Alex (In the Company of Snipers) (33 page)

“That’s real good.” Harley continued, jostling her in his arms as if to keep her awake. It wasn’t working. “‘He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.’ Come on. Say it with me.”

She huffed a sigh of resignation.
It doesn’t matter. Alex is dead. Tommy and Jackie are dead. I want to be dead, too.

Harley growled deep in his chest. She felt the rumble of that far away growl. The last thing she heard was his fervent prayer. “Jesus Christ, I need some freaking help down here!”

Twenty-Two

Kelsey

Flashing lights. Pine branches like lace against the blue morning sky. Kelsey blinked the fog away, dazed with the sounds of men’s voices. Too close. The men were too—

“Ahh,” she screamed, rolling away from Buck and Nick and—

“Kelsey.” Harley’s voice penetrated her panic. “I’m here. I’m right here.”

“Don’t let them get me.” She latched onto his hand, pulling herself up and out of Buck and Nick’s clutches. “Help me.”

“You’re okay.” Harley was saying all the right words, but the hammering in her chest pushed her to fight or flight. Buck and Nick were still too close. She could hear them and ….

Someone not Harley pressed her back to the ground as the scene materialized. Two uniformed men moved around her, one tucking a blanket around her legs, the other holding her arm firm against his side as he waited to insert an IV. She gasped, at last understanding. Harley. Paramedics. Not Buck. Not Nick. Harley.

“You’re safe.” He knelt at her side, his hand locked on hers as he smoothed one hand over her head. “I’m not leaving. I promise.”

She squeezed her eyes tight, fighting tears and gasping for air.

“These guys are going to transport you to the nearest hospital,” He explained. “You’ll be okay. Just relax.”

She nodded, her heart beating out of control. For now, her only link with cold hard reality was him, and he had said he wouldn’t leave. She felt the prick of the IV in her arm, and squeezed his hand tighter. He returned the squeeze, leaning over her.

“You’ve got quite a grip for a woman,” he teased. “Do you work out or something?”

“Kung fu,” she whispered. “David ….”

“David Tao’s teaching you kung-fu?” He seemed surprised.

She nodded, suddenly groggy. His face moved in and out of focus, and she knew what was happening. The drug in her system should have made her relax, but she fought it. Too soon. It was too soon to be restrained again, and she needed Alex. Only Alex was not here.

“No. Don’t leave me.”

She felt his hand on her cheek, gently thumbing her tears away. He was lifeline and comfort rolled into one. She tried to hang on tight. He was her only link to Alex. The drug was winning. She felt him bump his forehead into hers.

“Go to sleep. Me and Whisper will be right here when you wake up.”

“Hey, Kelsey girl.”

Harley knocked on her hospital door as he let himself in. “You in here?”

She looked up in surprise, her smile quickly replaced with uncertainty. She had been hospitalized, her lip stitched, and her numerous other wounds treated. Most of it was a groggy memory of the emergency room with fragments of Murphy and Harley’s soft voices nearby, and the odd notion that Whisper had slept under her bed all night. Of course he didn’t, but the thought soothed Kelsey. If Harley noticed her nervousness, he didn’t let on.

“I hear they’re going to cut you lose tomorrow?”

“Ah, yes. I get to leave. I hope.” Kelsey didn’t want him to stay. She was embarrassed. Couldn’t he understand? He was part of that whole horrible night, and even though he had saved her, she didn’t expect to face him again so soon. Not now. Not today. Maybe not ever.

Dressed in blue denim jeans and a light blue checked western shirt, he stood awkwardly at her bedside like a little boy with nothing better to do. He pulled a gold chain out of his jeans pocket. At the end of it swung a gold locket, about the size of a fifty-cent piece. Delicate filigreed hearts and flowers were engraved on the shiny ornament. She turned away, afraid to look him in the eye.

“So, I was wondering what I could bring you, you know,” he drawled with that lazy cowboy twang of his.

She remembered it now. That was part of the reason she had trusted him. His good ole boy approach had calmed her to her core—then. But now—not so much.

“I thought I oughta bring you flowers or something, cuz you’ve been stuck in here the last couple of days, but then I figured flowers just die and chocolate gets eaten and anyway ….”

He handed her the locket.

“You didn’t have to do this.” She took it unwillingly, still avoiding his eyes. She didn’t need any more reminders of that night. “Thanks.”

“Hey, its no big deal. Just needed to do something for my favorite girl.” He stood there like he was waiting for something.

She fingered the locket, biting her lip as she waited for him to leave.

“Are you gonna open it?” he asked shyly.

“I was just going to ….” She let her words trail away. She didn’t want to open it. She just wanted to forget. With a quiet click of the locket, her worries evaporated.

Kelsey looked at the gift he had brought, and then she looked up at him. For the first time, she noticed those hazel eyes were flecked with green and gold. It wasn’t something she remembered from their first meeting. Those hazel eyes also looked like they could be full of mischief if he would let them. Definite laugh lines crinkled at the corners, but right now all she saw was tenderness and concern. If she didn’t know better, she might think those gentle eyes were full of love, and maybe they were. He had certainly brought the perfect gift. On each side of the locket was a picture of two of Kelsey’s best friends. Whisper and Smoke.

“I thought you might like that instead of flowers,” he said, nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “You know, cuz flowers die and stuff, and I know you love those goofy dogs.”

Kelsey’s eyes brimmed with tears. Whisper’s bright eyes stared back from the locket frame. He had been so heroic that morning while Smoke had stayed steadfast at Alex’s side. They were her heroes. Harley, too. But she wasn’t so thankful for her heroes that she wasn’t also embarrassed. She cringed. The first thing Harley’d done out there was cover her nakedness and protect her modesty. Yes, he was there. He had seen her at one of the worst moments in her life, but he had also protected her. He had respected her.

