Chapter Nine
CAM WATCHED SEDONA close enough to catch the relief flooding her eyes when he mentioned the lock picks. Now that response was more interesting than her carrying lock picks on a school field trip.
He knew what she thought. Miss Sedona Hart convinced herself that he planned to kick her to the curb, and she didn’t know how to stop it.
No way would he let go of her. If their relationship failed and broke apart, she would be the one to end things, not him.
He’d waited too long to find the right woman, and that woman was Sedona.
He knew it down to his bones. “I’ll expect your fascinating explanation over dinner tonight. ”
Cam wanted that explanation and dinner with the woman haunting his dreams every night.
Now she did the staring. “Lock pick explanations over dinner. Check. Anything else you’d like to know?”
“Since you’re volunteering, I’d love to know how you learned so much about lions and their enclosures.”
She drew a deep breath. “Right. Well, that explanation is rather lengthy and complicated.”
“Sweetheart, I figured that out the minute you jumped into a lion enclosure to save one of your students. I admire that bold move, by the way, but I’d rather be the one taking the risks from now on instead of you. Lions are optional.”
Sedona’s laughter echoed in the corridor.
At that moment, Julio stirred and moaned.
Cam knelt beside Sedona. “Hey, buddy, it’s Cam, Miss Hart’s boyfriend. Can you hear me?” When Julio nodded, he smiled.
“Where’s the lion?” the boy mumbled.
“In his bed.” Sedona covered Julio’s hand with her own. “He’s taking a nap.”
“Is the bad man gone?”
“Yeah, he is.” Cam moved closer. “Do you remember what happened, Julio?”
“The bad man wouldn’t let me go by him. He grabbed me and threw me.” He frowned. “Did I fall down? I can’t remember.”
Cam sighed. “Seems to be an epidemic of that going around.” Unbelievable. If he weren’t in law enforcement, Cam wouldn’t believe this story, and he’d heard some unbelievable things in the past two years.
Sedona made a face at him for that remark.
Julio looked puzzled. “Huh?”
“Never mind, kid. Did the bad man say anything to you?”
“Something funny.”
“Funny ha-ha, or funny odd?” Sedona asked.
“Funny odd. He said, ‘Sorry, kid. It’s nothing personal.’” Julio looked at Cam. “I don’t know what that means.”
Nice to know their culprit had a conscience, even if it was the size of a gnat. “I think he felt bad about what he planned to do.” Not enough to abort the plan, though.
EMTs, more keepers, and other zoo personnel crowded into part of the access corridor. Cam pressed his back against the wall where Julio could still see him, taking a resistant Sedona with him. “I know you want to stay with him, but we have to give the EMTs room to work.”
“I need to go with him to the hospital, but I can’t leave the other teachers to take care of my class too.”
“His parents will have to be notified about this incident.”
She groaned. “Oh, boy. How am I supposed to tell his mother what happened? Hey, Mrs. Ramirez. Julio was tossed into a lion enclosure at the zoo. Want to meet us at the hospital?”
“Yeah, that would be a tough call to make.” He squeezed her shoulders. “Why don’t you let me make that call? After all, I need to be good for something on this field trip because I’m sure not stellar at providing security.” He grimaced, disgusted with his own performance.
Sedona shook her head. “Julio’s mine, and I’m responsible for his safety. Looks like I did a lousy job. Although I’ll call her, I might hand the phone over to you for the law enforcement explanation.”
“If you think that’s best, we’ll do it your way.” With so many people milling around the boy, Sedona wouldn’t be able to hear Mrs. Ramirez, much less explain coherently what had happened to her son. “Let’s move out of this area so you can make the call.”
The incident made little sense to him. Why didn’t the man drop Julio the instant he knew a cop was in the vicinity and bearing down on him? That would have been the smart move. Instead, the man tossed an innocent child right into the heart of danger. Who does that?
So, the real question was his motive. He’d said it wasn’t personal. Were his actions motivated by a kidnap-for-ransom plan? Or was this somehow connected to Sedona’s kidnapping?
His frown deepened. This incident must be connected. Cam didn’t believe in coincidence, not in his line of work. He escorted Sedona to the outer corridor where the noise level was lower.
Sedona pulled her phone from her pocket and swallowed hard.
“You’ve got this,” he assured her. “It’s not too late to back out. Notifications are part of my job.” A part he hated. At least this one had turned out well. Not all of them did.
