Page 25 of Valor (Long Hot Summer: Christian Romantic Suspense #2)

CHAPTER TWELVE

Heather watched closely as the nurse pulled the curtain around her bed. Allen waited on the other side. That alone had her thoughts swirling. He hadn’t left. He hadn’t made his job more important than her.

She tried to reason with herself. She was his job right now. Even as she did so, she had to admit officers had many jobs and responsibilities, especially in a small town where police could be spread thin. If his actions now didn’t prove his faithfulness, what would?

Since her father had made peace with Allen, she couldn’t say he was standing in her way anymore. The only thing keeping her from telling Allen she wanted him in her life was her fear he would walk away once she was attached to him. If she grew to love him, would it destroy her?

Her nurse checked the IV and entered some things on the computer, then gave her a fresh bag of fluids and removed an empty one from the heavily laden IV tree at her side. Allen had been right. There was no way she could leave the hospital yet.

“I’ll need to check your wound to make sure it isn’t weeping.” The nurse gently touched around the gauze and gave a nod. “I’m not going to open it so soon after surgery, but it’s not leaking. What is your pain level?”

Heather hated that question. One person’s five was another person’s ten, and she always felt like a complainer for being as accurate as she could be. “I’m sleepy, but the pain is sharp. Probably an eight.” Even thinking about it made the throbbing intensify.

The nurse adjusted the slide and increased the speed of delivery on one bag of fluid rushing to her veins. “Give that about ten minutes. Sheriff Pendleton said he will stay here in this room until a local officer can come and guard the area. That’s all I know. They aren’t telling us much because they feel that the fewer people who know the full plan, the more likely it will succeed.”

Allen had called Jackie when she’d still been in the other larger room next to the nurse’s station. Now, she was as far down the hall as possible with no other patients nearby. No one would know she was there if they didn’t see nurses coming and going. “Thank you.” She shifted slightly, trying to get more comfortable on the thin mattress.

“Let me help. There’s an exact setting that makes these beds the most comfortable, but it takes some know how.” The nurse grinned as she slowly raised the head of the bed, but not much.

“Oh!” Suddenly, the pressure was gone from Heather’s hips and sleepiness laid heavily over her. “Thank you.”

She closed her eyes as the nurse half opened the curtain, leaving her view of the door blocked. Allen came to her side and took her hand again. She could now tell it was him without opening her eyes. His presence was comforting.

“I can’t stay too much longer, but I don’t want to leave you,” he said. “I sent your father to a safe house while they were transferring you to this room. Only one local sergeant knows where he is. Hopefully, in a few days, he can come home.”

She gripped his hand tighter. “You’ll come back?” Facing the unknown without him there terrified her. Never mind that the plan had been hers. She still didn’t want to end up dead or captured again.

“Absolutely. Jackie is getting set up in the other room. She had to put on a surgical cap because her hair is different, but it’s obvious there’s a woman lying there, not a man. If Eric or Micha don’t look closely, they may not realize anything until it’s too late.”

“I hope they don’t shoot inside the hospital. That’s the only part of this plan that scares me.”

“I know. Danny and I are stationed in the bathroom. Rod is sitting by the bed, like a family member, since they know what Danny and I look like.” He gripped her hand tighter. “I knew you would worry. I considered keeping the information from you, but it didn’t feel right. The Goddards were murdered in their home. There’s a team there now, looking for evidence. Our working theory is that you were correct. It may have been the two men who were killed in Rapid City.”

Her throat was better after the ice water, allowing her to talk. “I did some research on Rose Quartz when I was looking up information about the Black Hills. It’s mostly found near Custer. Mining quartz has become almost as big a business as Black Hills Gold.”

He nodded in agreement. “Yes, and we’ll never know if the Goddards knew about it or not, or if there’s any truth to the claims that there’s quartz on the land. Since there’s a question of minerals, I’ve petitioned for a stay on the election.”

Her heart thundered in her chest. “Won’t that make Eric aware we know? He’ll come after us even harder.”

“I don’t want him anywhere near you, but if we don’t stop that election, we could lose our foothold with him. What little there is. Can you trust me?”

Could she? He was leaving her side to do his job, but he’d been clear about his intentions. He’d even told her more than he probably should out of respect for her. This was the point she had to decide if she was going to give up her old hurts and risk a new one. “Yes, I trust you.”

She’d thought the admission would come harder, that she would feel sick to her stomach with worry. Instead, trust felt more like another tie between the two of them, drawing them closer together.

