Alliance

by S. R. Franklin

  Samantha waved and left the room. She stopped at the entrance of ICU. She fought back the tears. She was tired of crying. It was hard lying to him.

  She returned to her sisters. “If he asks about Adam, the doctors won’t let us move him right now. Change the subject and try not to cry. I’m going to get some fresh air. I’ll be just outside.” Samantha walked out the back door of the hospital.

  JJ followed her.

  They both leaned up against the building and looked out into the woods behind the hospital.

  JJ broke the silence. “I never realized how hard it was to keep everyone together and going in the right direction. I just thought it all fell into place. All of these years I have watched you direct every move. Just like chess. You are a real leader, Samantha. And the answer is yes. I will help and I will be one of the team. Whatever you want me to do, no questions asked. I love you, Sam, and your family. I am one of you. If you still want me.”

  Sam squeezed JJ’s hand.

  Without another word, JJ went inside.

  She was alone again. Samantha pressed her back against the rough wall and leaned her head back. She hated being alone.

  Maybe this new job was just what she needed. She wouldn’t be alone anymore. Her whole family would be close. She wrenched herself away from the wall and took a deep breath. The clean air cleared her mind.

  Her cell phone rang. She took it out of her pocket.

  It was Morgan. “Hello, Samantha are you there?” Morgan’s voice was calm and reassuring.

  “Yes, Morgan, I’m here.” Samantha was calmer just hearing his voice.

  “Baby girl, are you okay? I know that’s a stupid question. But I don’t know what else to say. Where are you?”

  “I am outside in the back of the hospital. Why, can you not hear me?”

  The door opened. Samantha thought one of her sisters had come to get her. She looked as the door began to close. There was Morgan standing not five feet away from her. He smiled and put away his phone.

  Samantha walked to him.

  They didn’t say a word.

  They fell into each other’s arms.

  Morgan began to sway, holding her tight.

  “I am so sorry, baby girl. I know I shouldn’t have left California, but I had to see you.” Morgan whispered in her ear.

  She knew he was right. He shouldn’t have come and leave the case. But she was so glad he had. She knew she had saw him earlier or maybe she just willed him there.

  “I don’t care, Morgan. Thank you for being here. I just don’t know if I could do this alone. How did you get here? What is wrong with your head? Did you fall?” Samantha held his face.

  Morgan laughed. “Yes, I fell coming down off the mountain out there. I hit a rock. I am fine. It looks worse than it is. Let’s go back inside. They’ll be looking for you.”

  They walked back into the hospital to the lounge. Her sisters and her team were waiting. Tristan and Diane came in last. They both were teary eyed. They all filed into the room and found seats. No one spoke for a several minutes.

  Dr. Murphy walked into the room.

  “Daniel is lightly sedated and will be asleep most of the day. The funeral home has taken Adam as you requested. I suggest all of you go home and get some sleep. Daniel will recover now unless…well…we expect everything will be fine. But all of you need rest.” Dr. Murphy looked at Samantha. “Sam, make them all go home. And I don’t want to see you either.” He turned and left the room.

  Samantha looked around at all of her family and her team. They looked tired and restless. “Why don’t all of you go to the cabin. It’s only about fifteen minutes away. Kirkland, you and Stevens go to the motel. Everyone meet back here around 9 AM. If Daniel is still stable, the team needs to go back to California. We still have a killer on the loose. I will stay here.”

  “Ma’am, I think you need to go to the motel and get some sleep.” Kirkland smiled. “Maybe a change of clothes.”

  Samantha looked down at her shirt. She looked up and smiled. “I guess I could use a shower. But I don’t want to leave Daniel. I can take a shower here and sleep on the cot. Can someone bring my bag?”

  “Madam Director, you really need some sleep. I’m sorry to remind you, but we still have a deadline to meet.” Kirkland looked at his watch.

  “Yes, Kirkland, I know about the deadline. And I will have everything ready. Now, the longer all of you are here the longer I am awake. Go, all of you. Get some rest and I’ll see you in the morning.” Samantha stood up and motioned for them to leave. Everyone except Morgan left.

