[31]
“No!”
Olivia blinked and coughed, heard the one-word cry of desperation through the roaring in her ears. Or was that the roar of the fire? She felt the softness beneath her, but the bouncing was making her sick. Finally, the movement stopped. The sheet was pulled back and an oxygen mask slapped over her face.
She shoved it away and winced at the pain in her palm.
The mask came back. “Leave it there a bit, will you? You’ve inhaled quite a bit of smoke.”
She didn’t recognize the voice, but decided to obey for the moment. Get her scrambled thoughts in order. Take a physical inventory. It didn’t take long to figure out everything hurt.
“Olivia?”
“She’s not dead, Wade,” she heard Haley say. “They pulled the sheet up to keep the debris from falling on her.”
No, she wasn’t dead. Had she passed out? Maybe for a split second. She’d fallen, though. She definitely remembered that. The pain had been too intense and she’d let go.
She forced her eyes open. Wade. She heard the commotion, the firefighters yelling, the water pulsing. Clarity returned. She sat up with a gasp, shoved the mask off once more. “He shot at me!”
Wade laid a hand on her arm. “Bree and Quinn are after her.”
The paramedic took her right hand in her gloved one. “Keep the mask on for now.” She nodded to the hand. “Do you mind if I take a look?”
Olivia finally acknowledged the pain and looked down. Blisters coated her palm and fingers. She grimaced. At least it wasn’t her gun hand.
While the woman doctored her hand, Olivia took another pull on the oxygen. She coughed when it hit her lungs. The paramedic didn’t blink, just slathered some ointment on her wound and started wrapping her hand in gauze.
Olivia looked at Wade and swallowed hard. “Thank you.”
He nodded.
“You put yourself in danger.”
“I couldn’t just stand around and do nothing.”
She pursed her lips. “Yes, I know.” And she did. She might be his bodyguard, but his male protective instincts wouldn’t allow him to stay in a comfort zone while people put themselves in danger for him and those he loved. Unfortunately.
It wasn’t a new twist. She’d come across this before with men, of course, but Wade put a whole new meaning to the phrase “actively involved.”
For those on the outside looking in, it might appear that Wade was acting foolishly. But she understood his type of personality and knew it was just part of his genetic makeup, his DNA. And something she’d have to take into consideration from now on. Instead of working against him, trying to fight him into submission, she’d have to include him in whatever plans they made. Or he’d include himself.
She looked behind Wade. Bree and Quinn walked toward her. She didn’t have to ask. The looks on their faces were enough. “Do you know where she went?”
Quinn shook his head. “She had a vehicle waiting.”
Bree’s lips tightened and she shook her head. “I’ve called in the location. Law enforcement has the vehicle description. They’ve already released a BOLO. Hopefully someone will spot the car soon.”
Olivia stared at the burning structure. She figured the neighbors on either side had been evacuated, the others stood on their porches and rubbernecked.
The medical examiner had arrived. Francisco Zamora looked like a cover model more than an ME, with his curly black hair and perfectly complected olive skin. He stood a fraction under six foot three and didn’t let his profession spoil his good humor.
His eyes caught hers and he walked toward her. “You all right?”
His light Hispanic accent soothed her raw nerves. Kind of like being in Wade’s presence. She frowned. “Peachy.”
“I see that. Glad I’m not going to find you on one of my tables.”
Her frown slipped into an outright scowl. “Trust me, I’m more glad than you are.” She sighed and with her good hand worked her cell phone from her pocket. She looked at it with a grunt of satisfaction. Her slam into Wade hadn’t damaged it. “That LifeProof case was worth every penny.” She handed the device to Francisco. “Text yourself the last two dozen or so pictures. I’ll have to hand them over to the authorities shortly.”
“You took pictures?”
“Yes.”
“When the house was burning?”
“Hm.”
He lifted a brow. “I don’t know whether to be impressed with your bravery and quick-thinking or appalled at your stupidity.”
“I know which one I prefer.” She lasered him with a fierce glare. “Whoever is doing this is not going to get away with it. I had time to take the pictures.” Regret flashed. “I didn’t have time to drag her body out.”
“Glad you knew the difference.”
Wade stood silent, his tight jaw indicating he was listening—and probably biting his tongue. He met her gaze. “How did the person know you were going to be here?”
“She didn’t. She must have followed me.”
“You weren’t watching your back?”
“Of course I was. I never saw anyone that set off my alarms.”
He rubbed his nose and nodded. A black van pulled into the fray. Olivia recognized the CSU vehicle. “Sarah’s here.”
Francisco looked back at the burning house. “Doubt she’s going to have much to work with.”
Olivia scowled. “Yeah.”
Francisco handed her phone back to her. She slipped it into her pocket. The paramedics started to close the doors. With her still on the stretcher inside the ambulance. “Hey, wait a minute.”
The young woman paused. “We’re ready to get you to the hospital.”
“I don’t need a hospital. I have a job to do.”
