Chapter 18
Mercy surfaced in a haze of confusion and pain. She rolled over on the bed and cried out as a fiery hot lance slammed through her shoulder. Moaning in pain, she rolled back over. She came fully awake, gasping for breath. Her hand automatically reached for her shoulder.
Her fingers, instead of touching smooth skin, came up against gauze wrappings that seemed to cover half her chest. When she opened her eyes again, it was to see a white ceiling, white walls, and a white curtain around her bed. She groaned softly, closing her eyes again. She was in the hospital.
She searched her mind, figuring out what had happened. She remembered breakfast with Michael …
Instantly fear rose. If she was hurt, what about Michael?
She opened her eyes, struggled to a seated position and looked around. But only her bed was in the curtained area. She didn’t know if he was here or not. “Michael?”
She contemplated leaving her bed but saw the tubes in her arms. Gently, she lay back down again, continuing to fit the puzzle pieces together in her mind.
When did it happen? She remembered meeting Levi and Ice, agreeing to stay with them for a few days. They’d left the restaurant, and she thought she’d seen something. She still didn’t know why she jumped toward Michael, knocking him back, but she had. And that was all she remembered.
She studied the large bandage on her shoulder. Had she been hit by a car? But that scenario didn’t work as the rest of her wasn’t sore. Although she wasn’t feeling great overall either. She felt like a pound of meat worked over with a mallet. Or maybe a loaf of bread that had gone through a heavy kneading. Everything ached. And her head was fuzzy.
Then she remembered the glint in the distance. She’d been shot. She must have been. She’d pushed Michael out of the way and taken the bullet herself. Damn.
Still, she was guessing. But with nobody here to clarify, she couldn’t be sure. And no way would she prod and poke at her shoulder to find out what had gone on.
She noted the Call button by her bed, but who would she call other than Michael? The hospital’s peace and quiet, relative safety, at least at this point in her life, was something to savor. Then a door opened. She wasn’t sure if she was in a ward or in the emergency room. Footsteps walked toward her. She waited, peering through her lashes. A nurse came around, pulling open the curtain as she walked to Mercy’s bed.
She took one look and smiled. “Waking up, are you? That’s a good thing.”
Mercy wasn’t sure how she knew she’d been waking up, but she dropped the pretense and opened her eyes slowly. She glanced around to see she was in a private room. “What happened?” she whispered.
The nurse raised the bed a bit and then held out a large glass of water with a straw. Gratefully Mercy sucked down several big gulps of water, feeling the dryness in her throat ease.
“Try not to gulp or drink too much the first time”
Mercy slowed to taking small sips. When she was done, the nurse returned the cup to the table. “You were shot. But not to worry. The bullet lodged in your shoulder bone, and you had surgery to remove the bullet. That’s probably why you feel like you were beaten up.”
Mercy didn’t know what to say, but the facts lined up with her memories. “Is Michael okay?”
“Is he your boyfriend?”
Mercy nodded.
The nurse said with a smile, “Then hopefully that’s the caged tiger pacing outside, waiting for you to wake up. He’s been trying to come in, but since he’s not family, we can’t let him in. You’re gonna be here for at least a day or two, so just relax.” The nurse went about checking Mercy’s blood pressure, temperature, then wrote notes on her tablet.
Mercy watched her in silence. The last thing she wanted was to stay here, but at the same time, if she was safe, if Michael could confirm the nightmare was over, well, maybe it was a good idea. She had to stay somewhere.
And she really wanted to see Michael. “Can I see Michael now?”
The nurse glanced up, assessed her expression and then smiled. “I’ll let him in, in a minute.” She walked out.
Mercy hoped the tests were over. Her shoulder was really pounding. The nurse hadn’t checked the bandage, but she could see fresh bright-red blood seeping through the gauze. She had no idea how long ago she’d had any painkillers.
Then the nurse returned with medication. Mercy smiled in relief. “I was just thinking how much the pain was kicking in.”
The nurse nodded. “I will take a quick peek at the wound after you take the painkillers.”
Unfortunately not enough time had passed for the new dose of painkillers to kick in, and the pain was incredible as the bandage was gently removed from her shoulder, the wound cleaned and a new bandage put on. She was covered in sweat, her whole body shaky. The last thing she wanted to do was be social. Neither did she want Michael to see her like this. On the other hand she was rather desperate to see him. She’d love to be held in his arms even for a moment.
The nurse patted her hand gently and said, “I’ll give you a few minutes, and then I’ll let him in.”
Mercy didn’t know when the few minutes came because she was so busy dealing with the waves of pain that had overtaken her system. When she could, she took several deep breaths, pushing the throbbing back down.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Michael standing beside her. She gave him a small smile and said, “Given a choice, I think I’d rather have stayed with Levi and Ice.”
