Find Me, Save Me

by Barbara Gee

  Madison gave another nod. “Okay,” she murmured.

  He squeezed her left arm and then stood back. One of the kids efficiently hooked her IV pump to the bed, and secured the suction container that went with her chest tube to the bed rail. Then they unlocked the wheels on the bed and slowly moved her out of the room. With Officer Stuckey following close behind, they made their way to the patient elevator.

  Tuck watched them until the elevator doors closed, then he went back into her room and made a call to Tim and Emma. After he told them Maddy was awake, they gave him an update from their end.

  The men they had captured in the road block had all been processed and were cooling their heels in the county jail. None of them had yielded any further useful information yet. Unfortunately, Jimmy was too smart to let the lower level hired help in on his plans.

  The immigrant girls had been taken to an ICE processing center. It was likely they would face deportation, but that was certainly a better fate than they would have faced had they been sold off by Jimmy Callahan.

  Tuck told Tim and Emma that he planned to stay put at the hospital for a while, unless something came up and he was needed.

  “Do you need me to go by your place and pack a bag with some fresh clothes?” Emma asked. “I could overnight them to you.”

  “Thanks for the offer, but there’s a shopping center right down the road. It’ll be easy enough to pick up a few things there,” Tuck told her.

  “All right, then. Tell Madison we’re pulling for her, okay? I’d like to try to get down there to visit her once she’s feeling up to it.”

  “That’s sweet of you, Em, but I’m not sure when that’ll be. She’s going to need surgery on her legs and her arm, at least that’s what the doctor said yesterday. We’ll know more after we get the results of the X-rays.”

  “Okay, well let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

  “Will do, Em. I’ll be in touch.”

  Tuck hung up and checked the time. He decided he might as well head down to the cafeteria for breakfast, as there was nothing for him to do here at the moment. To avoid attracting attention, he left his FBI jacket in the room. It had its uses, but he didn’t need to prove his identity to the people in the hospital cafeteria.

  His stomach growled anew as he approached the cafeteria, which was located down on the ground floor. Realizing he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast the day before, he loaded up on scrambled eggs, bacon, a Belgian waffle with extra syrup, orange juice and a carton of milk. He had just finished eating and grabbed another large coffee to go when his phone dinged with a text message.

  He opened it as he strolled toward the elevator, then stopped in his tracks when a picture flashed onto the screen. He enlarged it, realized what he was seeing, and took off sprinting for the stairwell, tossing his coffee in the first trashcan he passed. He launched himself up the stairs, taking the four flights in less time than he would have spent just waiting for the elevator.

  Bolting from the stairwell he found himself at the far end of Madison’s hallway and he ran as fast as he could toward her room, dodging people and equipment, muttering a string of excuse me’s but not slowing down.

  When he reached Madison’s room he stopped and stared, his chest heaving. The same scene that had been in the texted photo faced him. His FBI jacket was draped over the chair beside the spot where Madison’s bed had been, with a small knife stabbed through the ‘B’ into the chair back.

  His phone dinged again. Jaw clenched, Tuck raised it and opened the new message.

  Where are you, ole buddy? I sent a friend to say hello to my favorite little gal, and this was the best he could do.

  Tuck angrily typed out his own text. Come say hello yourself, asshole. I’ll be waiting.

  Jimmy’s reply was long and came in several different text messages. I might do that if I was closer. But you got me chased away again. I’m a long ways from where you are, and I ain’t happy about it. But I got a long reach Tucker. I got unfinished business with that little gal Madison, and also with your purty little sister. I maybe can’t take care of business with my own two hands but it WILL be taken care of. You can count on that, good buddy. I’ll be in touch.

  Tuck inhaled on an angry hiss, fighting the urge to throw his phone against the wall with all his might. Controlling his fury with an effort he sprinted back out the way he had come, punching Libby’s number into his phone as he ran.

  She answered as he was running across the street, car horns blaring.

