In Exam One, I sat him on the table and busied myself setting up a light just right, and getting the suture kit ready, and generally anything that meant I didn’t have to think about what we’d just lost. I was about to pull the curtain closed when Corrigan put his hand on my arm. “Hey!” he called to someone in the hallway. When the man spun around, startled, I saw it was Seth. Colt’s son. He’d been talking to Taylor and the expression on both their faces, the way their cheeks colored, eased my pain a little. They were just so sweet together. At least someone’s happy.
Corrigan jerked his head. Both of them obediently trotted over to us. How does he do that? Everyone just obeys him. When they were inside the exam room, Corrigan motioned for me to close the curtain. That made it cramped, but private.
“About time you told us what happened,” said Corrigan, pinning Seth with a look.
“It was just an accident!” Seth was an even worse liar than me. “We were hiking. Some farmer had put razor wire across a trail and we didn’t see it until it was too late.”
“You regularly go hiking in waist-deep snow?” Corrigan shook his head. “How’d the other guy crack his head?”
“He was trying to help. Slipped and hit his head on a log.”
This time I shook my head. “Not a skull fracture like that. He must have fallen from a height, onto concrete or rock.”
“Why are you lying to us?” asked Taylor. There was real hurt in her voice and I saw Seth instantly weaken. He really likes her. “We can help them better if you tell us what really happened.”
Seth huffed and scowled, looking everywhere except her eyes. But Taylor crossed her arms and pouted and every time he looked at her, I saw his resistance crumble a little more. I silently sutured Corrigan’s wound, waiting….
“Okay,” Seth said at last. “Okay, look—”
The curtain was ripped aside. I looked up from my suturing... right into Colt’s coldly gleaming eyes. I froze. Prey-still, a mouse who sees the shadow of a hawk. I didn’t dare breathe.
I was only half-done with Corrigan’s neck wound. He turned his head very slowly, the thread still connecting us. “Private discussion,” he told Colt.
His glare would have made any other man back away, but Colt took a step into the room, pulling the curtain closed behind him. Shit. Now we were hidden from the hallway. No one would see what he did.
“You don’t talk to my people without me,” Colt told us. My people. Like a military unit... or a cult. “We’ll be leaving, now. All of us.”
It took a few seconds for his words to register. Taylor found her voice first. “You don’t mean the injured guys?” she asked in disbelief. Then, off his silence. “You’re insane! They can’t leave, they need care!”
I saw Colt go tense, the tendons in his neck standing out like ropes. He was close enough that I could smell him, stale tobacco and whiskey and a tang that could have been boot polish or gun oil. I wasn’t sure if it was the word insane or just Taylor daring to resist him, but he was getting wound up.
Seth saw it too, and took a half step forward. “She’s right, dad,” he said.
His gentle tone was right, but it was the worst thing he could have said. I saw Colt’s eyes flick to Taylor and he drew in a long, shuddering breath. He could see Seth liked her and it enraged him. I saw his hand slide down to the knife on his belt and my insides went cold. This guy was seriously unhinged and we were all alone with him.
Corrigan slid off the table and blocked Colt’s path. Everyone drew in their breath. He was bigger than Colt but Colt was savage in a way I can’t explain, a snapping, vicious jackal who could take down a lion.
And then I saw something that really terrified me. For just a second, as the adrenaline slammed through his system, there was a wild look in Corrigan’s eyes. A come on, then! look.
In that second, he didn’t fear death. He welcomed it.
“Your man with the leg wounds, you can take,” I blurted. My heart was pounding so hard it hurt. I couldn’t believe I was daring to speak. “But the other guy, with the head injury, he still hasn’t regained consciousness. He needs constant monitoring.” And then I added, “He might not wake up.”
Because I’d realized what this all boiled down to. Colt didn’t want us talking to his men. He was willing to risk their lives to prevent it.
