Flat Line

by J. M. Madden

  Roz frowned, realizing how cold her voice had sounded to him. "I don't mean to sound bitchy. I just... don't prefer to be around m...people."

  His expression eased into a polite smile, like he hadn't even noticed her slip. "I know exactly what you mean. I don't either. I might scout around outside if you don't mind."

  She waved her free hand. "Have fun. The entire mountain is mine to the power line clearing."

  He doffed his hat to her and moved for the door. She had an attack of conscience and cringed. "Don't be gone too long. Andromeda will freak."

  "Agreed," he said softly, and moved out the door.

  Roz watched the big man go. He hadn't made a sound, even though it looked like he had ten pounds of junk in that pocketed vest thing. He needed a pipe in his mouth or something to chew on. Hopefully he had a compass because she really didn't want to go find his ass late at night.

  The pipes rattled as Andromeda turned her shower off. Crossing the room to her dining room table she checked on her patient, but he was sleeping deeply, as she'd expected. The light sedative she'd given him would help him sleep easier. The wound wasn't life threatening now, though he had lost a lot of blood. And he had a bit of a fever, but the antibiotics would beat that off.

  She could see why Andy had been so gone on him. The guy was a hunk. There were scars on his body, though, that you didn't get from sitting at a desk. This man got out and did the hard work that the country needed. She'd counted three other gunshot wounds on him, as well as several other apparent knife wounds. She'd seen her fair share of both when she'd been in Columbus. For a moment when she'd been treating him it had been like she'd never left. She kept her certifications up, but that was it. She lived comfortably off the settlement money the hospital had been ordered to pay, so she certainly didn't need a job.

  As she glanced down the man's body, she had to admit it had gotten her blood pumping a bit.

  Roz took a sip of her wine as she walked into the living room and settled onto the couch. In a way this was going to work out for her. For some reason she'd been craving human interaction recently. Her twenty-year old son was going to college in Atlanta and she'd always stuck close for him, in case he needed her. But recently, he'd been relying more on his friends and acquaintances than her.

  Was this just an empty-nest issue? She looked through the window and out at the vista before her. That view was precious to her. And she couldn't imagine giving it up just because she missed talking with someone about the weather. That view had saved her sanity over the years.

  Now, there were two men on her mountain, when there never had been before. That put her on edge.

  Andy came through the hallway, her eyes going immediately to the man still laying on the table. She glanced at Roz. "Is he doing okay?"

  Roz nodded. "He'll be fine with some rest and medications. You don't need to worry about him."

  Andromeda crossed the room and went down on her knees in front of the couch, then she wrapped Roz in a huge, bony hug. Roz returned the hug gratefully, her eyes filling with tears. "You need to gain some weight, woman," she groused, prodding at Andromeda's bicep as she pulled away.

  Andy laughed and gripped her hands in her own. "Whatever. You always tell me that."

  "It's always true. What's the last thing you ate today?"

  Andy screwed up her face in thought. "Gummy bears?"

  Roz could have gagged. "That is so wrong. You need actual food."

  Andy shrugged her shoulders. "Had other things on my mind," she admitted. "Oh, can you bandage this for me? It's in such an awkward spot."

  She turned her arm and showed her a long gash. Roz felt terrible for not even noticing it. "Oh, damn. Yes, let's get this cleaned up."

  Pushing off the couch she headed over to the med kit on the floor. She disinfected the cut and looked at it in the light of the window. It wasn't deep enough to require stitches, but it would definitely be irritating to heal up. "I'm going to superglue this one."

  She applied the fast setting glue and held it until it sealed. "That will keep out debris and stuff. If you feel it split, let me know and we'll do it again."

  Andromeda didn't know what she'd do without Roz in her life. She turned and gave the woman another hug, seriously happy to see her in the flesh. Texts and emails were fine but seeing a person in person was so much better. "How have you been? How's Tyler?"

  Roz rolled her eyes. "He's too good to answer his mom's texts and calls. That was part of why I came up here. I was tired of being ignored and discounted."

