by Becca Van
“Are you next of kin?” the paramedic asked.
“I’m her fiancé.”
“Good enough.”
“Which hospital?” Stefan asked and nodded at the medic when he answered, before closing the doors for him. He and Booker raced for the terminal and through the building toward the parking lot.
“Shit. We have to contact Drew,” Booker said.
“Dusty can do it. They swapped numbers the other night. It’s probably better to wait and get the list of her injuries to give to her brother.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Booker got into the driver’s seat while Stefan got in and then they were heading out of the lot and toward the hospital.
The truck had barely come to a stop when Stefan jumped out and hurried toward the hospital entrance. Heavy footsteps behind him told him that Booker was catching up and wasn’t worried about moving quietly like they normally did.
He burst through the hospital doors, looked around for Dusty, and when he spied his older brother headed his way in a near jog.
Dusty looked up from where he was pacing and shook his head. “I haven’t heard anything yet. They won’t let me in to see her until after they’ve finished examining her.”
“Have you contacted Andrew?” Stefan asked.
“No. I wanted to wait until I know how she is.”
“Understandable, but I think he’s probably already heard about what’s happened,” Book said. “You know how the media are. The incident is probably already plastered across the news on every channel.”
“Damn! I didn’t even think about that.” Dusty pulled his cell from his pocket and dialed. Booker was glad that his brother put the call on speaker phone so they could all hear Roxy’s brother. “Andrew, Dusty Milan…”
“I heard. How—ˮ
“I have you on speaker phone,” Dusty interrupted. “My brothers and I are currently in the emergency room waiting to hear how she is.”
“Thanks,” Drew replied, obviously thanking Dusty for the heads-up about being heard by others. “What were her injuries?”
“As far I know she has a head injury. She split her forehead open near her hairline and when she got to the bottom of the slide after helping the pilot down she passed out.”
“Shit!” Drew inhaled loud enough for them to hear his ragged breath. “Why would she have to have helped the pilot? Who was it?”
“Hang on a second,” Dusty said as he glanced around the room. “I’m moving to a more private area.”
Dusty moved to the far corner of the room and when he began to speak this time he held the phone closer to his mouth and spoke quietly. “From what the air traffic controller said when he called us, the captain had a stroke. He’s probably pretty weak if he can even move. We’re not sure how bad he was affected by the brain bleed, but he wasn’t steady on his feet. Roxy helped him to the emergency exit and slid down with him on top of her. She seemed fine when we first saw her but Captain Miller toppled over and when Roxy was able to get up from under him we saw the blood on her head.”
“Fuck.” Drew sighed. “That’s Roxy. It wouldn’t matter if someone hit her. If someone was in danger she would step right in and help, no matter who it was. Can you see now why I’m worried about her?”
“Yeah,” Dusty replied quietly. “You don’t have to worry about her. We will do everything and anything we can to protect her.”
“I know you will. Damn I have another call coming in. I’ll call you back in a few.”
“Okay.” Dusty disconnected the call just as a doctor came striding toward them.
“Are you Roxanne Crowe’s fiancé?”
“Yes,” Dusty said as he walked forward and held out his hand. “Drew Milan and these are my brothers Booker and Stefan.”
The doctor clasped his hand. “Dr. Smith. Roxy is going to be fine. I had to stitch the laceration on her head and she has a concussion. Other than a really bad headache she hasn’t shown any signs or nausea. She has some dizziness if she moves too quickly but is holding her own.
“I don’t think it’s necessary to keep her in here since she has you to look after her. If she gets sick or the pain in her head worsens bring her back. I gave a local to stitch her up and injected her with a painkiller. She’s a bit dopey and loopy at the moment but I’ve always believed that patients heal faster in their own environment.
“She’ll need to take at least a week off work. No, better yet I’ll make that two. I’ll have a certificate made up and give it the nurse so she can hand it to her employer. She told me she’s a pilot and being thousands of feet in the air can’t be good after a head injury.
