Operation: Endgame

by Christi Snow

  Jake looked back at the screen. “Oh,” he glanced up at the corner where the score was conveniently displayed for him, “21-7. The Cowboys look like crap, as usual.”

  “Hmm.” He couldn’t fool her. He had no idea what the Cowboys looked like because he was just sitting there in front of the screen dwelling on something else. “Well, in that case, let’s go out in the backyard and enjoy this warm weather we are having. I need a break from paperwork.” She stretched her back like it was aching.

  One of the best things about living in West Texas was the temperate, mild winters they usually got to enjoy. Today the temperature was hovering in the upper 60’s. It was definitely nice enough to go out in just a sweater or light jacket. You learned to take advantage of these days because they tended to precede huge blizzards that moved across the plains with ferocious winds and blowing snow.

  They sat down at the bistro table on the back deck and Cassie looked at Jake. “So what’s up with you? Why are you all of a sudden so grumpy and moody?”

  Jake scowled at her. “I’m not grumpy and moody…just thinking.” He looked at her, wondering about how to proceed with this conversation. “It just occurred to me this afternoon I probably haven’t been the best friend and I’m not just talking about the last six months.” He shook his head. That wasn’t the direction he wanted to go with this conversation. He did not want to talk about what happened six months ago.

  Cassie started to speak, but Jake held up his hand to forestall her. “No, hang on. I’m just trying to organize my thoughts. I always assumed you already had two brothers and didn’t necessarily need another one getting into your business, but things have changed. Chris is gone, Colton is overseas, and you have a stalker. It occurs to me I don’t know who you’ve dated or been involved with. I don’t know anything about your love life and that could put you at risk right now if I’m missing a clue there somewhere.”

  Cassie looked at him disbelievingly. “Are you seriously sitting there and asking me for my sexual history? What kind of guys do you think I’ve dated? Do you think I’m such a bad judge of character that I wouldn’t realize there was a psychopath among them?”

  “Come on, Cass. That’s not what I’m saying at all, but one thing has become apparent in the few days I’ve been here. I don’t know who you’ve dated, but there doesn’t seem to be a lack of guys trying. I’m assuming you’ve dated some of them. I don’t need details and we don’t need to go into ancient history, but we do probably need to cover the last couple of years. You never know how a guy is going to fixate, especially after a break-up.”

  “Two years?” She looked at him closely.

  “Yes.”

  “Then that’s an easy list. War…and you.”

  “War…Penelope mentioned him the other day.”

  “Wait. What? When did you talk to Penelope about War?”

  “I was trying to figure out what was going on before I saw you. I talked to her and Derek on Friday afternoon before I saw you.”

  “Dammit, Jake, you had no right to go talk to my friends behind my back.”

  “Yes, I did. It’s not like you were calling me to tell me what was happening Cassie. I’ll do whatever I have to do to ensure you stay safe and happy.”

  “Is that why you abandoned me for the last six months?” Cassie’s eyes were flashing.

  “Low blow Cassie, but you know exactly why I haven’t stayed in touch for the last six months. I never should have slept with you.”

  She knew that was the way he felt after their night in May, but hearing him actually say it was like a physical blow to her stomach. The pain was excruciating and Cassie fought off the tears. Instead, Cassie gave a bitter laugh. “Yep, well we know we can cross you off the list. There’s no fixating in your case is there?” She had to get away from him before she lost it and he realized how much that night together meant to her. It had been everything to her, but it was something he regretted. The reality of that was staggering. Cassie stormed into the house.

  Dammit, that didn’t go well did it? Jake rubbed his hand over his face. How the hell did that conversation get so out of control so quickly?

  In the next moment, Jake heard the engine of Cassie’s motorcycle start up and he took off towards the garage in time to see her bright yellow GS peel out of the driveway. Goddamn it! He thought about going after her, but decided it might be better to just let her cool off. They both needed some time to cool off.

