Chained (8 page)

Gloria was taking it all in. “That’s why you’re here now?
Because you knew him a long time ago?”

“Partly. I thought he was dead. Then thugs from San Marcos
came after us a few days ago. I escaped from them in Phoenix and hid out at the
ranch and . . .” She stopped and gulped. “And Matthew came to me. He said he
was there to protect me. I thought he was a ghost,” she murmured. “Until Frank
Decorah told me he was here.”

“Frank Decorah. He visits every few months.”

“He does? I didn’t know that.”

“Yes. He must care a lot about Matthew. He pays his bills
here.” She fixed Isabella with a penetrating look. “You expect me to believe
your
story?”

“Maybe not. But it’s true.”

“And what do you think is going to happen now?”

“I thought I could come here and wake him up. That he’d know
me when I spoke to him, touched him. The way he did at the ranch yesterday.”

“Yesterday! He was
here
yesterday. Like he always
is.”

“His mind was at the ranch.”

Gloria snorted. “That’s pretty hard to believe.”

“I know.”

“Well,
here
he only knows me,” Gloria said. “I’ve
taken care of him since he arrived. He’s special to me.”

“Yes,” Isabella breathed. “I can see that, and I know you
want to help him.”

“How?”

As she’d been talking to Gloria, she’d been trying to figure
out what had happened to Matthew. And as she spoke now, the truth of the words
grew in her mind.

“I think his spirit and his body are separated. I was hoping
that my coming here might wake him up. But now I see it’s not that simple.” She
dragged in a breath and let it out. “I think that the two parts of him can only
be fused back together at the ranch,” she answered, the truth of her words
coming to her as she spoke them.

“That’s crazy. Dragging him to a ranch outside of Sedona
will kill him.”

“What’s his life worth now?”

Gloria didn’t answer in words, but her eyes told Isabella
what she thought. Matthew was doomed to lie silently in this bed until he died.

“I don’t want to kill him. I want to cure him,” Isabella
whispered.

“You can’t take him away from here,” Gloria argued.

“I think it’s the only way to bring him back to himself. You
said he was talking about me. He said that I needed help. Now he needs help,
and I can give it to him.”

“I’m going to call the doctor.”

“Don’t. Please.”

“Tell me what you’re thinking. No lying.”

Her mouth was so dry she could barely speak. She hadn’t
planned this out, but the answers came to her. “I want to take him by ambulance
to the ranch. To the red rocks where there’s a vortex. Have you heard of them?
They’re places of power in the desert near Sedona. Places where prayers are
more effective and the vibrations of the earth . . .” She turned her hand palm
up. “Places the Native Americans knew were rich with psychic energy. I think I
can bring him back to himself if I take him there.”

Gloria scoffed. “Now I’m sure you have a couple of screws
loose.” But her eyes told Isabella that she was listening.

“It’s not just the vortex. It’s me. He responded to me.” She
kept her gaze on the woman. “At first he was barely there. I could see right
through him like a phantom, and that’s what I thought he was. But the more we
talked and touched, the more solid and real he became. I knew I was bringing
him back to himself. Then thugs came to kill me.

“He helped me escape from them. When it was over, he
disappeared, and Frank Decorah told me he was at Garrison Care. I thought if I
came here, Matt would wake up. But he didn’t respond to me here.”

She rushed on, “I’m a nurse. I work at Phoenix General
Hospital, if you want to check up on me.”

“And then what?”

“I’ll bring him to the ranch.”

“What are you saying exactly? Take him out of here without
permission?”

Isabella swallowed. “I don’t think we’re going to get
permission. We’re not his next of kin.”

“Who is?”

“He told me he had a sister. I don’t even know where to find
her. And she’d probably think I was crazy.”

“Like I did.”

“Yes.”

Gloria kept her gaze steady. “If I help you get him out of
here, we could be murdering him.”

“He won’t die. He’ll be able to live a normal life.”

“I wish I could be as sure of that as you.”

Isabella held her breath. Gloria could refuse. Worse, she
could call the police and have Isabella thrown out of here. Or maybe even
arrested.

