The Reckoning (9 page)

Gracie strolled out into the living room, putting an end to the shotgun-carrying father routine the general had displayed. She walked up to Mike and poked her finger in his chest. “Let’s make this simple. You let anything happen to her, and I’ll kill you. You break her heart, and I’ll kill you. If she so much as sheds a tear, I’ll kill you.” Gracie patted him on his chest. “Okay then. Let’s hit the road, Daddy.”

The general patted him on the back. “Take care of my daughter, Bennett. I’ll be calling for updates.”

Elizabeth
hurried out of her room, dressed in her scrubs and carrying a black bag. “Good. They’re gone.”

Mike took her bag. “Let’s go,
Lizzy-girl
.”

Elizabeth
stopped and narrowed her eyes, throwing her hands up in the air. “I knew it, you’re on his side.” She dropped her head and shook it. “Can this day get any worse?”

Mike walked over to her, put his finger beneath her chin, and lifted her gaze to meet his. “You’re wrong, baby. I respect your father. He gave me a direct order to keep you safe, and that’s just what I intend to do.”

Nervously,
Elizabeth
moistened her dry lips. His gaze zeroed in on the move. He didn’t need another invitation. Mike let the bag slip from his hands and pulled her body flush with his. He lowered his mouth to hers and devoured her. The need to kiss her overwhelmed him. Her plush mouth pressed to his. His hands caressed and travelled down her back to her ass and he squeezed, pulling her even closer. She moaned into his mouth, making the bulge in his jeans harder. He wanted this little spitfire splayed out beneath him. He wanted to kiss and savor every delectable square inch of her body, and he intended to.

Elizabeth
pressed on his chest and leaned back. “We have to stop.” She pulled in a breath. “I’m going to be late for work.”

CHAPTER 8

  
Mike released
Elizabeth
, not because he wanted to, but because he knew she was right. They both had more important things to do, and it didn’t include getting naked with the little doc, no matter how much he wanted to.

Mike cleared his throat. “You’re right, Doc. But we
will
be picking this up where we left off.” He reached down and grabbed the bag. “Let’s go.”

Elizabeth
grabbed her purse and keys, locking the door behind her. Mike had his SUV door opened and waiting on her to climb in.

“Uh, Mike… I’m driving myself.”

Mike shut the SUV door. It was getting exasperating trying to keep the woman safe when she had her own ideas. “That’s not a good idea,
Elizabeth
. I think you should ride with me.”

A mischievous look came into her eyes, and she winked. “You can follow me, but I’m not going to be stranded at the hospital.”

“Doc, I would never leave you stranded. Even if I couldn’t make it, I’d make sure you had a ride.”

Elizabeth
pulled her door open with determination, ignoring his words. “Just the same, I think I’ll drive myself. You can follow me if you want, but I’m taking my own car.”

The stubborn woman got in her car, shut the door, and started the ignition, making Mike scramble to follow her down the street, grumbling all the way.

Mike followed
Elizabeth
to the hospital. Staying alert and on the lookout for anything unusual. Nothing struck him as out of the ordinary with the morning commuters. He pulled up along side Elizabeth’s car in the same parking garage that had scared her only days before. She wasn’t even waiting on him as she sauntered to the door and pulled it open. “Consider your assignment a success. I can manage from here.”

Mike put his hand on her lower back and whispered, “Just the same, I’m walking you in, Doc.” Mike kissed her neck. “And later, I’m going to have to give you lessons on obeying my orders.” Mike placed little kisses on her neck. She unconsciously leaned back into his embrace. She shook her head and stepped away.

“You can try.”
Elizabeth
smirked and started walking.

Mike rounded the corner with
Elizabeth
to the nurses’ desk.

“Thanks for the escort, Detective.”

The ladies behind the desk all smiled up at him, some of their mouths slightly ajar. One raised her brow and narrowed her eyes, looking
Elizabeth
up and down, judging her. His appearance in the hospital for the second day would be the gossip around town before he made it home for the night.

Mike turned
Elizabeth
in his arms and without warning he pressed his lips to hers only pulling back only when he felt her lean into his embrace. “Call me if you need me and wait for your escort home, Doc.”

Doctors
Jennings
and Powell walked up, laying their clipboards on the counter. Dr. Powell leaned his head to the side, doing his own assessment of Mike. “She won’t need a ride home, Detective. I’m sure Dr. Jennings or I can make sure she gets there unscathed.”

The challenging glare Dr. Powell gave him made him want to pound the old man’s head in. Mike took a deep breath and let it out before he did more damage that he couldn’t repair. The need to stake his claim rode him hard. Mike grinned. “That won’t be necessary, gentleman. Elizabeth and I have some unfinished business, don’t we, baby?”

Mike pulled
Elizabeth
into his arms. He didn’t care who was watching his display as long as these doctors took the hint and backed off. He pressed his lips to hers. She didn’t push him away. She opened her mouth, giving him what he wanted. Her hands slid up his chest and around his neck. He deepened the kiss, bending her backward, only releasing her lips when she melted in his arms.

Mike leaned up with
Elizabeth
still nestled in his arms. She wobbled. He didn’t release her until her legs held beneath her. She was silent. She touched her lips and held his gaze. “Wow.”

Mike grinned. “Like I said, I’ll be picking you up.”

Mike turned toward the crowd. Both doctors had left, and the nurses behind the desk were swooning. He’d made the impression he meant.
Elizabeth
was his for the taking. No one else would dare lay claim.

Mike winked at the nurses and strolled out of the hospital. He pushed through the emergency exit and scanned the area. He made sure there were no threats lingering nearby before he got in his SUV and headed to the coroner’s office.

