Darke Heat (15 page)

“Yes, I’d appreciate it.”

“I’ll also get permission from him to do the same. That way we won’t be stepping on any confidentiality issues,” she said with a broad smile. “Now, how about I order you up some breakfast? Doctor said you could eat whatever you want. He wants you to drink plenty of fluids as well. How do pancakes, sausages, and a nice cold glass of orange juice sound?”

“Great, thank you.”

“You’re welcome. The coffee is good this morning, too. If you like, I could have them bring you a cup of that as well.”

“I’d love some. Thanks again.”

“No problem. It’ll be about twenty minutes.”

“Okay.”

“Here’s the remote. I’ll warn you, the news has you and Agent Prescott plastered all over it. It’s a miracle you survived,” she said as she left the room.

The nurse was correct. All the stations were covering the explosion. Paige turned off the television, not wanting to think about how closely she’d come to losing Bryce.

There was a commotion out in the hallway. Two deep voices were talking. Paige smiled, knowing who they were by the sounds of their voices. Seconds later, her brothers came into the room carrying a potted plant and a balloon.

“Hey, Paige, what’ve you been doing with yourself?” asked Colt as he leaned over and kissed her cheek.

“Besides blowing up stuff that is,” said Dane. He waited for Colt to back away, and then leaned over to give her a kiss as well.

She drank in the sight of them. It had been a couple of months now since she’d seen them. Colt looked a little thinner and pale as if he was recovering, which he was. He’d been shot in the chest, and one of his lungs had collapsed, but they had gotten him out of wherever he was and doctored him up.

Dane had the most dramatic change. His eyes were harder. The sharp angles to his face more pronounced. He looked meaner and more dangerous than ever before. But he and Colt looked beautiful to her.

“I didn’t blow up anything,” she countered.

“That’s not what I hear. I hear you’ve got drugs, gangs, and dog fights going on over at your place,” said Colt.

“Good hunting if you ask me,” Dane replied, then held up his knuckles so Colt could tap them with his own in agreement.

“Guys, don’t go getting into trouble until I get out of here, so I can be available to post bail.”

“Colt, I think she thinks were troublemakers,” Dane said in mock offense.

“Why, we wouldn’t dream of causing any more trouble than you already have,” replied Colt.

“Well now, let’s see if there’s anything else left to cause trouble. Seems sis here’s already had dead bodies, blown up houses, gun fire...”

“Oh yeah, lots of gun fire. I like that, Dane,” interjected Colt.

“Kidnapping, explosions, fires, breaking and entering. Well hell! Colt, she ain’t’ left us no fun. She done did it all,” Dane said in a disappointed tone.

“You know, bro, I thought we went in the military to get to do all that stuff.”

“You’re right. We did.”

“So how come sis here’s been seeing all the action?”

“Good question. If I’d known I could do it in my own backyard, I wouldn’t have had them fly my butt out to a desert where no one speaks English.”

“Yeah, seems they should’ve let us know that. I might have to have me that talk with Agent Prescott.”

“If you two clowns are done making fun of me, maybe you could find out when I can leave and how Bryce is doing.”

“Sure will, sis. You just sit there and get comfortable and we’ll get to gettin’.” Dane smiled at her. “Giving us orders already. Glad you’re okay, sis.”

“No shooting and no blowing anything up either!” she yelled after them as they walked out discussing various methods of hunting using C-four and semi-automatics.

Paige smiled after they left.
God, it felt good to have the boys back.
Their teasing gave her time to get over the change in them. They were still big and handsome, but the scars showed, at least to her. They were home, and she was going to make sure they healed, inside and out. With that thought, she called the nurse using the magic button on the side of the bed. The nurse must have been waiting right outside the door, which Paige could totally understand. Her brothers were gorgeous, and they oozed testosterone. The only guy she thought was better looking was Bryce, and that was because she was biased.

