Chapter 3
INDY
“Are you absolutely sure about this?”
Ace glances away from his reflection in the visor mirror to look at me.
Silicone prosthetics mask most of his features, including a crooked nose that covers his straight one and a jutting jaw with an obvious underbite.
Paired with a dark brown wig and matching eyebrows, he looks nothing like the man I’ve known for years.
“It’s not that I don’t believe you when you say she couldn’t have done it,” Ace adds before I can respond. “You knew her. So if you’re sure, that’s good enough for me. It’s just—”
“It’s a risk,” Webb interjects. He sets down the hand mirror he’s been peering into for the last several minutes as we’ve been putting the finishing touches on our disguises. “If you say Bea didn’t do it, I believe you.”
“She didn’t,” I insist. The more time that’s passed since I first read the article, the more sure I’ve become. Bea couldn’t kill someone. Not like that. And especially not someone she considered a friend.
That’s something else we discovered during our investigation last night—that the victim wasn’t just one of Bea’s coworkers, but a friend. When I first heard about it, I could possibly—possibly—see Bea killing someone in self-defense. But someone she liked? Cared about?
No way.
I don’t care what the evidence says.
And it’s like Rafe said while we were all talking last night. “It’s easy enough to plant evidence. And if the person you’re framing is unconscious? It wouldn’t be hard to frame them at all.”
Unfortunately, according to the police report, they don’t seem to see it the same way. Bea’s their only suspect, and in the nearly twelve hours since Jenna Wentworth’s body was found, with Bea sprawled out unconscious beside her, they don’t seem to be searching for anyone else.
“That’s what happens,” Rafe replied grimly when I brought up that point. “If the evidence all points in one direction, the police usually won’t look for a different one. Not unless someone important is pressuring them.”
But someone is pressuring the police, just not in the direction we want.
Something else we discovered is that Jenna’s boyfriend is the son of a Maryland congressman.
And he and his family are pushing for a quick resolution.
In a statement from the Congressman released last night, he said, “My son is heartbroken by the loss of his precious Jenna. It’s a terrible loss for him and all the patients she helped.
Nothing can bring Jenna back. But we can make sure her killer is brought to swift justice. ”
Meaning, don’t look for other suspects. Take the evidence as given. And as soon as Bea is declared stable by her doctors, drag her to jail and push for a speedy trial.
And that’s what’ll happen if we don’t step in.
Bea will be arrested. Fingerprinted. Shoved into a cold and dirty cell where her bright light will be extinguished.
She’ll be scared. Sad. Lonely. The other inmates will sense her innate goodness and want to smother it.
And the Bea I’ve thought of more often than I’d like to admit will eventually disappear, replaced by a hollow shell of who she used to be.
I know how that feels, just for a different reason. And I don’t want it for her.
I can’t let it happen to her.
With a tug at the bushy grey wig hiding my dark brown hair, I turn in the passenger seat to look at Ace and Webb. “I know this is a risk. A big one. And I wouldn’t even consider it except…”
Except what?
Except Bea was one of the reasons I’m still alive today? That her dogged belief in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself, kept me going when I wanted to give up? That her bright light made the world a little less dark? That I feel like I owe her for all she did for me?
It’s all of those things.
And it’s something else I can’t explain. It’s just a bone-deep certainty that I need to do this. That I need to be the one to protect her.
But I’m not telling Ace and Webb all that. So instead I settle on another truth. “She’s one of those good people. The rare ones who are truly good. The ones who make other people happy just by being around them. And Bea… she’s not just a good person. She makes a difference. A big one.”
After a few seconds of silence, Webb nods. “I’ve met a few people like that.”
“Same,” Ace agrees. “My mom. She was like that. Everyone loved her.”
“Bea didn’t do it,” I repeat. “I’d bet my life on it. Maybe that’s crazy, not having seen her in years.”
Ace claps my shoulder. “If your gut’s telling you she’s innocent, listen to it. There was only one time I thought my gut led me wrong, and it turned out it hadn’t. The person I thought betrayed me was actually set up for it.”
I know who he’s talking about. For years, Ace had believed his old Green Beret teammate, Sawyer, had betrayed them. It was only recently that Ace discovered the truth—that Sawyer was innocent and had been set up to take the blame.
“I didn’t want to believe it,” Ace continues. “It didn’t seem possible. Not Sawyer. But I saw the evidence, listened to what the higher-ups claimed… and I went along with it. I should have looked into it further. Should have—” He stops. Grimaces. “Shit. Sorry. Not the time.”
