Fear chewed at Ryan’s stomach. His time was almost up. He had to reach her. If McCaffrey shot the vice president, Tess would go down with him. The Secret Service would be all over the two of them in a matter of seconds, and if McCaffrey was as suicidal in his approach as Ryan figured him to be, there would be no survivors. Tess would die in the same hail of bullets as McCaffrey.
He plowed through the crowd, pushing and shoving people aside. Angry shouts and taunts surrounded him, but he ignored them.
Tess turned and saw him.
Relief ripped through him, almost paralyzing him with its intensity. He could tell that something about his appearance had broken through to her.
She either remembered something or remembered him. He didn’t know which and he didn’t care. All that mattered was she had reacted. Somehow he needed to get to her, to pull her away to safety.
He was almost there, an arm’s length away when the sound of a gunshot exploded in the warm evening air.
The crowd went silent for a second, moving restlessly, unsure what they’d heard. Ryan tried again to push his way through, but the bodies were packed in too tight.
From somewhere up front, a woman screamed, “A gun! She’s got a gun!”
Another shot crackled over the heads of the crowd and they went berserk. Everyone tried to turn and run for the patio doors at once.
Ryan found himself pushed backward with the swell of the crowd. He lost his footing and lost sight of Tess. An overweight woman elbowed him in the chin and stampeded around him. Ryan ducked under the arm of a couple attempting to run arm in arm.
Over the heads of the crowd, Ryan saw Starling drop below the top of the podium. Whether he was shot or simply getting out of the line of fire was unknown.
A swarm of Secret Service men rushed to shield him. People scrambled off the platform like frightened geese, their arms flapping for balance as they jumped, their faces twisted with fear. The red, white and blue banner attached to the table tore and fluttered to the floor. But no one noticed, they ran right over it.
Desperate, Ryan pushed his way through the crowd surging toward him, determined to find Tess. To save her.
He found her stretched out on her back a few yards away, her arms flung out from her side. The gun lay next to her.
Her hair had spilled from its elegant upsweep and lay fanned across her face, hiding her behind a pale veil. His heart pounding, Ryan knelt beside her and gently brushed the hair out of her eyes. Her eyes were closed, her face turned away.
It was then that he noticed the wet patch darkening the red of her dress, a sinister patch of black spreading along her entire left side. He could barely breathe as reality hit him.
She’d been hit.
As he bent to touch her, someone rounded him from behind, knocking him sideways. He fell to his knees, his palms skidding on the smooth tiles.
“Facedown on the floor,” a voice ordered.
Ryan glanced up. Five or six men in suits and guns drawn surrounded him.
“She’s hurt. Let me help. I’m a doctor—”
From behind, someone jammed a foot into his shoulder and sent Ryan face first onto the floor. His cheek hit hard and for a moment his world tilted crazily.
“You don’t need to do anything, buddy. Just stay down and stay quiet.” The agent’s foot stayed firmly wedged against his shoulder, pressing him to the floor.
Ignoring the command, determined to reach Tess, Ryan snaked a hand across the tiles to her. Nothing anyone said or did would stop him from getting to her. He had to know. He had to see if she was still alive.
He pressed his fingers to the side of her neck. Nothing. He wiggled forward a millimeter more, disregarding the increased pressure of the foot on his back. He moved his fingers along the warm skin of her neck, searching for a sign, any sign of life.
His own pulse pounded in his ears.
But he felt nothing. No flutter. No movement.
The man standing over him ground his foot into his back, emphasizing that he meant for him to stop moving. But Ryan crawled another fraction of an inch forward, trying one final time.
He needed to believe that he wasn’t too late. That she hadn’t already slipped away from him before he could reach her. Before he could tell her that she had beaten Flynn. Before he could tell her he loved her.
And then, beneath the tips of his fingers, he felt a faint fluttering beat. A relief so sharp and so painful Ryan thought he might die from the ecstasy of it rushed through him.
She was alive.
