Truth or Consequences

by Sharon C. Cooper

  He draped his arm around her shoulders. “It’s like you blacked out, but with your eyes wide open. Was it something I said?”

  “I … I …” Her eyes blinked several times and she avoided looking at him. “I don’t think so. I’m not sure.” She stepped away from him, and brushed invisible lint from her clothes. Malik knew she was lying. “To answer your original question, if a mother dies giving birth, the state gets involved. If a child can’t be placed with a family member, they place the child in foster care. I can look into it if you give me the name of the mother.”

  “All right,” he said as they waited for the valet to bring his truck. “But first—” His cell phone vibrated for the third time within minutes. He pulled the iPhone out of his pocket and read the text from Wiz.

  Is Natasha with you? Explosion at the hospital. Call me ASAP.

  Shit. Malik stepped back with Natasha when the valet, who looked barely old enough to drive, pulled up with his truck. After helping her climb in, Malik slapped a few bills into the valet’s hand.

  “Thanks, young-blood.”

  “Thank you!” The kid grinned after glancing at the amount of his tip. “Have a good evening.”

  Malik’s phone vibrated again.

  Five minutes to call me. Otherwise, sending the troops.

  Malik knew why Wiz was anxious. With not knowing how deep the threat went regarding Quinn and Alandra’s life, they all knew that their families could easily be targets.

  He looked at Natasha, preparing to tell her about the situation at the hospital, when his phone rang. He answered.

  “She’s safe. She’s with me.” Natasha studied him expectantly and he switched the call to the Bluetooth feature built into his truck. “Something happened at the hospital,” Malik said to Tasha. “You’re on speaker, Wiz.”

  “Hey Natasha,” Wiz’s voice boomed through the truck and Malik turned the volume down, “there was some type of explosion at the hospital. Just checking to make sure you’re safe.”

  “What? What happened?” Natasha frantically reached for her bag, which was on the floor, and pulled out her cell. After pushing a couple of buttons, she glanced at Malik. “I didn’t get a call.”

  “Wiz, do you have any details?” Malik asked, merging into traffic.

  “Right now, the only thing the media is saying is that a car blew up in the employee parking lot. Not sure if anyone was hurt.”

  “I have to get there,” Natasha said. Malik heard the concern in her voice. Before she could say more, her cell phone rang.

  “Hello,” Natasha answered and listened for a moment, her forehead crinkled with worry. “Layla,” she had to repeat herself several times, “Layla, I need you to calm down. I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”

  “Wiz, thanks for the heads up,” Malik said, trying not to speak too loud so that Natasha could hear Layla. “I’ll give you a call back.”

  Malik made a U-turn and headed in the direction of the hospital. He wasn’t ready for the date to end, but as the chief of staff, he figured Natasha should probably be there.

  “Okay. Okay, I’m on my way. I’ll get there as fast as I can.” Natasha drew her phone to her chest and laid her head against the headrest. “I’m sorry to cut our date short,” she said to Malik, apparently noticing that he was going in the direction of the hospital.

  “No problem.”

  “That was Layla, the nurse you met the other night. She’s pretty messed up, I couldn’t make out anything she was saying.”

  “Well, we’ll see what’s going on. You can do what you need to do, and then I’ll take you home.”

  Natasha turned to him, her mouth slightly ajar. “Malik, I don’t expect you to sit around and wait for me. There’s no telling how long I’ll need to be there.”

  “I’ll wait.”

  “Malik,” he heard the exasperation in her tone, “you don’t have to—”

  Malik shot her a quick glance. “I know I don’t have to, but I am. So you might as well save your breath.”

  He didn’t have to look at her to know that she was staring at him, but he did like that she squashed the debate. He hated repeating himself, and he definitely had no intention of arguing with her.

  With her guiding him, he drove around to the employee parking lot. He heard her gasp when she saw all of the fire trucks, police cars, and people standing around.