“Thank you.” She bit her lip, embarrassed to her core.

“Ah, it’s nothing.” He blushed. “It’s a small thing.”

“No, I mean for everything.”

“Yeah, well, that was something, definitely something. I’m just glad I got there in time. Well, almost in time anyway.” He wiped his hand across his face, and she remembered he had cried when he had found her.

“So, how are my boys?” Kelsey changed the subject. Harley looked as nervous as she felt. Even now the lines left by Nick’s belt circled her neck and arms in bright red stripes. She couldn’t hide them from Harley anymore than she could hide her humiliation.

“Whisper and Smoke? They’re fat and lazy like me.” He chuckled as he looked around the room. The awkwardness of Kelsey’s rescue hung between them. His attempt at humor sounded hollow and trite among the serious sterile sheets and IV drip.

“I’ll wear this locket forever. Would you help me put it on?” Kelsey changed the subject yet again. There had to be some way to bridge the gap between them.

“Yes, ma’am.” Harley leaned over and latched the gold chain around her neck. “So check this out.”

He wormed his cell phone out of his tight jeans pocket and brought up a couple pictures of the dogs. One showed Whisper nose to nose with a fluffy-tailed gray squirrel. A peanut lay between them on the ground and, although the squirrel had his teeth just about on the nut, it also had both eyes locked on the predator’s flared nostrils inches away. Whisper’s lazy ear made him look comical, but both black eyes were intently focused on that furry happy-meal in front of his vacuum cleaner nose. The silly dog’s eyes looked like they were crossed.

Kelsey couldn’t contain her smile. “How’d you get him to do that?”

And that broke the ice. As Harley talked about the dogs and showed her more pictures, she relaxed and laughed at their antics. Harley was a true dog handler. It seemed he could get Whisper and Smoke to do anything and everything. In another shot, Smoke sat up straight on his haunches with a can of beer balanced on his nose. In the next picture, it was two cans, one stacked on top of the other.

“See. Those cans are really empty,” Harley explained, pointing at the shot, “but it’s a cool picture, huh?”

“You have to teach me how to do that.”

“What? Sit on your butt with a can on your nose?

“No. I think I can already do that trick.” Kelsey punched his arm good-naturedly. It felt like they had been friends for years.

He settled on the edge of her bed. “It’s sure good to hear you laugh, darlin. So how about I come by and show you how to teach these boys a couple more tricks when you’re felling better? Murphy tells me you’re a pretty fair canine handler yourself. Is that right?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I just love them. They’re my best friends. I’m glad they’re staying with you right now.”

“You know,” he drawled mischievously. “I was gonna put a couple different pictures in that locket.”

She raised her eyebrows. He was teasing; she could tell.

“But I figured pictures of me and Alex would be just plain scary.”

She smiled again. There was nothing between her and this handsome man but trust and friendship. He might have been there that morning, but Kelsey knew he would never betray her. She had more than just two best friends.

“Harley?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Can I give you a hug?”

“Why sure, darlin.”

“Thank you for saving my life,” she whispered into his ear. “If it couldn’t be Alex, I’m so glad it was you.”

He patted her back with a heartfelt sigh. “Anytime, Kelsey girl. Anytime.”

Alex

Alex could be mean.

Hospitals didn’t agree with him, and this time was no different. After surgery to remove one shattered kidney and another to repair his perforated spleen, he wanted to run from it all, but hell, he couldn’t even walk. Worse, he could barely stay awake. If that wasn’t bad enough, he had undergone rotor cuff repair on both shoulders. Brain swelling forced his doctors to induce coma therapy, then a shunt to reduce the fluid around his brain, and surgery to remove a portion of his skull. When he had finally stabilized, Murphy’s calm blue eyes stared down at him.

“Kelsey,” was the only word he could come up with, the only question still unanswered.

“She’s safe,” Murphy answered. “Harley got to her in time. Now you listen to the doctors, you hear?”

And Alex drifted away, floating between dreams of Sara and Abby, and memories of chocolate brown eyes that cried at the drop of a hat. Kelsey. He just wanted Kelsey.

The surgery on his skull seemed to do the trick. The next morning he woke to more control of his thoughts and a desire to eat. No such luck. His diet was reduced to steamed, pureed, and broth. He wanted steak and he wanted to feel good, neither of which were going to happen very soon. Frustration stoked his anger, and he had plenty of both. He barked at doctors and nurses alike—when he was conscious. He couldn’t see, his hands were useless, and he had more tubes draining fluids and infections from more parts of his body than his damn truck had hoses.

Life sucked, and not even Murphy would talk about what happened with Kelsey. Alex had asked, but all Murphy would say was she was doing better.
Better than what?
When he had tried to pin Murphy down, all he got was the run around.
Kelsey will be in as soon as they let her. You just hold on. She’ll tell you all about it, son. You just listen to your doctors and blah, blah, blah.

And that was another thing. No one was allowed into intensive care but Murphy, and that set Alex off again. He slept too much. The pain meds didn’t help. He wanted Kelsey. It was all too much.

Finally, one of the nurses told him they were moving him out of the ICU and into another room. That meant Kelsey could visit him.
About time.
He cursed, slept, and cursed some more. The last thing he remembered was the alarm on his monitor going off like a beeping siren. When he came to, it sounded like the whole hospital was in his room. The more they worked on him, the worse he felt. Being blind didn’t help.