“We get it,” Webb says. “And if you’re sure about this, I am, too.”
“Same.” Ace lifts his oversized chin at me. He touches the latex and frowns. “Are you guys sure this isn’t too big? I want to be disguised, but I don’t want people staring at my monster chin, either.”
It’s a welcome moment of levity amid the stress of the mission. “It’s fine,” I assure him. “It’s big, but not too big.”
“That’s what she said,” Webb adds with a snicker.
Ace punches Webb’s arm. “Really? Now?”
“Is there ever a bad time for a that’s what she said joke?”
Ace taps his chin thoughtfully. “Fair enough.”
I glance at the clock on the dashboard. It’s six-thirty in the morning, which means we need to get moving if we want to get in and out of the hospital before sunrise. We could make our move later, but considering the circumstances, we all agree it would be better done under the cover of dark.
“We need to move soon,” I tell them. “Tyler’s got the security on Bea’s wing on a loop until seven-fifteen. But I’d rather not push it.”
“That’s fine,” Webb says. “Let’s review the plan one more time, just to be safe.”
“Before that—” I look between my two teammates and friends. “Are you guys sure about this? Because this isn’t some small crime. We shouldn’t get caught, but if we do… I’ll try to take the brunt of the heat. But I won’t be able to take all of it.”
Ace regards me for a few seconds. “I’m sure. If your Bea is like my mom, there’s no way I want her sitting in jail for a crime she didn’t commit.”
Webb lifts his chin at me. “I’m sure, too. I know we weren’t on the same team before. But we are now. And that means I’ve got your six no matter what.”
Unexpectedly, my throat goes thick. “Same for you. Anything you need, ever—”
Ace smacks me in the back of the head. Not hard, but enough to sting. “Don’t get all sappy on us now. We have a mission to complete. So let’s run through the plan and get on with it.”
Right. This is no time for sentimentality. For this to work, we need to be focused. Every step needs to be done exactly as planned. Because if we make one wrong move, it won’t just be Bea going to prison, but the rest of us, as well.
I give Ace a quick nod before replying, “Okay. We’ll use the employee entrance on the west side of the building.
Tyler said there isn’t a security guard posted there; it’s just the badge access control system, which he’ll be bypassing for us.
Once we’re inside, we’ll take the stairwell to the fourth floor, where Bea’s room is. ”
Even though Tyler didn’t join us on our hurried trip from Portland to DC, as our resident tech expert, he’s an integral part of this mission.
In a matter of hours, he managed to hack into the hospital’s security system, create false identities for me, Ace, and Webb as traveling nurses, and he’ll be shutting off the lights in Bea’s wing so we can get her in and out without notice.
“There’ll be a police officer stationed outside her room,” I continue. “When we’re ready, I’ll give Tyler the signal to shut off the lights. Then I’ll knock out the officer while you two stand guard.”
“What about the backup generator?” Webb asks. “Won’t it kick on as soon as the regular lights go off?”
“Tyler said he’ll take care of it. But we’ll need to move fast. He can only reliably keep the wing dark for ten minutes or so. After that, we run the risk of some hospital IT guy overriding it.”
“Okay.” Ace meets my gaze. “So we’ll wait until the lights go out, neutralize the guard outside her room, and get Bea out of there. You’ll take care of the medical stuff, I assume.”
Since I used to be the medic for my GB team, it makes the most sense for me to handle the medical side of things.
According to hospital records, Bea regained consciousness around eleven-thirty last night, but she’s still disoriented and suffering from post-traumatic amnesia.
Not the ideal circumstances to spirit her out of the hospital, but I’m hoping she’ll be asleep when we get in there, and I’ll give her a mild sedative to keep her that way.
“I will,” I reply crisply. “I’ve got the sedative ready. And we’re all dressed as nurses, so if she does wake up, the sight of us shouldn’t alarm her.”
Webb glances at the glowing numbers on the dashboard. It’s six-thirty-two. Sunrise is at seven-twenty-five today, so we don’t have a lot of time to work with if we want to be back in the car before that.
Ace follows my gaze. “I’m good to go if you are.”
Webb nods. “Same.”
“Alright.” I glance down at the hastily-made ID badge clipped to my scrubs, identifying me as Grover Matthews, RN. It looks good enough to pass a quick inspection, but hopefully we’ll be in and out before anyone gets close enough to check. “Let’s do this.”