A sleepy male voice answered. “Dude, are you kidding? It’s five o’clock in the morning.”
“This isn’t dude, it’s me.” Her breath came heavy and fast, but not as fast as the adrenaline-fueled thoughts that zipped through her brain. With the huffing and puffing, this guy would probably think she was an obscene phone call if she didn’t talk fast.
“I’m Karina Guerrero, and I’m a friend of Mason’s. Caleb has been shot and he’s bleeding and talking about Heaven and we need help.” A sob choked off her rapid-fire monologue.
The voice on the other end became instantly alert. “Where are you?”
“We’re up in the Sandia Mountains outside of Albuquerque. A dirt road. We passed the tram on the way, but I don’t know where it is, or how far we went beyond it.”
A loud shuffling and the voice spoke urgently. “Caleb’s been shot. Start praying.”
“I have been,” she sobbed.
“That’s good,” the man said, “but I was talking to my wife. I’m going to my computer now, and it’ll just take a minute to track you. My name is Brent, by the way. And you’re Karina?”
“Yes.”
Her breath was starting to come hard in her chest with the effort of running uphill. Had she gone astray? Where was that clearing?
“Karina, you say Caleb’s been shot. Where? Is he conscious?”
A branch scraped across her face as she ran by, and she almost dropped the phone. “In the chest. He was conscious about ten minutes ago, but I had to get the phone to call you. He was bleeding a lot.”
“Is Mason okay?”
“Yes, but there were three men and they all had guns, and one’s a cop, and he’s back there with them.” She was handling this badly, but she couldn’t help it. She couldn’t find them. Wait! What was that up ahead? A lighter spot in the darkness which might be the clearing.
“Oh, thank You, Lord.” She nearly sobbed with relief. “I found them.”
“All right. My computer’s up and I’m fixing on your location now.”
She crashed into the open to find Mason standing beside Caleb’s prone form, an assault rifle pointed at their three captors. Parker and one of the other men had awakened, and were sitting on the ground, watching him warily. She almost threw her arms around Mason in relief, but there was no time. Instead she told him, “I’ve got your friend in Atlanta on the phone.”
Mason expelled a breath, but the grim expression did not leave his face and his eyes did not flicker away from his charges even for a second. Karina dropped to her knees beside Caleb, frantically searching his body for movement.
His chest rose with a shallow breath.
“He’s still breathing,” she sobbed into the phone.
“Thank the Lord,” came Brent’s answer on the other end. “I’ve got a fix on you. I’m going to contact the police.”
Mason spoke up, the gun still trained on Parker. “Brent, it’s Mason. We need a medical chopper up here first. Caleb’s bad. And then contact the FBI. Tell them to get a team over to the deserted insane asylum on the corner of Edith and Osuna because there’s an illegal arms deal going down right now. If they’re quick they’re going to hook a couple of whales.”
Karina glanced at Parker, but then looked away quickly from the pure hatred she saw in his face.
They listened to the conversation as Brent, using another phone, relayed their location and the rest of the information to someone. Minutes passed. Caleb’s breathing continued to be shallow and rapid, and he did not open his eyes. Karina kept her hand on him, so if he was aware he would know he wasn’t alone. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she whispered the Psalm she would want to hear if she were in his place.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.”
Finally a sound reached the clearing. Faint at first but growing rapidly louder. It was a sound that made her want to weep with relief. The sound of an approaching helicopter.
TWENTY-SIX
The bright lights of the hospital corridor blinded Mason when he and Karina stepped from the helicopter pad into the building. Blinking, he kept his hand on the stretcher rail and ran to keep up with the paramedic’s pace.
“You hold on, Caleb. Do you hear me? I don’t want your death on my hands, okay?”
He caught Karina’s gaze across the stretcher. Tears flowed unchecked down her face. With his free hand he brushed moisture from his own cheek. Caleb couldn’t die. He just couldn’t.
A couple of nurses and a white-coated doctor joined their sprint down the hallway. They reached a double door at the end, and one of the nurses dashed forward to slap a button on the wall. As the doors fanned open, the other said, “I’m afraid you can’t go any farther. You’ll find the waiting room back that way. The doctor will talk to you once he’s stable.”
Mason nodded, and stopped.
“Wait.” The command, though faint, was clearly audible. Amazingly, Caleb’s hand rose. “Mason.”
The paramedics hesitated, and Mason rushed forward. He bent over the stretcher and looked into his friend’s pale face. A hazy gaze met his.
“Do you have a prayer in you, Brother?”
Mason sent a frantic glance in Karina’s direction. “He wants you to pray.”
“No.” The words came in a whisper. “I want you to.”
It had been years since he’d prayed. Four, to be exact. But what could he do, say no to his dying friend? Irritation flashed through him. Leave it to Caleb to force a man to pray.
Mason grabbed the hand that lay at Caleb’s side, and bowed his head. “Dear Father, please watch over Caleb and keep him safe. Guide the doctors and give them the skill they need. Protect my friend’s life, even though I think he’s a dirty rat for tricking me into praying at the one time he knows I won’t refuse. Amen.”
