A Time to Protect (6 page)

“The mayor?” She licked her lips, blinked twice.

“They’re working on him now. Your quick thinking probably saved him.”

“The needle. There was a needle.”

“I know. I got it.”

“A man was injecting something into the IV.” She struggled to sit up, grasped his outstretched hand until she got her bearings. “He told me to stay out of his business.”

“This guy spoke to you?” Brendan whipped out a notebook as soon as she released his hand and began scribbling. “What else did he say?”

“That’s it, I think. I hit my head on the bed rail.” She touched the back of her head gingerly. “I shut off the IV pump but when the cardiac machine went off I knew some of what he’d injected must have gone through so I had to get the tube out. After that it’s a blank.”

“The stairwell door was closing when I came,” he told her. She didn’t react. “You didn’t see the guard outside the mayor’s room?” She shook her head. “Can you describe what this guy was wearing?”

Her blue eyes expanded, grew darker. “He had on scrubs and a mask. But it was the boots I noticed. The same ones we saw earlier. Combat boots.”

Like a video, he replayed the scene from earlier, but he couldn’t put a face to the figure he recalled. “What kind of a mask?”

“Surgical. And a cap.” She nodded, winced, her eyelids squeezing before she spoke. “I could really only see his eyes.”

“Okay.” Brendan paused, studied her face. “Anything else?”

“He had a tattoo on his wrist. A black spider.” She rethought it, nodded. “Left wrist. He was talking to the mayor when I found him.”

“Talking to the mayor?” His gut lurched. “Max has been awake?”

“No. I said he was talking to the mayor, not that the mayor was answering him. I should help get him stabilized.” She eased herself off the gurney, smoothed down her clothes then grabbed his arm. “Oh, my. The floor keeps moving.”

“Sit down and wait it out. Dr. Fletcher says you have a large contusion. And you were unconscious for a few minutes.”

“I can feel the bump. But I’ll be fine.” She drew her fingers away from her head, pushed her hair back. “I need an elastic band. I can’t work like this.”

“Your hair looks lovely, but I don’t think you can work at all. You need to rest, let your body recover.” Brendan turned his head as the elevator doors opened. Two of his co-workers burst through the door, followed by a stout man in a three-piece suit who did not look pleased. Some sort of hospital official, Brendan guessed, noting the way the man marched down the hall as if he owned it.

“What’s been going on here, Chloe?” The officious tone smacked of condemnation, his glare suggesting she’d deliberately sabotaged the hospital.

“Someone attacked the mayor.” Brendan didn’t like the looks of this character and figured it was about time he learned the facts. “Mrs. Tanner stopped him and was also attacked.”

“Sylvester Grange, nursing supervisor, meet Brendan Montgomery.” Chloe’s big blue eyes dared Brendan to contradict her. “It’s just a bump. I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll go home.” Dr. Fletcher emerged from the stairwell, winked at Brendan. “I don’t see any sign of concussion, but clearly Mrs. Tanner is not well, Sylvester. Just in case there are some physical after-effects I think it would be wise for Mrs. Tanner to take the rest of the shift off. After all, the incident occurred on hospital grounds. We don’t want any nasty repercussions, do we?”

“If that’s your recommendation, Doctor. Chloe, you may as well leave.” Grange nodded deferentially at the doctor but dismissed Chloe without a second glance. His gaze scanned the area. “Why is that man sitting on the floor? Who are these other people, Doctor Fletcher? Intensive care is hardly the place for them to visit, especially at this time of night. This floor is supposed to be a secure area. I can’t allow all these people here.”

“FBI, sir.” Brendan stepped forward, flashed his badge. “We’re here to ensure the mayor’s safety. The guard was injured tonight by someone who came into Mayor Vance’s room without authorization and tried to inject him with something. We’re not going to let that happen again. I hope the extra security I’m adding won’t be a problem?” He lifted an eyebrow, hoping Sylvester would be cowed by his tone and let them do their job.

“No problem at all. We welcome any measure that will ensure our mayor’s safety. Although one wonders how the FBI allowed this latest incident.” Mr. Grange gave a simpering smile. “Of course, these matters are not my concern. Running this hospital is. Excuse me?”

He was gone before Brendan could say a word to dispute the hint that the Bureau had been at fault. “What an odious man!”

“Welcome to our world.” Robert Fletcher grinned at them both and helped the guard stand. “Slowly now, man. You’ve been drugged. Just wait here till someone comes to take you downstairs. There are some tests I want to run before I send you home. The mayor’s been stabilized, don’t worry.” He turned, focused on Chloe. “You go home and rest. And if you don’t feel one hundred percent by the next shift, phone in sick. Got it?”

“Yes, sir.” She grinned, saluted him.

