by Dale Mayer
“Well, I’m pretty sure the father will okay anything and everything that’s needed.”
“I hope so,” he said, “because, as soon as I catch a few minutes of rest, and hopefully have the okay on it, we must help this little boy into the OR.”
“Will you do it?”
He shook his head. “No, but we have some specialists here who will take it on.”
She smiled as he got up and walked to the door. “Wait. I thought you would rest?”
“I decided against it,” he said. “The boy doesn’t have time for me to take an hour. The sooner we get the stem-cell collecting going, the better.” And he disappeared, one of the MI6 agents on his tail.
She looked at Jax and said, “I can’t really help him. Do you object to me lying down?”
He raised an eyebrow and said, “No, but I thought you wanted food.”
“We’re back to that again,” she said with a laugh. “I want Abby time first, then food.” She had a tired smile on her face as she crawled off his lap and walked to the couch. “This will kill my neck.”
“Are there no pillows?” he asked.
She looked around and shrugged. “No, there aren’t.”
But when she turned around again, he had a stack of towels in his hand. He laid them on the corner beside the armrest and said, “Try that.”
She curled up with her feet under one armrest and her head on top of the towels at the other armrest, and, within five minutes, she said, “This feels really good. Good night.”
Jax waited, pondering all the information she’d finally given him on Dr. Windberg. The fact that this Benjamin guy had gotten away with what he had done and that the world knew he was still alive and still out there and free as a bird, now to come back after her with such devastating consequences, just blew Jax away. Sure, Benjamin had been released on bail and then had skipped the country, but had nobody bothered to track him down?
Crimes like this made Jax so angry. She was vulnerable to anything and everyone out there because of her size, her sex, and her profession even made her a target from those willing to take what they wanted, instead of getting the things in life that were earned. And it didn’t matter if Nahim really cared about Abdul because, in this case, so many people had already paid the price. Jax wanted to see how things were progressing but didn’t dare leave her.
The door opened, and Beau walked in. He started to speak but saw her sleeping on the couch and smiled. “She looks like a two-year-old,” he said affectionately.
“I’m sure she’d be insulted by that,” Jax said with a chuckle. “At least a six-year-old.”
“Not much more. But I need food, and I think Danny is looking for food. When she wakes, she’ll need to eat too.”
“What’s happening with the boy?”
“They’re taking him to the OR for the stem-cell work.”
“Good,” Jax said. “I was afraid the father would object.”
“No, not at all. But he’s still hammering to find out the sex of the child his wife’s carrying.”
“He doesn’t deserve to have another child,” Jax said with fatigue in his voice. “Not if he ordered his security guards to kill those people on the cruise. There were so many easier ways to snag Abby.”
“But it’s a godsend that he did it this way because that allowed us to get her first.”
Jax thought about that, then nodded. “I’ll give you a point there.”
“I’ve ordered food,” Beau said. “That’s what I really came in to tell you. You’ve got about fifteen to twenty minutes, and then it’ll be delivered.”
“And no sign of Benjamin?”
Beau shook his head. “I’ve checked in with Jonas a couple times and Griffin too. There’s been no sighting anywhere after Benjamin’s initial arrival and subsequent disappearance. We’re all on alert.”
“That’s worse than having him on the premises.”
“It is,” Beau said. “And I know Jonas is not happy either. He doesn’t want this guy loose in the UK.”
“I know,” Jax said. Then he repeated what Abby had said about her injuries.
Beau sat down on the other chair where Danny had been sitting and stared at him. “And they didn’t arrest him on the spot?”
“Well, they did find him and arrest him but then released him on bail,” Jax said. “And, of course, he didn’t show up for his court date.”
“That’s just an invitation to take off though,” Beau said. “That’s disgusting.”
“I know,” Jax said. “I’m trying to figure out how to make sure he doesn’t get away with it now. There’s not a whole lot we can do about it, except finding something here that might encourage the British government to keep him.”
“Like Jonas said, that leaves them paying the costs of keeping an American criminal.”
“Sure,” Jax said, “but they can always trade him back over again. It happens all the time.”
“Unfortunately it does. Not only that, if you think about it, so many people are out-of-country, paying for crimes that they committed in their own country.”
“Well, as long as we stop this asshole,” Jax said with some heat, “I don’t care which country he ends up jailed in.”
“Let’s hope that maybe this guy gets a permanent sentence,” Beau said as he glanced back at Abby. “She doesn’t deserve this.”
“No, she doesn’t,” Jax said. “She’s doing everything she can here to make the situation better, but she’s struggling, knowing Benjamin is out there somewhere, planning.”
“It’s the out there somewhere part,” Beau said, “that really worries me.”
“I know. She keeps turning around, looking for him. Watching her, it seems she feels like somebody’s watching her today.”
“The trouble is, everybody is. Literally everybody is watching her.”
“Well, Danny seems to be a good guy for her to have called,” Jax said.
“Right. I really like him,” Beau said. “And he’s marshaled the medical team together. So, with any luck, we might save the kid.”
