Suddenly a Spy (20 page)

“Yes, actually, I would.”

“You are the laziest spy I’ve ever met.”

He took the criticism with a nod and
refrained from asking how many spies she knew. She began walking
around the building, looking for an alternate way in.

“Ron, what are you doing?” he hurried to
catch up with her.

“Finding a plan B.”

“I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

“The door shouldn’t be locked this time of
day. Not for a legitimate business this size. And this makes two
business days in a row with no activity. I find that odd.”

“But not unheard of. Come on, let’s go ask
their neighbors if they’ve noticed anything off about the
place.”

“Don’t patronize me. You’re convinced this
isn’t it. If you aren’t going to trust me as a partner, then this
seems like a perfectly reasonable next step to me.”

Veronica stopped to test a side door in the
alleyway.

“They aren’t just going to leave a door
unlocked.”

“You might want to tell them that,” she
shoved the heavy door open and disappeared inside.

“Get back here. Ron,” he hissed, following
her inside when she didn’t respond.

“This place is deserted,” she looked around
what looked like an abandoned office space.

“Maybe it is. There are vacant buildings in
the city.”

“Why isn’t it for lease? And why did they
leave the furniture?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you ask the police
when they show up? You probably triggered the alarm by now.”

“Do you hear that?” Veronica ignored him,
cocking her head to the side.

“Is it sirens?”

“No. More of a scuffling sound. Come on.”

“Do you have no sense of self
preservation?”

Again, she chose not to answer. Her ears
strained to make out which direction the sound was coming from.
With the shades pulled tight, very little sun found its way into
the dim building. Veronica made her way towards the stairs,
following her ears to the second floor.

“You have no idea what is up there,” Rick
warned, reaching for her hand.

“And we never will if we don’t go check it
out,” she argued, pulling free and peeking her head around the
corner. “It looks like there’s something in the middle of the room…
hanging from the ceiling.”

She reached in her pocket to fish out her
cell phone, flipping it open and holding it forward for the
light.

“Resourceful.”

“I can’t help it you’re stingy with the
gadgets.”

“They didn’t have a cartoon flashlight to
match your binoculars?”

“Hey, I think that’s a person.”

Rick and Veronica inched closer to the object
in the middle of the room. They quickly realized it was, in fact, a
man—one who’d been hung from the ceiling by his arms with only his
tip toes touching the ground.

“It’s Vance,” Rick was the first to recognize
the bloody mass. He pulled a knife out even as he spoke, reaching
up to cut his friend down.

Chapter Twenty-One

The next hour was a blur. They’d made sure
Vance was still alive, with Veronica enlisting Jeff’s help to get
an ambulance since she’d hoped for a minimum of questions from
local authorities. Once Vance was in the safe hands of San
Francisco General, the true bickering began.

“They probably saw you poking around with
your pink binoculars and Vance tried to cover for you,” Rick winced
as he took a drink of a hot beverage that was supposed to be
coffee.

“You know what I love about you, Dick? How
quick you are to assume it was my fault. Vance’s wounds were more
than a day old. He was probably hanging from that ceiling yesterday
when I was there. Or he was in the black sedan I followed. ”

“How do you know that?”

“Did you see that redness around the cuts on
his face? His wounds are getting infected. Scabbing happens pretty
quickly, but infections take a couple of days. Don’t they teach you
people anything in spy school?”

“I never went to spy school,” his steel eyes
snapped with frustration.

“Then you should have, Dick. Maybe you’d have
known that.”

“Fine. I’m sorry for saying it’s your fault.
You’re like a damn terrier with a bone.”

“Really? You want to stand here and shred any
hope for our marriage to pieces? That sounds like the best course
of action to you?”

He took a steadying breath. She could see in
his face that there were many retorts that came to mind, and all he
thought better of. When he finally spoke his voice was calm, his
emotion betrayed only by the hint of an accent.

“How about we go find the bastards who did
this to him?”

“That sounds like a fine plan to me. Do you
have any idea how to find them?”

“Normally I’d rely on Batman for intel,” Rick
frowned.