  “Lib, are you okay?” he panted, dodging one last car and leaping over a row of decorative shrubs. He entered the hotel and hustled to the stairwell.

  “Well I was, until you called,” Libby complained. “I was fast asleep, Tuck. What in the world? Wait, is Maddy okay? What’s wrong?”

  “Maddy’s ok. She’s in radiology. I’m almost to your room, get up and let me in.”

  He knocked and the door immediately opened, a disheveled Libby squinting up at him.

  “God, Tuck. You’re scaring me to death,” she said as he hugged her close.

  “I’ll explain, but hang on a sec. I need to call Officer Stuckey,”

  Dialing the number he had been given that morning, he waited for the officer to answer.

  “Officer Stuckey, it’s Agent Simon. Is everything okay with Madison?”

  “Everything is fine, she’s been in the CT scan room for thirty minutes. No one new in or out during that time. What’s up?”

  Tuck explained, letting Libby listen so she knew exactly what had gone down. She clapped a hand over her mouth, her blue eyes huge.

  “I’m over at the hotel with my sister,” Tuck continued. “She and Madison have both been threatened now, so we’re going to have to increase security.” Tuck told the officer he would be back over to the hospital soon, but stopped short of trusting the man with the news that he was going to be requesting that Madison be moved to a different hospital just as soon as she was stable. He had no reason not to trust Stuckey, but he had been burned too many times. That thought made him desperate to get back to the hospital, where he could keep an eye on both women himself.”

  “Grab your things, Lib, we need to get back.”

  Thankfully she didn’t question him and was ready to go in record time.

  “I’ll get some of my own guys down here, sis,” Tuck promised as they left the room. “Once I have people I know I can trust to protect you, you can come back over here and catch another nap.”

  “It’s okay. I couldn’t sleep now if I tried. I just want to be with you and Maddy.”

  He put his arm around her. “Let’s get back to her.”

  Back at the hospital, Tuck ordered the clerk manning the nurses’ station to let him know the second Madison was finished with her X-rays, and to notify the transport guys that she was not be moved from the radiology unit until he got down there to accompany her.

  Then he called his boss and filled him in.

  “I’d appreciate it if you could send someone down here, Tim,” Tuck said. “I can’t bring myself to totally trust the locals again. I need our own people, three if you can spare them. We need people on Libby and Maddy at all times, and I’ll need some help going through the hospital security videos. I don’t think Jimmy has the capability of tampering with their cameras, so with any luck we’ll be able to get a visual of his man.”

  “Marcus, Dan and Emma will be on their way within the hour,” Tim declared. “Try to see this as a good thing, Tuck. No one got hurt, and Jimmy is still craving contact with you. That obsession is our only hope of tracking him down.”

  “I know that, Tim, but he got way too close. Logically I know he couldn’t have gotten into her room if she’d actually been here, because he’d have had to get past both the cop and me. But the fact that whoever Jimmy sent got so close is galling. I’m always a step behind and words can’t express how infuriating that is. I didn’t even know Jimmy knew Madison’s name, and now I find he’s already tracked
her here to the hospital.”

  “We need to move her.”

  “Agreed. I’m going to request a meeting with her surgeon as soon as he can make himself available. I’m hoping that if the CT scan shows she hasn’t suffered any brain trauma, Dr. Stanton will say we can move her. We also need to find out whether her orthopedic surgeries can wait until we get her to a different hospital. I just need to figure out where to take her. She needs the best doctors, and then a place to recover once she’s released from the hospital. I need to find somewhere safe and peaceful where she can focus on getting better, body and soul.”

  His sister smiled sadly over at him from where she was curled in the visitor chair she had moved into the corner while awaiting Madison’s return.

  “I’ll get Emma on it,” Tim said. “She can research top orthopedic surgeons on the way down there.”

  “I appreciate it, boss. Thanks.”

  A moment after he hung up the phone, Libby sat suddenly forward, her expression intense.

  “I’ve got it, Tuck! Oh my gosh, I know where we can go.”

