White Wedding for a Southern Belle (14 page)

Ashley waited impatiently, all too aware that Kiefer could walk in at any moment. She believed in facing life head-on, yet she was hiding from the very person she cared the most about. A fact that had become agonizingly obvious to her over the last few days. What to do about it she didn't have an answer to.

The clinic door opened behind her.

“Oh, no,” Maria whispered.

Ashley turned. Marko stood there with a wild look in his eyes and a gun in his hand. He slammed the door and locked it behind him.

Ashley's heart beat faster and fear lodged in her throat.

“No one move. Keep your hands where I can see them,” Marko snarled. “Everyone that has a cell phone, take them out and put them on the floor. You two get over here.” He pointed to her and Maria, gesturing that they join the others in the waiting area. “Cell phones on the floor.”

They did as they were told. It sounded and looked like a bad movie drama. But this was sickeningly real.

Marko pointed the gun at Ashley and commanded Maria, “Get the doctor.”

“Marko, I'm sure Dr. Bradford will be glad to see you.” Ashley worked to keep her voice level. “Put the gun down and I'll get him for you.”

An older man sitting in the waiting room stood. Marko rounded on him.

“Sit down. Now.” The man hesitated a second. Marko raised the gun. “Sit down now.” He turned back to Ashley. “Call the doctor.” The last word was a shout.

Before Ashley had a chance to move, Kiefer came hurrying up the hall. “What's going on here?”

He stopped short when he saw Marko.

“You're coming with me,” Marko stated. He pointed the gun toward Kiefer's chest. “Let's go.”

Ashley's heart missed a beat and she held her breath. What if Marko shot Kiefer? It was her fault Kiefer was in danger. She should have told the police weeks ago about Marko's threats.

“Where?” Kiefer asked. There was a note of defiance in his voice.

“You don't need to know.” Marko waved the gun toward the door.

“I'm not going anywhere until I know what this is about.” Kiefer's voice was firm.

Marko pointed the gun at Ashley. “Let's go or I'll shoot her.”

Kiefer's jaw tightened, his lips thinned. Pain filled his eyes. “I need to get my bag. If you'll tell me what this is about, I can get the correct supplies.”

Marko took a second before he answered. “Knife wound. You stay here. She can get the supplies.” He pointed the gun at Maria.

She was in tears. Quaking, she looked as if she might become hysterical at any moment. Her voice wobbled when she said, “I can't. I don't know what to get.”

Marko looked at her for a moment then turned to Ashley. “You do it. Don't try anything. All of you, let's go.” He directed the gun toward the waiting room.

The group stood and headed down the hall. Ashley followed with Kiefer close behind.

“Get in that room. All of you.”

As Ashley started to crowd into the full exam room with everyone else, Marko said, “Not you. You're going with us.”

“She doesn't need to go. You have me,” Kiefer said.

“Shut up. She'll be my insurance. You do what you're told and don't try anything.”

“You already have me. Leave her.” Kiefer sounded as if he were about to beg.

“I said shut up. You don't make the rules here.” To the people in the exam room he said, “First person who opens this door will be shot.” He pulled the door to the exam room closed. He looked at Ashley. “You get what's needed.”

“I don't know what that is. I'm not a nurse.”

Marko looked at Kiefer. “You tell her what to get from here.”

Ashley went into the supply room while Kiefer remained in the hall.

“My bag is on the floor by the desk. Open it and I'll tell you what to put in.”

Ashley found his backpack behind the desk and faced Kiefer, who stood at the door. With her hands shaking, she bent to pick it up. Opening the pack, she placed it on the desk chair.

This wasn't the Marko she'd known. Why hadn't she listened to Kiefer? Had she been so caught up in what she'd wanted that she'd been unable to see anything else? She would die if anything happened to Kiefer. She couldn't live if she was the cause of him getting hurt.

His phone.

It was under a stack of papers on his desk. She glanced at Kiefer. His gaze met hers. He shifted, drawing Marko's attention.

Marko shouted, “Be still!”

