Emergency Contact

by Susan Peterson

  “His name was Trevor Vaughn. He was a registered nurse I hired to transport Tess here to the center. I heard about some of the experimental work being done here, and I thought it was worth the effort to see if Dr. Bloom could help Tess.”

  A wave of suspicion brushed the back of Ryan’s neck, and his clinical radar went off with a silent wail. Something was not right. Flynn’s story didn’t fit what Ryan had witnessed at the crash site.

  He kept his face impassive as he studied the General. The weariness and concern on the man’s face seemed forced, as if he was playing a role.

  “Vaughn was supposed to hire two other professionals to assist him with Tess’s transfer. But it seems that he decided to pocket the money rather than hire additional help. It’s a mistake that seems to have cost the man his life.”

  Ryan knew there were huge inconsistencies in what the man was saying. The story didn’t ring true. “It isn’t often that a person crashes through a fence in an attempt to get into a facility.”

  Steel-colored flecks of anger flashed in Flynn’s eyes, but he hid them as quickly as they appeared. “Perhaps Tess forced Vaughn to crash through the fence when she realized she was about to be incarcerated in another facility.” He shrugged. “If she overpowered him with a gun, he wouldn’t have had a chance.”

  “Where would she have gotten a gun?”

  The angry flecks were back in Flynn’s eyes. “How should I know, Doctor? Like you, I wasn’t there. We can only make educated guesses at this point—until we’re able to talk to Tess, that is.”

  “I find it interesting that you are all ready to pin this on Tess. Nothing you’ve said proves that she’s capable of killing a man in cold blood,” Ryan said.

  Flynn threw up his hands. “Obviously nothing will convince you, Doctor, and I don’t have time for this nonsense. Where is my daughter? We’re leaving now.” He pushed back his chair and stood.

  Ryan got to his feet, too, not backing down from the man’s hostile stare. “Last time I looked, General, this was still the United States. That gives Tess some rights. And one of those rights is to say where she goes and who she goes with.”

  Bloom cleared his throat nervously and pulled a thick document out of the front of Tess’s file. “Uh, actually that isn’t quite true, Ryan. General Flynn has full guardianship over his daughter.” He opened the document and handed it to Ryan, adding, “It’s for her own protection. The courts have determined that she’s a danger to herself and others.”

  Ryan glanced over the paperwork, acutely aware that they’d played their ace in the hole. The cold satisfaction on Flynn’s face told him that the man had been waiting for just this opportunity. He knew that Ryan understood only too well what such a court order meant—essentially, that Tess had no rights. She was a person without any decision-making ability in the eyes of the law.

  “She’s not going anywhere until I’ve had the opportunity to talk to her,” he said firmly. “Let me talk to her alone and then she’ll come with you. At least until we get this straightened out.”

  The general’s eyes darkened and the muscle in the center of his lean cheek jumped. “I want my daughter now, Donovan.”

  “Well, we’re going to have to do things my way,” Ryan said, his voice soft and deadly. “Tess deserves some degree of dignity. And that means you wait outside while I talk to her.”

  “I thought you said she wasn’t here.”

  “I lied.”

  A cold smile crossed the general’s face. For a moment Ryan thought he’d refuse, but finally he nodded and moved to the patio door. He paused before stepping outside. “You have exactly two minutes to convince her. But don’t ever try to cross me again, Doctor.”

  Ryan closed the door, already trying to figure out how to get Tess to cooperate, at least until he was able to pull some strings and find out what was going on. He didn’t want her hurt and there was no question that Flynn was going to force the issue no matter how cooperative or uncooperative she was.

  Ryan knew he needed more time. Time to investigate how legal and binding the court papers were. Time to see if Tess had any other options.

  But he only had two minutes and something told him that Tess was just as stubborn and impatient as the man who was here to whisk her away.

  Chapter Six

  Tess seethed with outrage. Who the hell did Ryan Donovan think he was, making promises he couldn’t keep? He had no right to speak for her.

