Fractured Memory (18 page)

He shoved hard again. “Tell me!”

Will and Jace pulled them apart and tossed Ryder into a chair.

Eli shoved a finger centimeters from Ryder’s face. “You don’t get it. If she dies, so much more is going to happen to you. You’re going to be brought up on charges for arson—perhaps even using a weapon of mass destruction, considering that you built a pipe bomb. Next is assault and battery for injuring the mother and son in the explosion. Conspiracy to commit murder. With all these things, you’ll never get out of jail, but if you want to avoid the death penalty you better help me save Julia before Ben kills her.”

“Who would believe the federal agent who put an innocent man away?”

Eli brought his fist high and before he could smash it into Ryder’s face, he forced it into the wall. The desire to throw chairs, break Ryder’s face...pull his gun and discharge it into the man’s chest became more than his inhibition and he stormed from the room and escorted Miles inside.

Ryder looked away, but his chest heaved with sudden emotion.

Eli bent down and tried to present the most calm, serene face he could muster. “Miles, did you do what I asked?”

The blond-haired boy nodded and held out the picture.

“Take it to your dad. I know he misses you.”

The wisdom of this maneuver was yet to be determined. It was risky. It wasn’t clear what kind of relationship Miles and Ryder had. Eli could only guess Ryder loved his son with everything in him to go along with Ben’s revenge plot over the loss of his nephew.

Eli stood and placed a steady hand on Miles’s back and eased him forward. At first, Ryder did everything he could to not look at his son, but after a few tentative steps Miles raced to his father and wrapped his arms around his chest.

“Daddy, please...do whatever it takes to come home. I miss you.”

Ryder bent his head, tears streaming down his face, and he pressed his lips into Miles’s mussed-up hair.

Eli tried not to count the minutes. He tried to convince himself his silence would bring a confession from Ryder’s lips. It might be the lowest play Eli had ever manipulated, but it was also a chance for Ryder to understand he didn’t have to throw his life away for the sake of Ben’s revenge.

“I will, Miles. I promise.”

Miles set his picture on the scratched table, two crayoned stick figures holding hands by a swing set—Miles and his father and what he hoped them to be. Jace then escorted Miles from the room.

Ryder wiped his nose with the back of his handcuffed hands and looked at Eli. “He’s taking her to the hospital. He wants to kill her there.”

EIGHTEEN

J
ulia’s bullet hadn’t met its mark and now Ben raced to the hospital, his gun still trained on her. It was as if Julia wasn’t a part of herself anymore. The events seemed separate from physical reality. If she allowed herself to sit in the passenger’s seat next to Ben...she would feel the awful spindles of shock firing through her body. If she were here—above it—she could think rationally just like when a code happened.

Except that her own life was on the line.

Ben screeched to a halt near the front of the hospital and slammed the car into park. The seat belt bit into Julia skin, her hands floating appendages as the car’s safety mechanism prevented her from crashing through the already injured windshield.

He exited the driver’s side and left the door open. Julia punched out of her seat belt, locked the passenger-side door and began to crawl over the seats to exit the driver’s side. Loud pops filled the air, echoed by screams of women and children. Glass hailed over Julia’s legs and she felt a hand clamp down on her calf. Flipping onto her back, she delivered a swift kick into Ben’s gut, which loosened his grip, and she continued to crawl backward out of the car. Quicker than she thought possible, he opened the passenger-side door and grabbed both her legs, yanking her out where she landed on her back on the black, oily pavement.

“Get up!”

Julia scrambled up and Ben advanced on her. She backed up into the car and he grabbed the front of her shirt, forcing her body against his and placing the gun to her temple.

“Ben, let her go!”

Eli’s voice. Ben twirled Julia and grabbed her around the chest, pinning her arms with his. He began to walk her to the hospital entrance.

Julia squinted her eyes against the sun. Where was Eli? That was when she saw several other officers dressed in navy blue dotted around the front of the campus. Somehow they had discovered Ben’s plot and had been there to preempt him.

Policemen beckoned patients and their families away from the hospital entrance. The screaming—why couldn’t it stop? It made it hard for Julia to keep a clear head. She felt the metal end of the gun warming from the heat in her skin. She had both hands clamped on Ben’s forearm to try and steady the sway of her body against his.