  Andromeda laughed. "Well, he's a big college student now. He doesn't have time to be coddled by his mother."

  "I don't coddle him, but I do keep tabs on him. Or I try to."

  Tyler had been one of those kids that had barely scraped through high school, but he was suddenly loving college. He had no goal in mind other than to try everything. Andromeda would have been frustrated too. "Well, I can't tell you how happy I am you were here. Eventually I probably would have had to take Parker in to the hospital and we all would have been in danger. Thank you for patching him up here."

  Her friend smiled, the creases around her eyes deepening. "No problem. Although I will admit to being a little on edge that you brought two strange men to my mountain."

  Andromeda cringed. "I know. I'm very sorry. This would never have been an option if I thought the men were even the slightest bit dangerous." She paused. "Let me say that differently. If I thought they were the slightest danger to you, this would not have even been an option."

  And it wouldn't have been. They'd have found somewhere else to chill and allow Parker to recuperate.

  "Parker is a good guy. A little too devoted to a different lifestyle for my taste, but his heart was always solid gold. And Mac, well, he's former military as well but he has the most calming personality. I can't imagine him ever fighting in a war, now. He'd rather just get lost in his books and research. He has a liberal studies doctorate as well as a biology degree. This situation isn't anything he chose for himself, but he had vital information and he stepped up to volunteer it. Even as we were running for our lives he kept his cool. He's a practical, useful bookworm. He might want to raid your book shelves."

  Roz sighed. "I might let him, I guess. Wine?"

  "Hell, yes!"

  Chapter 9

  Parker opened his eyes a few hours later. Again, he was disoriented looking up at a swaying light fixture. Looked like something you'd see over a kitchen table. But it had an IV fluid bag hanging from it.

  Rocking his head, he looked around. Was this the cabin where they'd pulled up earlier? It about had to be. Blinking the sleep from his eyes he lifted a hand to rub at his dry eyes, then blinked them open again.

  He seemed to be in a kitchen, laying on a hard as fuck table. His legs were throbbing with pain. He lifted up on one elbow and waited for his head to stop spinning and his gut to stop twinging. It was quivering like a muscle that had been over exercised, but the pain was manageable. Using his arms, he pushed to a sitting position.

  Yeah, he could do this.

  Parker heard voices murmuring to his right. One sounded like Andromeda, and there was a deeper woman's voice he didn't recognize. Was that the shotgun lady?

  Sliding off the edge of the table he put first one foot down, then the other. As his weight settled onto his better left leg, he winced in pain. It had been too long since he'd been vertical. Even as he thought it, he started to get a cramp in his right calf.

  "Fuck."

  He knew if he bent down there was a chance he'd go ass over tea kettle. The cramp would go away in a minute. It would.

  Andromeda gasped when she came in and he opened his eyes. What a lame fuck she must think he was. They had basically taken care of him for the entire day. He glanced out the window. The sun was going down soon, and it had been morning when they'd picked up Mac.

  "Is your witness okay?" he demanded.

  She nodded, walking toward him. "Yes, he's fine. He's outside co
mmuning with nature, like he does every day. Are you okay?"

  Parker forced a nod, even as he tried to stretch out his toes. The cramp tightened more painfully, and he grimaced.

  "What is it, Parker? Tell me!"

  "Cramp," he gasped.

  She looked down and before he could say anything she'd started massaging the quivering muscle. He'd have cried out in pain, but he still had some pride and he bit it off. Her long fingers moved up and down his calf and he had to admit it felt better than just suffering through it.

  It felt good enough that he began to notice the position she was in.

  Could he be any more humiliated?

  Grabbing the blanket he'd been laying upon, he wrapped it around his hips. "I think I'm okay, Andy. Thank you."

  She looked up at him, her golden eyes full of worry. Giving her a hand, he pulled her to her feet, but she didn't step away. Instead she took a step forward, planting her feet outside of his own, and wrapped her arms around him.

