Olivia nodded and the nurse left.
Once she had left and Olivia heard the door close, she allowed herself to sink back into her pillow, letting out a heavy gasp. The tears flowed freely, seconds later.
Big, heaving sobs shook her body, making the pain in her shoulder flare up. She couldn’t stop and the pain in her shoulder only made her cry harder.
She didn’t want to be here anymore, she just wanted to go home. She wanted her own bed, her own clothes. She didn’t want to be around anyone else.
The sobs slowed to quiet hiccups as she lay there, waiting for the throbbing in her shoulder to subside.
Get a hold of yourself, she told herself, wishing she hadn’t allowed her emotions to get the best of her.
“Miss Woods?” a man’s voice called quietly.
“Yes?” she replied, quickly wiping her eyes with her good hand.
“How are you doing?” A young doctor stepped in between the curtains.
“As well as I can,” she mumbled trying to compose herself as she spoke.
“Don’t worry,” he said softly, placing a hand on her good shoulder.
“I’m sorry?” She was confused; don’t worry about what?
“You don’t have to keep up your reputation with me. I know you’re in pain and I know you aren’t sleeping well.”
She looked at him but said nothing. What was he trying to say?
“Look, I know you’re having problems coming to terms with what has happened to—”
“I’m fine. I just really want to go home,” she cut him off. She had no inclination for his patronization.
“I understand.”
“No, I don’t think you do; I really need to get home.”
He looked at her for a moment, saying nothing. She could see he was thinking through what he needed to say to her. She hoped it wasn’t going to be more bad news. She didn’t need any more of that any time soon.
“Look, Miss Woods. Being here at the hospital, we have the means to keep a medical eye on you, not that I believe that there are going to be any further complications, but you just never know with these things.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “Also, here at the hospital, we have the means to keep you safer from those that would seek to do you harm. We have the ability to set up a security detail to make sure that no one gets near you that shouldn’t.”
“I already have a security detail for when I get home. I have a bodyguard who will be going everywhere with me once I am out.”
“First off, there is nowhere out there that you need to be right now. Right now, you need your rest. Period.”
Her jaw dropped. She did not like being told what she could and could not do. If this doctor was trying to win her over, trying to make her feel better, then he was going about it the wrong way.
“I understand that I need to rest, Doctor, but I also have a life. I can’t be held in here indefinitely. Eventually, I am going to have to be let out to make room for someone else who needs this bed more than I do.”
“I agree with you on that one, Miss Woods. I am only concerned about your safety. I would rather hold onto you as long as I can, than to let you back out there and have you come back with another hole in you.”
She looked at him, his face creased with worry. Her heart softened a bit. The guy genuinely cared about what happened to his patients.
“I understand what you’re saying, Doctor. I am just tired of being stuck here.”
“I know. I completely understand that.” He sighed, “Look, while I could clear you, medically, to go home now, can I talk you into staying one more night? That will give the police more time. Then, hopefully they will have tracked down the people responsible and I will feel better knowing you’re going home safely.”
She looked at him. He did mean well. And he was right. One more night wouldn’t be so bad and they might catch the bastards. That would mean she wouldn’t have to have a bodyguard and she could just go home in peace and get on with her life.
It seemed like a fair trade.
“Alright. I will behave myself and stay put for another night. I know you’re only trying to do what’s best.“ She let out a long breath.
“Thank you.” He looked instantly relieved. “It really is for the best.”
“I know.”
“Now let’s see what I can do to make sure you get a good night’s sleep tonight and not have any more unpleasant dreams. Don’t want you waking up halfway through the night tonight.”
*****
Bo had left Olivia’s apartment an hour before and had stopped in at a 50s diner he had found on his way home to grab a quick bite to eat. The food had been good. Comfort food for a day that had felt particularly long and far harder than necessary. He felt like he did when he came back from a foot patrol in the army. Mentally and physically drained.
He had finished setting up cameras in and around Olivia’s apartment, and set up the remote monitoring so he could keep an eye on it from home tonight. He would go back tomorrow to check on things and make sure that no one had tampered with them.
Walking into his sparsely furnished apartment and closing the door behind him, he carefully placed his laptop on the small table in his dining room before heading into his kitchen and brewing himself a pot of coffee. While his coffee brewed, he looked around. There was nothing around that was personal except a single picture of him and his unit from his time in the military sitting on the windowsill.
He walked over and picked it up. Out of the eight men he was pictured with, five had died in combat and two had committed suicide upon return home or shortly there after. The only one other than him still alive was the team leader. A man he no longer spoke to and would probably never again. The rest of the men, his brothers, he missed dearly but that one, he couldn’t.
Once he had called that man ‘brother’, too. He would have done anything that his commander had ordered, but that all changed in one instant when his commander failed him. The man wouldn’t listen and it had ended up costing Bo not only half of his unit but also his heart.