“Finally, some respect.” Chuckling, Doctor Fletcher left.

“Excuse me.” Chloe half turned toward Brendan with her back to the other agent. Her voice dropped, softened. “I need to get my things and get out of here. But I want to thank you for helping me.”

“I don’t think you needed much help. You seemed to handle the bad guy just fine.” He raised one eyebrow, hoping she’d explain.

“I got a couple of kicks in. I’ve been practicing.”

“Karate. I can testify to your capability.” Brendan smiled at the soft rose wash that flooded her face. “You’re okay to drive?”

“I have a headache, but I’ll be fine. Thanks again. Good night.”

“Good night.” He watched her leave, noted the careful look into the elevator before she got in. Chloe wasn’t quite as confident as she pretended.

“You gonna stand there all night or do you want to fill us in on what’s been going on?”

Brendan faced Fergus MacArthur, knowing neither of his co-workers had missed much about his too-obvious reaction to beautiful Chloe Tanner.

“I’m going to tell you everything I know,” he promised. “Which isn’t much.”

But while he recited the night’s events as they waited for another guard, even after he’d sent Fergus MacArthur to the lab with the needle and the drip bag—in fact the whole time he spent replaying what he knew in his mind so he could look for a thread that would lead him somewhere—that throbbing nerve in Brendan’s neck wouldn’t cease its rat-tatting.

The attacker was brash, determined, and he knew his way around. Whoever he was, there was no doubt he would be back to finish the job. Brendan could only hope and pray Chloe would be far away the next time.

If she wasn’t, she’d have to depend on more protection than her martial arts offered.

“I’
ve got to go, Mom. I just have to!”

Chloe closed her eyes, counted to six and whooshed out a sigh of frustration. “I’m working on it, Kyle, trust me. It’s just not that easy to come up with the kind of cash it will take to send you to this fancy ski resort.”

“I could ask Dad.” He glared at her, his eyes narrowed, assessing.

“You could. But then I’d have to explain that any extra money I had saved went for repairs on the van.” She lifted one eyebrow, saw he got the message and returned to her task. Let him stew over that for a while.

With the last load of laundry spinning in the dryer she turned back to face him. “You stole the minivan and damaged it.”

“That was an accident!” His face burned red while he sputtered his protest.

“No, Kyle, it was disobedience. You should not have been driving my van. You don’t have a license and you certainly didn’t have my permission. Aside from that, you could have hurt someone and been charged with a crime or fined. As it was you only dented the van when you backed up. You could have dented your head. Permanently!”

Not wanting to think about might-have-beens, Chloe left the
laundry room to pour herself another cup of coffee and savor the taste. It was going to be a rough morning. Madison had soccer. Why couldn’t Kyle find something to get interested in?

Immediately she chided herself. It wasn’t Kyle’s fault Steve had canceled out—again. Of course he’d made it sound like he was on the verge of striking it rich and tantalized his son with all the toys he’d buy, but that only meant Chloe had to deal with the consequences when nothing ever materialized.

“Great! I might have known you’d ruin my chance to fit with the in-crowd at school.” His face pulled tight. “Dad never does that.”

“Does he even know about the in-crowd?” she asked.

“How could he? You won’t let him be a part of this family. You drove him away.” Kyle grabbed a cup of juice and headed for the door but Chloe stopped him. It was time to deal with this head-on.

“Sit down, Kyle. You and I need to talk.”

“That’s all you do—talk and talk.”

“So maybe you’d better listen this time, because I’m tired of this attitude.” She wished she could shake some sense into him. “I did not want a divorce, Kyle. I didn’t want to be a single mother who has to hire someone to watch her kids at night while she’s at work. I never intended that you two should be in a home without your father.”

“Then why isn’t Dad here?” he snarled, smacking his cup on the table so hard several orange droplets dotted the placemat.

“You know why.” She held his gaze, trying to force him to admit he knew the truth without rehashing all the sordid details. Kyle had been there, lived it. Maddy had been too young, but Kyle—he knew despite his attempt to pretend otherwise.

“I know you’re jealous of his friends.”

“His
friends
, Kyle?” She sat down beside him, covered his hand with hers, relieved when he didn’t jerk away. “You’re old enough to understand marriage and commitment. A man is supposed to honor and cherish the woman he’s married to. I
tried my best to be understanding, to forgive, to make it work. You saw that, Kyle. You saw that I tried so hard I ended up hurting myself, even used pills to make the hurt go away. That was wrong. I had to face the truth inside myself and I had to tell your father I knew what he was doing. I wanted us to be a family, but when he chose someone else again and again, I knew we couldn’t stay with him.”

“Maddy and I could have!” he burst out. “We could have traveled with him instead of living in this dumb old town, going to that stupid school.”

