Davis, Keyonna - Faceless Enemy [Pine Valley 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (5 page)

Ignoring the questions coming from Gavin and Angel, Chase carried Kerri over to his truck. Trusting his former team members to have secured it, he opened the back door and laid her across the seat. Once he had her positioned so that there was no strain on her injured leg, he pulled out a syringe that the doctor gave him and quickly injected her. He hated going against her wishes by giving her the medicine, but she needed it. Tomorrow, once she was settled at his house, he would start giving her something milder just to take the edge off. With one last check to make sure she was comfortable and that her raw feet were cushioned, Chase turned to address his old team members.

“I will explain fully when we get to my home, but just know that she was kidnapped and held for three days before she somehow escaped on her own and ended up in the hospital.”

Gavin opened his mouth to say something, but Chase held up his hand. “Wait, it gets better. Whoever this guy is that took her wanted to use her against her father, and he is still out there. Needless to say, our CO is not happy about that and is out for blood.”

“I take it he wants Kerri tucked away safe so that this guy can’t go after her again?” Angel, the quiet one of the two, asked.

“Yeah, that’s where I come in and why I called the two of you. I’m not taking any chances with her safety, and I want you two to be my eyes and ears while she is here. I have the feeling that this guy is no amateur, and if he is somehow able to track her here, then that puts my whole family at risk.”

“Of course you know we got your back, man.” Gavin grinned as he patted Chase on the back.

Gavin was the playful of the two and liked to play pranks on people, while Angel was the silent, watchful type. Chase often wondered why the two were so close when they were complete opposites, but it somehow worked for them.

“Well let’s get out of here then,” Chase said while moving to the driver’s side of his truck. “I want Kerri out of the open as soon as possible.”

Chase waited for Angel and Gavin to pull out behind him before starting for home. They had about a thirty-minute drive ahead of them, and Chase planned to use every bit of that to detail everything he needed to do to keep his family safe. They had been through enough in the past few years, with his parents dying in a car crash that almost killed his baby sister and Cane being abducted and almost killed by her ex-boyfriend. Chase just hoped that he wasn’t bringing more danger to their doorstep.

* * * *

Justin had driven by the hospital several times over the past day and a half and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He knew Kerri would head for the nearest hospital due to blood loss. This was the only hospital in the area, so this was definitely where she would be. He knew this place would be crawling with security if Daniel MacGregor was already here. The man would stop at nothing to keep his daughter from being taken again. Justin had to get to her before her father did because he had no doubt that she would be placed under more security than the president once Daniel arrived.

Finding a parking space as close to the building and exit as possible, Justin grabbed a clipboard, a vase of roses, and a balloon bouquet and walked to the entrance. Walking over to the desk, he watched as the nurse’s eyes widened at the flowers and balloons she saw him carrying. Making a show of looking down at his clipboard and pretending to read a name, Justin smiled at the nurse.

“Hello, gorgeous. I have a delivery here for a Miss Kerri MacGregor. Can you tell me what room she is in?”

The nurse giggled and blushed at the “gorgeous” comment, and Justin mentally patted himself on the back. Flirting seemed to be the way to go to get what he wanted out of this woman.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I can only give that information out to the family. I can take the flowers and deliver them myself if you would like.”

Reaching over, Justin stroked the back of the nurse’s hand with his finger and read her name tag. “Normally, Rhonda, I wouldn't have a problem with that, but this is a special delivery, and I have to have a signature or my boss is going to kill me. You probably know all about that, don’t you?” He gave her his brightest smile, keeping the scarred side of his face turned away from her while still running his fingertips over the back of her hand.

After another giggle, Nurse Rhonda pressed a few buttons on her keyboard. “I’m sorry, sir, it looks like you just missed her. She checked out about three hours ago.”

Damn. Now what?
“Thank you for your help, honey. Maybe you can give the balloons to some other patients, but I insist you keep the roses for yourself.”

After kissing the back of the nurse’s hand, Justin quickly left the building. Hopefully by giving the roses to the nurse, she wouldn’t rat him out if someone came questioning who he was.

Either Kerri’s injuries weren’t as bad as he thought, or she had already been moved into hiding. Either way, Justin was going to have his work cut out for him to find her again. The first step was figuring out who Daniel trusted to keep his daughter safe. He needed Kerri because without her his plan would fall apart. She was the key to bringing Daniel MacGregor down. Nothing was going to stop Justin from getting his revenge.

* * * *

When Chase arrived home, he found his entire family waiting for him on the front porch with concerned looks on their faces. He knew he had some explaining to do, but his first priority was to get Kerri somewhere comfortable. He carried Kerri in the house and straight to the room that had a connecting door to his bedroom. His room used to be his parents’, and the connecting room was once a nursery but was converted into an office for his dad when all the kids got old enough for their own rooms. Chase was impressed with what he saw. In just a few hours, Cane and Ali had completely transformed the office into a bedroom every woman would love to have. The focal point was a queen-size bed in the center of the room with what looked like a hundred pillows piled on it. Chase shoved the pillows off with one arm while he cradled Kerri to his chest with the other. Once he had the bed clear, he gently laid her on it and positioned her so that she was comfortable. He tucked a pillow under her injured leg to elevate it and keep the swelling down. Brushing the hair out of her face and giving her one last look, Chase pulled the door closed and walked out of the room.

