by Ann Simas
With a sigh of resignation, Bebe dug into her oversized purse and produced the requested object.
“OMG!” Sunny screeched. She snapped the compact closed and thrust it back into her mother’s hand. “All right. I’ll do it, but I have to be able to see the kids every couple of days.” Her gaze went to her father. “You’ll work it out with Wonder Cop?”
Harry grinned. “That’s what I love about you, Sunny. Your disposition and your humor live up to your name.” His chest puffed up just a little. “You’ll be happy to know, your parents already worked everything out with Detective Amorosi.”
Sunny eyed her father suspiciously. “He didn’t argue about it?”
Harry shook his head.
“And there were no caveats or stipulations?”
“None.”
Sunny glanced at her mother.
“None,” Bebe echoed her husband.
“He doesn’t strike me as the kind of man to acquiesce so easily.”
“I imagine being forced to hole up in Fremont’s version of NORAD eased his worries and objections some,” her father said, his tone dry.
“I suppose you’re right.” She sighed, counting it as one of the one-deep-breaths-per-hour that the doctor said she needed to take while her lung was healing. “My editor isn’t going to like this.”
“Have you called her?” Bebe asked.
“No. When I got out of the Durango to assist Della, I dropped my phone and in bounced into traffic. I can’t remember anyone’s phone number without my damned contact list.”
“I’ll go pick up a new one for you,” Harry offered. “You want the same type?”
“Yes, thanks.” She looked at her mother. “I’ll need the address book in my desk and some clothes, too. I’m not going to sit around in some stranger’s house in a hospital gown for days on end.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Bebe said. “The detective said they’ll release your vehicle whenever Dad can get down to get it.”
“Good. My laptop is in my suitcase in the back. I’ll also need my drawing supplies.”
“Really?” Bebe frowned. “You have to work while you’re recuperating? Is that really such a good idea?”
“I may not feel like working, but I want to be able to, if I can.”
“Of course.”
“She’s her mother’s daughter,” Harry said with pride.
“I got one thing from both of you,” she reminded him.
They waited with anticipation for her to continue.
“Stubbornness.”
For a moment, her parents looked shocked, then they grinned and shared a knowing, intimate glance with each other.
“I’m tired,” Sunny said. “I hate to kick you out, but I think I need to sleep worse than I need to keep talking about this.”
Her father gently patted her head. Bebe leaned over and kissed her cheek.
Sunny closed her eyes and fell instantly asleep.
. . .
“Thanks for coming over, Darren,” Luca said, standing to greet Sentinel’s chief of personal security with a handshake.
“Not a problem.” He shook hands with Trey and Brant, as well, then pulled out a chair. “Just got off Skype with Matty. He gave me the basics and said you have carte blanche on this, Luca. Fill me in, then we can start putting something together.”
Within an hour, they had a plan.
“I took the liberty of contacting the park rangers up where Nico and Tony are backpacking. As it happens, one of the rangers had breakfast with them this morning at their campsite. He was going to hike back in and give them the nine-one-one to haul ass back home.”
“Good,” Luca said. “I know you have a good team, Darren, but I feel better knowing my brothers have the assignment.”
“Agreed. I’m bringing in three of your cousins, as well. Angela and Carmine will switch off inside, and Moon will share outside duty with Howie Dawes.”
Luca nodded his approval. Angie and Carmine were cousins on his father’s side of the family and Moon, born as Cappi Sabatino, hailed from his mother’s family. Moon, brother to Father Tommy, was a hulking big guy with a round face, hence the nickname Moon since he was a kid, and Howie, unrelated to the family, was a former Army Ranger. Nobody in their right mind would want to tangle with either one of them, in a dark alley or in broad daylight. Add Luca and Trey to the mix and Della and Sunny would be well protected.
“We also need to find a reliable nurse. Got anyone available?” By reliable, Luca meant one who knew how to fire a weapon or take on an intruder.
“Celia Benton. She transferred from our L.A. branch last year. Couldn’t handle the SoCal lifestyle, wanted to be back in the mountains.”
“How long has she been with the company?”
“Just under five years. She’s good. I guarantee it.”
“I trust your judgment. Can you have Angie work with Bebe Carson to facilitate moving Sunny’s things over to the folks’ place, and Maria will take care of getting Della’s stuff over there?”
“Sure.”
Luca’s phone pinged. His brother Nico’s face popped up on the screen.
“We’re on our way to the airport,” Nico said by way of greeting. “What’s up?”
Luca explained the situation and finished with, “How long to the airport from where you are?”
“Two hours, max.”
“Hold on,” Luca said, his eyes back on Darren. “Can you get the corporate jet out there in two hours?”
“Or less, if there’s no headwind.”
“Do it,” Luca said. “Nico, don’t waste time battling with the airline trying to get your tickets changed. Darren’s getting the bird in the sky as we speak. The pilot will notify you of the exact pickup location as soon as he’s in the air.”
“Got it. You sure Della’s okay?”
“She’s doing great, though she’s still sore and she’ll be hobbling around on her leg for a while. They plan to release her tomorrow morning.”
“Okay, give her our love.”