  Chapter 21

  Cassie revved her bike as she took the curves on the road out to Buffalo Springs Lake. How dare he act that way? She realized Jake regretted sleeping with her, but he had no right to make her feel so bad about it. Damn, damn, damn. She was not going to cry about this, besides crying and a motorcycle helmet did not mix well.

  Why had she let him get to her like this? Then she had to exacerbate the matter even more by storming off… so much for maintaining her cool with him. She never planned on letting him realize how much his distance since May hurt her. Yes, she may have turned to him for the wrong reasons, but she had NEVER regretted having sex with Jake…at least not until today. Damn, she was NOT going to cry!

  Suddenly, Cassie realized the van that had been following her was continuing to hug too close to the back of her bike. There was no reason for him to be that close. As it was, she was already speeding too much as she tried to work out her frustrations. A van should not be moving this fast around these curves. Her more maneuverable bike was definitely better suited, but she didn’t want to get stuck behind him. She sped up another 10 mph so she was going upwards of 75 mph over many of these 35 mph curves. The van stayed right on her back wheel and that started to scare her.

  At this time of night, there weren’t too many people out here. She started to slow down, but the van stayed right there with her. She could feel the heat from the van’s engine on the backs of her calves. Fuck this. This was ridiculous. Cassie sped back up and the van backed off. Cassie reverted back to her musings about Jake.

  She just didn’t understand how that night…

  A roaring engine, coming up fast behind her interrupted her thought. She glanced behind her and glimpsed that same white van was barreling at her fast. She tried to pull out of his way, but his bumper caught the back wheel of her motorcycle. Cassie felt the motorcycle swerve and flip out of her control and towards the ditch on the right shoulder of the road. She let go of the handle bars to separate herself from the hundreds of pounds of machinery flying through the air with her, hoping she could manage to avoid getting crushed by the motorcycle.

  Then her concern about the bike was no longer an issue as she saw the ground flying up to meet her. Cassie hit the ground first with her right shoulder and the side of her head and she continued to tumble over and over again. She really hoped the $500 price tag of this helmet lived up to its claims and her brains didn’t start oozing out everywhere. That was her last thought before blackness overtook her.

  Chapter 22

  Cassie had been gone for over two hours and Jake was starting to get worried. The phone rang and he rushed to answer it. The caller id said St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and Jake felt his stomach sink to his feet. “Hello.”

  “Hello, sir. This is Betty from St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. I’m calling for the family of Cassandra Robertson.”

  “Yes, I’m her family. Is she okay? What’s happened?”

  “Sir, she was in a motorcycle accident tonight and she’s in the ER. Can you come?”

  “Yes, yes. I’ll be right there. Is she okay?”

  “I’m sorry, sir. I’m not allowed to tell you any information over the phone.”

  “Yes, I’m coming right now. I’ll be there in five minutes.” Jake hung up the phone and gripped the edges of the counter trying to regain control of his panic. It wouldn’t do Cassie any good for him to get in a wreck on the way to the hospital. He took a deep breath, snagged his keys off the counter, and rushed out to his truck.

  When Jake arrived at the ER department
, he rushed up to the counter, frantically looking around trying to locate Cassie. He didn’t see her through any of the open doorways.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Yes, I got a call my wife Cassandra Robertson was here. Where is she?” He knew unless he could claim her as family they wouldn’t tell him anything. Claiming to be her husband seemed the best way to be able to see Cassie and find out what was happening.

  “She’s being evaluated right now. The doctor will be out to see you soon, Mr. Robertson.”

  “It’s actually Madsen, Jake Madsen. My wife kept her maiden name for work reasons. Can you at least tell me if she’s okay?”

  “I’m sorry, sir. The doctor will be out to see you soon.” The nurse looked at him with sympathy that didn’t make him feel any more secure about Cassie’s condition. “The waiting room is right around this corner. I’ll send the doctor out to talk to you as soon as he’s able.”

  Jake headed towards the waiting room, tried to sit down, but there was no way his nerves were going to allow him to sit still. He started pacing around on his crutches.

