In Too Deep

by Lynn H. Blackburn

  “Add the spice cabinet to your list,” she said. “And I say that because that message she wrote on her body was her final insurance policy. She knew they suspected her, and she hoped if they killed her, they wouldn’t notice she’d left a message from beyond the grave.”

  “They must not have noticed,” Adam said. “Or they wouldn’t have left her body to be found at all.”

  Gabe shrugged. “Actually, if it hadn’t been for that message, just based on the evidence we have—her note, no skid marks to indicate that she tried to stop herself from going off the road, no obvious car issues like a cut brake line—we might have been leaning toward suicide as the cause of her death.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Sharon says she drowned.”

  “What?” Sabrina grasped the edge of the kitchen table, and Adam moved to stand beside her.

  “Sorry,” Gabe said. “I guess I forgot to mention it before.”

  Sabrina’s hands trembled on the table. She had to be past the point of exhaustion.

  “I say we discuss this later.” Adam made eye contact with Gabe and then cut his eyes in Sabrina’s direction.

  Gabe got the message. “I agree,” he said.

  “But—” Sabrina wasn’t going to let it go.

  “I need to get forensics over here,” Gabe said. “You go with Adam to get your stuff from your place, and let me see if I can pull all my thoughts together on this. We’ll check in with Ryan and Anissa to see if they found anything in the lake today.”

  “That sounds great,” Adam said. “Leigh has already invited everyone over for dinner. Let’s plan to hash it out then.”

  Sabrina frowned but tucked her hand in the bend of Adam’s arm and walked with him to the front door. Gabe noticed, but other than a quick smirk he kept his comments to himself.

  Although Adam wasn’t sure Sabrina would have noticed if Gabe had said anything anyway. She was lost in thought, eyes unfocused, as they stepped onto the small front porch.

  “She okay?” Gabe mouthed to Adam.

  Adam didn’t know. Maybe the stress of the day had caught up to her? Maybe her brilliant mind was solving the case? Who knew?

  The window to his right shattered. Were they being shot at? His first thought was to throw himself on Sabrina and cover her from bullets.

  But then he saw it.

  A streak of smoke snaking through the yard.

  “Run!” Adam pulled his arm away from Sabrina and wrapped it around her waist. It took half a second for her to fall into step with him. He hated to force her to move like this. It had to be excruciating, but—

  The force of the explosion threw him to the ground. He covered Sabrina as debris fell all around them and the air filled with smoke and dust.

  A second explosion shook the ground, and the air around them warmed in an instant.

  Then something heavy landed across his back.

  And he couldn’t move.

  9

  Everything hurt.

  Her head throbbed with every pulsing beat of her heart.

  Her face, hands, and knees stung. How far had they skidded on the sidewalk before coming to a stop after the explosion threw them off their feet?

  Her chest burned with each intake of breath. Bruised ribs, probably from where Adam had landed on her.

  She would never tell him that. Ever.

  It had all been a blur. She lay frozen beneath Adam as the ground shook and everything around them seemed to be breaking apart and burning.

  Until, finally, the chaos stilled.

  Adam’s chest was draped across her back. His left arm was over her head like he’d landed on her sideways. His face was turned away from her.

  “Adam?” She coughed into the dust-filled air and pain sliced through her. “Adam?”

  Why wasn’t he answering her?

  “Adam? Sabrina? Oh no!” Gabe’s anguished cry terrified her more than anything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

  “Gabe!”

  “Sabrina! Thank God! I, um . . . Oh, Father, help me.”

  Was Gabe praying?

  “What’s wrong with Adam?” She gasped the words. He was so heavy. She never would have expected him to be as heavy as he felt at that moment.

  “Sabrina, I’m going to need you to stay calm.”

  “I’m trying, but I’m having some trouble”—she sucked in a breath—“breathing.”

  “Adam’s not conscious,” he said. “And there’s a huge piece of the roof on the two of you. I’m afraid to move him. It isn’t burning, thank heaven.”

  The roof? No wonder she couldn’t breathe. But then . . .

