Lynn Huggins Blackburn - Covert Justice

Knitting?

Her fingers continued wrapping and circling and twisting yarn and she didn’t appear to have noticed his arrival.

“You ready?” Caroline put the magazine she’d been skimming back on the stack and stretched a few times in her seat before standing.

“I guess.” He looked back toward the ICU. “Seems wrong to leave, though.”

Caroline laced her arm through his. “She’ll need us to be able to relieve her tomorrow.”

Blake stifled a yawn. He couldn’t deny that his body craved sleep the way it craved Mountain Dew in the morning. But he couldn’t shake the idea that this stroke might not have been a natural event. Someone might have done something to cause this. What if his dad was in great danger?

Who was he kidding? What could he do about it if he was? Sure, he could protect himself if someone got close enough to throw a punch, but running him off the road? His dad having a stroke at dinner?

How could he protect his family from an enemy he couldn’t see, couldn’t touch and didn’t understand?

For one brief moment he caught Heidi’s eye. She nodded toward the elevator and her look conveyed the message that she thought he should leave. He found himself compelled to trust her and that frightened him almost as much as the mysterious Kovac family.

He knew better than to trust a stranger too soon.

Still...

Caroline propelled him toward the elevator. As they waited, he noticed Heidi had stopped knitting. With a few practiced moves, she rolled up the object she’d been working on, popped it into her bag and stood.

He didn’t make eye contact as she walked to the elevators and stood to one side. She nodded at them when the doors opened and they entered first. She stepped in and leaned against the side closest to the controls.

“I’m starving.” Caroline rummaged through her purse. “I was in the middle of dinner with Stephanie when Mom called.”

“Stephanie?”

Caroline flushed.

“You said you had a date.”

“I did...sort of.”

“With Stephanie?” Caroline and Stephanie had been inseparable friends since preschool.

“She’s due any day. We wanted to get in one girls’ night before the baby.”

Blake shook his head. “I get that. What I don’t get is why you told me you had a date.”

Caroline pulled a half-eaten granola bar from her bag. “Yes! Now I won’t pass out before I get back to Stephanie’s.”

“You’re spending the night?”

Caroline shrugged. “You know, in case she goes into labor or something.”

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

Caroline took a huge bite and chewed. She pointed to her mouth, as if she planned to answer his question after she swallowed. He didn’t buy it.

“You aren’t getting out of this, Care Bear,” he said. “I don’t care if you date or not. I do care about you lying to me.”

He glanced at Heidi. She was watching Caroline, her eyes narrowed in clear concern. Maybe he should save the brotherly lecture for later. Someplace private. Someplace where he could give his little sister a real piece of his mind. He rested his head against the wall and stared at the ceiling. Had he put so much pressure on her that she’d rather lie to him than admit she hadn’t had a date in a year? Maybe he owed her an apology.

“Blake!” Heidi’s voice cut through his thoughts. Why was she yelling at him? Caroline would—

“It’s okay. We’ll get you some help.” Heidi had her arms around Caroline, supporting her. His sister looked like she was barely holding on to consciousness. “I’ve got you,” Heidi said. “Peanut allergy, right?”

How did she know? He put his arm around Caroline and together they eased her into a sitting position on the elevator floor. “Yes. Peanuts. Caroline? Care Bear, can you hear me?”

Caroline’s eyes were open, but she didn’t seem to be able to speak. Her face was red and her lips had a slight purplish cast.

“Does she carry an EpiPen?” Heidi rummaged through Caroline’s purse.

“She should. She always has it.”

Heidi flipped the purse over and shook everything out. “It’s not here!” She shoved the contents back into the purse, then jumped to her feet and pressed the emergency button as the doors opened into the lobby of the hospital.

“How do we get to the emergency room?” Heidi shouted at the startled volunteer sitting at the reception desk.

The woman pointed to her right. Blake spotted a wheelchair and didn’t bother asking if he could take it. As soon as Caroline was seated he took off down the hall.

“Call somebody and tell them we’re coming,” Heidi ordered the receptionist as they raced past her. “Tell them it’s anaphylaxis and we’ll need some epinephrine.”

The next few minutes passed in a blur of yelling and questions he had no answers to. What had she eaten? How had she been exposed?

The ER staff was amazing and it wasn’t long before Caroline sat up on a bed taking deep breaths through the oxygen mask she pressed to her face. Tears streaked her ashen cheeks.

“My EpiPen?” she asked, her voice rough.

“It wasn’t in your purse,” he said.

“I know it was,” she said, confusion and fear thickening her words.

“Heidi dumped everything out, Caroline. It wasn’t there.”

Caroline glanced around the room. “Who’s Heidi?”

Uh-oh. What should he say? Once they’d stabilized Caroline, Heidi had slipped from the room. He couldn’t tell Caroline he suspected she’d gone to do some sort of special agent undercover something or other.

“The lady in the elevator.”

“Oh,” Caroline said. “Do you know her?”

Did he? Not really. “We just met.” He needed to change the subject. “Why don’t you rest. Don’t try to talk. Focus on breathing.”

Her eyes fluttered closed. “That’s not going to be too difficult.”

Within minutes, her soft snores blended with the beeping from the monitors. She’d never had much tolerance for Benadryl, and he had a feeling they’d pumped her full of it. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he was surprised to see the initials HZ pop up.

He stepped from the room and caught the call. “Hello?”

“How’s Caroline?” Heidi’s words came out clipped.

“Stable. They want to watch her, but she should be able to go home in a few hours.”

“Okay. Good.” The relief in her words surprised him. During the entire chaotic episode she’d been calm and composed. Even as she yelled for assistance, the words came out with authority, not panic.

Had she been more worried than he’d realized?

“I need to talk to her.”

“What? Why?”

“Because,” she said, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “Three members of your family have experienced life-threatening catastrophes in the past thirty-six hours. Do you not think that’s a problem?”

“Of course it’s a problem, but shouldn’t we call the police?”

“My boss already has. They’ve turned it over to us.”

That was fast. “Who is ‘us’?”

“The FBI in general, my team in specific. My partner is on his way from DC, along with several other agents who are coming to provide round-the-clock protection for your family.”

This could not be happening. It had to be a dream. He would wake up and his biggest problem would be a malfunctioning blower at the factory.

“Do you think she’s up to talking to me?”

“She’s asleep, and with the amount of Benadryl they gave her, I doubt that status will change anytime soon.” He pressed his head against the wall as another thought raced through his mind. “Oh, man. I need to tell Mom and Dad. And I need to call Caroline’s friend Stephanie to let her know what’s going on.”