Mike hit his Bluetooth as he drove around the parking garage once more, scanning for the professor. On
c
e he was sure the professor wasn’t there, he pulled out into traffic.

Jake answered. “What’s up, Mike?”

“
Elizabeth
is the general’s daughter, and we’ve been tasked with keeping her safe, so we need to come up with a plan for surveillance on the professor.”

“The General?”

“Yep, do you have another watch with a tracking device like you gave the girls?” Mike asked, knowing that the device had helped save all of his sisters when they’d been in trouble. His little doctor needed one too, especially since she’d almost left him behind leaving her house. She wasn’t one that was going to sit around and wait for danger to come to her, no, not his little doctor. She was going to meet it head-on.

“I do. I’ve had a few more made, just in case. I figured one day you might settle down and then I had to think about Lily. You know me, I try to be prepared.”

Mike’s laugh reverberated through the SUV. “The fact that you’re anal or OCD or whatever is going to come in handy this time. I’ll be by later to pick it up.”

“No problem. We can sit down and strategize about
Elizabeth
, and you can tell me all about how it went with the general.”

“Later.” Mike clicked his Bluetooth off as he pulled into the coroner’s office. He glanced at Abby’s SUV as he pulled his door open.

He flashed his badge to the girl behind the counter and walked to the back room, pushing open the door to the examining room. “What have we got?”

Abby and Henry looked up. Abby’s face was a mixture of concern and aggravation. Henry just raised a brow. “I’m not sure just yet, Detective.” Henry looked down at the body and used his gloved hands to open the teenager’s mouth.

“Male, Caucasian, approximate age nineteen, brought in last night. He had blue foam around his mouth when he was dropped off at the emergency room. The doctors did blood work and pronounced him dead thirty minutes later.”

“You have the results yet?”

Henry shook his head and answered without lifting his gaze. “Unfortunately no blood work yet.”

Abby placed her hand on his shoulder. “Well, what do we know about how the drug interacts with the body? What did you find when you performed your autopsy?”

Henry pulled his gloves off and threw them in the metal can. “What I did find was interesting.”

“What was that?” Mike started pacing. He was worried that, if he didn’t come up with answers and soon, a lot more people were going to die.

“Bleeding from the ears, nose, and throat, a collapsed lung, and his organs had started shutting down.”

“Cause of death?”

“Undetermined. I looked at his medical records. The boy never had more than a cold. Nothing to indicate my findings.”

Mike let his head drop and released a breath. “Damn.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Henry muttered.

Mike placed his hand on Abby’s shoulder as he walked past. “I’ll meet you back at the office, squirt. We need to go meet the professor.”

Abby grinned. “Henry, we might be sending you another one for study after meeting the professor. I’m thinking the man’s days are numbered.”

Mike walked out and got into his SUV. His drive to the office had been a short one. He needed to brief the captain on what
Elizabeth
had told them all about the professor and give him an update on overdosing on the blue drug. He walked into his office and plopped down in his chair. He had no answers for anything. He didn’t know where his half-sister was, he didn’t know a damn thing about the drug, he didn’t know where his dad’s killer, Winters was, and he didn’t know if
Elizabeth
was safe. He pulled a stress ball from his desk and started to squeeze. At the rate he was doing his job, he didn’t think he’d be getting the answers he needed anytime soon.

Abby knocked on his doorframe. “I got a call from the captain. It seems
Elizabeth
’s professor is in the building.” Abby’s voice held a rasp of excitement. She raised and lowered her brows several times. “Care to join me for the meet and greet?”

Mike pushed up from his chair sliding it back into the wall and threw the stress ball on his desk. “I’d love to, little sister.” Mike held out his arm. “Lead the way.”

Abby strolled next to her brother down the corridor toward her lab. “Now don’t do anything stupid. I know you want to kill him, but if we show all of our cards, it might turn out badly.”

Mike planned on doing more than showing his cards. He planned on making it clear that
Elizabeth
was off limits. He hoped the professor gave him reason to knock some sense into him. For years
Elizabeth
had been running from this asshole. It was time for a little payback. Mike grinned and balled his fist. “Abby, you know me better than that. I’m not going to hit him, well, at least not at first.”

After walking through the waiting area, Mike stopped in the corridor just before the labs. People milled around filling out reports; a few men were being booked. A redheaded slip of a woman had just pulled the door open as he passed. Her doe-eyes were trained on him and Abby. Her mouth slightly parted. He knew in an instant, she was his missing sister. 

“Well, are we going to do this?”

Before he could open his mouth and answer Abby’s question or even make a move toward the redhead, the intensity of his anger had multiplied in the last few seconds. He felt stronger than he’d ever felt before. The blood coursing through his veins strummed to life. He felt an underline current of electricity move through his body. He glanced up at Abby, who had stopped and was staring at him. “Tell me you can feel that.”

Abby closed her eyes. “It feels like pure untapped energy.” Abby put her hand on the wall to steady herself. She looked up at Mike “What the hell is it?”

“I don’t know,” he whispered. “I just had an increase in my anger. Almost as if it amped up my emotions.” Just as quick as the feeling appeared, it was gone.

He pulled in a deep breath and glanced toward where his half sister had been standing. She was gone, no sign of her anywhere. The longer they stood in the hallway, the more steady his heartbeat became. Mike put his hand on Abby’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Abby nodded. “Yeah, but that was weird. We need to ask Emma and Claire if they’ve ever experienced anything like that before.”

Mike nudged Abby. “Are you ready to meet the professor?”