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One thing at a time, Annie. First order of business—get dressed. Over the phone Wade had told her he’d brought her a change of clothes, borrowed from his sister, for when she was released. She needed to put them on now so they could leave the hospital without anyone asking questions.
She had to remove the IV in the back of her hand in order to move at all. With a wince at the biting pain, she removed the cannula and pressed her fingertip against the open vein to stanch the bleeding. Though a little dizzy, she managed to keep her balance long enough to reach the small in-room closet and pull out the bag Wade had told her would be at the bottom.
Inside the bag, she found a pair of sweat pants and a long-sleeved thermal T-shirt. The loose-fitting clothes nearly swallowed her whole, though they were actually a size smaller than she normally wore. She must have lost weight sometime over the last three weeks.
Had her captors starved her? Was that the least of the things they’d done to her?
Don’t think about it. Just get dressed and get ready.
She’d just pushed her feet into the slip-on sneakers she’d found at the bottom of the bag when she heard voices outside her room. She scurried back to her bed, nearly stumbling on the way, and pulled the covers over her to hide her clothing.
A red-haired nurse in blue scrubs entered her room, carrying a bottle of juice. She gave Annie a quick smile and handed over the juice. “I’ll take your friends down to the clerk’s office so they can get our doctor to sign off on the transfer,” she said brightly. She had a broad rural drawl, intelligent gray eyes and a quirky smile. “I’m Megan Pike,” she told Annie in a lower voice. “Wade’s sister.”
Wade had told Annie that he was sending his sister in, but Annie couldn’t see much resemblance between this fair-skinned, freckled woman and her dark-haired brother with his olive skin and mysterious midnight eyes.
“What happens next?”
“My cousin Aaron is down the hall within sight. If the men don’t come with me willingly, he’ll confront them and, if necessary, take them into custody.” Megan smiled briefly. “He’s a deputy. And big as the side of a barn.”
“I’m not sure those men aren’t armed,” Annie warned.
“Neither are we, but Aaron and my brothers are all armed. I don’t think anyone wants a shootout in a hospital, including those guys outside.” Megan tried to sound confident, but she couldn’t quite sell it.
“Do you know who they are?”
“We think we do,” Megan admitted. “Wade will explain everything as soon as we get you to a safe place.”
“Which is where?”
“Wade’s place, for now.” Megan glanced over her shoulder. “I’ve got to get this show on the road. Just wait right here. If you hear trouble starting, get behind your bed and take cover.”
Annie’s chest tightened with alarm. “You think that could happen, don’t you?”
“I don’t know,” Megan admitted. She went outside. Annie heard more voices. One of the men raised his voice enough for her to hear him say, “Is that really necessary?”
“It is,” Megan said firmly. “It will only take a couple of minutes.”
Finally, footsteps moved away from her door. Annie eased herself into an upright position on the bed, her gaze glued to the door.
A minute later, the door swung open. Annie held her breath.
Wade Cooper’s cowboy silhouette filled the doorway. He was holding the handles of a wheelchair. “Time to hit the road,” he said softly, rolling the chair over to the bed.
“Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe those people are who they say they are and I’m just looking for dragons to fight—”
“They’re not.” He motioned for her to get into the chair.
“I don’t think I need a wheelchair.”
“It will look more natural, at least until we reach the tunnel.”
“The tunnel?”
“There’s a tunnel from the basement floor that leads out to the parking deck.” He held out his hand to help her into the chair.
She took his hand, somehow calmed by the heat of his strong, firm touch. When she settled into the chair, he let go, leaving her fingers tingling and cold. “Then what?”
“We’ll wheel you down the tunnel, and then leave the chair there. Jesse’s gone to drive the car around to the exit. We’ll whisk you out of here and I’ll take you to my place until we can figure out what to do next.”
She wished he sounded more confident, but she could hear the thread of uncertainty running through his deep, calm voice. She had a lot of questions for him, since she was certain Wade Cooper knew more about her parents’ abduction than she did at this point.
But the first order of business was to get safely out of the hospital.
There were two other passengers on the fourth floor elevator when the doors opened. Annie smiled at them briefly, making a quick assessment. One was clearly a phlebotomist, carrying a rectangular plastic basket full of vials, bandages, rubber tourniquets and other blood-taking paraphernalia. The other was a haggard-looking man in his fifties in rumpled clothes who didn’t seem to have the energy to return the smile.
The phlebotomist got off on the fourth floor. The haggard-looking man stayed with them.
The elevator stopped at each floor, taking on new passengers. A woman with red-rimmed eyes. A man with a clerical collar who smiled back gently at Annie when he entered. A man holding a sleeping child tucked against his shoulder. Annie tried not to look at them all as potential dangers, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
She’d seen too much of life as a reporter to believe that all people were good. They weren’t. Many of them were, maybe even most of them, but there were enough bad actors to make the world a perilous place.
The elevator emptied at the lobby floor. Wade wheeled her out as well, taking a quick circuit around the lobby with her until their fellow passengers had all left through the front door.
Wade circled her back to the elevators and pushed her chair to a different elevator. He pushed the down button and the doors swished open. This elevator was narrower, not set up to accommodate the big, wide gurneys that the other cars were built to handle.
Wade wheeled her inside and hit the button for the basement on the panel.
“You engage in this kind of subterfuge often?” she asked with a wry half smile. Her voice seemed loud in the empty car.
“Not too often,” he answered. For a brief second, his big, warm hand settled on her shoulder. The touch had an electric effect on her nervous system, shooting sparks that lingered even after he removed his hand.
“Do you live far away?”
“About ten minutes from here. We’ll be there before you know it.”
“What if it’s not safe for me to leave the hospital?” she asked. “Medically, I mean.” After all, concussions weren’t anything to mess around with. The doctor had said he’d want to keep her another day, maybe two, just to be sure the brain injury wasn’t any more serious.
“We’ve already called the Cooper Security doctor on staff. If he thinks you need round-the-clock care, he’ll arrange it.”
“Just not in a public hospital?” she guessed.
“Right.”
“Cooper Security,” she repeated, the name once again niggling at the back of her scrambled brains. “You had something to do with Barton Reid’s most recent indictment, right?”
“Tangentially,” Wade agreed.