Fight For Me (18 page)

“
Always.”

She seemed to relax with the answer,
allowing Finnegan and Cordova to bundle her into the bus with
Tiffany. He and Chris followed in his truck, dropping the detective
at his own car on the way off the property. Archer would have to
wait, but Dylan couldn't shake the feeling there was something
bigger, something worse coming. Archer had only shot at them a
handful of times before making tracks. It was as if he wanted them
to find the women, wanted them to go to the hospital for their
injuries.

“
Fuck!” he yelled to no
one. He grabbed his phone from the dashboard and called
Chris.

“
I'm right behind you,”
his friend answered.

“
I know. Call Cordova and
Finnegan, or dispatch. Archer knew the women would be headed to the
hospital. He's got something planned there, I can feel
it.”

He heard Chris's sharp intake of breath
before he asked, “Another bomb?”

“
It's a good bet.” Fucking
shit. If Archer blew up the hospital, it would be an act of
domestic terrorism. Part of his brain tried to understand what
could make a man flip like that, but he came up empty.

“
I'm on it. I'll redirect
to Sheridan.”

“
Good man.”

He watched the bus take
the exit to go north and swallowed the bitter taste of bile. He had
just promised he would never leave her, but he wanted to head to
Aylesford, wanted to confront the bastard who had caused so much
pain to his Cassie, but he knew that choice would hurt her more.
Instead of breaking his word, he followed, snatching his phone from
the dash yet again.

“
You find her?” Caleb
asked after a half ring.

“
We did. She and Tiffany
Morgan are hurt pretty bad, but I'm afraid to bring her to
you.”

Not a stupid man, Caleb caught what he
wasn't saying. “Should we evacuate?”

“
Probably. Call Aylesford
PD.” He blew out a slow breath before he admitted the next part.
“There are two bodyguards there I brought in to protect you. You
might recognize them if you see them. I need you to stay close to
them, and get out of harm's way.”

“
Why, Superman, I might
believe you care,” Caleb said on a chuckle.

“
Nah, it's an act, but
your sister would kill me if I let you get dead, so play along,
okay?”

“
Aye-aye, sir.” He paused
for a beat. “You said I'd know these bodyguards?”

“
Yeah, you will. They were
just at your brother's house.”

“
Ah. You keep my sister
safe, and I'll follow directions.”

They said their goodbyes and Dylan tossed
his phone back on the dash, settling in for the longer than
expected drive to the hospital. He hoped his gut was wrong, hoped
Archer didn't have something terrible planned, hoped someone would
pick the bastard up and end this nightmare, but he wasn't holding
his breath.

~*~

Brandon looked over at Jason Monroe as the
other man listened to whomever had called, a lot of yes sir's
crossing his lips. When he finally threw the phone down, Brandon
asked, “What?”

“
Chris and Black found the
women. Both are beat up, your officer Morgan was shot, but okay,
and they're headed to Sheridan General now.”

His heart was beating so quickly, the blood
rushing in his ears, he could barely ask, “Sheridan General?”

“
It seems your partner
shot at them a few times before running, and Black thinks he was
planning on the women getting patched up at Aylesford Memorial and
has something planned there. I tend to agree.”

He did too, but this was all too much. He
was supposed to be the one who played the system, but he'd been
played more than anyone else. He'd trusted Steve with his life, but
now they were worried he would launch an attack against a hospital?
“What the fuck?”

Monroe glanced at him, his pale blue eyes
cold as ice. “You don't agree?”

“
No, it's not that.” He
shook his head. “I just can't get over Steve turning.”

“
Well, get over it,”
Monroe said, his tone brittle. “If I have to have you at my back, I
want to know you'll be able to pull the trigger.”

Shit. He wanted to know if he could kill
Steve? Could he? Would he be able to separate the villain he was
today from the hero he was before? He took a deep breath. Yes. If
it came down to him or Steve, it would always be him. And if it
came down to Steve or Monroe? He took a breath and let it out
slowly before he told the unvarnished truth. “I've got your
back.”

