The Darkest Hour (KGI #1)(99)

Her fingers twitched ever so slightly. The man uncapped the syringe and picked up her IV line, thumbing the port. Whatever was in the syringe meant her death.

The needle slid into the port.

She erupted from the bed. She slammed her cast down onto the IV line and quickly wrapped the tubing around the stiff mold. Then she yanked as hard as she could.

The catheter jerked painfully from her hand, tape coming free as she screamed at the top of her lungs. She rolled away from the man, climbing frantically over the railing.

She landed hard on the floor and glanced up to see the shock and fury in the man’s eyes. Then he turned and fled out of the door.

ETHAN quickly poured a cup of coffee and offered it to Sam and then poured another for himself. He was impatient to hear what if anything Sam had learned from Sean, but he was also in a hurry to get back down to Rachel.

“Let’s head back down the hall. You can fill me in on the way,” Ethan said.

Sam nodded. “Then you need to get some sleep, Ethan. You’re not going to be worth a damn to Rachel in your current condition. Garrett and I can take turns staying with Rachel while you catch a few winks.”

Ethan made a rude noise of disagreement and sucked down a mouthful of the hot coffee.

They stepped out of the small family room where refreshments were stored and headed down the long hallway toward Rachel’s room.

They’d only taken a few steps when a shrill scream split the air. Ethan dropped his coffee and broke into a run.

The guard posted outside Rachel’s door leapt to his feet just as a man dressed in hospital scrubs bolted from Rachel’s room and ran straight into the policeman.

They both went down and rolled. The assailant landed a punch and scrambled up just as Ethan hit him hard, sending them both to the floor.

“I got this,” Sam said harshly as he pried Ethan away. “You see to Rachel.”

Only the fear of what had happened to her kept Ethan from killing the man right there in the hallway. He backed away and ran into the room.

Her bed was empty, and he glanced wildly from side to side until he located her on the floor, huddled in a corner holding her casted arm to her chest.

Her hair was tangled, her eyes wild with a heavy glaze of fear. He wasn’t sure she had any idea where she was.

“Rachel,” he said softly.

He knelt on the floor beside her and carefully gathered her in his arms. She let out a shudder and started trembling violently.

“Baby, are you okay? Did he hurt you? I need you to tell me what happened.”

He never got an answer. The door flew open and a flood of medical personnel rushed into the room.

She went rigid in his arms, and as soon as the nurses got close, she all but crawled behind him.

He held up a hand to ward them all off and shot them his most menacing glare.

“No one touches her until you’ve been cleared,” he snarled.

Sam strode into the door, his gaze going to the floor where Ethan sat with Rachel.

“He’s in custody. Sean’s on his way. Is Rachel okay?”

“Clear the room,” Ethan ordered. “No one comes near her until we know what the hell is going on here.”

“Sir, we need to examine her. We need to reattach her IV,” one of the nurses protested.

Ethan opened his mouth, but Sam stepped between him and the nurse and put a hand up.

“One of your nurses just tried to kill Rachel. No one is going to touch her until they’ve cleared security. Our security.”

The nurse blanched and backed away.

“The IV,” Rachel said in a faint voice.

Ethan looked down and touched her cheek. “What about it, baby?”

“The syringe. It’s still sticking in the port. He tried to inject something into the line.”

Sam stalked over to the line dangling from the pole and picked up the tubing. A syringe dangled from the port, the needle inserted, the plunger still all the way back.

He and Ethan exchanged horrified glances. Whatever was in that needle had come awfully damn close to being in Rachel’s vein.

“You got a glove?” Sam demanded.

The nurse who’d confronted Ethan gestured toward a box on the wall. Sam yanked one down and then gestured for the nurses to leave. As they headed toward the door, the police officer who’d been on guard duty came in.

“Hospital security is crawling all over the hallway. I told them to stay out, but they aren’t happy. Sean’s got an ETA of five minutes.”

Sam nodded. “Keep them out until he gets here. He can deal with them.”

Sam slipped on the glove and carefully withdrew the needle from the port.

“Somehow I don’t think I want to stick myself with this,” he murmured.

Rachel shuddered against Ethan’s chest, and her fingers curled tightly into his shirt.

“I don’t want to stay here.”

“I know, baby. I’ll take you home.”

He waited for her to refuse, to tell him she wanted someone else to take her away, but she remained quiet and still against him.

He looked up at Sam, who still stood staring at the syringe.

“I’m going to take her to Mom and Dad’s. I’ll have Mom call Doc Campbell to see if he can come over to see about Rachel. I don’t want her here until we know who the hell we can trust.”