“You and Madison have to go to school, Kyle. That’s the law.” She fought to frame her answer in terms that didn’t condemn their father. Blame wouldn’t help anyone. “Think about it for a minute. Your dad is busy putting together his deals. Who would drive you to the reptile exhibitions or the library, or take Maddy to practice? Where would you live?”

“He has a place.” The belligerence hadn’t left her son’s voice.

“A motel, Kyle,” she said, wishing she didn’t have to hurt him. “It’s not a place for kids. There’s no backyard, no smoothie store a block away.” Chloe struggled to make him understand. “We chose this home together—you, me and Madison. This is the place where we agreed we’d pull together, where we’d share happy times and help each other through hard ones.”

“Big deal!”

“Yes, it is.” She drew herself erect, refused to back down. “Family is a very big deal. I’m not trying to hurt you, Kyle, but neither will I allow you to be rude to me. I’m doing the very best I can for both of you. I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but you’re just going to have to find a way to deal with life as you know it right now, right here.” She rose then met his glare. “It would have been a lot easier to find the money for that trip if I didn’t have to use it to fix the van.”

Kyle slumped in his chair, the belligerent look firmly in place.

“I’m home!” Madison’s voice rang through the house like a church bell in a valley. “I’m starved. Can we have lunch?”

She appeared in the doorway a moment later. Chloe relished her rosy cheeks, the big grin that made her daughter’s sunny disposition such a blessing. She blinked when Brendan Montgomery appeared behind Maddy.

“Hello.” It was the best she could do at the moment.

“I invited Coach in ’cause he wants to ask Kyle about the model club.” Madison yanked open the fridge door. “Is there any food here?”

“It’s ready, Maddy. Why don’t you wash up while I set another place?” Chloe inclined her head to the tall handsome man standing in the doorway. “It’s just soup but you’re welcome to stay.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think I should eat you out of house and home a second time. I just wanted to ask Kyle if he’s interested in the club. I’ve got some time today that I could help him catch up to the others, if he wants.”

“Sit down,” she insisted. “You can both talk about it over lunch. Unless you don’t like homemade chicken soup?”

“Are you kidding? Ever since I walked in the door my stomach has been doing back flips.” He grinned, his lips stretched wide in delight. “But if I take too much, make sure you tell me,” he ordered as he sat down beside Kyle. He leaned forward, breathing in the aroma after Chloe set the tureen on the table. “You don’t know how lucky you are to have home cooking like this.”

“You’re not going to ask for this recipe, too, are you?” Kyle mocked.

“Maybe.” Brendan’s eyes widened. “Why? Is it a family secret or something?”

The boy snorted. “Not hardly. My dad never cooks.”

“Guess he never learned. Too bad for him.” Brendan accepted his steaming bowl with a sideways look at Kyle. “I like to learn as many recipes as I can, build up my repertoire.”

“Why?” Her son looked scandalized. Chloe hid her grin.

“Because I might get hungry for chicken soup sometime. If I can make it myself, I can add stuff that I like and leave out
things I don’t. Besides—” he twisted slightly, winked at Chloe “—the ladies like it.”

“Huh?”

Brendan leaned forward and motioned for Kyle to do the same. The two looked like conspirators hunched over the table, voices lowered.

“You know—chicks,” Brendan whispered.

“You mean girls?”

“Yeah. They like it when men can cook. Why do you think they like to go out for dinner so much, man? Because they like it when other people cook. I’m telling you, Kyle, cooking is the way to a woman’s heart.”

Chloe spread her napkin, forcing herself not to laugh at her son staring at the FBI officer. “Let’s have grace. Maddy?”

It was a hilarious meal, particularly for Chloe who’d never seen such hero worship in Kyle for anyone other than his father. When Brendan agreed to kick a ball around the backyard with him for a while, she knew it was just an excuse to talk. Kyle cared little for sports.

Chloe opened the kitchen window and listened unashamedly.

“You see it’s like this, Kyle. Men and women both need to feel strong and independent, to be able to take what life gives them and handle it. If you have to have somebody waiting on you, you can’t stand on your own. My mom runs a business and she does a great job so she can’t always be at home making lunch for my dad or doing his laundry. My dad helps my brother out with his carpentry business. He doesn’t want to do the same things as my mom. So they each manage on their own, but they also work together. It’s a partnership.” Brendan grabbed the ball, danced it on the tip of his shoe. “It’s not really about who makes dinner or does the dishes, it’s about getting the necessary stuff done so they can both enjoy their time together.”

“Is that why she picked out your car?” Kyle accepted a pass, sent it back, his thin face intense.