“Thank you,” he said. “If you weren’t lying in a hospital bed, I’d kiss you. For now, I’ll settle for your hand.” He drew her knuckles to his lips again and brushed them softly, his warm breath tingling over her skin.

“I won’t be here forever.”

He grinned, then winced and pressed the gauze at his neck. “That sounds like a promise. I’ll hold you to that.”

It was a promise she intended to keep. “What about Oliver and Aaron? Micha made it sound as if they were unwitting accomplices.”

He held off from answering for a moment. “I’m not sure. We’ll have to interview them to see how much they knew. I’d love to assume the best of them, but that’s not how this works. Even though Oliver has been your family friend for years, it doesn’t mean he wasn’t willing to do something to get back in his son’s good graces.”

That had been odd. She’d known he had a son, but he was completely absent from Oliver’s life. “It’s sad. Oliver has lived in that house for as long as we’ve lived there, and I’ve never seen his son. The only reason I knew he had one is because he talks about Aaron sometimes. I wonder what separated them and made Aaron take a different last name?”

“I don’t know and can’t speculate, but that’s not an avenue we’ve forgotten about. It’s just as likely that Aaron is working with Eric and Oliver knew nothing. We’ll have to see how all of this shakes out. If Eric thinks the deposit of quartz is worth enough, he could get rich from that land. Enough to bring in all the help he would need to get his hands on it.”

That was obvious from the fact that he’d enlisted the help of so many people. Then again, a quartz operation was mining. Mining meant jobs. Much of the process of mining quartz was done first by blast, then by hand. If Eric had promised all these people jobs close to home, that would carry a lot of weight. Local jobs were scarce. It was one of the biggest complaints of long-time residents.

How far would people go to provide for their families? Some much further than others. That would explain why the clerk at the Wall Mart hadn’t wanted to hurt them, but had wanted them caught. He could want a job, but he wouldn’t get one if he was arrested. Unfortunately, now he’d never have the chance.

Someone knocked on the door and Allen looked at her for permission to allow them in. She nodded her consent, and he glanced around the curtain to see who was there. “It’s the officer who will be watching you. I don’t think anything will go wrong, but we have to plan accordingly.” He kissed her hand once more and left the room.

Heather watched him, but she couldn’t calm her racing thoughts. Allen was just down the hall, preparing to face the men who’d held her father for days and who’d captured both of them. They had manipulated the legal system to get what they wanted, and people were dead. At least five, that they knew about.

Heather tucked the call button close to her side and committed to being silent until this was over. If the whole point of moving her to the furthest room possible was for her safety, then she’d make sure no nurses were seen going into her room.

Silence grated on her ears, but she couldn’t turn on the television or use her phone since they hadn’t given it back to her. She had nothing to occupy her time except worry about Allen and pray her father was safe. Everyone seemed to assume he would be fine at the safe house. She mentally kicked herself for not asking if someone was there with him, though if only one other person knew he was there, she doubted it.

With nothing to do, her mind focused on her IV and the itchy tape securing it to her hand. She peeled part of it back as an alarm went off somewhere down the hall. A mechanical voice came over the speaker system. “Emergency Room 3, code blue. Emergency Room 3, code blue. All available staff, please assist.”

Shuffling feet ran past her room and toward the nurse’s station. Who had been down at her end of the hall besides the officer? She couldn’t see around the curtain and couldn’t get out of bed to move it.

“Hello?” she called quietly.

No answer came. Had her officer run to help the code blue? “Hello?” She couldn’t help the worry that slithered up her spine. “Is anyone there?”

With no one standing by her door, the bed felt like a trap. She was as bound here as she’d been in the cavern. She forced herself to sit up and her tether yanked on her hand. Drat, there wasn’t enough cord to see further.

Heather moved the blankets off her legs and gripped the mobile IV tree to steady herself. She took a deep breath and focused on keeping her head clear. With a shove of her free hand, she stood and gripped the tree, glad it had caught on her foot and couldn’t move.

Inch after inch, she shuffled her way to the edge of the curtain. Allen wouldn’t have left her without protection, so the officer had chosen to leave. No one stood at her door. There was nothing between her and anyone who wanted to come in. With the emergency, they would be short-staffed until the code blue ended.

Her throat tightened as she heard slow, deliberate footsteps clicking down the hall. Steps that sounded like expensive shoes, not boots or the soft-soled shoes that medical staff wore.

“Hello?” Her officer wouldn’t wear loud shoes, would he?