The same nurse as before came in carrying a tray. “Here’s your breakfast. Was there something else you needed, Miss Conner?”

“Would you find out when I can get out of here?”

“Sure.” As she was leaving, she turned to look at Paige, as if wanting to ask a question.

“They’re my twin brothers, and they’re both single,” she answered before the nurse could voice the burning question. Paige was used to being the girl with the good-looking brothers. She could imagine the nurses’ station in a fluster over the handsome twins.

The nurse came back in and informed her that the doctor would be by in about an hour to discuss when she could leave.

Down the hall, Colt and Dane went into Bryce’s room. Bryce heard them as they entered. He’d been backing off on the morphine drip since he’d awakened earlier. He wanted to be clear headed. It wasn’t as if the pain meds actually got rid of the pain anyway. It just sort of took the edge off. Seeing Colt and Dane coming into his room was like meeting up with family. In fact, it felt pretty close to a family reunion.

“Damn, Big Hoss, you look like hell. Hope the other guy is six feet under and pushing up daisies,” Dane said sarcastically. Then he grabbed Bryce’s hand in a firm grip where their forearms locked together. Yep, it was a Darke County family reunion, and the only way he could be happier was if Paige was in the room with them.

“You know, Big Hoss, we were thinking we’ve been left out of all the action,” Colt said as he too reached over to give the fist to forearm grip.

“I gotta say it, ‘What we have here is a failure to communicate,’” said Dane in his ‘Cool-hand Luke’ movie impersonation.

“Yeah, Hoss, we need to have some serious communications. We sure enough appreciate you protecting Paige, but what the hell is going on? You should’ve been on the horn sooner, or better yet, made her call one of us.”

“Damn, it’s good to see you two. Have you ever gotten Paige to do anything you told her to? If so, please fill me in. She goes and gets her back up and you just wonder when she’s gonna put powder to lead and give you what for,” Bryce said in his defense.

“Hmm, there is that, bro,” Dane said, rubbing his chin.

“Yeah, that woman is a force to be reckoned with,” Bryce said chuckling. The twins looked at each other in silent communication. They all played the good ol’ boy routine. Their sharp intelligence was in their eyes. All three men were warriors to the bone, having perfected their skills as boys in the swamps and later, in their chosen professions.

“Paige told me you were incarcerated in Fort Leavenworth, Dane, but when I looked up info concerning the case, there was nothing. I know there was something else you were doing. I know for a fact that you didn’t actually get court marshaled.”

Dane gave a quirky grin. “Well now, nothing is quite what it seems. I was in to collect some information, and to make it look good, they dummied up some charges which I fully enjoyed doing. Officers should never use their position to molest those under them. So I gave the guy a punch to get me sent to Leavenworth. While I was there, I got some useful info for our country, and as an added bonus, discovered a few crooked prison guards. So the bust had a double payoff.”

“I knew you’d have to have been doing some cloak and dagger shit,” Bryce said smiling. “And what the hell happened to you, Colt? When Paige told me you were in the VA for a gunshot wound to the chest, I just couldn’t believe you let someone get the drop on you.”

“Yeah, well, watch the women you keep company with,” was all Colt said with a hard look in his eye.

“Ouch, man, that’s just wrong in every color. Did you have your pants on?” Dane asked without a trace of sympathy.

It was easy to tell some woman had betrayed Dane, but it was better to make light of it, since the woman wouldn’t be performing that again, if Bryce had to guess.

“Sorta,” he answered. But the smile had an edge to it, making the subject closed for discussion.

“Let’s talk current events. Bryce, what’s going on?” Dane asked.

“The Fire Marshall from Auglaize should have handed the report to Sheriff Markham and Deputy Blake, per my request.” Bryce’s tone said a lot about what he thought of the local police department.

“So we got a dirty cop?” Colt surmised without having to be told.

“That’s what it looks like.”

“How much do you trust Deputy Blake? Sheriff Markham we’ve known since rocks were soft, but anyone else is questionable,” Dane added.

