Love Inspired Suspense June 2015 - Box Set 2 of 2: Exit StrategyPaybackCovert Justice

by Shirlee McCoy

  So much for a lighter topic.

  They didn’t talk the rest of the way. Heidi didn’t mind silence, but most people she knew had to fill it with something. Blake Harrison didn’t fit the mold of anyone she knew.

  The security guards gave them a curt nod as they entered the hospital. Her weapons could pass for ordinary objects, but not having to submit to a bag search made things much easier.

  She punched the up arrow on the elevator. “As long as you’re here, pretend I don’t exist.”

  “What?”

  “There’s no logical explanation for my presence, or for you to know who I am.”

  “Right.”

  “Hand me your phone.”

  “My what?”

  “Your phone. I’ll put my number in there. Then if you see anything suspicious, you can call or text.”

  He handed her the phone. She returned it as the elevator settled on the fifth floor.

  “I’ll be nearby. Leave whenever you’re ready. I’ll catch up in the parking lot.”

  *

  When the elevator doors opened, Heidi stepped off without a backward glance. To anyone watching, they were two strangers on an elevator.

  Except no one watching would know she’d saved his life. Or that she was an undercover FBI agent seeking to take down a notorious crime family. She wasn’t kidding. The more he thought about it, the weirder this whole mess got.

  He spotted Caroline and rushed to her side. “How’s he doing?”

  Caroline rocked back and forth on her heels. “Okay, I think.”

  His mom came out and he pulled her into a long hug.

  “Your dad’s waiting for you,” she said. “They said you could both come back.”

  Blake followed his mom through the ICU. They passed the nurses’ station and a break room where someone had burned popcorn. The stench was overpowering, but he preferred it to the antiseptic hospital smell permeating everything else.

  His mom paused before a small room. “Your dad wants to talk to each of you alone for a minute.”

  He shot a glance at Caroline, her eyes wide in fear. “Go ahead, Care Bear.” As much as he wanted to see his dad, he had a feeling Caroline needed to see him, and hear what he had to say, more.

  His mom leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. “This is not how I expected this day to go.” He put an arm around her and rested his cheek on her head while they waited. He let his eyes travel around the ICU to see if he noticed anything suspicious. Trouble was, he had no idea what he was looking for. Maybe a janitor who lingered too long in a room, or a visitor who didn’t have the same look of concern worn by the families of the patients in these walls?

  His dad’s stroke was probably due to heredity and not foul play, but with his entire body aching from the events of last night—had it only been twenty-four hours ago?—he couldn’t shake the fear gripping his heart.

  Was Mark trying to eliminate the Harrison men or did he have his eyes set on the entire family? Or was it just him? What could they have done that would justify murder? Or were they in the way of something he planned?

  He scanned the room again, trying to be observant without being obvious about it. It was harder than it sounded and he wished he knew where Heidi was.

  More than anything, he wished no terror lurked in the wings and that he’d never had a reason to meet her, in an official capacity, but it was hard to dislike a woman who’d saved his life. Or one who’d taken such a keen interest in keeping his family safe.

  Caroline came out of the room teary but smiling. “Your turn,” she said.

  He stepped through the door, pausing in the dim light to get his bearings and to be certain no one else was in the room before crossing to hug his dad.

  His dad had always been his rock. The one thing that couldn’t change. Seeing him lying on the white sheets, his face pale, a slight droop to one side of his mouth, was almost more than he could bear.

  “Hey.” His dad tried to smile. Half of his face cooperated. “It’s going to be okay.”

  Blake swallowed. How would it ever be okay?

  “There’s a scary nurse that’s going to come in here soon. Before she does, I want us to pray.”

  “What?”

  “Let’s pray.”

  Blake took his dad’s hand and bowed his head.