  Parker had dreamt about having Andromeda in his arms almost constantly since he'd gotten the call a few days ago. But his dreams didn't compare to how she actually felt. She buried her face into his neck and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, burying his nose into her hair. Thoughts of when they'd been together crowded into his brain. There had been so many good times.

  Her hands stroked his back. "I was worried about you."

  "Meh, I knew I was good. As long as the bullet goes through you're okay."

  She pulled back to give him a frowning look. "So, the other three bullets you've taken have all gone through?"

  He laughed, then clutched his side. "Okay, you caught me. No, none of the others did. That was why they knocked me out of the game for so long."

  She shook her head at him, then her fingers were running over his jaw. Angling the tips of her fingers she let the nails scrape against his whiskers, something they'd both loved years ago.

  Parker didn't know what to do. She felt so good in his arms, but there was no sense in encouraging anything. He had a life in Colorado, now, and she was very firmly ensconced in Columbus. She had a solid career path and he would never interfere with that.

  She seemed to realize how dangerous she was being, because she stepped back. Parker let the rest of his weight settle onto his right leg, needing the pain to bring him back to reality. It did exactly that. Clenching his teeth, he snugged the blanket around his hips. "Thank you for saving me from your friend."

  Andy grinned, her broad smile almost blinding to him. "You're welcome. It was a near thing. Luckily she's more inclined to save lives than take them."

  "For now," an alto voice agreed. "Cross me and I'll give you another scar, and I'll make sure it doesn't go through."

  Parker grinned, liking the matter-of-fact woman a lot. She was short and petite, but strong willed. She reached out and took his hand in her own.

  "Why don't you sit down before you fall down? Rosalind White."

  "Parker Quinn," he told her, settling into the chair she pulled out for him.

  "Andromeda, why don't you get Mr. Quinn a bottle of water?"

  Andy moved to do as the older woman suggested. Parker was impressed. He took the water bottle she handed him, only realizing then how thirsty he was. With a few heavy swallows he drank the bottle down.

  "I wouldn't drink any more than that," Roz cautioned.

  Yeah, he thought that too.

  "Where are we?" he asked, looking out the window, then back to Andy.

  "West Virginia."

  His brows shot up in surprise, but she didn't flinch.

  "That's a long way from Columbus."

  Andy shrugged.

  "Not really. A few hours. It's no big deal."

  "Are you confident we weren't followed?"

  She shrugged her narrow shoulders. "As confident as Mac and I can be."

  Well, that was as much as they could hope for, he supposed.

  "I told Mike I would email him when we got settled."

  Parker nodded. That made sense.

  Rosalind moved to the fridge and peered into the freezer. She rummaged around for a moment before pulling out a blue bag. "I'll have some dinner made within the next hour."

  "I can help."

  Parker watched the two women together. It was obvious they were very good friends because they talked about subject after subject without pause, all the while getting a delicious smelling dinner together. Parker's stomach growled. It had been a day since he'd eaten anything, and he was really feeling the lack.

  The medical equipment was cleared away and Roz took him off the IV. "As long as you keep drinking and taking in nutrients I think you'll be fine."

  Andy set a tall glass of water in front of him and he gave her a smile. She turned away quickly.

  A half hour later when she set the plate of food in front of him, he grabbed her hand before she could pull away. Her eyes flicked to his. "Are you doing okay?"

  She nodded and pulled her fingers from his. "I'm going to go see where Mac is."

  Parker didn't say anything, just watched her go through the front door and out onto the porch. As soon as she closed the door behind herself he was pushing up out of the chair.

  "Hey, now," Roz started, but he waved her away.

  "I'm good. Going to go take a piss."

  She gave him a narrow-eyed look then nodded her chin out the window. "There's a reading area about a hundred and fifty yards to the west. That's probably where they'll be." She pointed a finger at him. "Don't make me have to carry your ass. Stay on the trail.”

  Parker gave her a grin and a wink, then followed Andy.

  Walking wasn't too bad. There had been pain when he'd pushed up from the table but it was manageable. He probably still had some pain killer running through his veins. When it ran out in a few hours, he might be singing a different song though.