“Right now, more than the others. I figure they can’t all be on the make, but they are so closely related, it’s incestuous in there. Blake’s a transplant. He seems a pretty decent kind of cop. Definitely by the book, so you two can’t go getting all outlaw. Plus, Jack Markham is Sheriff and he will put your butts in a cell if you mess up his county.”

“He won’t even know we’re here. I’m going to let a couple of Feds know what’s going on, and see if we can get some trustworthy backup,” Dane offered.

“We also need to let the Feds know about the dog fighting. They just did a multi-state bust not too long ago, so they’ll be all over this,” Colt said.

“I think we’ll wait on the Feds, unless you know someone with the FBI that can investigate without scaring off the perps,” Bryce added.

“Now, Bryce, don’t go casting aspersions on my place of employment,” chided Dane.

“What? When did you get out of the service?” Bryce asked.

“I was recruited and sent to Quantico a while back. They had some issues with a high-ranking military official, so they kept me in as an undercover agent. So I’m just smoke and mirrors, but Colt here is the real deal…he’s cloak and dagger.”

“What branch you doing, Colt?”

“National Security Agency, but that is not common knowledge. We won’t be flashing any badges, unless counterrevolutionary. We’re here to protect Paige, not muddy the waters with jurisdiction issues.”

“Thanks, Jack will appreciate that.”

“However, seeing as how you’re all laid up and all, we figure we’ll settle into that nice house our sis set up for us and maybe do a little hunting and fishing.”

“Oh yeah, we’ll be needing to get us some bait and then site in our rifles,” Dane replied, referring to the rifle’s scope.

Bryce knew they weren’t talking about big bass or deer. They were talking about the drug dealers. “Keep me apprised of your success. I’ll be in here for another day at least, but I want to know what’s biting and if you bag anything.”

“Will do, Big Hoss. You take care and get well, then you can come on out and join us. Just like ol’ times.” They all chuckled.

Paige heard Colt and Dane talking as they sauntered back to her room. It was as if they had all the time in the world. A bevy of nurses chattered as they walked by. One of them, probably Dane, must have given them a wink or a wave just before they entered, because the nurses were now chuckling and giggling.

“Hey, Paige, we checked on Bryce and he’s on the mend. Might be another day or two before they let him out though. Dane and I are going to bed down at your place. You want to give us the key, or should we just break in?” Colt asked in all seriousness.

“Sorry, guys. All my stuff went up in smoke. Bill Avery’s got a key. Give him a call. He may have quit the job with all the trouble at my place and I wouldn’t blame him.”

“Cheer up, sis. Colt and me can fix whatever needs fixing. You just take care of yourself, and let us know when the doc says you can get out of here. We’ll come and get you.”

They kissed her and left before she could come up with any other arguments.

“Hey wait. Be careful!” she yelled at their retreating backs.

She wanted to see Bryce, and make sure for herself that he was okay. Minutes later the doctor came in.

“Hello, Miss Conner. I’m Dr. Bradley,” he said while reading over her chart. “You’ve been a very lucky lady. Other than a mild concussion, there seems to be no other complications. We’d like to keep you one more night for observation. You can go home tomorrow, if there is someone who can check in on you.”

“Thanks, Doctor, and yes, my brothers are in town and they will be staying with me.”

“Good. I’ve a prescription for pain medication, but if you can go without it, that would be best. I do want you to drink lots of water and get plenty of rest. I’ll be back to check you out tomorrow morning.”

“Thanks again, Doctor.”

He smiled and left the room. The headache was bearable, but she really should have asked if she could get up. Well, too bad, because she was. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and made for the bathroom. After taking care of business, she foraged in the small closet for something to use as a bathrobe. Finding nothing, she slipped another hospital gown on backwards and tied it. Now she was completely covered with one gown on the front and one on the back. She stopped to take a deep breath and left the room.