Unbridled

by Diana Palmer

  “The crime lab identified the drug that was used on her,” John said. “They’ll find a way to counteract it. She won’t die.” He hoped, he prayed, that he was right.

  Tonio drew in a deep breath. He felt hopeful again. He turned, and then he frowned. “Dad, why are you in here?” he asked. “Is it because you’re working the case?”

  “Partially.”

  “Partially?”

  John went to the bed and sat down beside it, holding Sunny’s limp hand in his. “But mostly, because I’m in love with her, Tonio,” he said quietly.

  Tonio’s face broke into a huge smile. “With Sunny?” he exclaimed.

  John saw the boy’s expression and registered it with surprise. “Yes.”

  “I wanted so much to introduce you to her,” Tonio confessed. “I thought, if you knew her like I did, you’d love her like I did. Well, sort of like I did. She’s like Mom,” he added huskily.

  “She’s very like your mother,” John agreed. “She was the woman I wanted to bring home, to introduce to you.”

  “I love Sunny,” Tonio said. “And I’m sorry. I can’t think of anybody I’d rather have as my mother. I mean, if you were thinking you might want to marry her,” he blurted out.

  “I want to marry her, all right,” he said. He grimaced. “If she’ll have me. I got jealous because she went dancing with Hollister. I said some mean things to her. I broke up with her.” His eyes closed. “I was afraid you’d run away again. I love Sunny very much, but I love you more.” He didn’t look at the boy as he said it. “I couldn’t bear to lose either one of you.”

  Tonio felt as if he owned the whole world. “Thanks, Dad,” he said very gently. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a pain. I’m going to straighten up. Honest I am. You have to make up with her,” he added.

  John forced a smile. “I’m going to work very hard at that, when she gets better.”

  “She will get better. Won’t she?” the boy asked worriedly.

  “She has to,” John replied.

  * * *

  It took a long time to bring Sunny out of the drug-induced unconsciousness. She was groggy and barely lucid when they revived her. By then, Tonio had been run out of the room and was on his way back to the ranch with Rosa. He’d made John promise to tell Sunny he’d been there with her.

  But Sunny wouldn’t speak to John. The detective working her case, from SAPD, came in to speak with her. She was polite to him. She ignored John. The emotional wounds he’d given her weren’t so easily treated.

  She was frightened about the baby, but they’d done labs to make sure the fetus wasn’t harmed. She’d been lucky. Fortunately, nobody had mentioned the baby to John. She’d asked.

  John didn’t want to give up on Sunny, but she wouldn’t talk to him and he had to go back to work. He gave heartfelt gratitude to the doctor who’d worked on her. At least she was going to live, even if she hated him.

  He called the ranch and had one of his men come up and stay in the waiting room, to make sure Rado didn’t try to get to her again and finish what he’d started.

  But in fact, Rado was running. His high-level DEA contact was now in custody facing multiple charges, and two members of Rado’s gang had been picked up. One of them was considering giving state’s evidence, because he’d been with Rado in Sunny’s apartment. He didn’t want to go to prison, so Hollister had a man working on him with promises of a lighter sentence. John also was fairly certain that the Lopez brother and sister were with the US Marshals and likely to testify against Rado as well. If they did, it might even mean the end of the gang, with so many members of it facing attempted murder charges. Only one gang, but a vicious one. It would be good to see it ended.

  Beyond that, John could only think of Sunny. He was glad that she would live, but she wouldn’t talk to him. He heard from Rosa, who knew Merrie York, that Sunny had no memory whatsoever of anything that happened after she walked into her apartment. She couldn’t testify to her assailants because her memory of the incident was wiped clean. That was, John had been told by her doctor, one of the side effects of the drug. She’d been very lucky. If she hadn’t been found in time, she’d likely have died.

  * * *

  Sunny was back at work two days later. Tonio had brought her another yellow rose in a small vase. He hugged her and hugged her.

  “Did they tell you I was there?” he asked. “Miss York went with me and got the supervisor to let me into the room with you. I was so scared!”

  She hugged him back, tears running down her cheeks. She was very emotional these days, with the changes in her body that the baby was making. “Merrie told me,” she said, laying her cheek on his dark, cool hair. “Thanks for caring so much.” Her voice broke.

  He hugged her harder. “Dad’s got somebody watching you,” he said.

  She pulled away. “Your father has? Why?” she asked. She didn’t even know his father.

  “Because Rado’s still on the loose,” he said. “It’s a man who works for Eb Scott. Dad borrowed him to watch you and me. I’m safe with Rosa; she’s got a gun and she knows how to shoot. She was a policewoman before she took the job in the office here,” he added proudly. “She isn’t scared of anything. Like you,” he added with a shy smile.

  “Well!” she said. “That’s very nice of your dad.”

  “He’s not so bad,” he said, smiling. “He was proud of me, for telling on Rado.”

  “So was I,” she replied, returning the smile. “You’re the bravest young man I’ve ever known.”

  “Sunny. I’m the only young man you know,” he teased.

  She laughed. “Not true. I have patients your age on my ward. Speaking of which,” she added, checking her watch and grimacing, “I have to go on duty. I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for this.” She held up the rose. “It was really sweet of you.”