With her heart in her throat and all the possibilities of what might go wrong swirling in her head, she acted as if she was surprised and knocked the papers off, making sure the phone fell into the pack. Now all she had to do was pray that the phone didn't ring.

“Hurry up,” Marko growled.

Ashley gathered the supplies as Kiefer listed them, shoving them into the bag.

“Let's go,” Marko announced.

Ashley zipped up the bag and joined Kiefer in the hall. He took it from her. Pulling it over one shoulder, he turned to go toward the front door.

“No, the other way. Up the back stairs.”

Marko pushed Kiefer forward. “Doctor, you first.”

“Marko,” Ashley said, “you know this is kidnapping. A federal offense. If you stop now, Dr. Bradford and I won't press any charges.”

“She's right, Marko.”

This time Marko gave her a shove. “Both of you shut up and get moving.”

Kiefer didn't look pleased but he didn't argue further. Ashley climbed the stairs behind Kiefer, all too aware of Marko's gun aimed at her back. She glanced at the bat still standing at the top of the stairs, hoping Kiefer wouldn't be a hero and pick it up. Thankfully he didn't.

In her kitchen Marko said, “Let's go. Down the back steps.”

Again Kiefer led the way. At the bottom of the steps Marko said, “Now through that hole in the fence. Doctor, you first.”

Ashley stepped through after Kiefer. Her pants leg caught on the broken wire. Kiefer snatched her up before she fell, bringing her hard against him. Just the feel of him eased her fear.

“Get moving,” Marko snarled.

Kiefer released her. She moved ahead of him and Marko made no complaint. They followed a path through the vacant lot behind her building. The knee-high grass pulled against her legs. Her pumps sank into the sandy ground. A couple of times Kiefer supported her with a hand to her arm, helping her to stay on her feet.

Halfway across the lot Kiefer asked Marko, “Why don't you release Ashley? I'll go with you with no complaints.”

Ashley wanted to scream no. He could be killed. Maybe she could talk some sense into Marko. He would never listen to Kiefer.

“Shut up and keep moving,” Marko growled.

At the next block Marko directed them to a waiting car. “Ashley, get in the front seat. Doctor, in the back. I'll shoot her if you give me any trouble,” he said pointedly to Kiefer.

When the doors were shut behind them, the driver passed a dark T-shirt to her and one over the seat to Kiefer. Marko said, “Put it on your head. Make sure to cover your face.”

Ashley did as she was told. The stench of body odor almost made her gag but she pulled the shirt in place. She hardly had it situated before the car lurched forward.

For what seemed like forever they wove in and out of streets, taking corners too fast. She held on to the door handle, trying to stay upright. Where were they going? They had traveled so far that they could no longer be in Southriver.

A tugboat horn blew. They were near the river. They bumped over railroad tracks a couple of times so hard that Ashley's head almost hit the roof. They made a final turn and the car came to a screeching halt, slamming Ashley forward.

“Ashley, are you okay?” Kiefer's voice was muffled under his shirt.

“I'm fine.”

“Shut up. Pull those shirts off your heads and get out,” Marko ordered.

Doing so, she saw they were inside a warehouse. There were boxes stacked to the roof and empty wooden pallets on the floor. After the harrowing ride, she climbed out of the car on shaky legs. Kiefer joined her with his bag in hand.

“This way.” Marko indicated some type of office-looking area in one corner of the huge building. Lit from within, it had one door, and windows made up half the walls.

The driver jerked her toward Kiefer when she didn't move. They walked side by side with Marko behind them.

“Tell me what's going on,” Kiefer demanded.

“You'll see soon enough,” Marko said.

The driver opened the door to the office and Ashley, then Kiefer with Marko behind him, entered. Inside was a man lying on a dirty mattress that had no cover on it on an old metal bed frame. Based on the amount of bloody rags on the floor, he'd lost a large amount of blood. His pallor was deathly white.

Kiefer hurried to the bedside in full doctor mode. Slipping the bag from his shoulder and setting it on the floor, he unzipped it, found plastic gloves and pulled them on. He lifted the material that looked like a T-shirt from the wound in the man's midsection.

The man moaned.

