Dragons of Zalara Box Set, page 32
Acid burned a hole in Agnes’s gut, killing all the fluttering butterflies. She never thought of Daidhl lurking in the operating room ready to slice and dice up her brother. Right or wrong, there was only one answer.
She squeezed Frank’s hand. “Please forgive me in what I’m about to do, brother.” She looked at Hoss and braced her shoulders. “Send for Tryker.”
“Tryker, I’ll send you the coordinates to meet us.”
“Over and out.”
“Also, bring down any files on the Mistonians. I remember hearing there was one on Earth that was destroyed.”
“The medical shuttle can only house myself and my staff. I’m sorry, but I’ll bring down the files.”
Confusion settled in Dr. Rush’s eyes. “What are you doing?”
Hoss pulled out his weapon. “Saving Agent Malloy’s life.”
She put her hands up. “Please, don’t.”
Hoss fired. A blue ray streamed out of Hoss’s gun and hit Dr. Rush. Her eyes rolled back in her head. She collapsed on the floor.
Agnes rushed over to her and put her fingers on her wrist. “There’s a pulse.”
“Of course. I said I would stun her, not kill her. Don’t you think I know the difference?”
She slowly released Dr. Rush’s wrist, hoping she hadn’t made a terrible mistake. “Will Tryker really know how to save my brother?”
“You’re going to have to trust me.”
“A scary proposition,” she muttered.
“Do you want to do this or not?”
She slowly stood. “I said, yes.”
“We need to move now.”
She clasped his arm. “I’m putting my brother’s life in your hands. Don’t make me regret my decision.”
“You won’t.”
Agnes looked at the machines hooked up to her brother. “He needs oxygen so he can breathe.”
“Then we take what we can with us.” He headed for the door, then glanced over his shoulder. “Wait here.”
A bright light burst outside and Agnes nervously paced in the room. God, what was she doing? What if she were making a giant mistake, costing her brother his life?
“You need to trust him,” Betty said. “He won’t let you down like you did me.”
Agnes winced. “I’m sorry.”
Betty’s eyes faded to all black except for her fiery red pupils. “Sorry is only a word. I’m dead.” She flicked her hands down her body. “My corpse horribly disfigured. I can’t even look at myself.”
Agnes hung her head. “I didn’t know he’d come after you. I didn’t know you were a mate.”
Her puny apology was barely audible.
“Obviously.”
She jerked her head up and braced her shoulders. “I promise you I’ll find him.”
“You’d better. If you don’t…” Her blue eyes changed to a fiery red. “I’ll haunt you for the rest of your days.”
As she faded, the room turned to ice. Goosebumps broke out over Agnes’ flesh, and she shivered. She’d never had a ghost threaten her before. But Betty was right. She’d made promises she never should have made. Daidhl was sick and twisted, and wouldn’t want anyone saying who he could or couldn’t kill.
The door flew open. Hoss’s large frame filled the doorway. “Everyone is unconscious for now, but they won’t be for long.” He frowned. “Why is it so damn cold in here?”
She shrugged. “Betty got mad.”
He looked around the room cautiously. “She’s not stable.”
She dabbed Frank’s feverish face with a cloth. “I know. She still blames me for her death.”
He rested his hands gently on her shoulders. “It’s not your fault. It’s Daidhl’s. I don’t know why she can’t see that.”
Not believing him, she wrestled free of his gasp. “What do you propose we do?”
Her shrew voice cut any tenderness between them.
He sighed heavily behind her, his breath brushing over the back of her neck.
When he walked over to look out the door, the hurt was gone and he was back to being a soldier. “We’ll wheel Frank into an ambulance and then take him to my ship. “You’re kidding right? Don’t you think the police and hospital staff will know we stole an ambulance?”
“You got a better solution?”
“No.” She frowned. “How come your space ship hasn’t been discovered?”
“It’s invisible. So, is Daidhl’s.”
She shook her head. “Of course it is.”
He went over and kissed her briefly on the lips, sending warmth through her shivering body. She unscrewed the oxygen tubes that were hooked up to the ventilator. She had just enough medical training to hopefully keep her brother alive.
This was a huge risk. If Tryker didn’t get here soon, she’d end up an only child.
They lowered the bars on Frank’s hospital bed, the banging put her nerves on edge. For such a larger-than-life man, Frank was so vulnerable. At the police station, he was everyone’s hero. And now, he was hers, too.
He couldn’t die. He just couldn’t. He was Frank Malloy.
If she’d made the wrong decision, she’d never forgive herself.
Hoss pulled the bed away from the wall, while Agnes wheeled the oxygen tank next to Frank’s bed. Without the heart monitor, she wasn’t sure how strong his heartbeat was. She had to strain to hear his shallow breathing.
When she walked out of the room, she gasped. Men and women were sprawled out on the floor, over the desk, and slumped up against the walls.
“Agnes, I promise they’re fine. We need to move before they wake up.”
She nodded. “We’ll be on video.”
“No, we won’t. I melted the cameras.”
“You don’t think they’ll notice?”
He smiled mischievously. “That’s why we need to move.”
