Marked For Revenge

Vince huffed. “Makes no difference to me.”

Kaitlin joined in the friendly taunting. “Yeah, right. Sheriff Caruthers’s daughter is your favorite teammate.”

“I never said that, either.”

Josh and Kaitlin both laughed. “No kidding.” Her attention was drawn to an arrival in the adjacent parking lot. “Well, well, look who’s here.” Not only was Dee Caruthers arriving, she was being officially escorted by the sheriff himself.

Kaitlin stripped off her gloves and waved at her longtime friend. “Hi, Dee. You missed all the excitement.”

The brunette twentysomething shot a wary glance at her father. “No problem. A peaceful shift is fine with me.”

Kaitlin could hardly hold back her excitement. “Not me. You won’t believe the call we just worked.”

Rolling her eyes, Dee approached. “Gunshot wound. Dad told me. That’s why he came along.” When she got closer she lowered her voice and leaned in. “He’s been giving me fits again about being in a dangerous job. I keep reminding him I’m not law enforcement the way he is.”

Kaitlin grinned. “Does that help?”

“Nope.” She peered into the ambulance. “I guess I waited long enough. You got it cleaned up already.”

“We did,” Kaitlin said, still smiling. She checked the time. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to grab my purse and run in to see how our patient is doing.” To her chagrin, she felt herself blushing.

Dee picked up on the telltale sign immediately. “Oooh. Is he good-looking?”

“I’m worried about him, that’s all. Don’t you care when you transport a critical case?”

“Sure. And then I set that aside and move on. You’ll have to learn to compartmentalize if you expect to last at this job. You can’t get personally involved. It’ll drive you crazy.”

“I suppose you’re right. But he’s the first really critical patient I’ve worked on since I started here. Besides, there’s something about him that’s a puzzle. I must have seen him before. I just don’t know where or when.”

“Right.” Dee waved Kaitlin off. “Go on. Check on his condition if it will make you feel better. Then go home and get some rest.”

“I know I won’t be able to sleep until the adrenaline wears off. I can’t believe the rush I got. No wonder first responders love their jobs.”

“Most of them do,” Dee replied with a sigh. “I’m beginning to wonder if it’s time for me to get a different one, maybe teaching at a preschool or something safe like that.”

Kaitlin shuddered and shook her head. “Not me, thank you. Kids are scary, sticky, ornery and loud.”

“What are you going to do when you have your own?”

“I’m not. Ever,” Kaitlin vowed. “I know I’d make a lousy parent. I’d probably expect my kids to be doctors or lawyers and stars in their fields, to boot.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Her friend patted her on the arm. “I forgot what you went through.” She brightened. “But look where you ended up. At the top of your EMT class and already halfway to becoming a paramedic. That’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I know. Thanks.” With a sigh Kaitlin started to turn away. “Take it easy tonight.”

“Will do.” Dee cast a surreptitious glance at the waiting ambulance. “You never told me who your mystery man is. Anybody we know?”

“I don’t know him. I suppose we may have passed on the street, although I think I’d have remembered.” She blushed. “It should be against the law to look that good when you’re bleeding to death.”

Dee smothered a chuckle. “Hah! Well, let me know if he turns out to be interesting. You may not be in the market for a husband, but I am.”

Amusement at her friend’s candid remark stayed with Kaitlin. She located the injured man as they were wheeling him to a room. His leg was bandaged and his pupils were mildly dilated when she checked, meaning he had pain meds on board.

She made small talk with two nurses maneuvering the gurney. “How’s he doing?”

“Better than expected,” one of them said. “It was a through-and-through. Missed the femur. Came close, though.”

“What about a name? Did you get one?”

The other nurse giggled. “Depends on which one you pick. His wallet had two different IDs.”

“Really?” Now Kaitlin was really curious. She eyed the quiescent man. “When I first saw him I thought he looked familiar. What did he actually say?”

“Not much. He sure wasn’t happy when I found a police identification card with his picture on it tucked behind his fake driver’s license.”

“He’s a cop?”

“Apparently. Either that or he stole the wallet.”

Kaitlin stood back until the other two finished with the patient and left, then reached for his chart and began to read. Dave Roark? That didn’t ring any bells. Daniel Ryan? Kaitlin racked her brain. For some reason Daniel sounded right. She stared at his scruffy but appealing face, trying to picture him without the dark stubble. Something was bothering her. She just couldn’t put her finger on it.

