wrath of the Sea Queen (4 page)

With that, Vin stormed off and did not look back. 
He
wanted to get home and calm down before Ben dropped
off
his wife.  He
did
not spen
d
the previous day cleaning, preparing food, and staging the house for a romantic welcome home
only
to
let Vicki spoil it by making him angry or making him
get home
too late to see
C
a
eli's reaction
t
o
the surprise
. 
He wanted to forget about Vicki's nonsense and focus on C
a
eli. 
Vin
had
missed h
er
these
p
ast two weeks and was
eager
to have her home. 
Unfortunately,
he would only have her home for two nights before she would leave again
early
Sunday morning.  Vin intended to make the most of their time together until then.
  Vicki
had
wasted an hour of that
precious
time
that
Vin could not get back
.

As he st
ormed
away from Vicki's house, Vin did not see the security camera on the corner, nor would he have cared i
f he had. 
He was already focused on
C
a
eli
and the reaction she would have when he told her about Vicki's game.  Letting his anger fade away, he smiled in amusement, knowing exactly how
C
a
eli
would respond. 
As Vin reached his car, his cell phone
started to
r
i
ng. 
He looked down at the caller ID
and chuckled
. 
It was C
a
eli.

CHAPTER 3

Dr. Erickson was making her Friday morning rounds at the hospital
, t
he last ones before leaving for vacation.  She spen
t
a few extra minutes with each of her patients, letting them know that she would be gone.  To her surprise, she was getting a similar response from each of them.  They were all happy to see her take some time for herself.  Not a single one of them begrudged her the time away.

"
Good for you.  It's about time you got away from this place.  In all the years you
ha
ve
cared for
me, I can't remember when you were out for more than a day or two
. 
Even then, it
was only because they made you stay home so you wouldn't get
every
one else sick
,
"
an elderly
patient
said.

That was the general consensus among the patients and
the
staff.  Everyone at the hospital liked Salma, and it warmed her heart to hear them
speak up
so strongly. 
This place and these people
were
her family
and had been
for
as long as she could remember
,
the majority of her career.  The well wishes
helped ease her guilt about going away for so long,
and
Salma was
beginning to
get used to the idea. 

Recently,
Ben
had given
her good reason to g
o
home in the evenings and to start turning down the extra shifts.  S
alma
was now letting the younger employees pick up
a larger share
of the workload.  They all
claimed to
need the
extra
money
.  Salma certainly didn't, and she
was
discover
ing
m
uch
better
ways
to
spend
h
e
r
time.

As Salma came back to the nurses' station to drop off the last of
the
charts, one of the nurses,
a
blond
e
lady,
handed her a manila envelope.  The front was stamped 'Personal & Confidential' in bold, red letters. 

"
This just
arrived
for you
by courier, Dr. Erickson.
"

"
Thanks, Molly.
"

"Dr. Erickson."

"Yes?  Is there something else?"

"No.  I just like
saying
it.  It suits you," Molly said with a grin.
 

Salma
laughed
agreeably
and
carried the envelope over to a padded bench
to sit
down.  Carefully
tearing
open
the
sealed flap
, Dr. Erickson pulled out several sheets of letterhead
bearing the offici
al
look
of
a
government communication.  She scanned through the pa
ges
and found three main items
,
includ
ing
another request for the identity of the anonymous blood donor whose sample was the basis for
her
newest research
,
a reminder of the consequences when the government didn't get what it wanted and, finally, a
n
invitation
to participate in a medical discussion which came
in the form of a
mandatory
briefing
. 

The entire packet irritated Salma.  It was
n
o
t the first such request she
had
received,
and
each one was
subsequently
more demanding
. 
Salma
shoved all of the pages into the envelope
and
returned
to the counter
where
she
politely asked Molly to put the envelope at the bottom of her inbox.  S
alma
would deal with it when she returned.  Bidding everyone a good morning, after having finished
a
n extended
late
shift, Salma walked out to the parking lot
as the large clock by the front door chimed nine thirty.  She got
into her car
and
head
ed
for
home.

"
Ben, look out!
"
 
C
a
eli shouted as a black van sped through the intersection in front of the hospital. 
The van smashed into a car
as it was
pulling out of the hospital parking lot and then careened over into the left lane
of oncoming traffic
, forcing Ben to swerve
his jeep up onto the curb
to avoid a head-on collision. 
Before Ben regained control and brought it to a stop, t
he passenger's side hit a fire hydrant hard enough to crack one of the seals and send a spout o
f water shooting into the air.
 

Tires squealed behind them, and they heard the sound of brakes
s
creaming
as other cars tried to avoid the scene on both sides of the road.

"
You ok
, C
a
eli
?
"
  Ben asked as he quickly recovered and back
ed
his jeep
off
the curb, sirens
blaring and emergency lights
flashing.

C
a
eli nodded that she was all right. 

"
Then hang on
tight
.  This will be your first official police chase.
"

Ben turned the jeep in the direction
of
the
fleeing
van.  Before he got moving, two other police cars sped across the intersection
before
him.  C
a
eli hollered once again.

"Ben, wait! 
That's Salma's car.
"

C
a
eli jumped out of the jeep,
immediately
getting
soaked by water
splashing down
from the
broken
hydrant.  Dodging traffic, she ran across the intersection.  Ben was
only
a few steps behind her and
was ahead of
her by the time they reached Salma's
crushed
, green car. 
The impact on the
driver's side,
mere inches
behind the front door
,
had
crumpled the metal of the door panel as if it were paper
.  Ben
, after several attempts,
yanked the driver's door open.