Dance or Die (White Oak - Mafia Series Book 3) (8 page)

“Boys, out.” He then walked over to Dan and Steel.

Tess was terrified he planned to shoot them so she could have privacy. “Father you promised to let them go once my virginity is proven.”

He sighed and placed a feedbag over each of their heads. “There, privacy is established.”

The doctor pointed to the haystacks the boys had been sitting on. “Tess, you can lay there for the examination. You’ll need to remove your pants and underpants.” He then focused on Benito. “You should leave as well. This is something a father should not see.”

With a growl of frustration, Benito stormed out of the barn after his sons.

Tess was removing her shoes when the doctor rushed to the other side of the haystacks. “Tess, get down,” he warned.

She turned and stared at him. Given he was the doctor who had declared her mother’s death a suicide, she didn’t trust him in the least.

The explosion of a gun sounded outside, followed by a cacophony of bullets, some of which penetrated the barn walls and slammed into the dirt.

“Tess, get behind here,” the doctor yelled.

Grabbing one of the knives her brothers had left, she ran to Steel and cut the rope binding his chest. He fell against her. Gently, she eased him to the ground. She hurried to Dan and did the same for him. He managed to remain standing so she quickly cut his feet free and returned to Steel’s body covering him with hers.

The bullets continued to fly.

“Tess, get behind the haystack,” Dan ordered.

“No, I have to save Steel,” she yelled in return. Truth was, she wasn’t certain Steel was alive, but she had to believe she could still save him.

A moment later, Dan wrapped his arms around her. At first, she thought he was trying to pull her away. “No!” she yelled and clung to Steel. Only he never pulled. He just held tight.

Finally, her rattled brain understood. He was covering her with his body. She would have protested, but it made Steel even safer. While a bullet might pass through one body to enter another, two bodies would stop it. Steel was safe.

She relaxed as the battle went on for an eternity. Her money was on Sheriff Cobbs. He had personal motivation, skill, and at least sixteen men willing to die to bring her father down.

The gunshots stopped and an eerie silence settled over the barn. All she could hear was Dan’s soft breathing near her ear. She tried to get up.

“Be still. Things can go wrong when soldiers enter a building after a gunfight. They tend to shoot at everything that moves,” he whispered.

She tightened her grip on Steel and waited.

And waited.

Then the familiar voice of Sheriff Cobbs spoke from the door of the barn. “Tess, are you all right?”

“Yes. I’ve got Dan and Steel with me. Can we move now?”

He chuckled. “Yes, you can. Dr. Hanson, where are you?”

“Back here where you advised,” the old man said. “I tried to get Tess to come back here, but she wouldn’t listen.”

Cobbs helped Dan up. He stumbled to the haystack and sat down.

Tess felt a hand on her shoulder. “Mind if I check on your feller?”

She knelt beside him as the sheriff tried to roll him over on his back.

“Wait, his feet are still tied,” she said and hunted about for the knife she’d used to cut them free. The sheriff came to the rescue and cut him free with his own knife.

He opened Steel’s shirt, exposing further purple bruising and swelling. His fingers rested on the artery in his neck.

“He’s got a pulse.”

Tess released the air she’d been holding. She almost smiled, until she realized the sheriff had only said he had a pulse, not that it was strong or that Steel would make it.

Cobbs pulled out his phone. “I need a medical helicopter at Grady’s barn on Willow road. We’ve got two seriously injured men. Get here as soon as possible.”

“Sheriff, Frank is dead,” she said, thinking that was the other serious injury he’d just called in.

He nodded at Dan, who now lay on the stacks. She shifted her position so she could hold both of their hands. “Hang in there. We’re going to get through this.”

She looked at Cobbs’ furrowed brow. “Is my father dead?”

He nodded. “And your brothers. They started the gun battle. We finished it.” He gave her a faint smile. “I’m very glad you left that phone on. We wouldn’t have had a clue where you were if Benito hadn’t called the doctor and told him where to come.”

