by Mandy Bee
“When?” Luke asks.
“Darcy, you don’t have to do this right now. If you don’t feel up to it, I’ll kick Luke out and you can get some rest.” The snarl I hear from Luke almost has me agreeing with Lynn just to see if she could really kick him out but I know just need to get this over with.
“No, it’s ok.” I assure her before turning back to Luke. “I don’t know how he got there or how he drugged us. When I woke up on the couch, without Riker, I didn’t know what was going on. I heard someone walking towards me, I thought it was Riker but it wasn’t. He didn’t say anything to me at first because his phone rang. He was worried about me. He wanted to know what he had been forced to give me. Then he begged for whoever, I guess Bradley, to let his family go because he had done his part. Only I don’t think Bradley was going to let them go. James told him about drugging us and tying Riker up and locking him in the storage unit. I think Bradley wanted more time, but James told him that Greg was likely on his way over because he had texted Riker’s phone three time but got no answer. He talked about how he blacked out the security feed but that he knew that would make Greg rush over there faster. I think he threw his phone and broke it. Then he did something weird.”
I take a deep breath but wince at the pain in my throat. Lynn imminently holds the straw back to my lips and lets me take a few more sips.
“What do you mean by weird?” Luke asks me.
I thank Lynn for the water before answering Luke. “He told me he had no choice to do it because his family had been taken. But before he left he covered me with a blanket. It was like he was trying to comfort me in some weird way.”
Luke’s phone rings and he answers it imminently. “What?!” He screams causing both Lynn and I to jump. “Take him down if you can but I have an idea, call you back in a minute.” He hangs up but holds his hand up to stop us from questioning him. “Bradley was just spotted on the back side of the hospital property. It’s a highly wooded area, no way for them to corner him.” He looks over at Lynn. “I need you to change Darcy’s room number in the computer, to an empty room on this floor. Setting a trap is the only way we are going to catch this SOB.” Luke types something into his phone as he’s talking to us.
The door to my room flies open once again only this time it’s Greg rushing in. “Easton has eyes on Bradley.” He tells Luke then looks down to me. “How ya feeling hun?”
“Been better.” I give him a small smile. “How’s Riker?”
“He’s out of surgery and should be brought up here soon.”
“I can’t believe you got the hospital to break their coed rule. Never have I seen a male and female patient in the same room.” Lynn says.
“When the CEO of the hospital is your own father, rules can easily be changed for the best reasons. Plus, Riker would have thrown a shit fit if he woke up and Darcy wasn’t with him. This way no one has to deal with his crazy ass. He’ll wake up, look over and there she’ll be, no worries.” Luke tone of voice is slightly annoyed but also slightly snooty. His father is the CEO of the hospital? Wow, I never knew that.
“We don’t have time for this.” Greg says, cutting of whatever Lynn was about to say to Luke. “We need a plan either to get Darcy and Riker out of here or kill Bradley before he gets in here.”
“I’ve got a better plan.” Luke tells him. “Lynn’s gonna go change Darcy’s room number in the computer to an empty room. We can set a trap for Bradley. The second he steps into that room you can either have him arrested or save everyone some time and just kill him.”
“We only have one open room right now. I can change her room number in the computer but what if he already knows what room to come too? What then?” Lynn asks.
“Could we move her to another floor?” Greg asks.
“No, a doctor would have to order that, and it would draw too much attention to her. But we could probably move her and Riker into the nurse’s break room. It’s about the same size as these rooms. All we’d have to do is move the tables against the wall.”
Lynn, Greg, and Luke talk a little more on what to do. They finally come to an agreement, but it took Greg holding Lynn back a couple times when Luke smarted off to her. I almost said forget locking me and Riker in the break room, someone needs to lock Lynn and Luke in there. It would either end in murder or end with them screwing each other.
Ten minutes later Lynn helps me get comfortable on the new hospital bed in the break room. We couldn’t roll the one in my room out of there because as soon as Bradley saw the room was empty he would run. He’s the king of running so who knows if they would be able to catch him.
Riker is still in recovery. He should have been brought up here by now, but Lynn made a call to a friend of hers down in recovery and asked if he could be held down there a little longer. She lied and said one of the other nurses spilled my dinner tray and instead of getting yelled at by the cleaning people they decided to clean it up themselves, only it was going to take a little time to get it done. Sad little lie, but it worked.
Greg called in every single man he had to come help. He wanted eyes everywhere. Last I heard Bradley was still out back in the wooded area, but he could make his move at anytime.
They decided not to change my room number in the computer because with me safely out of the room there was no need to change it. Plus, if Bradley did already know my room number than the two guards Greg would have to put in the other room would have been wasting their time in there.
It’s a dreadful feeling waiting to see if a man who wants to hurt you, kill you even, is going to make a move to come find you. Knowing Bradley is this close has me scared shitless. I wish Riker was here with me, but he is safer in recovery. Knowing him he’d want to be the one to wait for Bradley just so he could kill him.
Luke walks in a few minutes later to update us.
