Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Cap stood beside Emma as the doctor tied off the last stitch.
“There we go. All patched up,” the doctor said as he stared at his handiwork. “It should heal just fine,” he added.
“Thank you,” Emma replied.
A technician entered the room with her laptop and set it on the small countertop.
“The X-rays don’t show any breaks,” the woman informed the doctor.
The doctor leaned toward the screen, lowered his glasses to the bridge of his nose, and peered at the screen over the top of his frames. Then he pushed his wire-framed glasses back into place and looked at Emma.
“No breaks of your arm or foot.”
Emma sighed with relief.
“The nurse will be back in just a minute to see you out,” the doctor said as he rose and exited the room.
“Not much of a talker,” Emma said.
That was a true statement. The man was all business. Came in. Did his thing and left. But that was all she needed from him, and he was quick about it. Now they could leave and get back out of the Colombian’s watchful eye.
The nurse came in and handed Emma a paper. While she explained to Emma how to care for her stitched area, Cap leaned out of the doorway and studied the activity in the hallway.
“Can I use the room for a moment to change?” Emma asked the nurse.
The woman ran her gaze over Emma. “Sure.”
Emma rifled through the duffel bag Cap had tossed her belongings into and pulled out a fresh set of clothes. Then, she slipped out of her dirt-smudged pajamas and tossed them, along with her bloodstained slippers, into the garbage. She grimaced when she lifted her arms to slip on her shirt.
“I feel like I got hit by a train,” she said.
Cap imagined she did after all she’d been through.
Her description suited him as well. Every breath sent a ripple of pain through his lungs and torso, but he hid his pain from the doctor.
He didn’t have time to waste getting an exam or X-rays for himself.
They needed to get out of here fast. He’d be fine.
Emma groaned as she bent over to put her tennis shoes on. She widened the right shoe as far as it would allow and grimaced as she slipped her stitched foot into it. Then she tied it loosely, stood, and released a long breath.
“All set.”
Now, all they needed was for the chief to show up with a vehicle for them to use. He was surprised he hadn’t heard from him yet.
“Since we are here, I’d like to see Jonathan,” Emma stated.
The request wasn’t a surprise to him since she’d mentioned it before, but it was too dangerous even though the man was under police protection.
Emma’s pleading gaze tugged at him. He, as well as the police officer, were armed. But, then again, so were the Colombians.
“Okay, but you need to be quick about it. The second Chief Mertz gets here with a vehicle, we’re out.”
“Understood.”
Cap leaned out of the doorway and studied the surroundings.
“All clear.”
Cap rested a hand on her back as he guided her into the hallway.
The air shifted. A presence. It didn’t feel right.
Cap darted his gaze around.
“Stay close to me.”
Emma’s body tensed at his words.
His cell phone buzzed. Without breaking his gaze from his surroundings, he pulled the phone from his hip. It still buzzed. The quandary of looking at it to answer it was real. A quick peek let him know the chief called. He tapped the screen and pressed the phone to his ear.
“Get under cover now. They’re in the hospital.”
Cap grabbed Emma’s upper arm and flung her around so quickly she tripped and fell into him. He steadied her and then hurried her back into the examination room they’d come out of, shutting the door behind them.
“What’s going on? You’re scaring me,” Emma said.
He shushed her and then put the phone back to his ear.
“They’re what?” he asked the chief.
“A nurse just found Milbourne dead. Gunshot wound to his head. Officer Milliman, too.”
The tension in the chief’s voice was alarming. The man was normally rock solid, but speaking of Milliman’s death disturbed him.
Dammit. He knew Milliman. Had worked with him. He was a good young cop.
“How in the hell did he slip by Milliman?”
“I don’t know yet. And for all we know, he could still be in the building. Where are you?”
“We’re in a small examination room in the ER. Where are you?”
“I just parked in the ER lot. Captain Tomie is parking in the first row, third from the end, in Cori’s car.”
“Cori Deprez’s? The receptionist?”
“Yeah. It was the best I could do this quickly. So, you know it? Dark blue sedan.”
“Yes.”
“Tomie is going to leave the keys and a burner phone in the car, so get out of there and disappear. Tomie will watch until you are safely out of the parking lot. I’m going to Milbourne’s room to sort out this mess. And Cap?”
“Yeah.”
“Be careful and stay safe.”
