here in twenty minutes, I’ll unhook my IV and walk out without signing the waiver.” My smile widened. Zeke was hanging his head, trying not to laugh. A man wearing street clothes walked past the door. His face was lined and care worn, his hand clutched a cup of coffee in a death grip. I looked back at Zeke as a thought entered my head. “On second thought, I don’t care who you have to wake up, I want that waiver now.” I yanked the I.V. out of my arm, letting it fall to the floor.
The nurse let out a squeak as Zeke stood up. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. The nurse nearly ran from the room as Zeke grabbed my shoulders.
“Nadine, what are you doing?”
“You can’t protect me here, Zeke.” I whispered, glancing back at the door.
“Check your hand.”
I looked down and noticed a gold band on one of my fingers. I started to pull it off when Zeke grabbed my hand.
“They wouldn’t let anyone stay, so I told them you were my wife. We didn’t want you here alone.”
“That’s fine for tonight, but what happens at seven a.m. when they start letting in visitors? Anyone can just walk in here.”
“They can’t kidnap you from the hospital.”
“No, they can’t, but they sure as hell can walk in with a gun and silencer, and put a bullet in both our brains. Then they could just waltz back out the front door. How long do you think it would take someone to notice us? They’d think we were both asleep because the nurse is marking down in my chart what time I awoke.” I shook my head. “This is an insecure location, Zeke, I have got to get out of here. What if that guy was just a warm up for the real thing?” I stole another glance at the door. “We can’t talk here, but I want an escort out of this place. How long before a couple more people can get here?”
“We have three staying at Alex’s, so maybe ten minutes. I’ll make the call.” He dug out his cell phone and talked into it quietly.
A doctor and the nurse returned. Both looked unhappy. I steeled myself to deal with them. Zeke walked into the hall.
“I think this is a bad idea Ms. Daniels.” The doctor said as Zeke returned. His cell phone had disappeared again. “Mr. Laroche, please try to convince your wife she should stay at least until morning.”
“You’re married,” Zeke pointed to the ring on the doctor’s finger, “when was the last time you were able to convince your wife to do something she really didn’t want to do?” It must have been a really long time or never, because the doctor sighed. “If she isn’t in any real danger of dying, I think it’s fine for her to leave. She has a phobia of hospitals, and it’s not easy for her to stay.” Zeke handed me a bag with my clothes in it. I felt sorry for the doctor and the nurse. I knew I was a difficult patient.
“Look, just let me sign the waiver, I’ll call Monday and make a follow up appointment, but right now, I have to get out of here.” I tugged on my jeans, noting that they were clean. Whoever brought my clothes had done a good job grabbing jeans, a shirt and socks, but had forgotten underwear. I could forgo them long enough to get home and behind a locked door. I wasn’t panicky, but the hospital felt very insecure.
“There’s no way I can convince you to stay until morning?” The doctor started talking again.
“Nope.” I tore off the gown, yelping at the pain. Zeke rushed over and helped me into the shirt. I’d have to remember to move slower at home.
“Fine, I’ll go get the instructions for your care.” The doctor left the room. The nurse followed after making a few “humph” noises.
“Anthony is on his way to pick us up.” He didn’t meet my gaze.
“There’s something you aren’t telling me.”
He sighed, “We’ve figured out where the stolen money came from. Fred Reed was laundering money for the mob.”
“Russians?” I’d done that dance, and they hadn’t attacked me in Russia, so it didn’t seem likely.
“No, Italians.” Zeke confirmed. “She stole a lot of it, over a million dollars. They’ve been letting Fred slide for the last year, but his time is up. The police have him in custody, but he’s still in danger. Kenzie has picked up a trail for Amanda though, she’s following up.”
“Mr. Laroche, here are the instructions for your wife’s care. She’ll need to have the bandages changed every six hours if she’s bleeding or experiencing any drainage. If not, then twice a day should be enough. If the bleeding becomes excessive or if the drainage turns milky, yellow or green, she’ll need to come back. I’ve written her a prescription for the pain. Try not to put too much weight on your leg.” The nurse produced crutches. I stared at them. Crutches and I were not on very good terms. I’d sprained my ankle once and been put on crutches. The second day I used them, I fell off the porch and broke that leg. The break had needed pins to help it heal. I suppressed the urge to do a full body shudder. I signed the waiver as Zeke nodded that the Anthony had arrived.
