by Sioux Dallas
“He would not have been hurt if he had not gotten mixed up with -. I’m sorry, Amanda, I know it isn’t directly your fault, but, as a mother, I’m concerned about my son and his associates. When you’re a mother you’ll understand. A mother becomes a fierce thing to reckon with when one of her children is hurt, regardless of how old they are.”
“A father isn’t?” Lance teased trying to clear the atmosphere. “No one blames you, Amanda.” He reached to bug her. “We’re in shock and frightened for our child. Yes, he’s still our little boy regardless of how grown he is.”
“I understand and you’re not saying, or thinking, anything that I haven’t said to myself during the past few hours. If Daniel had never met me he would not be in this mess.” She burst out crying.
“Dear girl, don’t cry. I know you’re as scared as we are, and probably as angry.” Lance hugged her as a disturbed Corbin walked to meet them.
“My daughter has been through more than you realize. Are you aware of the damage to our equipment in our business and the threats to Amanda?” Corbin demanded.
“Yes, Daniel filled us in. My heart aches for you, Amanda, and I wish I could help.” Lance reached to shake hands with Corbin. Myra wiped her eyes and walked over to put her arm around Amanda’s waist. “Forgive me, darling. I know you’re as worried as we are. None of this is your fault. Daniel would be ashamed of us and very hurt if he thought we were not standing with you.” She turned to the doctor who had joined them. “I’m Daniel Cortland’s mother and this is his father. May we see him now?”
“He’s asleep and hopefully will sleep through the night. You may go quietly and look at him for no more than two minutes. Don’t disturb him or try to talk to him. He’s going to be fine as soon as the wound heals and he has therapy on his shoulder. He’s lost a lot of blood and had a transfusion. His body has been shocked, but he’ll soon be good as new.”
Amanda and her father waited until the Cortlands returned from Daniel’s room. Myra faced Corbin Wescott. “Forgive me for being distracted. How is your wife? I’m sure she is worried and anxious to hear the news about Daniel.”
“Yes, she was very disturbed. I asked some neighbors to stay with her until we returned home. Would you like to come home with us so we can talk privately?” Corbin courteously asked them.
Myra and Lance looked at each other. Lance answered. “Thank you. We’d love to come to your house. We do need to talk, and I don’t want to have to answer the numerous questions that our children at home will have. I haven’t made enough sense out of this yet to answer questions from anyone. I need to talk about this and try to get some understanding of it.”
Amanda walked to Shane and whispered, “Are we going to tell them that you’re undercover?”
“No. It’s too dangerous. Remember that I told you someone might innocently talk to a friend and tell too much. The story is that I’m helping Mike until he’s able to work full time on his own.”
“Okay,” she smiled. “Come with us. I’m sure you want to hear all of the conversations.
He nodded and then looked thoughtfully after a man who had been sitting unobserved behind a potted tree. The man casually strolled to the elevator, but looked back at them before he got on the elevator. Shane started to call Amanda’s attention to the man, but decided to think about it. I might be spooking at shadows. I can’t be sure that man was listening to us. It could be my suspicious nature as a policeman. I’ll call downstairs and alert the men on duty that he’s coming down. They can look him over. He stepped to one side and made the call to the two police at the outside door.
At the Wescotts’ home each one told and retold anything he or she could think of since the plane had been sabotaged. Lance and Myra repeated all that Daniel had told them; which wasn’t much. Amanda told all she knew. Lance and Corbin had many questions that could not be answered at the time. Shane sat, observing and listening. He knew that he had not been acquainted with these people long enough to know something about their characters. As little time as he had known them though, he liked all of them and had a feeling that they were sincere. They were as puzzled as he and the other police were as to who was involved and why. He was determined to put all of his training in effect and protect them as much as he was capable of doing and hoped and prayed that he could help solve the crime before anything else happened or someone was killed.
