Chapter 21

Grant

My phone was crushed to pieces. It couldn’t have happened at a worse time. I walked purposefully out of the club and took the sim card out of it before flinging it across the street. I drove the van a few blocks away to some higher ground and pulled over. I was on a street of abandoned warehouses. No one would disturb me there.

I got into the back of the van and powered up the equipment. It’s top of the range. I bought most of it on the black market from retired government agents. I could do anything with it, find anyone.

I typed Lacey’s cell number into a laptop that was wired to a high-powered radio receiver. Then I waited. A map of the city showed up on the screen, then the map zoomed in closer and closer on the triangulated location of Lacey’s cell.

I thought about calling it, I could make a call directly from the receiver, but then I noticed she was at Mercy hospital.

My mind went completely berserk. All I could think was that she might be hurt. If anyone had touched her, there would be hell to pay.

I had no time to spare. I climbed into the front of the van and sped toward the hospital. I pulled up outside the emergency room and left the van in the ambulance bay. It would be towed in minutes but I didn’t care. I pushed through the swing doors and ran straight to the desk.

“Lacey Eden,” I said to the nurse at the desk. “Was she admitted?”

“Just a minute, sir. Are you her husband?”

I hesitated. I don’t know why. The question caught me off guard. “I’m family,” I said at last. “Her brother.”

The nurse typed Lacey’s name into her computer and scrolled through the results. “Sorry, sir. No one by that name has been admitted.”

My heart was pounding. That could mean she wasn’t hurt, that she was perfectly fine, but it could also be even worse. She hadn’t had her phone. What if she didn’t have her ID?

“What if she didn’t have ID?” I said. I took Lacey’s picture from my wallet and showed it to the nurse. “Do you have any women in their thirties, blond, who might not have been identified?”

She typed again, then looked up at me. “No, sir. It’s a quiet night. No one unidentified fitting that description.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t been admitted. That didn’t explain why her phone was showing up here though. I was about to turn to leave when I saw, down the corridor toward the trauma center, a blonde woman in a stripper outfit talking to a guy with a bandaged face.

I knew it instantly.

It was Lacey. It didn’t look like her, it wasn’t the way Lacey usually dressed, even the hair and makeup were different, but there was no questioning it. I’d know that face anywhere, and it was Lacey’s.

And she didn’t look distressed at all. Not one bit. In fact, she looked like she was having a heart to heart with the guy in the bandages.

I ducked around a corner before they saw me. I didn’t want to approach. I knew I should have gone up to her, asked her if she was all right, but I had to know what was going on. I was desperate.

Something fishy was going on, and the best way of finding out what, was to spy. Lacey had been very clear. I was to give her space, and privacy. I was to butt out of her love life.

But she’d asked for help too. That text message. I had no doubt she’d sent it. She was getting mixed up with something bad, and my job was to find out what, even if it meant spying on her.

I hurried back to the van. Miraculously it hadn’t been towed.

“Is this your vehicle, sir?” a security guard said.

“Sorry, it was an emergency.”

“This bay is for hospital vehicles only.”

“Yes, sir, I’ll move it right away.”

I drove to the parking lot a hundred yards away and then directed the radio listening device directly at Lacey’s cell phone signature. I prayed the walls of the building weren’t too thick to get a signal. There were windows in the waiting area so I had a decent chance of picking up something.

I put the headphones on and immediately pulled them off. My eardrums almost burst from a loud screech. I adjusted the dials, turned down the volume and frequency, and put the headphones back on.

I could hear the nurse at the front desk speaking on the phone. I adjusted the angle, someone coughing, a child crying, a television set, and then suddenly, a man’s voice.

“Because I have such strong feelings for you, Lacey. I’m crazy about you.”

That was it. I stabilized the signal.

Then came Lacey’s voice. “Rob, I had no idea you felt like that.”

“I’m nuts about you, Lacey. You’re an amazing woman, and you deserve everything a man has to give. You’re nothing like all the other women I know.”

“You’ve known me for such a short time.”

“And in that time I’ve learned so much, about you and about myself. You make me want to be a better man, Lacey. You make me want to do something real with my life. I’m through playing games with women. You taught me that.”

“What are you talking about, Rob? I haven’t taught you anything.”

“I want a relationship with you, Lacey. A real one. I want the whole deal. I don’t want to let you down. I want to give you what you want. What you deserve.”

I cut off the power to the receiver. I’d heard enough. At this point, it was just an invasion of their privacy. Whatever trouble Lacey had been having earlier in the night, it was the normal troubles of a girl out on a date with a guy who was trying to woo her.

I was sure that was the guy whose nose I’d broken at the club and I felt bad about that now, but the best thing I could do was leave. If Lacey was trying to have a relationship with that guy, that was her decision to make. It wasn’t my place to interfere.

I climbed into the front seat and turned the ignition. I should have been happy for her. I knew that. The guy sounded genuine. He was offering her a real relationship, and I’d smashed his face for it.

I figured Lacey would find out soon enough. I’d beaten up her new boyfriend and his friends. I’d jumped without looking. She’d hate me more than ever when she found that out.

I’d blown it. I’d ruined my chance with the one girl I’d ever loved. I hesitated, I failed to offer what she deserved, and now some other guy was stepping up to the plate. My breath caught in my throat. I tried to take a deep breath but I couldn’t. I pulled over and took off my seatbelt, then I leaned forward in my seat and gasped for air.