Her eyes opened, and he stared into the familiar green of her gaze. She smiled, a slight, one-sided lift of her mouth. “I didn’t think you’d get here in time,” she whispered, her voice raspy, barely above a whisper. “I kept thinking, what will I do without Ryan around to rescue me?”
He slid his hand up the side of her neck to gently stroke the soft paleness of her cheek. “You’ll never know because I plan on being here for a long time to come.”
He lifted his head toward the group standing around them. “Get an ambulance,” he shouted. “She needs medical attention now!”
No one moved, their eyes as hot and dangerous as molten steel just poured from the mold.
“Then let me help her. I’m a doctor.” No movement. Another foot had joined the first to keep him pinned to the floor. “At least let me stop the bleeding.”
His answer came when someone pulled his arms behind his back and a pair of handcuffs were snapped onto his wrists. Ryan bucked, trying to pull away, but they yanked him away from Tess and stood him on his feet.
“You won’t be helping her or anyone else,” one of the agents said. “If I was you, I’d be more concerned about my own hide.”
Ryan twisted his body and tried shoulder-butting one of the men, but they immediately converged on him, subduing him.
“Don’t fight them, Ryan,” Tess said. “Just do as they say.” Her voice had slipped a few notches as her strength seemed to seep away with each word spoken.
As he watched helplessly, her eyes closed and she drifted off. “Let me help her,” he begged, no longer fighting. “She’ll bleed out.”
One of the men bent down and pressed a tablecloth from a nearby table against her side in a futile effort to stop the bleeding.
“Get out of my way,” someone ordered from across the terrace.
Ryan looked up to see another man break through the crowd and stride toward them. He was about fifty-seven or fifty-eight, and upon reaching them, he immediately crouched down next to Tess, his big shoulders hunching a bit as he leaned forward to tenderly brush her hair back. His fingers trailed across her forehead in a touch very similar to a caress.
“Paramedics are on their way up, sir,” the agent, who was applying pressure to the wound, said anxiously.
The older man nodded, never lifting his head.
His face, a map etched deep with the lessons of life, softened as he whipped off his jacket and gently lifted Tess’s head to tuck it under. The revolver clipped to a holster nestled in the small of his back told Ryan he was an agent. The way the other agents deferred to him told him the man was probably in charge.
Across the terrace, the crowd parted like obedient lemmings and two paramedics burst through. Their heavy packs bobbed against their hips as they ran up.
The older man stood up, seeming to sense that he was only in the way. One of the paramedics took over from the younger agent, who was applying pressure.
His attention turned to the men holding Ryan. “Get him over to the hospital. I’m going in the ambulance. I’ll question him there.”
“Forget it. I’m going in the ambulance, too.” Ryan tried to shake off the two men holding him.
The older agent’s gaze, grave and infinitely weary, ticked over to meet Ryan’s. Unlike a moment ago when he’d paused to stroke Tess’s face and his sadness seemed overwhelming, nothing in his face revealed what he was thinking. “You’ll go where I say you go, Donovan. I don’t have time for you right
now. Tess is my main concern.”
He turned away.
Ryan didn’t care how the man knew his name, but the fact that he seemed concerned about Tess calmed him some. He strained to see past the senior agent and over the heads of the two paramedics. One was hooking her up to a heart monitor and the other one was starting an IV. They’d already slapped on a pressure bandage. The reassuring beat of her heart playing out across the monitor’s screen helped Ryan believe that she’d make it to the hospital.
“At least let me go with her to the hospital to make sure she’s okay. Then I’ll answer any questions you have.”
For a moment he thought he saw a flicker of compassion in the old guy’s eyes, but it was gone as soon as it registered. He turned away, pointedly ignoring him and blocking his view of Tess.
“Get him out of here,” he ordered.
The two agents guarding him stepped up and pulled him after them. No amount of protesting had any effect. Ryan was forced off the terrace, forced to leave Tess’s side.
