Bad Karma (47 page)

Her full lips curved up into a smile. “Glad to hear it, because I’m so very much in love with you.”

“
We could be on our honeymoon right now,” he reminded her. “We could be walking on a beach, somewhere on the Pacific side of Mexico. Only gentle breezes. No gale force winds.”

“
We could be dancing to a romantic Spanish song.” She sighed.

Zach nuzzled her neck. “We could be making love.”

A blush tinged her cheeks. She ducked her head. “There is a possibility that when Rick comes back, we could take a break...upstairs.” She glanced up at him, melting him.

Zach chuckled as he contemplated taking a break with his future bride. “Why don’t you page Rick again?”

~*~

“
Um, Miss Sky?”

Sky turned around, embarrassed to be caught snuggling with Zach while she was supposed to be on duty. “Yes, what is it, Hank?”

“
There’s a car parked out under the loading dock shelter with its lights on. I was, uh, thinking it might be yours.”

Sky frowned. “A silver Audi?”

Hank nodded. “Yes, that’s the one.”

She looked at Zach hesitantly.

He shook his head. “Sorry, I thought I’d turned them off. I’ll be right back. Wait right here.” He flashed a grin and headed for the loading dock.

Hank gave her a long look and followed Zach back out the door.

Sky checked on Sybil, charting her vital signs and making note of the readings on the heart monitor and the pulse-ox attached to Sybil’s index finger.

When she closed the cubicle curtain, she turned to find Hank staring at her intently.

She smiled at him. “Is there something you need, Hank?”

His countenance changed before her eyes. His pleasant, somewhat diffident expression turned to pure malevolence. He narrowed his gaze and his thin lips turned up in a mocking smile. “Is there something I need? Yes, there’s something I need. One wife. One son. Can you give them back to me, Miss Sky?”

Sky’s pulses gave a kick. “You!” she breathed.

He raised his chin. “Me, Luther Franks, at your service.” He took a step toward her.

Fear gripped her insides. “Where is Zach?” she croaked out. “What have you done with him?”

He laughed, a joyous sound from deep in his chest. “Your oh-so-attentive boyfriend is outside. He got himself locked out.” Luther’s laugh ground down to a snarl.

The electric eye opened the doors and Chloe stepped into the emergency exam room, holding Lacy by the hand. “Sky, I’m really feeling funny. My back is killing me and my stomach is a little queasy.”

“
Chloe, get out of here!” Sky shouted, stepping between them and Luther Franks.

A grimace of pain contorted Chloe’s face as she held onto her stomach. Lacy started to cry.

Luther gripped Sky’s arm, skewering her with a venomous glare. He shoved her behind him and reached for Chloe.

Lacy shrieked, “Mommy!”

Luther jerked Chloe into the room and, as he did, she moaned, stiffening as her water broke, the viscous liquid hitting the floor and splashing onto Luther’s shoes.

Sky stepped forward, her hand outstretched to Chloe.

“
Don’t you move!” he growled at Sky, shoving Chloe into her arms. He stepped to the control panel by the door and opened the metal covering. He quickly scanned the system and pushed a few buttons before turning back to the women.

Lacy clung to Chloe’s legs, howling at the top of her lungs.

Sky took a shaky breath. “Look, Mister Franks, you have no business with them. Let them leave.”

“
I can’t let them walk out of here. She’s the sheriff’s wife.”

Chloe clutched Sky’s hand. “Oh, no. I can’t go anywhere. The baby is coming now.”

“
Where is Rick?” As soon as she asked it, Sky knew she didn’t want to hear the answer. She met Luther’s narrowed gaze. “The doctor’s not coming back, is he?”

Luther’s cheek twitched close to his eye. The facial tic was the only clue that he was human.

Sky held Chloe as her body stiffened again, signalling a spasm of pain.

Luther licked his lips, extracting a long knife from his pocket. “What we have here is a situation.”

~*~

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Inundation

The wind blew hard from the front of the building; the water side. It made a mournful howling sound as it raced past the concrete entrance to the ambulance bays and the loading dock at the rear.

Zach checked Sky’s vehicle and discovered that he hadn’t left the Audi’s lights on. Nor did he see any other car with its lights on. He couldn’t imagine what the janitor had been talking about.

Irritated, Zach turned back to the sliding doors. He stepped on the rubber mat in front of the doors, but they failed to open.

Puzzled, he stepped back and then onto the mat again.

With a blinding clarity the entire state of affairs crashed in on him as he realized he’d just left Sky in the hands of the stalker.

His pulses throbbed in his ears as he peered through the glass, hoping that someone would pass and activate the door for him, He resorted to banging his fists on the doors, but to no avail.