A man in a doctor’s coat appeared at her door. He wore a mask, but she immediately recognized Micha.

“Scream, and you die.”

* * *

Allen tapped his foot on the floor. The bathroom was like a prison. He heard Jackie through his earpiece, but she was talking with Rod, and nothing seemed to be happening. He’d been sure they would hear from Micha or Eric quickly.

Glancing at his watch, he resisted the language that wanted to spew from his mouth. Instead, he prayed for a calm spirit. He wanted to be at the other end of the hall with Heather. He wanted to watch over her and protect her. That should be his job.

He wanted that job for longer than this case and the knowledge hit him hard. All his stress over Ed and his future drained from him. He’d been sure he wasn’t good enough, but her father had made peace with Allen. Whether that meant he would approve of his daughter dating Allen remained to be seen, but there was hope where there had been none.

They cancelled the code blue, and Allen took a relaxing breath. He couldn’t sit there any longer. Something had to happen. He ducked out of the bathroom where he’d been waiting for some indication they were under attack.

Jackie waved him over. “I’m confused. I thought someone would’ve come by now. We posted the cancellation of the vote early this morning. If anyone saw it, they should be furious. Couple that with the activity out at the Goddard place and they should be feverishly trying to get this settled before the whole thing falls through.”

“I agree.” Something wasn’t right. “I’m going to check on Heather. Are you both fine here for a minute?”

“You’ve got your earpiece. You’ll hear if anything happens,” she said.

True, he wouldn’t be far away. Allen jogged out into the hall as two nurses settled in behind their desk once more. Neither of them looked rattled, but it was rare that he ever saw a nurse who did. They were made of strong stuff.

The officer stood by the door, but he looked slightly sheepish. “I’m a paramedic, so I responded to the code. I wasn’t needed though.”

“You left?” Allen swallowed, choking back the worry that crept over him.

“I did. Code blue is life threatening.”

Allen dashed into the room and yanked back the curtain. The bed was empty. “Get a team here, now. Put out an APB, missing person.”

“I’m on it.” The officer reached for his shoulder and spoke into his communication device.

Allen ran back to Jackie and Rod. “She’s gone. Someone got to her. I don’t know if the code blue was staged or if they just saw an opportunity and went with it. I’m going to find building security and see if they have cameras. We need to know who took her and where they went when they left.”

Rod jumped to his feet. “I’ll help you.”

Jackie got out of the bed. “I’ll get out of this gown and get my uniform on. Count me in.”

“Thank you both,” Allen said over his shoulder as he headed for the nurse’s station.

The officer jogged down the hall. “We’ve got two cars on the way.”

“Great. I’m going to find security, so we have some information to give them when they arrive.” He looked at the nurses, who knew his question before he could voice it. They pointed down the hall to a sign on the wall. Security could be reached at the main registration downstairs. He avoided the elevator to save time and made it there in under a minute.

At the front desk, he quickly relayed his issue and that it was urgent. The front desk let him into the secure area where the hired officers watched some cameras. Allen knocked, seeing the men through the glass at the top of the door, surprising them.

One came over. “Can I help you?”

Allen again relayed what he needed.

“Interesting. We saw two doctors leave about ten minutes ago, but one was limping along slowly.”

“That’s them.” Heather shouldn’t even be walking. If he’d been down by her room, this wouldn’t have happened. She would still be there and safe. He couldn’t blame the officer for doing his job. Though he wished the man would’ve given Heather top priority.

Heather had briefly mentioned she’d been put second by another officer. Would this prove to her she was right? Had his choice to have someone else stand at her door and protect her ruined his chance to prove to her he could be trusted?

He watched the video of the two leaving the hospital. They switched the camera, following the progression of the two until they got into a car. He wrote down the make and model, then asked them to zoom in on the car. They did so, but it was too blurry to get a license plate number.

At least he knew which way they’d gone. Maybe they’d catch a break and see the car on traffic cameras. He met back up with Rod out in the hallway. “I have some information. Are the officers here yet?”

Technically, he was outside his jurisdiction, and he had to give them control of the case until they returned to Wall. “Yes, they just arrived. I saw them out by the registration desk. I asked them to wait there for you. Who was it?”

He wasn’t completely sure, but by the height, he suspected Micha had been the one to sneak in and take Heather. “Probably Micha, which means Eric is still out there trying to get this done. If he can’t do it legally, he’ll do it illegally. The Goddards can’t stand in his way. Did they have family we need to worry about?” They had to or there would be no reason for Eric to push the zoning change.

