by Laura Acton
Rising, Bella said, “Is there somewhere close I can get coffee?”
“The staff lounge is near the nurses’ station. Please help yourself,” Sherry offered, grasping this woman desired to remain close given her behavior with Broderick, plus she was under protection as well.
Bella glanced at Danny, not wanting to leave him for a second, but trusting his nurse to take care of his needs … for a few moments. Besides, she needed to make a phone call, and she shouldn’t use her cell in the room. She strode out, heading for the central desk.
St. Michael’s Hospital – ICU Nurses’ Lounge
Bella sipped the coffee and dialed. When the line answered, she said, “Yvonne, we need to speak.”
“Is Dan alright?”
“Our boy is in terrible pain. We must help him.” Bella shared all Dan confided to her then said, “I want your opinion on a plan.”
Yvonne listened, and her heart shattered. Everything her son wanted and cared about was in jeopardy … again. When Bella finished, Yvonne sighed. “I’m in full agreement. Please make the arrangements and kiss Danny for me.”
St. Michael’s Hospital – ICU Room D – 2:00 a.m.
Returning to the room, Bella waited until the nurse opened the door. “Would you please contact Danny’s doctor for me? I must speak with him.”
Unsure why, but noting the steel returned to the woman’s eyes, Sherry nodded. “Yes, ma’am, though he might be a while. The doctor went off duty about two hours ago.”
Thirty minutes later, a disheveled Malcolm Fraser entered Dan’s room. The phone call from Nurse Sherry woke him from sleep, and when she explained to him what occurred with the blood draw and someone wished to chat with him, he decided to return to the hospital instead of calling. He stopped at the nurses’ station to review the latest reports from radiology and the lab.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Fraser. Ma’am, I understand you wanted to talk to me.”
Bella stood and shook his offered hand. “Yes, Doctor. Thank you for coming. Please tell me Danny’s current condition. Did the bleeding stop?”
Fraser smiled. “The last scan and blood work indicate a substantial slowing, and thankfully we will not need to intervene surgically. However, he is not out of the woods yet. He suffered a significant tear. Physical activity of any sort, even walking at this point may cause it to increase.”
Deciding not to beat around the bush, Bella enacted the first step of her plan. “Danny does not do well in hospitals. I will be taking him to a safe location now, and I request your assistance.”
Malcolm stared at the woman as if she possessed three heads. Move him? Now? Who the heck is this? I’ve never seen her around Dan before. He squared his shoulders assuming his well-used doctor’s mantle. “Moving him is out of the question. He requires the round the clock care he will receive only in a hospital. And, ma’am, you have no authority to take him. Who do you think you are to come in here and demand to move my patient?”
Bella assumed her most haughty, regal demeanor while her voice became icy, “I am Grand Dame Marbella Ridgewater. I possess verbal permission from his mother, Yvonne Broderick, to transport him to another location. We will be leaving with or without your help or agreement.”
This woman is so old she must be losing her mind if she believes I will allow her to remove Dantastic from my care. Fraser retorted, “So you say, but Mrs. Broderick is not here. What power do you think you have to transfer him from this hospital?”
“As I told you, I am Dame Ridgewater and his next of kin granted consent.”
Dr. Fraser stood his ground. This is Dantastic, and no one is messing with him, especially some old biddy. “His medical proxy is Sergeant Pastore, and your name and title mean nothing to me. You don’t have the authorization to take a patient who is in critical condition and under police protection.”
Bella acknowledged she was emotional, although nothing showed in her expression, and she was not handling this elegantly. The doctor apparently did not recognize her name or the power she wielded. Registering one piece of information she had not calculated in her plans, Danny being under protection, she needed more than her powerful reputation and Yvonne’s approval. She required something official for them to release Dan to her custody.
Smiling coyly, Marbella said, “Hold one moment.” She pulled out her phone, and although she shouldn’t use her cell here, she selected her most influential contact and pressed the call button. When a sleepy voice answered, she got to the point, “Davy, Bella here. I need your help with a little matter concerning my boy Danny.”