“
Likewise,” Monroe
promised. “I might not always agree with you, but I'll cover
you.”

He could deal with that. He didn't need a
best friend, just a partner. Once they got to Aylesford Memorial
and found Archer all hell would break loose, and he needed to trust
Monroe just as the other man had to trust him. He counted the
passing trees as they drove, his mind rejecting his current
circumstances even as he knew they were real. He was partnered with
an Aylesford detective, a man less than a week before he'd viewed
as a loose cannon, on the trail of his partner whom he'd thought
was solid. God, he wished he were anywhere but where he was, ready
to not just arrest his partner, but take him out.

~*~

Dylan shoehorned the truck into a parking
spot near the ER, almost hitting a woman on a cell phone when he
threw open the door. He slid from his seat quickly, making it two
steps into the lot before he turned back, the feeling of being
watched prickling the hair on the back of his neck. He'd forgotten
he wasn't wearing a shirt, his sidearm gleaming in the sun against
his bare skin. Dammit. He rummaged around the backseat until he
found a t-shirt. It was gray and had a hole under the armpit, but
it didn't smell and he wasn't half naked, so he called it good. He
broke into a run once he was decent, ignoring the nurse calling
after him, finally coming to a stop beside Cassie's gurney. He'd
promised he would be at her side, and he wasn't about to break his
word.

“
Sir, you can't be back
here,” the heavyset nurse following him admonished.

Cassie grabbed his arm, unable to move much
the way she was strapped down. “He's my fiancé,” she declared, the
thought causing warmth to curl in his chest. He knew it was just to
allow him to stay with her, but she'd just admitted she loved him.
Now wasn't the time to ask again, but he would make her words true
before long.

The nurse looked him up and down, disdain
marring her features. “You want him here?”

Understanding dawned in Cassie's dark eyes.
“He didn't do this to me. He would never hurt me.”

The nurse studied her, appearing like she
wanted to say more, but pursing her lips instead. “Suit yourself,”
she muttered as she turned to walk away. “I have more important
things to deal with anyway.”

He'd just bet she did. The ER was
pandemonium, Cassie tucked into a corner, Officer Morgan nowhere to
be found. Why wasn't there a doctor or at least a nurse here?
“Where's Tiffany?”

She squeezed his hand in hers. “I told you
she was worse off than I was. They took her into surgery—had to get
the bullet out.”

“
Where are Finnegan and
Cordova?” he asked, his anxiety building. He had redirected the
women here to keep them from danger, but he wondered now if that
had been the right call. He was here alone, all the cops in
Aylesford waiting for something to happen there.

“
With Tiffany, I think,”
Cassie answered. She shifted her weight, eliciting a groan, and he
worked her free of the restraints. She was beaten up, her face
pale, her lips white with pain, and she had been relegated to a
corner. He knew they had to work on Tiffany and others brought to
the ER with with injuries, but he still wasn't pleased. “They need
to look at you soon or I'm gonna raise hell.”

She gave him a soft smile. “I'm sure you
will.”

Hell yes, he would. She needed to be seen,
she needed her ribs wrapped, she needed to have her head, her jaw,
and her nose examined. If he hadn't sent her here, she'd be patched
up by now, her brother taking extra care. No, scratch that. Caleb
would be working on Tiffany, his expertise in the OR. He shook his
head. He was getting overprotective, paranoid, and driving himself
crazy. His sense of being watched, of being targeted, hadn't
completely subsided, but he tried to shrug it off. Archer had run
somewhere, and he had banked on it being Aylesford. The back of his
neck prickled, and the space between his shoulder blades tensed. He
might be paranoid, but he'd lay money someone watching them.

He leaned down to drop a kiss on Cassie's
lips just as they were approached by a balding man dressed in green
scrubs. “So, Ms. Everett, what have we here?”

She turned to address the doctor. “I was
assaulted.”

The doctor took a cursory look over Cassie's
beaten body, his lips compressing into a thin line as his glance
tracked to Dylan.

