Chapter Nine
“I hope I’m not calling too early.”
Summer held her cell phone in one hand, a mug of fresh coffee in the other. Troy, sitting across the table from her, gave her a smile of encouragement. It was just after eight thirty, but she’d wanted to call Gayle Hauser as early as possible. She knew from past experience the anxiety people felt when someone they loved was ill and dying and modern medicine had nothing to offer them.
“Oh no, not at all.” Gayle’s voice was breathless with desperation. “I was just waiting a little bit to call you again myself.” She paused. “Is this good news? Are you calling to tell me you’ll visit my husband? That you’ll help him?”
“Yes. I called to discuss it with you.”
“So your stalker has been caught?” The woman’s uneasiness was evident in her tone of voice. “As much as I need you, I don’t want you to put yourself in danger.”
“No, everything is fine,” Summer assured her. “I’ll still take precautions, of course, but the danger is past. Can you answer some questions for me about your husband’s condition?”
For the next ten minutes she made notes on her iPad as she asked Gayle Hauser about Clark’s medical situation. What kind of infection did he have? What had the doctors tried? How had it begun and when? And on and on until she felt she had everything she needed.
“All right,” she said at last. “I’ll come this afternoon.”
“Oh. Not until then? Can’t you come here any sooner? I worry every minute that he could be taken from me.”
“This afternoon,” Summer repeated firmly. “Trust me, it’s the best time for me to be there. And I’ll be bringing someone with me, but other than that there should be no one else in the room except you and Clark.”
“Whatever you want,” the woman assured her quickly. “Anything. As long as you agree to help us.”
Summer checked her watch. “Give me the room number. We’ll be there about one thirty. Why don’t you go back to Clark and tell him? You may think he can’t hear you, but I bet he can. The sound of your voice will help him until I get there.”
“All right. Yes. I’ll do that. I sit with him all the time.”
“Then that’s what you need to keep doing. We’ll see you this afternoon.”
“Why not go now?” Troy asked when she’d disconnected the call.
“Doctors tend to get really funky about what I do.” She sipped her coffee. “By one thirty the lunch trays have been served and collected. Even though I’m sure Clark Hauser is only being fed intravenously, the nurses may be in and out of his room for something. By one thirty they’re finished, meds are taken care of, and we won’t be interrupted until the shift change at three.”
He nodded. “Makes sense when you think about it. Do you want to stop somewhere and have lunch first?”
“I’d like that. But just something like a salad, maybe. And there are some things you need to be aware of.”
“Okay.” He reached for one of her hands, rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. “Lay it on me.”
“Mrs. Hauser knows I’m bringing someone with me, but your primary job will be to hang out by the door and make sure no one comes into the room. I’ll insist Gayle Hauser stand away from the bed so I’m the only one in the immediate space with the patient. That way my energy doesn’t get diffused.”
“Sounds pretty simple to me.”
She shrugged. “You never know. Sometimes the family members insist on practically throwing themselves on the patient, and it interrupts the connection.”
“Anything else?”
She nodded. “Sessions like this exhaust me, and I have to rest immediately afterward. There won’t be anyplace in the hospital for me to lie down without calling attention to the whole thing. I’m depending on you to get me out quickly and quietly, into the car, and away from the hospital right away.”
“Will I need to carry you?” he asked. “I just want to be prepared.”
She shook her head. “No, but I’ll need your strength to help me make it out of there.”
He pushed back from the table, came around to her side, and lifted her out of the chair. His large hands framed her face, and his gaze locked with hers. The kiss he gave her was deep and searching, but strangely not sexual in nature. More emotional. And a deep emotion at that. He raised his head and locked his gaze with hers.
“Whatever you need from me, you’ve got. Now or anytime.”
Her heart cracked open and swelled. No one had ever offered themselves to her so completely as this man was doing. How had she gotten so lucky? People said everything happens for a reason. Maybe the latest media frenzy had occurred to bring her and Troy together.