  It seemed like he’d been waiting forever when finally a doctor walked into the room. “Mr. Madsen?” At Jake’s nod, he continued on, “I’m Dr. Ian Spence. As you know, Ms. Robertson was in a motorcycle accident. She’s extremely lucky she was wearing a helmet or else we’d be having a very different conversation. From what I understand, she landed in a grassy ditch rather than sliding along the asphalt so that also contributes to the fact she doesn’t have many more serious injuries.” Jake was feeling sick with the thoughts of all the different possibilities, but the doctor continued. “Right now, the most serious of her injuries is a concussion. She also has a broken collar bone and multiple contusions, none of which are serious. What’s concerning me at this time is the concussion. We did a CT scan and it’s showing as clear right now. She lost consciousness after the accident and was confused and nauseous. Right now, she seems to be fairly lucid about what’s happened, but I would feel more comfortable keeping her here for observation for the next 24 hours.”

  “Can I see her?”

  “Of course. Right now she’s talking to a police officer, but as soon as he’s done with her, you can see her.”

  “What? A police officer? Is there more to this than just a simple accident?”

  “I honestly don’t know. You’ll have to talk to her about that. Let me show you where she is, so you’ll know when the police officer’s done. We’ll be moving her up to her room just as soon as we can get the paperwork processed.”

  The doctor led him to a room with the door shut. “She’s in here. You can go in as soon as the officer leaves.”

  “Thank you Doctor. I appreciate you taking care of her.”

  Jake leaned his back against the wall and tried to settle the adrenaline that was coursing through his system. The doctor said she was fine. She wasn’t dead and she wasn’t going to die. He was going to make sure of it, from now on.

  He heard a click of the handle and a police officer strode out of the room without even looking at his direction. Jake took a step towards the door, grasped the handle, and took a deep breath while he leaned his forehead on the door for a second before opening it with a gentle knock. “Knock, knock, I heard there was a gorgeous patient in here in need of some extra TLC.” Jake pushed his way into the room and the sight of Cassie looking so pale and fragile sent a chill through his system. Her flaming red hair was tumbled all over her pillow in complete disarray. She was pale, deathly pale, with dark shadows under her eyes. He could already see a dark purple bruise forming on the right side of her face and forehead. Her right arm was in a sling to hold her broken collar bone in place. She slowly turned her head and looked at him and he could see the glaze of pain in her eyes.

  “Jake?” Her voice was deep in pain and her eyes filled with unshed tears.

  He rushed over to her left side since the right had obviously taken the brunt of her impact with the ground and grasped her hand. “Shhh, it’s okay. The doctor says you’re going to be okay. You’re hard-headed enough that the ground isn’t going to win this battle.”

  She smiled gently at him, gaining control over her tears. “Only you would consider my hard-headedness a good thing.”

  “Darling, if it saves your brains from being splattered all over the road, I’ll take your hard-headedness any day of the week.” He gave the top of her head a gentle kiss. “You scared me, Cass. What the hell happened?”

  “I’m sorry Jake. I just wanted to clear my head. I was out riding by Buffalo Springs Lake and there was a white van following too close. I slowed down and then sped up. I thought he finally got the hint and dropped off. But then I heard someone coming up behind me fast. I caught a glimpse of the van before he clipped my back tire and I lost control of my bike.”

  “Son of a bitch! It was that bastard who’s stalking you, wasn’t it? Have you talked to Brian yet?” Jake started pacing around the small room like a caged lion.

  “No, the police officer said he’d call him, so I expect we’ll be seeing him soon.”

  Jake stopped moving all of a sudden as he remembered something. He cocked a boyish grin at Cassie. “By the way, if anyone asks, we’re married.”

  Cassie’s mouth dropped open. “Wow that was fast. I could’ve sworn we just had a fight because you hated sleeping with me. Now we’re married? I must have hit my head harder than I thought I did.”

  “Smart-ass! I just wanted to make sure they let me see you and a minor lie was the easiest way to claim you as family.” He looked at her closely, and then said quietly, “I never said I hated sleeping with you. It just never should have happened.”