  She hit the flat panel of the pantry door and it swung open in his face. She could barely contain her fury, and from the calm expression his face, she could tell he had anticipated just such a reaction from her. That in itself irritated the hell out of her.

  He stepped aside as she blew past, his gaze coolly assessing, but Tess wasn’t in any mood to be reasoned with. Or worse yet, placated.

  “Before you rip me a new one, hear me out,” he said softly.

  Tess whirled around, anger tensing every muscle in her body. “How dare you promise them that I’d go with them. Are you totally nuts?”

  “I gather you heard everything we discussed,” he said calmly.

  Tess pulled a face. “I was less than three feet away. Of course I heard everything. And from the looks of things, you bought every outlandish lie he fed you.”

  “Not entirely.”

  “You could have fooled me.”

  He leaned one broad shoulder against the doorframe and folded his arms. “I’m not left with a lot of choices, Tess. They have evidence to show that Flynn is your father. He has a pretty detailed psychiatric file on you and a court document giving him guardianship. If you can disprove any or all of this, I’ll stand by you to the end. But you need to give me something to work with.”

  “So a lousy piece of paper is more important than what you feel in your gut?”

  “Be reasonable, Tess. They—”

  “Be reasonable?” She leaned in, poking her finger into the center of his chest, her sense of betrayal so intense, so hurtful that it seemed to shred her insides. “You mean you want me to accept what that man is saying about me? Believe that I’m some kind of psychotic nutcase? A person so dangerous and so deranged that I can’t even be trusted to make my own decisions?”

  Her hand tightened into fist against his chest. She closed her eyes, trying desperately to regain control. If she lost it now and started screaming, she’d never prove anything. He’d believe Flynn.

  “Easy, Tess.”

  She sucked in a calming breath. “If you think, for even one minute, that I’m going anywhere with that man, you’re crazier than he says I am.”

  “Look, you’re getting too worked up over this. We need to sit down and talk about this rationally.”

  She dropped her hand, her shoulders slumping. “I’m as rational as I can be in the circumstances.”

  “All I’m asking is that you go along with them until I have a chance to figure out what’s going on. Flynn is not going to hurt you. He thinks he’s rescuing you. Humor him.” He ran a hand through his hair, as if stalling while he tried to figure out how to convince her to do things his way. “Hell, if you can’t humor him, humor me. Give me a little time to track things down. Let me do a little investigating. I promise you, I’m not turning my back on you.”

  “I’m not in a mood to humor you or anyone else.” Tess moved to stand in front of the patio doors, not caring if the general saw her through the glass or not. She stared defiantly out at him.

  Although the morning sun reflected on the glass and probably blinded Flynn from seeing what was going on inside the house, he stood facing the door, his shoulders braced, his hands clasped behind him at parade rest. His gray eyes seemed to bore holes of white heat through the glass, and Tess stared back at him.

  She could feel his impatience soaking into her body, tightening her stomach. She wasn’t sure how, but she knew that they’d been engaged in a similar mental standoff in the past. This had an all-too-familiar feel to it.

  She swallowed against the f
ear rising in her chest. A fear so raw and intense that she knew that, in spite of not remembering Flynn, of not recognizing him, she couldn’t trust him under any circumstance. No matter what Ryan thought, cooperation was impossible. Dangerous even.

  She turned and faced Ryan again.

  “I promise you, I won’t walk away. I’ll stay with you,” he said. “I’ll dig until I find out what’s going on. I have contacts—people I can call to get information on Flynn. I can call the hospitals he says you were treated in. I can talk to the doctors who have worked with you over the years. But you need to give me more time, Tess. I can’t make it happen just like that.”

  He snapped his fingers, and his eyes, those brilliant blue eyes pleaded with her to see things his way.

  Tess sighed and shook her head. “For a shrink, you really don’t listen too well, do you? I don’t have time to waste waiting for you to figure out what’s going on. I cannot go with that man. I can’t explain it and I can’t make it any clearer than what I’ve already tried to say. I just know that if I go with him, I’m lost. There will be nothing left of me when he’s done.”