She’d totally forgotten about the phone in her pocket. “I just thought you showed up to save the day because that’s what you always do.”

The old doctor spoke. “Can I leave now?”

Cobbs studied him for a moment and nodded.

“Wait!” Tess yelped. “You’re a doctor. Can’t you help Steel and Dan?”

The old man’s eyes rounded in fear, as he shook his head and scurried from the barn.

“Damn you!” Tess yelled.

“Leave him be, Tess. He’s afraid.”

“Of what? They’re all dead.”

“The head is cut off, but we’ve got about twenty people we need to arrest. If you tell anyone he was here, the others will kill him.”

“But he’s a doctor…” she studied Steel’s battered body. “He could have helped.”

“That’s why I hesitated, but to be honest, he can’t do anything to help them. These two need a hospital where MRIs can help the doctors see what’s wrong and then surgeons can fix it.”

Tears streamed down her face.
Dear God, was she still going to lose them?

Two helicopters arrived with medics. Sheriff Cobbs handled the questions they barked while they prepared Dan and Steel.

The only time Cobbs looked to her for the answer was when they asked if either man was allergic to any drugs or currently taking medication.

“Not that I’m aware of,” she stammered.

“How long have you known them?”

“Steel—Alistair Castile—two weeks, Dan Brown one.”

The guy rolled his eyes and spoke to the medic taking down the information, “Medical and allergy history unknown.”

Soon they took Dan and Steel away and with them went all her strength. She would have crumbled to the ground if not for Sheriff Cobbs. He might be old, but he was still strong. He helped her out to his pickup and lifted her into the passenger seat. He then spoke sharply to an agent who was upset he was taking their primary witness away.

“She’ll be at the Iowa City University hospital in my custody. Just do your job here.”

He climbed into the cab and threw more gravel than necessary as he left.

“Is that where they are taking Dan and Steel?”

He nodded.

“Why not Mercy at Dubuque?”

“The top surgeons are at University.”

A lump settled in her stomach. “It’s really bad, isn’t it?”

“Not going to lie to you. Steel looked bad.”

“My father never planned to let them go.”

“Nope. Benito would never leave a tortured victim or a witness.”

“Which means the doctor would have died, too.”

“As soon as Benito had his answer, which I explained to Doc when I pulled him over before he reached the barn. His one and only chance to live was to do exactly what I told him to do. Thankfully, he did his part to perfection. Otherwise, I feared we’d have lost you. The Secret Service was only concerned about saving Steel and Dan while the Feds wanted to take Benito alive. Neither gave a damn about you.”

“Until you tried to drive off with me,” she muttered.

“Sometime today, probably this evening when you are tired beyond endurance, they’ll show up at the hospital to question you, and they aren’t going to play nice.”

“What have I done?”

“Not a damn thing, but they can’t get beyond the fact that you’re Benito’s daughter. So they’ll question you as if you are guilty of all his sins.”

She pressed her head against the window. Even now, her father still tormented her.

“There are several things they do not need to know about, and some things they do. I retract my request that you don’t tell anyone about your tortured workers. They’ll need to know that. You can even mention I asked you not to share that with Dan.”

He pulled out some folded papers from his inside vest pocket. “However, you can’t tell them that Benito made you sign these.”

She opened up the papers. It was the three documents she’d signed to prove her obedience.

“I guess my attempting to prove my obedience to him would not be perceived in a good light.”

“Not to them. However, if it matters, I knew exactly what you were doing, and in my opinion, it saved the day. Because of your apparent capitulation and your insistence that you were still untouched and valuable property to be bartered, Benito called the doctor and told him to come to Grady’s barn. Until then, we had no clue where you were.”

“Could you try and explain that to them?”

“They don’t listen to a damn word I say. So I’m advising you. Don’t tell them about these papers. In fact, you might want to burn them while I stop and get us something to eat.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“I understand. However, you need to keep your strength up. Not just to stand up to the grueling interrogation you’re going to face, but for Steel. If he lives, it’ll be because of his love for you.”

