Midnight Fear

by Leslie Tentler

  “I’m…okay.” He squeezed his eyes closed, covering the hole in his arm with his opposite hand. The numbness was rapidly giving way to a screaming pain and warm blood leaked from between his fingers. The acrid odor of gunpowder laced the air.

  “You’ve been shot—”

  “Caitlyn, listen to me.” He clenched his teeth, trying to keep focus. “Go…see where he went.”

  She rose and looked out the open door as a car engine started in the distance. “He parked in the woods—I can see his taillights. He’s…leaving.”

  “Can you see the vehicle?”

  “There’re too many trees.”

  Reid’s gut had been right—David Hunter might be dead, but the threat still existed. Treadwell’s image loomed in his head.

  Caitlyn went swiftly into the kitchen, returning with her cell phone and a stack of dish towels. Her face chalky, she made the call to 911, then helped him sit up more fully against the wall. As she pressed the towels over the wound, he groaned in response to the white-hot wave of pain.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  “Hey,” he murmured, trying to calm her. But despite his best effort, he heard the weakness in his own voice. “I think it went through my arm. It hurts like hell but it’s going to be all right.”

  The wet, crimson stain on the towels was growing, however. His body shivered, and Reid hoped he wouldn’t faint from blood loss or go into shock. He didn’t want to scare Caitlyn like that. Her hands trembled as she held the dish towels in place.

  “The man who attacked me in the parking garage. He wore a ski mask, too.”

  He nodded, swallowing. “I know.”

  “This means you were right about David Hunter.”

  His thoughts were growing fuzzier. His upper arm felt as though it were on fire, burning where the bullet had traveled through him. Caitlyn smoothed his damp hair back.

  “Your forehead’s cut.” The laceration stung as she used another towel to wipe blood from his hairline. She shook her head. “It’s probably from the broken glass. I—I tried to hit him.”

  “You did great,” Reid whispered. He worked to breathe through the pain. His bare shoulder and chest were sticky with blood, the coppery smell of it making his stomach clench. “Just keep talking to me, okay?”

  “You’re bleeding a lot. Stay with me—the ambulance and police are on their way.”

  The fear on her face kept his eyelids from closing. He fought the growing drowsiness that would bring with it release from the agony shredding his limb.

  “Rob helped install the new security system,” Caitlyn said in recollection. “After the break-in a few weeks back. He recommended the system and came out with the technician to install it. He…wanted to help me out.”

  The wail of sirens sounded in the distance, moving closer.

  “Just a few more minutes, Reid. Hold on, please…” Her voice sounded as if it were a half mile away. He struggled to stay alert, but the darkness had begun to tug harder at him.

  It slowly won.

  44

  “It was a clean shot. Through and through,” Agent Tierney said to Caitlyn as he reentered the surgical waiting room. He’d used his DOJ shield to solicit information on Reid’s condition. “The bullet missed bone but nicked the brachial artery. He’s damn lucky he didn’t bleed out.”

  She nodded, relief threading through her. The foam cup of coffee she held had long since turned cold. “Thank you for finding out.”

  Tierney’s large frame filled the chair beside her. She had contacted him as soon as the ambulance she’d ridden in with Reid arrived at the regional hospital in Leesburg.

  “I just spoke to SAC Johnston by phone,” he said. “What about Reid’s family? Have they been notified?”

  She rubbed her forehead tiredly. “He woke up in the ambulance and asked me not to call them unless it was bad. I haven’t been sure what to do.”

  “They’ve been through a lot with his tumor scare. I can understand him not wanting to worry them. Still, I think they need to know. You want me to call?”

  Caitlyn wore jeans and a thin, merino wool sweater, the first things she could find in her closet once Reid had left her locked inside her bedroom. The sweater was now blotched with rusty stains. Reid’s blood. She shivered a little in the hospital’s artificial coolness. The place smelled like antiseptic and sickness.

  “No. I’ll do it,” she said. He had been injured at her home, protecting her. She owed Megan and Ben that much.

