bad guys are simply celebrating that they’re gone. Stevens is different. In his arrogance, he thought he could get away with what he did because of his power, his position, and connections. His crimes have been found out, researched and documented. He’s going down and he’s probably gone off the deep end. His plans for a political career are shot and his crimes will put him in jail. With his ego, he’s probably gone crazy.”
Chase moved his head carefully and raised the bed. “My head is killing me.”
“You have a concussion. They were worrying about your brain swelling,” Caitlin said.
“How long before I can get out of here?” Chase demanded.
She gave him a serious look. “That would depend on the next set of CT scans and the doctor’s recommendations. You’ve been unconscious for thirty-four hours.”
“Is Blake here?”
“Almost from the time we arrived. We got here at about two in the morning, and he was here by five. Someone named Hank Stubbins is here; he said he was your supervisor. The Texas Marshals are swarming all over this place. They’re talking about putting us both in protective custody.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Chase said. “Get Blake in here.”
“I’m going to notify the nurse that you’re awake and get the doctor in here to check you out, first,” Caitlin disagreed. “If the doctors determine that you’re okay, we’ll discuss our next moves. I have to tell your Dad and family you’re awake.”
Chase gave her a hard look. “What happened to that promise to obey?”
“That was a weak moment you shouldn’t hold against me. I didn’t promise not to fight about it, and you’ve got to be on your feet before you’ll be any good to anyone, including me!” Caitlin snapped back.
“Swear to me that you’re not going to try to handle this on your own,” Chase said roughly, gripping her hand painfully hard. “Swear it!”
“That I will swear,” Caitlin promised. “I’m only good on the computer end of things. He tried to take me out along with you, so this isn’t only my battle now.” She punched the button on his call button, and when the nurse responded told her that he was awake. She moved quickly across the room to inform his family. With her hand on the door, he stopped her.
“Cait!”
She turned toward him.
“We’ll find out who did this, I promise. I will take care of you,” Chase promised.
“I know who did it and I’m going to trust you to help take him down, but I don’t want someone to take care of me.”
“I know, but I need to take care of you. We have to find a middle ground on this.”
Caitlin blinked at him for a moment battling back tears. “There’s no middle ground anymore. I love you and trust you completely. You went through fire for me. I’m not in the middle anymore, or even wavering over on the side. I’m standing right beside you from now on. They tried to kill you, and that really pisses me off.”
Chase’s grin appeared, and his eyes went warm and sexy before he grunted and shut his eyes against the pain.
Two days later, Karen Bennett was sitting on the edge of her son’s hospital bed. She took her son’s face in her hands and kissed him. “I want you to do what you must do, but I want you to come back to me,” she said sternly.
Chase took her hands and squeezed them. “I’m sorry Mom, but I have to do this.”
“I know honey,” Karen said. “That poor girl has worried herself sick about you and the family. Your father says you’re leaving to draw out the person that did this to you, away from us. I don’t like it, but I understand your reasons behind it. You were our boy that always had to go his own way. Take care of Caitlin and come back to us.”
“I’m coming back, she’s coming back too,” Chase promised. “If I can pin her down, you’ll be at our wedding.”
Karen smiled at him through watery eyes. “I’d like that - to know all my children are settled. I’m going to go now. I know you’re anxious to get released.”
Chase kissed his mother’s cheek before his father helped her off the high bed, and he watched as his father led her out of the hospital. Blake came in as soon as his father left.
“Range should be back any minute with some clothes for you. Caitlin had a pissing match with your brother because she wanted to go with him. I couldn’t believe it, but your brother actually won the argument. Your doctor has signed off on your release. You’ve signed off on the paperwork so you can checkout at anytime. The sooner we get you out of here, the sooner we can get Caitlin under wraps. We have a plan, but we need your input, and we’re not discussing it here. Why don’t you save us some time and…” Blake turned as the door opened and Range walked in carrying several large discount store bags.
“I got the basics,” Range told his brother. “Jeans, T-shirts, underwear, boots, jacket. I got you some stuff so you can pretty yourself up a bit too - some shaving cream and a good razor. You’re looking kind of ragged, brother.”
Chase was out of bed and digging into the bags right away, tossing into one pile what he would need. He pulled out a box of condoms and quirked an eyebrow up at his brother.
Range grinned. “Bare basics, little brother. We had that talk when you were fourteen although I never did figure out if you totally understood everything. Cathy helped me get the clothes together. The condoms were her idea, along with a few things for Caitlin.”
The door opened again and Caitlin came in carrying an empty duffle bag.
“All the paperwork is completed so all you have to do is get dressed and a nurse will deliver you to the front door in a wheelchair. Don’t get bent out of shape about it,” she warned sternly. “It’s hospital policy, and the faster you comply, the faster we get out of here.”
“I need to shower, and shave first,” Chase said. He walked over to Caitlin, lifted her face, and traced the edge of her black eye. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” she smiled. “You were the one that got knocked silly.”
Blake looked over to his partner’s brother. “Let’s give Chase and Caitlin some privacy to get cleaned up so we can get them out of here.” Range went through the open door and Blake held it open for a moment. “Ah, partner, there’s a lock on the bathroom door.”
“Is there?” Chase asked his eyes never leaving Caitlin’s face.
“Yes, some things require privacy even in a hospital.”
“Good, let’s conserve some water,” Chase suggested, picking up what he needed as Caitlin did the same.
“This is probably against hospital rules,” Caitlin said as he backed her into the bathroom.
“I always was a rule breaker,” Chase said as he locked the door. He unsnapped, and unzipped her loose jeans, and she stepped out of them naked.
“Going commando?” he said grinning.
“What your sister sent was too big. They kept sliding down, so yeah, I’m commando, all the way.”
He gave a tug to her shirt and pulled it over her head, exposing her badly bruised chest and breasts. “Honey, you didn’t tell me about this.”
“It doesn’t hurt too much; for once it was in my favor to be small breasted.”
Under the spray of the shower, they moved slow, careful not to hurt each other, careful of bruises and burns and cracked ribs. Caitlin was careful to avoid the waterproof bandages on Chase’s burns. They were deliberate with touch and need, until they couldn’t be slow anymore, and discomfort and pain came secondary only to the rising want and desperation for release. He took her over the edge first with plunging fingers. She brought one leg up and hooked it around his hips, opening herself to him and with a single thrust, he was inside her, plunging and straining to go as deep as his need. He lifted her up, balancing her against the tiles as both of her legs wrapped around his waist. He held her in place as he thrust deeper until a groan signaled his release. Gasping for breath, he lowered her to her feet and bent over slightly trying to catch his breath.
Caitlin's Conspiracies Page 15