“You can take her home but wake her every couple of hours and if you have any concerns call me or bring her back. Do you have any questions?”
“No,” Dusty answered. “Thank you.” He took the card the doctor handed him.
“A nurse will be out in a moment to take you to her. My office and cell numbers are on that card. Call me anytime. Day or night.”
“Thanks,” Drew called out as the doctor strode away with a wave of his hand.
“Thank God she wasn’t hurt worse.” Stefan felt the fear which had lodged in his gut and grabbed hold of his heart dissipate. Relief coursed through him knowing that she was going to be fine and he was also a little excited that she was going to go home with them.
He hated the reason that she was coming to their home, but he and his brothers had been looking forward to spending more time with her and if this was the only way for that to happen…then so be it.
Dusty’s cell phone rang and he didn’t get a chance to say anything before the other person on the end started talking. From the expression which crossed his face whatever he was being told wasn’t good.
“You’re blown?” Dusty paused for a response and the dread which had gone from Stefan’s gut came back even worse than before. He had a feeling that Drew was on the other end of the phone and that Roxy’s brother was in trouble. “You just worry about you. We’ll take care of Roxy.” And a pause. “With our lives, man…Stay safe.” Dusty disconnected the call.
“What?” Stefan asked through clenched teeth.
“Drew thinks his cover has been blown. Roxy could be in danger.”
“Damn it!” Booker spun away and paced a couple of steps before moving in close again.
“He has to go back to work. He can’t come to see Roxy. Firstly, because if he’s being watched it would definitely put her in the line of fire and secondly, his boss wants him back to see if he can track the bastard down.”
“Did he give you any of the details?” Stefan asked.
“No.” Dusty scrubbed a hand over his face. “He can’t just yet but he said he’d be in contact to give us more information as soon as he can. But he did say not to let Roxy go home. He’s worried that if he’s been made, that whoever found out who he is will go after her.”
“Fuck!” Book’s voice was hoarse. “Do we need to call in a few of the guys we served with?”
Dusty shook his head. “Let’s not hit the panic button yet. We take her home with us. If this person knows about her they won’t be able to find her. Not when she’ll be living with us.”
“She’s going to argue,” Stefan said.
“I don’t give a damn,” Dusty snarled before taking a deep breath and giving him a look of apology. “Our main priority is keeping her safe.”
“How the hell can we do that?” Booker asked. “She’s not going to want to take too much time from work.”
“Book’s right,” Stefan said. “As soon as that medical certificate is at the end she is going to want to get back into the pilot’s seat. Plus she’ll want to do the final test.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. We all have plenty of vacation hours up our sleeves. We each need to contact work and put in for some time off. After that maybe we can wrangle it so one of us flies with our girl, but again we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
“Oka
y,” Stefan and Booker said simultaneously.
“Mr. Milan?”
Stefan and his brothers turned to see a nurse walking toward them. She paused to stare at each of them and a blush tinged her cheeks. “Which one of you is Ms. Crowe’s fiancé?”
Dusty stepped forward. “I am, but my brothers are very close to her, too. They are very good…friends with Roxy.”
The nurse nodded and glanced at his brothers before meeting his gaze again. “If you’ll come this way, I’ll show you where Ms. Crowe is.”
They followed the nurse to the big double doors and walked through the emergency room to a far curtained-off cubicle. The nurse turned to face Dusty again.
“I’ll have the release forms readied to be signed. I’ll just get you a copy as well as the medical certificate the doctor ordered as well as the pain medication. Ms. Crowe will need the pills to help cope with the headache and slight dizziness she’s suffering. Two tablets every four hours from”—the nurse paused to look at her watch—“7 a.m. Don’t exceed the dosage on the instructions and if there are any problems please bring her back here.”
“Thank you,” Booker said. The nurse turned to hurry off for the things she was to give them.