And now here he was, back in the same situation once again, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. His boss once again was not listening to what he was saying and he was going to have to go through with the mission no matter what. Because that was what a good soldier did. He followed orders without question and completed missions.
No matter how much his mind screamed that this was not the way that it was supposed to be any more, his training took over and he complied. Like a good soldier.
He shook his head.
Placing the picture back on the sill, he went back into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee.
Opening the fridge to get some cream, he realized after looking at the almost empty fridge, that he would have to go and buy some groceries in the near future if he planned on eating any time soon.
Coffee in hand, he sat down at the dining room table and fired up his laptop. A quick system check showed that all of the cameras were operational. He would keep an eye on them for the rest of the night and make sure that no one came near Olivia’s apartment without him knowing.
He pulled out her file again; he wanted to learn all he could about her before he next saw her. There was something about her that made him curious. She seemed to have it all, good job, clearly nice apartment but something was missing. Where was her family?
Nowhere in her file could he find anything about family. No mother, father, and the only mention of siblings was a brief mention of a younger brother, but there seemed to be no close contact with him, as he appeared merely as a footnote in the file. Nothing spoke to him about her personality.
He pulled up the cameras on the computer again. He moved their view around the rooms in her apartment. He could see the nice furniture and the fine artwork around the room. There were pillows and throws on the couch, a nice bedspread on the four-poster bed in her bedroom and a hand carved dining room set, but he realized that her apartment
was no different than his. She had no personal pictures around anywhere. It was as if she existed solely for her job and then came back home only to sleep.
There was no life there, just things.
He understood that loneliness. Looking at her picture in the file, he wondered what events in her life had caused her to seek out such solitude.
A shrill ringing yanked him out of his thoughts. He reached for his phone.
“Jackson.”
“Hey, Bo, how’s it going?” Jake’s voice came through the phone
“I have all the gear I need set up and working at the apartment. I will be monitoring it all night long to make sure that the apartment is secure.”
There was a pause of dead silence. Bo wondered if the connection had been lost. His apartment was notorious for that.
“Hello?” he said into the phone.
“Yeah, I am here.” Jake sounded far away, like he was thinking.
“Okay.” What the hell did he want?
“I was actually asking how you were doing. I meant on a personal level, unrelated to the assignment.”
“Fine.” Great, now Jake was checking up on him. He knew Cat had been wrong about telling Jake how he felt about the situation.
“Well, after our talk earlier today, I just wanted to make sure—-”
“I said I am fine, Jake.” Bo cut him off. He didn’t want to rehash the whole thing all over again. He had already said all that he had wanted to say.
“Alright, alright. No need to get bitchy. It’s my job to make sure that the plan goes off without a hitch and it is my job to make sure that all the players have their heads in the game at all times. If I have an idea that there is something that could upset the outcome of the job, I will double and triple check to make sure that we are all on the same page.”
As much as he hated to admit it, Jake was right. He had to do what he was doing. Bo would have done no different, had done no different to the men that had been under his command. He just didn’t like to be questioned; he was a professional.
“You don’t need to worry about me. I will do the job as you have laid out to the best of my abilities.”
“Good.”
“Was there anything else?” Bo just wanted to get Jake off the phone and get back to the studying of his charge.
“Yes, the reason I called was actually to tell you that Miss Woods will be released in the morning. You will need to pick her up around 9:30.”
“Great. I will be there.”
“Good.”
“Anything else?”
“No. We will talk tomorrow, once you have Miss Woods home and safe,” and Jake was gone.
Bo put his phone back down on the table beside him, and rubbed his face with both of his hands. As much as he knew it had been the right thing to do, he was feeling a measure of regret about having told Jake about the misgivings he had about the job. He didn’t want his boss, his leader, to have any doubt about him being able to do the job he was tasked with.
He hoped it was the last he would hear on the issue.
Turning back to the file in front of him, he picked up the photograph again. Since he and Olivia seemed to have so much in common, he wondered if she ever felt any of the guilt or regret he did or if she lived a carefree, no-strings-attached.
Chapter 5
Dawn broke shortly before Bo rolled out of bed. The cool morning air drifting in the window brought a chill to his bare chest and legs. He wanted to get in a quick workout session before he had to go pick up his charge. Last thing he wanted to do was have a bunch of pent up energy coupling with his uneasy feeling
He tried to write it off as a side effect of the large amounts of coffee he’d consumed the night before, but he knew better. He had subsisted on coffee for many nights and none of them had left him feeling as jittery as he was this morning.
He stood up stretched and put on a loose pair of track pants. Leaving his bedroom, he made his way across the hall into his makeshift weight room.
Bo caught a glimpse of himself in the wall of mirrors as he walked into the room. He looked like he had been run over by a truck. While he felt like he had rested some last night, it was clear by the lines on his face that he had not rested quite as well as he had thought.
Ignoring the random thoughts about why his sleep was so disturbed, he picked up a set of hand weights and got to work clearing his mind for the day ahead.
