Hard Irish (25 page)

 “Good God.  What in the hell is wrong with you?”  He shoved a swath of blond hair back from his eyes and glared at Jared.  “Have you lost your mind?”  The man dropped the briefcase and flexed his hands, clearly assessing their function. 

   Jared already had a grip on his Glock behind his back, ready to pull Rocky out of the elevator and run when he noticed the embroidered name over the left, breast pocket.
  Dr.
Brad Swanson, Chief of Neurosurgery.
  A vague memory of Jackson saying Nan had dated the man at one time flashed across Jared’s mind.  He slid the pistol back into his waistband.

“I’m reporting this to security.”  Swanson said, reaching for the alarm button on the elevator’s control panel.  Then he made a sudden halt, narrowed his eyes, and bounced his gaze between Jared and Jesse.  “Wait a minute.  You two are related to Jackson Weldon, aren’t you?”

“Maybe,” Jared said, coming to the conclusion that he’d over reacted a little and not liking just how hard his heart was pounding in his chest.  The elevator doors re-closed and they moved up the shaft.

“Does irrational violence run in the family?” Swanson asked, bristling with irritation.  “I didn’t think anything could top Jackson’s kidnapping me from my office, but assaulting me in the elevator is the height of idiocy.”  He looked at Jared.  “So you’re Jesse the security man?”  Then he looked at Jesse.  “That makes you one of the twins.  Jared or James?  Hate to say it but your company did an excellent job on building this new wing.  Shamrock Construction isn’t it?”

“What in the bloody hell is this?” Rocky gasped and Jared’s heart sank.

“Something like that, Swanson,” Jesse said grimly.   The anger in his gaze bore a hole right though Jared.  Jesse glanced at Rocky.  “I’ll explain shortly.”

The elevator doors opened.

“No
you
won’t.” She grabbed Jared’s arm and pulled him out of the elevator.  “
He
will.”

Jared’s tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.  Jesse and Mulligan followed, their movements hurrying to assess and secure a perimeter of safety for her.

“Weldons are just weird,” Swanson said.  The elevator doors closed.

Rocky shoved him up against the wall.  Jesse gave him an “I told you so” look.  Mulligan seemed amused.  Both men turned their backs, shielding him and Rocky from approach.  Jared was so disgusted with himself, there wasn’t a rock low enough to crawl under.

“You’ve got ten seconds.”  Hurt and anger clouded Rocky’s green eyes.  Lines of tension, worry, and pain creased her brow.  This had hit her hard at a vulnerable moment.

Jared opened his mouth.  Shut it then opened it again.  “I lied,” he whispered.  “Pure and simple.  I led you to believe something that wasn’t true.  I work with my brother James, not Jesse.  We own Shamrock Construction.  We were at the bar Sunday night looking for information on how McKenna Construction was consistently outbidding us.”

All the color drained from Rocky’s face.  “You deliberately lied to me?  Just like that?  You wormed your way into my life...my home...my hear—”  Her voice broke.  Tears filled her eyes.

Jared knew he was losing her.  And considering how betrayed she felt with everything else that had happened, that loss could be forever.  He grabbed her shoulders.  She was stiff and unyielding.  “No.  It wasn’t like that.  You have to believe me.  I didn’t know who you were at first.  Didn’t find out until after James and I left Sally’s.  I came back the next day to apologize.  To explain maybe, but then the planter fell...and...and I couldn’t walk away...and then things started to happen...and hell.”

“Christ, is there anyone in my life who isn’t hiding something?”  She planted her finger in the center of his chest and pushed him away from her.  “The man I thought you were would have never done what you did.”

He exhaled.  Sucker punched.  He wasn’t the man he’d been pretending to be.  He was a wastrel and a jackass and he didn’t deserve her.

“Why should I believe anything you said to me ever?” she choked then wrenched away from him, almost running down the corridor to escape him.  Mulligan was on her heels.

“Because...” Jared whispered, floundering for words.
Why should she believe him?
  He started to go after her.

“Later.”  Jesse shoved him back, his disgust evident.  “You screwed up royally. So give her some space and get lost.  We’re lucky she didn’t tell all of us to take a hike.”

Jared shook his head, unable to wrap his mind around the idea of walking away from Rocky, ever.  And especially not now.  “Someone is trying to kill—”

“Mulligan and I can handle it,” Jesse muttered as he turned away and headed down the corridor.  Rocky and Mulligan had disappeared behind double doors at the end of the hall.