“Yes, two sons. Both of them live in Custer.”

Allen froze mid-step. “Did you say Custer? Heather was just telling me that the other major rose quartz mine is there. That can’t be a coincidence.”

“If that family was sitting on a pile of quartz, don’t you think they would have started trying to mine it?” Rod asked.

“I don’t know. Unless the sons knew about the mining operation and told their parents that they could be holding mineral rights that would make them rich. If they unknowingly contacted Eric to test it, that might have sparked his interest, since he lived there most of his life. Maybe some jealousy is involved too.”

Rod nodded as he pushed through the door to the lobby. “That’s a lot of guessing, but it gives us a place to start. I’ll call up the mines in Custer and ask about employees. If they have sons, it’s likely their last name is Goddard.”

“Great. Catch up with me if you find out anything.” He separated from Rod to go talk to the two officers waiting for him. “Thanks for coming.” He handed them a printout he’d gotten from the security team. “This is the car we’re looking for.”

One officer nodded. “We’ll add this information to the APB.”

The other officer motioned for Allen to follow him. “You can ride along with me. We’ll go out and look. That way when we hear anything over the radio, we can get right on it.”

He didn’t have a better idea. With a quick prayer, he followed Officer Grady to his car. The radio was active, even as they got in. Rapid City had a lot more going on than Wall. Allen had always liked the ebb and flow of police work in a small town. He liked knowing everyone and helping even when he wasn’t asked or paid. This was different from anything he usually did.

A message came over the radio with information on the escaping car. Headed toward Wall on I-90. “As long as you’re in my car, I can follow.” Grady glanced over at him.

“I caught a ride to Rapid, so you’d be doing me a favor. I need to catch these guys. If we get them, you’ll be able to clear a couple of murders from your roster too.”

“The mystery homicides from a few days ago?” He turned on his sirens and got off the busy street.

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

Grady snorted. “That’s the only case we have no clues on, and it made all of us pretty angry that they dumped the bodies right in front of the station, like they were challenging us.”

That would make him furious too. He’d want to clear that case quicker than any other. People who have that kind of vendetta against the police would cause more trouble. “This is shaping up to be a massive case. I’ve even got the FBI involved.”

Grady whistled as he directed the car toward the interstate. “We didn’t see that coming. We kind of assumed by the nature of what we saw that this was targeted right at us. Especially because we discovered the two men were undercover cops.”

Allen held in his surprise. They couldn’t have killed the Goddards if they were cops. But why had officers left evidence in Heather’s bag? That seemed like incredibly poor judgement. “They left evidence in Heather’s camera bag. That’s why she’s involved in this at all.”

Grady went silent for a moment. “I can’t tell you why they would do that. I didn’t know them. We had a tip come in from Sioux Falls that they were from there.”

Heather had suggested they were undercover. She had a good mind, and he hoped he had the chance to work with her again after this. “I wish they’d thrown that drive off a cliff.”

“But then Heather wouldn’t have found it, and we wouldn’t know who’s after her or why.”

True. They wouldn’t have known about the Goddard family until someone went out to see them. That could’ve been so long that there would be nothing left at the scene. People tended to leave neighbors alone unless they were invited. South Dakotans were known for giving privacy.

While the killing of the two undercover officers might have been figured out based on the case they were on, Grady had said they’d had no leads. No proof. Without Heather’s involvement, Eric might’ve gotten away with murder and theft.

“We have to make sure nothing happens to her. I won’t let her involvement in this case be for nothing.”

“Agreed.” Grady gunned his engine as he entered the freeway. “Let’s see if we can catch up to that car. They’ve got fifteen minutes on us though. Any idea where they might be headed?”

He prayed they weren’t headed back to the cave in the Badlands, but where else could they take her? They knew he would go there first, so where else might they think to take her? The thought hit him like a brick wall.

“They’ll go to my house.” It’s the one place Micha had attacked and been thwarted. The one place where the only person there was probably too incapacitated to be of any help at all. The place where Micha could get revenge. Please be okay, Dad . The thought came like an urgent prayer.

He told the dispatcher where they were headed, which gave Grady his address. He’d always been careful about keeping that information private, but now everyone would know. Not only would they see his house, but his dad’s issues would be on display.

“You’re sure?” Grady asked.

“Positive.” The more he thought about it, the surer he was.

“Then we’ll get there fast. Hold on tight.”

He could barely think about how fast the car was going. All he could think about was Heather, alone, facing Micha without Allen by her side.