  “Father, You know how proud I am of my son. No father could be prouder. So I ask You now to comfort him. Ease his mind and his heart. Give him the strength to face the challenges of the days ahead. Give him the grace to trust You no matter what comes. Help him to remember that You are in control and nothing that has happened has caught You by surprise. In Jesus’ name, I ask these things, Amen.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” Blake said. His dad couldn’t know how desperately he needed God to answer that prayer.

  His time with his dad was cut short by the entrance of the nurse who didn’t look as if she’d appreciate being asked to come back a few minutes later.

  His mom met him at the door. “Go home. Get some rest.”

  “I hate to leave you alone.”

  “I’ll be fine. I’ve told Caroline I want her to go home, too. I’ll call you if anything changes.” She placed one hand on his cheek like she’d done since he was a little boy. “He’s going to recover, Blake, but we need you to be able to run things at the plant and you can’t do that if you’re worn out. You’re going to have your hands full for a few weeks.”

  She had no idea.

  FOUR

  When he walked back into the waiting room, he tried not to stare in Heidi’s direction. She was sitting in a corner. He assumed it was because that position gave her a good view of everyone entering and leaving and kept anyone from sneaking up on her from behind. She was holding something in her hands and as he got closer he realized what it was.

  She was knitting.

  Knitting?

  Her fingers continued wrapping and circling and twisting yarn and she didn’t appear to have noticed his arrival.

  “You ready?” Caroline put the magazine she’d been skimming back on the stack and stretched a few times in her seat before standing.

  “I guess.” He looked back toward the ICU. “Seems wrong to leave, though.”

  Caroline laced her arm through his. “She’ll need us to be able to relieve her tomorrow.”

  Blake stifled a yawn. He couldn’t deny that his body craved sleep the way it craved Mountain Dew in the morning. But he couldn’t shake the idea that this stroke might not have been a natural event. Someone might have done something to cause this. What if his dad was in great danger?

  Who was he kidding? What could he do about it if he was? Sure, he could protect himself if someone got close enough to throw a punch, but running him off the road? His dad having a stroke at dinner?

  How could he protect his family from an enemy he couldn’t see, couldn’t touch and didn’t understand?

  For one brief moment he caught Heidi’s eye. She nodded toward the elevator and her look conveyed the message that she thought he should leave. He found himself compelled to trust her and that frightened him almost as much as the mysterious Kovac family.

  He knew better than to trust a stranger too soon.

  Still…

  Caroline propelled him toward the elevator. As they waited, he noticed Heidi had stopped knitting. With a few practiced moves, she rolled up the object she’d been working on, popped it into her bag and stood.

  He didn’t make eye contact as she walked to the elevators and stood to one side. She nodded at them when the doors opened and they entered first. She stepped in and leaned against the side closest to the controls.

  “I’m starving.” Caroline rummaged through her purse. “I was in the middle of dinner with Stephanie when Mom called.”

  “Stephanie?”

  Caroline flushed.

  “You said you had a date.”

  “I did…sort of.”

  “With Stephanie?” Caroline and Stephanie had been inseparable f
riends since preschool.

  “She’s due any day. We wanted to get in one girls’ night before the baby.”

  Blake shook his head. “I get that. What I don’t get is why you told me you had a date.”

  Caroline pulled a half-eaten granola bar from her bag. “Yes! Now I won’t pass out before I get back to Stephanie’s.”

  “You’re spending the night?”

  Caroline shrugged. “You know, in case she goes into labor or something.”

  “You still haven’t answered my question.”

  Caroline took a huge bite and chewed. She pointed to her mouth, as if she planned to answer his question after she swallowed. He didn’t buy it.

  “You aren’t getting out of this, Care Bear,” he said. “I don’t care if you date or not. I do care about you lying to me.”

  He glanced at Heidi. She was watching Caroline, her eyes narrowed in clear concern. Maybe he should save the brotherly lecture for later. Someplace private. Someplace where he could give his little sister a real piece of his mind. He rested his head against the wall and stared at the ceiling. Had he put so much pressure on her that she’d rather lie to him than admit she hadn’t had a date in a year? Maybe he owed her an apology.

