by CJ Lyons
The sun was just appearing when they flew over the diner at the base of the mountain. Lucky craned his head to watch it until it vanished from sight, wondering if Vinnie was thinking about him.
He couldn’t help but smile at the thought. She’d said she would get them off the mountain alive and by God, she had done it—despite everything going wrong that could have gone wrong.
He’d sure as hell earned his nickname, finding a woman like her. Who could have guessed that something that had started out so horribly would end up with The Preacher in custody and Lucky greeting the coming day with a smile?
Vinnie didn’t feel the way he did, not yet. But he was looking forward to the challenge of convincing her of his many virtues.
Including the fact that he could be just as stubborn as she was.
Billy Price and two burly State Troopers were waiting when they set down at the Winchester hospital.
“As soon as the doctor gives the okay, we’re going to have a long talk,” Price assured The Preacher as they handcuffed him and led him into the ER.
Lucky followed and wasn’t surprised to find Rose, Hollywood, and EZ all waiting as well. Rose and Hollywood were the best interrogators the Team had, as soon as they finished debriefing Lucky they would be well equipped to question The Preacher.
EZ already held the hard drive KC had brought, looking like a kid who’d gotten what he wanted for Christmas.
The ER doctor, a tall, wiry man with long brown hair braided behind him and a gold hoop earring, stepped between Lucky and his welcome committee and ushered Lucky into an exam room.
“Wait,” Lucky protested. “I need to talk to them.”
“You can,” the doctor, the name on the tag clipped to his jeans pocket was Shunderson, assured Lucky. “Just as soon as I see if we need to get you to the OR. Your friend’s headed there and we only have a limited staff available. How long ago were you shot, Agent Cavanaugh?”
Lucky answered Shunderson’s questions as a nurse stripped him of his clothes and the dressing Vinnie had so carefully applied. The nurse wrinkled her nose as she removed the tea bags with a pair of long tweezers, dangling the offensive material for the doctor to see before depositing them in the trash.
“We were in the middle of nowhere, we had to improvise,” Lucky said, feeling obligated to defend Vinnie’s treatment. Where was she? He hoped she would get here soon.
“Your friend did a good job,” the doctor said, pressing his fingers along Lucky’s collarbone and ignoring Lucky’s wince of pain. “The wound looks nice and clean, no active bleeding, even some early granulation tissue forming. We’ll debride it, shoot you up with antibiotics, but I think she’s saved you a trip to the OR. Your AC joint is another story. We’ll see once the swelling’s down, but you’ll probably need surgery to repair that ligament.”
“Tonight?” Lucky didn’t want to be sitting here in a hospital bed, he wanted to watch Rose and Hollywood interrogate The Preacher, wanted to be in on the end game.
Shunderson shook his head. “No, not tonight. A few weeks. I can get you the names of some good ortho guys. For now we’ll just immobilize it. Good thing you’re not left-handed.”
He stood back to regard his patient. “Do you have any idea how lucky you were? A half inch in any direction and you’d be dead or facing permanent damage. As it was, if it wasn’t for your friend taking such good care of you—”
“Wouldn’t know it to look at him now,” Rose’s arrival interrupted Shunderson’s diatribe, “but when he was a Navy corpsman, the guys raved about his bedside manner.”
Shunderson grunted and probed Lucky’s scalp wound. Rose dismissed the nurse and took her place at Lucky’s bedside.
Lucky noticed the way Rose seemed to anticipate Shunderson’s needs, handing him instruments without his asking and wondered how long they had known each other.
“Is Chase all right?” Lucky asked trying to take his mind off the six inch long needle Shunderson now aimed at his shoulder. It looked wicked and the medication burned, but the doctor had assured Lucky that it was only a local anesthetic.
“He could have lost the leg with a break like that,” Shunderson answered for Rose. “He’ll be in the OR for a few hours while they put everything back together, but he’ll be fine.”
“Okay doc, Lucky and I have work to do now,” Rose said.