  “You want to tell me what happened?”

  Caitlyn had already recounted the event to the Middleburg police officer who’d arrived at the E.R. behind the ambulance, but she prepared to run through it again. She sat the coffee cup next to a stack of ancient magazines and tucked a few pale strands of hair behind her ear. “We heard someone downstairs—”

  “Where were you and Agent Novak?”

  “We were in my bedroom.” Her face grew warm with the admission. “It was a little before midnight. The security system and phones were knocked out, too. Reid went to investigate. I heard shots and I got scared, so I came down with my gun. Reid was on the floor in the dining room. The man was standing over him. He had on a ski mask.”

  She closed her eyes at the unwanted recollection. “I fired.”

  “Did you hit him?”

  “I don’t think so. He ran out the door.”

  “What about the vehicle?”

  She shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

  “I talked to Reid by phone around six-thirty last night. He said he was going to his brother-in-law’s high school football game.” He gave Caitlyn an evaluating gaze. “I guess he had a change of plans.”

  She was certain her blush had deepened. If Agent Tierney hadn’t known about Reid and her before, he did now.

  He’d been shot. Caitlyn still couldn’t believe what had happened. Only a few hours earlier, she’d thought their most imminent threat was the new tumor discovered inside Reid’s head. And now he was lying in a hospital with a gunshot wound. It all seemed like some sort of bad dream. She recalled him telling her that Agent Tierney didn’t know about his diagnosis yet. Regardless, it wasn’t her place to tell him.

  “Reid didn’t believe David Hunter was the copycat,” she said quietly.

  “I’m aware of that.” Tierney appeared weary himself, the room’s harsh fluorescent lighting emphasizing the dark circles under his eyes. “And based on what went down at your home tonight, it looks like he might be right. Do you think the intruder could’ve been Treadwell?”

  Caitlyn ran her hands over the thighs of her jeans in contemplation. “I don’t know. He was the right size, but I can’t be certain.”

  He grunted and rubbed a hand over his jaw. “At this point, the only thing I feel sure about is that the investigation isn’t over. The police are conducting a sweep of the area around your property. They have surveillance on Treadwell’s home but he hasn’t come back there.”

  Their conversation briefly halted as an orderly in green scrubs strode past the waiting room, pushing an EKG cart. One of its wheels needed oiling and it squeaked noisily down the hallway. Overhead, the intercom system paged a physician to the E.R.

  “Reid and I have been partnered for almost nine years,” he stated once the sound had faded. He appeared pensive instead of his usual gruff self. “That’s a hell of a lot longer than either of my marriages. We make a good team, Ms. Cahill.”

  “He’s told me that, too.” She added gently, “And you really should start calling me Caitlyn.”

  He stretched out his legs. “Maybe. But you should keep calling me Agent Tierney. Even my mother does. Everyone but Reid, actually.”

  Caitlyn smiled faintly at his joke, then dug into her bag, searching for her cell phone. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to step into the hall and call Reid’s sister.”

  “It’ll take them an hour or more to get here. They’re in Silver Spring, and they’ll probably have to find someone to stay with th
e girls. Why don’t I give you a ride home?”

  She shook her head. “I’m staying here.”

  “He’s in recovery—the nurse said it would be a while before he’s moved to a room.” He looked pointedly at Caitlyn’s bloodstained sweater. “And I’m thinking when his family arrives, you might not want to be wearing that.”

  Her lips parted in realization. He was right—she couldn’t face Ben or Megan looking like this. It would only frighten them further.

  “I’m going to your house anyway. Now that I know Reid’s out of the woods, I need to take control of the crime scene from the local boys.” Agent Tierney stifled a yawn with his fist as he stood. “You can make the call from the car. After you’ve changed, I’ll have a cop escort you back. With all the hell breaking loose around here, you don’t need to be out alone.”

  “All right.”

  “I’m going by the men’s room. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

  Gathering her things, Caitlyn stopped at the nurses’ station, leaving her cell number in case Reid’s condition changed before she returned.