Colt stared at Corrigan for long seconds, neither of them backing down. It was so tense I wanted to scream. I saw Colt’s fingers stroke the handle of his knife once, twice—
And then he nodded, jerked his head for Seth to follow, and stormed out of the room. Seth gave Taylor one last, mournful look...and then hurried after his father. And they were gone.
All three of us let out a long sigh of relief. I started suturing again: I had to focus on something to calm me down. But I could feel Corrigan staring at me and at last I had to look up into his eyes.
There was scalding anger, first, but it didn’t sting: I could feel it wrapping around me, a protective fire. He didn’t want me putting myself at risk.
Then his gaze softened. He glanced around at Taylor, at me, at himself. And he sighed and nodded. Thanks. And beneath the gratitude, that pull, that deep longing.
We tore our eyes away and I carried on suturing. But we couldn’t fight this. Not forever.
I finally finished, cut the thread and the three of us walked back out into the ER. Colt was preparing to leave. Two of his men were carrying the guy with the leg wounds, who was panting and growling with pain. Earl and Lloyd pulled up in their police SUV just as they were loading him into a pickup.
Corrigan waved them over and we huddled in a quiet corner, out of earshot of the patients. “It’s all done now,” he told Earl. “But we had another run-in with that guy.”
Earl cursed and looked over his shoulder at Colt. “Sorry I wasn’t here.”
I patted Earl’s arm. “You can’t be here all the time. You’ve got a whole town to protect.”
“I’m gonna stop by more,” he said. “I insist.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Lloyd rolling his eyes, but he was smirking, too. The affection between the pupil and his mentor was easy to see. The two had been partnered together for over a year now and I got the impression that Earl was almost like a father to the young guy. But it felt like there was something I was missing. Why was Earl so keen to spend even more time here, when he already came around so often? He kept casting furtive glances towards the back of the ER, but when I followed his gaze, there was nothing obvious he was looking at. Just the critical care beds, the fire exit, Maggie balanced halfway up a ladder fixing a light—
“I think something’s going on,” said Corrigan. “That Colt guy is unstable. Dangerous. He’s got guys following him around, but they’re not just a bunch of thugs: I saw a tattoo on the leg guy, two crossed rifles with a clenched fist. Colt had the same one, mixed in with all that other ink. They’re an organized gang...or something else. And Colt’s son, Seth, he’s in it, too.”
“But he doesn’t want to be,” said Taylor.
“And they’re bringing in extra people,” said Corrigan. “People who aren’t part of the gang. Like that old guy yesterday, he was an ex-con from Florida.”
“Like Colt’s putting together a crew,” said Lloyd quietly. “For a job.”
We all went silent for a moment as that sank in. “Here?” I said at last. “What is there to steal in Mount Mercy?” Our bank is tiny, a one-room place with a couple of staff.
“Today, one comes in with razor wire wrapped round him and one’s fallen from a height. Like they were trying to get over a wall, someplace really secure.” Corrigan looked at Earl. “You know anywhere around here that looks like that?”
Earl thought about it. “The mining company, maybe? They have pretty high walls. I’ll do a drive by and check.” He frowned. “That tattoo: two crossed rifles? Clenched fist?”
Corrigan nodded.
Earl narrowed his eyes. “I swear, I’ve heard of that somewhere. Let
me check it out. C’mon, Lloyd.” And he pulled his peaked cap onto his head and headed off towards his cruiser, Lloyd hurrying behind him. Cold wind blew in as the automatic doors slid open and I wrapped my arms around myself. The doors shut, but the chill remained.
Colt and his men had invaded our sleepy little town. They were planning something awful. And with the town cut off by the snow, no one from outside could come to protect us.
We were on our own.
22
Colt
IT WAS COLD, as I slammed Seth up against the dumpster. Cold enough that the breath that exploded out of his lungs was a white cloud and my spittle damn near froze on my lips.
But I’ve never minded the cold. Cold strengthens a man, just like sieving out the ice crystals to strengthen liquor. It was a hell of a lot colder in that prison yard in Denver, with nothing to do to keep warm but trudge back and forth...and plan.
