by Dale Mayer
Just then both Ice and Stone’s phones went off. They looked at the number. Ice said, “That’s Levi. Surgery is over.”
But they were talking to the air. She’d already bolted to her feet and raced back to Flynn.
*
More voices. More voices. And yet more voices. Screaming, yelling, then quiet conversation. Between some kind of a mechanical scream in a weird tone, he couldn’t quite make out what was being said. But once the machinery stopped, he heard the doctor say, “He’s back.”
Flynn wondered who’d gone and come back, and why anybody gave a shit. It was so hard to sort out the noises. But at least the pain was better. His chest didn’t feel like it was closing in on him. He still couldn’t move—a sense of being paralyzed. And he couldn’t think of anything worse. It wasn’t how he wanted to live his life. He tried to yell, “Help!”
But nobody answered.
“Hello.”
He could hear the word in his mind, but he knew his lips weren’t moving. He didn’t think they could. He tried to open his eyes, turn his head. Nothing worked. The struggle was too much. The cotton batting around him closed in on him. But at least those long fingers of death weren’t dragging him under. He wanted to roll over onto his side, but again he couldn’t. He gave up the effort and let himself succumb to the clouds, willing them to carry him away.
Chapter 20
Anna burst into the waiting room to see Levi and the doctor’s heads bent together. They both looked up at her as she made a mad dash into the room. Levi reached out to slow her pace. “He’s alive. Take it easy. He’s alive.”
All the color washed out of her face as relief made her sway on her feet. She stared at the doctor, searching, looking for reassurance. “Will he be okay?”
“He’s not out of hot water yet. He has a long road to recovery, but his prognosis is a whole lot better than it was. The bullet went into the chest cavity, nicked the heart at the top and went through, lodging into a rib in his back. We got the bullet out, and he’s been stitched up. He’s lost a lot of blood, and we had to give him several units.” He sighed. “We lost him on the table.”
“Lost him?” At that she gripped Levi’s hands.
“His heart stopped while we were working on him. But we brought him back. He’ll be just fine.”
“Hold on to that thought,” Levi told her.
She glanced toward the door. “When can I see him?”
The doctor shook his head. “Not until I get him settled in ICU. The next twenty-four hours are critical.”
She nodded, biting her lower lip. Tears once again formed in her eyes. “Thank you so much for saving him.”
He reached out and patted her shoulder. “He’s a fighter. Everybody deserves a chance to live, but when they fight, it makes our job so much easier.” With a quiet smile he turned and walked off.
Anna walked to the bench against the wall and collapsed. “Oh, thank God,” she whispered.
She didn’t know what to do. All she could think about was that he’d survived the surgery and his chances were good. “We have to catch Brendan. Make sure he can never try this again.”
“We will,” Levi said. “Brendan’s luck has run out.”
She turned to study him. “Unless you know something I don’t, I don’t see how you can be so sure. That guy has been getting away with murder. Literally.” She turned to study the double doors marked Surgery where Flynn still was. “Any way we can set a trap for him? Do you think he would go after Flynn again?”
Levi looked at her. “He might. He’s gone through a lot of trouble already. What are you thinking?”
“Tell his brother how Brendan missed his mark, that Flynn will be home soon. There was some metal in his pocket, and the bullet was deflected. Brendan wasn’t there long enough to see the blood that was everywhere. So he can’t possibly know how good a shot he actually made. And then set up at my house and wait for him.”
“You’re assuming his brother will tell him.”
“I’m assuming his brother has already gone overboard trying to protect him, and at some point the two will talk over the next few days.” She shrugged. “Maybe even to just reassure Brendan he’s not up for murder charges.”
The others in the room looked at each other.
“That might work. But that’s leaving a lot open to chance.”
“Chance is all we have. He’s made several attempts at my house. If he thought he’d missed, this time he might be so frustrated and enraged he would come back for one final move to kill Flynn for sure.”
“She’s right,” Stone said. “Brendan’s always been a bit of a wild card. But I’m not sure about his brother. He’s a good guy. If he understands how out-of-control Brendan is right now, and the fact that he just shot Flynn in cold blood, I don’t think he would protect him. I think he would help us catch Brendan before he hurts anybody else.”
Just then the double doors opened, and Flynn was wheeled out. Anna dashed to his side, her hand over her mouth. He was unconscious, pure white, covered in tubes and blankets.
She turned to the others and said, “Set it up. I’ll play my part. I don’t want this to happen to anybody else ever again. I’m going in ICU with Flynn.”
The nurse shook her head and said, “Only family can be in ICU.”
Anna said, “I’m the only family he’s got.” She shot a hard glance at the three other medical personnel in scrubs, daring them to argue. Not one of them did. They smiled and gave her a nod.
In a low voice Ice called out, “Welcome to the family.”
Anna grinned. It felt good to belong.
Following the nurses and orderly, she waited until Flynn was moved into recovery. Then she grabbed the visitor’s chair and settled in for a long wait. She wasn’t leaving his side. Not again.
*
Flynn opened his eyes and slammed them shut again. The light was so bright it hurt. He lay motionless for several long moments, then tried again. He opened them just enough so he could see he was in a room. Likely a hospital room from all the white around him.
