Red on the Run (The Syndicate-Born Trilogy Book 1)
Page 26
She thumbed through them and handed it back to him. He smelled like cigarettes and alcohol.
“You smell like him,” she said. “Maybe I should take up smoking.”
He reached inside the paper bag at his side. “How about some wedding cake instead?”
She took the cake and the plastic spoon. No knives or forks allowed. She poked at the cake and only took a few bites.
“I wish you would let him visit you. I think it would do you both some good.”
Ellie shook her head and pushed the cake away. “I can’t have him seeing me like this.”
“What, you don’t want him to know that the great and powerful Doc is really human, with failings of her own?” His tone dripped with bitterness and anguish.
I suppose that’s my fault. Fuck him and his heartbroken puppy dog face. He doesn’t understand me or my relationship with Alex. He never did. I just want to be alone. I can’t lose face with Alex. Not now.
“You can leave now.”
Christopher pushed off the table and stormed out.
She watched him walk away, knowing she should feel something, feel bad about how she treated him, but....
Fuck him.
Chapter 22
Moultrie Courthouse
Washington, D.C.
December 19, 2008
9:00 AM
~~~
Time passed by in a flash, as it always did when Alex was happy. Before he knew it, the time had come for Katherine to testify.
The sound of reporters and onlookers was deafening. Reporters shoved microphones into their faces and asked rude, leading questions. Some were related to the case, but others were personal and made his face flush with anger.
Their driver had let them out at the front of the courthouse, because the roads were a mess, and they had no choice. It made him extra vigilant, even with the added security Charles’ team provided.
As they walked up the steep steps to the courthouse, he held her by the elbow and whispered in her ear, “I love you. You’re doing the right thing. I’m so proud of you.”
He hoped his words would drown out the hateful things being shouted at her, words he tried to block out himself. When she paused on the steps, he squeezed her arm again. “You’re doing great.”
Her wide-eyed gaze caught his and he smiled for encouragement. “I know you’re scared, but you’ve got this.”
They started back up the steps, and a familiar face appeared at the top. The woman’s expression sent a chill down his spine.
As if in slow motion, she pulled her hand out of her trench coat, and the early morning light caught a piece of metal in her hand.
Gun!
The woman locked eyes on Katherine, her sister-in-law.
Alex shoved Katherine out of the way. The only sound he heard was the crack and whine of the gun going off.
The impact took him by surprise. He hadn’t anticipated getting shot himself, but as he fell back on the steps, he knew he would do it again in a heartbeat.
***
Knettle Creek Cabin
Millburo, Virginia
December 19, 2008
Noon
~~~
Jason decided to take some time off for the holiday to do some writing at his grandfather’s cabin. He was pulling up the gravel drive when his phone started to blow up with incoming messages.
He threw his truck into park, picked it up and thumbed open a text message from his Editor-in-Chief, Lisa Eddie.
Check your email!
Jason pulled up the new mail message she had sent.
~~~
To: Jknettle@DanvilleNews.com
From: Leddie@DanvilleNews.com
Subject: Special Agent Alex Bailey shot outside courthouse!
Date: December 19, 2008
---
Dear Jason,
This just came across the wire. I am going to lead with it in tonight’s paper. Leave it to the AP to refer to us as reporters. WTF!
---
FBI AGENT GUNNED DOWN OUTSIDE D.C. COURT HOUSE
---
Washington, D.C. (AP) FBI Special Agent Alexander Bailey was shot on the steps of the Moultrie Courthouse. D.C. police are reporting that the intended target was Special Agent Katherine Mitchel, his wife, who is pregnant with their first child. Police arrested Kimberly Anne Mitchel, wife of Senator Scott Mitchel, who is serving time for the shooting of two reporters. Special Agent Bailey is being treated at Providence Memorial Hospital and is said to be in critical condition. The Agents were at the courthouse to testify against Senator Mitchel, Katherine Mitchel’s twin brother and one of the key defendants in The Syndicate trial.
---
Call me!
Lisa Eddie
Editor-in-Chief
Danville News and Views
~~~
Jason threw his truck into reverse and headed back to the paper in Danville. It was going to be a long night to get the special issue out.
He tried to focus on the logistics of work, but all he could think about was Katherine. Besides the wedding, he hadn’t had time to see her, and he couldn’t bring himself to call her—not even now. Instead, he would chain himself to his desk with the rest of his staff, and polish off a bottle of scotch and a box of pizza. Somehow that would have to be enough.
He pulled into the parking lot of the paper and got another notification, this time from Charles.
I just heard about the shooting on the news. Have you heard anything? Is Katherine okay? Please let me know as soon as you hear anything.
Jason shot back a quick text.
Katherine’s okay. Alex was shot by Scott’s wife.
Charles responded almost immediately.
I’m hiring more men to watch over her and to set up a security system at her apartment.
Jason wanted to tell him that he couldn’t protect her from everything, but he knew it would fall on deaf ears.
***
Providence Memorial Hospital
Washington, D.C.