“I'm Dr. Bradford. I'm here to help you. I'm going to have a look at you and then I'll give you something for pain. What's your name?”

“Jorge,” he said in little more than a whisper.

“He needs to be in a hospital,” Kiefer said to Marko.

“No,” Marko barked.

Ashley watched Kiefer look into Jorge's eyes. His hand went to the young man's forehead. “He needs surgery. He's running a fever. Has lost too much blood.”

“You take care of him here,” Marko said.

“He's already on the road to an infection.” Kiefer looked around the filthy area. “Sewing him up here will only make it worse.”

Marko pointed the gun at her. “You'll do it.”

Kiefer glanced away but his look returned to meet hers. There was pain, worry and resignation in his eyes. “I'll need your help, Ashley.”

“I've never done anything like this.” She couldn't keep the quiver of fear out of her voice.

He gave her a reassuring smile. “I'll tell you what to do every step of the way. I have complete faith you can handle it.” Kiefer looked around. “Is there water?”

“In there.” Marko nodded toward a door.

Kiefer looked back at her. “See if you can find something to put some water in. If not...” he pulled a bag of bandage pads out of the backpack and handed them to her “...wet these.” He gave her another reassuring smile that didn't reach his eyes.

“I'm sorry,” she mouthed to him.

He nodded and turned back to his patient.

Marko leaned against the wall where he could see both of them. “Get busy.” To his driver he said, “You go watch outside.”

The guy left.

Ashley went to a door that she guessed led to a bathroom. It turned out to be a small kitchen area and there was a bath off that. The place was nasty. Apparently someone had been living there for a few days, if not longer. Open food packages were everywhere. How was she supposed to find anything in here sanitary enough to hold water? Searching under the sink, she located a mop bucket, and pulling it out, she put it under the sink faucet. The water ran brown.

“Yuck.” She jerked the bucket out from under the tap, emptied it while leaving the water running, then waited for the water to turn clear.

Marko stuck his head in the door. “Get busy.”

“I am. Everything in this place is nasty. Marko, let us take your friend to the hospital. He's going to die if you don't.”

“No more talking. Get busy.”

The water had started to run clearer and she shoved the bucket under the faucet again. Using her hand, Ashley washed the bucket the best she could. With it full, she carried it back to Kiefer and set it down next to him. He glanced at her as he continued to apply pressure to the patient's abdomen. “Good girl. I need you to go around to the other side of the bed.”

It had been moved into the middle of the room.

“Take my bag. Pull that chair up close and put the supplies on it.” He indicated the wooden straight-backed chair behind a metal desk.

This could be her chance. If she could just figure out some way to use the phone. Glancing at Marko, she then looked at Kiefer. His expression said clearly that he trusted her. That he knew she would do what was necessary. She wouldn't disappoint him. Wouldn't let him down this time. Ashley went to her knees beside the bed and started pulling supplies out.

“I'm going to need the scissors first and the bandages.”

She removed items until she found what Kiefer had requested. Her fingers brushed the cell phone as she pulled a box from the pack. Could she push numbers without Marko noticing? No, the time wasn't right. She'd have one chance and she would need to make that count. She handed Kiefer the scissors and bandages.

“I'm going to need a suture kit and the bottle of saline.”

As he cut away the man's shirt and started to clean around the wound, Ashley continued to unload the backpack. Thankfully she had Kiefer and the bed between her and Marko. If she could just slip the phone out far enough to touch 911... Her heart beat faster as she reached into the backpack again. Her fingers circled the phone. Her hand shook. She gave a quick glance at Marko. He was still glaring at them, watching too closely. Not yet. She laid the backpack flat on the floor, setting the phone close to the zipper opening.

“I'm ready to suture. I'm going to need your help. Put some gloves on,” Kiefer said.

Ashley did so. Her fear must have shown on her face because he reached across and squeezed her hand. “We'll get through this.”

“Stop all the talking and get going,” Marko said, shifting impatiently.

Kiefer put a hand on their patient's shoulder. “Jorge, I don't have any way of making you more comfortable. I'm sorry. This is going to hurt.” He said to Ashley in a resigned tone, “Please open one of the suture packages.”