Ben raised the weapon and fired two shots into the air. Radios squawked in rapid succession and Julia’s heart anchored at the base of her throat, beating as quickly as Ben’s to her back.

“Back off!” Ben yelled, tugging her closer to the hospital entrance.

Eli revealed himself, and Julia focused her vision at his eyes and he engaged hers.

Would this be her last sight of him?

* * *

Eli held Julia’s gaze. Even though she had a gun held to her head, he didn’t see fear there. Just certainty. Determination.

He held two fingers up and pointed at his eyes.

Look here, Julia. Stay with me. I will get you through this in one piece.

To his relief, Julia appeared uninjured. It looked as though one of his bullets found its mark, as blood dotted Ben’s left suit sleeve, but it was apparently not enough to dissuade this man from his ultimate plan.

Once Julia’s eyes held his, he straightened his stance and leveled the weapon at Ben’s head. “Ben, please. I don’t want to shoot you. Just surrender yourself.”

Ben continued to pull Julia to the front entrance. Two uniformed officers held positions at either side of the door, their weapons trained on Ben, as well. They couldn’t shoot him in the back without fear of the bullet passing through to Julia.

Ben wasn’t going to win. They weren’t going to allow him to enter the hospital. The next goal was keeping Julia alive, but Eli knew some of the other officers—and even the command structure—were willing to injure Julia if it came down to preventing Ben from taking his weapon inside.

The sun beat down on the lawn, its glare bouncing off windshields. Sweat dripped into Eli’s eyes. His hands ached from holding his gun.

In Ben’s eyes he saw just as much determination as in Julia’s. Except Ben’s were filled with anger, hatred—matted pools of hopelessness that made any man an unpredictable weapon. Even without a gun.

How could Eli end this? Ben continued to take steps toward the hospital.

“Eli,” Julia called. “I’m sad you never picked me flowers.”

He wiped the sweat from his brow. A message for sure. He blinked rapidly to clear his vision.

“Shut up,” Ben said. “Don’t talk to him.”

Ben and Julia were at best twenty steps from the front entrance. Eli moved closer to Ben. Now Eli was shielded under the valet parking overhang, which made it easier for Eli to find his mark.

“You know what my favorites are?” Julia asked.

Ben continued to step back, closing the distance. Eli waved the officers off. He knew what she was going to do. She was waiting for him to be prepared.

Their signal. The precious secret between them from the day they were brought back together. Daisies. Red daisies. They might not be her favorite, but they were going to be today.

Eli advanced three steps, squared up again and aimed his weapon right at Ben’s head.

“Red daisies,” Eli said.

Julia dropped like a weight from Ben’s arms, and Eli fired his shot—finding his mark in the middle of Ben’s forehead.

Keeping his gun trained on Ben, he ran toward the two of them, kicking Ben’s weapon out of the way. Other officers converged on Eli’s position to check Ben and to determine whether or not he was still alive. It was clear to Eli that his partner wasn’t.

Eli kneeled down and gathered Julia in his arms, desperate to have her close to him. At this point, he didn’t care what others thought. He didn’t care if he was fired.

He was never letting her go again.

Eli pulled her up and walked her away from Ben’s bloody body to a small park nearby and positioned her under the shade of a large tree. She leaned against the trunk.

He wanted to remember every bit of this moment. The smoky brown color of her eyes. The quirky smile. The curl of her blond hair and how soft and gentle it felt against his skin. He traced the contour of her lips with his finger and then his hands settled against the curve of her hips.

She reached up and raked her fingers through his hair. “Now...we’re even.” Her voice was faint and breathless.

Eli clasped her face in his hands. He couldn’t mess this moment up like he did the last time. He searched her eyes for any hint that she didn’t want this, but all he saw was sweet permission.

His lips found hers and they melted together in perfect oneness. His hands fell from her face and reached around her, pulling her tight against him. She was the one thing he’d been missing. The one thing he would never give up again.

Easing her back, he cupped the back of her neck and laid gentle kisses on her healed scars.

“Julia Galloway, I’m in love with you. Please, don’t ever forget that.”

EPILOGUE

Eighteen months later

J
ulia loved Christmas and it was a perfect day. Colorado had been gifted with a light blanket of freshly fallen crystals to put everyone in a peaceful, wintery mood. Poinsettias full of red blooms were in nearly every crevice, and the soft light of candles completed the ambience. The scent of hot apple cider filled her home.