  “Is he breathing?”

  God, please let him be breathing.

  “He is,” Gabe said. “But if you can hold on, I’ll see if I can shift—”

  “Don’t!” The effort to yell the word cost her precious oxygen, but she didn’t care. “Wait.”

  “You’re sure? He’ll kill me if I don’t get you out from under him,” Gabe said.

  “I’ll kill you if you move him,” she said.

  Gabe knelt beside her. She could barely see him through the space between Adam’s arm and the ground. “I have no doubt you would,” he said. His eyes were red.

  Sirens rent the air and Gabe’s relief was palpable. He got to his feet. “I won’t try to move the roof off completely, but I’m going to try to lift it up a little so you can breathe.”

  She heard his grunt and the pressure on her rib cage eased. Not much, but enough for her to get a slightly deeper breath.

  “He saved our lives,” Gabe said.

  “What was it?” Part of her didn’t care. Part of her knew this was her brain’s way of protecting itself from the things she didn’t want to think about. If she could focus on the facts, she didn’t have to focus on the emotions that lay heavy across her heart.

  “An RPG, I think.”

  “A what?”

  “A rocket-propelled grenade. Must have been on a timer. Or maybe it didn’t go off the way it was supposed to. Either way, it was lucky for us. Those things usually blow on impact.”

  “How do you know that’s what it was?” Whispering was easier than trying to project her voice, but he heard her.

  “You can spot the smoke trail. Adam saw it first. I just ran when he said to run. I didn’t see it until we were already jumping off the porch. I’m guessing the explosion from the RPG hit some of the gas lines and caused them to blow. It’s a wonder there’s anything left of the house.”

  She peered under Adam’s arm, but everything was blurry. Where were her glasses? Probably in a thousand pieces somewhere.

  From what little she knew about RPGs, mostly from news reports from the Middle East, she was fairly certain they didn’t have a long range. Whoever had fired it had been close enough to know they were on the porch.

  Close enough to see them now.

  Doors slammed and footsteps pounded. “Gabe!”

  Was that Anissa? Why was she here?

  “Gabe!” That was definitely Ryan.

  “Are you okay?” Anissa asked.

  What was Anissa seeing that had her so worried for Gabe? How badly was he injured?

  “I’m fine, but—”

  A muted conversation took place above her. She heard whispers but couldn’t make out what was being said.

  “Sabrina!” Anissa knelt beside her. “Hang in there, hon.”

  “I’m fine,” Sabrina whispered. “Adam?”

  “He’s breathing.” Anissa’s voice trembled. “We’ll get that stuff off him in a sec.”

  The squawk of the sirens pierced her tender ears and then cut off. More running steps. More yelling.

  And then a new sound reached her ears. Thump, thump, thump.

  A helicopter.

  “Well, that’s great.” Gabe’s annoyance filtered through the chaos.

  “Ignore it.” Anissa wasn’t being bossy. She didn’t sound annoyed with Gabe either. She sounded . . . compa
ssionate. Anissa and Gabe had been getting along a lot better than they used to, but if she was being compassionate toward Gabe, then something must be wrong.

  Gabe must be hurt far worse than anyone was letting on.

  Father, please. Don’t let my friends die. And Adam, oh, God, please. I can’t . . .

  “Let’s see what we have here.” A new voice. Deeper. Calmer. “My name is Clark. What’s yours?”

  “Sabrina.” She tried to answer him, but she wasn’t sure if he understood.

  Gabe spoke. “Dr. Sabrina Fleming,” he said, “and Investigator Adam Campbell is the guy pinned under the roof. I was afraid to move it completely, but we need to get her out from under there. She’s having some trouble getting enough air.”

  “You did the right thing,” Clark said.

  Someone new knelt beside her and pushed Adam’s arm away enough to slip a mask over her face. The flow of oxygen did help. Some.

  “Dr. Fleming? A medical doctor?”

  “No,” Anissa said. “She’s a PhD. Computer forensics and cybersecurity.”

  “Nice.” Clark sounded impressed.