  “You’re very welcome. See you tomorrow.”

  He watched her go with soft, affectionate eyes. Maybe knowing his dad cared enough to have her watched would help heal the breach between them.

  He didn’t know, of course, that Sunny had no idea who his father really was, because Tonio hadn’t been in the room when she regained consciousness, and she hadn’t let John speak to her. She wasn’t about to walk into that trap again. He was only playing. He’d said so.

  He’d been so angry when she’d gone out with Hollister. She was still steamed that he hadn’t even given her a chance to defend herself. But what would it matter? He only wanted a good time. She wasn’t in any shape to be a man’s midnight snack, in her present condition. And she had plans to make because of that.

  It would be a wrench to leave Tonio, but she had to get out of San Antonio before she started showing. John was in and out of the children’s hospital on cases, and it was inevitable that eventually he’d see her. She didn’t want pity from him, or worse, have to refuse a termination if he decided he didn’t want a child. He’d told her he had a son, but she didn’t really believe it. He just wanted a reason to drop her. It was an emotional blow like nothing she’d ever known. But she’d get through it. Just as she’d gotten through a murder attempt.

  To her credit, nobody believed she’d tried to commit suicide. Hollister called to check on her and told her how John had rushed out of his office to see about her and found her in her apartment. She probably owed John her life. He’d been very jealous of the captain of detectives, Hollister had added with some amusement.

  She’d replied that it was more complicated than that, although she was grateful to him for saving her life. What were they going to do about Rado? she added.

  “We’re working on that,” he assured her. “He’s on the defensive now. He’s running for his life. I have Father Eduardo watching out for him in his territory. Los Serpientes is giving him a bit of help. He’s best friends with the leader of the gang in Houston, and also with the leader here.”


  “With a gang leader?” she exclaimed.

  “He isn’t your typical gang leader,” Hollister chuckled. “Serpientes are keen on children and senior citizens. They’ve been known to ‘adopt’ such people and protect them from other gangs. It’s a sad fact of life that many families have no choice but to live in gang territory because they don’t have enough money for a less poverty-stricken area of town.”

  “That’s really something,” she said. “I didn’t know gangs ever did anything except steal and kill.”

  “Most of them do. There are notable exceptions.”

  “What about Tonio’s friend?” she asked suddenly. “David?”

  “He’s safe,” Hollister replied. “That’s all I can say. I’m more worried about you, with Rado running loose.”

  “This is really strange. I told you about Tonio’s dad, the absent father who never pays attention to his son, remember? Well, he’s having Tonio watched because of Rado. He’s also having me watched, for my own protection, and I’ve never met the man!”

  Hollister laughed. “At least he seems to be taking an interest in his son,” he agreed. “I don’t even know Tonio’s last name.”

  “Neither do I. I never asked. He’s a really good kid,” she added softly. “He brings me roses.”

  “Nice manners.”

  She grinned to herself. “He says I’m like his late mother. Poor woman, to live with a man like Tonio’s dad, who’s too busy working to pay him any attention. Well, except now, when he’s in danger. I guess it shows that he does care about the child.”

  “Apparently. You watch your back. I told you about the three suspects running from your apartment after you were drugged. One of them has been positively identified as Rado.”

  “I don’t understand why I don’t remember any of it,” she said. “The doctor says the drug wipes your mind clean.” She shook her head. “Imagine anybody using something like that deliberately. I’ve never even smoked a marijuana cigarette!”

  “Good on you,” he said, a smile in his voice. “You know, Ruiz went out my door like a twister when I said you were in danger.”

  She bit her lower lip. “He yelled at me,” she said miserably. “He said he was only playing, that he never meant anything he said to me.” She sighed. “He said a lot of things, all of them hurtful.”

  “Men go a little crazy when they get jealous of another man,” he said gently. “Sometimes they lie, to save their pride.”

  She was certain that John didn’t. He wasn’t the type. “I think he meant every word of it,” she said quietly. “He’s gorgeous, you know? He could have any beautiful woman he wanted. Why would he want somebody as plain as me?”

  “Sunny,” he chided gently, “don’t sell yourself short. You’re not plain.”

  “Thanks,” she replied, and forced a laugh. “I really did need that.”

  “You watch your back, until we pick up Rado,” he said. “He’s going up for capital murder if we can connect him to Melinda McCarthy’s murder, and I think we can. We’ve got some of his people pleading to turn state’s evidence in return for lessened sentences, and we’ve traced the drug he used on you to a pharmaceutical company that had dealings with the rogue DEA agent they just picked up. Things are happening at a pretty fast rate. Rado has nothing to lose now.”

  “I’ll be careful,” she promised. “Thanks for the information.”

  “You’re welcome. Tell your young friend I’d be very proud to have a son like him,” he added. “My wife was sterile. We never had a child.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” she said, recalling that his wife had died some years ago.

  “It wasn’t that sort of marriage,” he said curtly. “I’d just come home from overseas and I was loaded. She loved the money. That’s all she wanted from me.”

  “That must have been a painful thing to live with.”