“I will. Drive safe, okay? In fact, don’t let Tony drive, then I won’t have to worry.”
Nico laughed. “Too late. He’s already behind the wheel. Take a Tums if your belly starts to burn.”
“Shut up, little brother,” Luca returned with a laugh of his own and disconnected.
He put his phone away and let his eyes connect with each of the other three men at the table. “Looks like we’re good to go. You all know what you have to do.”
. . .
Sunny thought she was dreaming. But once again, her eyes were open.
The air around her became foggy and sounds grew muffled.
She couldn’t move. She couldn’t speak.
All she could do was watch in horror as the vision unfolded.
Two people, cloaked from head to foot in black, crept close to where Maisie and Carson played in their grandparents’ back yard. Her father and mother sat on a garden bench in the shade, laughing at their grandchildren’s antics.
Look behind you! Sunny’s mind screamed. Look behind you!
But of course, they couldn’t hear her.
The next thing she knew, her parents were grabbed from behind and each was injected with something that caused them to slump over immediately. Harry toppled over onto the grass and Bebe fell sideways on the bench.
Carson and Maisie continued chasing each other up the steps of the short slide, hands raised in the air as they whizzed down, and then they started the cycle again.
One intruder grabbed Carson as he landed on his butt in the grass. The other one tugged Maisie off the slide steps. Both children fought their abductors. Their frightened screams, the ones Sunny couldn’t hear except in her mind, brought the vision to an abrupt end.
She gasped for breath, even though she wore an oxygen mask. She fumbled for the call button before she realized a police officer was still in the room with her. “Nebulizer,” she said, her voice raspy as she pointed to the device on the side
table.
The officer, who had identified himself to her as Kendall Graves, shot out of his chair and bolted for the open doorway. “Nurse! Asthma attack.”
Chapter 14
. . .
Sunny tried to take long, deep breaths in and slow, even breaths out.
Even in a state of respiratory distress, she understood that in order to receive the full benefit of the nebulizer treatment, she had to get the medication into her lungs. Her poor abused lungs. She’d never had a collapsed lung before. Of course, she’d never been kicked in the ribs before, either, or had a broken rib, for that matter.
How had she managed almost two years without an asthma attack, and now…God, she couldn’t even remember how many had hit her in the last three days! At this rate, the doctor might never let her out of the hospital.
Keep calm. Breathe deep. Release slow. In and out. Keep calm. Ignore the pain. Ignore the fear.
Ignore the fact that you just had a vision of your children being abducted by strangers, who may have killed your parents.
Ignore the fact that you may be psychotic.
Who else but a crazy person has visions, for God’s sake?
Once the treatment concluded, she her breaths continued to rattle her chest. The nurse opened another ampoule of bromide–albuterol solution and emptied it into the nebulizer cup. “One more time, okay?”
Sunny nodded, but didn’t waste her breath with a verbal response.
By the end of the second dose, she was breathing quite a bit easier. She removed the breathing apparatus from her mouth, and handed it to the nurse.
Luca Amorosi stood in the doorway, watching her. How long had he been there?
If she didn’t know better, she would have thought his expression was etched with concern.
But she did know better. He was a cop, doing his job, which happened to involve protecting citizens. He couldn’t afford to show concern. He had to remain objective and uninvolved at all costs. Otherwise, he wouldn’t last in his chosen profession.
The nurse tossed the neb cup into the trash and returned the nebulizer to the wall table. She examined Luca with a slight scowl, picked up Sunny’s chart, and headed toward the door.
Luca backed away, allowing her to exit, then stepped back into the room. “Feeling better?”
Sunny nodded, wincing as she readjusted the oxygen feed into her sore nose.
“Need a break?” the detective asked Kendall.
The young patrol officer nodded.
“There’s some chow in the lounge, if you’re hungry.”
“Thanks. Uh, how long?”
“Take twenty.”
With a quick nod, the officer left the room. The detective closed the door after him and moved back over to the bed.
He stared down at her for a few moments. “Look, I understand it’s difficult for you to talk because of the asthma and your injuries, so just lie still and listen, all right? If I have any questions, I’ll try to make them so that a nod or a shake will suffice for a response. Okay?”
She nodded.
“I’m assuming your parents have already relayed to you the plan we’re going to implement.”
Again, she nodded.
“I want you to know that the man who heads up Sentinel’s personal security division is a former captain at Fremont PD. He’s extremely capable. The others who will be involved, with two exceptions, are all members of the family.”
“Family?”
“Sorry, I forgot to mention that my folks own Sentinel. Both my brothers work there and several of my cousins. My sister Maria plans to join the company when she completes her degree in criminal justice at the University of Wyoming. They’ll all be either in the house or on the property grounds while you and Della are there.”
Panic surged through Sunny. The vision…. “My kids.”
“Your kids will be with your parents and your sister, but they’ll come to the house every other day to see you.”
“No.” Her breaths became more ragged as she struggled to sit up.
“Do you need another treatment?”
“Danger.”
Her breaths began to wheeze. Please, God, not another asthma attack. This is crazy. Need to be able to talk….
