29. Chapter 29 #2
“Can we just stop off at her house before you take me home?” asked Isla. “I just need to hold him before I go to sleep.”
“Sure,” said Kech tenderly. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
They walked down the hall. Isla was oblivious to all around her. She just wanted to go home to her baby. She was walking away from the only man she would ever love, for the second time.
Jax looked at the crying nurse walking down the hall. Then he looked at Nick. Molly? he mouthed. She looked like Molly, but the last time he’d seen her, Molly had short, dark hair. The woman that passed them had long strawberry blond hair pulled in a ponytail. Could it be?
Jax and Nick continued to Mitch’s room. The doctor said it had been touch and go, but he would be fine after a few months of rehab.
When they got to his room, he was still out of it.
Jax took the chair next to the bed while Nick stood on the other side and watched him sleep.
They talked about the events of the night while they waited for him to wake up.
They only had a few minutes before the nurse came in to kick them out.
And they wanted to see him awake before they left for the ranch.
Five minutes later, Mitch started to stir. He opened his eyes and looked over to his side. “Where’s Isla? She was here. Where is she?”
“Mitch, she’s not here. You were dreaming,” Jax said as he looked over at Nick. He knew that news of Molly, Isla, whatever her name was…would only hurt Mitch right now. And Mitch was already as hurt as one man could be.
“No! She was here! I know she was. I could feel her.”
“Hey buddy, it was a dream. Now go back to sleep, get some shut-eye. We’re headed for the ranch now that we know your sorry ass is okay. Curt will be here when you wake up. He’s staying till we get back,” Jax said as he squeezed Mitch’s shoulder. “We’ll see you in a few hours.”
They left and walked into the waiting room.
“Is he awake?” Curt asked.
Jax nodded. “Yeah, he just woke up. He said Isla was with him. We told him he was dreaming. But I could tell he wasn’t convinced. Curt, is it possible that she was here?”
Curt looked out the hospital windows. The small city below, surrounded by open land.
“It’s possible. I remember that she was a nurse practitioner specializing in emergency medicine before she went into witness protection.
And if the Marshals are going to send a witness somewhere…
it’s a place like this. He could be right.
It would be a pretty big coincidence if it were her.
I can try to find out, but it’s almost impossible.
Once someone’s in witness protection, there’s no way to trace them.
The US Marshals are good at what they do.
I can have Kip look into it. He may be able to hack into the hospital’s computer system.
It shouldn’t be too hard to access the human resources department.
If it’s her, they would have her picture on file.
I’m sure we could identify her. It wasn’t that long ago. ”
“I think we should try. If that was her, Mitch deserves to know,” Nick said.
“It would kill him,” argued Jax.
“It could save him,” countered Nick.
Curt cut in. “You guys head back to the ranch. I’ll give Kip a call and he can check things out. Mitch will probably sleep all day anyway and I’ll just be sitting here. It’ll give me something to do.”
Mitch woke when the nurse came in to check his vitals. For a moment, he thought it was Isla again. He’d been in and out of dreams about her for hours. But the first one—that was too real to be a dream.
Isla had smiled up at him and took his hand in hers.
They fit so well together, they were meant to be together.
She had walked him away from the brightness with a smile that radiated, her face nearly glowing.
He followed where she led him, through the fog that surrounded him.
He turned back and tugged her hand, wanting her to come with him into the light.
She smiled and shook her head no and they walked together through the fog.
Where they were going, he didn’t know, but he knew he would follow her anywhere.
He knew she’d been there with him.
“Hello, Mr. Larkin,” this nurse said. It wasn’t Isla. She had dyed purple hair and a nose stud. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I was hit with a Mack truck,” Mitch grumbled.
The nurse laughed. “I’m sure. Getting shot does that to a person. Let’s get you up and in the chair for a while. I want to check your vitals and change the bedding. You have a friend in the waiting room. Let’s get you cleaned up and you can have some company for a while.”
“Thanks ma’am.”
Curt found Mitch sitting up in bed. “Hey man, you sure can scare the hell out of somebody.”
“Scared myself, this time,” said Mitch. “I think I saw the light.”
“The doc told us you coded twice before they got you into surgery. I guess Cal’s trucks aren’t bulletproof. Your hip is pretty messed up. You’ll probably be out of commission for a while.”
“I kinda figured,” said Mitch, rubbing a hand over his face, feeling the little cuts there from the broken windshield. “Curt, was Isla here? I felt her. She kissed my palm. I couldn’t open my eyes to look.”
“You sure you weren’t dreaming she was here, Mitch?”
“I felt her,” said Mitch. He’d dreamed about her, yes, but it was more than that. “I know she was here. She was here, Curt!”
“I’ll tell you what. We’ll look into it. If she works here, we’ll find her. I promise. But we have to be really careful. If the US Marshals get wind we’ve been snooping, we could lose our license. We can’t put her in danger. It would be defeating the purpose of witness protection.”
Mitch banged his fist against the soft bedding. “I want her safe, Curt. I just need to know she’s alright. I won’t try to contact her. I promise.”
“Okay, let me see what we can do. If we find her, it’s just between us. No one else needs to know.”