  “Painful,” he agreed. He drew in a breath. “But I had ulterior motives, too. I married her to get even with a woman who loved me.” He bit off the words, as if they were almost painful. “More fool me. You never know people from a distance.”

  “So they say.” She hesitated. “Cal, I may move to Houston,” she said. “You don’t think Rado would follow me there, do you? Or have somebody try to get to me?”

  He hesitated. “Listen, if he knows the effects of the drug, and I’m sure he does, he’ll know that you have nothing on him. You’d only be able to testify that he threatened Tonio. He’ll be more concerned with any of his gang that might sell him out. We’ve almost surely got him for Melinda McCarthy’s murder. The drug alone would convict him if we can get his DEA contact to sell him out. And I think we can. We can link him to a supply of it and his gang members we arrested will link him to the actual murder. He’ll go up for capital murder. Death penalty stuff,” he added solemnly.

  “Somebody else will just take over the gang,” she said sadly.

  “I don’t really think so. We’ve got too many of them facing stiff prison sentences. The only ones left are juvies, and we’re going to get Father Eduardo involved with them. With any luck at all, we may be able to turn them.”

  “That would be nice, that something good could come out of all this.”

  “I believe it will. But just in case, keep your eyes open. Tonio’s really in more danger than you are, because he knows more and he’s told it to the law. That puts him on the firing line.”

  “His dad’s having him watched,” she reminded him.

  “Yes, but by whom? If it’s just a fellow businessman, he won’t have much protection.”

  “Could you have someone keep an eye on him?” she asked.

  “I don’t have the people,” he said apologetically. “We’re stretched to the limit already. But I can talk to Father Eduardo. I suspect that he’d know someone.”

  “One of the Serpientes,” she mused.

  “They’re really not so bad,” he replied. “In fact, I was much worse, some years ago,” he added flatly. “So don’t sell them short. They’re all human beings. They have families that they love and they protect the helpless.”

  “Maybe they can change my mind,” she said, smiling. “It’s just that I see so many children come in here, victims of gang violence.”

  “I see it, too. One day, we’ll wear them down in court.”

  “I hope so. Thanks for everything.”

  “Why do you want to move to Houston?” he asked suddenly.

  Her heart jumped. She couldn’t tell him the truth. “I just want a change,” she said.

  “Ruiz,” he guessed.

  Her indrawn breath gave her away.

  “Pain is portable, Sunny,” he said wisely. “And I’d know. Just FYI.”

  “I’ll consider that. Talk to you soon.”

  “Sure.”

  * * *

  She told Tonio the next day about what Hollister had said.

  “Your dad may have somebody good,” she said, not wanting to hurt his feelings, “but Hollister says that a priest he knows can have somebody protect you.”

  “Really?” he asked. “Who?”

  She hesitated.

  He cocked his head and pursed his lips. “Sunny?” he prodded.

  She shifted. “He’s best friends with the leader of the Serpientes...”

  “That gang.” He smiled. “David’s grandmother lives in their territory. She got mugged. They hunted down the guy that did it, got her money back, tied him up and called the police. The cops found him sitting on a street corner, tied to a telephone pole with a note on him telling what he’d done.” He laughed.

  She laughed, too. “Well!”

  “So they’re not so bad. But this guy dad’s got, he’s pretty good.”

  “If you say so. I just think the more people watching, the safer you’ll be,” she added gently. “But it
’s nice, that your father cares that you’re in danger.”

  “He said he’d let his job obsess him. He never turns off his cell phone. He gets called all hours when there’s trouble.” He sighed. “But he really cares about me. Things have been different since you got hurt.”

  Her eyebrows lifted. “How so?”

  He frowned. “You don’t know who my dad is?”

  “Listen—”

  The intercom blasted away, calling for Sunny.

  “Gosh, I have to run,” she said. “That’s my case they’re referring to,” she added, indicating the intercom. “I hope my little patient hasn’t gone into cardiac arrest again. He’s just out of open heart surgery. I have to run!”

  “See you tomorrow,” he called after her.

  She threw up a hand and kept going.

  * * *

  “Sunny said what?” John asked Tonio at the supper table, smiling.

  “She said a priest that Hollister knows was going to have one of the Serpientes watch me, too,” he replied, chuckling. “She thinks you’re an overworked businessman who doesn’t know how to hire protection.”

  He sighed. “Well, she doesn’t know I’m your father, either, right?”

  “I started to tell her, but she was called to the ward on an urgent case,” he said. He grinned at his father. “She really cares about me.”

  “I really care about you, too,” his father said, and smiled.

  Tonio smiled back. It was nice, this new relationship he had with his dad. “She said that I was in more danger than she was, because Rado said things I could testify to in court,” he added.

  “That’s very likely true,” John said, picking at his food. “But he’s facing much more serious charges in a cold case Banks and I are working on. I don’t think you’re in a lot of danger.” He smiled. “But just in case, Billings has you in sight most of the time.”

  “Rado is a rat,” he said curtly. “I hope they lock him up forever. He threatened Sunny the day before she was brought in with that drug overdose. And he told me that he’d done it before, that he knew how to get away with killing somebody and making it look like suicide.”