“To those kids I’m probably the only adult who hasn’t hurt them or used them in some way. That thug will not run me off, Tom.”
His pale eyes darkened with worry. “Does all this with the shipping company sound like something a street dealer like Antonio can pull off?”
“He’s connected. I heard he has a brother over in San Quentin really high in the Culebra organization.”
“Oh, well that’s even better,” Tom snapped. “I’m taking you back to the clinic right now, and you’re going to pack. I’m getting you out of here.”
“I’m not leaving them,” I repeated.
Tom threw his head back frustrated. “Ruby!”
“No, Tom.” I held my hand up. “I called Ship-Systems and they gave me an address where my shipments are getting diverted.”
“What address?’
“I didn’t memorize it, I’m not an agent. But it’s in the file, I wrote it down. I want to go and check it out tonight after it gets dark.”
Tapping his fingers on the dashboard Tom studied me, his lips pulled into a tight line. “Will you wait until I can check out this address first? Let me run a search on the DEA database to see if anything pops.”
“OK, but I’m not waiting more than a day.”
“You won’t have to.” He checked his watch. “What do you need to do right now?” he asked.
“I have patients at the hospital and then I’m done.”
Tom pulled out his cell phone and flipped it open. He hit a speed dial button and waited. “Go ahead and take off, Scott.” He turned to me and smiled. “Let’s go then. I’m going to the hospital with you.”
“Who is Scott?”
“He’s a friend from work.” Tom’s gaze slid from mine to the rearview mirror, scanning the area.
“Why don’t you go to the clinic and get the file while I’m at the hospital? You don’t have—”
“Because I’m not letting you out of my sight, Ruby,” Tom cut me off. The look in his eyes convinced me not to argue.
A small bit of relief floated up. At least I was doing something.
I nodded, and turned the key in the SUV.
“Then what?” I asked.
His expression softening, Tom reached out and tucked a length of hair behind my ear. Running his finger down the bridge of my nose, he smiled sadly. “Then I’m getting you someplace safe.”
17
I sped through rounds feeling guilty that I couldn’t stay and talk at length with any of the patients. I signed Carl, my cardiac guy, out to a normal room and checked on some post op ER patients. I walked the halls of the hospital on edge, but every time I felt like I was about to rattle apart with fear, I’d see Tom out of the corner of my eye.
Sitting in the visiting chairs, standing at a snack machine, riding the elevator with me, Tom stayed close the entire time. He’d told me to act like I didn’t know him. That it would make it easier to spot anyone watching me. I found it hard, but felt better with him by my side.
A few hours later, on my way out, one of the nurses said my boss, Blaine, was looking for me. I didn’t have time to talk to him. Glancing at my cell phone, I realized it was dead. I told her to have him call me at the clinic.
Driving back to the clinic, Tom remained quiet, brooding.
“Who was that guy, Scott?” I asked. “I mean, really.”
He blinked, back from wherever his mind had been, and turned. “Oh, uh, he’s in my group.”
“You’re group?” I picked up my purse and rummaged in it for any remaining snack bars. I didn’t find any. “Is that what the DEA calls their task forces?”
“Yeah, we’re group eight...” He didn’t finish.
“What are you thinking?”
“That we shouldn’t be going back to the clinic.” He frowned, hit the turn signal and pulled onto Second Street. “We should just get you out of here.”
I unwrapped a red and white mint from its clear plastic and popped it in my mouth. “We need those files from Ship-Systems.”
Tom pulled up to the clinic. “We can’t go looking for that warehouse, Ruby. Let me do it my way, with my team.”
“Are you guys investigating it now?”
“I’m looking into it. There’s got to be a connection.”
“What makes you think my clinic and your…whatever you call it, your sting, is connected?”
“Because statistically two large pharmaceutical related operations like this have to be related,” he said finally. “It’s the only thing I can figure.”
“You think it’s a prescription drug operation?” I asked, alarmed. “Something big?”
Tom pushed his door open. “Maybe.”