“Bella, my dear,” David Alexander replied a bit sleepily as he sat on the edge of his bed and checked the clock. Two a.m. Damn, she always calls at the most inopportune times. “Are you aware what time it is?”
“Sorry it is so late … or early, but an important matter arose. I wouldn’t call otherwise,” Bella responded, somewhat sorry she woke him at this hour.
Yawning and putting on his robe, David said, “Did you say it was something to do with Danny? What do you need at this god-awful hour? He’s not in some sort of trouble, is he?”
“Yes, Danny. No. Not exactly. Davy, I need you to authorize the movement of Dan from St. Michael’s hospital to an undisclosed location of my choosing. His doctor is a tad uncooperative, and Danny is under protective custody at the moment. Transporting him is in his best interest. If you would fax over appropriate documents to the hospital authorizing me, say within ten minutes, would be most helpful and greatly appreciated.”
“Does he agree with your request?” David asked shoving his feet in slippers and starting to shuffle towards his study. Bella became a tigress for everyone she cared about, and one person she loved dearly was General William Broderick’s son Daniel.
He met a teenaged Dan only once when Bella brought him as her escort to the Parliamentary Gala. A well-behaved, shy, and a bit screwed up young man, but likable. Bella was proud of the man he had grown into and bragged about him along with her own grandsons and granddaughter whenever they met at various functions over the years.
Bella peered at Danny. “He is sedated now, but yes. I promised to care for him. It is necessary. Yvonne agrees with moving him, too.”
Sitting down at his desk, David shook his head. Christ, unless you have a death wish, there are two women you do not cross, and when they agree on something you damn well better do what they want. “Bella, what is the cause you want me to cite giving you authority?”
“Remember the kidnapping years ago?” Bella queried.
“Yes, I will never forget, my dear.” David cringed remembering how they came close to losing a beautiful, dynamic woman when the corrupt cops tricked her into going with them. Marbella only survived because of Daniel.
“The four men responsible are on the loose. They got to Danny, almost killed him again. It is why he is in the hospital. I fear for his life. I want Danny in a safe place where those horrible criminals can’t touch him until the police recapture them.”
Bella only shared part of her reasoning. She did want him in a safer location, and Snow would be unable to find Danny at her chalet. Although officers were protecting Danny, she didn’t trust them enough. Constables failed Danny before, and he nearly died. The only reason he survived was that Wilson found them after she went missing, and contacted the Internal Affairs detectives with their location.
The other part she would not share. She remained utterly enraged at Hardy and McKenna, and to some extent Pastore. They hurt her boy profoundly. How dare they tell him he was worthless, not good enough, and play so cruelly with his heart? He trusted all three, and they treated him too harshly and stomped on his tender soul because of some stupid rule.
She would not allow them near Danny until he was well enough physically and emotionally to handle the situation. In his current condition, he was nowhere near being able to cope with any of those three. She was pissed off, and at the moment she blamed Hardy and Pastore almost as much for Danny’s current state a
s the felons who perpetrated the crime.
“I understand, my dear. Ten minutes? You ask a lot, though I realize you wouldn’t request this if you didn’t think it best. Give me the fax number?” He picked up a pen and wrote the number as Bella related it to him.
David could never say no to Marbella. She was a power to be reckoned with in her own right. He felt sorry for whoever stood in her cross-hairs now. By her tone, someone pissed her off. She never asked for favors unless necessary. David sighed. “I’ll do what I can.”
“Thank you, Davy.” She hung up and gave Dr. Fraser an icy glare. “Paperwork remanding Daniel Broderick to my custody will arrive within the next few minutes. After it comes, I expect you to prep Danny for travel, and we will be leaving within twenty minutes.
“I’ll be moving him via ambulance, so please make those arrangements. I also need all relevant medical records and all necessary medical supplies for two days. A private physician and nurse will travel with him, so you need not worry. He will receive top notch care. Nothing but the best for my boy.”