“Thank you. You have no idea how much what means to me.”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “I think I do.”
Reid was just finishing his breakfast when his cell phone rang. Looking at the number on the readout, he smiled. This had to be good news.
“Did you talk to her again?” he asked without preamble.
“Yes.” Gayle Hauser sounded slightly out of breath. “Yes, I did. She called me just now.”
“And?”
“She’s coming to see Clark at one thirty this afternoon. Isn’t that wonderful?”
Reid frowned. “Why is she putting it off until then? Why not this morning? Didn’t you make her understand how urgent this is?”
“Yes. Absolutely. But she insisted that was the best time for her to be here.” She sounded on the verge of tears. “She’s coming, isn’t that enough?”
Reid let out a slow breath. “Sure. Fine. That’s okay. I’ll get there in plenty of time. And don’t freak out when you see me in scrubs. I need to blend in with the environment.”
“Oh no!” The fretfulness was back. “She was very specific that only she and the man she’s bringing with her can be in the room with Clark and me.”
“That won’t work. I need proof for my employer that this woman is the real deal.”
“But if she makes him better won’t that be enough?”
He wanted to wring the woman’s neck and shout, No, I need proof of what she did and how she did it. He drained his glass of water, taking a minute to pull himself together. It wouldn’t help anything if he pissed this woman off and everything turned to shit because of it.
“Let me think a minute,” he told her, rubbing his forehead.
“You won’t change your mind about the money, will you?”
God, he hated needy people.
“No, Mrs. Hauser. If we work this out right, the money will be in your bank account tomorrow morning.” He thought for a moment. “All right, let’s do this: I’ll call you in a little bit and have you come outside to meet me. I’ll have a pin for you that is also a camera. Just wear it on your blouse and sit right next to your husband while she’s working on him. It will catch everything.”
“B-but she said she’s the only one who can be next to him. I have to stand against the wall.”
Reid wanted to pound his fist on the table. If he got any angrier, he was afraid he’d have a stroke.
“Fine. Fine, fine, fine. Just position yourself so you can see everything and it feeds directly into the pin. Can you do that much?”
“I—I’m sorry.” He could tell she was on the verge of tears. “I’m doing the best I can. I want her to help Clark. And you promised if I got her to do that you’d give us the money. Otherwise we’ll lose our house and everything else. Oh my God. What will I do?”
Reid used every bit of self-control to tamp down the rage and force a note of calmness he didn’t feel. They were too close to screw this up now. Besides, he didn’t want to face Olberman if this thing went south.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you,” he soothed. “Just calm down and everything will be fine. Summer Cahill is coming to help Clark, and tomorrow the money is yours. Everything’s fine.” He blew out a breath. “I’ll call you when I’m in the parking lot so you can come outside. I’ll fix the pin and show you how to stand and move so it captures as much as we need. Okay?”
“Yes.” He heard her sniffle. “I’m sorry to be such a basket case. I’ll be waiting for your call.”
Bonner, who had been eating silently across from him during the exchange, raised an eyebrow at him. “Trouble? You know the boss doesn’t like problems.”
Reid gritted his teeth. “Nothing to worry about. It’s all taken care of.”
Bonner swallowed the rest of his coffee and wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Didn’t sound like nothing to me. Maybe you should let me handle the woman.”
Yeah, right. Fuck this up and we’re both dead.
The reason he always brought Bonner along was he was good for grunt work and left Reid free for other things. Like testing the pin he’d told Gayle Hauser about and making sure it was working. Good thing he always carried some toys with him on a job. It never hurt to be prepared.
“I told you we’re good.” He waved his hand at the waitress. “Let’s get out of here. I’ve got things to do, and I have to call the boss.”
“Clark?”
Gayle Hauser had stopped only to get a fresh cup of coffee on her way back to her husband’s room. Her hands shook so badly she nearly spilled it, and she took a few minutes to get herself under control. That man didn’t have to be so hateful. Didn’t he know she’d do anything to get Summer Cahill up to this room and let her work her magic?