Like all hospitals, they insisted on using a wheelchair to get me to the front door. Once there, I was on my own and I think the nurse was just fine with that. She handed me crutches that were going to be about as useful as a bag of soggy potato chips. Anthony gave the nurse his best smile as we exited. Ivan flashed his badge.
“Did you hotwire my car?” I asked Anthony, getting out of the wheelchair. I looked between him and the Hummer.
“No, Zeke gave me the key to bring him here when the cops called us.” Anthony went and opened the door. I stood up on the crutches and took a step. It was only thirty steps, but it was going to be slow going.
“Give me the crutches,” Ivan said, nearly yanking them from me. Anthony reached down: I skip stepped back from him. I wasn’t entirely sure what he was about to do, but I was pretty sure it would make me feel feeble.
“My wife,” Zeke hooked his thumb back at the door. Anthony turned, smiled and stepped away. “Relax Nadine.” I wanted to see what they were talking about, but didn’t have the balance to turn and look.
I let out a small yelp of surprise as Zeke picked me up and carried me the thirty feet to the Hummer. He put me in the backseat and slid in next to me. Anthony and Ivan took the front spots and we were off.
“What was that all about?” I asked as the tires droned on the road. The hospital disappeared behind us.
“The nurse was watching,” Anthony didn’t take his eyes off the road. “She scowled when I went to pick you up.”
“Oh,” I said, as if that explained everything. It didn’t. I wanted to know why they hadn’t let me walk to the car. Sure I was slow, but I doubted there were snipers stationed on top of the hospital. Even I wasn’t that paranoid.
The Hummer slid into the garage. Anthony left the door open, Zeke stopped me from getting out of the car. None of us moved, as Anthony got out, leaving the Hummer idling.
“Stay here, we’re going to sweep the house.” Ivan and Anthony entered my house. The dogs were instantly excited, barking their heads off. I realized I was going to have to face the dogs. That was going to be a nightmare on crutches.
“Uh, can you guys restrain the dogs or let them outside when I enter the house?” I asked Zeke.
Zeke said nothing, he simply nodded and watched the opening where the garage door was. The Hummer still idled quietly. I wondered if Zeke would have time to jump into the front seat if something bad were to happen. However, I doubted someone was in there, not with the dogs. Sure they were friendly, but they were also intimidating. They were an excellent deterrent. I turned to look out the back window too. My towels were still in the back, as were the pans, knives, a microwave, and a blender.
Anthony came back out of the house. Zeke leaned over the seats, turned the car off and opened his door. Anthony came over to my door, opened it, he helped me from the car, folding me into his arms. He carried me into my house and sat me down on the couch. Zeke and Ivan held the dogs back, letting them go one at a time. Each dog took a turn snif
fing me, before nuzzling into my good leg. I took a moment to pet each of them. They circled the living room, finding places to lay down, their eyes watched me, looking sad.
“Since Sebastian and Alex are planning to be here, I don’t figure we’ll need more help. Do you want anything to eat?” Anthony looked at me.
“Yes.” I looked at them. “Zeke insisted on stocking my kitchen with food, and if someone unloads the car we’ll have cookware and towels.”
“You? Have food?” Anthony smiled. “There’s a first time for everything.”
“What do you want to eat?” Zeke headed for my kitchen.
“Almost-burnt bacon and hash browns.” I told him.
I heard pans rattle. Anthony took a seat in one of my living room chairs. “How long are you supposed to go easy on your leg?”
“I don’t know, I wasn’t listening to the doctor, but I have instructions somewhere,” I began going through my pockets; there was a tube of strawberry Chapstick, a serious amount of dog biscuit crumbles, pocket lint, an earring that I’d been missing for a couple of weeks, a sticker with a dragon on it whose origins were a complete mystery to me, a ball of unreadable paper mush that had been washed and dried at least once, a breath mint still in the wrapper, and a candy bar wrapper, but no instructions from the hospital. I checked the other pocket and there was nothing in it. “My guess is until I can do