A slight smile hovered about lips that were only a few shades darker than the sheet on which he lay. “Amen. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“No, it wasn’t so bad.” Mason found himself blinking back a fresh batch of tears. Actually it had felt kind of good. But he wasn’t about to admit that. He squeezed Caleb’s hand one last time. “Be safe, my friend.”
The stretcher was whisked away, and the doors closed behind it. Karina slipped both arms around his waist. He closed his eyes and pulled her close. Now the long wait began.
And since he’d broken the ice, he might as well try another prayer or two.
* * *
Over the next three hours Mason had the opportunity to use his prayer muscles, and found that they hadn’t atrophied as much as he’d feared. But as the wait stretched on, the more anxious he grew. What was taking so long?
When the blond doctor they’d seen earlier stepped into the waiting room, he and Karina were off their chairs like a shot.
“How’s my friend?” He winced at the demanding tone, but the woman didn’t seem to mind.
Her smile was weary. “It was touch and go there for a while, but he’s finally stable. The bullet nicked his right lung and lodged dangerously close to his spine, but we were able to get it before it caused any permanent damage.”
Mason’s muscles didn’t relax so much as wilt.
Karina threw her arms around him and hugged. “Thank God.”
“He’s going to be in recovery for several hours, so why don’t you go get some rest? You both look like you’ve had a long night.”
Which was the understatement of the year, but Mason was suddenly too weary to do more than nod. “Thank you, Doctor.”
When she left the waiting room, she passed a familiar figure in the doorway. Grierson. The skin sagged around his eyes, and his shirt looked like it had been wadded into a ball and shoved in a corner for a week. But one glance at the satisfaction in his grim smile told
Mason all he needed to know.
“You got Maddox.”
“Oh, yeah. And a paddy wagon full of others, too, including the biggest cartel boss we’ve ever landed.”
“Cartel?” Karina tilted her head. “Maddox was dealing in guns and drugs?”
Grierson nodded. “The two go hand-in-hand lately.” His gaze slid to Mason’s. “You almost blew a twenty-four month operation, Sinclair. When I heard you were in town, I should have followed my first instinct to lock you up to keep you out of our way until this thing was over.”
“So you knew about Maddox all along?”
“Oh, yeah. Harding too.” His smile went hard. “Can I tell you how good it felt to nail him?” He turned to Karina. “Which reminds me, ma’am. Your brother will probably be released in another hour or so. The feds are prepared to drop all charges related to his activity with the sale of illegal weapons in return for his eyewitness testimony regarding Harding shooting that poor kid.”
Karina’s eyes closed, and she blew out breath. “Thank goodness.”
“Of course he’ll have a chance to talk to another attorney, a clean one this time.”
“I knew it.” Mason straightened, and cast a triumphant glance at Karina. “Navarro was on Maddox’s payroll.”
“And the D.A. has a feeling he’s going to sing, too.”
Karina looked surprised. “The D.A. isn’t crooked, then?”
“Oh no, ma’am. He’d been helping us build our evidence file from the very beginning. He suspected Navarro but couldn’t be sure until he presented his request to try your brother, a fourteen-year-old kid, as an adult. That had to be a move orchestrated by Maddox.”
Her jaw went slack. “I had no idea.”
Mason couldn’t let an I-told-you-so moment pass. “Next time listen to me. Which reminds me.” He gathered his brow into a scowl and turned it on his former boss. “You could have told me about Parker. I might have been able to help.”
“Graham wanted to, but I preferred to keep you out of it. You’re a civilian now.”
“So Graham was working with you?” Mason had a hard time speaking the man’s name without an accompanying wave of grief. He’d misjudged a good man.
“From early on. I assigned them as partners so he could gather evidence from the inside. Speaking of partners.” Grierson’s head ducked and he averted his eyes for a moment. When he looked back up, he held Mason’s gaze steadily. “I was wrong about you back when your wife died. I’m sorry.”
The sting of tears behind his eyes surprised Mason. Until he heard the words, he’d had no idea how much healing they would bring. He blinked hard, to keep them at bay while he stuck out his hand and shook Grierson’s.
“Thank you. I appreciate that.” The warmth of their grasped hands melted away the last of the four-year-old ice buried in Mason’s soul.
Then Grierson straightened. “I’ve got to get out of here. I’ve got a mountain of paperwork before I can get any sleep.” He started to leave, and then turned back with a piercing gaze. “That reminds me. You got that report I asked for, Sinclair?”
Mason grinned. “Still working on it, Detective.”
The man smiled and left the room chuckling.
What had started out to be a day of death was turning into one of healing. And once the process of healing old wounds had begun, Mason wanted to keep going until there were none left. Until all the ghosts had been laid to rest.
He turned to Karina, but couldn’t quite meet her gaze. “You know, since he started the apology thing, I owe you one. Or maybe several.”
“Mason.” She laid a hand on his arm. “After everything you’ve done for Alex and me, you don’t owe me anything.”
“Yes, I do.” The touch of her fingers on his felt so good, so right. Moving almost instinctively, he slipped an arm around her waist. “I should never have hurt you the way I did. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “You were in love.”