They carefully maneuvered Frank’s bed through the bodies. Agnes had to move several arms and legs to keep from running over them. In the waiting room, she winced at several children lying over their toys. She was going to hell for this.
The emergency room doors were open and an ambulance waited. Within a few minutes, they had Frank loaded inside.
“You need to drive,” she said. “I have no idea where your ship is.”
His cheeks flamed crimson. “I’m not very good at driving.”
“You don’t have to be good.” The streets were relatively quiet since the busy morning traffic hadn’t started yet. Hopefully, no one would notice a slow jerky ambulance. Besides, she wanted to be by Frank’s side.
Hoss shifted from one-foot-to the other like a nervous little boy. “You don’t understand. I’ve never driven before.”
She hung on tight to Frank’s limp hand. “I’m not leaving Frank alone in here. For all we know, Daidhl could be inside.”
“Fine, I’ll stay with Frank, while you drive.”
His sharp voice and stiff stance made her want to strangle him, but she gave in, since they didn’t have time to indulge in a stupid argument. She reluctantly released Frank’s hand. “Where the hell am I going?”
“My ship’s in a field outside the city.”
Frustration built up inside her like a simmering volcano. “Hoss, that doesn’t tell me much.”
He pointed. “Go northwest.”
She rolled her eyes. “Do you remember anything about where you landed?”
He rubbed his lower lip. “There was a bunch of houses. I think I saw a sign that said five parks or five larks or something like that.”
“I think that’s a housing development.” When she’d been on patrol, she responded to a couple of domestic squabbles. The houses and town homes were upscale, and the community pool was nicer than some of the recreation districts’. “It’s about a fifteen-minute drive from here.”
“I’ll set my transrecorder to my ship’s coordinates. It will tell us when we’re getting close.”
“How long will it take for Tryker to get here?”
“Less than four hours.”
She tucked Frank’s blankets around him and wiped his hair off his ashen face. What if four hours was too long? What if an hour was too long? Helplessness dug into her heart like a pickaxe. “I hope Frank can hang on that long.”
“He will.” He ran his hands down her arms, making her shiver.
He tilted his head. “Let’s roll before we’re both behind bars.”
Hoss lowered his head and crawled into the back of the cab. She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. He looked like the Hulk, trying to fit comfortably in a refrigerator.
She flashed him a sweet smile. “Comfy?”
“Loads. Dragons always like to be squished into a trash compactor.”
She laughed, then closed the doors.
Agnes drove carefully out of the parking lot, making sure to look both ways. More cars zoomed down the street. She hesitantly glanced out the window to see if anyone recognized her. None of the cars slowed down. Satisfied they were safe, she pulled out onto the street.
A police car whizzed past them, and she sucked in her breath. Her fingers clutched the wheel so hard her knuckles threatened to burst through her skin. In the rearview mirror, she watched the car turn toward the crime scene. Worse, the captain and Jeff were walking into the emergency room. Her career just burst into flames, but she didn’t care, not if she could save Frank’s life.
Taking a deep breath, she kept her eyes on the road, especially since she was stuck behind a public transportation bus. Cars and trucks were bumper-to-bumper in the other lane. Even with her blinker on, no one made room for her. She rolled her shoulders and counted to ten to not lose her cool.
Deal with it.
She wasn’t going anywhere.
A billboard of some ambulance-chasing attorney caught her attention. She smiled as she quickly called Kathy. Her phone rang and rang and rang, but no answer. Kathy always answered her phone in case a client was in trouble. Something was wrong.
Agnes slammed her phone down on the seat next to her police special. Normally, she would have called Tom to check on Kathy, but since she was guilty of patient-napping––not possible.
The rocking bus moved slowly but steadily. Agnes put on the brakes, and her gun slid next to her thigh, but her phone fell on the floor. Damn!
Hoss pounded on the window.
“Christ!” Her adrenaline spun out of control. She jumped, her knees bumping on the steering wheel. The wheel jerked out of her hands, and the ambulance drove up on the sidewalk. She swerved it back on the road. Sweat rolled over her. “What! Is Daihl…”
“No. Sorry.” He motioned. “Keep going straight on this road.”
She glared at him through the rearview mirror and gritted her teeth. He was damn lucky he wasn’t sitting next to her. “I know where Five Parks is.” She glanced over her shoulder. “How’s Frank?”
“Still breathing.”
For now, she thought. Still shaking, she gripped the steering wheel and re-checked the speed limit. Oh, crap!
Red lights flashed behind her, and she held her breath as she pulled over to the side. Luckily, they raced past her.
“They’re looking for us?”
“Obviously. Definitely a man-hunt. Hopefully, it will take them awhile to discover we stole an ambulance. Tryker better get here soon.”
“Even with light speed, it’s going to take him a couple of hours.”
“Then we need to hide out until he gets here.”
“Where? We’re in a red and white ambulance.”
“Not if we park in an urgent care facility. Plus, if Frank gets bad, we can rush him inside.” She drove him to a medical facility near Five Parks. She parked the ambulance in the back.
“You don’t think anyone will notice we’re out here?”
“Do you have a better idea?”
He shrugged. “No.”