“What did you tell that blonde bitch?” I snarled. He was struggling, but I held him easily, didn’t matter that he was thirty years younger. He’d gotten soft, without me around. I pressed my thumb hard into his windpipe.
“Nothing!” he wheezed. “Swear!”
I pressed harder, cutting off his air completely. I knew I should kill him, family or not. I’d seen the way he looked at her, even though he knew she was one of them, part of that government machine.
I could feel the life going out of him, second by second. His skin was turning blue, his eyes pleading. But he didn’t try to kick me or grab for me. He was still more scared of me than he was of death and that was something.
I waited until I saw the little veins in the whites of his eyes begin to throb and burst and then I dropped him. He crumpled into the snow and just lay there, heaving in air. The rest of my men hung back near the mouth of the alley, making sure no one came in. I’d sent Max back to camp in a pickup on account of his leg, but the rest of us would walk the five miles. Better for fitness, better for discipline. No one was dumb enough to argue.
“We have to call it off,” croaked Seth. “The roads are blocked. How do we get out of town, afterwards?”
“The snow’s a blessing,” I told him. “No cops can get through. No one will even know what happened here for days, maybe weeks. I called Isaac, over in Denver. He’s going to fly us out in a chopper.”
“What about Max? He can’t run, with that leg. Can’t even walk. We’re a man down.”
“Isaac can use a gun. He can take Max’s place. But you gotta protect him, when it all goes down. He’s our only way out of here.”
“What about Harry? What if he wakes up and talks?”
“He won’t. He’s loyal.” I knew that was bullshit. Everybody talks, sooner or later. That’s why I hadn’t wanted to leave him in the hospital. But it had been smarter to leave, let that big Irish bastard and the red-headed bitch he was sweet on think they’d won. “Get back to camp,” I told Seth. “Make sure Reynolds has done his job, then wait for me. I got shit to take care of.”
I stalked back to the hospital. In a big city hospital, there would have been all sorts of security but a little place like this had one guard, tops, and he’d been sent home with all the other staff when the blizzard hit. I just strolled right in and headed straight for the back of the ER, where they were keeping all the critical cases. I spotted Harry straightaway. His head was all wrapped up in bandages, but he was breathing. I headed towards him, but hung back at the last minute. A few beds further down was a little blonde-haired kid and that red-haired surgeon, Beckett, was sitting on the edge of her bed. She’d recognize me if I got too close.
“I don’t get it,” said Beckett. “Show me again?”
They were playing some kids’ game where they touched their spread fingers together in sequence. “It’s the number of letters in the name of your favorite color, then the number of letters in the name of your favorite band, then the number of letters in the first name of your one true love,” said the kid authoritatively.
Beckett blushed. They started up the game again and, while they were distracted, I quickly walked over to Harry’s bed and pulled a curtain across to hide me. I shook him, but he didn’t stir.
Beckett’s voice from outside, “One, two, three, four, five.”
I found the switches for the monitors and flipped them off.
Outside, Beckett started to count to fourteen. I stood there staring at Harry. Dammit! He was a good soldier. A believer. But I couldn’t take the chance, not with fifty million on the table.
I pulled the pillow from under Harry’s head and pressed it over his face. He didn’t struggle.
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,” said Beckett. “Pinky finger. What does that make me?”
“Strong of heart,” said the kid.
Harry’s chest stopped moving.
And I put the pillow back under his head and slipped quietly away.
23
Amy
AFTER THE SUDDEN RUSH of the double trauma, the ER went quiet as the grave. I couldn’t get used to the sudden swings: I’m used to having surgeries neatly scheduled all day. How does Corrigan do this?
I couldn’t sit idle so I did the lumbar puncture one of the critical patients had been waiting on. It took a few hours and the whole way through, Krista was looking at me across the table with a gleam in her eyes. I knew what she was dying to ask. When the operation was over, she told Lina and Adele that we’d clean up the OR and, before the door had even closed behind them, she pounced. “What happened in the locker room?”