Zach blew out a breath through his gritted teeth. He punched Rafael’s number into his cell and waited. Three rings and it went to voice mail. “Rafael, there’s a problem at the hospital. The guy who’s been stalking Sky is here and he’s locked himself inside with her. And he’s got Chloe and Lacy in there too.”

~*~

Cassie had tried to talk to Javier, but she couldn’t get a signal. Although she was loathe to walk outside of the protected covered parking over the loading dock beside the ambulance entrance, her need to hear Javier’s voice was close to the point of desperation. She’d walked all over the building, trying to find a clear signal.

She heaved a loud sigh and headed back to the emergency room to tell Sky she was going to venture out into the gale.

Turning the corner of a long corridor, her foot kicked against something metallic, sending it skidding across the floor to disappear under the water fountain.

Cassie started to pass it by, but thought better of it. She bent to retrieve the object, almost standing on her head in the process. Her fingers grazed the small article, finally grasped it. Standing upright she gazed at the item in her hand. It was a cigarette lighter with the name Ted written on it in permanent marker.

She frowned. Ted was the name of one of the orderlies that Sky had been looking for. Cassie slipped the lighter into her pocket, thinking she’d return it whenever he surfaced.

She turned another corner and spied the Emergency Room just ahead on the right with the exit to the ambulance bays across the hallway a little further to the left. She paused, ready to enter the emergency exam room where Sky was tending to Sybil. She heard some kind of commotion coming from the ambulance entrance.

She crept toward the noise, surprised to see Zach outside, hammering on the doors.

“
Open the door, Cassie. It’s Luther Franks! He’s got Sky.”

A stab of fear slashed through her.
Franks is here
.

Cassie looked around and didn’t see any way to open the door. She was standing on the sensor pad and the door should have opened. She knew there was a locking mechanism that engaged automatically after ten pm. There was a button at the Emergency Room admitting desk. She searched the desk, feeling around for the button and found it with the wires hanging loose.

She returned to Zach and shook her head, holding her palms up in a helpless gesture.

Cassie ran to the exam room and tried to gain entrance, but the doors were locked tight. She kicked at the doors but they didn’t budge. She peered inside through the reinforced glass inset windows. She saw Sky with her arms around Chloe. She seemed to be supporting her. Lacy was sitting on the floor, red-faced and howling at the top of her lungs.

The man who was a janitor or maintenance worker stood nearby holding a knife. He came toward the door and moved a folding screen to cover the windows.

Cassie shrieked in anger. She hammered on the doors, feeling just as ineffectual as Zach must have felt.

Sky was trapped with the stalker. And her kick-ass sister was locked outside.

~*~

Sky’s heart hammered in her ears. Chloe slouched heavily against her.

“
Shut that kid up, will you?” Luther returned to where she was standing, gesturing with the knife.

Sky struggled to keep her voice steady. “Please, Mister Franks, don’t hurt them. It’s me you’re angry with. They had nothing to do with your wife’s death. They’re completely innocent.”

He squinted at her, a sceptical expression on his face. He swept his gaze over Chloe and then looked down at Lacy.

This is not a rational human being I’m dealing with.
Sky cleared her throat. “Your son, didn’t he ever get scared? You wouldn’t want someone to frighten him, would you?”

Luther pointed the knife blade at Sky, its tip glinting close to her face. “You do not talk about my son!”

Prickles of fear skittered over Sky’s flesh. Suppressing a shudder, she nodded as she tried to keep Chloe upright. “This woman is in labor. She needs to lie down.”

Another facial tic close to his eye. “Alright, but make the kid shut up.”

Sky led Chloe to one of the cubicles and helped her onto the examination table. She put up the side rails and returned to scoop Lacy up off the floor.

Lacy fastened her little arms around Sky’s neck, hanging on with a death grip. The young girl was hot, her damp face red and contorted, although her shrieks had become more like a high keening.

Sky looked at her captor. “If you’ll open the door for a moment I’ll hand Lacy to my sister. She can take care of her.”

Luther let out an explosive laugh. A single derisive syllable. “You’d like that wouldn’t you? I open the door and then you make a break for it. I don’t think so.”

Sky held onto Lacy, trying to soothe her. She returned to the cubicle where Chloe lay. She looked pale, her fingers wrapped around the metal side rails, white-knuckled.

“
Who is this guy?” she demanded.

Sky shivered, holding Lacy close. “He’s my stalker,” she whispered.

Her eyes widened. “Oh, my God! What does he want?”

“
Me. He wants to kill me.”

~*~

Cassie paced outside the examination room door. She gave it a shot with her foot every time she went by.

Panic clutched at her chest. She inhaled, drawing a deep breath as she tried to clear her head.

Javi. I need Javi.