“I’d imagine it would take a truck or two to
move that entire operation…” Veronica thought aloud.

“So we’re looking for a truck. That narrows
it down.”

“Well, Dick, I bet if we talk to the rest of
the neighborhood, someone will have seen something. Then we’ll know
what we’re looking for. You’re the one that wanted to talk to
neighbors yesterday—let’s go do it.”

Rick nodded, contemplating her words.

“Sometimes simple is the best way to go.”

“You’re right. Let’s go ask around,” he
finally spoke. “I should call his girlfriend first.”

“Okay,” Veronica nodded. “I’ll go see if
there’s an update on his condition.”

They stared at each other for a full sixty
seconds, both with something to say and neither having the will nor
the courage. With a curt nod, Veronica broke the spell between them
and went to see if she could glean some information.

Unable to find out anything beyond the fact
that Vance was still in surgery, Veronica rejoined Rick just as he
was hanging up the phone.

“Harmony will be on the next flight from St.
Louis. She should be here in about five hours.”

“Maybe I should wait here while you go ask
around,” Veronica frowned. She didn’t feel comfortable leaving him
alone while he was so defenseless.

Rick hesitated briefly. “You’re probably
right.”

“What’s going through that head of
yours?”

Rick shook his head as if to say he wasn’t
sure himself.

“Are we going to be okay?” she took a step
towards him.

“We’ll be fine,” he quickly assured her.

“No, I don’t mean like that. I mean—you and
me—our marriage. Are we going to be okay?”

“I bloody well hope so.”

“You have to start trusting me. I hate that
you don’t trust me.”

“I’m working on it,” he admitted
uncomfortably. “But you need to remember I’ve been doing this alone
for a long time.”

“I’ll work on it,” she promised.

“I’ll be back soon,” he leaned over and
brushed a kiss on her forehead. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Veronica realized she
hadn’t said that in a while. It disturbed her—their marriage was
awfully young for them to be taking each other for granted already.
For the next hour, she had plenty of time to reflect on all the
ways she was bungling things. She sat in the waiting room, feeling
like the only person on the planet and mulling over the state of
her marriage.

Part of her wanted to crawl into a cave and
lick her wounds. Another piece wanted to crush Rick beneath her
heel before he had a chance to hurt her. She wished they handed out
brochures with engagement rings—ones that outlined all the many
pitfalls of young marriages. So maybe the average newlywed didn’t
have to deal with crime bosses hunting them, but some of their
issues had to be fairly universal.

“Are you the family of Vance Davis?” Veronica
was startled to realize a man in scrubs was standing in front of
her.

“I’m his sister,” she stood without
hesitation. “How is he?”

“He was beaten pretty badly. He had a
subacute splenic hematoma and some damage to his left tibia that
required internal fixation. Three of his ribs were cracked. He also
appears to have a temporal lobe contusion—it looks like he was
kicked in the head pretty hard. Some of the wounds needed
debridement, but should begin to heal now. In all, he’s lucky you
found him when you did.”

“And all of that means…”

“He’s going to be okay, but it will take time
to fully recover from his injuries. He’ll be here for at least a
week, maybe two. I’d like to see him in rehab for that leg. About
six weeks before he can begin to resume a normal life.”

“Thank you,” Veronica felt herself breathe
for the first time since the doctor’s speech began. “When can I see
him?”

“He’s in recovery now. Someone will come for
you shortly.”

“Thank you,” Veronica repeated, nodding. She
shook his hand and sank back into her seat, staring vacantly at the
doctor’s retreating back.

She wondered how Vance had been discovered.
The man was part chameleon. It didn’t seem possible. Somewhere in
the back of her brain was the nagging fear that maybe Rick was
right; maybe she had done something to reveal his identity.

Without a phone, she couldn’t call anyone to
share the news that Vance was going to be okay. She felt very
alone. In fact, she wished she could sit down with another woman
and purge all of the emotions swirling around inside her. She
missed Courtney.

“Ma’am?”

Veronica looked up at the kind-faced nurse
who’d come to retrieve her.