With his heart and gut in knotted turmoil, Jared watched Jesse follow after Rocky.   He didn’t have to get lost.  He was already so lost he didn’t think he’d ever be able to find his way.

Rocky couldn’t see where she was going from the tears flooding her eyes.  Every part of her body felt numb except for the ball of pain centered in her chest.  There was so much deceit and intrigue whirling around her that she couldn’t see anything at all.

She thought Jared was an anchor in the midst of the storm and to find out he wasn’t who she thought he was left her free-falling again.  If he could lie to her so easily from the start, then he wasn’t much different than her ex.

Swiping her eyes, she made a beeline for the nurses’ station just ahead.  Though the hospital staff moved about in a calm, orderly manner, you could tell they were in rush mode, doing their best to process the evacuated patients.  A quick glance behind showed that only Jesse and Mulligan had followed her.  She thought she’d be relieved not to face Jared at the moment, but somehow the pain inside her sharpened.  It wasn’t rational.  But then what had been rational ever since Collin came after her in the bar?  Nothing.  Especially Jared.

Did she have “lie to me” stamped on her forehead?

A nurse in blue scrubs with a floral print lab coat looked up from her clipboard as Rocky approached the desk.  “May I help you?”  

Rocky straightened her shoulders and gathered her wits.  “Yes.  I’m Roxanne McKenna.  My father, Rory McKenna was transferred from Stonebrook.”

“You’re his daughter?”

“Yes.”

“We’ve been waiting for you.  Your father is fine.  No exposure to smoke or trouble during the evacuation.  You’ll want to see him first, of course.  Then we’ve a few admission papers for you to sign and some information on his medical history we need to get.  Your father must be well loved.  He already has several visitors.  A room full in fact.  Room 310.”

Rocky expected that only Jesse’s guard would be with her father.  She hurried down the corridor, shoving anything to do with Jared away from the forefront of her mind.  She also ignored Mulligan and Jesse who were shadowing her every step.

Before she could open the door to her father’s room, Jesse put his hand on the knob and spoke low.  “Let Mulligan check the room out first while we pretend to be having a conversation in the hall.”

She nodded and stepped back.  Mulligan went into the room.  Jesse brushed her hand with his.  “I’ll always be first in line to kick my brothers’ asses when they need it, but before you judge Jared too harshly keep two things in mind.  He may have stepped up to the plate with the wrong foot, but he did step up to the plate.  And Weldons have a tendency to do stupid things when it comes to women they really care about.  If you need references on that, I can name two.”

“You’re offering to give me stupidity references?”

“Something like that.”

Rocky shook her head.  She wasn’t drinking Jesse’s Kool-aid.  Deceit and stupidity were two different ballgames.

Mulligan came to the doorway.  “Harvard is here.  We’re good.”

She turned away from Jesse and entered her father’s room.  Mack, Maggie, and Alice were all there.  They looked up anxiously and seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief when they saw her.  They all spoke at once, rushing her way.

“I’ve been trying to call you since the Stonebrook called us!  Why haven’t you answered your cell?” Mack said.

“What’s going on, luv?” Maggie asked.

“Who are these men with Rory and with you?” Alice glared at Jesse and his guards with her hands on her hips.  Her fifties style hair and plump figure made her a cross between Betty Crocker and the Pillsbury Dough Boy.  One with red rimmed eyes.  She’d been crying recently.  A lot.

Patrick Brady’s death had likely hit Alice hard as it would have it Collin.  Rocky had sometimes wondered if the woman was secretly in love with him.  Not that Patrick would have noticed.  His wife and a pint were the loves of Uncle Pat’s life.

Rocky drew a deep breath and tried to ease the pain inside.  So much had happened so fast she didn’t know what to say.  And how much should she say?  Was it possible that one of these trusted friends was trying to kill her?

Jesse stepped up.  “We’re with Sheridan and Weldon Solutions and we’re here to provide protection for both Ms. McKenna and her father.  Recent events indicate this is necessary.”

Mack grunted.  “Good.  The planter falling.  The fire at the hotel.  I agree.  Something is really rotten in Denmark.  Where’s your rescuer?  He’s been glued to your side for days.”

 “Jared is outside,” Jesse said.