Chapter Sixteen
“Tess. Wake up, Tess.”
Tess pulled herself up out of the wet, clinging darkness and stretched to reach the voice calling to her. Everything hurt. Even her eyelashes hurt when she opened her eyes.
Ouch. She squinted a bit from the light overhead. Too bright. They were like phosphorous flares going off in her face. She closed her eyes again and then opened them slowly.
Still painful, but bearable.
A face appeared directly over her.
She smiled. Casper. Ken Casper. His battle-toughened face was deeply grooved with worry lines, deeper even than she remembered. He fumbled for her hand, wrapping a big, sandpapery hand around hers.
“Hey, ghost of mine,” she whispered.
“You’re in the hospital, sweetie. They’re going to have to operate soon, but the doc says you’re going to be fine.”
“Where’s Ryan?” The faintness of her voice scared her, sounding as if it came from somewhere outside of her.
“He’s on his way. I came in the ambulance with you and sent him in a car with some of my staff.”
She tried frowning and wasn’t sure it worked. “I thought you were a romantic, Casper. Don’t you know that you’re supposed to let the handsome hunk ride with the beautiful woman. The old guy takes the cab?”
He laughed. “I’ll remember that for next time, sweetheart.”
“The vice president?”
“He’s fine. Not a scratch on him.” He stroked the back of her hand. “He’s going to get some mileage out of this politically.”
“Still the same old cynical Casper,” she rasped, her throat dry and scratchy. “McCaffrey?”
A cloud shadowed Casper’s face. “He gave us the slip in the panic that ensued. But we’re pretty sure he was the one who got off the shots. He dropped the gun beside you, so we’ll run the ballistics and make sure. We’ll catch up to him at some point.”
“What about Flynn?”
“He’s in custody and singing like a bird, telling us all about the center and the Patriot’s Foundation of Family Values. We’ll be rounding up that crazy bunch for the next six months. But for now, the immediate threat is over.”
Tess nodded, and a great sense of peace settled over her. They’d won.
“We wouldn’t have figured it out without you, Tess.”
Casper rubbed her hand, and then leaned down to smooth her hair back off her forehead. His touch was warm, but Tess couldn’t help but wish the hand enclosing hers was Ryan’s. She desperately needed to feel the heat of his skin and the sound of his voice.
She started to drift, and she tightened her hold on Casper’s hand. Oh, God, she needed to hang on. She needed to be awake when Ryan arrived.
“It’s okay, Tess. He’ll be here soon,” Casper said, reading her mind.
She pulled on his hand, coaxing him closer. “Tell Ryan—” She sucked in another breath. “Tell him when he gets here that I need him.”
It didn’t matter anymore if he couldn’t say it back to her. Even if he was still stuck on the whole concept of her being his patient and he couldn’t love her the way she wanted. Nothing mattered to Tess except that she tell Ryan how much she needed him.
“You can tell him yourself. Just hang on, sweetie.”
But Tess couldn’t hang on. She fell over the edge and dropped into nothingness, spinning around and embracing the darkness. And as she slipped away, her hand falling from Casper’s, she thought, Please, God, let Ryan be here when I wake up, because I don’t think I can get through one more day without him by my side.
THEY TOOK OFF the handcuffs and pushed Ryan into a room on the second floor of the hospital. He didn’t know the name of the hospital but he knew it was only a short ride from the hotel. Apparently the head agent had made arrangements for his arrival, because when the car pulled up front, two other agents met them at the door and escorted him upstairs.
Ryan surveyed the room. Small with no windows. The furniture had a definite institutional flavor. He paced, unable to settle. The agent with him took a seat by the door, his attention on a magazine. He pointedly ignored Ryan’s questions.
By the time the door opened, Ryan was sure he’d worn a hole in the carpet. The senior agent walked in and nodded his head at the other agent, dismissing him.
He turned to Ryan. “I’m Supervising Special Agent Ken Casper of the United States Secret Service.”