“Bradley is still in the wooden area but has moved to a closer spot. Easton assured Greg that Bradley hadn’t seen him, but who knows.” Luke takes a seat on the small sofa by the door. “One of the other nurses was looking for you when I came in here.” He tells Lynn.
“I probably need to sign off on a chart. I’ll be right back.” She promises me as she rolls her eyes at Luke.
“You’re never gonna win her over by being a jerk to her.” I tell him matter-of-factly.
“Who says I want to win her over?” He smirks at him.
“Get over yourself Luke. A blind man could see that you want her. It’s also clear that she wants you just as much.” I watch as several different emotions cross his face.
“Yeah, well, nothing’s going to happen between us so lets just leave it at that.”
I let it go for now. It’s clear as day that they both are attracted to each other. Why they don’t just do something about I don’t know. We sit in silence for a few minutes, until something pops into my head.
“Hey Luke,” I call his name to get his attention. “How did you know what was going on today? How did you know Riker and I needed saving?”
He turns to look out the window. For a second, I thought he wasn’t going to answer me.
“I didn’t know what was going on at first. Brice had called me and said something was up with James. We all knew that Riker had cut James completely out of his life for not telling him about Bradley. Hell, we all had basically quit talking to him. But Brice tried to call him earlier today, I don’t know what for, but he said that James sound off, like something was wrong but he wouldn’t tell him. I think it freaked Brice out a little, so he called me. Riker had broken down and told us everything James had done with Bradley and the apartment, not long after it happened. I told Brice that if James was acting weird that it could have something to do with that. I was going to talk to Riker first, then call Greg. When I heard the alarms going off I started to panic. Easton had just shown up when I got there. Greg had sent him because he was closer, but Greg was on his way too. James tried to rush by us but Easton caught him. He told us where both of you were and what he did. Eas
ton handcuffed him to a bike rack and told me to go get you while he went to get Riker. He told me to take you to the hospital and he would meet us here once he got Riker.”
Luke’s voice is steady, very much like an auto tone voice. It’s like he was trying to focus on telling me everything without getting upset about what actually happened. I replay everything he said in my head.
“Is James in custody? Did they find his family?” I don’t see Easton just letting James go because he told them where we were, but he could have gotten away some how.
“Surprisingly enough Bradley had already let James’s wife and two kids go. They were brought to the ER and checked out. None of them were hurt, thank God, but they are down at the police station with James. Turns out it was James’s wife who was the mystery cleaning lady from your office. James finally confessed everything to her and told her if she didn’t help him they would all be killed. She planted the cameras and microphones, and left the package on your desk. James is telling Erik everything he knows about Bradley. He’ll probably serve a little bit of time for his part in all of this but with him helping the police it won’t be too harsh of a sentence.” The emotion is back in Luke’s voice. Hurt and anger towards his life long friend.
“Do they know how and what he drugged us with?” I ask him.
“The what, they don’t know yet. The how, they can only guess at. They know you were both injected with something because you have matching needle marks on your necks. Whatever it was it had to be quick acting. How James got around Riker’s security system is beyond me. Blocking the feed is one thing but getting inside in totally different thing. Guess we won’t know until the police ask him.” Luke shrugs.
The door to the room opens. I expect to see Lynn standing there but instead it’s Riker.
“Riker! What the hell are you doing?” Luke snaps as he jumps up to help Riker into the room. He looks drunk, I know it’s from the meds they gave him but it’s almost laughable to see my big strong Riker stumbling around like an old drunk.
Luke tries to get Riker to sit down on the small sofa by the door, but he pushes past him to come sit on my bed next to me.
“You left recovery without them knowing, didn’t you?” I lightly scold him. I should be angry at him but it’s so good to see he’s ok. I reach out my hand to cup his cheek.
“They probably begged him to leave.” Luke jokes. “I’ll go make sure Lynn knows you’re here incase the hospital puts out a missing person warrant on you.”
Luke opens the door only to be pushed out of the way by Demon.
“I should knock you’re lights out for that stunt you just pulled.” He snarls at Riker.
“You’ll get over it. I needed to see her, and I wasn’t letting you or anyone keep me from her any longer.” Riker tells him as he lays down beside me. I move over to make room for him. He wraps his good arm around me and I lay my head on his chest.
“Darcy, when all this is over I want you to let me punch your boyfriend just one time. One good hit will be all I’ll need.” Demon tells me, like I could really stop him from hitting Riker if he really wanted too. “Do you know how much danger you just put Darcy and yourself in? Bradley is in the building now. I told you that. The trap is set but if he would have seen you, then you would have lead him straight to Darcy.”
“He’s in the building?” I gasp.
“Easton watched him enter from the loading dock. Greg is monitoring the security feeds and has followed his every move. He stopped at the laundry and changed into a pair of scrubs. He’s been casually walking around the main floor for the last five minutes. We think he is casing out an exit for his escape.” Demon starts pacing the room as he checks his phone.
Riker leans done and nuzzles my neck. “How are you feeling?”
“Sore, but I’m ok. How are you? You really shouldn’t have left recovery Riker.” Again, I know I should be mad but being in his arms again is the best feeling in the world.