  The room got quiet. Samantha had forgotten Morgan was there. She turned to walk to the cot and saw him standing near the window. She walked over to him. He took hold of her hands.

  “I have a motel room that’s right across the street. We need to go there so we can take a shower and get some sleep. It’ll be so nice waking up with you again.” Morgan pulled her close. “I need you, Samantha.”

  “Morgan, please, I don’t think I can leave.” Samantha held her head low and rested it on his chest.

  “You’ve been here for two days. We’ll be right across the street. Come on. We can tell the nurse.”

  Samantha looked at him. His eyes were so beautiful. She smiled. “Okay.” She walked over to the cot and reached for her bag.

  Morgan took it from her and they walked out the door.

  Samantha walked to the nurses’ station and told them she was going across the street to the motel and gave them her cell number.

  Morgan stood in the hall near the door waiting. Samantha was scared to leave.

  She was hesitant.

  “It’ll be okay, Sam. We can run here if he needs us.”

  They walked out of the hospital. They could see the motel from the front door. After seeing that, Sam felt better about leaving.

  They decided to walk. The evening air felt good. The short walk was good for both of them. They walked arm in arm not saying a word. Morgan unlocked the door. The room was small with one bed. It was clean and quiet. Exactly what Samantha needed.

  They walked inside. Samantha fell down across the bed. It was soft and a lot more comfortable than the cot in the doctor’s lounge. She rolled over and laid her head on the pillows. Morgan walked to her and got in bed behind her. He put his arms around her. Samantha snuggled into him and closed her eyes. She was asleep in minutes.

  Samantha had gone to sleep in her clothes. She woke up and felt hot. Her movement woke Morgan. They laid in bed talking for several minutes. Samantha sat up on the side of the bed. The room was dark and quiet. Morgan pulled himself up behind her. He began to massage her neck. Samantha started to relax. She leaned back into Morgan’s arms. He reached up and pulled off her jacket. Then he began to unbutton her shirt. She sat up and turned towards him. He smiled and kissed her lips.

  “What are we doing?” Samantha asked as she put her hand on his cheek.

  “Just enjoying each other.” He leaned in and kissed her gain. He put his and under her shirt and pulled it down her shoulders. He unclasped her bra and pulled her close to him.

  Samantha took off his shirt and kissed his chest. She put her arms around his waist and held him close. They sat there holding each other. She turned her head away.

  “I’ve lost control, Morgan. Everything just blew up. And all in one day. I want to make that psycho pay for this. I want this new job and I want you. But I will lose. She will get away with killing her son and probably my brother, and if I keep this job I will lose you. How can I choose? What do I choose?” Samantha looked up.

  Morgan was silent. He laid her back on the bed. He pulled her on top of him.

  “Take it one day at a time, Sam. And I’m not going anywhere. This job was made for you. You are the only one that can do it. Now about losing control. Let’s see what we can do about that.” Morgan sat her up, smiled and laid his hands on his chest. “Now tell me what to do with my hands.”

  Chapter 27

  The phone ra
ng and woke Samantha. “Hello?”

  “Sam, it’s CJ. We have a witness. The sheriff deputy came in about an hour ago with a girl who says she was held captive by a man who called himself “The Handyman.” I have her under guard. What do you want me to do now?”

  Sam’s instincts told her there was more that he was not telling. CJ never talked this fast. “Make sure no one gets to her. Get the entire team there with you. No one but the medical staff gets into that room. Tell the sheriff not to leak this to the press. I will have the rest of the team there in three hours. Is she stable?”

  “The doctor says he doesn’t think she’ll live through the day, but there is a chance. Sam, she’s cut everywhere. Her head is crushed on one side. She has lost a lot of blood. I – I’ve never seen anything like it. At least, not in a living person.”

  “Get in there and talk to her asap. Get a tape recorder and record everything she says no matter what it is. Ask her as many questions as you can. Do NOT leave that room. Keep everyone outside. Make sure you ask for a description and location and find out her name.” Samantha hung up the phone and woke Morgan.

