No Place to Run (KGI #2)(65)

“I know of it. It’s a few miles down the lake from Paris Landing. I’ll send one of Rio’s men for it.”

She shook her head. “No, I should go.”

He frowned. “You’re not going anywhere you’re unprotected.”

There was determination in her eyes as she stared back at him. “That key is all the insurance I have, Sam. All the insurance our child has. I won’t take a chance with it.”

“I know I don’t have a right to ask, and you have every reason to be unsure and scared, but trust me, Sophie. Trust me. Trust that I won’t do anything that puts any of you at risk. I’ll send him for the key and he’ll return it to us—to you.”

She swallowed hard, and he could see the conflict so readily apparent on her face. His hand closed over hers, and he felt her tremble in his grasp. Finally she nodded.

“Okay, send him.”

He lifted her hand and kissed her fingertips. “Come on then. Let’s go find the others.”

CHAPTER 26

AFTER issuing instructions to Rio to send a man to retrieve the key, Sam went back in to see his father. This time he didn’t disturb him. He simply stood by his bedside and watched the up-and-down lines on the heart monitor and took reassurance in the rhythmic sounds of each breath.

Now more than ever he needed to take steps to ensure the safety of his family. It would take months to see to fruition the detailed plans for a veritable fortress on the land he’d purchased, but no longer would he put it off.

His family would be safe and under his watchful eye—all of them.

He reached down to touch his father’s hand. It was cold—too cold—to the touch. His mother should be here, sitting by his bedside, not scared out of her mind in some shithole in West Texas.

He hadn’t prayed in a long time, but he prayed now. He recalled every trip to church with his parents, and knew his mother found comfort in scripture and the steady words from the pulpit. He hoped she reached back for that now and that she didn’t lose hope.

“I’ll bring her home, Dad,” he whispered. “Somehow I’ll make all this right.”

He turned and walked out of the cubicle and came face-to-face with the nurse who’d shown him in earlier.

She gestured toward a man on one of the phones at the nurses’ station a few feet away. “The doctor is here if you’d like to talk to him about your father.”

“Thank you, I would.”

“Wait here and I’ll get him,” she said.

A few seconds later, the doctor hung up the phone and the nurse spoke to him and pointed in Sam’s direction. The doctor walked over and extended his hand.

“I’m Dr. Caldwell. I’m in charge of your father’s care.”

Sam shook his hand. “Sam Kelly. How is he, Doctor?”

“He’s doing well, considering. He had a major blockage that we went in and stented. There was another artery with about sixty-five percent blockage that we ballooned. He’ll have to be on medication, and he’ll need to make some drastic changes to diet and lifestyle, but he should do well with proper treatment.”

Relief nearly crushed Sam on the spot. “When do you think he’ll go home? I mean is he even near that point? How long will you keep him?”

The doctor smiled. “I’d like to keep him for a couple of days and monitor his recovery, make sure there aren’t any problems. I’ll run some tests to see how much, if any, of the heart was damaged, but he’ll be able to go home in a couple of days.”

“Thank you,” Sam said.

The doctor put his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “No problem. That’s my job. If you’ll excuse me, I have other patients to see.”

Sam nodded and the doctor walked away. Sam glanced back toward his father’s room before walking out of the unit himself.

When he rejoined the others in the family room, he briefed Donovan and Garrett on what the doctor had said and then he turned to the matter at hand.

“Sean give me the details on what you’ve worked out for security here at the hospital,” Sam said quietly. “I need every man I can get when we go to Rock Springs, but I also won’t leave Dad and Rusty unprotected.”

Sean looked haggard, like he hadn’t slept in a week, and grief was raw like a storm in his eyes. Frank and Marlene were like parents to him, and he was another son in an already large family.

He was young, but he was a damn good cop, and Sam trusted him to keep his loved ones safe from harm.

“The state police were screaming, but your pal Resnick called and they calmed down,” Sean said.

Sam’s brow furrowed in surprise, and he turned to Garrett. “Did you know anything about this?”

Garrett shrugged. “All I told him was to keep Uncle Sam off our asses and out of West Texas. Figured that’s all he needed to know.”

Resnick had come through in spades. He was a good man when the chips were down. Sam knew he’d put him in an untenable position. His ass would be on the line with his superiors. But he’d gone out on a limb for Sam. Debt paid.

“Okay, what else?” he directed at Sean.

“We have three troopers assigned to the hospital. I also have two locals and two of my guys from the county. We’ve alerted hospital security, and they’ve called in backup so they’ve doubled their field. I’ll stay with Frank and Rusty myself.”