Chapter Eight

 

The glamorous life of a doctor was not what the movies projected. After a wonderful time away with Ryker, Ella started work at seven Sunday night. She ended up doing a double shift and working that Monday morning too with patients filling the ER, battling a horrible case of a stomach virus. She prepared herself to get puked on. Two hours into her shift, it happened: the splatter of an unidentified person’s vomit coated her back. The aroma wasn’t pleasant as she tried not to move too much. She didn’t dare turn around as the splatters continued, thankfully coating the floor instead of her.

“Oh, Dr. Hawkins.” One of the nurses in front of her cringed.

Ella blew out a breath. It was in her hair. It coated her scrubs and made them cling to her back. She felt it running down her legs and drip into her shoes. “Can we get this patient a trash can? And maybe a room? Can someone please get me something to clean myself up with?”

Ella had a strong stomach, but the domino effect vomiting caused nearly rippled through the ER. She’d been dealing with a bad case of patients having the stomach bug, and it was highly contagious and easy to transmit. Loraine handed her some paper towels and tried to help her clean up the mess the best they could. Her ass was wet from the event, and she didn’t want to think about how gross it was. Once she’d cleaned it up, she made her way to the doctor’s locker room. A hot shower with heavy-duty antiseptic soap sounded like it would be the best part of her day.

She stripped the soiled garments off and turned the shower on. Her reflexes were pretty good and she’d learned how to dodge most things, but someone coming up behind her and vomiting was a first.

She scrubbed her body liberally with the soap, trying to get the smell off her skin while killing germs in the process. Her phone rang as she turned the water off. She grabbed a white scratchy hospital towel and wrapped it around her.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Ella.” It was her father.

She frowned. “Hey. What’s wrong?”

She squeezed the water from her hair and sat down on one of the nearby benches in the bathroom.

“I don’t want to scare you, but a threat came in today about one of the guys Guns and Gangs is watching. He threatened to harm someone at the hospital. He knows me, and I have reason to believe that he’d go after you. I just want you to be safe.”

She swallowed. “What does this guy look like?”

“I’ll text a picture to you. If you see him, call the cops. Call me. Call Ryker even. He’s dangerous. Deadly. Please stay away from him.”

“Okay. I will.” She sat there a minute. “Dad, I miss you. Can we have dinner or something? We don’t have to talk about anything. I just miss being around you.”

“I don’t know, Ella. I’ve been working late a lot. We’ll see.”

“Yeah. Okay. I love you.”

The line was silent, and she thought he’d hung up. For a moment, she sat there simply staring at the shower stall.

“I love you too, Ella. Please stay safe.”

He disconnected, and she let out a breath of relief. Maybe things were changing between them. She dressed in a fresh pair of scrubs and headed back to the ER. She saw policemen hanging around outside and figured her father had sent them there for added protection. The hospital was big, and there were plenty of hiding spots, but hopefully she wouldn’t have to mess with another criminal in her ER.

“Dr. Hawkins, room thirteen specifically requested to see you.”

Ella groaned. Special requests were not an ER doctor’s preference. She treated her patients from most life-threatening to least. When special requests got involved, it screwed up the system. Or it was a junkie looking for pills.

She opened the door. “Hello, I’m Dr. Hawkins.”

The man sitting on the gurney held his arm tight to his body. Ella took him in, noting that the baseball cap he wore covered the majority of his face. He didn’t look up at her when she spoke to him and didn’t seem like he really cared if she helped him.

“What is your name?” she asked as she looked over the nurse’s preliminary report.

“Alex.” His voice was low. Almost inaudible.

“Okay, Alex. You have a hurt arm?”

He nodded.

Ella stared at him. The black sweater seemed odd for that time of year. Atlanta was rarely cold. He’d also called her by name. She didn’t know him. He didn’t look like anyone she’d treated before either. The warning her father gave her rang in her head, and she slipped her phone out to look at her text messages. The picture he’d sent her was for a dark-haired man with a scar on his left cheek. She glanced over at Alex and noticed the scar before anything else.

Her heart sped up. Quickly texting her father, she dropped her phone back in her pocket and turned. “Well, Alex, let me go get the X-ray machine and we’ll see what’s wrong your arm, okay?”