  “Oh my God.” Her hand shook against her mouth. “There’s no way there would be this many emergency vehicles and cops here if there wasn’t some injuries, or worse, fatalities.”

  Malik didn’t respond. He hurried around to the passenger’s side and helped her out of the truck.

  “Come on. Let’s see what we can find out.” With her hand securely in his, he guided her through the mass of onlookers.

  “I’m sorry, you can’t get through here.” A police officer stopped them. They could see what was left of the smoldering car.

  “I’m the chief of staff of this hospital.” Natasha showed him her ID. “I need to talk to whoever is in charge.”

  The officer scanned her credentials and handed them back. When he looked at Malik, Natasha was quick to tell him that he was with her.

  “I see someone I know who can give us answers,” Malik stated, spotting Detective Sheldon Baker. Whenever a situation arose with Malik, Wiz, or Quinn and they needed some help from someone inside of the police force, Sheldon was the person they called.

  They walked toward him and he looked up. “What’s up, Malik? What brings you out here?” Sheldon shook his hand and gave him a one-arm hug, and turned his attention to Natasha.

  “Hey, man, this is Natasha Lockham, chief of staff here.” He put his hand at the small of Natasha’s back, encouraging her forward. “Can you give her any information?”

  Sheldon shook Natasha’s hand. “How you doin’?”

  “I’m okay, but I’d be better if I knew what was going on.” A shiver skittered down her back when she saw the charred vehicle, praying no one was inside. “Do you know what happened? Was anyone hurt?” Malik kept his hand at the small of her back, not missing the worry he saw on her face.

  “The fire department just put out the fire, so we’re just getting started.” Sheldon glanced at the notepad in his hand. “Unfortunately, there was one person in the car and one of your nurses suffered some minor injuries. According to Layla Sanders, the person in the car was Tessa—”

  “Oh my God.” Natasha’s hands hovered over her mouth. “Tessa was a nurse who worked in L&D, labor and delivery. Oh no … h–how did this happen? Cars don’t just blow up … do they?” Her frantic eyes shifted from Sheldon to Malik.

  Malik shook his head slightly. He understood Natasha being upset, but he sensed there was something else. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he’d bet all of the money in his wallet that Natasha knew something about this incident.

  “Tasha!” Layla came barreling toward her and might’ve knocked her over had Malik not been standing behind her.

  She held Natasha tight, her sobs growing louder by the minute.

  “Layla.” Natasha gently pushed her back, her hands on Layla’s shoulders as she looked at the bandage around her wrist and the large Band-Aid on the side of her temple. “What happened?”

  “It was terrible.” Layla swiped at her tears. “Tessa forgot one of her bags at the desk. So I grabbed it and ran after her, hoping she hadn’t left the parking lot yet.” Layla took a breath, her hand covering her heart. “I saw her walking toward the car and I called out to her, but … but she didn’t hear me. So I hurried toward her, figuring that she’d see me when she backed out of her parking space. I was about twenty feet from her when,” Layla said on a sob, “she started the car. Suddenly, there was this loud boom. Before I knew it, I was thrown through the air and landed over there.”

  Malik’s gaze followed to where she pointed.

  “Do you know if she was having any trouble with anyone?” Sheldon asked.

  A knowing look
passed between Natasha and Layla. Malik knew they were hiding something.

  Sheldon met Malik’s gaze, apparently thinking the same thing.

  Malik placed his hand against Natasha’s waist and pulled her close, her butt bumping against the front of his body. Damn she feels good. This wasn’t the time for his body to spring to attention, but everything about the woman threw him off his game. Using all of his restraint, he reined in his self-control. His lips brushed up against her ear and he whispered, “If you know something, now would be a good time to speak up. You can trust him.”

  She turned and her gaze landed on his lips. He desperately wanted to kiss her at that moment, but then she looked up. His heart slammed into his chest. Her beautiful brown eyes held something: fear, concern, he wasn’t sure what, but he planned to find out.