Chapter Fourteen
When Daniel awakened, he was disoriented. He tried to sit up but the pain in his shoulder almost knocked him out again. He was annoyed because he couldn’t move and wondered where he was. Slowly turning his head to the left he saw a figure slumped asleep in a chair. He was relieved to discover that he knew the person.
“Amanda?”
The person in the chair stirred and stretched then stood up quickly. “Daniel! Oh thank Heavens. How do you feel?” Amanda wanted to touch him but was afraid she might hurt him.
“What’s going on? Why do I have all these needles and tubes in me?” His words were slurred.
“Be still, darling. Don’t cause more damage. And be quiet. I’m not supposed to be here. I sneaked in as there was a shift change.” She leaned over and carefully kissed his cheek. “Don’t you remember what happened to you?”
“No,” he moaned. “Why am I in such pain?”
“You’re in the hospital. The nurses will have orders from the doctor to give you something for the pain. Shall I call them? Do you feel hungry? I hear the breakfast crew coming around.”
“No. Yes. I don’t know.” He began to move and groan.
“Please don’t move like that. You might pull your IV needle loose and then you’d hurt for sure. Let me tell you what I know and maybe it’ll help you remember.”
She had just finished telling him all she knew of the accident when a nurse walked in. “What are you doing here? Did anyone give you permission to stay the night?”
“I’m Mr. Cortland’s er-fiancée. I just came in about five minutes ago to see how he’s doing.” She hated to tell a lie, but knew she would be in trouble if they knew the truth. They would never have allowed her to spend the night by Daniel’s bed, but if she had not done so, she would have made herself sick with worry about his health and fear of someone sneaking in and trying to harm him again.
“You’ll have to leave. We need to clean him up, check the bandaging, take his stats and feed him. Come back at ten o’clock for the visiting hours.”
Daniel weakly motioned for Amanda to lean over. “Did we get engaged while I was in a fog and don’t remember what happened?” he asked, his voice slurring. Amanda hoped the nurse had not heard what he said or she would know Amanda was not telling the truth.
“Yes, darling, I’ll come back as soon as I can,” Amanda answered. “You need to rest as much as possible to help your healing.” She hoped the nurse would think Daniel had asked her to stay.
Amanda reluctantly left. She gave a gasp and a start of surprise when Mark Cummings took her arm. “You’re a tough lady to keep up with,” he said. “Shane asked me to guard you while he went home to shower and take a short nap. He’s been up all night and wants to be with you today.”
“Thank you Officer Cummings. I’m not sure who I am or what is going on. Too much has happened so quickly that it’s hard to keep my mind in the right direction.”
“I understand. And will you try to remember to call me Beaver?” he grinned. “Others must not know that I’m a uniform. Don’t forget; Shane and I are undercover.”
“Of course. Oh, none of this seems real. I feel as if I’m watching a movie. Do you have any leads on who might have done this to Daniel?”
“It’s too soon to pin anything specific down. We’re still checking on the clues we have. Knowing Shane, I’d say you’ll know something within the next twenty-four hours.”
“Are you saying that Shane is so good that he can solve a crime in no time?”
“I’m saying that, according to his past performance, he’ll hang on like a pit
bull until he gets the answers he’s searching for. Pity the fellow who did this to Daniel and threatened you.”
“At the present moment, I wouldn’t care if he is a pitbull. After what this nasty person did to Daniel, I want to tear him apart with my bare hands. Daniel’s such a gentleman and truly a good man. He’s only been protecting me. Who hates me enough to try to kill us?” Amanda gulped and took a shuddering breath. She hated to cry in front of others, but no person could take so much before they broke down.
Mark didn’t know whether to hug her and comfort her or stand back and allow her some privacy. He was relieved to see her father coming toward them.
“Amanda,” Corbin said in alarm and moving faster toward her. “What has happened? Is Daniel-”
“Daniel’s going to be fine, Dad. It’s just going to take time. I’ve just had enough of this dirty business.” She raised her voice. “And if this bum, or any of his creepy buddies are around, I want you to know that you haven’t scared me off of whatever you’re worried about. You’ve only succeeded in making me so angry that I’ll never give up.”