Rocky bit down in the inside of her cheek.  Her rescuer?  Her wolf in sheep’s clothing?  Well, maybe that was going too far.  From the start, Jared had been focused on two things.  Keeping her from harm and getting her into the sack.  That he’d done both while lying about who he was pissed her off.

She unstuck her tongue and followed Jesse’s lead.   No reason she needed to give the details about anything.  The bomb, her mother’s history, or her gullibility.  “How is Da doing?”  She moved over to her father’s bedside, quickly checking him out.  His heart rate and level of oxygen saturation appeared on a digital screen above his bed.  “Why is he being monitored again?  Did anything go wrong?”

Jesse’s man, Harvard, cleared his throat.  “No. Ma’am.  I was told they are monitoring all of the transferred patients for the first twenty-four hours.”

“Good.”  She clasped her father’s hand and bent closer to him.  “Hear you’ve had some excitement, Da.  Don’t worry though.  Everything will be all right.”       

Her father gripped her hand, and like before, looked at her with desperate intensity.  This time the monitor registered his racing heart.

“Da?  What is it?  What are you wanting to tell me?”

He didn’t say anything though and soon his grip went slack and his heart rate returned to normal.

Mack, Maggie, and Alice joined her at Rory’s side.

“You’re right,” Mack said.  “He’s trying to tell you something.  And only you.  We’ve been with him for a while and he’s done nothing like that.  Did you every figure out what he meant the last time?”

“No,” Rocky said.

Alice gasped.  “Rory spoke before.  Why didn’t someone tell me?  That’s great news.  When?”

“Sunday afternoon,” Rocky answered.

“Patrick will be ecstat-” Alice’s voice died and she burst into tears.  “I’m sorry.  I just can’t get over it.  Patrick can’t be dead.  He never would have taken his own life.  I just know it.  He was catholic to his core and his dearest wish was to be buried next to Cissy in the church cemetery.  Once a month we’d have dinner and he’d talk about his Cissy and I’d talk about my Harold.  You probably don’t understand devoted love these days with everyone hopping in the sack with whoever, never forgiving or working out problems, just moving on to the next.  But there are those of us who loved once and will never love again.”

Maggie put her arm around Alice’s shoulders and hugged her.

Rocky blinked, barely able to draw a breath.  She started to go comfort Alice, too, but Mack moved in to help.  Though Alice had her face buried in her hands and was too grieved to be chastising anyone, Rocky still felt the sting of her words and a wash of sadness as well.  She’d always thought a love that deep and abiding would be hers one day.  More than ever before, she believed that Uncle Pat had been killed and the reason lay in her mother’s past.

“Rocky,” Maggie said leaving Alice for Mack to comfort.  “Is there is anything we can do to help you right now?”

Rocky shook her head and squeezed her friend’s hand.  She was at a loss for words.  She didn’t know who to trust.  Even Jared had easily deceived her in some ways...a sharp ache sucker punched her heart and she scrambled for something to say.  Tears stung here eyes.  “You’ve done so much already.  All of you have.  I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Just glad we could come,” Maggie said.  “We were all at the office when Stonebrook called about the fire.  What a nightmare.”

Mack’s cell rang, but he ignored the call. 

After a few moments, Alice brushed at her tears and patted Mack’s shoulder.  “Thank you, dear.”

“It’s a hard time for us all,” Mack said.

Maggie gasped, drawing everyone’s attention.  She held up her phone.  “With everything that has been happening, I forgot, I had an appointment.  I’ll reschedule for next week.”  She stepped from the room.

Rocky felt her pockets for her phone, then realized again that she had zippo.  No truck, no license, no money, no phone.  She didn’t like how vulnerable that left her feeling. 

Jesse’s plan was to take her and Jared to her house.  After Rocky picked up a couple of needed items, she and Jared were supposed to make use of the bug planted in her truck.  While driving to Jesse’s office in Savannah, they were going to make plans to spend the night at a special place.  This is where Jesse would set a trap to catch the person trying to kill her.

She didn’t feel as if it was doing what needed to be done fast enough.  They’d have to wait until dark and that was hours away.  It was a bad as waiting for word on Chief Inspector David McNall’s arrival from Ireland.

And would Jesse’s plan still work?   Could she still pretend well enough?  She was livid with Jared for playing her like a fool.  All of the hurt from Collin’s betrayal and her parents’ secrets tangled up with Jared’s deceit and mushroomed larger and larger.  Where was he?  She really needed to give him another piece of her mind.