“Clark?” she repeated.
She thought he’d gotten a little paler just in the short time she’d been gone. She looked up at the nurse who was changing one of the IV bags.
The woman smiled as if reading her mind. “No, he’s not worse. He’s actually holding his own. Better than we expected. Keep the faith, okay?”
“Working on it.”
And working hard. What if this didn’t work? She’d be out of options. Not to mention the fact she suspected if Clark didn’t get better after a session of psychic healing, the money wouldn’t be forthcoming, either. She didn’t think things could get much worse.
Sighing, she reached for Clark’s hand and closed her fingers around it. “I’m praying, sweetheart. Praying real hard. If heaven smiles on us, by tonight our lives will take a definite upturn.”
She leaned her head against the bed rail and closed her eyes. One thirty couldn’t get here fast enough for her.
“You’re sure everything’s all set?” Olberman asked. He was doing his best to control the wave of excitement rushing through him. Things were finally coming together.
“No problems,” Reid assured him. “I’d rather be in the room when whatever this woman does is going on, but we’ve got the next-best thing. And you’ll have hard copy of it.”
“Good, good.” He actually wanted to rub his hands together. “And your plans after that?”
“Bonner and I will take turns scoping out her house. They may still have someone watching her after the debacle of the last week. We need to be slick about doing this.”
“What about the man that was staying there?”
“As far as we can tell, that hasn’t changed.” Reid paused. “I think he’s the one coming to the hospital with her today.”
“That could be a big problem.” Olberman rolled his cigar between his fingers. “I’m not afraid to take on Phoenix, but I’d rather not if I can avoid it.”
“I’ve never known you to shy away from anyone or anything. What can they possibly do?”
Olberman gripped the cigar so hard he nearly snapped it in half. “That thinking is one of the reasons I sit in this chair and not you,” he growled. “The Phoenix Agency is owned by men who have every skill known to man as far as security and defense, and every gadget to support it. My edge against them is I have more men and more money. But I’ll never underestimate them, and neither should you.”
For a long moment there was silence on Reid McFadden’s end of the connection.
“Did you hear me?” Olberman prompted.
“I heard you.” Reid sounded properly subdued. “Sorry. I’ve just never known you to worry about anyone before.”
“These men are a different breed from any I’ve ever faced. When you take the girl, it has to be a clean grab with nothing for them to find. No trail to follow.”
“Got it.”
“I mean it, Reid. The word will get out fast enough when I start contracting out her skills. At least by then I’ll have her secured here and can control the situation.”
“I’ll let you know when we have it set up.”
“You do that. And make it soon.”
He was tempted to throw the phone across the room but instead set it carefully on the little table next to him. Reid McFadden had been with him for years. Olberman trusted him completely and sent him to take care of tasks he wouldn’t assign to anyone else. But at times like this it was very clear to him that he, Kurt Olberman, was the only one with vision here. He’d built his empire by always paying attention to details and always being a step ahead of everyone else. He was fully aware of his enormous abilities, but he never let himself get so comfortable as to underestimate anyone.
If this thing got fucked up, Reid McFadden’s ass was definitely grass.
No one stopped Troy and Summer as they moved easily down the hall to the room Clark Hauser was in. The door was shut partway, but Summer eased it open and slipped inside.
“Mrs. Hauser?”
Troy, entering right behind Summer, saw a slender woman hurry to the door. She was dressed in a simple slacks-and-sweater outfit. But her graying hair was escaping the clip she used to hold it back, and her face was devoid of makeup. Although he was sure all the makeup in the world couldn’t hide the combination of worry and fear lining her features.
“Come in.” Her voice was almost a whisper. “I’ve been watching for you.”
