Heartbreaker (36 page)

Lynn pulled the white thermal blanket a little higher around Rory’s shoulders, touched her cheek, and left the room. Her heart was lighter than it had been in months. Her world sparkled suddenly, because things were right again between her and Rory, and because she had found Jess.

With Rory taken care of, she thought, it was time to see what had become of Jess. When last seen he was being wheeled off on a stretcher by a no-nonsense nurse, his protests unheeded, Marty the cop trailing behind.

It was three
A.M
., Lynn saw as she emerged from her daughter’s darkened room into the brightly lit hospital corridor. Six hours until the bombs were scheduled to explode. Except that was over now. She didn’t have to count the hours and feel afraid.

She only had to check on Jess, then she could fall into the cot that had been made up for her at the end of Rory’s bed and go to sleep.

Tomorrow would be a bright, beautiful day—and she still had almost a whole week of vacation left.

Lynn felt a spurt of surprise as she realized that. It seemed as if she’d been swallowed up by the mountains forever. In reality, it had only been four days since she’d flown out of Chicago.

Four days since she had first set eyes on Jess.

A woman on duty at the nurses’ station at the end of the hall glanced at her as she passed. Lynn stopped to ask Jess’s whereabouts, which the woman obligingly called up on her computer. Jess was on the fifth floor. Rory was on the third. The elevators were down the hall and to the left.

A row of pay phones was recessed into the wall beside the elevators. Lynn hesitated. She was on vacation, for goodness’ sake. And it was the middle of the night. But if she could get hold of her station manager, WMAQ would have an exclusive.

So call her a workaholic. She made the call. Fifteen minutes later she was free to visit Jess.

The only difference between Jess’s room and Rory’s, she saw as she opened his door a crack and peeped in, was that the walls were painted soft blue.

Jess lay in the hospital bed, his head turned away from the door. His shoulders almost spanned the width of the mattress, and his skin looked bronzed and healthy against the white sheets, which were pulled just higher than his waist. A professional-looking bandage adorned his shoulder.

At first Lynn thought he was asleep. Then he glanced around, saw her, and smiled. That smile did strange things to Lynn’s insides.

“Hi.” Lynn stepped inside the room. “Where’s your bodyguard?”

“With me tethered to the bed he decided Louis was a better bet as an escape risk. How’s Rory?” he asked. He was still unshaven, but Lynn decided she liked him that way. The thick black bristles gave him a piratical look that went well with the shoulder-length tumble of his hair.

“She’s got a concussion, and they want to keep her at least overnight, but the doctor said she’ll be fine,” Lynn answered, closing the door gently behind her and moving to stand beside the bed. Not having needed any treatment herself except a steroid cream for her insect bites and an antibiotic ointment for her scratches, she felt a pang of guilt as she took in the IV needle taped to Jess’s arm. It didn’t seem right, somehow, that out of the three of them she was the only one to suffer no significant injuries.

“What did they say about your shoulder?”

“That it could’ve been a lot worse.” He reached for her hand. Her fingers entwined with his.

“What’s that for?” She indicated the IV with a nod.

“They’re pumping me full of antibiotics. They didn’t think the wound was a big deal, but the nurses who cleaned it out went on and on about how much dirt had gotten into the hole. They made me take a shower before they’d work on me.”

“Oh, yeah?” Lynn looked him over. “You were pretty dirty. They probably burned those jeans. By the way, what do you have on under that sheet?”

“You’re welcome to find out for yourself.” He moved their clasped hands toward the edge of the sheet suggestively.

She pulled her hand free of his, shaking her head at him. “Uh-uh. You need rest. Where’s your hospital gown, anyway?”

“I hate the damned things. They don’t have any backs. I told the nurses not to bother.”

“Did they say how long they’re keeping you in here?”

“Why? You’re not planning to sneak off back to Chicago while I’m stuck in here, are you?” He caught her hand again and carried it to his mouth. The touch of his mouth on her skin sent a tingle snaking up her arm.

“I’ve got to go home sometime,” she said lightly, surprised to discover how much the thought of leaving him hurt.

That was the problem with vacation flings, she told herself. When the vacation was over, the fling was too.

He kissed the back of her hand again, then turned it over and pressed his lips to her palm. The tingle shot down her spine.