Rolling his head to the side, he saw the IV line and machinery all around. Sure enough he was in a hospital bed. He remembered vaguely what happened. But it was disjointed and jumbled in his head. Until the name Brendan whispered through his mind. With a flash he was back in the living room, staring at Brendan as he raised a gun and fired. Flynn remembered the crushing pain as his body fell to the floor.
That answered how he got here. Moving carefully, he rolled his head to the other side and smiled. Curled up in the corner of the visitor’s chair, feet tucked under her, her head resting on the back of the chair, was a sleeping Anna.
No wonder he’d survived. He had had his own guardian angel watching over him. He studied her pale skin and the bags under her eyes, realizing she’d probably been here since he’d been shot. She’d been sleeping upstairs at the time. He was just damn glad Brendan hadn’t gone up and shot her too. He saw a fresh bandage on her arm. He hadn’t been out so long that her arm had healed. That was good. A couple days he could deal with. He just didn’t want to be coming out from weeks in a coma. Apparently that played havoc with the muscles.
Suddenly, as if realizing he was staring at her, her eyes flew open. She gazed at him for a long moment in disbelief, then bounded to her feet.
“Oh, my God. You’re awake.”
He smiled. “I am.”
She reached down and gently picked up his hand. She brought it to her lips and kissed it. “I was so worried.”
“I remember Brendan shooting me,” he admitted. “What happened after that, I have no idea.”
“I’ll fill you in.” And she did briefly. It was enough for him to get an idea.
“How long have I been out?”
“Your surgery was yesterday morning. You’ve surfaced and gone under a couple times but not really conscious.”
“I suppose you’ve been sitting here, waiting all this time?”
She smiled. I
n a teasing voice she asked, “Are you telling me, if it was me in this hospital bed, you wouldn’t be standing where I am?”
He squeezed her hand. “You know I would.”
She glanced around and winced. “I did have to lie.”
“Lie?”
“Yes. Only family is allowed in ICU.”
And then he understood. His heart warmed, and his smile turned teasing. “Well, in truth that was just jumping the gun a little bit.”
She sat down at the side of the bed and eyed him carefully. He stretched up a long finger and placed it across her lips. Immediately she kissed it. “You will be part of the family,” he told her. “No way am I letting my guardian angel slip through my fingers.” He watched the moisture well up in her eyes.
The door opened, letting in a nurse who scolded Anna. “You were supposed to let us know immediately when he woke up.”
Anna jumped back and dropped his hand. “I’m so sorry. He just woke up though.”
The nurse bustled around, brushing Anna out of the way. Flynn lay quietly as she ran him through a series of tests and questions. She then turned to Anna and said, “The doctor’s on the way. When he comes, you’ll need to step out.”
Flynn watched as Anna collected her sweater, purse, several notepads, and a laptop. It looked like she’d planned to be here for a while. Just as she was about to exit, he called, “I love you, Anna.”
She turned and gave him a special smile that made his heart warm.
The nurse stepped in between the two of them, and he never got to hear or see her reaction. Then the door was closed. It opened almost immediately as the doctor stepped in.
And his focus turned to the other people who’d saved his life.
Chapter 21
When Anna was finally allowed back into Flynn’s room, he was ready to nod off again. They’d given him a sedative after changing the tubes and cleaning his wound. And he was in a great deal of pain, the nurse explained. While Anna had been outside waiting, she’d informed everybody Flynn was awake.
She sat back down in the visitor’s chair, and Levi texted her.
Neil, Brendan’s brother, has agreed to help. The word has already gone out to Brendan that Flynn wasn’t badly hurt and is going home this afternoon.
She texted back:
Good. Do you want me to go home?
No. We’ll handle this.
Perfect. She didn’t want to leave Flynn, but if she must to keep him safe, then that was what she’d do.
Just make sure it works. I want to know that asshole can’t get at us again.
Keep us updated on Flynn’s condition. We’ll let you know how it goes.
She put down her phone, curled up in the chair and closed her eyes. Now that Flynn had woken up, recognized her, and seemed to be improving, she could finally relax. Especially with Levi setting up a plan to take out Brendan. She wouldn’t really be able to truly rest until he was, but everybody was doing their part, and she really appreciated that. She hadn’t gotten any sleep last night, just drifted in and out. Every time she heard a sound, she woke up, thinking Flynn needed something. But now she yawned deeply, used her hand to cushion her cheek a little and drifted off to sleep.
She woke up a little bit later, seeing one of the doctors walking back into the room. She could expect a lot of that now. They would assess when to move him from ICU over to the main hospital. She hoped it wasn’t too fast. She knew how quickly his condition could downgrade. She didn’t want that for Flynn.
She closed her eyes again and then it hit her. She opened her eyes slowly to see the doctor walking to the IV line. He had a needle in his hand, about to inject something into Flynn’s IV bag.
“What are you doing?”
The man turned to her, and she recognized him. Brendan.
“You.” She bolted off the chair, racing toward him with her nails ready to scratch the hell out of him. She had no weapon, and he was a pro, but no way in hell was he getting close to Flynn.
