Rogue Alliance (50 page)

             
What about me? S
he wanted to say.

             
“What about him?
” he said
with a casual shrug of his shoulders, “
I’ll tell him about my condition and he’s going to have to understand. My perspective and my priorities have changed. If he can’t accept that, then that’s his problem. I can’t live for him anymore. I can’t live for anyone else anymore. I’ve got to live my own life.”

             
It made her so proud of him to hear those words. So why was she struggling?

His hand clasped over hers. She couldn’t look at him for fear he would see her inner battle.

             
“Shyla,” he paused. When she didn’t answer, he continued, “Shyla, look at me.”

             
Taking in a shaky breath she finally met his searching gaze.

             
“I’m going to need you with me. I can’t stand the idea of doing this without you.”

             
What he was asking was a monumental task; to stay with him to the bitter end, an end that was coming far too soon. It was selfish and unfair to ask it. She could see by the look on his face that he knew it and didn’t care. He had meant it when he said he needed to finally live for himself.

             
Her lip trembled and she bit down on it so hard she thought she might break skin.
             
“I have to find Carmen first,” she said,
“b
ut…you don’t have to do this alone. I’ll be there with you.”

             
Squeezing his hand, she turned and looked out the window, past the scenery rushing by. All she could see was the end. Beyond that, there was nothing.

*

             
They were at a rest stop just outside of Medford when her cell phone rang. Brennan was grabbing a couple of coffees from the stand while she walked out the stiffness in her joints. The identific
ation display on her phone read Ricardo.

             
“Hello?
” she answered.

             
“We have a little problem,” Ricardo said without hesitation.

             
“What problem would that be?”

             
“The Halloween shipment has just been bumped up to this Friday night.”

             
Shyla tipp
ed her head back in frustration.

             
“What? That’s three days from now. How am I supposed to pull this together now? What a damn mess. Victor must be anxious about the drop or why else would he make a last minute change like this?”

             
“I’m not sure what exactly is going on,” Ricardo said, “but it wasn’t Victor who made the change. It was the captain of the boat. My source thinks that something has him spooked. Knowing Victor, he won’t be happy with the sudden change of plans, but this guy he’s dealing with calls the shots on delivery. Not Victor.”

             
“Hmm, well, how reliable is your source Ricardo? I’m neck deep into a perfect storm of chaos down here. And if I have my contact on the LA department tap into his sources, its going to get ugly fast. I can’t afford for this to be wrong.”

             
“It’s reliable,”
he said.

             
“Shit. Okay. Let me get my head around this. I’ll call you back in a few hours.”

             
Just as she was hitting the end call button, another incoming call came up on the display screen. Wanting the throw the device across the parking lot, she answered it before the first ring.

             
“Hey, Shawn, what’s up? You checking up on me?”

             
Shawn didn’t respond to her gruff greeting. When he spoke, he sounded bre
athless, like he’d been running.

             
“We found her,” he said,
“w
e found Carmen.”

             
Shyla
pressed the phone to her ear, her grip tightening with hope. But his
voice didn’t sound quite right; t
here wasn’t just relief there.

             
“
What is it?
” she asked,
“
What’s wrong? Is she okay?”

             
“Uhh…she’s okay…”

             
“But what? What’s going on? I can tell something’s wrong
, Shawn,” s
he was knocking on hysteria’s door. It was bubbling up inside of her as she waited for the world to deliver yet another blow.

             
Shawn’s voice was calm and
stern.

             
“Ju
st calm down, Shyla. She is…alive
. She was found unconscious just outside of town. She had fallen down a ravine and hit her head. She has a small skull fracture and is seriously dehydrated but the doctor’s say that her vital signs are otherwise good.”

             
Relief, worry, panic, questions, and the need to see Carmen, to just set eyes upon her, flooded Shyla’s senses.

             
“Oh my god, I’m so glad they found her. I’ll be there in just a few hours, Shawn. Just tell her I’m on my way.”

             
A shaky sigh reached her ear.

             
“Shyla, I can’t tell her that. She’s in a coma.”

             
She dropped the phone.

FIFTY-FOUR

             
Looking down a
t Carmen’s round, youthful face
as she slept in much too deep of a sleep, Shyla’s heart broke yet again. With no make-up, a bandage around the top half of her skull, and slight swelling around her eyes, she looked so much younger and eerily vulnerable.

             
“I’m going downstairs for some coffee,” Carmen’s mother said from the small cot
in the corner of the room, “w
ould you like something?”

             
Shyla tore her eyes from Carmen.

             
“No, I’m fine. Thanks.”

             
Sue Dunsworth stood up but didn’t move. She waited, staring awkwardly at Shyla as if she wanted to say something further. Finally, she jammed h
er hands in her pocket.
             