“Hush, darling. We don’t know that anyone is around that we can consider an enemy. Don’t allow them the pleasure of knowing they’ve upset you. Hold your head up, stick out your chin and let’s go to work.”
“Dad! You can’t! Mom would kill me if I let you come back to work too soon. No way, José, are you going to come back to work. I give you my solemn promise that I’ll behave and take care of myself. Mike will return to work tomorrow and Shane will be there to help Mike. Knowing Daniel, he’ll be at the hangar if he can only sit in a chair and keep an eye on me. No, Dad. Please don’t even consider it yet.”
“I’ll stay away and behave if you promise that you’ll go nowhere alone.”
“I promise, Dad. Let’s go home and tell Mom that Daniel is awake and raring to go. Of course he’ll be on restricted activities for a while, but that will not stop him. He’ll also have to have therapy to help his shoulder to get moving properly and without future pain. Mark, thank you for your caring and helping us any way that you can.”
“My pleasure, Amanda. I’ll be in touch.” He smiled and walked away. Amanda and her dad followed more slowly. She wanted to be sure she didn’t cause him to move too quickly or be distressed. She smiled when she didn’t feel like it and convinced him that she was feeling better emotionally. Also, she knew Mark would be nearby. She knew one of the men would always be within calling distance to come to her assistance. She didn’t want her dad to know how well guarded she would be for fear it would cause more stress on his heart if he knew how much danger the police felt she was in.
Felicity could not be consoled when Corbin and Amanda gave her the report on Daniel.
Trying to get her to calm down, Corbin said, “Darling, we’ll just have to pray and leave Daniel in Jesus’ hands.”
“Jesus!” she spat, shocking them. “I’ve always believed in a benevolent God and a caring God, but too much has happened to us and to friends. I feel as if God has pulled away and left us.”
Corbin could see that she was too upset to reason with at the moment. He hugged Amanda and whispered, “She knows better. She’ll be so ashamed when she thinks about what she’s said. Just be patient, darling. With her illness and my heart attack and now all these problems at the hangar, she’s had a lot to face. Be patient. You and I will pray.”
On Monday morning Amanda was pleased to see that Shane had opened the hangar when she arrived. She was more surprised to see Mike with him.
“Mike,” she ran to hug him. “I was going to pick you up. How do you feel?”
Embarrassed, Mike stepped back. “I’m fine. I don’t want to be treated like an invalid. I’m here to do my usual work,” he looked pugnaciously at Shane. Shane smiled and winked at Amanda.
“Mandy, darling, what’s this I hear about Daniel. What’s happening in this world? Honest, hard-working folks getting shot, hit over the head and threatened when none of us have done anything to bring this on.” Mike was spluttering he was so annoyed.
“Calm down. I’ll tell you all I know.” Amanda proceeded to tell Mike all that had happened.
After much discussion, the three of them settled to work.
Amanda answered the phone and agreed to start flying lessons with the mayor’s daughter the following day. Should I agree to take new students now? I hope and pray I’m not bringing others in to be in danger. We sure need angels around us now.”
Amanda carefully watched Mike surreptitiously to see if he was doing too much. When she observed his tiredness, and to keep him from feeling like she was ‘babying’ him, she asked him to come into the office and sit with her while they discussed the problems with the planes, how she could make the money stretch and any discussion to get him to relax for a few minutes. She asked Shane to join them as they ate sandwiches she had made, desserts she’d baked and iced soft drinks.
Two days later, Amanda joyfully listened to the tape of Daniel’s phone call. “Hi, sweet face. These three days that I haven’t been with you have seemed like an eternity. Call me as soon as you can so that we can get together. I’ll be flying on one wing, but my presence should make your day,” he laughed. “Thanks for helping Dad. He’s walking on air with his new license. Mom is smiling through tight lips and looking like a ghost most of the time. Always know that I love you. Call me, now. Mom insisted that I come home with them for a while. You know the number.”