  There was a well-worn path to the right, through the side yard and into the woods. Before he followed the obvious trail he did a little reconnoitering. The cabin sat in the middle of a clearing. Trees of all kinds surrounded the property, all losing their leaves. The fading colors were beautiful, though. Vibrant and startling against the fading light in the sky.

  There was a small outbuilding with a portable generator inside, as well as a huge tank to fuel it. Parker glanced at the fuel gage. Roz was a smart woman. She could be trapped up here for weeks and with this much fuel it didn't matter. She'd be fine.

  Circling the house, he looked for weaknesses, but there weren't many. Roz had a sturdy little escape here. Andy had said she'd been a client before they'd been friends and he had to wonder what kind of client.

  Parker paused at the vehicles to look down the rutted track of a driveway. Your average passenger car would not make it up that. Hell, he bet even the four-wheel drives struggled. Leaning back against the car for a moment, he drew in a few deep breaths. It felt good to be outside. Reaching into Andromeda's car he found the bag he'd grabbed early this morning from his truck. There was a lot of blood inside the car. When he felt better he needed to get out here and clean it up.

  Setting the bag on the hood of her car he pulled out a spare pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Bending over was out so he had to finagle the jeans carefully before pulling them up his hips. The shirt was easier, but he was still out of breath by the time he was done. Removing his spare weapon, he slipped it into the back waistband of his pants. He'd have to ask Andy what she'd done with his other gun.

  He started down the path Roz had directed him to. He was a hundred feet in when he met Mac on the path. The other man seemed surprised to see him on his feet. Parker gave him a smile. "I'm hard to keep down."

  Mac grinned at him and held out his hand. "It's good, though. I was worried you were done for."

  "Nah. You know as well as I do when you have a mission, you take a licking and keep on ticking."

  Mac gave him an ironic nod. "Isn't that the truth?"

  "Roz has some dinner ready if you're interested
."

  Mac smiled slightly. "That's what Andromeda said." He made a motion down the path. "She asked for some privacy."

  Parker looked down the path, wondering if that request applied to him. "You don't know where my gun went, do you?"

  Without a word, Mac reached behind his back and pulled out Parker's HK, handing it over. Parker looked at it in surprise, then up at Mac. The older man shrugged uncomfortably. "Seemed prudent to stay armed. I cleaned it for you, but you only have one mag. Must have reloaded in the park and dropped your empty."

  Parker nodded. "I did," he said slowly. "I have more mags in my bag. Thank you."

  Without a word, Mac tipped his hat and turned toward the cabin.

  "Hey, Mac."

  The other man turned to look at him and Parker held out his backup weapon. "If you're comfortable..."

  Mac looked at the gun for a long time and Parker wondered how long ago he'd gotten out of the service. Maybe it wasn't old hat anymore and he didn't want the responsibility.

  Mac took the weapon with a heavy sigh and checked it, then slipped it into a hidden spot. Touching his fingers to the brim of his hat, he turned for the cabin.

  Parker stared after him thoughtfully. Andy had said that he was a former Green Beret. Guess that old training had kicked in.

  The path away from the cabin was easy to follow. It was obvious it had been used well over the years. He misstepped on a stone and cranked his left ankle, his weak one. That pain radiated up into his gut and he had to pause for a moment to catch his breath. He used to run on shit worse than this barefoot, but at thirty-five, and today especially, he felt like an old man.

  He looked around, but the trees seemed to stretch a long ways. The trail curved down and to the right and there was a huge truck-sized boulder at the side of the trail he couldn't see around. His energy was beginning to wane and he felt like a pussy, tiring out so easily.

  Then he heard her. All of his own worries disappeared as he caught the sound of her sobbing. Rounding the boulder, his gaze roved the small stream he'd found. There, over a small bridge was a beautiful little gazebo. He had to stare for a moment because he couldn't believe it was here. But it wasn't just a gazebo. There were panels on the sides that appeared to be for blocking out the weather. They were all up and open right now, like weird petals of a flower.