As soon as they were in the room, Summer closed the door and put her arm around the Hauser woman’s shoulders. Troy leaned against the door, his posture casual but every nerve on high alert. The door was his. No one was getting in until Summer gave him the word. His eyes took in everything in the room.
Clark Hauser lay in the hospital bed, his color paler than the sheets. Two different IV lines fed medicine and nutrition into his veins, and machines measuring his pulse and heart rate beeped with a regular rhythm. Under Troy’s watchful gaze, Summer walked the woman over to the hospital bed. The Hausers were her focus.
“I thought you said no one else could be in the room.” Gayle Hauser’s whisper was loud enough for Troy to hear. “I know you said someone would be with you, but are you sure it’s okay?”
“Troy won’t interfere,” she assured the woman. “He’s aware of what I do. He’ll also make sure no one interrupts us. And I need him to help me afterward.”
“Oh. Of course. All right.” Gayle was nervously wringing her hands. “How do we begin? Since your friend can stay, that means I can, too, right? Can I stand beside the bed?”
“Let’s get this set up so it gives the most benefit to your husband and still gives you what you need.” Her voice was low and soothing. “How about if you stand against that wall? That way neither you nor our friend will be in my energy field.”
“Well.” She pointed to the wall where the window was. “Can I stand over there?”
Summer shrugged. “Certainly, if that’s what you want. You’d just be farther away from your husband.”
“But I can see better.” She scuttled over to the wall as if afraid Summer would change her mind.
Summer lifted Clark Hauser’s chart from the rail at the foot of his bed and studied it carefully. Troy watched her wrinkle her forehead in concentration, then nod as her fingers trailed down the pages. Finally, she took one of the small, hard visitor’s chairs, moved it to beside the bed, and let the side rail down. Closing her eyes, she placed her hand palm down on Clark’s chest and let out a slow breath.
On the drive to the hospital, Summer had again described to Troy how the process worked.
I place my hand over the patient,” she’d explained, “and call up the healing energy from my own body. That gives a much-needed boost to the patient as the energy flows from my hand into his or her body. Some sessions take longer than others, depending on how critical the patient is and the nature of the illness.”
Now she sat that way for a very long time, periodically moving her hand, now lower then higher, then back to its original place. The room was so quiet Troy could hear his own breathing.
He watched Summer carefully as the minutes ticked by. Very slowly, the color leached from her face and her breathing grew more shallow. He could almost see the energy flowing from her into the sick man lying flat on the bed. He knew the process was called “body scanning.” In her mind, she was seeing the patient as if he were on a television screen so she could assess the needs of each affected part of the body.
It went on for so long, and Summer became so pale, he was tempted to interrupt the process. Knowing she’d be furious with him, he clenched his fists in his pocket to keep himself under control. She had carefully explained more than once to him how she gathered her internal energy and focused on one particular spot on the patient. That energy would be the source of the healing. He was peripherally aware of Gayle Hauser still wringing her hands by the window, and hoped the woman didn’t blurt something out and break the connection between her husband and Summer.
He was concentrating so intently on what was happening that he lost track of the passage of time. A slight moan coming from the patient snapped his brain out of park, and his eyes tracked over to the bed. Clark Hauser had color in his face, a healthy pink that replaced the terrible pallor. The man’s breathing had noticeably improved, and the rasping sound was gone, replaced by a slow even inhale and exhale. Summer kept her hand placed on his chest, watching his face, waiting for him to wake up. When he opened his eyes, Troy wanted to shout with relief.
“Hello, Mr. Hauser.” Summer smiled at him. “Feeling better?”
He wrinkled his forehead as if trying to place who she was. His eyes darted around the room until he spotted his wife.
“Gayle?” He held out a hand to her. “Honey? Who is this person? What’s going on?”
Gayle Hauser dissolved in tears. Troy was at her side instantly, afraid she’d break down in hysterics.
“Be strong for your husband,” he told her, guiding her to the bed. He pulled the other visitor’s chair over and eased her into it.