He gave a chuckle and whispered, “No doubt. But instead you decided to be a hero.”
She gave a small shake of her head. “I’m no hero.”
He reached down to hold her hand. “I’ve got news for you. When you push somebody out of the line of fire and take the bullet instead, that very much makes you a hero.” He gently rubbed his fingers along the back of her hand. “I guess in this case that makes you my hero.”
She smiled. “No. You’re one of the good guys who goes out and saves the world.”
“I was one of the good guys. It’s not what I do anymore.”
She opened her eyes fully and studied him. “But you could. It’s who you are inside. To turn down Levi’s job offer would be to deny an inherent part of who you are.”
He studied her for a long moment and pulled up a visitor’s chair to sit beside her. “You don’t know me well enough to say that.”
She stared at him. “Yes, I do.” Her tone was irrefutable. “We’ve been over this. You might not like to think anybody understands who you are, but that doesn’t mean people don’t. Levi and I certainly understand. And he knows you better than I do.”
He pursed his lips. “Levi knows of me, and I’ve known Ice for a while, but I can’t say we’re very good friends.”
“Would you have a problem getting Levi to watch your back?”
He shook his head.
“Would you have a problem having Ice watch your back?”
Michael snorted. “I could place my life in both their hands and know they would do everything they could to keep me safe.”
She smiled. “What else do you need to know?”
He sighed. “It would mean moving.”
“But they’re here in Houston, right?”
“I live a couple of hours away. They are a 45 minute drive away.”
“Would it be a tough move?”
He frowned. “I don’t want to live in the compound. I want to live on my own land.”
“So sell yours and move someplace closer. Or don’t sell yours and rent it out and buy another place. Or rent another place, or try the compound, whatever the hell that is.”
“It’s not that easy,” he protested.
“Of course it’s not that easy, but it’s not that difficult either. It depends whether this is what you want to do with your life or not.”
“It’s what I used to do, but I walked away from it. I’m not sure I want to get back into it again.”
“And that is a decision only you can make.” She smiled. “It would be a shame if you hid your light.”
He snorted. “What will you do? After you recover from your bullet wound? You have to call work and let them know.”
She shrugged. “No, I don’t. I was taking three weeks’ leave, remember?”
“Of which you’ve used nine days. Are you ready to return to that same job? After what you’ve seen of the world? The other side of the world?” he asked.
She studied him for a long moment. “Maybe. It’s not like it’s a job I feel compelled to do. But it’s a job, and I have to have one of those.”
He nodded. “If I move to Levi’s, I’d be closer to you.”
“And that’s a good thing. Right?” She eyed him intently. What was he getting at? She wanted him to do what was right for his sake, but she didn’t want to lose him.
He settled back, dropping her hand, and crossed his arms over his chest.
She grinned. “As body language goes, that’s distancing yourself from a touchy topic.”
“I don’t like discussing those things,” he muttered, glaring at her.
At that she laughed out loud. “Nobody asked you to discuss anything. It requires a simple yes or no answer.”
He glared at her for a long moment, and then said, “Yes.”
Warmth flooded through her. “Good. Go. It won’t affect our relationship. I live in Houston anyway.” Her smile fell away. She eyed him intently. “But I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves.”
“One of the reasons why I’m good at what I do is because I like to plan ahead.”
She stared at him in astonishment. “Planning ahead is one thing. Planning ahead for a relationship is not quite the same thing.”
“I’m planning to spend time with you.” He gave her a flat stare. “If you are interested.”
“Yes.” After a moment of silence she chuckled. “Listen to us. Neither one of us is particularly open.”
He shrugged. “We’re opening up as much as we need to. The rest of the stuff is extra.”
“How about you get me out of here?” she asked with a teasing grin. “So we can continue this relationship journey in private.”
He gave her a slow smile with a twinkle in his eyes. “I was hoping you could be released before nightfall. Maybe spend the night together, but according to the hospital, that won’t happen.”
She frowned at him. “Maybe we should get a second opinion,” she suggested with hope.
He laughed. “Nope, not happening. Your health comes first.”
“Being held in your arms is as good for my soul as staying in the hospital is good for my body.”
He gave her a startled look. “Now that’s a nice thing to say.”
She gave him a slow smile, adding, “I mean it too.”
Then the door opened again, and a man with a white lab coat walked in. He glanced at the two of them and asked, “How is the patient doing?”
She smiled up at him. “Excellent. We’re discussing whether I’d be allowed to leave today and spend the night with him watching over me.”