“What’s Chicago got that Utah doesn’t?” he asked, kissing the tips of her fingers one by one as he watched her over their clasped hands. Her toes curled as she gazed into those baby-blue eyes. They were watching her intently, and something about their expression reminded her of how really, really much she liked having sex with Jess.

“My job,” Lynn said. “And my mother. And my house.”

“No boyfriend?”

Lynn made a face at him. “I thought Rory filled you in on that.”

“She could have been mistaken.”

“She wasn’t. No boyfriend worthy of the name.”

“Good.” He tugged on her hand. “Come here.”

“Wait a minute.” She resisted. “What about you? I can’t believe you don’t have a girlfriend tucked away somewhere.”

“None worthy of the name. Are you going to kiss me or not?”

“Not,” Lynn said, drawing back. This time he kept his grip on her hand.

“Why not?”

“Because you need sleep, and I need sleep, and tomorrow’s a brand new day. And there’s no need to rush this, because I have six whole days of vacation left.”

Jess’s eyes gleamed at her. “Oh, a lifetime,” he said.

“Close enough.” Bowing to his pressure, Lynn sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb his tubing. “If you’ll just hurry up and get out of here, that is.”

“We don’t have to wait.”

“Oh, yes, we do.” She leaned forward, pressing a quick kiss to his mouth. He wrapped his arm, IV and all, around her waist to keep her where she was even as she lifted her lips from his. “Call me kinky, but I don’t do it with wounded men in hospital rooms.”

“I’d love to call you kinky. Just give me the chance.”

Lynn laughed. His mouth was just inches from hers. His arm was hard around her waist. His chest was warm and bare and well-muscled and just furry enough to be interesting.

Wrong time, wrong place, right man.

“All right, enough. Let me up. We both need to go to sleep.”

“Sleep with me.”

“In here? No way.”

“Talk to me, then. I don’t know about you, but I kinda got a second wind going. Must be adrenaline or something.”

“What do you want to talk about?” Lynn was sleepy, but not quite sleepy enough to really want to pull free of Jess and walk away. What was between them was too new, too magical, to let a little thing like exhaustion get in the way.

“Tell me about you. Start with your childhood. I want to hear all about it.”

Lynn told him. By the time she was finished, her head was pillowed on the firm muscles just above his breastbone and one hand was splayed across his bare chest, playing idly with a curl of dark brown chest hair. His arm was around her waist. She wasn’t quite lying in bed with him though. One foot still touched the floor.

“Your turn,” she said at last. “Did you and Owen really grow up on that ranch?”

“Would I lie about a thing like that?” He grinned and stroked her hair. “My, you are suspicious. Yes, we really did.”

“Tell me all about it,” she ordered, entranced.

He did. Somewhere in the middle of his recital she must have fallen asleep, because when the phone shrilled beside the bed it awakened her with a start. She lifted her head, shook it, and glanced up at Jess, who was blinking groggily as he groped for the phone.

He must have fallen asleep too, she decided, and smiled at him as she sat up, rubbing her eyes.

Locating the phone on its fourth or fifth ring, he silenced it by the simple expedient of bringing the receiver to his ear without ever lifting his head from the pillows.

“Hello,” he said, and listened a minute.

Lynn smoothed her hair back from her face and checked the buttons on her flannel shirt.

“What?” Jess exploded, sitting bolt upright, every last trace of sleep vanishing from his face in an instant.

All Lynn’s body systems instantly went on red alert.

“What time is it?” he asked into the phone next. Then, “Jesus Christ, we’ve got
three hours
!”

No, Lynn thought, oh, no.

“Where can I reach you?” Jess fumbled on the bedside table for a pen. Lynn tried to pass him a pad of paper, but he shook his head at her and wrote the number he was given on the back of his hand.

“This way I can’t lose it,” he said to her, covering the mouthpiece with his hand.

“I’ll be in touch,” Jess said into the phone again, and put the receiver back into its cradle.

For a moment after he hung up he simply stared into space. Then he looked at Lynn.

From his expression Lynn knew it was bad before he even opened his mouth.

“They got to the compound, and all the Healers were there as advertised, singing hymns and praying and waiting for the glorious end. They staged a raid, got everybody out, searched the place from top to bottom. Reverend Bob wasn’t there.”