Her lips trembled. He found himself unable to look away from them. How many times had he felt those silken lips moving against his?
“I was in love with Margie.” Speaking her name didn’t hurt like it would have a week ago. He had loved Margie, in a different way. But Margie was gone, and for the first time, he felt like he could look ahead to a future without her.
Without her. But not without Karina.
He ducked his head and sought her eyes so she could read the truth in his. “But now, I’m in love with you.”
The fluorescent light in the waiting room turned the sudden tears that flooded her eyes into diamonds. Her hand slid up his arm and around his neck.
“You are?”
Was that joy he heard in her voice?
“I am.” He tightened the arm around her waist and pulled her close. “And I was wondering if maybe, if you’ve forgiven me for breaking your heart, you might let me try to put the pieces back together.”
In answer, she rose up on her bare toes, pulled his head down toward hers and swept him into a kiss that left no doubt that she had, indeed, forgiven him.
EPILOGUE
Karina slid a platter of steaming tortillas onto the table. “Now you’ll get to taste some real Mexican food, just the way my abuela used to fix it.”
Her new friend Lauren turned from the counter in Mason’s small kitchen with a bowl of rice and beans. “I hope you like it, baby,” she told her husband, “because I’ve been trained by an authentic Mexican cook, and I’m eager to try out my new skills solo.”
Brent, seated in a chair pushed against the wall, rubbed his hands together. “It smells great.”
At one end of the table Caleb extended his neck toward the dish piled high with carne asada and inhaled with obvious pleasure. “Bring it on, Sister. I’ve been injured, you know. Got to keep up my strength.”
Karina smiled. The big man had said that at every meal in the two months since she and Alex arrived in Atlanta. Either she was a really good cook, or he was one hungry man.
Brent rolled his eyes expansively. “It’s been almost six months since your surgery. Don’t you think you’re pretty much healed?”
Caleb shook his head. “As long as these two beautiful ladies keep producing home-cooked meals like this one, I’ll play that card as long as it lasts.”
Karina lifted her head toward the connecting doorway to the living room. “Mason and Alex, come and eat before it gets cold.”
“Coming!”
The sound of scuffing feet on carpet preceded them, and then they appeared, jostling each other like two kids to see who could arrive first. Karina’s stomach fluttered at the sight of Alex, laughing with the man who had reclaimed her heart. Alex slid into his chair with a victorious grin, but Mason came to her. He slid an arm around her waist and pulled her close for a kiss.
Oh, how she loved this man! Their shared secret made the kiss even sweeter. They weren’t quite ready for a public announcement, but soon they’d share their news with their friends. How fun it would be to proclaim their upcoming wedding. But for now it was a tender, private treasure between the two of them.
“Don’t you two ever get tired of kissing?” asked Alex in teenager disgust.
Mason released her, but his gaze continued to caress hers. “Never.”
“You know,” said Caleb as they took their places around the table, “we ought to consider changing our name from F.A.S.T. to something else. We seem to be just as good at matchmaking as we are at helping people falsely accused of a crime.” He looked pointedly at Lauren and Brent, and then at Mason and Karina, then assumed an injured air. “What I can’t understand is how you two ended up with the beautiful women. Aft
er all, I’m the best of the bunch.”
Everyone laughed, and Mason said, “Tell you what. The next pretty girl who calls for help is all yours.”
“I’ll take her. Now.” His gaze swept the laden table. “Who wants to pray over our meal?”
Mason spoke up immediately. “I will.”
Karina exchanged a smile with Caleb. What a change God had made in this man.
She bowed her head and closed her eyes. Beneath the table Mason’s hand sought hers. With a full heart she laced her fingers in his, and whispered a prayer of her own.
Thank You, Lord. You’ve given me everything I ever dreamed of.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt of Threat of Darkness by Valerie Hansen!
Dear Reader,
A few months before I began writing Bullseye, I saw a news article about a raid on a cache of illegal weapons stored in a secret room behind the mirrors in a home gym. Oh, the possibilities for a fiction writer! I couldn’t resist taking that idea and expanding it into a story. Of course, I moved the gym from Mexico to Albuquerque, and invented a whole cast of suspicious characters. That’s the way stories are born, at least in my mind.
Mason’s character was a challenge. He first appeared in Dangerous Imposter, and in that book his sharp sarcasm made him a terrific sidekick. But as a hero? I wanted you to like him, and sarcasm can so often make someone appear harsh. I needed to show his sensitive side, even though he would never reveal it himself. So I had to make him vulnerable, and to do that he had to experience some pain. Sorry, Mason! At least his story has a happy ending.
I hope you enjoyed reading Bullseye, the second book in the Falsely Accused miniseries from Love Inspired Suspense. As I pen this letter, I’m working out the plot for the third and final book in the series. I hope you’re looking forward to Caleb’s story as much as I am!
I’d love to hear what you thought of my book. Contact me through www.VirginiaSmith.org, or become my friend on Facebook at facebook.com/ginny.p.smith. Or you can write to me at Virginia Smith, P.O. Box 70271, West Valley City, Utah, 84170.
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