“She’s gonna be just fine,
” she said,
“
you know. I…uh…well when she gets better, we’d still like it if you came over for dinner.”

             
Shyla gave a thin smile.

             
“I’d like that very much. I promise to show up. I’ll even bring desert.”

             
A smile of relief passed over Sue’s features.

             
“That sounds good. And don’t pay my husband no mind. He really does love Carmen. He’s just rough around the edges. We both are. But that’s all gonna change. I signed us up for counseling through behavioral services earlier today. Dusty’s not real thrilled with the idea, but h
e said he’d go.
It’s a start.”

             
Shyla could see how genuine Sue was in her declaration. She felt bad that she had judged her
so harshly in the past
. Though it was never okay to get physically violent with a child, Shyla also knew all the possibilities of imperfection within the dynamics of a family. It was never simple. She nodded her head and Sue excused herself.

             
Turning her attention to Carmen
,
she reached out and grabbed her hand. There was dirt under what was left of
her chewed-off finger nails.
Otherwise
, her hands were perfect, with smooth skin and
surprisingly long fingers in proportion to the rest of her. They were hands which had potential. Shyla gave them a squeeze as the tightness in her chest coincided with an overwhelming desire to cry.

             
“Hey, girl,
”
she said, softly but firmly, knowing that Carmen wouldn’t recognize her if she was an emotional wreck, “
I know you’re in there. I…uh…I wanted to say that I’m sorry I let you down that day. If it’s any consolation, I’ve been a total mess and your mom and I have already made another dinner date. I’m gonna bring something smothered in chocolate. We’ll all be in a chocolate coma by the time I’m done.”
             

             
Shyla winced as she realized her poor choice of words.

             
“Crap, I’m not very good at this. I need you to just go ahead and wake up now, okay?”

             
With Carmen’s hand still resting in her own, listless and frail, she felt abandoned. Panic rose up as she imagined Carmen like that for the rest of her life. Anxiety crept into her words.

             
“Do you hear me, Carmen? I need you to wake up. Right now. I need you to open your eyes and look at me,” she demanded.

             
There was silence, then a flutter of eyelashes, b
rief but definite. Shyla s
tood rigid by the side of the be
d, her heart pounding with hope.

             
“Yeah, that’s it,” she said,
“c
ome on, Carmen. I’m here waiting for you to give me the riot act.”

             
Fingers t
witched in Shyla’s sweaty palm.
She hit the nurse’s call button.

             
Minutes later
,
two nurses and the doctor on-call were poking and prodding at Carmen, looking over her vitals and chart. After a thorough examination, and no further signs of consciousness, they eventually gave up and left the room. Shyla knew they were do
ubtful of what she had reported, b
ut she knew
,
without a question
,
what she’d witnessed. A calm settled over her. Carmen was already fighting her way back. It was only a matter of time. Shyla settled into the rocker on the opposite side of the room and decided to wait it out.

             
Later, after she had brought both Sue and Dustin Dunsworth some take-out for dinner, she offered to sit with her for the rest of the night so they could get some sleep.
             
“Go on,” she said,
“
I know you’re tired and have to work in the morning. I don’t mind staying at all, in fact, I’d prefer it.”

             
Now
,
she was sitting in the room alone with Carmen. It was dark outside
,
which exacerbated the obnoxious glow of the fluorescent lights of the hospital. She turned off the main one overhead, leaving only the soft glow of the one behind the headboard.

             
It seemed that
,
though Dustin was not exactly ready to befriend Shyla, he had at least done away with the overt disdain for her. She wasn’t sure why, but was glad for the sake of Carmen. They all needed to put differences aside if they were going to help her heal.

             
The room was quiet. Though Carmen was unconscious, her body did not require life support. Her vital signs and reflexes were good and the doctors were all convinced that she would make a full recovery once the swelling from her head injury subsided. Shyla drifted off hanging on to that promise.

             
With no grasp on how much time had passed, she slowly came to a while later. She wasn’t even sure what had woken her. But then, as her mind cleared, she did. There was a subtle shift in the air, as if she were no longer alone. Looking around, it was dark and the hospital sounds were muffled with the long hours of night. No one else was in the room. Except Carmen. She glanced toward her. Nothing. Just the slow in and out of her breathing, her fa
cial muscles relaxed with sleep until,
there it was
- a small flutter of lashes like she’d witnessed earlier that day.

             
Shyla sat forward in anticipation, holding her breath.

             
“Come on,” she whispered urgently.

             
Carmen slowly opened her big eyes and looked at Shyla.

             
Gratitude like she’d never before experienced flooded her system and she sank into the newness of it.

             
“Th
ank god,” she said breathlessly, “welcome home, Carmen
.”