“Yes you do need a hospital,” Haley said. “I’ve got Wade covered, Katie’s on Amy. You need to get checked out. When you’re finished, text me and we’ll go from there.”
“I’ve got a burn and some smoke inhalation.” Olivia held up her bandaged hand. “Got this covered. Nothing much they can do for the other.”
Haley’s eyes narrowed. “They may need to monitor you. There’s no telling what you breathed in. We don’t need you thinking you’re fine and then collapsing.”
Olivia opened her mouth to protest, then snapped it shut when Wade climbed in beside her. He nodded to the paramedic. “Let’s go.”
Six hours of waiting was taking its toll. Wade watched from the chair that had been positioned outside Olivia’s room so Haley could keep an eye on him—and afford Olivia some privacy while the doctor checked her out. His gut burned. He felt like a child in time-out. But since he was working on his attitude and cooperating with those who had pledged to protect him at all costs, he kept his mouth shut and didn’t ask if he could enter the room. Not yet. He needed to think anyway. Being in the room with Olivia would just be a distraction.
He leaned back to stare at the ceiling. The girls were fine, according to Martha, and occupied in Amy’s room watching a video. Martha had said something about preparing a dish to take to a friend who’d had surgery. Haley was pacing like a caged tiger, checking and rechecking her phone with never a change to the scowl on her face. Since the initial report, no one seemed inclined to tell him anything more about Olivia’s condition, so he simply sat and thought.
Someone had thrown his life into turmoil all because of what? She’d fixated on him? Decided he didn’t deserve to live because he hadn’t responded positively to her advances? Had targeted people he loved because he wouldn’t concede to her twisted desires?
He mentally reviewed the women in his life and couldn’t come up with one who might be capable of instigating the incidents he’d managed to live through.
Should he run? Find a place to hide out and pray the woman gave up? He shut his eyes. “What would that do to Amy, Lord?” he murmured.
The idea of running went against everything in him. He’d always stood his ground and fought for what he believed in. But what if the cost of fighting was too high? He sighed and rubbed his temples. He simply didn’t know what to do.
He glanced at his watch, then pulled his cell phone from his pocket. He had one more person he could touch base with. He pressed the fifth number on speed dial.
“Savage Counseling Center.”
“Hi, Linda.”
“Wade, how are you doing?”
“I’m hanging in there, thanks. Any trouble canceling the appointments for the rest of the week?”
“No, everyone seemed to understand and I’ve already gotten them rescheduled for next week. You’re going to be putting in a bit of overtime, though.”
“That’s fine. I’m praying all this is over by next week. Actually tomorrow would be nice.”
“Wade—”
He frowned at her hesitation. “What is it, Linda?”
“You’re not in any real danger, are you? I mean, this person wouldn’t really kill you, would she? She just wants some attention or something, right?”
The concern and worry in her voice warmed him. Some days he felt so alone and then in the blink of an eye he was reminded he wasn’t. He did have people in his life who cared. And while he knew that, it was nice to have it reinforced. “I’m not sure, but we’re doing our best to make sure nothing happens to me or my family.”
“Oh me. Please be careful.”
She cleared her throat. “All right, I’ll send you the revised schedule and those patients who may be running low—or out—of their medications.”
“Thanks, Linda.”
“Stay safe.”
He hung up and blew out a slow sigh, his mind spinning.
He looked up to see Haley finishing a conversation with a nurse. She turned and walked over to him, much of the tension drained from her face. “They’re releasing her.”
Olivia had passed all tests, had her bandage changed on her hand, and was waiting—albeit impatiently—to be released from the hospital. The doctor had grudgingly agreed to let her go with specific instructions on symptoms to watch for that would require her to return to the hospital for more treatment of the smoke inhalation.
Fifteen minutes later, while Haley was on her phone just out of hearing range, Olivia stepped from the room. Wade’s eyes immediately went to her even as he stood. She had a red welt across her cheek. “What’s that from?”
“A bullet, I think.”
He winced and lifted a hand, then stopped as though to drop it. “That was close.”
Olivia gave him a slow smile. “Thanks.”
“For?”
“For not asking if I’m all right.”
“Except for that welt, I know you’re all right physically.”
“You’re wondering about my mental state?” The idea seemed to intrigue her.
“Maybe a little. You almost died.”
“But I didn’t.”
“Thank God.”
He lifted a brow. “You don’t believe in God?”
“I believe in him, I just don’t like him very much.”
Wade frowned. Now she had him curious. “What’s not to like?”
She looked away. “Not now.”
Haley stepped up and slid her phone in her pocket. Wade snapped his lips shut. But he’d bring the subject up again soon.
“So what’s next?” Haley asked, her gaze bouncing from him to Olivia.
“Now we lock down Wade’s house like Fort Knox,” Olivia said, “wait for labs to come back on the woman who was killed in Valerie Mathis’s house—just to confirm it was actually her—and map out a plan for the next few days.”
“What kind of plan did you have in mind?”
“One that keeps Wade alive and puts a stalker behind bars.”