Instead, she gave a little nod. “If you’re crazy, I guess I
am, too.”

They stared at each other, unlikely allies.

“Are you on duty tonight?” Isabella asked.

“Yes.”

“Then we’ll do it after midnight, when it’s quiet. You’ll
stay on duty and pretend that he’s still in his bed.”

Gloria looked torn. “I don’t want to stay at Garrison. I
want to go with you.”

Isabella saw the disappointment on the nurse’s face. “I
know. But Matthew and I will come back as soon as we can.”

An eternity passed before the other woman whispered, “All
right.”

“I’m not familiar with the L.A. area. What ambulance service
should I use?”

Gloria gave her the name of a company.

After that, everything went very quickly. Isabella had some
preparations to make, and then she came back to Garrison Care, using the back
door that Gloria had left unlocked.

Together they dressed Matthew in sweatpants, a loose shirt
that buttoned down the front, socks, and tennis shoes before rolling him onto a
gurney, then wheeling him through the darkened hall to the elevator and to the
ambulance entrance. The ambulance was at the service bay, and the driver waited
while they transferred Matthew to the vehicle.

She could see that he was wondering why they were taking an
unconscious patient out of the facility in the middle of the night, but the
large tip she’d given him kept him from saying anything.

“Are you sure you can manage?” Gloria asked as she looked at
Matthew lying still as death in the back of the vehicle.

“I have to.”

Gloria reached out and laid a hand on Matthew’s arm.
“Sweetie, the next time I see you, I expect you to give me a hug.”

“He will,” Isabella answered.

The ride to Sedona was as uneventful as Isabella could have
hoped for. She monitored Matthew’s vital signs every twenty minutes and was
satisfied that she wasn’t doing him any harm.

Most of the time, she talked to him, telling him what she
had done and what she was going to do.

“Gloria helped me get you out of the hospital. I’m taking
you to
El Cayado
. I know there’s a reason your spirit came there, and
when we get your body there, too, we can unite the parts of you.”

It was a strange, one-way conversation.

At first she told herself that he wasn’t going to respond
until she could wake him up. But as the hours dragged by, she began to worry.
He hadn’t known her in the hospital. And then there was the detail that she
didn’t want to think about: He’d stopped talking to her before she left the
ranch. He’d said he wanted her to go back to her life. She would—with him. If
she could convince him it was the right thing to do.

A bolt of fear shot through her. Was she really doing the
right thing, or had she completely gotten this whole scenario wrong? Would she
kill him instead of cure him?

No. She had to believe in what she was doing.

As they rode on through the night, she tried to quiet her
doubts by praying.

And at least, there were no problems on the road. They made
good time and arrived at the ranch around eight in the morning.

From there, Isabella had the driver take her as close to the
vortex as he could manage.

She had just gotten out of the vehicle when a loud, whooping
sound from above made her look up.

A helicopter was flying straight toward the ranch. Had
Gloria changed her mind and called the police?

As she pressed her fist against her mouth and watched, the
aircraft landed, kicking up red dust.

The minute it was on the ground, a man jumped out, wavering
for a moment on his feet before rushing toward her. It was Frank Decorah. His
eyes were blazing, and he had a gun in his hand, pointed at her.

“Hands in the air.”

CHAPTER NINE

Isabella stopped in her tracks.

“I said, hands in the air.”

She raised her hands. “What are you doing here?” she managed
to ask.

“Following a hunch. I thought you might try to do something
stupid. Matthew’s missing from Garrison Care. You’ve got him in that ambulance.
Am I right?”

She answered with a little nod.

“He’s still alive?”

“Of course he’s still alive.”

“Matthew is a good man. I’m not going to let you kill him.
He’s going back to Garrison Care, if it’s not too late. And you’re going to
jail for kidnapping. I hope it doesn’t turn out to be murder. I’ve brought a
doctor to ride back to L.A. with him.”

Isabella gasped. “You can’t take him back. I’m not going to
kill him. I want to heal him.”