“What happened to you?” she asked softly.

The patient looked asleep. It not for a flutter of his eyelids she might have thought he was comatose. Hearing was the last sense to go and she knew there was a chance he was picking up her questions even though he didn’t or couldn’t reply.

Replacing the chart, Kaitlin leaned over him and whispered, “Listen. You’re going to make it. We got to you in time but the next time you call an ambulance, we’d appreciate it if you didn’t take potshots at us. Understand?”

Did he? Judging by the way his right hand fisted the blanket covering him she assumed he was at least aware of her presence. “I’m going to leave you now,” she said. “Rest. Sleep as much as you can. I’ll be back in the morning to check on you. I promise. Daniel.”

As she touched his hand in a farewell gesture, his fingers moved the way they had when she’d thanked the Lord during transport. She gave the back of his hand a quick pat and stopped at the foot of the bed to check his toes. Both feet were equally warm, meaning his wounded leg had adequate circulation. Good.

Moisture gathered in her eyes. She smiled. Her first run with a severely injured trauma patient had been a success. All was well in her world. She wished she could say the same for the shooting victim.

* * *

Daniel peeked from beneath lowered lids to watch the concerned EMT leave the room. Judging by her questions she didn’t remember who he was. But he knew her. How could he forget? He’d broken department rules and received a strict reprimand when he’d allowed her to go home after she’d been caught up in a drug bust involving minors. What he saw now, the useful person Kaitlin had become, proved he’d been right to cut her some slack. Vindication felt good.

He grimaced. Yeah, it felt a lot better than his leg did. Talk about sore. It throbbed in time with his heartbeats and ached plenty in between despite many painkillers. But he was still alive. This might be an era of fantastic modern medical breakthroughs, but a man could still die in mere minutes from one bullet hole. The fact that the ambulance had found him before he’d bled out, in spite of the leather belt he’d tightened above the wound as a tourniquet, added to his sense of awe. And thankfulness.

“So, now what?” What, indeed? Daniel figured he was in the local hospital in Paradise. The problem was, they knew his real name now. If word got back to St. Louis and his whereabouts became common knowledge before he had a chance to make new arrangements, he was in big trouble.

Testing himself, he raised on one elbow. His vision blurred. His thoughts swam. They had him so doped up it was a wonder he was even conscious. The next time he was offered something to dull the pain he must refuse, he told himself. Hurting was better than dying because he was happy and clueless. If it became necessary for him to try to escape he’d need all his wits about him.

Further movement brought a core-deep groan. He gritted his teeth against the thoughts he couldn’t suppress. How far did the influence of the men who had ordered the hit on him spread? Could they have cohorts in Paradise? Maybe even the sheriff or town cops? It was certainly possible.

He trusted a few special officers in his home department, including the chief, but somebody on the inside had to have revealed his hiding place. Otherwise, the guy who’d punched a hole in his leg would never have located him.

Forcing his eyes to stay open, Daniel stared at the door. Anybody or anything could be on the other side. Watching. Waiting for a chance to finish him off. He knew that.

He also knew there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.

* * *

Kaitlin phoned the hospital first thing the next morning. Planning a second visit with the man she’d helped rescue gave her an energy boost despite the fact that she’d tossed and turned during the night.

As soon as she was told the patient was awake and alert she donned her uniform to give herself visible authority and started for town. The drive had seemed unending, the hospital corridor miles long. His door was ajar. She rapped, anyway. “May I come in?”

A woman’s voice answered. “If you must.”

Kaitlin gave the door a push. A lithe, raven-haired beauty stood beside the bed, holding Daniel’s hand possessively and eyeing the interloper. “You don’t look like a regular nurse.”

Kaitlin was grinning. “That’s because I’m not. I was on the ambulance that brought the patient in last night.” She focused on only him. “How are you feeling today? Better?”

“Yes, thanks. And thanks for saving my life.”

“I had help, but you’re welcome.”

His dark eyes seemed to bore through her. “You don’t know who I am do you, Ms. Kaitlin North?”

That took her aback. “How do you know my full name? Did my partners tell you last night?”