  She could see the disbelief in Ryan’s eyes. She knew that at that moment he believed she was lost to him, that she’d drifted away and lost touch with reality.

  Tess felt as though her heart might shatter into a million pieces of fragile glass. There was no way she was going to be able to reach him. “It’s all right, Ryan. I appreciate all you’ve done for me up to this point. I’ll take it from here.”

  She brushed past him, headed for the front of the house and freedom. Ryan fell in step behind her.

  “Running isn’t going to solve anything, Tess. They’ll only come after you. Can’t you see that they’re concerned about your welfare.” He grabbed her shoulder, halting her retreat.

  Tess whirled around, anger replacing the pain she’d felt a minute ago. “My welfare? You think that man out there, the one claiming to be my father, cares one whit for my welfare?”

  She could see a flicker of something, perhaps confusion, maybe even uncertainty, cross Ryan’s face. She knew, without him saying anything, that he was bothered by Flynn’s attitude, too.

  “You have to help me understand, Tess. Help me support you. I can’t do that unless you spell things out.” Frustration clouded his face. “All you’ve given me are a bunch of vague, unsubstantiated reasons for believing that Flynn wants to harm you. You have to know on some level how crazy all of this sounds. Give me some hard facts to hang those feelings on.”

  But Tess didn’t have anything to give him other than her raw emotions, her deep-seated fear that if Flynn managed to get her to go with him, he’d destroy her. She would cease to exist.

  She turned and put her hand on the doorknob, pausing for a moment. “Can you honestly tell me that you trust those men implicitly?” Her voice trembled slightly. “Can’t you put aside your skepticism, your suspicions, for one minute and just believe me?”

  Ryan reached out and covered her hand with his. She felt his sincerity, his need to make things right pulse with the heat of his hand. “I want to, Tess, I really do. But you haven’t given me anything. I know you’re hurting right now, but you’ve said yourself that your memory is gone. Wiped clean. How can you trust the feelings you’re having, knowing those feelings could be flawed?”

  Tess shook her head, a deep sadness threatening to swallow her whole. He couldn’t trust her any more than she could trust him.

  She reached up and touched the side of his face, the briefest brush of her fingertips along the roughness of his jaw. “You should shave,” she whispered.

  He reached up and covered her hand with his, holding it to his cheek. The roughness of his skin scraped as he turned his head, his lips pressing intimately against the center of her palm. She felt the scorching heat of his mouth touch the center of her hand, his tongue lightly tracing her lifeline as if memorizing it.

  She closed her eyes, savoring the feel of him, knowing that it might be the last time she ever felt his lips on her skin.

  She leaned her head forward and touched her forehead to his chest. “Is your job so important to you that you can’t believe what your own heart is telling you?” she asked. “Is it really that easy to sell me out?”

  He had no answer.

  Tess slipped her hand from his, opened the front door and walked out onto the front steps.

  RYAN BRACED HIMSELF against the surge of pain that raced through him at Tess’s comment. His hand dropped to his side. How could he make her understand that he wasn’t selling her out? That he wanted with all his heart to believe what she was saying to him.

  He heard the patio door slide open.

  “Stop right there, Tessa. Don’t even think of running.”

  Ryan saw Tess’s spine stiffen in response to her father’s demand. Obviously Flynn had gotten impatient.

  “Stop her, Donovan!”

  She shot Ryan a quick glance. “Decision time, Doc. Whose side are you on?”

  Ryan held her gaze but addressed Flynn, “I thought I made it clear that you were to wait outside, General. Tess needs to make this decision on her own without any pressure from you. Now back off.”

  He could see surprise register on Tess’s face, the slight widening of her eyes and the small arch to one eyebrow. She hadn’t expected him to stand up for her. She had expected him to simply step aside. It hurt to know that she expected him to feed her to the wolves.

  He moved to block Flynn.

  “There are no decisions to be made, Doctor. Tess is leaving now and with me.” He crooked his finger and motioned for her to come.

  The arrogance of the gesture grated on Ryan’s last nerve. If the man was indeed her father, Ryan could well understand Tess’s distrust of the man.

