Amanda's Blue Marine (17 page)

She did so and he swept her up immediately, shifting her weight to carry her easily. "Listen," he said, putting his mouth against her ear again.

She nodded, he heart thundering in her ears.

"The street outside is filled with reporters, officials, cops, firemen, everybody," he said urgently. "Put your head down on my shoulder and close your eyes. Just keep your face pressed into my neck and don't look up. If they think you're unconscious they'll leave you alone and I'll take you straight to the medics."

Mandy felt her throat tighten at the surge of happiness which filled her as he began to dodge and weave through the melee, making his way to the street with her in his arms. When an offhand compliment from an obviously distracted man in this dangerous extremity had such an effect on her, she knew she was far gone.

She obeyed him completely, keeping her eyes closed as he carried her through the burning building. She gasped twice as she heard crackling objects fall into their path. She clutched him closely when he ran down the last flight of stairs and then she knew from the rush of fresh air that they were finally out in the open.

The noise outside was thunderous. In addition to the burgeoning sound of the fire what seemed like hundreds of people screamed Kelly's name, thrusting microphones forward as a line of uniformed police held them back. Kelly ignored everything, moving steadily toward his goal with Mandy in his arms, oblivious to the surrounding chaos.

He bent his head suddenly and said into her ear, "The ambulance is fifty yards away."

Mandy didn't move, certain that he would get her there. She realized they had made it when she heard the doors of the ambulance slam open and a male voice say, "Just give her to us, officer. We'll take it from here."

Kelly handed her over to the EMT, taking care to make sure she was lifted onto the stretcher comfortably, and then said to the tech curtly, "I'm going with you. This woman is a witness to several attempted homicides. I need to take her statement once she is able to talk."

"Did you get stuck with something?" the second tech said to Kelly, indicating the slash in his jacket sleeve which was seeping blood.

Val and Ken looked at each other again. Val rubbed her skin with an alcohol wipe and inserted a needle into her arm. She winced at the stick.

The driver took a turn sharply and all the passengers in the vehicle rocked.

"That guy's a cowboy," Val observed testily. "He should be competing in the Indy 500, not driving an ambulance."

"I'm not going anywhere," he replied firmly. The ambulance doors opened and both EMTs rose to get their passengers into the hospital.

Kelly followed Mandy's stretcher inside. The EMTs gave their report to the ER personnel and then went back out to the ambulance.

"Now there's a love story," Val said to Ken, nodding back toward the hospital as he discarded wrappers and restocked the ambulance supplies.

"I don't get it," Ken replied. "Isn't she engaged to that Congressman who was on the TV in the ER lounge just now? She was described as his fiancé." He folded the blood pressure cuff and replaced it on a shelf.

"Yeah, he’s out of town," Val said sarcastically. “He’ll be back in time for the photo ops when the fire at the DA’s office is out.”

"You don't think he's for real?" Ken asked.

Val shrugged. "You saw what I saw. If anybody should be engaged to the lady it's that itchy cop we just met. Did you see them come out of that burning building? He was carrying precious cargo and she was clinging him to like he was a life raft in a raging sea. They're in LUV, honey."

Ken laughed.

"Stay tuned for further bulletins on the Congressman's crumbling romance," Val added, and Ken laughed again.

* * * * *

Mandy's dose of joy juice helped her drop off into sleep after she was settled in the ER bed, and she spent the next couple of days drifting in and out of consciousness on a tide of drugs in a private room. Tom and her parents were sitting in chairs by her bedside when she woke up fully on the evening of the second day.

Tom had apparently been summoned post haste to provide damage control in the crisis, which had to be handled effectively with the media.

Mandy was silent as they expressed their shock and concern about recent events. She was only half listening and making minimal responses when everyone looked at her at once and she realized she was expected to speak. Into the silence she said, "Where is Detective Kelly?”

"I'm going to make sure that guy is fired," Tom said tightly. "He's supposed to be guarding you and you wind up in this…conflagration?"

Mandy sat up in agitation. "If you do anything to hurt him or his career I will never speak to you again," she said to Tom.

Her parents exchanged quick, startled glances and Tom stared back at her, aghast.

"What are you taking about?" Tom demanded. "Wasn't he assigned to protect you? Where the hell was he when this nut case Cameron showed up at your office?"

"Kelly was not with me, since he has a few things to do besides babysitting me," she said evenly. "Cameron overpowered the officer who replaced Kelly when I was alone in there. Once Kelly heard I was in trouble he came to the scene and killed Cameron."

"He killed him?" Mandy's mother said, looking at her husband again.

"Yes, Mother. He thought about playing poker with him, but what with him trying to murder me and all Kelly decided it was just better to finish him off."

Tom rose also as a young nurse's aide came into the room and said cheerily, "Is there anything I can get you, ice water or juice? Your dinner should be up shortly."

"I'm not hungry," Mandy mumbled. "I'll take the ice water, though." She handed the girl the plastic carafe from her bedside table.

"Is that an engagement ring?" the girl burbled, gesturing to Mandy's hand.

"Yes," Mandy said shortly.

The girl smiled widely. "Are you engaged to that adorable detective who was here when you were admitted? Big shoulders, dark hair? He's juicy."

"I'm the fiancé," Tom said lightly. "Not quite as juicy. No uniform, no dimples. No gun." He bent and kissed Mandy on the forehead. He then walked out of the room, followed by Mandy's parents, who filed after him silently.

Maybe not so stupid, Mandy thought. The girl had sensed the relationship Mandy had been trying not to acknowledge in front of her audience.

This was too troublesome a thought to ponder and Mandy went back to sleep.

* * * * *

It was full dark when Mandy awoke again. The windows reflected a distorted image of the room glassily and through them she could see the lights from the parking lot outside the hospital. She turned her head to look toward the hall and saw that her door was ajar, the illumination from the corridor casting a glow onto the floor.

Then she realized someone was sitting next to her in the chair her mother had vacated.

Kelly was sprawled in it, asleep, his arms folded on his chest. He had a strip of plaster on his cheek where she had seen the scrape and his tanned face had a renewed high color, as if he’d been sunburned. He was wearing an "Ancient Order of Hibernians" T shirt emblazoned with "caed mille failte" above the waistband. A "Kelly's Karate" hoodie was draped behind him on the chair.

She touched his hand and his eyes opened.

"Visiting hours are over," she said.

He gazed at her for a long moment and smiled slightly. He looked very tired but also relaxed. It was a good tired, the way an exhausted runner looked crossing the finish line as he won the race.

Mandy reached for his other hand across her siderail and he caught her fingers in his. He closed his eyes for a moment and said as he opened them, “Are you really okay?”

"Aren't you supposed to be working this shift?" Mandy asked, to change the subject. "Did they give you the night off for conduct beyond the call of duty?"

“What insubordinate behavior?” Mandy paused to reconsider his arrival at the DA’s office fire and realized she had never thought about how he got there. She’d been so overjoyed to see him that the process hadn’t mattered.

He looked away from her. “I couldn’t wait for everybody above me to understand the situation and give approval to what I was doing. So I just took a squad car and did what I had to do to get there quickly.”

“And?”

“I crashed into a parked car on the way to your location, I took several clips of ammunition without authorization. I didn’t communicate with my superiors, I came alone without backup and I endangered civilians all along the way.”