When Chase arrived in the kitchen, he found his family all sitting around the kitchen table, drinking coffee and talking. Gavin and Angel were both leaning against the counter with intense looks on their faces. Turning in the directions of their stares, he saw that they were watching Ali. His sister was sitting at the table staring back at the two men with a look of awe on her face.
Great, one more thing for me to worry about.
Chase recognized the look on Ali’s face, and if he wasn’t mistaken, it was the same look he’d had on his face when he walked into the hospital room and laid eyes on Kerri. The difference between him and his baby sister was that he was old enough to have that look on his face. Yeah, Ali would be eighteen in another few months, but she was still his baby sister, and this was a situation that he was going to have to monitor.

Chase cleared his throat and turned the focus of the room toward him. “I know you all are wondering what is going on. The woman lying in the room back there is our former commanding officer’s daughter.” Chase waved his hand between him, Gavin, and Angel.

“She was abducted a few days ago by a man whose intention was to use her against her father. We don’t know who the guy is or what his grudge against our CO is, but he disappeared after Kerri got away. Her father is out hunting for the man now. So my job is to keep Kerri safe until her kidnapper is captured.”

He pointed to his team members. “This Gavin and Angel. I called them in for extra protection. I’m not expecting any trouble here, but I’m not taking any chances. I trust them with my life and yours, so if you have any problems and I am not around, you can go to either one of them.” Gavin and Angel nodded but stayed quiet.

“You guys can go on with your lives as usual. Just keep your eyes and ears open for anything strange in town.”

Once Chase was finished with his explanation, he walked over and grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator. Opening the cap, he swallowed half the bottle in one gulp.
Damn, I needed that.
He turned back around to see Cane and Ali gone, probably to check on Keri and make sure she was comfortable. His brothers were still sitting at the table, watching him.

Duncan spoke first. “Okay, now that they’re gone, what is the real threat?”

Chase sighed. He should have known his brothers would see through his
everything is okay, don’t worry
attitude. “The only thing I can tell you is that my gut tells me that this is not over. This guy is smart. He has to be to have gotten to Kerri in the first place. He isn’t going to give up on using her against her father. That’s the reason why I called Gavin and Angel in.”

“So what should we do?” Riley asked.

“Gavin and Angel will be staying here and helping out. Riley, I need you to be on bodyguard detail again if you can. I want you with Ali until this is over.” Riley nodded. Chase loved his family. There was no whining, and no moaning or complaining. They just got things done.

“Duncan and Logan, I would prefer it if you kept Cane here. With her being pregnant, I don’t want anything unnecessary to happen to her.”

Duncan and Logan looked at each other as if they were silently communicating and both nodded. “Done. Now that we have trained a new deputy, we both can take turns staying with her. She will be upset, but we know how to handle that,” Logan said with a grin.

Chase shook his head as he watched his brothers all leave the room. “Come on,” he told his team members, “let me show you to your room.”

He led Gavin and Angel down the hall to Logan’s old room. Now that Logan, Cane, and Duncan were all married, they all shared Duncan’s room. He watched as they threw their bags on the beds and surveyed the room.

“Get some rest, and we will work out a security schedule in the morning.” The two nodded, and Chase turned to leave. “Oh,” he said, stopping, “one more thing. She is seventeen, and she is my baby sister.”

Chase didn’t give them time to respond, but he did see the huge lecherous grins on their faces as he walked out of the room. He knew they wouldn’t harm his sister or touch a hair on her head while she was underage. Smiling, Chase decided to check on Kerri one last time before he got some rest himself.
So much for a nice, relaxing vacation.

Chapter 4

A loud, obnoxious noise brought Kerri out of a deep sleep.
What the hell is that?
She cracked her eyes open and looked around the bright room. She followed the noise until she got to Chase sitting at the foot of the bed in a chair. He had his feet propped up on the bed and his head thrown back, snoring.
Damn, the man is loud.
He could give a lawnmower a run for its money.
She slapped a hand over her mouth to keep the laugh in.
Poor guy.
He didn’t look comfortable at all. Kerri wondered if he’d slept in the chair the whole night. If he had, he was probably going to be as sore as she was when he woke up. She laid there and assessed her body. She was sore from head to toe, and the bottoms of her feet were still tender. Her leg was still throbbing, but the pain was tolerable at the moment. Unfortunately, Kerri had to use the bathroom really bad. She hated waking Chase, but there was no way she was going to make it on her own. It took several tries for her to reach a sitting position in the bed. By the time she was up, she was out of breath and sweating. Her father told her she had lost a lot of blood, but she didn’t realize how much until now. The simple act of sitting up left her as weak as a kitten.

After catching her breath, Kerri looked up, only to find Chase staring at her. She cleared her throat. “Hi,” she said with a little wave. “I’m sorry I woke you, but I really have to use the restroom.”

She didn’t even have to ask Chase to help her. He just threw the blanket back and scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bathroom on the other side of the room.
I could get used to this.
The thought flew right out of Kerri’s head when Chase sat her on the counter and lifted her hospital gown. She grabbed his wrist to stop him when he began tugging on the waistline of her panties.

“What are you doing?” she squeaked.

Chase cleared his throat a couple of times but wouldn’t look her in the eyes. She could feel the tension in his arms where she gripped his wrists and knew that he was just as uncomfortable as she was.