Julia twirled her wedding ring, wanting to imprint this moment in her mind.

Her old home was now their new home.

Even though tragedy once made her flee from what she and her parents had worked so hard to perfect, it seemed natural for her and Eli to start their lives together in this place. To replace loss with new life. To live where he’d saved her. Where she’d triumphed over death.

Eli turned the television off. “Mark Heller’s finally a free man.”

The wheels of justice weren’t known to move swiftly, but they did turn. Eli had worked tirelessly to help Heller’s appeal and get him released from jail by leading a new investigation in conjunction with Aurora police to prove Ben was the Hangman. Ryder surprised everyone by pleading guilty and was currently serving jail time. Harper and Miles moved out of the area.

Julia’s grandfather clapped his hands. “That’s quite a gift that God gave him.”

“It’s quite a gift that God gave me,” Eli said. He still found it hard to forgive himself for Heller’s captivity and he’d continue to do what he could to make sure Heller got back on his feet.

“Is it time for presents?” Julia asked.

Her grandfather raised his empty coffee mug. “Not before I get some more of your wonderful cinnamon apple cider.”

“You’re not stowing jugs of this away in your room, are you?” Julia asked.

He placed a hand to his chest. “Why would I do that?”

Eli amazed her. He’d insisted on her grandfather living with them. The house had plenty of room and Eli seemed determined to nurture the family closeness he’d never known.

“Because I found a jug up there just last night,” Eli said.

“You were nosing around my room?” her papa asked, laughing.

“I might have been snooping for presents,” Eli confessed. “I can’t help it. It’s in my genes to find lost things.”

“So it is.” Julia smiled. “But you missed this.” She pulled a present from under the tree.

“What is it?” Eli asked as she handed it to him.

“Just a little something from your wife.”

“Julia...” He held her gaze, the love in his eyes bringing happy tears to hers.

Then Eli set the gift box down and settled his hands gently on her belly, blooming with his child. “This,” he whispered, “is the only gift I needed.”

Julia laid her hands over Eli’s, and their baby girl moved as if responding to their embrace. Her husband was right—there wasn’t a greater gift. Or a more beautiful promise of a new beginning.

Thank You, Lord. These things I will never forget.

* * * * *

If you enjoyed FRACTURED MEMORY, look for
FORGOTTEN MEMORIES by Laura Scott and
SUDDEN RECALL by Lisa Phillips
from Love Inspired Suspense.

Keep reading for an excerpt from
HONOR AND DEFEND
by Lynette Eason

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Dear Reader,

Imagine being home early in the morning and having a law enforcement officer knock on your door and tell you someone wanted to kill you and you needed to leave your home immediately for your own safety. Imagine the upheaval. The uncertainty. The amount of trust you’d have to put in a person you didn’t even know.

My novels are inspired from snippets of real life events. This opening scenario may sound familiar to you as this is exactly what happened to one particular woman. When I saw her story, I knew I had to write a novel with a beginning like that. What I needed was a more twisted and intriguing story line with a dash of medical mystery—my own suspenseful recipe.

I became part of the Love Inspired family via the Blurb to Book contest that Love Inspired sponsored in 2014. To see the fingerprints of how God led me to participate in this contest still amazes me. It was a leap of faith for me. Writing a novel with a strong romance thread was outside my comfort zone as my previous novels were more straight thrillers. I think those feelings I had about the contest came through in how Julia Galloway has to do many of these same things as she and Eli Cayne hunt to find who is trying to kill her. Julia has to trust a process she’s unfamiliar with. She has to lean on God in moments of uncertainty.

Knowing that the contest deadlines were pretty tight, I definitely had to write a character I knew pretty well. Julia’s nursing career basically mimics my own. I did start in adult nursing and lasted about three years before I decided that pediatric nursing was truly where my heart was. Also, my novels usually have some sort of medical twist, and I’ll be interested to hear from Love Inspired readers what they think of my debut novel with this line.

I’ve been welcomed so warmly into the Love Inspired family by the editorial staff and my fellow authors, and I’m very excited to get to know readers, as well. Please email me with your thoughts on
Fractured Memory
at
[email protected]
, or write to me at Jordyn Redwood, PO Box 1142, Parker, CO 80134.

Many blessings,

Jordyn