December 19, 2008
8:00 PM
~~~
Katherine sat at Alex’s bedside, holding his hand and watching the machines beep and click as they breathed for him. The doctors said they didn’t expect him to regain consciousness until at least tomorrow. He had spent six hours in surgery, a thoracotomy, to repair the damage.
One of the bullets had nicked his aortic valve. His beautiful heart had been damaged in order to save her life and that of their unborn child.
Tears streamed down her cheeks in an endless succession. Nurses had been sneaking her food and drinks from the maternity ward fridge, and the OB on call in the ER had checked on her and did an ultrasound to check on the baby. After having a bag of IV fluids, the mild contractions she was experiencing went away, and they left her to be with Alex.
As hard as she tried, she couldn’t help but replay the events of the morning over and over in her mind. They had been pushing past all of the reporters and onlookers trying to get inside the courthouse, where she would testify later that morning. He had been whispering loving and encouraging words in her ear to combat the throng of negative words and slander being slung at her.
He had pushed her out of the way, knocking her down two steps in the process. The familiar crack and whine of a discharged weapon shattered the air around her, and her tailbone had hit the hard cement with a thud.
Alex fell to the ground beside her, and blood had pooled between them—red, so much red.
Her security detail had said she passed out. She didn’t remember much after that point.
She was beyond exhausted now, but her body wouldn’t let her rest.
At some point her body must have finally given in, because she felt herself being shaken awake. She grumbled as she sat up.
Brian stood over her with a forlorn look. “Kat, honey, you need to get some real rest—not in a chair. Come on, the nurses have a bed you can use.”
She looked back to Alex, reluctant to mo
ve. If I leave his side, will he die? It was a stupid irrational fear that had plagued her all day.
“I’ll sit with him tonight.” Brian rubbed her shoulder.
“You’ll get me if anything changes?”
“I promise,” he said.
She struggled to stand up from the chair, still clutching Alex’s hand. She loathed letting him go, but she needed to get some rest. Alex would want her to take care of herself and the baby. She let herself be led away.
When she looked back, she let out a small sob at the sight of Brian holding her husband’s hand. The man had become something of a stand-in-father for him, and Katherine was grateful for him and Betty.
***
Providence Memorial Hospital
Washington, D.C.
December 20, 2008
7:00 AM
~~~
Katherine had been tossing and turning all night before finally falling asleep sometime around 4:00 AM. She was lost in a dream when someone shook her arm.
“Katherine, wake up!”
Brian. Oh no, Alex. Something is wrong with Alex!
She bolted up on the cot. “What is it? Is he okay?” Her heart raced, making the baby dance inside of her.
Brian smiled and nodded. “He’s awake and he’s asking for you.”
She pushed past him and dashed off in the direction of the ICU.
Alex lay in his bed awake and extubated. “Hi.”
Katherine choked back a sob. “Hi.” She sat down on the chair beside the bed and brought his hand to her lips.
He nodded towards her belly with deep concerned etched across his face. “Is the baby okay?”
“Yes, he’s fine.” She smiled down at the love of her life.
His eyebrow shot up in surprise. “He.... We’re having a boy?”
She nodded, wiping away the tears that fell freely down her cheeks. “Yes, they did an ultrasound. Last night when they told me we were having a boy, I thought that Bailey might be a good name for him.”
Alex blinked back the tears that had begun to well up. “Really?”
They made quite the pair, a couple of cry babies, she thought as she laid her head down on the pillow beside him. She let loose a shaky sigh. “I was so afraid you would never wake up.”
“I know. I’m sorry I scared you. When I saw the woman....” His voice faltered with emotion.
“Scott’s wife,” Katherine said, and a chill ran through her. She hadn’t quite processed the idea that her sister-in-law had tried to kill her. The police had captured her on the scene before she could take her own life.
“Yes, she had a gun pointed at you... and I....” The machines monitoring him beeped more incessantly, indicating his heart rate and blood pressure had elevated.
Katherine shushed him. “It’s okay. We’re okay. You saved us. Now we just have to work to make you all better. You still owe me a honeymoon.” She winked, trying to distract him.
“Hmm, I like that idea.” He smiled and started to slip back into sleep.
“Just rest. I’ll be right here.” She touched his face and hair.
Alex smiled lovingly up at his wife as he drifted off to sleep. His heart rate and blood pressure returned to normal.
Katherine looked up to see a nurse standing by.
Later that evening, he awoke again, this time more alert than the last. He even took a few bites of the bland dinner the hospital offered.
Katherine couldn’t stop touching him, as if trying to reassure herself that he was still alive. After he took his last bite of lime Jell-O, he put down his spoon and reached for the bump under her shirt. His calloused thumb and fingertips stroked the stretched skin of her stomach, and his whole face lit up with an awestruck smile.
She couldn’t help but return the smile, and a little of the tension in her started to dissipate. When she bent over him to kiss him, his monitors blipped for a second.
“What you do to me,” he said with a mock swoon, making her cheeks hot and red with embarrassment.
Alex turned the ring on her thumb over and over, his ring that the doctors said he couldn’t wear. “Didn’t we just meet?”