  Cassie simply closed her eyes shutting him out. He saw a tear leak out of the corner of her closed eye, but then her breathing slowly regulated which told him she’d fallen asleep.

  Jake dropped down into the chair beside her bed. The adrenaline was finally started to recede out of his system and he was feeling the edges of the exhaustion left by the emotional upheaval of the evening. He watched Cassie as she slept, hating the sight of the bruise on the side of her face and forehead. He could have so easily lost her tonight. He grabbed her hand, needing to feel the warmth of it to reassure him she was safe.

  He didn’t know how long he sat that way, before a nurse came in carrying Cassie’s chart. She looked at Jake and told him, “We’re about to move her up to her room upstairs. I just need to check her vitals one more time. You’re welcome to stay while I do that.”

  “Thanks. Cass,” Jake nudged her shoulder to awaken her, “the nurse needs to check your vitals.” Cassie’s eyes fluttered open with confusion.

  The nurse nudged him aside so she could take a blood pressure measurement and listen to Cassie’s heart. She checked Cassie’s pupils, then asked her, “How’s your pain on a scale of one to ten?”

  Cassie shut her eyes, but said, “Is that scale considering I was just in a motorcycle accident or am I just supposed to pretend this is a normal day?” Cassie continued on, “Normal day-wise, this would rate a nine on the pain scale, but considering I was just flung through the air at 75 mph, I’m thinking it’s more like a six and I should just be thankful I’m feeling that pain.”

  The nurse nodded. “You have a good perspective on it. Unfortunately, because of the concussion, we can’t give you a whole lot of painkillers yet, but I can give you some ibuprofen if you think you can keep it down.”

  Cassie opened her eyes and gave a short nod. “If it will help, I’ll keep it down.”

  “Okay,” the nurse wrote down some things on her chart, and then said, “I’ll get that for you and then we’ll move you up to your room for the night.”

  “What?” Cassie looked up alarmed. “I can’t stay tonight. I have classes tomorrow and this is finals week. I can’t miss work.”

  The nurse started shaking her head at Cassie. “Sorry. Doctor’s orders. You have a concussion so we need to keep an eye on you for the next 24 hours.”r />
  “No, seriously, I can’t stay. Did I say my pain was a six? I totally meant two. Really, I’m just fine to go home. Jake, my husband,” she gestured wildly towards Jake, “will take care of me and make sure I don’t overdo.”

  The nurse put her hand on her hip and glared at Cassie, “And what will your husband do to diagnose an intracranial brain bleed?”

  Cassie was not giving up. “He’s an Air Force paramedic. He’s medically trained in trauma. He knows what to look for and I literally only live five minutes from here. Please, let me go home.” She could see she was making progress with the nurse. “I promise, I won’t even go to work tomorrow. Just let me go home so I can get the paperwork to my TA so my students don’t suffer. You don’t want a whole group of college kids to fail because I wasn’t able to get them their review info do you?”

  The nurse looked at Jake sternly. “Is she telling the truth? Do you know enough to spot a brain bleed?”

  Jake nodded. “Yes, ma’am, I’m trained for military trauma which a lot of times includes brain trauma and concussions.”

  “Okay. I’ll call your doctor, but you’re going to have to sign some paperwork saying you’re doing this against doctor’s orders. It’ll take a little bit to get all the paperwork in order.” The nurse looked at Jake again. “If you live as close as you say, you may want to run home and get her some more clothes. We had to cut the clothes off her that she arrived in.” The nurse left the room.

  Jake looked at Cassie who once again had closed her eyes. “Hey are you okay?”

  She nodded gently. “I just want to go home, okay? Do you mind going to get me some clothes?”

  “Of course not. I’ll be right back…fifteen minutes tops. Are you going to be okay while I’m gone?”

  “Yes, I’ll be fine. Thanks Jake.”

  “Let me just make sure they’re getting you ibuprofen before I go so it can start working for you.”