Stefan couldn’t wait a moment more. He needed to see Roxy and he needed to see her now!
Chapter Six
Roxy felt like her head was going to explode, it was pounding that much. Maybe someone had got inside her skull with a hammer and was trying to smash their way out. Her lips tilted at the edges at that ridiculous scenario but then they drooped as pain slammed into her skull.
She couldn’t believe she’d gotten injured from helping Gerard and not from landing the 747 on its belly. Not that she would have done anything different. She just hoped that Miller was going to be able to recover from his stroke. It didn’t matter that she disliked the man intensely. If she had to do everything over again, she wouldn’t have changed a thing except for maybe being prepared to be knocked from her feet and slamming into the door of the plane.
What bothered her was that she’d been given a shot of painkillers a while ago and it hadn’t seemed to lessen the pain much, if at all. Although she felt like she was as light as a feather and floating on a cloud, the agony pounding in her head was interminable.
She heard the nurse’s voice and a rumble as a man replied but she was in too much pain to concentrate on what was being said. The air near the bed moved, and although it hurt to pry her lids open to mere slits as light from the ceiling above pierced her eyes and head, she did it, but it was too difficult to keep them up, so she closed them again. However she had seen Stefan, Dusty, and Booker.
God, they’re sexy.
She wondered why they were here and then a dreamlike image of Dusty lifting her into his arms as she passed out penetrated her mind.
“How are you feeling, baby?” Dusty asked.
Baby? Why is he calling me baby? He’s never done that before, at least not that I can remember.
“Roxy?” Dusty prompted.
“Shit.”
“Does it hurt to open your eyes, darlin’?” Booker asked.
Darlin’? Are they just being nice to me because I crash-landed a plane and got hurt? Yeah, that’s probably it.
“Yes.”
Someone took hold of her left hand and she realized it was Stefan when he began to talk. “Then keep them closed, sweetness. We’ll take care of you.”
What does that mean? I don’t need them looking after me. I’m in the hospital surrounded by medical staff.
“Here is the paperwork and medication,” the nurse said.
“Thank you,” Book said and Roxy heard a rustle indicating he’d probably taken the stuff from the nurse.
“Okay let’s get you out of here, baby. We need to get you home and into bed so you can sleep.”
“What?” Roxy whispered. The blankets were pulled away from her body and she shivered at the temperature change. She was just glad she still had her pants and shirt on because she would have been a lot colder if she just had on one of those terribly drafty hospital gowns. An arm pushed beneath her back at shoulder-blade height and another beneath her legs and then she was being lifted. The movement made dizziness assail her even with her eyes closed and the hammer pounded against her skull causing her to moan.
“I’m sorry, baby,” Dusty said in a hoarse voice. “I don’t want to hurt you but we need to get you home.”
Roxy was too tired and sore to argue with him so she rested her face against his chest, inhaled his wonderful manly scent, and whispered, “Okay.”
She floated on the pain meds and was pleased when some of the pain in her head eased. She was aware of being moved, buckled into a safety belt, and then she must have drifted off to sleep. The next thing she knew she was being carried again. Something was niggling at her mind but she couldn’t work out what it was so she let it go and continued to drift in fog.
Something soft met her back and then hands gently removed her uniform but her underwear was left on. Then something was pulled over her head and her arms pushed through sleeves and soft cotton was tugged down to mid-thigh. A blanket or quilt was drawn up over her and she sighed as she turned onto her side and drifted into a deep sleep.
* * * *
Dusty snagged three beers from the fridge and handed one each to Book and Stefan. Booker downed half the bottle before he sighed and sat on the stool on the opposite side of the kitchen counter.
“Do you think she knows where she is?” Book asked.
“I doubt it,” Dusty replied.
“She looks so damn small and fragile. I can’t believe how pale she is,” Stefan said.
“You’d be pale, too, if you were suffering from a concussion. That bruise on her forehead is going to get a lot worse before it starts to fade.” Dusty sighed and slugged down more beer.