“No. I was too busy bleeding to ask.”

A smile lifted the corners of his mouth, making her insides tremble. Maybe Dee had been right. Maybe taking a personal interest in patients was foolish. This one was certainly unsettling her.

“The hospital nurses told you about me?” she asked.

“Actually, no.” He drew his hand over his newly shaved cheek and continued to smile at her. “Think again. No beard. St. Louis. Five years ago. That park by the arch. Remember a beat cop hardly dry behind the ears?”

“That was you?” Tears gathered. She blinked them back. “I don’t believe it!”

“Believe it,” Daniel said with tenderness, then quipped, “We have to quit meeting like this.”

The woman standing beside the bed was scowling. “Care to let me in on the joke, darling?” Bitterness colored her query and she drew their clasped hands to her chest as if declaring ownership, daring Kaitlin to interfere.

Although she had no romantic intentions toward the injured man, his companion’s attitude set her on edge.

Apparently, Daniel felt the same because he jerked out of the woman’s grasp and avoided her reach when she tried to reconnect. “This is Letty Montoya, Ms. North. She and I were engaged until she decided she preferred my partner over me.”

“Oh, dear.” Embarrassed, Kaitlin started to withdraw. “So sorry to intrude.”

Daniel stopped her. “Don’t go. I want to know all about how you put your life back together after I drove you to your parents’ place.” He looked her up and down. “You obviously got your health back.”

“Yes. I did.”

“Your mom and dad must have been overjoyed.”

“You could put it that way.”

“No?” He was frowning.

“Do you remember what I told you that night? Well, they weren’t glad enough to have me back to make them change. But I stuck it out. They did pay for rehab and my classes to become an EMT. My prior medical school training made it easy.”

Letty huffed with undisguised disgust. “Lovely. Now, if you’re done reminiscing, Daniel and I have personal matters to discuss. In private.”

Kaitlin shrugged. No way was she going to let herself be thrown out by the likes of that woman. What did Daniel see in her, anyway? Guilt for prejudging a stranger rushed in and convicted Kaitlin before she could think of a snappy retort. The injured man, however, had no such problem.

He pushed himself up and grimaced. “No, Letty. We have nothing to talk about. You made your choice and it wasn’t me. You need to leave.”

Tears began to cascade, mascara running, as Letty sobbed. “It’s all your fault. You owe me.”

“I don’t owe you a thing,” Daniel snapped.

Letty made a grab at him. “Please. I have nobody left, Daniel. You—you have to marry me.” Raising her reddened eyes she looked into his stern face. “There’s a baby coming.”

Kaitlin hoped she hadn’t gasped aloud. This was like watching one of Dee’s soap operas. It was super embarrassing to see but fascinating at the same time. “I really should go,” she said, backing toward the doorway.

“No,” Daniel barked. “It’s not mine and she knows it.”

The weeping waned. “But you love me. You said so. We can get married like you wanted. I’ll make you happy, darling. I promise I will.”

“Out!” he shouted, pointing to the exit. “Now.”

Hands covering her mouth, sobs shaking her shoulders, Letty ran into the hallway.

“Shut the door,” he ordered Kaitlin, then added a softer, “please?”

She tried a smile. “Well, since you asked politely...”

“I’m sorry you had to hear that. Letty broke up with me months ago and I thought all the fighting was over.”

“She seems sorry now.”

“Yeah.” He raked his fingers through his wavy dark hair and shook his head. “She didn’t get what she’d bargained for.”

“The other guy ditched her?”

“No,” Daniel said soberly, sadly. “Levi was murdered.”

“Whoa! That’s terrible.”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his leg through the blankets as if that would hurry the healing. “The police think the bullet that killed him was meant for me.”

Speechless, Kaitlin stared. Daniel’s gaze captured hers and held it. The suffering she saw in his expression was unmistakable. There were so many things she wanted to ask that she didn’t know where to begin. One fact was evident. He had been using an alias for a good reason.

“You were in hiding here in Paradise?”

“Yes. My chief sent me to that old homestead in the hopes my department could break up the gang that was out to get me.”

“There’s really somebody after you? You’re sure?”

“Unless this was a hunting accident, the way your sheriff assumes,” he said with a gesture at his bandaged thigh. “I’m not done for, so I’m not positive. Hit men usually have better aim.”