She got out of the front seat and joined Hoss in the back of the cab. Frank’s face was paler and his breath was shallower. Hoss’s knees were jammed up to his chest and his arms pressed to his side. She was squished between him and her brother’s bed.
“He’s not doing too good.” She looked at the urgent care facility where there were doctors and nurses ready to help. “Maybe we should…”
Hoss clasped both her shaking hands. “Do you want your brother to live, to walk again?”
“How could you ask that? Of course, I do.”
“Then, trust me.”
She blurted, “That’s a two-way street, which you keep thinking is only a one-way.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
She yanked her hands free. “You keep telling me to believe in you. You even convinced me to risk my brother’s life, but I really don’t know anything about you except for your mission and the Orion. I need more, Hoss. I need you to be real. To know that I made the right decision with Frank.”
“Do you really think this is the time to deal out secrets?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “According to you, we have a couple of hours before your medical space ship gets here. How else would you want to spend the time?”
He leaned closer and ran a finger down the outline of her breast. “I can think of one way to reduce your stress.”
His breath brushed over her, heating her skin and making her squirm. The cab grew smaller and stuffier. She shoved him away hard. “You’re not serious, are you?
He bumped his head on the ceiling. “Ow.”
She flicked her hand. “I can’t even move. It’s hotter than hell in here. My brother’s half-dead. And you want to have sex?”
At least he had the decency to look sheepish. He rubbed the back of his head, mumbling. “Hey, I was just trying to break the tension.”
Not caring one bit, she pulled her thick hair off her neck just to feel a tiny bit of cool air on her sweltering skin. “Can you please contact the doctor to see where he’s at?”
He rubbed her back. “He’ll get here in time.”
She rested her head in her hands. “Easy for you to say.”
He whipped open his communication device. “Tryker, how long before you reach us?”
“Three hours.”
He closed it.
She jerked her head up. “What do you call that thing anyway?”
“It’s a telicator.”
She grabbed the device out of his hand. “Looks just like a cellular phone, but lighter.”
He carefully removed the telicator from her hands as if she were a small child about to break it. “It’s a little more powerful than anything on Earth.”
She glared. “I realize that.” She slammed her palms on her knees. “This is so frustrating just sitting here sweating. Daidhl could be anywhere stalking his next victims.”
“Relax.” He gently massaged the back of her neck. “We already know two on the list–you and Kathy.”
Her coiled muscles unwound so she could think. She sat straighter. “That reminds me. I need to check on her.”
The phone rang. “This is Kathy Strong, attorney at law. Please leave your name and number, and I’ll return your call as soon as I can.”
Agnes left a message. She brushed her thumb over the screen of her phone. “I hope she’s okay.”
“Does she always answer her phone?”
“No, not necessarily, especially if she’s in court or meeting with a client.”
“I thought she was in protective custody.”
“She is. That’s what worries me. She should have picked up. Wait, you could go change into a dragon and check on her!”
He shook his head. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“In the parking lot, I tried to transform into a dragon, and I couldn’t. I think the human blood prevented me from changing.” He clasped her hand. “Listen to me. Daidhl is more powerful than me. We have to be damn careful––especially you.”
She bristled. “I can…”
“No, you can’t.” He squeezed her hand. “Promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Stupidity is not part of my vocabulary.”
He slowly released her hand, but doubt remained in his eyes.
Prickles ran down the back of her neck. Kathy was in trouble. Her gut instinct shot into overtime. “Shit, now, what do we do? I know Kathy’s in trouble. She needs our help.”
“You need to calm down. What would you normally do?”
She took a deep breath. “Investigate. It’s just so hard when people you know are threatened or hurt.”
“I know.”
“Do you? Sometimes I’m beginning to wonder. Or are you just saying that to make me feel better.”
“Back to secrets again. I lost my parents when I was a kid. Does that help?” he snapped.
She winced then reached for his clenched fist. “I’m sorry, Hoss.”
“Don’t.” He yanked it back, bristling up like a cactus. “See, talking doesn’t help.”
“Okay, I get it. Let’s review the case then.” She pulled out her iPad.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking at Jack the Ripper’s next victim, Mary Kelly. She was found in her apartment gutted like a deer. She was his last known victim.”
“Was he caught?”
“No. There’s all sorts of speculation on what happened. He got arrested for another crime or he himself was murdered or he left London. This is strange. According to my research, after the 1888 murders, there were two murders that happened a year later. The other two murders were of Alice McKenzie and Frances Cole, but there’s arguments on both sides on whether or not these were Jack the Ripper killings.”
“The real question is what side is Daidhl on.”
“I know. I’m calling Kathy again.” She called again. “Answer damn it! Answer!”
“Aren’t the police guarding her?”
“Yes, but you saw what happened in the parking lot.”
“If you want we could drive there.”
She glanced at Frank’s pale face. “He could get hurt again.” If he did, he wouldn’t make it.
“I’ll protect your brother, I swear.”
His voice was so confident, but Frank’s heroism had put him in this position.
“Hoss, Daidhl said he was stronger than you. It’s because of the blood transfusion, isn’t it?”
“I think so.”