“And work always comes first, doesn’t it, Rose?” Shunderson’s voice took on a wistful tone.
Rose ignored him and sat beside Lucky, alternating playing assistant to Shunderson and letting Lucky hold her hand while he told her about The Preacher’s plans and the events of the last two days.
Once upon a time, Lucky had had a crush on Rose, probably most of the men working under her command did. Rose was that kind of leader, she asked 100% from her people, but always gave back 110% of herself to both them and the cause.
He was surprised that her touch meant little to him now. Except making him miss Vinnie all the more.
CHAPTER 38
After everything that had happened, Vinnie watched the helicopter disappear into the dawn twilight with a sense of disappointment.
The other patrons returned inside the diner, talking about the woman with clout enough to get a helicopter come pick her up after her car stalled in the snow. Vinnie smiled, they would never know her part in the drama that had taken place on the mountain. She liked that, it made her feel special, being in on the secret.
But still, returning to her life of timber counts and wildlife surveys would be anticlimactic after the events of the last two days. A life with safe routines, the comfort zone of wilderness between her and the nearest other human—a life without Lucky or the passion he stirred in her.
The sun spread a purple haze over the treetops, giving the snow an alpine glow. No one else saw it, they were all sheltered inside, eating biscuits and red-eye gravy. An owl made one last bombing run, diving from the trees, aiming for its own breakfast.
“Mrs. Ryan?” The man’s voice behind her made Vinnie jump. She turned to see Mike Rawlins, a deputy sheriff. “Ma’am, I just received a call. They said you need a ride?”
Vinnie smiled. KC had kept her word. She glanced up at her mountain. It would still be there. But this might be her last chance to see Lucky. Somehow, after being with him, living in solitude had lost some of its appeal. “Yes, thank you. I need to get to the hospital at Winchester.”
The young deputy tapped his radio at his belt and hitched his pants. “Then I’m your man.”
Vinnie followed Mike to his Blazer, surprised to see that another man already occupied the front passenger seat. “Afraid you’ll have to ride in back, ma’am. Don’t worry, though, it’s clean.”
Vinnie hesitated, straining through the dim light to see the second man. Before she could distinguish any features, the man left the SUV and moved around to join them. He was dressed in jeans and a thick camouflage hunting parka, wore no badge but she could see the holster of a gun at his waistband.
“I left my gear inside,” she stalled. “Let me just ask Faye to keep it for me.”
“Everything’s taken care of,” Mike said, his smile still wide but with an edge.
“It’ll just take a second.” Vinnie ignored his gesture to climb into the SUV and turned toward the diner. She unzipped her waist pack and circled her hand around the gun KC had given her.
Before she could draw it, a weight crashed against her back. She slammed into the ground.
“Damn it, Rawlins,” the second man said, kneeling on Vinnie’s back as the Deputy cuffed her hands behind her. “I told you not to try anything fancy.”
The sharp prick of a needle distracted Vinnie for a moment. Then her world went hazy as if she were falling, tumbling through space, the rest of the world blurring around her.
CHAPTER 39
“The roads are opening up.” Billy came into the exam room just as the doctor finished tightening the Velcro swath that wrapped Lucky’s arm to his side. “We can move Joh
n Doe soon.”
“Good, we’re almost done here,” Rose said. “Mr. Doe saying anything?”
“Said he’d only talk to Lucky.”
Lucky looked up at that. Last thing he wanted was another conversation with The Preacher. “Why? He wasn’t exactly forthcoming when we were alone earlier.”
Billy shrugged. “Head games.” He looked over at Shunderson. “We good to go, doc?”
“Here’s all the copies of the x-rays and paperwork on Mr. Doe and Agent Cavanaugh,” Shunderson said, handing Billy a thick envelope. “As far as we’re concerned, our only patient this morning was Mr. Westin who suffered an unfortunate car accident.”
Rose shook the doctor’s hand. “Thanks, Mitch. I owe you one.”
“Anytime, Rose. You know that.”