“Kind of. My mom grew up in a garage. She’s got a very
mechanical mind. My dad doesn’t. Neither do I. That doesn’t make us better or worse than her, it just makes us different. And that’s exactly the way God made us. Unique, each one with special talents. That’s what life is all about, finding out what you love and doing it the best you can.”

“Oh.” Kyle wasn’t offering much to the conversation.

Chloe began taking out the ingredients for the cookies she’d promised Maddy they’d make after her daughter scrubbed down the bathroom.

“But you can’t find out what you love until you figure out how to handle life,” Brendan explained. “Take your mom—what does she like best?”

Chloe leaned forward, anxious to hear the response.

“Karate.” No hesitation on Kyle’s part.

“Yes.” Brendan nodded. “She’s good at it. But she’s a mom and I bet she likes that, too. I’ve seen her at work and I think she also likes helping people get better.”

“Yeah. That’s why she’s a nurse.”

“To do that job she’s got to be prepared to handle whatever happens. If someone starts bleeding, she can’t stand there and wait for a doctor to come or ask another nurse to do it because she doesn’t like getting messy. She has to figure out what to do and then do it. See what I mean?”

“Sort of.” Kyle grabbed the ball, sat down on the step. “You’re saying that learning how to cook means you don’t have to eat out all the time, like my dad does. But who cares about that?”

“I do.”

“Why? You’re not poor.”

“That’s not the point. What if I had some trouble, say I got my wallet stolen and didn’t get my paycheck till the end of the month. I’d have to figure out a way to manage on whatever I had left. Eating out all the time would be too expensive and I’d run out of money. But if I could cook for myself I could manage a lot easier.” Brendan thrust out a hand. “The more I know, the better I can manage.”

“But…don’t you care that the other guys know you can cook?”

A boisterous laugh had Chloe drawing away from the window until she realized Brendan was laughing at the question.

“
My
friends? Are you kidding? I like it when they show up at my place, but they are always
hungry
. If I had to order in pizza all the time, I’d go broke. So I put on a pot of chili, make some biscuits and we share a meal together while we talk about stuff. It’s fun.”

“I guess.” Kyle rested his chin on his elbows and didn’t say anything for several minutes. “My dad used to take Maddy and I camping.”

“That must have been great.”

“Yeah. Sometimes.” Kyle’s voice dropped. “But then he started bringing his friends along and we didn’t get to do lots of stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Swimming. They didn’t want to get their hair wet.” His voice got quieter as he continued. “We couldn’t have a fire for roasting our hot dogs because it was too smoky. His friends didn’t like fishing—it was too smelly, so we couldn’t do that, neither. I bet if we could live with him now, we’d have lots of fun.”

“Really?” Brendan’s tone was oh, so casual. “Where does he live?”

“My mom took all his money so he has to stay in a motel. But when he gets another job he’s going to get a big house and then we’ll move in with him.”

“I see.”

A rush of shame burned Chloe’s cheeks. So that’s what Steve had told him—that she’d taken everything and left him empty-handed. Anger raced through her blood but she pushed it away. Experience had taught her it didn’t do any good to fret over the past. It was better to protect your future.

“You know, you might want to talk to your mom about this, Kyle. Sometimes things aren’t exactly what we think they are.
I know you love your dad, and that’s good. You’re supposed to.” Brendan’s big hand closed over one scrawny shoulder. “But your mom is pretty special, too. Maddy told me she bought this house for you guys because it was near the school and it had a big backyard. Now she has to work hard to pay for it so she works night shifts. I’m guessing that’s because she wants to be here when you get home from school. That’s the kind of thing a mom who really loves her kid thinks about.”

“Mom’s okay. She tries to make us a family, but sometimes I just want my dad.”

“Why don’t you tell him that next time he calls?”

“I don’t want to bother him,” the almost-whispered admittance came.

“Why not? Most fathers love to hear they’re wanted.”

There was a long pause before Kyle admitted, “My dad’s got a new friend now. She takes up a lot of his time.”

“Ah.” Brendan sighed. “I’m sorry, Kyle. I know it’s hard. Sometimes the only thing a guy can do is pray about it and let God work it out.”

“You believe in all that stuff?”

“What stuff?”

“God. Heaven. All the stuff they talk about at church.”

Brendan nodded. “Oh, yes, I believe. If I didn’t, I don’t know how I’d manage. Because I trust in God to do what’s right for me, I know that I can ask His help and He’ll give it. He’ll show me the right way and help me get through the hard stuff. I’m never alone.”

“Huh.” Kyle said nothing more.

Feeling guilty, Chloe started the mixer. Maddy appeared seconds later and began adding ingredients. A moment later Brendan and Kyle burst through the door to find out what all the laughing was about. When they saw Chloe covered in flour they cracked up.

“Okay, smart guys,” she said, embarrassed. “You three can finish the operation. I’m going to take a shower.”