He realized he was a big man, but why did
everyone keep assuming he had hurt her? “I didn't do this.”

The other man's eyes rounded. “I wouldn't
sugg—”

“
Your face said it all, so
let me break it down for you. She was beaten and kidnapped this
mornin' after her parent's house was burned down and her own blown
up, so I need you take care of her now so I can keep her
safe.”

“
I...” the doctor began,
unable to come up with anything to say besides, “Well.”

“
Dylan,” Cassidy
scolded.

“
I need him to understand
I would never hurt you, Cassie.” He swallowed the lump in his
throat. “I need him to fix you up so I can take you
home.”

“
I can't go home until...”
she started, leaving off the rest of the sentence.

The doctor finally found his voice. “Let's
get you looked at, then.” He turned then to Dylan. “You can't—”

“
I don't care what you
think I can and can't do, sir. I'm not leavin' her
side.”

“
But—”

“
Did you not hear me tell
you what she's been through just today?” he growled. “I am
not
leavin'.”

Unable to get a word in, and seemingly
unwilling to fight him any longer, the doctor began his
examination, calling a nurse to assist. Dylan stayed by Cassie's
side, his senses on high alert. He didn't know if Archer was there,
or if something else was pulling at him, but he knew it wasn't
right. He paced as the doctor worked on Cassie, his mind spinning
and his nerves jangling. After this morning he would never let her
out of his sight.

His sense of dread increased as they
admitted Cassie and settled her into a room, hating the vision of
her wrapped in gauze and hooked up to monitors and tubes. Watching
her, his failure hit him full force. If he'd kept better care of
her, she wouldn't be here, wouldn't have bruised or broken ribs and
a concussion. What had driven Steve Archer from upholder of the law
to mad man?

“
Why?” he
muttered.

“
He was mad at me,” she
answered, her voice barely more than a whisper. “He blames me for a
case I couldn't prosecute.”

He felt his eyes narrow, his brows draw
together. “What?”

“
It's Steve Archer, he's
the one who's been stalking me, blowing people up?” she asked, her
face drawn in pain.

“
Yeah, it is.”

“
When we prosecuted Rossi,
Archer had a ton of useless evidence against Dwayne Irving, and was
adamant we prosecute him as well.” She leaned against the pillows,
as if telling the story were physically draining, and he waited.
“We couldn't. I wanted to, Simmons' wanted to, but we couldn't
chance it.”

“
Double
jeopardy.”

She nodded very slightly. “Right.” She
winced as she took a deep breath. “Archer was pissed at me, but I
never thought...”

“
Somethin' set him off,”
he picked up where she left off. “Where is Irving now?”

She made a hand gesture. “Here.”

“
Sheridan?” he asked, not
liking her answer at all.

“
We were reasonably sure
they'd relocated to Sheridan after Rossi was put away. Three girls
went missing from Tyler High, then nothing.”

Why had no one turned up this information
before? “Three girls?”

“
Rossi and his lot traded
in guns, drugs, and girls.” She closed her eyes, pinched the bridge
of her nose. “You don't know how long I hated myself for not being
able to do anything.” She sighed. “We haven't had any problem in
the last two years in Ayles county.”

“
And now he's taking it
out on you and Simmons?” He needed to understand, to put the pieces
together, but he was having a hard time wrapping his head around
this. They weren't able to make charges stick two years ago, so now
the law side of it had to be punished? Why not blow up wherever
Irving and his people were, save the girls they had, anything? Why
decide Cassie had to be tortured?

“
I guess so.” She slumped
against the pillows. “I could be wrong, what if it's not
him?”

“
It's him, darlin'. I saw
him.”

“
Dammit.”

He had held himself back since they'd
arrived at the hospital, but couldn't do it any longer. He moved to
the bed, picking her up gingerly to allow him room to spoon her
against himself, making sure to place her on her good side. He
kissed her cheek, her ear, her neck. “I love you, Cassie.”