  “Blake!” Heidi’s voice cut through his thoughts. Why was she yelling at him? Caroline would—

  “It’s okay. We’ll get you some help.” Heidi had her arms around Caroline, supporting her. His sister looked like she was barely holding on to consciousness. “I’ve got you,” Heidi said. “Peanut allergy, right?”

  How did she know? He put his arm around Caroline and together they eased her into a sitting position on the elevator floor. “Yes. Peanuts. Caroline? Care Bear, can you hear me?”

  Caroline’s eyes were open, but she didn’t seem to be able to speak. Her face was red and her lips had a slight purplish cast.

  “Does she carry an EpiPen?” Heidi rummaged through Caroline’s purse.

  “She should. She always has it.”

  Heidi flipped the purse over and shook everything out. “It’s not here!” She shoved the contents back into the purse, then jumped to her feet and pressed the emergency button as the doors opened into the lobby of the hospital.

  “How do we get to the emergency room?” Heidi shouted at the startled volunteer sitting at the reception desk.

  The woman pointed to her right. Blake spotted a wheelchair and didn’t bother asking if he could take it. As soon as Caroline was seated he took off down the hall.

  “Call somebody and tell them we’re coming,” Heidi ordered the receptionist as they raced past her. “Tell them it’s anaphylaxis and we’ll need some epinephrine.”

  The next few minutes passed in a blur of yelling and questions he had no answers to. What had she eaten? How had she been exposed?

  The ER staff was amazing and it wasn’t long before Caroline sat up on a bed taking deep breaths through the oxygen mask she pressed to her face. Tears streaked her ashen cheeks.

  “My EpiPen?” she asked, her voice rough.

  “It wasn’t in your purse,” he said.

  “I know it was,” she said, confusion and fear thickening her words.

  “Heidi dumped everything out, Caroline. It wasn’t there.”

  Caroline glanced around the room. “Who’s Heidi?”

  Uh-oh. What should he say? Once they’d stabilized Caroline, Heidi had slipped from the room. He couldn’t tell Caroline he suspected she’d gone to do some sort of special agent undercover something or other.

  “The lady in the elevator.”

  “Oh,” Caroline said. “Do you know her?”

  Did he? Not really. “We just met.” He needed to change the subject. “Why don’t you rest. Don’t try to talk. Focus on breathing.”

  Her eyes fluttered closed. “That’s not going to be too difficult.”

  Within minutes, her soft snores blended with the beeping from the monitors. She’d never had much tolerance for Benadryl, and he had a feeling they’d pumped her full of it. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he was surprised to see the initials HZ pop up.

  He stepped from the room and caught the call. “Hello?”

  “How’s Caroline?” Heidi’s words came out clipped.

  “Stable. They want to watch her, but she should be able to go home in a few hours.”

  “Okay. Good.” The relief in her words surprised him. During the entire chaotic episode she’d been calm and composed. Even as she yelled for assistance, the words came out with authority, not panic.

  Had she been more worried than he’d realized?

  “I need to talk to her.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Because,” she said, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “Three members of your family have experienced life-threatening catastrophes in the past thirty-six hours. Do you not think that’s a problem?”

  “Of course it’s a problem, but shouldn’t we call the police?”

  “My boss already has. They’ve turned it over to us.”

  That was fast. “Who is ‘us’?”

  “The FBI in general, my team in specific. My partner is on his way from DC, along with several other agents who are coming to provide round-the-clock protection for your family.”

  This could not be happening. It had to be a dream. He would wake up and his biggest problem would be a malfunctioning blower at the factory.

  “Do you think she’s up to talking to me?”

  “She’s asleep, and with the amount of Benadryl they gave her, I doubt that status will change anytime soon.” He pressed his head against the wall as another thought raced through his mind. “Oh, man. I need to tell Mom and Dad. And I need to call Caroline’s friend Stephanie to let her know what’s going on.”