  Seconds passed with them staring into each other’s eyes, and despite the seriousness of the situation, he wanted to bend down and kiss her tempting lips. This woman did things to him that no other woman had ever done. Sure she was sexy as hell and he was attracted to her physically, but he had a burning desire to protect her.

  She finally shook her head. “I didn’t know Tessa personally,” she said softly. “I’m … I just can’t believe that something like this has happened again.”

  “Again?” Malik and Sheldon said at the same time. Malik had temporarily forgotten Sheldon and Layla were standing close enough to hear his and Natasha’s conversation.

  “What do you mean again?” Malik asked, turning her so that she was fully facing him. “When did something like this happen before?”

  She looked at Malik expectantly, as if he should know what she was talking about. When he didn’t speak, she turned to Sheldon.

  “Isabella. She was a nurse here. A few months ago, her house blew up and she died inside.”

  Malik gave himself a mental slap. No wonder Natasha looked at him as if he should understand. When Alandra had reemerged from the dead, the former CIA agent, Isabella, provided information about the person who tried to kill her. Alandra and Quinn sought her out for answers, and they barely escaped with their life when the woman’s house exploded, killing her in the process. Natasha didn’t know that Alandra and Quinn had been in the house or were connected to Isabella in any way. Only a handful of people knew she was former CIA.

  Terror crept up his back as he did a mental catalog of what had taken place before and after the house explosion. There was no way the two situations were connected … or were they?

  Malik glanced around the parking lot, the crowd slowly thinning. His gut told him that the bombings weren’t connected, but right now he wasn’t ruling anything out. He continued to scan the lot until his gaze fell upon a small group of hospital staff and a familiar face came into view. Ray Newton. Their gazes held and the same foreboding Malik felt during their first encounter swirled around in the pit of his stomach, slowly making its way up his throat. He didn’t care what title the hospital gave the guy, he had a feeling he was more than a health records technician.

  Chapter Six

  Natasha swiveled back and forth in her office chair, twirling her pen between her fingers, trying to decide her next move. Between assisting with grief counseling for the staff, to attending meeting after meeting regarding the car explosion, the last three days had been the busiest since she stepped into her new position. There was a time when she thought she could make a difference at the hospital as chief of staff, but now she wasn’t so sure.

  A stab of pain pierced her heart each time she thought about Tessa and the family she left behind. In addition, finding out the car explosion was caused by a bomb attached to the fuel tank of Tessa’s car brought on a level of fear for her and her staff, thinking that they might be next.

  Natasha leaned forward in her chair, and according to the time, she had fifteen minutes to get to a meeting with the administrative team. Since her telephone call to them regarding Dr. Halsey, it seemed as though she was meeting with them daily; answering their questions, reviewing information and patient’s records. It made her even more concerned that Dr. Halsey might have been at fault for at least three of the deaths in the last two months.

  A shudder crawled up Natasha’s spine and she shivered at the thought. She gathered her notepad and pen, as well as the file she had put together. The whole situation didn’t seem real. How could someone who took an oath to never do harm to his patients intentionally take their life? A nauseating, sinking feeling of despair settled in her gut. She still hadn’t told risk management of her suspicions that Dr. Halsey and Tessa might have been working together. But what could she say? She didn’t have concrete evidence that there was anything illegal going on between him and Tessa. What Natasha needed was proof.

  She grabbed her keys and hurried out of her office, opting to take the stairs instead of the elevator, since she only had to go up one floor.

  “Good afternoon, Dr. Lockham,” a familiar deep voice called out from behind her.

  Natasha turned to find Ray strolling toward her. Funny how she’d seen him practically every day this week, when she had never seen him prior to their run-in last week. His grin and cool demeanor always brought a smile to her face.

  “Hi Ray. It’s good to see you.”

  “You too.” He glanced around. “Do you have a moment to talk?”

  “Unfortunately, I’m on my way to a meeting. Can it—”

  “Actually, it’ll only take a moment.” He gestured with his hand for them to step off to the side. “I wanted to see if you were free for lunch tomorrow. I know this real nice Mexican restaurant not too far from here that I’d love to take you to.”