“Doesn’t change the fact that somebody’s been poisoning the kid. Abby thinks it’s Benjamin.”
“Sure, but that’s who she wants to be guilty,” Beau said. “We can’t allow that to be the given answer. We must make sure that it’s the right answer. I admit that I’d like it to be him too because then I’m pretty sure the father will take him out.”
“I’m pretty sure he will too,” Jax said with a grin. “Solves all of our problems.”
“But Benjamin will probably prove that it was somebody else. And he’s pretty slippery.”
“I’m betting that he’ll say it’s the head of security,” Jax said. “To cause dissent within the family unit as well.”
“Family unit?”
“The head of security, Bahan, is the father’s brother.”
“Ah,” Beau said. “That’d be a really good fall guy.”
“I wish to God somebody would find Benjamin though.”
Just then a phone buzzed. Beau pulled out his, checked it, and said, “Food’s here.”
Just then Jax got a buzz too. “And that’s Griffin checking in.”
“You don’t have to answer it,” Beau said. “We all are on our own.”
“I know,” Jax said. “But, if he can get eyes on Benjamin, that would help.” He quickly sent a text to that effect and then put away his phone. “Benjamin’s slippery,” Jax said.
“He’s too slippery,” Beau said. “You watch your back. I’ll go get the food.” And he got up and walked out.
Needing a bit of fresh air, Jax opened up both windows and checked to make sure there was no way that anybody could get in through the third-story windows. Satisfied, he then walked back to the door and opened it and leaned against the doorjamb, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the comings and goings. One of the easiest ways for Benjamin to get in the damn hospital would be in scrubs or a lab coat. He was a goddamn doctor. What was to s
top him from snagging a white coat and just walking around like he knew the place? As a camouflage, it was one of the best possible ways he could infiltrate the hospital. And that bothered Jax.
Surely somebody would be checking the video cameras. He wasn’t sure about that though and quickly sent a second message out, this time to Jonas, asking for somebody to keep an eye on the video feeds. He got an immediate response back.
We know how to do our job.
Jax snorted. “Sure you do.” But, in all fairness, he didn’t know how bad things were out there, in the hospital or in all of London either. For all he knew, it wasn’t bad at all. As he stood here, he watched Beau through the glass doors, walking toward him with two large bags in his hand. Several people talked and joked with him. He just smiled, didn’t answer, and kept on going. When he caught up to Jax, he handed over the bags and said, “I’ll go find Danny. He needs to eat too.”
Jax nodded. “And come back in and eat something yourself.” He placed the bags on the table and returned to the open door. Soon enough Danny and Beau joined him.
Danny lifted his nose and smiled. “That smells like fish and chips.”
Beau shrugged. “For Abby.”
Just then she stirred on the couch. She opened her eyes, stared up at Beau, and her nostrils flared. “Oh, my God,” she said. “Is that fish and chips?”
Beau chuckled. “I do believe that was your request.”
She slowly got to her feet, saw the bags and Danny, and walked over. “I’m still half asleep,” she said. “And it doesn’t matter. I’ll eat anyway.”
“Ha,” Jax said. “How about going to the washroom and washing your hands and face first? You’ll feel better.”
She nodded. “I could do that.” She headed to the door, and Jax immediately hopped up behind her. “I can go alone, you know.”
“You might,” he said, “but you won’t. Because I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
“Not in the stall you’re not,” she snapped.
He shrugged. “Then don’t do anything stupid that makes me think I have to be there too.”
She glared at him and turned to Beau, who had a smirk on his face. “Don’t you dare laugh at that.”
Beau just looked at her and said, “Remember? This is all about your safety.”
She sighed and walked out. Jax followed her to the women’s washroom, where she pushed open the door. Several other women were inside. She smiled at Jax and said, “I should be safe enough.”
He frowned and didn’t like it one bit when she shut the door in his face.
Chapter 14
Inside the bathroom, she quickly used the facilities, walked over to the sink, lathered up good, cleaned her arms and her hands, and then went at her face. She should have brought a brush with her. But she dropped the clip from her hair and then quickly ran her fingers through and put the clip back in. There wasn’t a whole lot she could do about the rest of her, but food would hopefully help with the exhausted look in her eyes. She opened the door and stepped out. Only she saw no sign of Jax. She looked around and again couldn’t find him. Confused and a little worried, she pulled out her phone and called Beau.
“What’s the matter? You missed me? I figured, with Jax around, you wouldn’t even see me.”
“That’s the problem,” she said. “There’s no Jax.”
“Where are you?” Beau asked an alarm.
“Standing at the women’s washroom,” she said. “I walked in and shut the door in his face because it was full of women.”
“How long ago?”
“I don’t know,” she said, bewildered. “Maybe five minutes, eight?”
“Put your phone away,” he snapped.
She looked down at her phone, then looked up to see Beau striding toward her. She stared up at him. “Where could he be?”
“I’m not sure,” he said, but he was already dialing his phone. He snapped out orders to somebody on the other end and then turned around and assessed all the closest doors. “No way somebody would have carried an unconscious Jax very far, and he would have to be unconscious before he left you.”