“I couldn’t stand not knowing for myself that you were ok.” He whispers. “I needed to be with you, staying down there was driving me crazy.”
“Just don’t do it again.” I playfully scold him. He kisses my forehead and holds me closer. The world around us is tense and crazy, but right here, right now, I’m at peace because I’m with the man I love.
Chapter Sixteen
It’s been over two hours, and nothing has happened. Greg has been keeping Demon updated on Bradley’s every move but so far, he’s just walking around the hospital. He’s working his way up, floor by floor. He has been stopped by a couple people, but Greg couldn’t make out what they were saying. Each time Bradley was able to charm whoever he was talking too. No one has reported a suspicious person in the hospital.
Lynn has come to check on both Riker and I a couple of times and said no one has called the desk to warn them. When I asked her if Luke was still here she claimed not to know but I could tell she was lying. I let her think I believed her, but I knew she knew exactly where he was.
Riker and I have both drifted off a couple times but woke up as soon as Demon started pacing again. He’ll stand against the wall for all of about two minutes before he starts pacing again. I asked him if he wanted Greg to replace him with someone else, so he could go help them, but he said he’d end up heading straight for Bradley and breaking his neck.
Killing Bradley is off the table now. Erik needs him alive, or so he told Greg. I know if they take him alive that means another trail. One I’d have to testify at due to all that has happened. I asked Demon if he knew why Bradley was really only coming after me. We know he sent notes to all his victims, even the families of the ones he killed, but he hasn’t gone after then like he has me. Demon said that they think it’s because I moved on with my life. I didn’t let what he did to me stop me from living. Apparently, the others had. From what Demon could tell me most of them had become shut-ins, letting the trauma of what happened rule their life. The only ones who didn’t do that was myself and April. I remember Erik telling me once that she had moved away. I wonder if Bradley just couldn’t find her or if he was going to deal with me first then her.
With the room being so quiet we had no problem hearing Demon’s phone buzz every time he got a message from Greg. I watched him closely each time to see if something was going on. This time when his phone buzzed his whole body relaxed. I knew then that it was over.
“They got him.” I stated.
“Yes,” He sighs. “As soon as he stepped off the elevator on this floor Erik was waiting for him. He tried to run, but it was useless. There was nowhere to run. He’s already in the back of a police car heading for the station.”
Both Riker and I sigh at the same time.
“Can you go ask Lynn when Riker and I can go home please?” I ask Demon. He nods and walks out of the room.
“What if we didn’t go home right away?” Riker asks me.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I was thinking maybe we could go to the cabin for a few days. Just the two of us. I think we need some time to process all of this and maybe getting away from everyone would help.”
He’s right. Maybe taking some time away would be good for both of us.
“As long as I can bring my laptop, so I can get a little work done than sure, we can take a few days just for us.”
Riker leans down and softly kisses me, causing me to melt into him. When he pulls back I smile up at him.
“I love you.” He whispers.
“I love you too.” I whisper back to him.
Epilogue
One Year Later
Life is so very different now. Now I don’t stress or worry about if Bradley is going pop up and try to kill me. He can’t. A month after he was arrested he was found stabbed to death in the prison court yard. Yet, no one saw a thing. When Greg came to tell us about what happened I remember seeing a look pass between Riker and his brother. I never called them out on it, and never will. A person shouldn’t be happy that another per
son is dead, but after what he did, I feel no guilt in being very happy never to have to deal with him again.
Nowadays the only thing I worry about is my business. The business has grown two-fold in the last year. I’ve hired four new people in just the last six months. The lawyer’s office that was above us moved and we were able to secure the lease on that office before anyone else. We turned it into the main office. Gigi has her own space up there as does Missy. We also moved the photo corner up there and added more props to our collection.
None of the girls know this yet, but I’m talking to the landlord about leasing the yoga studio too. Their lease is up at the end of the month and I don’t think he’ll be renewing it with them. To say they are annoying is an understatement. I’ve been playing around with the idea of opening a retail store for our jewelry. If we got that space it would be perfect. It’s not set in stone yet, but I have a very good feeling the yoga crew will be out, and Designs by Darcy will be in.
“If you don’t leave this office right now I’m calling your husband!” Missy laughs at me. I hate when she threatens to call Riker. But secretly I love hearing her say ‘my husband’.
Riker and I got married two weeks to the day after we got out of the hospital. We didn’t want to wait. Neither of us wanted a big wedding. We ended up having a small garden wedding at my parent’s house. It was beautiful. I wore a white sundress and Riker wore jeans, a white-button down shirt, and a silver tie. It was one of the happiest days of my life.
We stayed at the cabin for a while but when we came home Riker surprised me with a new house that was in walking distance from my office. It’s a beautiful two-story town house. We made it our home, and I’ve never been happier.
“I’m almost done.” I tell her.
“You’re going to be late and you know this new doctor is a pain in the ass about his patients being late.” Heather says, as she snatches the pliers out of my hand. “You’re leaving and that’s that.”
“Fine!” I grab my bag and stomp out of the office.