I pulled my mask off. “It all just suddenly got... out of control. If you hadn’t come in... I think he was going to kiss me.”
“You think? I saw the way you were looking at each other. If I hadn’t come in, you would have been naked up against the lockers! But since then? Have you talked to him?”
I stripped off my gloves and threw them in the trash. I loved Krista but I didn’t want to get into this, especially now, at the end of a long day. I was worn out and I hadn’t eaten since that morning. “We talked. But it’s not going to happen.”
Krista looked disappointed, but then nodded sagely. “He just wants to fuck, you want more.”
“No! We both want more. But he…..” I wasn’t sure how much I should say. I felt as if he’d taken me into his confidence, somehow, being so open with me. “...can’t.”
“Men like that never can. Don’t worry, we’ll find you someone else.”
But I don’t want someone else. “He’s not ‘like that,’” I blurted.
She frowned at me, confused.
“He’s not shallow! There’s more to him!”
“It is Corrigan we’re talking about, here? Big hands, big ego, big—”
“Yes! But—” Something was happening that didn’t happen very often: I was getting mad. Maybe because I knew what it felt like to be underestimated, even if it was in a very different way? My whole life, everyone—me included—had been telling me I was too introverted for this job, too shy for that man. “You don’t know him like I do!” I snapped.
Krista blinked at me. Then her eyes went big. “Shit!”
“What?” I asked, thrown.
“You like him!”
The shock made my anger fall away. I tried to brazen it out, but I’d gone bright red. “Everyone likes him!” I said, looking at the floor.
“Everyone thinks he’s hot, everyone wants to fuck him, you like him, like him.” She actually looked scared. “Amy, he’s not that kind of guy.”
That needled me. I felt the anger starting to build back up again. “Why does everyone think they know what kind of guy he is, when no one even properly talks to him? He’s hurting. He just needs—”
Krista cut me off with a horrified squeal, clapping a hand over her mouth.
“What?”
“You said the fatal words. He just needs. You want to fix him!”
I opened and closed my mouth a few times, unable to find words. “I know how it sounds….”
/> “It sounds like you’re trying to fix a bad boy.”
“He’s not a bad boy, he’s just—”
“Misunderstood? Oh, Amy, bless you, you’re so naive!”
“Stop patronizing me! He’s just acting! It’s an act!”
“Oh, and there’s a sweet guy underneath?”
“Yes! He cares about kids and babies and—”
“You want a baby with him now?!”
I lost it. “You know what? I’m sick of being the shy friend you’re always trying to help! I can run my own life!”
And I stormed out of the OR, leaving her open-mouthed.
I made it down to the end of the hallway before I faltered and stopped. What am I doing?! I was never like this, all emotional and out of control. Not until Corrigan came along.
I turned around and slowly walked back. When I walked back into the OR, Krista was silently cleaning up. I picked up a broom and helped. Neither of us said a word for a few minutes.
“I’m sorry,” I said at last.
“No, I’m sorry,” Krista said immediately. She lifted her head to look at me and her eyes were moist. “I can be too pushy. I just didn’t want to see you get your heart broken.”
“I’m just strung out from being down in the ER. And I’m all messed up about Corrigan. I do like him.”
She ran to me and pulled me into a deep, warm hug, and it was the best feeling in the world. “You’re not my shy friend,” she said into my shoulder. “You’re just my friend.”
I nodded, my own eyes getting hot. “Krista?”
“Mm-hmm?”
“You’re my best friend. Don’t go anywhere. ‘Kay?”
“‘Kay.”
When we eventually broke the hug, we finished cleaning up. And when we’d done that, Krista went off to find somewhere to get some sleep, while it was still quiet. I stood at the window looking out at the town. I barely recognized Mount Mercy with the buildings half-buried in snow.
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