  She jumped from the bed, dialing Kirkland and trying to dress at the same time.

  Morgan sat up in the bed. “What is it, Sam? Is everything okay?”

  “They have a witness in California. We have to get there now. It’s all hands on deck. Sorry, Morgan, I’m going to assume lead when we get there.”

  “With a live witness, sure. That changes everything.”

  “Hello?” Kirkland’s voice was groggy.

  “Kirkland, call the pilot. We have to leave for Forrest Ranch asap. There has been a development. Pick me up at the hospital in fifteen.” Sam hung up the phone and continued to dress.

  Morgan was putting on his pants and shoes. “Did you say they have a witness? Who?”

  “A girl escaped, she says. Don’t know anything yet. She said he called himself the Handyman Killer.” Samantha was pushing her clothes into her go bag.

  “They found her.” Morgan was dressed and standing in front of the bed. “How did she get away? How did she live?”

  His voice had changed. There was a dark edge in his tone that she had never heard from him before.

  “What is it, Morgan? What do you mean, how did she live?”

  “Nothing, I mean the condition of the other bodies. That kind of thing.” Morgan reached for his gun and ID. He smiled and put his arm around Sam. “I will turn in the room key and meet you at the airport. I need to return the car, too.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you in on the plane. Don’t be late.” Strapping on her gun and nestling her credentials in her inner jacket pocket, Samantha smiled and kissed him. She left the room and ran across the parking lot to the hospital. She wanted to check on Daniel before she left for California.

  The doors of the hospital’s main entrance slid open. She covered the long hall to the ICU as fast as she could without breaking into a run.

  Shoving open the doors to ICU, she stepped inside. She stopped short. Alone for the first time in this sterile space, she saw it for what it was. Cold. White walls, white floors, gray counters. The smell of illness and decay pierced her nostrils. The sounds of pulsing machines and occasional beeps made her feel more alone than she’d ever felt in her life.

  She shivered. She was glad Adam was free of the pain of this place, but she longed to watch him run in the yard at the farm at least one more time. How was she going to tell Daniel that she could not save his son, just as she couldn’t save her own son? She had failed Daniel just as she had failed herself. She swallowed hard and shoved the thoughts aside.

  She walked into Daniel’s room. He was sitting up in bed, searching the room for Adam.

  “Sam, where did they take Adam? I have asked to see him all day and no one will let me. There is something wrong.” He was teary-eyed. “Just tell me.”

  Samantha walked to the bed and sat down. “Daniel, you both have been in critical condition for a few days now. The doctor thought it best to separate you. You need to concentrate on getting rest and getting stronger.”

  “He’s dead, isn’t he? Tell me the truth, Sam. She killed my son, didn’t she?” Daniel’s fell back against the bed and stared at the ceiling. “Sam, you have to make her pay. She deserves to die for what she did to that boy. She shot us for no reason. She was so cold. She said she told them she would kill us both if she left the hospital.

  “Daniel, you have to stay calm. Your body isn’t strong enough for this, okay? Please.”

  “Just take a gun and put it between her eyes, Samantha. Both of them. Promise me you will get them for this.”

  Samantha was shaking. “Do you remember exactly what happened? Did Amanda shoot you or did Clare or both? You are the only one who can tell us. Amanda said Clare shot you but now she isn’t talking. She’s acting crazy. And Clare says that she walked in on Amanda after she had shot you. We can’t even put Amanda in that room before the police got there. She was sitting on the floor when they arrived at your side. She was singing to Adam. There was no gun or fingerprints. Please, Daniel, tell me what happened and the law can do its job. The law can make them all pay. We just need something.”

  Daniel stiffened in pain. “I can’t remember. I only remember them there and Adam falling, crying. Oh, my little boy. He’s dead, isn’t he?”

  The alarms started going off. Samantha tried to console her brother, but it was no use. One of the ICU nurses ran into the room. She injected a dose into his IV.

  “It’s a sedative,” she said to Sam.