Instead of handing off the unpleasant responsibility to him, she squared her shoulders, tapped the screen, then pressed the phone to her ear.
“Maria, this is Sedona Hart.” She paused as the other woman spoke.
“Well, he was enjoying the field trip very much, but Julio fell and was injured. I need you to meet us at the hospital in Maple Valley. The EMTs are prepping him for the ambulance ride now.” Another pause, then, “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be there.” She ended the call.
The sound of chatter on at least two police radios drew Cam’s attention. As a precaution, he stepped in front of Sedona until he saw David and Elliot striding toward him.
Cam breathed easier with backup. “David.”
“What happened?” David motioned for Elliot to go to Julio, then listened without comment until Cam finished his rapid-fire report to his boss. The sheriff turned to Sedona. “You are either one very brave or very lucky woman.”
When she said nothing, Cam narrowed his eyes.
That wouldn’t fly with him when they talked at dinner tonight.
Here, silence wasn’t golden. He must be able to trust her, and yes, this was a two-way street.
Their levels of freedom to share details weren’t the same, unfortunately.
His classified missions from his military days were still classified.
He may never be free to give her details if she wanted to know them.
That sticking point had cost him every relationship he’d tried to build since he mustered out of the Army.
His crazy work schedule had done the rest. Cam prayed Sedona was different, that she could handle secrecy and crazy schedules because he wanted this to work. Badly.
“Your turn.” David turned to Sedona. “Tell me what happened. All of it, Sedona.”
“I can’t add much more than what Cam told you.”
He pointed at her. “Not a good start. No waffling. Just spit it out.”
Sedona scowled. “We got off the bus at the zoo entrance. We counted the kids and chose our first exhibit to see for the day. Julio’s beloved lions won the toss at school, so that’s where we went first. Everything was fine until it wasn’t.
“A tall, muscular man in a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up was hovering near Julio. I don’t know why, but something about him just set off my trouble radar.
As I started toward my student, I called him to me.
Julio turned from the enclosure fence and tried to go around Hoodie who caught him by the arms. Hoodie dragged Julio back to the fence, scooped him up, and threw him over. ”
“What happened next?” David prompted.
“He ran away.”
“What did you do?”
She studied him for a moment. How would he take this? “Hopped the fence and dropped beside Julio.”
“Why would you do that? Don’t you see how reckless that was?”
“I saw my five-year-old student being stalked by an angry lion.”
“Most people would have run or called for help. You did neither, and I’m wondering why that is, Sedona.”
“Later, all right? I promised Julio’s mother that I would meet her at the hospital.”
“That’s not how this works.”
“David.” Elliot appeared in the doorway. “They’re ready to transport Julio.” He smiled, a rare occurrence for Elliot. “He reminds me of Roman.” The Navy SEAL inclined his head toward Cam. “The kid is asking for Cam and Sedona.”
The sheriff turned his head to stare at Cam. “Don’t let it go to your head, Sims.”
“Hey, I’m making headway with Roman, too. You’re losing ground, buddy.”
“Dream on.” He sobered and said to Elliot, “Tell them to go on.”
“David,” Cam murmured. “I’ll get what you want, but Sedona needs to go with Julio. He’s just a kid, and he’s scared.”
The other lawman scowled. “Fine. You get one chance at this. If you screw up, you will be toast, my friend.”
“Understood. I won’t let you down.”
“Get that description and other information to me as soon as possible.”
“Copy that, sir.” Cam and Sedona waited for the ambulance crew to pass them with Julio immobilized on a stretcher, then followed them through the keeper’s access corridor and outside the enclosure.
“Sedona, what’s happening? Is Julio all right?” her fellow teachers asked.
“I know nothing. We’re going to the hospital with him. His mother is on the way there.”
“We’ll take care of your class,” Mrs. Washburn said. “Don’t worry about a thing. We’ve got this.”
“We appreciate that.” Cam signaled Caleb, who gave a thumbs-up. He relaxed. Excellent. Caleb was great with kids. He wouldn’t have any trouble corralling the students. Now all Cam needed to do was protect Sedona and Julio.
Man, what he wouldn’t give to have Delta teammates at his back. He would never admit that protecting both of them was hard because his attention was split between them, and he wanted to focus wholly on Sedona’s security.
Cam thought through the incident several times on the way to Maple Valley’s hospital and came to the same conclusion each time. This attack on Julio wasn’t about him. It was about Sedona.