“Oh, Clark!” Tears were still streaming down her face as she took his hand in both of hers. She pressed her face to it, kissing his fingers.
“What’s happening? What’s going on?” He looked around the room. “Who are these people?”
“They helped you. You’ve been so sick. I was so worried. So scared. Nothing the doctors did seemed to help you.”
Troy poured a cup of water and handed it to Gayle. He was afraid she was going to pass out, and she really needed to get her act together. Summer was sitting quietly in the chair, pale as the sheets on the bed, and he knew he had to get her out of here.
“He’ll be fine now, Mrs. Hauser.” Her voice was weak and faint. “And I need to be going.”
“No, wait. Don’t leave.” Gayle Hauser was torn between holding her husband’s hand and reaching for Summer.
Troy helped Summer rise from the chair and held her against his body, his arm securely around her.
“I need to get her home,” he said in a definitive voice. “As soon as we leave, call for the nurse. She can check your husband’s vitals. And remember, as far as anyone is concerned, he woke up by himself. Made a miraculous recovery.”
“But—”
“Wait ten minutes, until we’re out of the hospital.”
Cradling Summer against his body, he opened the door and eased her down the corridor to the elevator. Although some of the people they passed looked at them a little strangely, they made it down to the lobby and out to the parking lot without anyone asking questions.
“Are you sure you’re okay, sugar?” His voice was deep with concern. “Can I get you something?”
“One of those bottles of water in the canvas cooler in the back.” He knew the smile she dug up from someplace was for him.
“Done.” He reached over the seat, unzipped the container, and twisted the cap off a bottle before handing it to her. “Drink slowly.”
“I will.” When she had nearly finished it, she handed it back to him. “Thanks. For everything.”
“Hey.” He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss. “I live to serve. Remember? But I think it’s time to get out of here.”
He couldn’t explain why, but he had an itch at the back of his neck, the one that always told him trouble was dancing in the area. Nothing looked out of the ordinary as he pulled out of the parking lot. Still, he was on full alert as they merged into the flow of traffic.
By the time he pulled into Summer’s driveway and hit the button for the garage door, she was asleep in the seat, all her energy drained away. He lifted her gently and carried her upstairs. Easing her out of her clothes, he managed to pull one of her long T-shirts over her head without waking her. Then he turned back the covers on her bed and placed her gently on the mattress. Later, when she awoke, he’d feed her good, nourishing food and then treat her to a luxurious bubble bath.
Downstairs, he helped himself to a beer from the fridge and drank part of it, leaning against the kitchen counter. He still had that bothersome itch at the back of his neck, the kind he used to get when an op was about to go sour. He wished he knew why, but nothing came to mind. Her stalker was under wraps, and nothing else had surfaced.
He worried that Summer was in some kind of danger, and he couldn’t figure it out. Unlike with other women he’d been with, he had a driving urge to care for this woman and make everything in her life good.
He was definitely hooked.
Reid McFadden watched Troy pull out of the parking lot. He and Bonner had scoped out the house and knew both the Cahill woman and Arsenault by sight, as well as both their cars. So the deed was done. Now he waited to find out whether she was what Olberman thought she was.
While Troy and Summer were in the hospital, he’d also taken the opportunity to plant a GPS tracker beneath Arsenault’s car.
“If he’s as sharp as you tell me, won’t he check for something like that?” Bonner wanted to know.
“Olberman gave me a couple of those babies to use if I needed them. They’re so sophisticated and so new they’re practically untraceable.”
“It’s the ‘practically’ that worries me.”
“Don’t forget,” Reid spat at him, “he’s not expecting anything now that the mob and the stalker are dispensed with. He won’t think there’s any reason for someone to be tracing him. Since he and the Cahill woman appear to be stuck together like glue, this gives me a way to know where they are whenever they leave her house.”
He waited another impatient five minutes, tapping his finger on the steering wheel. Finally, here came the Hauser woman, hurrying to his parking spot.