“Who did you call?” Fraser got the sense the tide turned on him, and he began making a mental note of what Dan would require.
“Prime Minister David Alexander,” Bella nonchalantly replied.
The woman is daft if she believes I will fall for her charade. Malcolm shut down his list and decided he would contact security from the nurses’ station.
Shifting her gaze from the doctor to Danny she continued, barely able to keep the acid out of her voice, “When his team returns, you can tell his sergeant and tactical leader Danny is on vacation. He is with family who would NEVER hurt him. Danny will be doing some soul searching, and he will decide IF he wants to return.”
She effectively dismissed Fraser by dialing her cell phone to contact Wilson to arrange travel and Dr. Braxton to organize Danny’s care.
Ten minutes later, Dr. Fraser stared dumbfounded at letterhead from the Prime Minister of Canada giving Grand Dame Marbella Ridgewater authorization to remove Daniel W. Broderick from St. Michael’s.
Within thirty minutes they were gone.
Night of Reflections
25
May 9
Ridgewater Home – Second Floor – Master Bedroom – 4:30 a.m.
Loki long ago retired to Dame Ridgewater’s enormous bedroom on the second level of the mansion. He cringed as he put on the fluffy, pale pink bathrobe but took solace in the fact he no longer wore the heels. How in Hades do women walk in those things?
He lay on top of the mattress pretending to sleep and found it a bit hard not to nod off on the comfortable bed after being up for almost twenty-four hours and on shift for over nineteen, particularly since he didn’t sleep well the previous night. Glancing at the digital clock, he registered the time, wishing the convicts would attempt a kidnapping so they could apprehend and bring them to justice for what they did to his teammate. He would like to add more than another twenty-five years to their sentences, so they never spent another free day outside of prison.
His mind continually wandered to Dan, wanting this over soon so he could check on him. Loki prayed the bleeding stopped and Dantastic didn’t require surgery. He hoped Dan wouldn’t be out for a long time like he was after being shot last summer. If so, then both Dan and Lexa would be missing from their team, and things wouldn’t be the same.
Those two shared an easy camaraderie, and Loki enjoyed listening to them banter with one another, which livened up dull patrol days. Lexa made friends with Dan, as she did with him when he joined. Before he met Lexa, Loki never realized best friends could exist between a man and a woman.
When he examined the friendship between Lexa and Dan, they developed a closeness and figured out how each other ticked, which made them fantastic partners on the job, like he and Ray. Something was lacking without them … somehow, they became the heart and soul of the team.
Poor Lexa seemed devastated on the phone. He wished she could’ve arrived at the hospital prior to their departure. She sounded like she needed a hug. Lexa was likely now all alone sitting in Dan’s room, protecting him like she did both of them after the BDC member attacked them following the Kolff bombing.
The whole team should be there instead of only Lexa. He fluffed the pillow and recalled she wouldn’t be alone. Whoever this Ridgewater lady was, she would be there also, and she appeared to care about Dan too. He caught her compassionate expression on the monitors as he finished setting up in the hospital’s security room.
He didn’t get a chance to visit Dan before they left to establish this stakeout. Loki futilely wished for a reprieve, if only to stop by long enough to tell Dan he would be there for him. Hoping the men attempted to grab Ridgewater soon, Loki shifted and whispered, “Anyone approaching yet?”
“None from my vantage,” Ray said.
“Nor mine,” Bram added.
Kinsey yawned from her position in the walk-in closet, as she listened to the guys. She would be Loki’s first line of defense if the felons made it to the room. Her muscles cramped and she decided she would never complain about the hours on patrol again. At least in a car, she could sit. TRF worked long, exhausting hours, but she still hoped to gain a permanent spot.
She began thinking their trap a bust since the convicts would be unlikely to show with only an hour and a half until sunrise. The ex-officers would understand darkness would work to their advantage. However, Kinsey wanted to catch the lowest form of slime … former constables who, if Dan died, would become cop killers.