That was the moment he realized the truth. For a reason he had yet to discover, Sedona was a High Value Target, and he would need help keeping her safe because he had a feeling that the attacks would only grow more frequent and more dangerous until Cam arrested the perpetrator.
When the ambulance parked at their entrance to the ER, Cam opened the ambulance doors, hopped down, and helped Sedona to the concrete before moving her out of the way. They rushed after the ambulance and into the ER, trailing the entourage into an exam room.
A nurse hurried into the room and glanced at Sedona. “You can’t be in here, ma’am.”
Cam held up his hand to stop Anne Marie’s speech.
He’d been in the ER several times with perps and a few for himself.
Each time, she’d hinted at wanting a date with him.
Not going to happen, and Sedona was the reason he’d turned down Anne Marie.
“It’s okay. Sedona is Julio’s teacher. She’s staying until the boy’s mother arrives. Maria’s on the way here.”
“Just until the mother arrives, then,” she conceded. “How are you, Deputy Sims?”
“Excellent since I started dating Sedona. What about you?”
Anne Marie froze, her face blank.
Maybe it was petty of him, but Cam enjoyed the fact that Sedona’s name and position in his life shut down this pushy nurse. He’d apologize to Sedona later for dropping their relationship in front of a woman who also was one of the biggest gossips in town.
“I’m all right,” she said after a moment. “Thanks for asking.”
Frannie Harper hurried into the ER bay, then breathed an enormous sigh of relief when she got a good look at Julio. “Thank God, buddy. I thought I would face a totally different situation here.” She smiled at Julio. “Hi, my name is Dr. Fran. What’s yours?”
“Julio.”
“Well, Julio, do you mind if I look at you while we wait for your mom to arrive? She’ll want to know what injuries you have.” She glanced back at Cam. “What about you, my friend? Do you have any injuries?”
“Not this time, Doc.”
“Who’s your friend?” She inclined her head toward Sedona.
“My girlfriend, Sedona Hart. She’s also Julio’s teacher. They were on a field trip to the zoo when Julio was injured.”
“We were told a lion attacked my little friend here.”
“It was a near thing. Sedona got him out of the lion enclosure.”
“I had help. Cam was right there with me.”
“I think all three of you were lucky.”
Julio hissed.
“Right there, huh?” Dr. Fran nodded. “Anywhere else I should check?”
“It hurts to breathe.”
“Uh oh. I better check that out. You just breathe normally, okay? Let me know if something I touch hurts.”
“Okay.”
When a light tap sounded on the door, Cam shifted to stand in front of Sedona, his hand hovering near his weapon.
Another nurse stuck her head into the room. “Dr. Fran, Julio’s mother is here. She is quite eager to see him and to talk to you.”
“Bring her back. Cam, you and your lady need to wait in the hall. It’s becoming too crowded in here.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He escorted Sedona from the room as the doctor checked Julio’s ribs.
Soon, Maria followed the nurse toward the examination room. “Miss Hart, how is he?”
“I think Julio will be fine. The doctor is in with him now. Why don’t you go in? Julio’s ready to see you.”
“Will you wait? I want to know what happened and how.”
Sedona glanced at Cam, who nodded. He had to talk to Julio’s mom, anyway.
As soon as Maria entered the exam room, Cam drew Sedona into his arms and held her for a minute.
One minute led to another, then another.
At the end of the five-minute mark, he loosened his hold and looked into her beautiful eyes.
“We agreed that most of our conversation would be over dinner tonight, but one piece can’t be delayed.
I need a description of our perp to give David. How would you describe him?”
“Tall, about your height, more muscular than you.”
Cam winced. Sounded like he needed to hit the gym more often.
“I didn’t mean that as an insult.” She growled. “I’m not saying this right. His muscles are from pumping iron. Yours are from weightlifting and from actual use.”
Thank God. Although he’d done that while enlisted, Cam hated pumping iron. “All right. So, he’s tall and muscular. What color are his hair and eyes? What was he wearing?”
“Dark hair.”
“Short, long, or in between?”
“Military short. I don’t know his eye color. Do you?”
“Brown.”
“Show off,” she muttered.
“Clothes?”
“Blue jeans, a black hoodie, and motorcycle boots. What did you see?”
“Same.” He pulled out his phone and sent David a description of the perp.
Loud voices came from the examination room. A second later, Julio’s mother barreled out of the room, her eyes filled with rage as she lunged toward Sedona.