“No.” He stood from the gurney and grabbed Ella’s arm. “You’re going to walk out of here with me and not attract any attention.”

He pulled a gun out from beneath his supposedly hurt arm and pressed it against Ella’s side. She took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. Okay. We’ll walk out of here.”

She opened the door and led the way out. The police officers had gathered around the triage desk, and before Ella could call to them, Alex grabbed her, dragging her the opposite direction. She walked ahead of him, following his directions to get them out of the hospital. Her phone buzzed her pocket, and it was undoubtedly her father trying to call her.

“Go down that hall.”

Ella turned. The guy didn’t look all that big. She glanced over at him, trying to size him up. If she went for the gun, he could shoot her. If she left with him, he could shoot her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the shiny handgun.

“Can I at least ask how you know me?” Ella kept walking, doing her best to keep her mind off the deadly weapon pointed at her side. “I’m fairly certain I don’t know you, but my nurse said that you requested me specifically. Have I treated you before?”

“No.”

She turned down another hallway at his bidding and saw an exit up ahead. There was no way she could leave the hospital with him. Her stomach lurched at the thought of being dragged into some kind of gun war.

She stood there feeling the effects of treating a stomach bug all day as she retched all over the floor. Apparently, she’d caught the damn thing too.

“You fucking bitch!” Alex’s hand swung at her, and Ella backed up just enough to get out of his way.

She made a run for it, trying her best to get to the exit before he caught up with her. Her phone was in her pocket and she grabbed it, pushing her father’s number while she ran. He answered almost immediately.

“He’s here. He’s chasing me.” Ella ran out the door and to the right, heading back to the ER.

“Where are you? I’m in the south parking lot by the ER exit.”

“I’m running toward the ER from the west parking structure. He forced me to take a walk with him when he saw the police.”

A gunshot sounded from behind her, and Ella shrieked.

“Are you okay?” her father asked, his voice full of panic. “Ella?”

“Yes.” Her stomach threatened to lurch again, and she groaned. “I think I caught the damn stomach bug filling up the ER. I feel horrible.”

“I’m coming your way. What are you close to?”

She glanced around at all the cars. “Nothing.”

A shot sounded again. Ella blew out a breath and kept running, trying her best to keep cars between her and his bullets.

“Are you hurt?” he asked.

“No.” Ella stopped, staring at the fence on the far side of the parking garage. “No, no, no.”

“What?”

“There’s a fence. I can’t get through. They closed the fucking gate.” She turned and crouched, her heart pounding in her chest. “Dad, he’s right behind me. I don’t have anything to defend myself.”

“I’m almost there. Hide, Ella.”

She ducked between two cars trying to control her harsh breathing. Her stomach cramped to the point she felt she needed to go to the bathroom. She moaned softly.

“Ella, you’re okay. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” Her father’s voice was calming, and she closed her eyes as she tried to push away the fear.

“He’s right there. I can see him. He’s the got a gun that looks like the one that was in those photos on the news. The successful women that were brutally murdered. Did he do it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Dad, if he finds me, he’s going to kill me.” Her stomach ached, and she rested her forehead against the car next to her.

“He’s not going to kill you. I’m almost there.”

She cringed. Glancing around, she spotted a rock the size of her palm and grabbed it. It’d been a long time since she’d played softball, but it was better than nothing.

“I can’t talk anymore, Dad. He’s too close. If anything happens, tell Mom and Ryker that I love them.” Ella hung up the phone and set it beside her.

The gunman’s back was to her, so that gave her the perfect opportunity to strike. Her stomach ached, and she cringed. She only had one shot. Stepping out of her hiding spot, she took aim and threw the rock at the back of his head. She hit her target and knocked him down, the gun flying to the left of him. She stood there for a moment to see if he’d get up, and nothing happened.

“Good shot.”

She turned and another man grabbed her arms, pushing them behind her back. A different man had a black bag, and he forced it over her head while someone shoved flexi-cuffs around her wrists. She screamed, and the new man backhanded her. Her cheek stung even through the bag.

“Get her in the van.”

“What about Alex?”