His words shocked her. “You don’t think he’s going to live.”

“Actually, I do. But when giving up to death seems the easier choice, he’ll need you at his side pulling him to the hard and painful path of life.”

Could she do it? Did Steel love her enough to choose pain over death? They’d fallen hard for each other, but it had only been two weeks. Was their love enough to defeat death?

An hour into the drive, the sheriff pulled off the highway and parked on the side of Jack’s Super Sandwiches. He nodded toward a wire trash basket. “That would be a good place to drop the burning pages. Wouldn’t want to start a brush fire.”

He placed a lighter on the dashboard and got out of the car without asking her what she wanted. Didn’t matter because all she wanted was for Steel and Dan to get well. She opened the door and almost stumbled when getting out. Her legs could barely function. She walked over to the trashcan, and then realized she’d forgotten the lighter the sheriff had provided.

She really did need to eat. Her brain was barely functioning. She hurried back to the pickup, retrieved the lighter from the dashboard, and returned to the trashcan. Setting the far edge of the papers on fire, she continued to hold them until the heat of the flames forced her to drop the tiny remnant. She watched as the remaining paper blacken and curl before disintegrating into a small black pile.

Finally, the last tentacles of her father’s poisonous reach were gone.

She’d never felt such lethargy in her life. When she attempted to climb in the pickup, it took her three tries to succeed. Whatever the sheriff bought, she’d eat. Even if it was red meat, cheese, and mayonnaise on white bread. Her stomach roiled at the thought, but she remained determined. If she was going to ask Steel to go through hell to come back to her, then the least she could do was eat unhealthy, sickening food.

The sheriff returned, checking out the trashcan. His frown confused her. Had she misunderstood his suggestion?

He climbed into the car and handed her a wrapped sandwich and a green tea. She latched upon the tea and drank half the bottle in one gulp.

“I’ll go buy you another one. While I do, will you please take care of those papers? If Danny Spadoni got hold of that marriage certificate, he’d use it to claim Benito’s family and instead of finally killing this snake, it would simply grow a stronger head.”

“I burned all three,” she assured him.

“Where?”

“In the trash like you said.”

“There’s nothing there.”

“Well, there was a tiny black pile. The rest crumbled and blew away.”

He got out of the car and inspected the trashcan. When he returned, he apologized. “Sorry, for questioning you, but this was important. It put you and all of Iowa in danger.”

She reached out and gripped his hand. “Sheriff Cobbs, you have been my staunchest supporter. I trust you, which is rare for me to do. I will do whatever you ask, including eat this sandwich, even if it’s on white bread and loaded with mayonnaise. And I will never lie to you.”

He smiled. “I believe you. However, you aren’t going to be able to prove it by eating an unhealthy meal, unless you want to forego that sandwich and have me stop and buy you fast food. That’s sliced turkey, baby spinach, and tomato on a whole wheat roll.”

Now, her stomach wanted to be fed. She unwrapped an end and bit into it. She tried to thank him at the same time she ate, but it came out a garbled mess.

He laughed. “Let me get you another green tea and then we’ll get going.”

***

Tess barely had time to finish her sandwich and second green tea before they arrived at the hospital.

He led her in a back way, straight to the emergency ward. Upon identifying himself, the nurse called someone. A moment later, a doctor arrived and led them both down the hall while he talked.

“Both men are in surgery right now. Their conditions are critical. Mr. Brown’s surgery should be completed first. We had clearance on him when he arrived. However, it took a while to determine who was authorized to approve surgical procedures on Mr. Castile.”

“Aren’t you allowed to perform life-saving surgery without permission?” Cobbs asked.

“Yes, but Secret Service requested we wait while they got clearance to avoid an international event in case he didn’t make it.”

His comment outraged Tess too much to keep quiet. “We risked his life because someone wanted to avoid an international event by
not
treating him until permission came? Don’t you think it would be a worse ‘event’ if he’d died while you waited?”