  Sabrina would be impressed if he were more focused on Adam.

  “We’re going to get a collar on Adam,” he said, “and then we’ll get this roof off of him and get him off of you.”

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  “When we move him, I need you to stay as still as possible,” he said. “I know you’re going to want to get up, or roll over, but please don’t until we check you out.”

  More conversations happened above and around her. Adam’s weight shifted. “It’s okay,” Anissa whispered. “They’ve almost got the collar on.”

  Another shift, this time of Adam’s legs. Why were they moving his legs?

  “Whoa,” Clark said. “Calm down, Adam.”

  They weren’t moving his legs. He was moving them!

  “Bri?” Adam’s raspy voice in her ear was the most beautiful sound she’d ever heard. “Bri!” The panic in it was not okay.

  “I’m okay,” she rushed to assure him, “but you have to be still.” Her voice was muffled by the mask. She hoped he could hear her.

  “Adam, listen to Dr. Fleming,” Clark said. “You’ve been knocked unconscious and pinned down. We need to stabilize you before we move you, and the sooner we do that the sooner we can get you off of her so she can breathe.”

  “Okay.”

  Adam’s hand squeezed her arm.

  He could move his hands. Thank you, God.

  “Okay,” Clark said. “You’re going to lift the roof and walk backward with it. As soon as they’re clear, we’ll get Adam on the board and off Dr. Fleming. On the count of three. Ready?”

  Far more people responded yes than she’d been expecting.

  “One. Two. Three. Lift.”

  Instantaneous relief.

  Adam wasn’t anywhere near as heavy as Adam plus a piece of the roof.

  She heard the grunts of the people moving the roof. The ground shook as they dropped it.

  And faster than she’d expected, Adam was gone. Cool air rushed over her as her lungs expanded fully.

  “Lie still.” Anissa squeezed Sabrina’s now-exposed fingers.

  “Sir, we need to take a look at that—”

  “Later.” Gabe’s tone left no room for argument.

  “Gabe.” Anissa’s reproach was tender. Her worry tangible. “She’s right. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “No, you’re not,” Ryan said.

  Their conversation shifted out of earshot as they followed the group taking Adam to the ambulance.

  Anissa stayed by her side, and for the next few minutes all Sabrina could do was answer questions and nod and move the parts of her body the paramedic, a young woman named Dorothy, asked her to move.

  They settled Sabrina onto a stretcher and strapped her in. “You’re going to be fine, Dr. Fleming,” Dorothy said. “But it’s protocol in a situation like this for you to go to the emergency department. They’ll take great care of you.”

  “I know,” she said. “I was there this morning.”

  “We have another ambulance ready.” Dorothy pointed toward the road. “Just waiting for the first ambulance to leave.”

  Adam was in that ambulance. Why hadn’t they left yet? He needed to be X-rayed, maybe have CT scans and MRIs. He might need oxygen. He could have burns. “What’s taking them so long?”

  “They’re just being extra careful,” Anissa said. “But he’s talking, and I saw him moving his hands and legs. We’ll get a full update as soon as we get to the hospital.”

  “Hey.” Gabe handed Sabrina her glasses. “Thought you might want these. The frames are a little wonky, but I don’t think the lenses are scratched.”

  “Thank you.” She settled them on her face—wonky was an understatement—and looked around.

  The house was a smoldering heap.

  Gabe’s head and arm were bleeding. His pants were shredded on one side. “You need to go to the hospital,” she said.

  “He will,” Anissa said.

  Gabe glared at Anissa but didn’t argue.

  “Then I guess I’ll see you there,” Sabrina said.

  Ryan joined Gabe and Anissa by her stretcher. “I’ve already called Leigh,” he said. “She’ll probably beat you there.”

  “She doesn’t have to be my personal nurse.”

  “She doesn’t want you to be alone,” Ryan said.

  Wow. Sabrina’s chin quivered and she clamped her jaws together to stop it. She would not fall apart. Not now.

  When she thought she could speak without blubbering, she whispered, “Thanks.” The ambulance pulled away and they all watched it go. “Has anyone contacted Adam’s family?”