“Terrific. It’s nice to know they take such pride in their work.”

Shock was quickly replaced by his laugh. “You’re something else, Ms. North. You know that?”

“Call me Kaitlin,” she said. “We saved each other’s lives. We should be on a first-name basis.”

“Agreed.”

“So, Daniel, suppose you fill me in?”

“You already know too much. It’s better if I don’t reveal more.”

“Better for who?”

“For you. Letty’s coming here is bad enough. She could have been followed.”

“What did Sheriff Caruthers say when you told him you’d been attacked?”

“He figured a careless hunter shot me and I didn’t argue.” Daniel waved a hand as if cleaning a dry-erase board. “I don’t trust anybody. Okay? It’s not that I think your sheriff is crooked, it’s just that I can’t be certain who he might talk to.”

Scowling, she reminded him, “He knows your real name. It’s on the chart. There’s a good chance he’s already contacted law enforcement because your girlfriend showed up. Where have you been working?”

“Still in St. Louis. I don’t have anybody special there but I did have friends. And a partner I trusted until he moved in with Letty and paid the ultimate price.” He paused, rubbing his leg and wincing. “That’s why I have to get out of here ASAP.”

“Impossible. You shouldn’t be moved, let alone stand.”

“Yeah, well, that can’t be helped.”

“And here I was thinking you were intelligent. You have no proof your real identity has been shared with the bad guys. That woman, Ms. Montoya, didn’t seem like the kind who would purposely out you. After all, you’re no good to her and her baby if you’re on the root side of the lawn.”

“I do not intend to marry her, or anybody else. I should have realized that my job is too dangerous to take the chance of jeopardizing a wife, let alone kids.”

Kaitlin was about to agree with him when Letty burst through the door. Her eyes were wild, her face flushed.

She pushed Kaitlin aside and lunged at the bed, grasping Daniel’s arm and shaking him. “We have to go. Now. They’re here! I saw them.”

THREE

It took Kaitlin several seconds longer than Daniel to react, but once she’d made up her mind he saw decisiveness fill her expression.

Grabbing Letty’s arm she wrenched it away, insinuating herself between the patient and his ex. “Leave him alone. He shouldn’t be moved.”

Letty reached out. “He’d better be.”

Daniel understood his ex’s sense of dread because he shared it. Until they knew who had shot Levi and killed him, anyone could turn out to be the enemy. Kaitlin, however, seemed fearless. That was not a plus. Not in this case.

He managed to slide off the bed and stand on his own. “I can handle myself. Get me my clothes.”

“You won’t want what you came in wearing,” Kaitlin said. “It’s a mess. It’s also probably been bagged as evidence. You were shot, you know.”

“I know the importance of that better than you do,” he told her. “These guys mean business. Letty’s right. I need to get out of here before they find me and other people get hurt, too.”

“And go where?” Kaitlin stood firm, hands fisted on her hips, feet apart in a no-nonsense pose. If Daniel hadn’t been filled with dread he might have laughed.

“Scrubs, then. Get me some of those.”

When neither woman moved, he shouted, “Scrubs!”

Instead of heading for the door to do his bidding, Kaitlin pointed at Letty. “Go down the hall, third door on the left. That’s a linen closet. You know his size better than I do.”

Surprised, Daniel scowled. He’d expected the EMT to fetch him something to wear. The fact that Letty obeyed, although reluctantly, was a surprise.

As soon as the door closed behind the other woman, Kaitlin threw her purse onto a chair, dashed to the closet and pulled down a clean, folded, hospital-green outfit. She thrust it at him and turned her back. “Hurry up. It won’t take her long to figure out I sent her on a wild-goose chase.”

“What? Why?”

“Because of the way she warned you.” Kaitlin rolled her eyes. “Think, Daniel. How did she know she was seeing the hit men? How would she know who they are?”

Kaitlin was right. She was a civilian, yet she’d just bested his professional logic. Even if Letty wasn’t responsible for the danger he was in, she was clearly not revealing everything she knew. And he had blithely accepted her advice as if she were totally innocent.

Dressing rapidly would have been harder if his adrenaline had not kicked in. He felt like an idiot. How long had he been fooled? And by how many of his former cohorts? There was no telling how much inside information his enemies were receiving.