Lucky wasn’t certain which surprised him more, the ER physician’s blush or the hard look Billy gave Shunderson. Rose seemed oblivious to both as he followed her out.
“What the hell was that about?” Billy asked.
Rose ignored him. “Who’s with John Doe now?”
“Hollywood,” Billy answered.
“Good. Get the transportation set up while Lucky and I have a go at him.”
“He’s in the isolation room at the end of the hall.” Billy nodded in the direction of a room with a glass window facing into the hallway. Not that they could have missed it with the two State Troopers parked in front of the door. He left, and Rose turned to Lucky.
“You up for this?” she asked.
No, he thought. But he gave her a nod. “Sure, why not?”
Her eyes locked with his for a long moment, then she touched his arm. “Good to have you back with the Team, Lucky. We missed you.”
As they walked, Lucky spotted KC sitting on a bench near the elevator bank. “Give me a minute, will you?”
Rose nodded, and Lucky joined KC.
“Chase just went up to surgery,” KC said when she saw him. “They had to wait until his blood work came back and the specialist got here.”
“He’ll be fine,” Lucky assured her. “Now that he knows you’re safe. He was more worried about you than his leg.”
She looked away and sniffed. Lucky leaned against the wall, trying to look nonchalant. “KC, I need to know—about last month, when you and Chase—I mean, how did, how do you—”
A smile crossed her face as she turned to him. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were asking me to marry you or something. You sound just like Chase did the first couple of times he tried,” she said, patting the seat beside her. Lucky sank down onto the bench. “I finally had to come out and say the words, was afraid he’d break out in hives or something.”
“How did you two know it was for real?” Lucky asked. “Everything happened so fast last month when you met.”
“I knew before Chase did. He had doubts. Some about trusting me, mostly about trusting his own feelings. I think that was the hardest thing for him. After he lost his squad in Afghanistan, he’d built a life based on not trusting anyone, including himself.”
“Then you came along, and he had to trust you.”
“Believe me, getting him to go that far, being forced to place his brother’s safety and then yours and his in my hands, that was huge for Chase. I think the falling in love part came easy after that.”
“But once the excitement and adrenalin faded, did your feelings change?” he asked, thinking of Vinnie’s argument about hormones and lust.
KC glanced at the elevator doors, a wide smile lighting her face.
“That’s how you know it’s for real,” she confided. “Everyday—no matter how ordinary—is exciting because you’re with each other. Yeah, there’s squabbles and little things that drive you nuts. But the whole is so much greater than the sum of the parts, that those don’t really matter. It’s like you’re on this crazy ride and everything’s topsy-turvy. Then he touches you, looks your way, walks into the room, and suddenly the world’s back in focus and everything makes sense.”
“Like finding your balance,” he finished for her, remembering the way he’d been able to cross that wretched rope bridge because Vinnie was there to support him.
“Yes.” She turned back to him, and he was surprised to see a flush coloring her cheeks.
“Tell her how you feel, Lucky. Don’t wait for the perfect moment, don’t let the chance slip by,” she urged, grabbing his hand in hers. Then she released it and got to her feet. “Listen to me, rambling like a crazy person. I’m sorry. I don’t do waiting well. Want some coffee or something? I’m gonna go see what the cafeteria has, I’m starving.”
“Thanks, KC.”
She disappeared around the corner before he could say anything further. Lucky had the feeling that Chase’s surgeon better operate at warp speed or else he was going to have an unexpected visitor to the OR.
He stood and continued down the hall to the room where The Preacher waited.
He took a deep breath before entering. This would be a hell of a lot easier if Vinnie was here.
CHAPTER 40
Vinnie blinked as a bright light stabbed her eyes. She tried to raise her hands to shield her face from the intrusive brilliance, but couldn’t. Her mouth was dry, as if it had been stuffed with cotton, and her head pounded in time with her pulse.
“Lucky,” she tried to call. No sound emerged from her parched throat. Where was she? A rough hand sat her up, leaned her against the wall.