  They stopped at a convenience store outside Leesburg for gas. As Agent Tierney pumped and went inside to pay, Caitlyn remained in the car, her mind still on her brief conversation with Reid’s sister. They had spoken for less than a minute, with Caitlyn quickly explaining what had happened, where Reid was and that he was going to be all right. Megan had promised to be there as soon as she could and then disconnected the phone. She hadn’t seemed angry or accusatory, just scared. Not that Caitlyn could blame her.

  Without the heater running, the sedan’s interior had turned cool. Placing her cell phone on the car seat, she rubbed her hands over her upper arms as she gazed at Tierney through the store’s window. He stood in line behind a woman with a fussy child on her hip, waiting for his turn at the register. Caitlyn willed the woman to hurry and complete her purchase, wanting to get home to change so she could return to the hospital. She breathed a sigh of relief when he finally pushed through the plate-glass doors, stuffing what appeared to be a pack of cigarettes into the pocket of his suit coat.

  “Did you see that?” he asked, scowling as he slid into the driver’s side. He closed the door and shrugged into his seat belt. “Why would anyone have a kid out at this hour?”

  Caitlyn shook her head in agreement.

  They pulled back onto the highway and headed toward Middleburg. Conversation waned between them, with Tierney seeming to concentrate on his driving. Her hands in her lap, Caitlyn watched the occasional approach of headlights on cars headed in the opposite direction. A few minutes later, an intersection light ahead of them turned yellow. Tierney began to slow the vehicle, which until then had been traveling at a rather accelerated speed.

  “Freaking lights,” he muttered, braking harder as it switched to red. As the car came to a stop, inertia caused Caitlyn’s phone to slip from the leather seat onto the floorboard.

  “My cell.” Undoing her seat belt, she reached down, feeling around for it in the darkness. Her fingers closed around a thin rectangular object. Caitlyn sat up. She held a digital tape recorder, although its casing was cracked and a chunk of plastic was missing from one side.

  “There’s a lot of junk sliding around down there. I’m always losing things—it’s like the Bermuda Triangle,” he commented. “Mind putting that in the glove box for me?”

  Caitlyn did as requested and then finally located her phone, which she placed inside her purse this time. She refastened her seat belt just as the car rolled forward again. Tierney clicked on the radio and searched for a station, finally drumming his fingers on the steering wheel in time to an old, eighties Pat Benatar song.

  He sang along with the chorus in an off-key baritone. Caitlyn felt uncomfortable. She never knew how to react to people who enjoyed singing aloud, and she wondered vaguely if he ever did it in the car with Reid. Thankfully, the exit toward her house was just ahead.

  “Turn right at the sign,” she said, uncertain as to how familiar he was with the area. He gave a curt nod of acknowledgment. But when they reached the turnoff point, the car remained on the same path.

  “I…I think we missed it.”

  He didn’t respond. They passed by a lit billboard, and Caitlyn caught a second-long flash of his profile before it disappeared again into shadow. He’d stopped singing, his face stern and unreadable.

  “Agent Tierney, did you hear me?”

  “I heard you,” he replied in a calm tone. His fingers curled more tightly around the steering wheel. “There’s been a change of plans, Caity.”

  45

  Reid awoke, feeling groggy and disoriented. Within seconds, Megan’s face came into soft focus above his bed. She leaned over him, her dark hair silhouetted by the light from a television mounted to a pale blue wall.

  “Reid?” Relief flooded her features. He tried to rub at his blurry vision, but something restricted his movement.

  “Be careful. You’re hooked to an IV.” Gently, she lowered his hand to the sheets.

  He heard his own raspy voice. “What are they giving me?”

  “Fluids and antibiotics. Probably a painkiller. You were shot, Reid. Do you even remember that? The doctor said there might be some memory gaps. You lost a lot of blood.”

  He struggled to think. He had been at Caitlyn’s—he’d gone to the stables after the news conference, wanting to be with her after receiving his MRI results. A faint recollection of making love to her, and then of someone being in her house, pierced the fog inside his head. “I’m back in the District?”