  What is going on today?

  Earlier, Martin had called to invite her to breakfast, despite her telling him that she needed to put some space between them. Now Ray. In his defense, Natasha hadn’t come out and told him she wasn’t interested. She liked him and didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

  “Ray, I appreciate your invitation, but I have to be honest with you. I don’t date people I work with.”

  “Who said anything about dating?” he asked, his tone combative and his eyes narrowed. “I just thought it would be nice to take you out to lunch.”

  Natasha took a step back, surprised by his tone. Malik’s words popped into her mind. There’s something about him that doesn’t sit right with me. Natasha had waved his words off, but at Ray’s tone and the lethal aura bouncing off him, she was starting to wonder if Malik might’ve been right.

  Ray ran his hands over his low-cut hair and then dropped his arms to his side, his eyes brimming with defeat. “Listen, I’m sorry. It’s just that … it has been an exhausting day. Between taking care of my sick mother, moving, and dealing with the stress of the bomb, life is a bit much these days. The energy around here is a little depressing. That’s still no excuse for my tone. I shouldn’t be taking my frustration out on you.”

  For the first time since he’d stopped her, Natasha took in his appearance. The tail of his shirt was hanging out, his nametag was on crooked, and most noticeably his shoes weren’t as shiny as usual. Each time she’d seen him, he’d been impeccably groomed, but not today.

  She relaxed her stance. “Believe me, I understand. It has been a tough few days for everyone. If you need to talk to someone,” she tried to choose her words carefully so as not to make him go into defense mode, “there are grief counselors on site. They are not only for those who are having trouble dealing with what happened a few days ago. If you need to, please don’t hesitate to speak to one of them.”

  “Dr. Lockham?” Natasha looked back at the door of the conference room. “We’re ready to start.”

  “I’ll be right there.” Natasha turned back to Ray. “I’m sorry I have to cut this short,” she said backing away, “but don’t forget what I said. Talk to someone if you need to.”

  Ray nodded, but Natasha had a feeling he didn’t intend on speaking to a counselor. She wasn’t surprised. Most of her male staff members had
n’t taken advantage of having the counselors on site. She just hoped Ray got help before the stress of his life became too much for him.

  Two hours later, Natasha sat at her desk, her head in her hands. Tides of weariness flowing through her body. The meeting with risk management had gone as expected. Dr. Halsey was suspended until a thorough investigation could be done on his most recent cases. She hated convicting anyone before knowing the whole truth, yet she understood why the hospital was taking such measures. They took threats to the well-being of their patients very seriously, and now there was enough evidence to prove the doctor’s methods of late were a hindrance. If word got out that they had a doctor on staff who might be intentionally killing new mothers, all hell would break loose. Regardless, the question that burned in Natasha’s mind was why. Why would he risk his career like this? And had Tessa been involved? If so, had he killed her?

  Natasha’s heart broke for him and his family. Three years ago, he and his wife had lost their youngest son to leukemia. As a couple, they had struggled to get over the loss. There was even rumor of divorce. It wasn’t until Dr. Halsey started the Rescue a Child foundation did he and his wife start to heal from their loss. Now this. Risk management had tried reaching Dr. Halsey by phone, but as of yet, he hadn’t returned the call. Natasha wondered if he knew this was coming. The fact that he suddenly took vacation didn’t help his case, only prolonged the inevitable.

  The ringing of Natasha’s cell phone broke the silence surrounding her. She dug through her purse and pulled it out.

  “Hello.”

  “Natasha? This is Malik.”

  “Hi,” she said, her voice flat, matching the lack of enthusiasm she felt. She honestly didn’t feel like talking to anyone and had answered the telephone on automatic pilot.

  “Everything okay?” Malik’s baritone voice held a tinge of concern. “You don’t sound like yourself.”

  Natasha sighed loudly. “Yeah. Just another day at the job. I need a damn vacation,” she muttered.