“He can stay there for the cops. He let a woman get away from him, and she knocked him out. He deserves whatever he gets.”

The two men tossed her in the back of a vehicle. Ella’s face slammed against the hard flooring inside the van, bringing tears to her eyes. She wanted to puke. With the bag on her head, she’d suffocate.

If they didn’t kill her, the stomach bug would.

****

The doors to the meeting room busted open and Pat came at him, grabbing Ryker’s cut and lifting him out of the seat. “Where is she?”

Ryker stared into the man’s frantic eyes. “Ella’s at the hospital.”

“No, she’s not.” He shoved Ryker back. “Alex and his crew took her. The same fucking thugs you sell those damn guns to. They have her and…”

Ryker clenched his fists in an effort to not swing at Pat. “What do you mean they have her?”

“Ella’s gone, you asshole.” Pat shoved him again. “I told you to get those damn guns off the streets and now they’ve got her. I warned you…”

Ryker’s heart sped up. “Wait a minute. How do you know this?”

“I was talking to her.” Pat’s face contorted with a mixture of grief and pain. “Alex went to the ER to find her. He forced her out, and she ran away from him. She hid in the parking lot, and they got her.”

Ryker grabbed his cell phone. “Did you call her? Did she pick up? Maybe she’s still hiding.”

He dialed her number and Pat’s pocket rang. “She left it behind.”

“Fuck!” He flung his phone across the room.

“We’ve been watching Alex for nearly a month, ever since the murders started happening. He’s involved. You know who is putting those damn guns on the streets. You know. You’ve got to get her back.” Pat shook his head. “If anything happens to her…”

Ryker blew out a breath. They’d struggled so much with who could have set them up from inside the club and came up with nothing. If anything happened to her, Ryker had no doubts that he’d clean house with the club members. Fuck them all.

“I’m not letting you out of my sight. I told you to stop selling those fucking guns. I told you that Ella would end up hurt.” Pat shoved him again.

Ryker stumbled back before standing upright again, narrowing his eyes at Pat. “Get out of my fucking club.”

Pat held out his arm, clearly pissed at him too. “She’s sick. Caught the damn stomach bug going around the ER. She needs to be found right now. So tell me who you sell the fucking guns to.”

“I don’t sell guns. I’m not part of the fucking gun business. You’re the one that has the info. You tell me who fucking has her.” Ryker’s voice grew louder as he continued to speak.

“I only had Alex. He showed up on our doorstep after he asked one of our undercovers to get him some bullets for the guns. I don’t have who he works for or is associated with.” Pat moved into Ryker’s personal space. “But you do, you sonofabitch.”

Ryker got into Pat’s face. “I didn’t sell the fucking guns. But I will promise you, Ella is coming home safely. Or there will be one hell of a fucking war this city doesn’t want to see.”

Pat glanced around, seemingly noticing that the club members were still in the room with them. He cleared his throat and turned toward Ryker again.

“Everyone out.”

The men filed out of the room, closing the door behind them.

Pat glanced away, not quite looking at Ryker. “I’ll try to gain info on my end, but if you get anything worthwhile, you need to tell me. I don’t fucking care about your club or your business. You tell me.” He ran a hand over his head before finally looking up at Ryker. “That damn junkie said that the Roaming Devils were seen at the club Alex hangs around. I thought you knew him or at least his boss.”

Ryker frowned. “Someone spotted the cut? Where?”

“Blood Brothers.”

He shook his head. That was the second time someone had spotted the cut around Young Blood territory. “No. None of us hang out there. Not even in our off time.”

“The snitch said you did.”

“And you’d believe a junkie snitch over me?”

“Find my daughter. I don’t fucking care what you say. Find my little girl.”

Ryker nodded. “I will.”

Pat nodded and made to leave the club.

“Pat?”

The older man turned.

“I’m giving you fair warning. There’s going to be bloodshed when I find them. Especially if they hurt her.”

Pat licked his lips. “You say that like I would object.”

Ryker waited until Pat left the room before he went to the other side of the table to grab the phone he threw. If Roaming Devils had been spotted at a well-known trouble spot, they weren’t his crew. They had to be Rizzo’s, and that only meant one big clusterfuck of a mess for him.