The doctor focused on her. “Yes, I do. And I plan to lodge a complaint with the agent’s supervisor, because if that is their policy, then they need to fix it.”

Tess’s anger at the man dissipated. “Did the wait worsen his chance of recovery?”

“No. He was still getting an MRI when the consent forms arrived. So in this case, their procedure did no harm. But I’m still lodging a complaint.”

Tess nodded in agreement. “So Steel is in surgery now?”

“Yes. We have our best surgeon working on him. However, if you speak to the Secret Service guy wandering our halls, call him the second best.”

Tess finally managed to smile. “Thank you.”

He opened a door and led them into a small waiting room. “You can wait here. When they come out, they’ll spend time in the ICU and then if all looks well, we’ll put them right across the hall.”

He then returned his focus to Cobbs. “Anything you need, Lee, just let me know.”

The sheriff patted his back and thanked him.

Once the doctor was gone and they both settled onto the leather sofa, Tess spoke. “Evidently, spending your life helping people pays off. You have friends everywhere.”

He grinned. “Let that be a life lesson. The time you spend helping and befriending others will pay itself back triple-fold when you need a favor. Steel didn’t get the best surgeon by chance or because he’s British royalty. He got it because I asked. But don’t mention that to Secret Service.”

***

Tess woke to voices. She sat up on the leather couch and stared at the pillow near her arm and the blanket covering her. Sheriff Cobbs had not only relinquished the couch to her, but he’d even found her a pillow and a blanket. He truly was a good man.

He was also gone. But she was sure she’d heard voices just before she woke. He probably took the discussion into the hallway. She rose to investigate but stopped. If it were the FBI agents that were determined to interrogate her like a criminal, then she’d just as soon not let her presence be known.

She returned to the couch and sat.

But if it was the doctor bearing news…

She stood up and ran to the door.

What if the news was bad?
What if she’d lost the chance to keep Steel from taking the easy path?
She sat down in the chair by the door before she fell.

Just the thought that he could be dead wiped her strength. How would she survive if he were truly dead? The guilt alone would kill her.

She remained in the chair, too terrified of the truth to step outside.

She waited…and waited. Finally, unable to wait any longer, she forced herself up and opened the door.

The sheriff and one of her grounds crew, Malcolm, were talking near the door across the hall. Upon sight of her, Malcolm nodded while the sheriff came to her and placed a hand upon her forehead. “I was hoping a good sleep would help, but honestly, you look worse than ever.”

“I’m fine, except I got it in my head you were talking to the doctor and it wasn’t good news.”

The sheriff gripped her chin and forced her face up. “You cannot think that way. You must stay positive. Negative thoughts bring negative conclusions. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I’m telling you from a lifetime of experience, it’s true.”

Malcolm stepped forward. “I brought you some clothes and stuff from your house.”

She stared at the suitcase she’d quickly packed this morning. “How did you get that?”

“The skinny ranger, Sonny, brought it to the door of the cabin. He asked you to call him the first chance you get.” He then handed her a phone. “He also asked me to give you your cell phone.”

She smiled at Malcolm. “So you didn’t actually go into my house?”

“Nope. The kid refused to let me inside.”

“He was just following my rule not to let anyone but Andy inside.”

Malcolm nodded. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to have two of my guys search the cabin.”

“For what?”

Sheriff Cobbs replied. “For your uncle. He’s gone into hiding and we’ve checked all known places he might be. However, he probably knows you’re here and might think the cabin is empty.”

She shook her head. “Sonny and Jack would throw him out in a second.” A dark thought came to her. “Unless you think he’s holding them hostage.”

“No, but if he’s hiding in your decoy cabin, they might not even be aware of his presence.”

She opened her phone and called home at once, fearing that her uncle might have become aware of their presence when Sonny answered the door for Malcolm.

The moment Jack answered the phone, she spoke. “Are you guys okay?”