“What time is it?” Lynn asked, as her mind came to grips with the ramifications.

“Six
A.M
.,” Jess said.

J
ESS REACHED DOWN
and, with a grimace, carefully untaped the IV line and pulled the needle from his arm.

“What are you doing?” Lynn demanded, appalled.

“What does it look like? Getting out of this damned bed.”

“You should call a nurse!”

“Honey, we’re out of time. Didn’t you hear what I said? Reverend Bob wasn’t in the compound with the rest of them. He could be anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world as a matter of fact. All he needs is a computer and a modem to detonate those bombs.”

“Oh, my God!” Having Jess put it into words made the horror real.

“Exactly,” Jess said, dropping the needle so that it dangled at the end of its tubing. He pressed the tape back down over the blood that trickled out of his arm and swung his legs over the side of the bed, clutching the sheet to his waist as he glanced around in irritation.

“Can you believe this? I don’t have any clothes,” he said.

“Where are you going anyway?
You
can’t find Reverend Bob.” Lynn’s mind was beginning to recover from the shock. “What about the FBI? What about your friend Ben and the ATF? What about the national guard, or the police, or the CIA, or whoever? Don’t they have some way of tracking people?”

Jess got to his feet, wrapped the sheet around his waist, and headed for the door. “Believe me, somebody in that list you mentioned will find him, sure enough. Given enough time.”

Time was what they didn’t have. Lynn acknowledged that as she ran after Jess.

“I’m not even going to try to find Reverend Bob,” Jess said over his shoulder as he strode past a surprised nurse. Just as the woman realized that the half-naked man was an escaping patient and spun around, he disappeared from her view by turning down the hallway that held the elevator bank, where he punched the
UP
button.

All too aware of the pursuing nurse, Lynn scooted in after him.

“If you’re not going to find Reverend Bob, then what are you going to do?” she asked, breathless.

“If the bombs can be detonated by computer it stands to reason that they can be foiled by computer. We just have to figure out how. I’m going to see if Louis or Theresa can tell us anything that might help.”

“You don’t even know what room they’re in,” Lynn wailed. As the doors shut she got a glimpse of the nurse hurrying around the corner toward them.

“I know where Louis is. And I’ll find Theresa, believe me.”

The elevator rose two floors. The bell pinged, announcing their arrival. Jess was out the door and halfway down the corridor while the doors were still opening. Lynn, running, was right behind him.

Lynn saw Marty the cop lounging at the nurses’ station, sipping coffee and chatting with the nurse on duty, as Jess raced past. Marty’s
eyes
widened, but it was clear to Lynn that he didn’t quite absorb the full import of what he was seeing until she, too, ran past him.

“What the hell?” he stuttered, putting down his coffee so fast it sloshed over the rim of the foam cup. Lynn glanced over her shoulder and saw him sucking on the flesh just below his thumb as he ran after them. The coffee must have been hot.

He was also fumbling to free the pistol from his belt.

Unmindful of coming trouble, Jess charged into Room 709, where Louis slept curled in a hospital bed.

“Get up, Louis!” Catching hold of Louis’s green hospital gown, Jess dragged the man from his bed.

“Wh-what? What?” Snatched from sleep, Louis batted ineffectually at the hand twisted in the front of his gown, which was all he wore. Lynn tried not to look down at the expanse of spindly flesh revealed by Jess’s grip.

“Hold on there!” Marty charged into the room, his pistol drawn. Before the door swung shut behind him Lynn saw two hospital security guards running down the corridor toward them.

The nurse had obviously summoned backup for Marty.

“You! Release that man!” Marty stopped just beyond the door, feet spread and planted, both hands clutching his pistol at chest level as he pointed it straight at Jess.

“That’s right, put me down,” Louis bleated, pawing at Jess’s hand. Jess didn’t release him, but he did at least turn with him and then lower him so that his feet were flat on the floor. That maneuver, Lynn noted, put Louis between Jess and Marty’s gun.

Good thinking, was Lynn’s verdict.

“Listen, you imbecile, this is a matter of national security. I am a federal agent,” Jess barked at Marty over Louis’s head. “And I don’t have time for this! Now put that gun away!”