She threw herself at him, sending him off balance, but still on his feet, knocking the needle from his hand. It skittered across the floor, and she was on him like a leech. He tried to drag her off, but she clung to him, dug her nails in his back and bit him hard in the neck, her teeth connecting with the soft tissue and going as deep as she could dig them in.
He roared in pain. She could feel his blood gush into her mouth, but she hung on. He tripped and fell to his knees, but she wouldn’t let go. Suddenly she was wrenched off and flung clear. And then he was atop her, both on the floor now.
“You stupid bitch.”
He hit her hard in the face.
Pain slammed into her. She knew she’d lost the one chance of attack she had available to her. She reached for anything that could be used as a weapon. And her hand closed over the needle he’d dropped.
He struggled to his knees, his hand over the wound on his neck.
She sat up and stabbed him in the neck with the needle and plunged deep, shoving its contents into his body.
“No,” he cried out. “You can’t do that. He has to pay for what he did to me. He got me kicked out. Ruined my life.”
“No,” she yelled. “It wasn’t him.”
She hopped to her feet and backed away. “You did that all on your own.” And she saw the truth slowly dawn even as his eyes started to glaze over.
She turned, opening the door between her and the nurses’ station, screaming, “Help, please, help. He tried to murder the patient.”
Several people ran toward her. With relief she saw one of them was a security guard. She turned to glance back at Brendan, but he was flat on the floor, his body jerking spasmodically.
“What happened to him?” the nurse asked.
Anna pointed at the needle in his neck. “He tried to inject that into Flynn’s IV line. But I shoved it into him instead.”
“You know for sure he was trying to kill him?” a different nurse asked.
Anna turned to face the security guard now on the scene. “He’s the one who shot Flynn in the first place. He also shot me.” She motioned at her arm. “I know for sure he killed another man too.”
The security guard checked on Brendan, his weapon out and ready. But just as suddenly, Brendan stopped jerking. One of the nurses approached carefully, bent down and checked for a pulse. She looked up at Anna and said, “He’s dead.”
From the bed came a weak voice. “Good. And I concur with what Anna said. That’s Brendan McAllister. He’s the one who shot me.”
The nurse straightened and said, “Well, he won’t be shooting anybody else ever again.”
Anna raced to Flynn’s bedside and gently flung herself over him. She sobbed uncontrollably now.
Flynn wrapped an arm around her and held her close. “Easy, baby. Easy. You did good.” He glanced at the other people in the room, then forgot all about them as he focused solely on Anna.
She sobbed even more. “Oh, my God. I couldn’t believe it was him. Levi and the others are setting a trap right now at my house.”
Flynn smiled. He reached up and wiped away the tears from her eyes. “That was always Brendan. Never doing the expected.”
She stared at Flynn, then sat down heavily. “I killed him. Dear God. I killed a man.”
Flynn nodded. “I’m so sorry you had to do that, honey.”
She stared at him for a moment and then said defiantly, “I’m not. He was trying to kill you. For that, I would kill him all over again.”
He gently stroked her lips and whispered, “So feisty. I like that.”
She smiled down at him. “I love you. I never got a chance to say that before.”
His hand slipped behind her neck, and he tugged her downward. When her lips were just above his, he whispered, “And I love you too.”
She kissed him. Not hard, but with a sweetness that defined the moment in a way she had never expected.
When she lifted her head again, he said, “I believe I mentioned a position that might be of
interest to you earlier.”
She frowned, her eyebrows coming together as she studied his face to see a tiny smile playing at the corner of his mouth. “What position was that?” she whispered.
He tugged her gently forward until her head was just above his again. “The position of my wife.”
She gasped in joy. “Do you mean it?”
He smiled. “Remember that part about not letting my guardian angel go?”
“You want to marry me because I saved your life, right?” she asked cautiously. “You’d be taking on the animals, the shelter, and me.”
He chuckled. “Honey, I have a lot of reasons why I want to marry you. That just happens to be icing on top. I want to marry you because I want to wake up to you every morning. I want to see you first thing when I open my eyes and know my days will turn out perfectly because you’re there with me.”
She sniffled back more tears. “That’s a beautiful thing to say.”
“And yet you have not answered.” His eyes lost some of the teasing.
“The answer is yes,” she said softly. “There was never any doubt in my mind you were the one for me. I just didn’t have an excuse to come back and see you again. But I was desperate to find one.”
“Not to worry. I would’ve been there that same day if you hadn’t come racing into the compound instead.”
They smiled at each other in joy.
“Ice already welcomed me to the family,” he said quietly, then chuckled. “She’s very astute.”
“She welcomed me to the family, here in the hospital,” Anna said. “She’s also a little scary.”
“Agreed. But she’s all heart.”
“And you’re mine. Truly you’re my hero. And the hero for my animals.” Anna smirked. “I think that makes you my Hero for the Homeless.”
“Better not let Levi hear that,” he warned. “Although Ice will love it.”
With a misty smile, she whispered, “I didn’t think I’d survive when I realized how badly hurt you were.”
“I’m tough,” he said. “Besides, I had the best thing in the world to live for.”