Ryan ignored the introduction. “Where’s Tess? I demand to see her now.”
“You’re not in a position to demand anything, Doctor.” But then the man’s face softened. “Besides, she’s in surgery and no one can see her until she’s out.”
Ryan’s heart slammed against his chest. He’d figured the wound was serious, but he couldn’t deny he had hoped it was superficial. “How bad is it?”
“They couldn’t tell me anything. But her surgeon will notify us when he’s done.” Casper motioned to the couch. “Sit down. I know you have a lot of questions, and I’ll answer as many of them as I can.”
Still on guard, Ryan stayed on his feet. “How do you know Tess?”
Casper sank down onto the edge of one of the chairs, stretching his long legs out in front of him with a deep grunt.
“I’ve known Tess since she was a toddler. I was good friends with her dad.” The sadness Ryan had noted in the man’s face when he leaned over Tess flickered across the agent’s face again. “I was assigned to her father during his years as U.S. senator.”
Realization hit Ryan. “Casper! You’re the ghost that watches over her, aren’t you.”
He nodded. “When she was little, she called me Casper the Friendly Ghost.” He shifted in the chair, trying to get more comfortable. “I got close with the family. When her dad died in the crash years later, I tried to help, but times changed and her mom needed to get on with her life. We kind of drifted apart. The last time I saw her was at her mother’s funeral. That is, until—”
His voice drifted off and for a long moment the man stared into space, his gaze turned haunted, as if he was seeing their last meeting play out in front of his eyes and what he saw shot him through with terrible guilt.
“Until what?” Ryan prompted.
Casper’s eyes flickered back into the present and he hunched over, his elbows coming to rest on his thighs. “Until she came to me a little over eight months ago to tell me that she thought her stepfather was up to his eyeballs in some kind of plot to hurt the vice president.”
“Which it turns out he was,” Ryan said dryly. “So, you decided to use her to learn more.”
“She insisted. And as much as I didn’t want to, we knew that she was the only one who could get close. She wasn’t supposed to go deep. We just wanted as much superficial information as she could gather—preliminary stuff that my own agents could use to infiltrate the foundation. We have a file yea thick—” he spread his hands a foot apart “—on that damn organization. But no one could get a handle on them. Mainly b
ecause infiltrating it was next to impossible.”
“But not for Tess?”
“No, unfortunately not for Tess.” He had rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt and, for a minute, he fiddled with a button on the cuff. He lifted his head. “I think her stepfather took a certain delight in using her. In subjecting her to his brainwashing techniques. It would have been his ultimate revenge against her father. Flynn despised Senator Ross, saw him as the epitome of everything he hated. Blamed him for the weakening of the American military.”
“Why would he take a chance using Tess?” Ryan asked.
“A maniac’s ego perhaps. Who knows?” Casper shrugged. “Flynn knew how close Tess was to the vice president. He knew that of all the people he had to choose from, Tess was the one person who would never be questioned. Never be denied access to him. She was above reproach.”
“So why put her life at such risk?”
Casper sighed. “Because we never thought he’d go this far. Tess had explicit instructions to stay on the periphery of the organization. To just get a feel for things and then report back to us. We never thought he was going to recruit her like he did.”
“So when she disappeared, why didn’t you go in after her? Get her out before they messed with her head?”
“We tried.” He sat back, his massive arms lifting up to drape over the back edge of the couch. “But we weren’t sure where he had her stashed. He’s a cagey old bird—no one in Washington plays poker with Thomas Flynn without a few extra cards tucked up their sleeve.”
“Sounds like you ended up playing without any extras up your sleeve.”
Casper nodded.
Ryan glanced up at the clock. Forty-five minutes and still no word.
“She’s going to be fine, son.” Casper fished around in his pocket for some change and then walked over to the soda machine. He stuck the coins in the slot and they jingled merrily on their way down to the collection box. He pressed one of the panels and a cola dropped into the bin below. “Want one?”
Emergency Contact Page 22