In the past eight or so hours, she mentally reviewed the whole situation with Broderick. She didn’t truthfully like or dislike him since she didn’t know him and he held her at a distance refusing to talk to her. He appeared to be the moody type, and she caught some of the glares he sent her way when he didn’t realize she spotted him. His conduct resembled a resentful child rather than a professional.
Clearly, Broderick didn’t want her on this team, though he was the one to place her name on the short list. But she wouldn’t allow his attitude to stop her from putting forth her best effort. Kinsey desired to join TRF, and she would do whatever necessary to earn her place on a team.
She again wondered if his impromptu vacation was the result of his behavior towards her. The team made lots of excuses for him. Jon’s first one, he’s shy, was downright stupid. There was nothing shy about Broderick. The man exuded self-assurance. Though, no matter her opinion, the guy didn’t deserve what happened to him. She saw many assault victims before but never one as severely beaten, and the electrocution could only be described as torture.
Kinsey tried to push the image of Dan laying in the basement, blood dribbling from his mouth from her head. She hated to think this way, but she didn’t believe Dan would survive. Not that she wanted him to die, but when the paramedics cut off his shirt and pants to put on the anti-shock trousers to keep his pressure up, not an inch of his face, torso, arms, and upper legs was not red, black, blue, and purple. But Ray joked about him bruising badly, and the doctor didn’t take him right to surgery, so hopefully, he would make it.
Ridgewater Home – First Floor – Living Room
Bram stretched his back and rotated his head to remove the kinks from his neck. Stationed in the spacious room at the front of the mansion, Bram maintained watch for any activity while partially hidden by the floor-to-ceiling draperies. He shifted his weight, his body a little stiff and sore from standing in the same location for hours, but he discounted his discomfort. In no way did his minor aches compare to the pain Dan endured.
As he scanned the grounds, Bram continued to stew on the situation regarding Dan, still trying to figure out why Jon rode Dan so hard. After Boss’ and Jon’s remarks and lack of explanation in the ICU, Bram concluded the cause of the discord didn’t have anything to do with discourteous behavior Dan displayed towards Kinsey or with the impending approach of Brody’s death.
A new theory began to develop and the more he considered things, the more it
made sense to him. He recalled Dan’s tears and the utter desolation in his eyes on the roof after Pablo shot Lexa. Although Bram possessed no proof, he would bet money something happened between Dan and Lexa.
Dan visited Lexa in the hospital almost every day, becoming attentive to her needs afterward and made Lexa’s rehab his priority. Christ, how did I not see this before? Dan cares deeply for Lexa … perhaps more than he should.
Until only a moment ago, Bram believed guilt drove Dan’s actions, but the more he mulled it over, he wondered if Dan’s feelings for her morphed into something outside the boundaries allowed by TRF regulations. Is this a two-way link, or is this only one sided on Dan’s part?
Lexa and Dan appear to understand each other, share many commonalities, and engage in playful banter. Dan is the only one who can calm Lexa with only a single call of her name. Lexa effectively pulls Dan out of his silent, closed-off moods and he will accept her assistance without reservation. Both are protective of one another … but no more so than for everyone else on the team.
If they share a mutual affection and crossed the line, Jon would’ve been riled enough to unload on Dan. And Boss would face a huge supervisory headache since rules bar sexual relationships between teammates. Boss might choose to deal with a breach of protocol by placing Dan on leave while he sorted things out.
Bram now perceived Dan’s recent depressed emotional state in a different light. He came up with possible scenarios which would include Lexa in Boss’ remark about Dan not trusting her. Perhaps Dan acted on his attraction to her, and Lexa rebuffed his advances and reported him. Though, Bram discounted the last part. Lexa would be more likely to handle Dan herself without exposing his inappropriate fondness of her to Boss.
Although he leaned toward a consensual liaison, and somehow Boss or Jon discovered their transgression. The only thing in the scenario which didn’t line up well is why Dan would not trust Lexa. Maybe I misunderstood Boss’ comment about lumping Lexa into the non-trust category, and he only meant being denied a relationship with her would be painful still.