“If you want to follow me, we’ve got him in a
room now. He’s still fairly disoriented, but at least you can see
with your own eyes that he’s okay.”

Veronica nodded, obediently following the
nurse.

“My name is Miranda. I’m his nurse until
eleven. Cassie is the nurse’s aide on the floor tonight,” the woman
pushed a big wooden door and motioned for Veronica to go through.
“I’ll write our numbers on the board, if you need anything at all
just give us a call. If you can’t reach us, there’s always that
button there that buzzes the nurses’ desk.”

Veronica tried to absorb everything being
rattled off, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of Vance. Tears
sprang to her eyes. He looked so broken and vulnerable in that bed.
It was jarring to see the invincible brought down.

“I know honey,” the woman patted Ronnie’s
arm. “Whoever did this to him was pure evil. We’ll get him patched
up for you.”

“Thank you,” the gratitude in Veronica’s eyes
expressed what words could not. “He’s one of the good guys.
Definitely worth patching.”

“Harmony,” Vance muttered, his eyelashes
flickering open for a brief second.

“Sorry sweetie. It’s just me—Ronnie. Harmony
will be here soon,” Veronica moved to his side, gingerly taking his
hand. There was no part of him unblemished and she was afraid any
touch would hurt.

“I’ll leave you two be,” Miranda excused
herself.

Veronica eased into the chair beside the bed
without releasing Vance’s hand. Miranda’s words reverberated
through her mind—whoever had done this to him was pure evil. Ronnie
knew if Marko hadn’t done this with his own hands, he’d played a
part.

Whatever demons drove Marko to the life he
now lived, they did not excuse the choices he made. She tentatively
reached out to stroke Vance’s temple, soothing away the unrest that
brought a groan to his lips.

“He will pay for this,” she promised, her
voice low.

Vance licked his lips as if he wanted to say
something, but the process of formulating words made his head
hurt.

“We can talk later,” she shushed him. “There
will be plenty of time to talk. Rest now, my friend.”

He sighed, succumbing to the claws of
darkness. Silence descended; he rested, and she stewed in her
anger. Little red dots danced across her vision as she sat focused
on his battered face. She was so focused, she was a little
surprised when Rick appeared in the doorway.

“You’re going to have to break that habit,
you know.”

“What?” she looked up, a tired smile on her
face.

“Focusing on something so hard a herd of
elephants could sneak up on you.”

“You’re hardly a herd of elephants. What’s
behind your back?”

“These are for you. To say I’m sorry for
being an ass,” he produced a bouquet of gerbera daisies. They were
a kaleidoscope of brilliant colors.

“You didn’t have to do that. I was being a
brat.”

“Look—I don’t want him to be your
Phantom.”

“I told you that was a stupid analogy…”

“Don’t interrupt. I’ve rehearsed this.”

She nodded, watching him curiously.

“I don’t like that some piece of you responds
to him. I don’t want there to be some guy out there that tugs at
your soul. I want you to love me body, mind and soul, because
that’s how I love you.”

Ronnie blinked twice, allowing his words to
soak in. She gently extracted her hand from Vance’s and quietly
padded over to where Rick stood rooted to his spot in the door. He
seemed so nervous, so vulnerable. It shamed Veronica.

“I’m so sorry I gave you even a moment’s
pause,” she took the flowers and set them aside so she could take
his hands in her own. “You are my best friend, the love of my life,
and the air I breathe. Don’t ever doubt it.”

“So our marriage is no longer tentative?”

“No, definitely not tentative,” she smiled,
having forgotten that there was a time she’d declared the right to
consider it such. She locked her arms around his neck, burrowing as
close to him as she could. “I love my flowers. Thank you.”

“They reminded me of you. Brilliant and
beautiful.”

“Wow. That one might have been over the top,”
she teased.

“I mean it,” he chuckled and then grew
serious again. “How’s Vance?”

“He’ll be okay. The short version is that
those bastards beat him nearly to death. He had internal bleeding.
Head injury. Broken legs, broken ribs. It’s a long list. But, the
doctor said he will be fine.”