The doctor shook his head. “Not after surgery. We must keep you at least overnight.”
“Fine then.” She settled back, seriously unimpressed with the cut-and-dried answer.
Their discussion continued for another moment about where she would go when she was released and that she’d need rehab for continuing care, unless her own doctor could provide that service.
Once the doctor left, she was tired again. She shook her head. “How can I be tired? I just woke up.”
Michael smiled, reached over and gave her a kiss on her cheek. “Sleep, sweetie. Just sleep.”
She gave him a sleepy smile, curled up, still holding his hand, and closed her eyes. She was asleep within seconds.
*
Michael waited until he was sure she’d fallen asleep again. Then he grabbed his cell phone and stepped out into the hall. He quickly sent Levi a text, giving him an update. When the phone rang seconds later, he knew who it was.
“Get your head back in the game,” Levi said. “We’ll keep her safe. But you need to return and set this up.”
Michael groaned. “I know. My boss, Bruce, is expecting me at noon.”
“Well, guess what? You’re late.” Levi hung up.
He stared down at his phone and knew Levi was right. He was late. He made the call to Bruce to report in. “On my way.”
“Good, the work is piling up,” was his only response.
But at least Michael hadn’t been fired. Back in Mercy’s corner room, he wrote down a little note on the scratchpad and left it at her side. Then he walked outside, climbed into his truck and headed back to the estate. So much had happened and yet, not enough. He needed to play the game for a little longer.
He struggled to focus on the drive. He was worried about leaving Mercy behind even though he had received a text from Ice, confirming she was at Mercy’s side. At least he could stop worrying about that now.
As he drove in through the gate, one of the security men held up a hand and waved. Michael waved back, parked in front of his apartment and went to work.
He grabbed the wheelbarrow and dove into the mundane chores of weeding and raking out the front beds. He didn’t know exactly what he was to work on after this but figured Bruce would get a hold of Michael soon enough.
About twenty minutes later his boss walked over to where he worked. They talked about a few nonessential things, and then Bruce handed over a work list. “We’ve got more company coming, and the owner wants the cedars thinned out along the driveway.”
Michael looked at the long line of cedars in surprise. “All of them?”
Bruce nodded. “He’s contemplating pulling them all down so there is increased visibility down the driveway.”
“That would be a shame. I’ll take away all the deadwood. Cedars are notorious for being full of dead branches and leaves on the inside. It’ll make a huge difference if I can get that cleaned up.”
His boss nodded. “That’s your focus for the rest of the day.” And, on that note, he walked away.
Michael kept a vigilant yet, distant watch. Nobody approached him while he worked. It was slow, hot, dusty work. The cedars were full and hadn’t been cleaned out since probably forever. He gently opened them up, gave them a shake, cleaned out all the crap, grabbed the blower and blasted out all the debris inside the trees.
Three hours had gone by, and he’d only worked on about nine trees out of least thirty along this stretch. He would be here all of tomorrow.
Working on the next cedar, he broke up a huge pile of deadwood to dispose of, needing the trailer to collect all the debris. Walking back to the utility truck, he hopped in and backed up to the trailer, hooked on, and then drove down the driveway.
As he came up against the cedars, he could hear shouts behind him. He hit the brakes, stopped, and hopped out. “What’s the matter?” he called.
Two guards raced up to him. “You can’t enter that area.”
He stopped and stared at them in surprise. Then he glanced down the road and said, “Okay.” He shrugged as if he didn’t care. He motioned to all the pruning piles set in front of each of the cedars he’d cleaned out. “I was only going this far anyway, to collect the debris.”
The men looked from him to the truck, then to the piles and nodded. “I’ll leave two men here with you,” he said. Then he slowly turned and walked about twenty-five feet away. He stared at Michael and warned, “Make sure you don’t go past the cedars.”
“Whatever you say.” Michael grabbed the rake and loaded up the first pile.
The truck trailer was more than three-quarters full by the time he cleaned up his pruning efforts so far. He eyed the trailer’s capacity and then decided he could add the pruning from another couple cedars. He’d rather do the least amount of dump trips as possible.
He went to the next cedar and got started. He ignored the two men standing at the side of the road. He was also surprised they’d made it so blatant. He was all for them to make a move. Rage at what they’d done to Mercy ate at him. He was in control, but if they gave him a reason to break cover …
He pruned two more cedars, swearing and cussing about the irritating branches, making him itch, causing a rash on his skin. He loaded it all up into the trailer, then grabbed the broom to clear some of the finer debris, but he couldn’t do a whole lot with it because this was a gravel road. Sweeping up what he could onto a tarp, he loaded the last of it in the trailer, putting the tarp over the load in the trailer.