We made our way into the clinic; Tom leading with his gun. He did a sweep of the clinic before letting me in.
Stomach churning with nerves, I walked to the back room and grabbed my duffle bag. Shoving what clothes I had left into it, I fought back the growing fear that crept over me.
Footsteps made me turn.
Tom stood against the doorjamb smiling.
“You need to calm down, Ruby. You’ll blow a gasket.”
A common sentiment of his from long ago, it took me back to days when I worried about mid-terms and grades, not killers. I leaned on the desk. The wall clock ticked loudly. Just after midnight. It had been a long day, and I was exhausted, both physically and emotionally.
“Yeah,” I said and blew my breath out, trying to sound calmer than I felt. “I think you’re right. I’m almost done. I just need to find my cell phone charger.”
“Do you need me to help you pack?” He offered. “I can take some stuff out to the SUV.”
“I only have the one bag. You can find the file, though, it’s here somewhere. I had it right before I left.”
“OK.” He walked around the desk.
I watched him for a second. Tom’s presence threw me. Even in the midst of all the tension I couldn’t think straight with him near me. My gaze kept wandering to his pale eyes, or resting on his strong shoulders as he moved around the room looking for the file. I flashed on the tentative kiss he’d given me just a few days ago. The one I’d been relieved Lilah interrupted. Something thrummed deep in my core. I shook my head.
Stop it. Your life is in danger and you’re daydreaming like a school girl.
“You OK?” Tom asked.
Ripped from my thoughts, I nodded quickly. “Uh, huh.”
Tom walked over and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a hug. I leaned my cheek to his chest.
“How are you holding up?” He rocked us from side to side gently.
Fear and anxiety pumped through me making my head ache. “This thing with the vandalism, the threats to Lilah after Dakota…” I trailed off.
“Is that all?” Tom asked quietly.
Stomach fluttering, I glanced up, his gorgeous eyes looking down at me with worry. “I’m glad you’re here. After hearing from Lilah, I wanted to talk to you, but I didn’t have a number. I called Ben and—”
I gasped. With all that happened, I’d nearly forgotten. I pushed back from Tom and slapped my forehead.
“I…I have to call Ben.”
Tom looked hurt. He tried to joke it away. “That’s not exactly what I wanted to hear, Ruby.”
I rummaged through the cluttered side table. Where was that charger?
“I told Ben about Lilah’s call and he said he’d come to the clinic tonight after talking to Detective Riley.” I looked up at Tom. “I have to leave a note or something.”
Tom held up the office phone. “You can call him.”
I shook my head. “No, his number is on my cell and its dead. I don’t know it by heart and the clinic phone doesn’t have his number. Oh, man. I forgot to tell him about Antonio’s visit to the hospital, too. Detective Riley should know that.”
Tom’s faced changed. Anger flashed behind his green eyes. He put his hand on mine, stopping me. “Antonio came to your work?”
I nodded. “He sa
id he was going to give me one more chance to cooperate, and then he threatened me…oh, Tom. He said he’d put a bullet—”
Tom grabbed me, his expression hard. “He threatened you directly, and you didn’t tell me?”
My face heated up, confusion making my heart ram painfully. “I was so thrown by you showing up here and staying, and then the fight with Ben happened and it flew out of my head.” I remembered Antonio’s face when he said he’d put a bullet in my brain. My hand went to the space between my eyes, and I felt the cold fingers of panic squeeze at my heart.
Tom put his arm out, blocking my way. “What did he say, exactly?”
“Uhm, he said that I was going to wish I had never been born, you know, standard evil guy threats.”
Tom looked at me, opened his mouth to say something, but then his attention snapped to the window. His face registered shock, his gaze whipped back to me, and I saw a peculiar orange glow in his eyes before he threw us to the ground.