She stopped trying to pull herself up by the bedrail and forced her mind to focus solely on breathing.
In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.
Be calm. Relax.
Just freaking relax.
The detective must not have thought she could get her breathing under control. He opened the door and summoned a nurse.
Sunny submitted to one more nebulizer treatment, but before she bit down on the mouthpiece, she asked, “Why?”
“It’s because your lung is punctured,” the nurse said in response. “You concentrate on the treatment. Long breaths in, slow breaths out.”
If Sunny hadn’t been focused on breathing, she would have rolled her eyes at the nurse. Didn’t anyone get that she knew the routine?
“I’m going to page Dr. Madani and let him know this is your third neb treatment.”
“What can he do?” Luca asked.
“There may air around her lung. He can release it to help ease her breathing.”
“How does he do that?”
“He’ll have to insert a needle—”
Luca put off a hand to ward off an expanded explanation. Sunny didn’t blame him. She didn’t want to be poked with a needle, either, but she was too uncomfortable to put up an argument. Plus, she would like to breathe normally again.
An hour later, after Madani had inserted a small-bore needle into her chest cavity and relieved her of what he approximated was four liters of air that had escaped her lung, Sunny felt as if the elephant sitting on her chest had gotten up and lumbered away.
Finally able to take normal breaths again, she drifted off into a deep sleep, leaving her conversation with the detective unfinished.
Her slumber was anything but peaceful as she dreamed about the vision of her children being taken kicking and screaming from her parents’ back yard.
She awoke hours later, whimpering.
Detective Amorosi and Officer Graves stood over her bed staring down at her with concern.
“What can we do?” Luca asked.
Sunny struggled to sit up. “Save…my children,” she whispered.
Luca moved up around the bed and put a gentle hand on her shoulder, holding her down. “Your kids are fine,” he assured her. “They’re with your parents and your sister.”
“Someone is going to steal them,” she persisted. “Need to get them somewhere safe.”
Luca exchanged a perplexed glance with the patrol officer. “How do you know that, Sunny?”
“Saw it.”
“You mean you dreamed it?”
“No. Saw it. Like I saw…Della.”
“You saw Della? Exactly what does that mean?”
“Had visions. Five of them. Four all bad. Della and me, dead. One where we lived. Chose that one when I saw her.” She realized her sentences were choppy, but she relied on the detective to use his detecting skills to detect her meaning.
Luca shot Graves a stern look. “None of this leaves the room. Got it?”
Her eyes locked on Luca, Sunny was only peripherally aware of the young officer nodding his head. “Not crazy,” she said in her own defense. Completely exhausted, she tried to keep her eyelids open, but they wouldn’t cooperate.
Luca was persistent. “What do you mean by visions?”
She opened her mouth, but even though she was thinking the words, her mouth wasn’t uttering them.
“Sunny? Tell me what you mean by visions, dammit!”
. . .
Frustrated, Luca shook her gently.
No response. From the monitors, he knew she was alive. No alarms were shrieking that indicated she might be in distress or dead.
What the hell did she mean by visions?
His mind first conjured up all sorts of spiritual shit, thoug
h he hadn’t been to church for about a hundred years, or at least not since the job had jaded him so much that he’d mostly lost his faith.
After that, he considered the route of mumbo-jumbo. Was she some kind of psychic crackpot?
Jesus, that’s all he needed.
They waited a few more minutes, but her eyes remained closed.
“What do you think she meant?” Kendall asked.
“I have no idea. I think she’s hallucinating from too much asthma medication. Or maybe the after-effects of the Rohypnol.”
Kendall’s forehead wrinkled. “Is that even possible?”
“How the hell should I know? I’m not a doctor.”
“Maybe you should ask one.”
Luca opened his mouth to retort something anatomically impossible when it occurred to him the rookie was right. “Be back as soon as I do just that.”
. . .
As it happened, Dr. Madani was at the nurse’s station, talking to Dr. Fenton. Luca wasn’t a relative of Sunny’s, or even a close friend, so they might not discuss her situation with him, but he had to try.
He put on his polite face. “Excuse me.” He smiled at Dr. Fenton, dissolving her frown. “Dr. Madani, I have a question about Sunny’s asthma medication.” He didn’t have as much luck schmoozing the pulmonary specialist.
Madani’s frown intensified. “Yes?”
“Is it possible that it makes her hallucinate?”
Madani looked astonished for a moment, then he smirked and shook his head, as if he were talking to an imbecile. “Absolutely not.”
“You’re sure?”
The doctor narrowed his eyes on Luca, obviously irritated. “Why are you asking?”
Ignoring the question, Luca addressed Dr. Fenton. “What about the Rohypnol? Could that cause hallucinations?”
“At this point in her recovery, I’d say it’s unlikely.”
Madani crossed his arms, like he was digging in for the long haul and would not be dissuaded from his earlier question. “Detective, why are you asking?”
Luca debated whether or not to respond. The fact that Madani and Fenton were overseeing Sunny’s care, and therefore comprised the need-to-know circle, decided him. “She says she had a vision.”
Dr. Fenton spoke up. “What? Like a religious experience?”