His guttural “Ready” brought Kaitlin to his side. He looped one arm over her shoulders, figuring she’d help him walk all the way out.

Instead, she guided him to a wheelchair and pointed. “Sit.”

“I can make it on my feet.”

“Maybe. But if we have to run, I’d rather have wheels under you. Sit, or I’m leaving.”

“Okay, okay. You don’t have to get testy.”

She shot him an incredulous look as she locked the brakes on the chair. “Apparently, I do.”

“I’ll draw more attention like this than I would if I walked.” Nevertheless, he lowered himself and held his leg up while she carefully propped it atop a raised footrest before placing green booties on both his feet.

“Not after I get through with you, you won’t,” she declared. A blanket tucked around him came first, then a towel that draped over his head and covered his hair as well as masking the sides of his face. “Put your head down and pretend you’re sleeping.”

Daniel did as she asked, marveling at her quick thinking and wondering what other tricks she had up her sleeve. If he had been alone when Letty had arrived with the warning, he might have let himself be led to the slaughter.

He huffed. Might have? He would have. That, or the killers would have located his room and taken care of business right there. It didn’t matter how it happened, he’d have been finished.

Pulling the blanket close to hide his arms and hands, Daniel kept hold of the leading edge of the towel and braced himself with his good leg, his foot pressing the footrest.

The door swung open with a push from Kaitlin, barely missing his raised leg. He gritted his teeth.

She swung the chair to the right, into a branching hallway. “Where are we going?” he asked.

“What difference does it make?”

“None. Just get me out of here.” She knew this hospital, he didn’t. Where he’d have wandered, perhaps gotten lost, she was right on track. He hoped.

They passed room after room, most occupied. He had to escape before anybody started shooting. Stray bullets would find plenty of innocent targets in a place like this.

The chair briefly rose on one wheel as Kaitlin spun him around another corner. Daniel gasped.

She slowed and leaned over him from the back. “Sorry. Did I hurt your leg?”

“I’m too worried about your driving to know,” he snapped. “Try not to dump me in a heap, okay?”

“You are one ungrateful patient,” she replied wryly. “Here I am, rescuing you, and all you can do is complain.”

“Are you ever serious?” he bit out, bracing for the next jolt.

“Sure, when I don’t feel in control. Trust me. I’ve got this.”

He felt her falter for an instant, then pick up the fast pace. Although he couldn’t see her he sensed tension. “What just happened?”

“I got a glimpse of your girlfriend at the far end of that hallway. She wasn’t alone.”

“Terrific. How many?”

“Two.”

“Did they see us?”

“I don’t think so. Hang on.”

As if he wasn’t already. Letting go of the towel, he gripped the armrests of the wheelchair with both hands. Kaitlin was pushing him straight at a bank of closed glass doors! Why didn’t they move?

Just as he was about to shout, the doors slid open. Tight passage dislodged the blanket. He made a grab for it.

“Let it go. We’re almost in the clear!” she ordered, sounding like a kid on the downward slope of a roller coaster, enjoying every minute of the thrills.

“This is serious,” Daniel insisted, speaking over his shoulder.

“I know. Do you want me to weep and wail like your girlfriend did or get you out of this mess?”

“Point made.” His grumbled reply turned into a series of groans as she bumped his chair off a low curb and started to push him across the paved hospital parking lot. “Are you looking for potholes to hit?”

“Yup. How’m I doin’?”

There was no understanding her, he concluded. The meek, frightened girl he had once rescued had matured into a mix of Nurse Ratched, Wonder Woman and Hot Lips Hoolihan in that old TV series set in the Korean War. If one of her personalities didn’t get him hurt or killed, the others might.

He bit his tongue when they bounced through another series of shallow pits in the asphalt surface. Before he could comment again, Kaitlin pushed him behind a pickup truck and stopped so suddenly he almost slipped off the seat.

“Ack!” Daniel righted himself. His forehead was dotted with perspiration despite the cool, autumn weather. Not only was his companion out of breath, so was he.

She rounded the chair and bent over, hands on her knees, gasping for breath and grinning. “We made it.”

“Right. Now what? I can’t stay here long or they’ll figure out where we went.”