The next morning Amanda almost danced into the hangar. “Mike, Shane. I’m going out to drive Daniel in. He’s suffering from cabin fever and shouldn’t drive with one arm.”
Shane quickly followed her out to her truck. “Amanda, you know you shouldn’t be driving around alone. We still don’t know who caused Daniel’s grief. Stay around for a few minutes while I call headquarters and get an unmarked car to follow you. Please.” He asked her with eyes full of worry. “You can’t let Mike know that you are being protected by officers. He might say something to someone who isn’t really a friend.”
“I know, Shane. As much as I hate it, I’ll delay my departure for a few minutes. Thank you. Sometimes I get so annoyed at the situation, but I know you’re truly trying to help.”
Amanda made excuses for delaying her departure to the Cortlands until Shane nodded at her.
She told Mike and Shane that she would see them as soon as she could and left.
The Cortlands were delighted to see Amanda. The twins ran out to meet her and practically dragged her into the house. Trevor hung around casting admiring glances at Amanda. None of them paid attention to the black car that cruised along the road at the end of their driveway. They didn’t see it park out of sight around the slight curve.
After a short visit, Amanda reluctantly agreed to take Daniel to the hangar. “I’ll hang him up on one of the rafters if he doesn’t behave and take care,” she promised his family.
Amanda realized that Daniel’s macho attitude kept him from relaxing and letting her do the driving. He was antsy and restless, but she understood and tried to ignore it.
Driving carefully, she brought him up-to-date on Mike and the business at the hangar. She knew the black car following innocuously behind was the unmarked police car. She wished she could tell Daniel about their guards but wasn’t sure how he would take it. In his condition he might think she thought that he was not man enough to protect her. She sighed to herself thinking that men were as hard to fathom as a puzzle.
“I have to give a flying lesson to a new student this afternoon, but you can sit in the air conditioned office and answer the phone and keep an eye on what’s going on.”
“Amanda, I don’t feel easy at all about you being up in a plane. I know you need the income, but I wish you’d put your stubborn pride aside and let me help you financially until the police solve this case. We don’t know what direction the next attempt is going to come from.”
“Thank you muchly,” she said with veracity, “but I’m not giving in to t
his creep’s scare tactics. If he thinks he’s not succeeding, and gets desperate enough, he might give himself away. We need to smoke him out.”
“Have you discussed your theory with Shane?”
“No. I just thought of it, but when we get to the hangar, I’ll tell him what I’m thinking.”
Shane was adamant “Absolutely not. None of you are to try anything on your own. Leave this to professionals. Now change the subject before Mike gets suspicious about why we’re talking to each other without including him.”
Amanda was frustrated because she felt that nothing was being done. She felt so helpless and - yes, as if she had no control of her own life.
Shane explained. “Just because you can’t see everything or hear everything that’s being said, doesn’t mean we’re not working on it. There are several crimes in the city; not just yours. We are working on yours and others, too. All of them will be solved. I promise you that your problems have not been put on a back burner. We must be positive of any accusations we make. If we aren’t, the criminal, with a slick attorney, can walk away and you’ll be in more trouble. They could sue you for everything you own.”
“I’m sorry. Of course I’m not the only one with troubles, but it’s awfully hard to be patient I want him caught right now and dealt with severely.”
“You’re only feeling what any human does. I know it’s hard to wait, but sometimes it’s necessary. We’ll solve this sooner than you think. Be thankful you’re not one of the victims whose crime doesn’t get solved for years and sometimes not at all.”
“I know. I can’t promise that I won’t blow up again, but I’ll try to be understanding. My mother says, ‘never pray for patience or God will give you all kinds of trials and tribulations to help strengthen your patience,’” she laughed weakly. Then she grew quiet and sad thinking of her mother’s outburst against God.