  He raised a brow. “Hit me, I’m open to anything.”

  “Mayo Clinic,” Libby said, beaming. “The one in Minnesota.”

  Tuck narrowed his eyes, looking at her curiously. “That’s thousands of miles away. Why that one?”

  Libby walked over and placed her hands on his shoulders, her eyes sparkling. “It’s a top notch hospital, Tuck, everyone knows that. And it’s also pretty close to the absolute best, most peaceful place I know. A place that would be perfect for recuperating.”

  Tuck cocked his head, frowning down at her. “What are you—” he broke off his question as understanding dawned. Libby grinned and nodded.

  “The Full Heart Ranch. Tell me it’s not a perfect solution.”

  Tuck folded his arms, his brows drawn together as his mind cycled through the implications.

  “Go ahead, Tuck. Run the pros and cons through that big brain of yours like you always do. But I’m right this time, I know it. It’s the ideal place for Maddy, and I’m going with her. I refuse to leave her side. Admit it, bro,” she chirped, shaking him playfully. “It’s a perfect solution!”

  A reluctant smile teased his lips. “You might be right, Lib. Let me think about it a bit, and run it by Tim. But yeah, that might be just the place for you two. Do you think you can take that much time off work, though?”

  “I quit last week. I hated that job anyway.”

  “Seriously? You quit?” Tuck’s eyes narrowed again. “You’re not just saying you hated it so I don’t feel guilty about ruining things, are you?”

  “No way. I’ve been sending out my résumé for a few weeks now. Honest.”

  He nodded slowly. “I can’t say I’m sorry to hear it, because I love the idea of you staying with Madison.”

  Libby clapped her hands. “You have no idea how excited I would be to go back to Uncle Virgil and Aunt Kay’s ranch. I had the best times of my entire life at that place, and it’s tragic that it’s been five years since I’ve been out there.”

  “Has it been that long for you? That means it’s been even longer for me, because I missed the last visit before Mom and Dad died.”

  “You thought you were too old and sophisticated to vacation at a working ranch,” Libby accused.

  “My mistake,” Tuck said. “So you think Madison would be happy recuperating there?”

  “Oh gosh, yes. She’ll never want to leave.”

  “I’ll think on it overnight,” Tuck declared. “If I decide it’s the best place, and Tim approves, I’ll contact Virgil and Kay. I want to be up front with them, because even though I can’t imagine Jimmy finding you girls there, I can’t completely rule it out. We’ll take all the precautions we can, but Virgil and Kay still need to know what they would be agreeing to.”

  “But they will agree,” Libby said confidently. “They’ll do anything for us, you know that. Even though we’ve sucked at visiting them, we’ve both stayed in touch and I know that means the world to them.”

  Tuck nodded. “I try to call them every couple of months. And you’re right, they’ll take you and Madison in no matter what. But I still want to mull it over.”

  Libby sighed. “As usual. But I’m not worried. It’s perfect and I know you’ll end up agreeing with me.”

  They both turned to the door when they heard a soft tapping. A nurse poked her head in. “Oh, I thought Ms. Harper was back up from radiology. I was going to show her how to use her pain medication pump.”

  “I’m supposed to be notified when she’s ready to come up,” Tuck said curtly. “She’s not to be moved until I get down there.”

  “Let me check on that. I’ll be right back.”

  The nurse hurried away, and returned a moment later. “She’s ready to come up.”

  “Thanks,” Tuck said, grabbing Libby’s hand and hurrying out the door and down the hall. Time to get Madison back on his watch.

  Chapter 13

  Madison was in obvious pain as they wheeled her back up to the fourth floor and into her room. Officer Stuckey had been surprised when Tucker and Libby had shown up to accompany them back upstairs, but he knew his place and had wisely kept any comments to himself.

  “I’m going to find that nurse so she can show Maddy how to get her pain medicine,” Libby whispered, hating to see her friend wincing with every breath she took.

