Valerie Hansen - Marked For Revenge

“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.”

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.”