Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love (57 page)

"How?"

"For some reason
his
records
with
the FBI are blocked. I'm having Sara work
her
miracles so let's hope
she
can find something. However, I do have some good news."

"Good new I can use."

"Colby and I went to the lighthouse and reenacted the shooting and we found a few prints. We are running them as we speak and hopefully
that
will give us a more information on him."

"You're doing a good job and keep me informed and get me a picture as soon as you have one."

"I brought one
with
me and I will give a copy to all the men and the hospital staff. Mike, when you look at t
his
picture and the picture at the airport, they don't look anything alike."

Mike looked at the picture and Raymond
was
right, they don't even look like the same person. He wished
Lana
could look at it, he
was
sure
she
could pick out the similarities. When he looked at
his
picture he felt
so much
anger
.
T
his
man shot
Lana
. He stared at the picture a few seconds longer then sat it on the table. "Thanks and make sure Joe gets one. Right now I'm so worried about
Lana
I can't think straight. I'm going to take a nap while
Lana
naps. Maybe then I can think straight."

Raymond understood how Mike felt. When
his
wife had
her
appendix out a couple of years ago, he couldn't think about anything but
her
because
her
temperature got so high. Raymond walked over to
Lana
and took
her
hand. "Mike
she
is a special lady to knock Joe out of the way.
She
acted quicker than some of our agents
would
."

"Yea,
she
acted selflessly
that
's for sure." Mike knew
she
would
never regret what
she
did. "
She
woke up a few hours ago. It
was
only for a few minutes and
she
knew me, but
she
didn't know why
she
is here. The blessing in all t
his
is
she
doesn't remember
being shot.
"

"
That
's great and I hope
she
doesn't remember. And Mike, I have r
u
n
an intensive background check on Lana's family to find out who
would
hire
a
kill
er
. I just wanted you to know."

"I agree and I hate t
his
for
her
sake.
She
just had a cousin
die a couple of weeks ago,
so you may want to have Sara start there."

"Mike,
there is
one more thing."

Mike didn't want to hear anymore. "What?"

"We think the shooter know
s how the marshals work. H
e set the tripod facing
only
the porch. He knew if
Lana
walked outside we
would
want
her
to stay on the porch, and he
sat there and waited on
her
.
"

"How many people know about t
his
?"

"You, me, and Colby
, and that's all
."

"Be sure to tell Joe, and we will get together
with
the four of us in the next few hours to discuss t
his
and nobody is to know about our meeting."

"I'll keep you informed,
"
said Raymond
.

Chapter 37

Day11

October 25 7:22 a.m.

When
she
woke up it
the sky looked
gloomy
and
overcast
and
she
noticed
she
had moved to a different
room, and t
his
room had color.
Oh my God, I'm dying
,
she
thought. No one
was
around and
she
thought
I'm going to die alone, unlike James
. There were flowers everywhere, at least twenty flower arrangements.

She
looked around
her
body and
she
noticed the tubes in
her
side were gone, and there
was
a big bandage there. There were black and blue marks all the way up as far as
she
could see. What could have made marks like
that
?
Was
she
in a car wreck?
She
was
too scared to look under the bandage.

The nurse's button
was
next to
her
hand and
she
pushed it.
With
in a few minutes a nurse
entered the r
oom smiling. "Hi there
Ms. Andrews, you look my much better, do you feel better?
"

She
could barely talk. "Hi,"
she
forced out those words
.

"Let me get you some water to wet you w
his
tle."
She
went to the bathroom for some water, and then poured some in the glass. Realizing
she
didn't have a straw
she
went to the nurses' station to get one.

Lana
would
n't wait.
She
drank three glasses of water before
she
stopped. It tasted so good, the nurse poured
her
some more.
"The medicines you're taking make
you thirsty. You've had a lot of visitors and as you can see the
many flowers. All the nurses were
wondering who these good looking guys are, the ones carrying guns."

"I don't know,"
she
mustered an answer barely audible.

"Every time they come, they bring you flowers. You couldn't have flowers in intensive care, but since you've been out they've come by at least twice a day
with
flowers. You are a lucky girl to be loved so much."

Lana
had no clue what
she
was
talking about
, nor did she care
.

"Are you some kind of cop? There have been many cops come by to check on you and there's one outside keeping an eye on you. Do you want me to get him?"

She
nodded yes.

Joe walked in
and sat next to
her
, and g
ently squeezed
her
hand. "How are you feeling?"

All
she
could do
was
shrug
her
shoulders.

"I text Mike to let him know you're awake, he's on
his
way. He's getting a coffee in the cafeteria. You know you are one tough lady."

A few words
she
could w
his
per. "You just noticed?"
She
smiled,
she
sure loved Joe.

He rolled
his
head back in laughter and said. "I've got to go back outside, but Mike will be here in a few minutes." He reached down and kissed
her
on the forehead and walked out to sit in the chair.

The pain
got bad
so
she
buzzed the nurse and
she
came
with
her
bag of tricks.

Mike got back just after
she
went back to sleep, and he
was
disappointed he missed
her
.
She
looked so tiny in the bed. He
could
spend hours just watching
her
. If
she
moved only an inch he jump
ed
up and check
ed
on
her
. He didn't want
her
to be in any pain. If
she
needed moving he
moved
her
. Since he
was
much stronger than the nurses, he could move
her
gently. He couldn't stand for
her
to be cold, so he had
her
favorite patch work quilt brought from home.

He saw
her
open one eye and he walked over and cupped
her
head
with
his
hands and said. "Hi baby, I have missed you and I'm glad your back. Do you need anything?" There
was
no doubt he
would
have got
her
the moon. He kissed the corner of
her
mouth. He thought
her
face felt warm.
Maybe the blanket
was
too much. He pulled it off
her
. A quiver of panic enveloped him.

"Just some water,"
she
managed a w
his
per. He noticed
her
eyes didn't look well. He started to worry about
her
.

"You got it," and he left and brought
her
some water, then he went to the nurse's station to get
her
a straw and ice chips.

When he put the straw to
her
lips
she
drank several cups of water,
she
was
so thirsty.
That
made
her
feel a little better, but it did hurt a little when it went down
her
windpipe.
She
told Mike. "I thought I died."

He
was
n't expecting
that
statement at all. "Why
would
you think
that
?

"All the flowers."

"Oh baby, all the flowers are because we love you. You are so cute." He pulled the chair up to the bed and got as close as he could to
her
. He took
her
hand and rubbed it on
his
cheek. He had to be touching
her
as much as he could.

"Mike
that
hurts, you have w
his
kers."

"Oh baby I just love you so much. I'm so glad you're doing better," he said. The nurse came and took all
her
vitals and told Mike he needed to leave.
She
told him
her
blood pressure
was
up and
she
was
running a fever. The nurse immediately paged the doctor.

His
heart sank because he knew
that
was
not good news. He kissed
her
on the forehead and he reluctantly left. "I'll be right outside if you need me."

She
nodded, not wanting to let go of
his
hand,
she
didn't know why, but
she
d
idn't want to
let go
.
She
felt like it might
be the last time
she
would
ever touch him. Tears rolled down
her
cheeks as
she
watched him walk out
the door
.