  “Don’t go any further than the nurses’ station,” Tuck warned softly. “And bring back some more ice chips.”

  Libby agreed and left. Tuck lowered himself into the chair by Madison’s bed and gently touched her uninjured arm.

  “Hey, Madison, it’s Tuck. I know you’re in a lot of pain right now. Libby went to find someone to help with that.”

  Maddy felt his hand on her arm and heard his voice, and she turned her head slightly toward him. He was right, the pain was bad and getting worse. Being moved from her bed onto the CT machine and then back again had been excruciating, and Maddy had thought she was going to pass out several times. And then the moves had to be repeated in the X-ray room. By the time all the X-rays had been completed she was in constant agony, especially her ribs. She could only take short, shallow breaths and she felt like she was going to suffocate.

  Not being able to see was almost as bad as the pain. She had panicked earlier, during the scan. She couldn’t help but think maybe her eyes had been permanently damaged. The guy doing the scan had assured her that her eyes were uninjured, but the facial injuries she’d sustained meant it would be a while before she could open them due to the swelling. She was relieved to hear it, but she hated being blind in the meantime, not knowing what was going on around her, or who was in her room at any given time. Not being able to see Libby and Tucker.

  “Hello, Ms. Harper,” a new voice said. “I’m Nadine, your nurse for today. I’m going to hang a bag of pain medication for you, okay? Hang on just a second, and then I’ll show you how to administer it when you need it. It’ll tap right into your IV line.”

  After a moment, the nurse continued.

  “Okay, I’m going to put a little device in your hand—do you feel that?”

  “Yeah,” Maddy whispered.

  “Okay, it’s real simple. There’s a button on that little thingie you’re holding, and when you need more medication, you just push the button, okay? You don’t have to worry about getting too much, because the machine won’t let you go over a certain limit. But you should be able to get a lot of relief. Go ahead and give it a try, I’m sure you’re ready for a dose after all those X-rays.”

  Maddy gratefully pushed the button with her thumb. Almost immediately she began feeling the effects. Her mind began drifting as the pain started to diminish, and her thoughts spun once again to Tucker.

  It was so hard to believe that Tucker Simon was standing beside her right now, she thought almost dreamily. Since seeing the photos of him in Libby’s apartment, Maddy had fantasized many times about meeting him in person. One
scenario had her stopping by Libby’s apartment, dressed to the nines and looking her best of course, with Tucker unexpectedly answering the door for his sister. They had taken one look at each other and basically fallen in love.

  Too bad her sappy scenario hadn’t panned out. Instead of seeing her at her best, Tucker’s first glimpse of her was over a video link when she was tied up and maddeningly helpless, a punching bag for a madman. In spite of what she had endured over the past few days, in spite of the pain she was in right now, Maddy still had it in her to regret not being able to make a better first impression.

  She sighed softly as sleep claimed her.

  While she slept, Tuck went to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat. When he returned to the room, he convinced Libby to go down and get the big salad she’d been craving. She hadn’t yet returned when Tuck noticed Maddy stirring, and he scooted his chair closer to her bed.

  “Hey, Madison. It’s Tuck. How are you feeling?”

  She slowly raised her left hand, the only limb not immobilized by some kind of uncomfortable contraption, and pressed her fingers against her face. Her cheeks were beyond swollen, her lips felt huge, and her eyes—she couldn’t even feel her eyelashes, just puffy flesh.

  “It feels like I’m wearing a Halloween mask,” she said. She spoke slowly and softly, because if she took more than a shallow breath, her ribs killed. “Are you sure my eyeballs are still in there?”

  Tuck gave a low chuckle. “I’m sure. Give it another day or two and the swelling will go down enough for you to see again.”

  “What else is wrong? I can’t move my legs but I can feel them so I know they’re still there.”

  Tuck realized that Madison had not yet been alert enough to talk with the doctors about her injuries. Taking her hand gently between his, he considered what to tell her. “Do you want me to give you the rundown, or shall I get your doctor in here to do it?”