“We should have met at the coffee shop again,” he told her when Bonner got out and opened the door for her.
He cursed his bad luck and the stupidity of this woman. Her insistence on not leaving the hospital grounds right now irritated him. Fred Bonner, who had moved to the back seat, made his displeasure known. They both knew that with every moment they spent in proximity to the hospital there was a chance someone would see them and remember them later. But apparently it couldn’t be helped.
Shit.
“I can’t leave him alone for long,” she protested. “Now that he’s awake, he wants me there with him every minute.”
“So he’s better?” McFadden pushed.
“Oh yes.” It was the first time he’d seen her smile. “The nurses and doctors are flabbergasted. He’s actually sitting up in bed and taking some nourishment for the first time.”
“You’re sure this woman is the real deal?” He opened his laptop and powered it up as he talked. “She actually healed him? No bull?”
“Yes. She’s exactly what I was told.” Tears tracked down her cheeks again, and she swiped at them with the back of her hand. “Why is that so important to you? Why did I have to record it?”
He reined in his impatience. “My benefactor wanted to make sure this woman wasn’t just someone trying to fool you. That your husband was actually going to get well. After all, we were just going on hearsay.”
“You can tell him Clark’s on his way to recovery. The nurses were astounded.”
“What did you tell them?” he demanded. “Didn’t they want an explanation of some kind?”
She shrugged. “They didn’t see Summer Cahill or her friend come in or leave. I told them I’d just been praying real hard.”
“I need to see this for myself.” He held out his hand. “Give me the pin.”
He watched as she unfastened it from her blouse with hands that still shook and dropped it in his palm. Prying open the backing, he pulled out the miniature SIM card, slid it into a small plastic case, and inserted it into the USB hub of his laptop. He made Gayle Hauser sit there while he opened the file on the card. At least the woman had managed to get a straight-on shot.
He watched carefully as the scene unfolded. It looked to him as if Summer Cahill did nothing but sit next to the bed and move her hand over the body of Clark Hauser. The scene played interminably, but then he saw Hauser move. Open his eyes. Call out for his wife.
He watched the rest of it with a feeling of satisfaction.
“That’s good stuff,” Bonner commented.
Reid nodded. Olberman would be very pleased. With a few clicks of the keys, he saved the file and emailed it to his boss.
“Do I get the money now?”
Her thin voice grated on his nerves. He tried to remember this woman had been through a devastating emotional experience, but Reid had long ago lost any emotional feelings for anyone. Working for Kurt Olberman did that. She’d come through for them, and now he had to do his part. Working the keyboard himself, he transferred the agreed-upon sum from one of Olberman’s offshore accounts to one he’d set up for the Hausers.
“Done,” he told her, handing her a sheet of paper with her new account information on it. “You know how to do bank transfers?”
She nodded. “I’ve done it before.”
“Put this number someplace where no one but you will see it. If possible, memorize it.”
“I-I’ll try.” She folded the paper into a tiny square and tucked it into her bra.
Not many people will look for it there. Not with this one.
“And remember. Transfer the money in eight-thousand-dollar increments, two or three days apart. Pay the hospital as you do it. Whittle down the bill.”
She looked at him with a question in her eyes. “Not all at once?”
Lord, save him from ignorant people.
“I told you. Anything ten thousand and over the bank reports to the Internal Revenue Service. Believe me, you don’t want to get caught in that squeeze-box. Don’t make a mistake here, or we might have to take the money back.”
Every bit of color leeched out of her face. “What? Take it back?”
He made himself relax. “Just don’t take any chances, okay?”
“Reid, we’d better get moving,” Bonner urged. “We’ve been sitting here too long.”
McFadden all but threw Gayle Hauser out of the car, waited until Bonner had moved back to the front seat, then pulled out of the parking lot onto a busy street. With luck, they hadn’t caught anyone’s attention. All they had to do now was go back to the hotel and wait for their next instructions.