  Ryan patted her arm. “The captain was going to call his parents, but—”

  “His parents are in Italy,” Sabrina said. Dorothy pushed her stretcher toward the waiting ambulance.

  “I’ll call his grandfather,” Anissa said. “Then I’ll be sure Gabe gets seen. We’ll see you at the hospital.”

  Sabrina rested her head on the stretcher. Before the doors closed, she saw Anissa on the phone. Gabe had his head in his hands and Ryan had a hand on Gabe’s back.

  “Hey,” she called out. Ryan and Gabe looked up. “Be careful.”

  They gave her a thumbs-up and the driver closed the doors.

  “We’ll be there in ten minutes,” Dorothy said. “Try to relax.”

  Like that was going to happen.

  So far today someone had attacked her, then left her to bleed on the ground, where she could have died, and then someone had blown up a house while she was still in it.

  And . . . all the evidence.

  The horror of it washed over her again. Gabe was hurt. She was hurt—again. The evidence was gone.

  And Adam . . .

  He’d sacrificed himself for her. He’d protected her from the first explosion and the second. If he hadn’t been hovering over her, she might have been killed.

  A tear escaped. Dorothy saw it.

  “You’re doing great,” she said. “You’ve been through a lot.”

  This sweet girl had no idea.

  “Your boyfriend is in the best hands,” she went on. “If I was hurt, Clark’s the one I’d want by my side.”

  “He isn’t my boyfriend,” Sabrina said.

  Dorothy coughed a couple of times, but it sounded a lot like “yeah right” and then “liar.”

  “He isn’t,” Sabrina said.

  Dorothy patted her hand. “Then you need to do whatever you have to do to change that. I’ve never had a man care enough about me to even open a door, much less shield my body with his own. You’re a very lucky lady.”

  Despite everything that had happened today, somehow Sabrina thought Dorothy might be right.

  “I need to see her,” Adam said. Again. He’d been saying that for the past hour. No one had been able to give him any information. They�
��d sent him to radiology, and they’d cleaned and bandaged his back, which at the moment felt great thanks to the lidocaine they’d used. He didn’t want to think about how it would feel later, but all in all they’d taken fabulous care of him physically. But did no one care that he was freaking out over here?

  He understood the privacy laws they were bound by, but couldn’t they give him something? If she was really okay, why hadn’t she been in to see him?

  A doctor—he assumed it was a doctor—leaned into Adam’s field of vision. The collar they had around his neck prevented him from turning his head. “Mr. Campbell, I’m Dr. Sloan. I’m thrilled you’re doing well enough to insist on seeing your girlfriend, but I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait a little longer.”

  “She isn’t my girlfriend. She’s . . .” He couldn’t bring himself to say “just a friend,” because she was so much more.

  Dr. Sloan smiled. “Boy, you’ve got it bad. And I promise I’ll let her come in to see you as soon as possible.”

  “Is she okay? They wouldn’t tell me anything in the ambulance.”

  “Yes,” he said. “She’s fine.”

  The doctor sounded convincing, but he could be saying that to calm Adam down. “How do you know?”

  Dr. Sloan winked at him. What was that supposed to mean?

  The doctor called out a few orders—it sounded like Adam might be able to get out of the neck brace soon—but then the doctor’s tone changed. “Have any of you ever met Dr. Fleming?”

  “No,” a female voice replied.

  “She’s the patient visiting us in room 4 for the second time today. If she keeps this up, we’re going to have to name it after her,” he said. “She’s a professor at the university. Her specialty is computer forensics.”

  “Cool,” another voice chimed in.

  Adam appreciated what Dr. Sloan was doing. He was simultaneously letting him know that he really had seen Sabrina, and she was okay, without violating any privacy laws or revealing anything about her physical condition.

  “It is cool,” he said. “I’m going to see if the school will have her come in and do a cybersecurity class for my kid’s middle-school class. I think it would be quite informative for them. She said she’d be happy to.”

  “Was that before or after you stitched up her head? Again.”