Once he had made his way around the makeshift gym in his spare bedroom, he was lathered in fine beads of sweat and his muscles ached. An hour had passed and he had barely noticed. He felt better in his mind, and judging by his sweat-covered image in the mirror, his body was in better shape. Gone were the lines of a poor night’s sleep, his eyes no longer looked like he was half asleep, and his well-worked muscles stood out like twisted cables along his lean frame.
He went back into his room, stripped off the now damp sweat pants and walked into this bathroom naked. The hot water soothed the subtle ache in his body and washed away the sweat. There was a part of him that wanted nothing more than to be able to stand there for a while yet and enjoy the hot water. To forget what he had to do that day and take a day to himself.
It was not something he was in the habit of doing, but for once, he wished it was so today.
Taking a deep breath, he shut off the shower and quickly toweled himself dry. Best get at it and get it started. No sense in dragging things out longer than they had to be.
Dressed and packed up, he grabbed a mug of coffee for the road and left his apartment. There wasn’t much traffic on the road at that time of the morning; it was still before the rush hour got into full swing. It was the perfect time to make the trip down to the heart of Lake City.
The police had made it sound as if whomever had shot Miss Woods was after her specifically, despite the fact that others at the cafe had been hit and died. So he had to make sure he covered all angles at all times. As he drove, Bo kept an eye on his rearview mirror; it was a habit of his from years gone by when he had to make sure no one was coming up behind him. Today, however, there were so few cars on the road that he didn’t have anyone behind him for more than a minute. His mind eased; at least that was one thing that he didn’t seem to have to worry about at the moment.
Pulling into the hospital, he spoke to the security guard on duty and asked if there had been any disturbances at the hospital overnight. The guard had only been on duty for a few hours at that point, but he had not heard of anything.
Bo parked his jeep in the same place as he had the day before. The early morning sunshine was still burning off the cold damp of the day before, but the wind had died down to a small breeze.
Crazy weather, Bo thought, and entered the hospital.
The good ole boys from the day before were back again when Bo arrived on Miss Woods’ ward.
“Good morning.” He smiled; although he really didn’t want to get into a long-winded conversation with them at that point, he knew he had best be polite, lest it get back to Jake and that whole grind started up again.
“Well, look, if it isn’t the babysitter!” the taller one joked, reaching out a hand to Bo.
Bo cringed inwardly. This wasn’t starting off right at all.
“Sorry, man, don’t listen to him. He’s an ass half the time,” the short one responded, smacking the other in the gut.
It was like a horrible comedy scene out of the movies
“No problem.” Bo smiled, hoping they would go away and let him be.
“So, you come to pick up her royal highness?” the tall one asked.
“Really? You know she can hear every word we are saying, right?”
Bo watched in amazement. He hadn’t had much of an opinion of the two of them to start with, but really, these guys were unreal. No wonder they were stuck having to guard a person instead of solving crimes: they would never get anything done. They reminded him of the Three Stooges, only there were two of them.
“I am here to pick up Miss Woo
ds, that is correct.”
“Good luck with that. She has been causing quite the stir this morning.” Shorty looked at the tall cop.
“Oh?” Bo asked, eyebrows raised. He had already guessed that the woman would be hard to handle, but he was curious as to just what awaited him.
“They are refusing to release her until you got here. Apparently some sort of doctors ordered that she isn’t to leave until her security arrived. She was already a mess last night from what I understand. Caused a bit of a stir until the doc went in and calmed her down.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, seems like she wants to get back into her everyday life as soon as possible, even though they still haven’t caught the bastards that put her here in the first place.”
“Hmm.” Bo nodded. This was shaping up to be a little more interesting than he had thought it would be, but also would be far tougher if she was going to insist on going out in public.
“Once you have her in your care, that means the two of us are officially done with our bit for God and country. For this assignment, anyway. It will be all up to you to keep the pretty lady safe,” Shorty replied with a grin.
“If she isn’t the death of you first,” the tall one snickered.
Bo rolled his eyes inwardly. These guys were really cruising for trouble if she really was in the mood they were insisting that she was in.
“Alright then, if that’s all you need from me, I shall relieve you of your duties.” Bo said, hoping that would be the end of the conversation.
“Good! Get those two out of here so I can go home!” Olivia’s voice came from inside the room.
Yes. She was clearly in a great mood. Just great.
The two officers nodded and headed off down the hallway and Bo took a deep breath before he entered the room.
“About time you showed up. I have been waiting for hours for you to get here. And I have had to deal with Cheech and Chong out there making stupid remarks all morning.” She was sitting up on the edge of the bed, dressed, arm in a sling and her purse beside her, waiting. “If they think for one moment I haven’t been listening to every word that they have been saying, they are sorely mistaken. And if they think that I will not be having a talk with their superiors about their conduct, they are wrong about that as well.”
Bodyguard (Den of Thieves, #2) Page 5