His expression hardened. “I don’t know what you think you’re
doing, but you can’t heal him. He’s been unresponsive for five years. I get a
report on him every month.”

“He’s unresponsive because his body and his soul are
separated.”

“Oh right. You told that story to the nurse who helped you
spring him from Garrison. What happened to your theory that his ghost was out
here at the ranch with you?”

“That was before you told me he was in a coma. But I talked
to him here.” They’d done more than talk, but she was pretty sure telling the
head of Decorah Security the details would only lower his opinion of her.

“Come on. We’ve leaving.”

She stiffened her legs. “Maybe you think I didn’t talk to
Matthew, but it’s true. He told me that if I needed your help, I should remind
you of something called Powder Keg.”

Decorah sucked in a sharp breath. “How do you know about
Powder Keg?”

“I don’t. I only know Matthew said to mention it to you if I
needed help. What is it?”

 His gaze had turned inward. “I wouldn’t have believed that you
talked to him,” he murmured. “But Powder Keg is the name of the operation where
he was injured. I curse myself every day for letting my agents fall into the
militia leader’s trap. Two men were killed. Matthew might as well have been.”

 She kept her gaze fixed on Decorah. “And you feel
responsible.”

“Yes.”

“You can’t bring the other men back, but you can make a
difference for Matthew.”

“Go on.”

At least he was letting her argue her case. She swallowed
hard and continued, “Eight years ago, when Matthew was guarding me, the two of
us were in love with each other, even though neither of us was free to admit
it. I think that drew him back to the ranch. Then I came here to hide out, and
he attacked me. I mean, he was using the wind to slam me against the stable.

“When he realized it was me, he stopped, and he said my
name. He kept coming back to me over the next day and a half, responding to me.
The closer we got, the more real he seemed to me—and to himself. He remembered
things like the raid. He thought he had been killed. We both thought that until
you told me he’d been wounded.” She gave him a pleading look. “I think I can .
. . help him come back all the way.”

“Or you were so off balance that you wished he was there and
dreamed the whole thing.”

“Then how do I know about Powder Keg?”

He shook his head. “That’s the part I can’t figure out. The
name of the operation was classified.”

“And I know it because he told it to me. To use with you.
Please. Let me try to save him.”

He seemed torn, and she waited with her heart pounding,
afraid that he was going to herd her toward the helicopter. But she wasn’t
going to surrender. He’d have to drag her away. Or shoot her.

Centuries slid by as she waited for his answer. Finally, to
her vast relief, he gave her a tight nod.

“Thank you.” She might have thrown her arms around him and
hugged him tight, if she’d thought he would accept that from her.

“What do you want me to do?” Decorah asked.

“We have to take him to the vortex.”

“Which is what exactly”

“A place of power out here in the desert. Where psychic
energy is multiplied and prayer is more effective.”

He shook his head. “If you say so. Come on. Before I decide
I’ve gone insane.”

Tears of relief welled in her eyes, and she fought to hold
them back. She pointed toward the outcropping of rocks. “I think over there is
the best place for him.”

Decorah and the driver helped her get Matthew onto the
wheeled stretcher. Then she and the security man half pulled, half carried the
stretcher to the rocks.

“In there.” Isabella pointed to the sheltered place inside a
group of rocks.

Decorah did as she asked, then took a step back, moving
awkwardly.

“You hurt your leg?” she asked.

“A long time ago. Don’t worry about it,” he snapped.

 She wanted to send him away from the ranch, but she was
sure he wouldn’t leave.

He looked at Matthew, lying still and pale on the stretcher.

“How long is this going to take?” he asked.

“I’m not sure.”

“You have an hour.”

Was that long enough? She had no way of knowing, but she
suspected pleading for more time would be a waste of breath.

When Decorah had stepped out of sight around the rocks, she
breathed out a small sigh and turned to Matthew.

“He’s gone, but he didn’t give us much time.”

Panic seized her, but she fought to keep it from
overwhelming her.

Instead, she opened herself to the vortex, calling on its
power, letting herself feel the vibrations in the air around her.