  “No. You’re in the regional hospital in Leesburg. You have a through and through to your upper arm. And you need to rest.” She frowned worriedly. “It could’ve been much worse. They said the bullet nicked an artery. How do you feel?”

  “Like hell,” he whispered.

  She laid her fingers over his forearm. “It’s hard seeing you like this again—in a hospital bed.”

  Reid closed his eyes and swallowed, thinking of the new diagnosis he would eventually have to share with her. But now wasn’t the time. His bandaged arm throbbed as he searched for the panel that would raise the mattress to an upright position. He realized who was missing.

  “Where’s Caitlyn?”

  “You shouldn’t be sitting up just yet—”

  “Megan, is she here?”

  “She’s here somewhere, I’m sure. Just relax, okay? She’s the one who called to tell me what happened and where you were. Cooper and I have only been here a little while. Dad’s on his way—Cooper’s waiting for him in the lobby.”

  Reid released a breath. If Caitlyn had contacted Megan, it was a good sign she was okay. Still, he wanted her nearby. After what had happened, it was clear she needed protection more than ever. “Will you find her for me?”

  “All right. But keep your voice down.” Megan indicated the curtain dividing the room. “You have a roommate.”

  Once she’d left, Reid tried to summon up exactly what had happened at Caitlyn’s house. The shadowy image of a man standing over him was disconcerting. He concentrated on the vague picture he had of him, recalling his size and the dark ski mask concealing his features. Had it been Treadwell? Caitlyn had fired on the intruder, causing him to flee.

  There was something else he needed to remember, something about the dining room, but it lingered at the edges of his still-drugged brain.

  “I can’t find her, but it’s a big hospital,” Megan said when she returned several minutes later. “Don’t worry. She left her cell phone number at the nurses’ station and asked to be contacted if your condition changed.”

  “Give me your phone, Meg.”

  She fished it from her shoulder bag and handed it to him. Reid called Caitlyn’s cell but it went directly to voice mail. It wasn’t like her to not be here with him, especially considering the circumstances. He worked through the possibilities—that she was somewhere inside the hospital, in a restricted area that didn’t allow cellular phones. Or she
was being interviewed by law enforcement off-site. It was even possible she’d retreated to give his family some space. Reid left a message, asking her to call him in his hospital room.

  He phoned Mitch next. His partner answered on the second ring. “Tierney.”

  “Mitch, it’s me.”

  He sounded surprised. “I didn’t recognize the number. You’re awake already.”

  “Yeah.” Reid squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Where are you?”

  “I’m at Ms. Cahill’s residence in Middleburg.” Reid heard conversation and noise through the phone in the background. “The place is a mess—bullet fragments in plaster, broken glass all over the dining room, not to mention a nice bloodstain on what I imagine are vintage hardwood floors. Is that yours, buddy?”

  “Is Caitlyn with you?”

  “Hold on a second.” Mitch barked out a warning about evidence contamination, then returned to the conversation. “Christ. Some of these country-mouse cops act like they’ve never worked a crime scene—”

  “Mitch, listen to me. Have you seen Caitlyn tonight?”

  “Yeah, sure,” he said. “She was at the hospital. She’s the one who called me.”

  “Where did you see her last?”

  “In the third-floor waiting room outside surgery. I sat with her until I had to leave to come over here.”

  “How long ago was that?”

  “About an hour ago, I guess.”

  “I can’t find her and she’s not answering her cell.”

  “She’s there somewhere,” Mitch assured him. “She was pretty worn-out—maybe she’s in the cafeteria getting coffee. Besides, cell reception is piss-poor in areas of the hospital. I couldn’t get a call out myself.”

  He lowered his voice. “By the way, Johnston’s here. He’s on his way there next. You should be prepared to explain why you were at her house overnight, since there’s no official security detail.”

  At the moment, SAC Johnston was the last thing Reid was worried about.