“This her?” a voice reverberated through her brain, making her wince.
“Yeah, she’s the one. Bitch tried to blow up my bird.”
Bird? Vinnie would never hurt a bird, she loved birds. She didn’t even hunt. Men with guns—slowly the world began to come into focus around her. Men with guns, Lucky, the helicopter crash, The Preacher, Deputy Mike and his friendly smile.
Idiot, she berated herself. Now who was the one who needed rescuing?
“Know where they went?”
“Hospital in Winchester.”
“Make the call.”
The two men abandoned Vinnie to the darkness, and she had a chance to explore her prison. Not that there was much territory to cover. Her hands still cuffed behind her, she braced herself against the wall and pushed herself onto her feet. Let the wall support her as a wave of vertigo and nausea washed over her. What kind of drug had they used?
The walls felt like normal sheet rock, a metal bar and shelf ran across the rear wall, she discovered when her head banged against them, and the rest of the tiny space was empty. Some kind of walk-in closet, she guessed, allowing herself to sink back down to the carpeted floor.
She strained to listen for the sounds of anyone nearby, traffic, anything to tell her where her closet was located. All she heard was the noise of pots banging together followed by the smell of burnt coffee and bacon.
Her stomach flip-flopped in protest. Vinnie wasn’t certain if it was because she was hungry or because she was still suffering side effects of the drug they’d given her.
If they brought her anything to eat or drink, should she risk it? Best to keep up her strength, she decided. If her captors wanted to incapacitate her again, they had the means to do that without resorting to poisoning her food. And it had to be harder to kill someone you’d broken bread with, right?
The thought of her imminent death made her head spin again, and she bent forward over her knees. Once she could breathe again, she took a quick inventory. They hadn’t disturbed her clothes that she could tell, her waist pack was missing, but the only thing in it had been KC’s gun, so that was no big deal. They had taken her knife—of course, they weren’t stupid. But she could still feel Lucky’s rabbit foot snugged in her breast pocket.
That small discovery sent a thrill of hope through her. She had no idea what good a tattered rabbit’s foot might do her, but just knowing that she still had it made her feel a lot better.
Vinnie thought of Lucky and how he would never give up. She wouldn’t let him down. She’d find a way o
ut of this, she vowed. Somehow.
She pushed her hips up and scooted her hands under her legs, stretching to bring them to the front of her body. Then she stood and reached for the metal bar, trying to see if she could dislodge it, use it as a weapon.
Not much protection against a speeding bullet, but it was better than sitting there doing nothing.
Lucky entered the isolation room and closed the padded door behind him. He knew Rose watched through the small window in the wall, but still couldn’t stop the frisson of fear that brought goose bumps to his flesh.
The Preacher sat, handcuffed to a cot, IV fluids running into one arm. Lucky stood across from him. The room, designed for agitated and mentally unstable patients, was so small that there was no other furniture in it. The walls were padded and the light fixture secured behind a metal cage.
Lucky raised his gaze to meet The Preacher’s. Why did he feel so nervous? He was the one free to come and go. He had won, by God.
“Nice place you got here,” Lucky said, lounging against the wall.
The Preacher only smiled. “We won’t be here long, Agent Cavanaugh,” he replied. “Just long enough for my people to take care of loose ends. Have you spoken to Mrs. Ryan this morning?”
“Leave her out of this. What did you want to talk to me about?”
“But she is our main topic of discussion, Agent Cavanaugh.” The Preacher tilted his head as if Lucky were a slow study. “I gave you your chance back at the cabin, more than one chance, in fact. What happens next is entirely your responsibility. I did everything I could to protect both you and Mrs. Ryan. Please keep that in mind.”
Lucky swallowed hard as The Preacher’s words hit him. Bluffing, the maniac was bluffing. Had to be—Vinnie was safe, on her way here. Wasn’t she?
He remembered Vinnie telling him about the number of followers The Preacher had near Lost River, remembered the police barricade they’d narrowly escaped that first night.