An explosion overhead sent shards of glass and liquid raining through the kitchen window. I screamed and tried to get up, but Tom wrapped himself around me covering me with his body. Flames spread like a molten wave, crawling across the kitchen floor and counters in a flood of bright heat. Another crash and a bottle with a rag sticking out landed next to me, the end of the cloth on fire. Tom kicked it away and pulled me towards the back door. We got to our feet and he pushed me ahead of him, away from the fire. Heat seared my skin, making it tight, and all around us the waving blur of superheated air burned my eyes.
“Go, Ruby!” He coughed. “The back door!”
I stumbled along the back hall gagging, struggling for breath. Overhead, the black smoke roiled up the walls and billowed along the ceiling. I turned towards a flare of light in my office in time to see the Molotov cocktail crash through the window, smash into the opposite wall, and spew a sheet of liquid fire across my desk and files. The curtains went up with a whoosh. I kept running. Heart ramming in my chest, I reached for the back door and pulled. It wouldn’t budge.
Tom crashed into me, reached up to undo the lock, and together we yanked on the door. It finally gave and slammed backwards into the room, knocking us down. Overhead, something hit the wall where my head had been. Debris flew out from the wall, and I realized that someone opened fire on the back door. If we hadn’t fallen, we’d be dead.
Tom pulled me to him. We took cover by the side of the back door. Feet from freedom, the hail of bullets overhead trapped us in the burning building.
“We have to get out of here!” I screamed.
“Wait it out,” Tom said through clenched teeth. “Wait them out. We have time.”
His gaze flitted behind us to the room engulfed in fire, and he squeezed me tighter to his body.
Unable to open my mouth without screams ripping out, I clenched my eyes and wrapped my arms around Tom. The crackle and hiss of the building burning and breaking around us closed in, and I coughed and choked. More gunfire split the door jam, and then silence.
Tom peered out of the doorway. “They’re gone,” he said.
He wrapped his arm around my waist, and we ran bent over to the wet grass.
I collapsed on the soft earth and took deep, gasping breaths. Lights flashed to my right as emergency vehicles screeched to a stop in front of the building. Firefighters and paramedics ran towards the clinic shouting and pulling hoses.
Frightened, I thrashed around for Tom.
He gathered me in his arms and held me tight. His ragged breaths panted in my hair, the only sound he made. He wouldn’t let me go.
“We have to warn Ben,” I coughed. “He’s the only other one who knows about this. He might be next.”
Tom, shaking and soot covered, finally stood and nodded. He helped me up and wiped my face with his fingers.
“I’ll tell my boss to track Lilah’s phone call and pick her up.”
I walked with him across the lawn to the front of the house. The paramedics spotted us and ran over, covering us with oxygen masks and blankets. I pulled my mask off and tried to tell them about Ben, but they kept putting it back over my mouth. Neighbors gathered around us, and then I saw Ben. Surrounded by firemen, he strained against them, trying to get to the clinic door.
“Ben!” I yelled and collapsed into a coughing fit. “Ben, over here!”
He turned at my voice, broke from the firemen, and ran over to us. One look at Tom and me, and his hand went to his forehead, confused.
“I thought you were dead, Ruby,” he breathed, his face showing shocked worry. “I thought you were gone.”
Tom pulled his mask off and flashed Ben a brilliant smile made whiter by all the soot on his face. “I’m fine too, thanks.”
Ben looked at him and relief flooded his features as he laughed nervously. “Yeah,” he said. “What happened?”
****
The ambulance transported Tom and I to the hospital where a frantic Renee fussed over us and snapped orders at the young interns. Blaine came over to check us for burns and smoke inhalation. Wide-eyed, he looked more shaken than me.
“I’d prefer that you stay overnight,” Blaine said. “You could have some delayed edema.”
“I’m not going to be a patient, Blaine. I work here.”
Tom put his hands up in a, ‘see what I mean’ gesture and looked at Blaine. “She won’t stay.”
“I think I heard somewhere that doctors make the worst patients, anyway. Promise you’ll come back in if you notice any symptoms. I mean it, Ruby,” Blaine said.
“I promise.”