There were two doors across the hall. He quickly walked over to one. It was locked, and the other one was open. He checked the open one first, then crossed back over to the same side as the women’s washroom and checked it. Both were empty. He headed over to the locked door, pulled something from his back pocket, and quickly popped the lock on the door.
She gasped. “You shouldn’t do that. There could be a patient in there.”
“And there could be a dead Jax in there,” he snapped.
Instantly she fell silent, her heart slamming against her chest as she thought about that. “It better not be,” she cried out.
“Well, let’s hope not,” he said as he stepped inside.
She heard his exclamation as he went farther into the room, and she raced in behind him. Jax was collapsed on the floor. She raced over and checked for a pulse, ecstatic that he was still alive. Breathing heavily, she quickly did as much of a check of him as she could. “Oh, my God,” she said. “He’s alive, but it looks like he’s been hit over the head.”
“Yes, how is he though?”
She smacked him lightly on the cheeks. “Jax, wake up. Wake up.”
He woke up and looked at her and then frowned. “What happened?”
“What happened,” she said, “was you got taken out.”
He stared at her in horror, jumped to his feet, and forcibly stopped. He looked at Beau and then at her and said, “Are you two okay?”
“Yes. Do you remember what happened?”
Jax frowned and said, “You turned. You shut the door on my face. Then I turned around …” And then he shook his head. “Something came out of nowhere and smacked me in the head.”
“How busy was the washroom?” Beau asked.
“Too damn busy,” she snapped. “There were at least four or five women. After I came out of the stall, it was pretty well empty though.”
“So nobody was there?”
“Two women came in as I stepped out,” she said. “Both in scrubs and talking and laughing. I had to wait for them to get out of the doorway so I could leave.”
“So Benjamin was probably hoping to come in while you were in there, but, with the women coming through, it would be too many for him to deal with.”
“We need the video feed,” Jax said.
“I’ve already got Jonas looking at it,” Beau said.
“Great,” Jax said. “He’ll never let me forget this one.”
“That’s hardly the point,” she said, glaring at him. “We can’t take any chances. This guy’s now attacked you. So we must make sure that Abdul and his family are okay.”
“Everybody is looking for Benjamin now, and MI6 has more men on Abdul’s family,” Beau said. “Let’s get you back to the room, Abby.”
“Oh, my God, did you leave Danny alone?”
“Don’t worry. One MI6 agent is on him at all times.” Beau nodded. “I left him eating fish and chips.”
“Just one guard?” Abby asked.
They raced down the hallway and burst into the room. Danny looked up. “Damn, I was hoping you guys weren’t coming back,” he complained good-naturedly. “I was really hoping to get another piece of fish.”
She sagged down on a chair. “Somebody attacked Jax,” she said, her voice faint. She rubbed her face. “I was in the washroom, stepped out, and he wasn’t there.”
“Seriously?” Danny asked.
Jax nodded and said, “Yeah, I’ve got a hell of a headache.” He touched the sore spot, and, when he came away, his fingers were coated in blood.
She stared at it and said, “So either we fix that wound now or after we eat. I vote for after we eat.”
He stared at her. “What kind of doctor are you who wouldn’t look at it first?” he asked in mock outrage.
She sent him a cheeky grin. “While you were unconscious—on the floor, flaked out from faint
ing, or possibly from seeing the blood—I already checked it over. It just needs a good wash and maybe a bandage.”
Beau chuckled.
Jax glared at her. “I did not faint, and I do not faint at the sight of blood.”
“Could have fooled me,” she said. “For all I know, you and head wounds are just a thing.”
“What does that mean?” he asked.
“It means that you are a baby when you get hurt. And you get injured a lot.”
“I’m not a baby when I get hurt,” he said. “And how dare you even say that.”
She shrugged. “You know what? People talk all the time, but that doesn’t really mean anything. It’s how you act when under duress—like vomiting at the sight of blood.”
He groaned. “What got into you all of a sudden? … Whatever—anything to make it easier for you right now,” he said with a snort.
“Anything to make it easier for me? I’m not the one who got taken down while on the job,” she said with a chuckle.
He just glared at her and grabbed the largest piece of fish. “For that, I’ll steal all the food.”
“Well, you might try,” she said, snagging it from his fingers and taking a great big bite.
He stared at his empty fingers and then at her in astonishment.
Beau laughed. “See? I told you that you two are great together.”
Instantly both of them turned and glared at him.
He raised both hands in surrender. “You know what? I can stay quiet for a little bit, but it’s obvious what’s going on.”
She glanced at Danny, and he nodded. “It’s very obvious.”
She rolled her eyes at him.
“I’m so happy for you,” he said.
“Don’t be. He’s not very easy to get along with.”
“Maybe not,” he said, “but you obviously know how to handle him.”
At that, she dug into her fish and chips and didn’t speak again until she finally finished. And that was to push the remainder of her plate away from her and say, “Okay. I’m so done.”