He tied it down and said, “I’m heading to the dump now. Anybody coming with me?”
The two men looked at each other, then Robert, who had gone with Michael the last time, said, “I’ll go.”
Walking around the truck, he hopped into the front passenger seat. Michael pointed ahead. “Can I go down that way and turn around?”
Robert shook his head. “Nope, not allowed. Back up.”
Swearing under his breath, Michael twisted in the seat, reversed, and slowly drove the trailer down the road. He had lots of experience driving trucks and trailers but had hoped for a chance to go farther down and turn around. But of course they wouldn’t let him. When he finally turned around, facing the right way, he headed toward the main gate and out. “Must be quite the company if this much work is being done to prepare for them.”
“Doesn’t matter if it is or not,” Robert said. “It’s none of your business.”
“Fair enough,” Michael said.
He drove in silence during the twenty-minute trip, taking longer due to the heavy traffic. When they got to the composting material area of the dump, Michael turned the truck around and backed it up to an edge of a huge hole. Once there, he opened the tailgate, jumped into the back of the trailer and raked. It was more of the hot, dusty work. It was a good thing he was well used to manual labor.
When he climbed into the truck cab, Robert hadn’t moved. But he was on his phone. Michael drove back toward the estate. “Time for a cold beer,” he said in a conversational tone.
Robert snorted, putting down his phone. “I’m not off duty for another few hours. No beer for me.”
“I’ll be drinking of you,” Michael said with a laugh. “This was pretty hot and shitty work today. I’m looking forward to having one.” He drove up to the front gate, but another truck pulled out right in front of him. He slammed on the brakes hard.
The other driver gave Michael the finger and drove out.
A black SUV with smoked windows. Great for privacy. Very suspicious. Under his breath, as part of the act, Michael muttered, “Asshole.”
Robert snorted. “Are you kidding? Most of these guys are assholes.”
A shout sounded from the far side.
Robert shook his head, pointing to the parking lot. “They’re calling for me. I gotta go.” He opened the door.
Before Michael had a chance to come to a complete stop, the guard was out and gone, racing to the other vehicles, already running. Robert bailed into the front seat of one, and they drove out of the estate parking lot at top speed. Michael slowly drove around to the back where he parked the utility truck. He pulled Robert’s phone from between the seats, where it had jammed after Michael had hit the brakes, and pocketed it. He had a small window of time to go through Robert’s cell before Michael had to stash it again in the vehicle. Once Robert realized his phone was missing, he’d be back here immediately to search the truck.
Michael raced inside and upstairs. Soon he was locked in. He didn’t have the time but couldn’t miss sweeping the apartment for more electronic devices. As soon as he was done, he copied over all Robert’s Contacts to his own phone. Then Michael copied the history of texts. What he had to do was make sure there was no sign of his intrusiveness afterward.
Getting in with the password was easy. Instead of coming up with a unique swipe, Robert had used a simple swipe pattern. Michael had seen Robert do it several times when he rode in the vehicle, so that wasn’t an issue. Now that Michael was in, he busily moved through dozens and dozens of conversations. While in progress, he hooked up his USB to his phone, downloading them as he continued to take photos. On his laptop he sent everything to Ice and Levi and the commander. He wasn’t exactly sure what he had here, but he had to get copies of everything as fast as he could.
Heart pounding, racing against time, he kept going. Snap, snap, snap. Again and again and again until he had as much as he could. He went through a couple conversations in an email account and copied them. This guy had everything open on his phone. Realizing copying directly from the SIM card might be faster, Michael pulled out the card, inserted it in his laptop and copied everything. When done, he replaced the card in Robert’s phone and continued through the text messages. Michael didn’t know what kind of timeframe he had, but he kept checking the gates for when the vehicles returned.
Finally, he came to the end. He quickly raced to the utility truck, wiping the phone free of his fingerprints, and stashed the cell between the two seats where it had been earlier. Leaving the truck unlocked, he headed to his place, where he put on coffee. He’d prefer a beer, but no alcohol while on duty.
Only ten minutes later the vehicles ripped back onto the estate. Michael tried to keep an eye on what they were doing, but they had pulled around back, where they couldn’t be seen. From Michael’s bedroom window, he watched as Robert raced to the truck, opened the door, and checked inside. Michael watched a look of relief on his face when he found his cell phone. Robert quickly pocketed the phone with a surreptitious look and rejoined the crew heading toward the big house. Michael had a pretty good idea that Robert wouldn’t let anybody know he’d let his phone out of his sight. Now Michael had to hope what he had found on Robert’s cell would break this murdering operation wide open.