  Sam nodded.

  Daniel’s breathing began to calm and his heart rate returned to normal.

  Samantha sat with him, holding his hand until he fell asleep. She got up from the bed and kissed her brother. She whispered in his ear, “They will pay, Daniel. I promise they will pay.”

  She walked out of the room. Her face was dark and solemn. She knew that there was no case against Amanda without Daniel as a witness. All the evidence they did have pointed to Clare.

  Samantha didn’t believe that Clare shot her nephew or her brother. But how could they prove it? That Amanda’s fingerprints may have been on the gun meant nothing, as any good defense attorney would argue, because she had lived in the house with Daniel for so many years. And he had taken her shooting in the early days, when she was still sane and they were happy.

  Amanda would get away with murder. Sam’s stomach turned. And would she kill again? Would she use her manipulation and that sickeningly sweet smile to charm some other man into loving her?

  Sam had gone into law because she wanted to ensure that justice was done, that the law could do its job. But she’d realized that too often it wasn’t possible. Mistrials, overturned convictions, lack of evidence. Even when convictions stuck, nothing could bring the victims and their families any solace because the killers were still watching their favorite shows on television and even earning free college degrees when they wanted through the prison programs.

  She couldn’t let Amanda get away with it. Family was family. Justice had to be done, no matter what. Nothing else would be right.

  The trials were starting in two weeks. That wasn’t a lot of time to find what was needed to convict them both. But if she could get one, then the other was hers.

  Samantha’s thoughts shifted to the young woman in Forrest Ranch, another innocent victim of some sadistic psycho.

  First thing’s first, she thought. She had to get to California. Then she could take care of Amanda Anderson Thomas.

  Samantha walked into the lounge. Her face was clouded with worry. She stood silent for several minutes.

  JJ walked up to her and put her hand on Samantha’s shoulder. “Did something happen to Daniel?”

  “He knows. He knows that Adam is dead. I mean, I didn’t outright tell him, but he kept asking, ‘Is he dead?’ He’s too smart for his own good sometimes.”

  “I’m sorry, Sam.”

  “Yeah. We gotta go.”

/>   Chapter 28

  CJ walked into ICU. He had brought the tape recorder that Samantha had requested. The poor girl looked worse, if that was possible. She was sedated but sleeping fitfully. A missing ear, missing fingers, deep cuts all over her chest. Her face was swollen and she had large knots on her head. He’d never seen a living person look this bad.

  “You’re one tough cookie,” he whispered.

  She was mumbling, but it was nothing he could understand. He walked to her bedside and put the tape recorder under her gown. She tried to hit him as he pinned the recorder under the shoulder of her gown. CJ pressed the record button and sidestepped the blow.

  “My name is CJ.” He spoke in the same voice that he used with his nieces. “What’s your name?

  The girl turned her head away, breathing hard.

  “Shhhhh, you’re safe.” He whispered it over and over.

  The girl didn’t respond.

  CJ took a long breath and sat down beside her bed. “I’m from the FBI. I’m here to help you. You can trust me.”

  She blinked but said nothing.

  “My name is CJ. You are about the age of my little sister. She’s beautiful like you.”

  Tears welled up in her eyes.

  “What’s your name?”

  Her lips trembled. “Sarah,” she whispered.

  “That’s a beautiful name. Sarah, I need your help so that I can help you, okay? Because you know a lot more about what happened than I do. In fact, I don’t know anything at all. And more than anything, I want to help you. Find your family, and get you the justice you deserve. Whoever did this to you shouldn’t get away with it.”

  Sarah turned towards CJ. “Who are you?”

  CJ pulled his badge out of his coat and held it close for her to see. “I’m with the FBI. You know, you are very brave to have escaped. And I heard that you ran to the people who found you. You’re so strong that you were able to run like you did with so many injuries. I honestly don’t think I could have done it.”

  “Am I going to die?”

  “No, you’re in the hospital and you’ve got great doctors and nurse taking care of you. It’s just going to take time for you to recover, okay?