I slid off the ER gurney and then sat and pulled my shoes back on. I’d burnt through all the adrenaline in my body, and I didn’t want to crash in front of my boss and my…whatever Tom was.
“Excuse me,” I whispered. “I need to go to the bathroom.”
They nodded, and I rushed out of the room just as the tears started. I made it to the locker room and crumbled. Helplessness and anger surged through me. I slammed the locker shut, tears pouring out of me in deep heaves. Everything I owned, all that I had built—gone.
I wiped my face, saw my hands were covered with black smears, and went to the sink to wash off. I looked like a cartoon character after an explosion. My hair, sticky from soot and whatever else, stood on end. My clothes, now unrecognizable, hung from my body like dirty rags. I looked horrible.
Disgusted, I peeled off the ruined clothes and climbed in the shower. Dark water swirled at my feet for what seemed like an hour. I let the hot spray beat on my back, pounding out the sobs. Finally feeling clean, I got out and threw on some scrubs from the shelf. I combed my fingers through my wet hair and tied it in a ponytail. I stared at myself in the mirror until I heard Renee’s voice.
“You OK in there, honey?”
“Yeah, just trying to get all the soot off.” I hoped my puffy eyes didn’t look too horrible.
She pushed open the door to the shower area. “Aw, Ruby, you look terrible.”
I tried to hide the tremors in my hands. “I’ll be OK, Renee.”
“If you need anything…”
“I know, you’re really kind, but I’m fine.” I assured her.
She clucked her tongue, and then nodded out towards the hall. “There’s a really worried guy out here pounding a path in the floor outside the locker room.”
I wiped my nose with some wadded up toilet tissue. “Is he OK?”
“He looks like he’s about to jump out of his skin,” Renee said. “What do you want me to do?”
She was right about Tom. I had to pull it together or he would go out of his mind trying to make things right. The problem was: that wasn’t going to happen. The clinic, my foothold in the community, my home—all of it was gone. For good.
“Can you tell him I’ll be right out?”
She nodded and made to leave, but leaned back in with a piece of paper in her hand. “Oh, Officer Farrell asked me to give you this note. He stopped in the ER when you were in the shower, but said he had t
o leave. He said it was urgent.”
I took the note and she left. I opened it and read the words scrawled across the slip of paper. Unable to cry anymore, I closed my eyes and let the paper flutter to the floor.
We found Dakota’s body.
19
Dresden Heights Detention Center
Eleven Years Ago
On my sixteenth birthday, Tom snuck me out of Dresden Heights by stealing wire cutters from the maintenance guy and cutting a door into the chain link fence in the back of the school.
I ran with him across the field, breathless and full of excitement. We caught a bus to Seaport Village by the harbor and spent the day riding the carousel and eating junk food. We walked along the shore-side shops holding hands.
Towards evening, we passed a traveling carnival set up in a church parking lot. It was too much to resist. We headed over to play the booth games. Tom looked like a kid at a candy store. His jade eyes lit up with the lights and music streaming from the Ferris wheel.
“Wanna play the balloon darts game?” Tom asked.
I nodded, just happy to be with him. “Sure.”
Almost to the booth, something caught Tom’s attention, and we veered away from the games to a booth set up with magic supplies. A man with a shock of white hair and a black vest over a red shirt met us with a grin. He winked, showed us a piece of paper in his hand, and in a flash of brilliant spark made it disappear.
I gasped with delight. Tom chuckled as his gaze wandered the shelves filled with boxes and packages of magic trick supplies. He turned to the magician. “How did you do that?”
The magician pointed to a shelf. “It’s called flash paper. Wanna give it a try?”
He held out a piece to Tom, who took it in his fingers, fascinated.
“Let go as soon as I touch the match to it, OK?” The magician warned.
Tom nodded, and the magician lit it. The paper whooshed away in an instant. Tom’s smile lit up the night.
“Show us what else you got,” Tom said.
A half hour later, Tom and I stood in line at the Ferris wheel while he fiddled with a deck of cards the magician had given him for free.
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