Slowly, Cap opened the exam room door and peeked down the hallway. All clear. He shouldered the duffel bags, then latched onto one of Emma’s hands, and readied his other in case he needed to pull his pistol quickly.
At the entrance doors to the emergency room, he halted and scanned the parking lot through the glass. Other than Tomie, dressed in plain clothes, sitting on a bench, nobody milled around the lot.
“It’s clear. Let’s go. I know your feet are sore, but we need to move quickly.”
“I will,” Emma whispered.
Cap shifted his gaze around the parking lot as he bee-lined for the blue sedan. He climbed into the driver’s seat and tossed the duffel bags into the back seat. Emma’s passenger door had hardly closed before he pulled out of the stall.
He breathed a sigh of relief once he exited the parking lot.
Another wave of relief washed through him when he pulled into traffic on the highway and headed south.
He studied the rearview mirror. There was a string of cars behind him, but they’d already been on the highway.
Nobody appeared to follow him from the hospital.
Emma sat rigidly in the passenger seat. She hadn’t spoken since they got in the car.
“Talk to me, sweetheart.”
She shook her head. “I’m trying to keep it together.”
“You’re allowed not to.”
“They got to him. Jonathan’s dead, isn’t he?” Her voice shook.
She turned her head and looked out the passenger window.
She’d only heard his side of the phone conversation with Chief Mertz, but between that and his actions, he wasn’t surprised she figured it out.
Cap’s grip tightened around the steering wheel, causing his aching hands to hurt even more, yet he still held on tightly.
“Yes, I’m so sorry.”
“And the officer?”
“They killed him, too.”
She whimpered.
After checking the traffic in the rearview mirror and seeing nothing other than the same cars he noticed before, he flipped on his blinker and hung a left into the industrial park.
Traffic buzzed at this time of day with people heading to work.
He’d blend in. At the end of the first block, he tucked into the parking lot behind a building and cut the engine.
He shifted the car into park and turned toward her.
“Emma. What happened to Jonathan and Officer Milliman isn’t your fault.”
“If I had just let Jonathan take the charter, none of this would be happening. He’d still be alive, and so would Officer Milliman. He would have made his delivery, and we wouldn’t be on the run.”
“Oh, sweetheart, it was just a matter of time before Jonathan would suffer the consequences for his actions. I hate to sound crass, but things don’t end well for guys like him in the drug business.”
Rethinking his words, he hoped she wouldn’t be angry at him for his flippant response pertaining to a man she was once engaged to.
“And that poor officer and his family,” she said with a shaky voice, then she buried her face against her hands and wept.
Cap reached out, gently prying her fingers away. “Look at me.”
When she finally did, her eyes shone with grief and guilt.
“You didn’t put him in that hospital,” Cap said softly. “You didn’t bring those men into his life, and you sure as hell didn’t pull the trigger.”
Reaching out, he slung his arm over her shoulders and pulled her closer until her head rested on his shoulder. The barrier between the bucket seats dug into his sore ribs, but he’d suffer through that and hold her as long as she needed to be held.
After a long moment, Emma lifted her head and swiped the moisture from her cheeks with the back of her hands.
“Now what?” she asked.
That was the million-dollar question. For now, all he could think to do was hide. Keep Markie moving in Jonathan’s truck and see if they would get lucky enough to draw out the Colombians and apprehend them. Still, they didn’t know how many there were.
“We’ll lie low. Regroup. I will keep you safe. I swear it.”
She nodded slowly, still wearing a look of hurt. But trusting him.
Cap shifted the car into drive, pulled out of the parking lot, and then drove country roads to his destination. A rustic hunting cabin owned by his buddy. Miles off the main road. Just outside the city limits. No electricity or water. Nobody’d look there.
What was he thinking? They’d need to pick up food and water first. He couldn’t rely on anyone else to bring supplies; that would defeat the purpose of NOBODY knowing where they were.
He spun the car around.
“What are you doing?”
“Honestly, I’m trying to figure out where to go. Hide in plain sight or off the radar.”
If he really wanted to get off the radar, he’d head to his Uncle Lee’s place in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
But his gut told him he needed to stay put in the city.
Stay close to the chief and others who knew what was going on.
Proximity was the best way to draw out the Colombians as long as they stayed invested in the missing drugs.
If they didn’t catch the dealers now, Emma would be forced always to look over her shoulder, and that was no way to live life.
Plain sight, with precautions, it is.
Cap grabbed the burner phone from the car’s cup holder and handed it to Emma.