Page 18

Where? Why?
She answered briefly, giving him the location of the station and another infuriatingly vague explanation and a promise to tell him about it later.
Later, my ass. Nobody goes to the police station on a Saturday morning for shits and giggles. Something’s wrong.
Simon ran a frustrated hand through his hair, nearly yanking a few locks from his head. Jesus! At this rate, he’d be fucking bald within a week. He sent her a brief text telling her he was on his way and crammed his cell phone into his pocket. The phone beeped again a moment later, but he ignored it. He already knew it was Kara, probably telling him not to come.
Snatching up his keys, he slammed his feet into the nearest pair of casual shoes and exited the door of the condo, not even flinching when it slammed violently behind him.
Kara sighed softly as she took a sip from the foam cup, hoping the coffee would help her focus. Swallowing hard to get the strong, burnt-tasting liquid down her throat, she looked up at Maddie with a weak smile. “I think we’re almost done.”
She had already identified the two suspects from mug shots, the angry gunmen who had stormed the clinic that morning, demanding drugs. Maddie had been in an exam room and hadn’t seen the men, but Kara had gotten an up close and personal look. Grimacing, she wished to hell that she hadn’t. Alone in the waiting room, watching over a child whose sibling and mother were in the exam room with Maddie, Kara would probably never forget the dead look in the men’s eyes and their haggard faces that told the story of years of drug abuse. She knew the look, had seen it often in her youth, but she hadn’t had a gun in her face at the time. That moment, that terrifying instance of not knowing whether the next few seconds would be her last, had been enough to scare the bejesus out of her. She had scooped up the child and raced around the corner, hitting the alarm button under the desk as she tucked the child behind her. The alarm wasn’t silent and the ruckus had been enough to bring Maddie running out and the men to scatter.
One of the men had a twitchy trigger finger and his firearm had exploded at the sound of the alarm, the path of the bullet coming so close to Kara’s head that she had felt the air ripple at the side of her face.
Shuddering, she wrapped her arms around herself, not really cold, but remembering with more than a touch of unease the faces of the men and their final brutal comment as they escaped through the clinic door.
“We’ll get you later, bitch!”
Maddie had only seen their exit, arriving seconds after they had turned to run. Thankfully, everyone had escaped unharmed.
“The nice detective should be back soon and we can affirm the police reports and get the hell out of here,” Maddie responded grimly, her eyes focused on Kara. “Are you sure you’re okay? You look a little pale.”
Kara shrugged, trying to look unaffected. “A little shaken up is all. I’m…good.”Terrified. Scared shitless. But otherwise, just fine.
The last thing she wanted was to alarm her friend, knowing Maddie already felt responsible for Kara nearly getting shot.
Maddie reached across the table and grabbed her hand, squeezing it until almost all of the blood left the extremity. “They shot at you. It’s normal to be upset. That was a damn close call. I’m so sorry, Kara.”
“Maddie, it isn’t your fault-”
“Who the hell shot at her!” A bellowing male voice came from the door, and Kara didn’t even have to turn around to know exactly who stood there. She recognized Simon’s blustering tone immediately. The man might not yell often, but he made up for it in quality. No one could roar more ferociously than Simon when his temper flared.
“What in the fuck is going on? The police said you got attacked at some clinic-”
“My clinic,” Maddie interrupted, standing to confront Simon. “Who the hell are you?”
Uh-oh.
Kara stood, ready to jump into the fight. Maddie might have the face of an angel, with fiery red corkscrew curls that surrounded her perfect features, but she could be a furious foe when she wanted to be. Not that people saw that side of her often. Her patients, young and old, adored her and her usually sunny personality. But when Maddie was fighting for a cause or something she believed in, she could be a dangerous enemy.
Kara watched as her friend threw back her shoulders, her white physician’s coat floating around generous curves that complemented her angelic features. She forced back a grin as Maddie straightened to try to compensate for her five foot three height, in preparation for battle.
“I’m Kara’s…” Simon stopped abruptly, as though not quite sure what to say, before finishing hesitantly, “friend. And I want to know why the hell someone shot at her.”
“Helloooo. I’m right here, Simon.” Reaching out her hand, she gripped his jaw, forcing him to look at her. “I am able to answer for myself.”
His face transformed, the anger draining from his features as his still-hot eyes met hers. Reaching out to grasp her shoulders, he demanded, “What happened? Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” His hands ran over her arms before landing again on her shoulders.
Explaining what happened turned into an exhausting event. Simon interrupted, swearing like a sailor and asking what felt like a million freaking questions. Kara tried to answer them patiently to calm him down.
They all took a seat on the flimsy, uncomfortable chairs at the enormous table. Kara talked, first introducing Simon and Maddie, and then going on to answer more questions that were flowing from the furious man in front of her, almost faster than she could answer them.
Simon cursed throughout her explanation.
And Maddie just watched with a dumbfounded, perplexed expression.
“Did they catch them?” Simon asked, his voice rough, as though he had been through hell himself.