  Then another, far greater fear threatened to choke him. “Maggie.”

  “I’m sorry? What?”

  “Maggie. I need to get her. She’s not safe. She’s—”

  “Blake.” A hand closed over his arm and it took him a second to realize that her voice hadn’t come through the phone. How had she snuck up on him?

  *

  Heidi squeezed Blake’s arm. Poor guy. He was handling this far better than she’d anticipated, but he looked like he was about to drop.

  “Maggie is fine.” She released his arm. “Two of the best agents I know are currently posing as repairmen. They are watching the front and back of your in-laws’ home. The windows and blinds are open enough for them to see Maggie and your in-laws. No one will get in there without going through my agents.”

  No need to tell him that if anything happened to a child, none of them would ever forgive themselves.

  “Why is this happening?”

  She didn’t think he’d meant to say that aloud, but it was a valid question. “I don’t know, but I will find out. It would help me if you could tell me everything you know about Caroline’s allergy. It looked like she reacted to something in her purse. Could she have purchased something with peanuts in it by accident?”

  “No. Caroline is supercautious. She special-orders those bars by the case. They are crazy expensive, made in a guaranteed nut-free production facility. She has one every day. She eats half in the morning and the other half in the afternoon.”

  “No allergies other than peanuts, right?”

  “No. She eats dairy, eggs, shellfish…no problem. She can even eat almonds or cashews. Wait a minute. How do you know that?”

  Oops. “It’s in her file.”

  Blake rubbed his eyes. “Awesome.”

  He needed sleep, but she couldn’t do anything about that. A small arrangement of chairs sat in a quiet corner and she nodded in their direction. “Let’s sit.”

  He didn’t argue. He collapsed into a chair and put his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. “I can’t believe she didn’t have her EpiPen.”

  “Is she good about keeping it with her?”

  “Fanatical. She had a severe reaction when she was twelve. The pen was at the house an
d we were up at the waterfall behind the plant. Big company-wide fun day. She bit into a dessert and her throat closed up. We’ve always been thankful for the presence and quick thinking of one of our operators with a serious bee allergy. He had his pen in his pocket. I’ve never seen anyone move the way he did. Saved her life.”

  He blew out a breath and looked at her, frustration and confusion evident on his face. “Since then, she doesn’t go anywhere without it. She keeps one in her purse at all times, we have two in the plant medical supplies, and she carries one around in her pocket when she’s at home. You saw how fast it happened. If she had a serious reaction when she was alone…”

  Heidi could imagine. And the more Blake talked, the more certain she’d become that this had not been an accident.

  “Do people at the plant know about the allergy?”

  “Yeah. We don’t prohibit people from eating peanuts, but we do have a peanut-free break room and general allergy awareness as part of our new employee orientation. We have two people with peanut allergies, one with a bee allergy and another with an egg allergy.”

  He fiddled with his watch band. “Do you think it was Mark?”

  Oh, yeah. But she couldn’t prove it. “He’s at the top of my suspect list. Her allergy is well-known. Is it safe to assume her ‘half a bar at a time’ habit is common knowledge, as well?”

  “The guys tease her about it. Tell her it wouldn’t hurt her to finish the whole bar in one sitting.”

  “Who are these guys? Are you talking about people who work for you?”

  “You have to understand. There are two guys who have worked for HPI since before we were born and about fifteen of our employees have been with us since I was in elementary school. They’ve watched us grow up and they don’t have a problem telling Caroline she needs to eat more, or get a boyfriend, or take a vacation.”

  “Do they treat you the same way?”

  He laughed. “They tell me I need to lay off the Mountain Dew. And get remarried.”

  Remarried? Interesting.

  “Neither of those things are going to happen.”

  Even more interesting. Pro–Mountain Dew, antimarriage? Or just antimarriage for himself?

  “You take your Mountain Dew that seriously?”