  When she didn’t immediately obey, a silvery flash of anger darted into Flynn’s eyes. “There’s no need to make this more difficult than it already is, Tessa.”

  “This isn’t going to be difficult at all, General,” Ryan assured him. “Mainly because Tess will be leaving with me. If you’re set on her going to see a doctor of your choosing, so be it. But I’ll accompany her to that appointment.”

  “Get out of our way, Donovan,” Flynn said curtly. He snapped his fingers at Bloom, and Ryan watched his boss move up to stand next to Flynn. There was a syringe in his hand.

  Rage heated Ryan’s insides and he stepped out onto the steps, sheltering Tess with his body. “All right, this has gone far enough. You are not going to take her by force.” He pointed at Bloom. “Put the syringe away. This is not the way to handle things.”

  Beside him, Tess’s hands tightened into fists, and he felt her body shift, her weight coming forward onto her toes. She was going into fight mode. The situation was escalating out of control. He needed to get everyone to calm down. To think things through.

  “You had your chance to convince her to come quietly. Now we’ll take over.” Flynn’s cold eyes settled on Tess. “Don’t fight me, Tessa. Just let Dr. Bloom give you some medication to help you relax.”

  “If you come any closer, I’ll shove that medication where it’ll do the most good,” Tess snapped, moving backward, one step at a time.

  The two men lounging against the side of the limo straightened up. They were big, muscular and decidedly mean looking. Ryan didn’t need anyone to tell him that they were the two goons hired to handle Tess if the situation turned physical. Although they were both probably trained in nonviolent-restraint techniques, they looked a little too eager to mix it up.

  Tess moved out onto the lawn, and the two men split up, started circling her from opposite directions. She was effectively surrounded, hemmed in. But she didn’t appear overly apprehensive. Perhaps she had no idea what was about to happen.

  “Tess, stay near me,” Ryan warned. He glanced at Bloom. “This does not have to happen like this.”

  Bloom ignored him, his attention focused on Tess. “Your part in this is over, Ryan. Get out of the way.”


  Both men moved toward Tess, but Ryan stepped between them. “Look, I think everyone needs to just chill out.” He motioned again for Tess to step behind him. “You’re scaring her, making things worse. Back off and let me deal with this.”

  “I’ve already told you we’re done doing things your way, Donovan,” Flynn snapped. “If you continue to interfere, I’ll have the Chief arrest you. Now move!”

  Ryan shot a glance in Chief Cole’s direction. Was the lawman really going to allow this insanity to continue?

  Cole stood off to one side, his expression mildly amused. Apparently he wasn’t about to jump into the fray, but he also wasn’t about to put a stop to it. He shrugged. “Sorry, Doc, but the general’s got a point. His papers are in order. Totally legal. He’s got the right to insist that his daughter accompany him. So I suggest you move aside and let him get about his business.”

  Flynn darted out a hand, reaching around Ryan and grabbing Tess’s forearm. He yanked her toward him. She screamed and kicked out, her foot connecting with his shin. Flynn grunted but hung on.

  Ryan tried prying the general’s fingers off Tess’s arm, but he found himself grabbed from behind, a beefy arm closing around his throat. The arm tightened, cutting off his oxygen. One of the goons had him in a bear hug.

  He struggled, using his larger frame to yank the man off balance. They shuffled back and forth a few clumsy steps until Ryan managed to slip an arm up and around the man’s head. He jerked backward and then leveraged the goon forward, flipping him over his shoulder. The man hit the ground with a satisfying grunt.

  But before he could straighten up, Ryan was hit by the second man, a quick blow to the back of the head. He stumbled forward a few steps as a wild array of white and yellow lights exploded in his head and he fell to his knees.

  “Ryan!” Tess screamed again, her desperation palpable. It tore at him, spurring him on. He shook his head, trying to clear it. Through a haze of pain, he could see Flynn wrestling with her, her long legs flying in a desperate attempt to keep Bloom from approaching her with the syringe.