She chuckled. “I guess we kind of just did. We just fit a lot of life into a short amount of time.”
He beckoned her back to him for another kiss, but Katherine shook her head. “No way. I’m afraid I might kill you.”
He laughed heartily but winced from the pain of it.
Katherine’s chest seized at his obvious distress.
“Speaking of first meetings,” he said. “What did you think of me then? Be honest. I can take it.”
She laughed. “I thought you were incredibly sexy.”
“Sexy, huh?”
She rolled her eyes. “I also thought you were a lot of trouble.”
“And am I? Trouble?”
She smiled and patted his hand. “Oh yes, but only the best kind.”
His smile slipped away and he grew serious. “I fell in love with you that night at the bar. I didn’t want to admit it, even to myself, but I was gone from the moment I first laid eyes on you. You don’t know this, but I fought for this assignment. I wanted to be close to you from the very beginning.”
Katherine blushed under the weight of his gaze, and his words made a chill ripple through her. She took his hand and brought it up to her pursed lips.
“I love you, Katherine. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and no matter what happens next, I’m glad we had this time together.” His eyes brimmed with a reflecting pool of unshed tears.
Katherine’s eyes pooled. “Please, don’t talk that way.” He’s trying to prepare me for losing him. After everything she had already lost, she refused to lose him, too.
She ignored the looks the doctors gave each other when they talked about his prognosis. She chose instead only to hear their optimistic words.
That night he awoke with a fever and was delirious. The doctors assured her this was common and not to worry, but she noticed too that the nurses seemed more vigilant and somber in their efforts to care for him. She tried her best to comfort him during his moments of consciousness, but she saw the fear that lurked behind his eyes—a fear she shared with him.
The next day, the fever broke and he seemed to be out of the woods.
Still, she carried her worries around like a handbag. She couldn’t let go of the fear.
***
Despite the doctors being able to get his post-operative infection under control, Alex struggled to get better. When the doctor walked in with the test results they had been waiting on, Katherine’s stomach bottomed out.
“I’m sorry, but I have some bad news, Alex.” The doctor shifted his gaze between the two of them, finally settling on Alex. “The test results have come back, and it appears as though the infection you had following your surgery did some damage to your heart valve. It has progressed to pericarditis, which is an inflammation of the pericardium. Your heart’s mitral and aortic valves have been damaged.”
His words became jumbled in her mind as she grew hot with panic. All she heard was the roar of her breaths coming in and out in rapid succession.
Even though his hands fidgeted with the bed sheet, Alex otherwise seemed calm, as if he were discussing car repairs with a mechanic. “How serious is this?”
The doctor cleared his throat. “Alex, your heart is only functioning at twenty-five percent capacity. You’re going to need a new heart. The hospital’s transplant committee is meeting tonight to discuss putting you on the transplant list. The problem is that you’re a smoker. You have to be tobacco free for six months before they will give you a new heart. In the meantime, we’re going to do what we can to get you to that time marker. When you’re stronger, there are a few procedures to help you meet that goal.”
All other sounds in the room were drowned out by the sharp deafening ring in her ears as her blood pressure skyrocketed. She clutched hold of the arm rest on her chair as her field of vision stated to tunnel.
Alex looked at her, grabbed hold of her hand, and squeezed it in reassurance.
She smiled weakly back at him.
***
A week after he had been shot, Alex’s heart was still not functioning better than twenty-five percent despite the treatment and course of action the doctors had taken.
The stress of the incident and his poor prognosis had put a strain on Katherine and the pregnancy. After several hours of contractions, she got in to see her OB.
Alex stared up at the ceiling, willing his child to be okay.
“Knock, knock.” Chris stood in the doorframe. “Hey, man.”
Sheesh, he’s looking at me like I’m at death’s door. “Come on in, man. I’m not going to bite.”
His best friend walked inside and shed his heavy jacket.
“I just got back. I called your cell and your girl told me what happened.” Chris sat down and leaned against his knees.
Alex reached for the TV remote. “Want to watch a game with me?”
Chris leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Yeah, man, sure.”
The two men sat in near silence, only occasionally commenting on the players or a bad call by the ref. A sense of deep relief washed over Alex for the first time in a while. Aside from the whole hospital business, it was all very familiar and comfortable.
During a commercial break, he flipped to the news.
“The grand jury convened this morning on The Syndicate trial. A spokesman for Senator Mitchel reports that he is not guilty of the crimes he is being accused of. Today the jury heard testimony from Section Chief Richards of the FBI. We received word from a representative for the Attorney General’s Office that Special Agent Katherine Mitchel’s testimony has been rescheduled for January, though no date has been announced.”
Alex grumbled under his breath as he flipped it back to the game. After a few minutes had passed, he finally broke the silence that had settled in between them. “You haven’t talked about her.”
Chris sighed. “Yeah, well, I’m a little pissed off with her right now. Fuck her. What about you? This heart thing serious?”
Alex shrugged. “Serious as a heart attack.”
His friend was not amused. Apparently dying wasn’t a joking matter.