“How many fucking stitches did she get?” Stefan asked. “That can’t be too comfortable either.”
“There were at least fifteen and even though the doc did a good job, I think the sutures are going to leave a scar.”
“You haven’t heard any more from Drew?” Book asked.
Dusty shook his head. “No. Stefan, I want you to go back to the airport and see if you can get Roxy’s purse from the cockpit or if it’s been stored for retrieval yet. We need to go to her place and pack her some clothes. There is no way in she is going back to her place until this thing with Drew is over.”
Stefan nodded before dropping his empty beer bottle into the recycle bin.
“I’ll call the airport ahead of time so they’ll have everything ready before you get there. I’m also telling our manager that we’re taking some vacation time. I don’t think that’ll be a problem since we have so much up our sleeve and the other instructor’s team has just returned from leave.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure I get her things.”
“Make sure you get everything a woman needs and if you miss something we’ll just buy her whatever she wants. This is the only time we’ll be going to her place. Keep your eyes open for a tail. We don’t want anyone to know that she’s staying with us.”
Stefan nodded and headed out.
“You need to call Drew and let him know how Roxy is,” Booker said.
Dusty pulled his cell phone from his pocket to call Roxy’s brother.
* * * *
Andrew tapped at his keyboard and tried to find out where the breach to his software was. He’d been watching Shadowmaker for months and finally had enough on him as well as his clients to put them all behind bars for a long time. He’d wanted to go after them with a taskforce team but his superior had asked him to wait when a new client had popped up on Shadowmaker’s list.
Shadowmaker or Angelo Fretelli was a money launderer for a major drug cartel, and the CIA had been watching him closely for months. He was a narcissistic bastard who believed he was untouchable by the law but that was all about to change and sooner rather than later if Drew had anythin
g to say about it. Fretelli had earned a shitload of money from the drug cartel and if the boss of the Mexican cartel, Juan Perez, found out that Fretelli had been made he would be a dead man walking. But what worried Drew the most was that Perez would find out the CIA knew about their activities and that would put him and Roxy in even more danger.
He was just glad that the terrorists he’d been tracking who had been targeting NASA weren’t the ones after his sister. Thank God he’d found all the emails from them and he’d been able to stop them from attacking innocent Americans. The terrorists who had been gunning for NASA had been busted this morning, and Drew was glad he hadn’t had to be on hand when they were taken down. He’d been losing sleep over that case but now that he knew they weren’t a problem anymore he was going to do everything he could to put Fretelli and the drug lord behind bars. He was going to need to spend all his time on setting up a way to bring Perez and Fretelli down.
Although danger was danger and the degree of it didn’t matter, Drew was really scared for his sister. Fretelli was just as evil as Perez and if this breach was Shadowmaker then Roxy’s life was in jeopardy.
He was finally able to pinpoint the hack point and he quickly and carefully followed the threads back to the other computer. It took him four goes before he was able to pinpoint the location of the server and when he did chills ran up and down his spine. The bastard was only an hour from San Angelo.
“Fuck!” Drew’s fingers clutched the edge of his desk so hard his knuckles turned white and instantly began to ache.
He’d followed the breach on his computer back to Fretelli’s but he also found another hole in the accountant launderer’s software. He wasn’t the only one watching that asshole and if he had to guess, Drew would choose Perez’s crony as the other hacker. His right-hand man was huge with muscle and knew how to fight, fire a gun, and use his bare hands to kill, but Jose Sanchez was also a computer genius. If Fretelli knew about the CIA watching him, then no doubt Perez and his goon knew, too.
Drew slammed his fist down on his desk and concentrated on the pain in his hand. It helped him not to go into a full-blown panic for his sister’s safety. He wasn’t a person who startled easily but when his cell rang he jumped in his chair. After taking a deep breath, he retrieved the phone, looked at the display screen, and answered the call.