Chapter Forty-one
Derrick bounded over the side of the building at the same time the ledge gave way. He grabbed Kristina’s arm and then attempted to grasp on to anything he could. He couldn’t secure a grip. All he could do was slow their descent as he held onto her with one arm, pulling her against his side, and groping at the wall with the other. “Hang on to me, Kristina!” he yelled. She latched her arms around him tightly, freeing his other hand. He clawed at the wall, slowing their fall. Derrick peered below them, making sure they had a clear path before he dropped. Skin had already ripped from his fingers, and he didn’t know how much longer he could dig bloody flesh into the building and still maintain his grasp. At two hundred feet, they were within dropping distance, so he swung her up in his arms and dropped, his body taking the force and allowing his arms to fall further to lessen the jolt on her body. After all, his body was made for this; hers wasn’t. He removed the blindfold and realized the impact had still knocked her unconscious.
He heard a man’s laugh and glanced up to see the black-clad figure leaning over the wall. The rogue saluted and took off.
Derrick glanced around the alley, praying no one had witnessed his stunt. Thankfully, one thing had gone right. Well, two, his wife was in his arms, which was more important than anything else in his life. But the rogue was gone, and it was clear he wasn’t going to give up.
He stood with Kristina, cradling her like a child and then walked inside the lobby of his building, ignoring the shocked face of the doorman as he strode toward the elevator to the parking deck. He was sure the blood dripping from his fingertips and an unconscious woman in his arms was enough reason to call the police, but as always, he’d come up with a story. He hadn’t been prepared, nor did he care at the moment. He just wanted to get Kristina to his vehicle and drive her to the clinic so he could check to make sure she didn’t have any internal injuries.
After reclining the front seat and strapping her in, he vaulted over the vehicle to the driver’s door. For the first time in his life, he didn’t care who saw him; he only cared about his wife.
He hit the “call” button on the steering wheel and clicked “recent calls”. The clinic’s nighttime receptionist picked up, rattling off her name.
“Roseanne, it’s Derrick. I need you to call my father and tell him he needs to meet me at the clinic. Tell him I’m bringing Kristina. She may have internal injuries.”
“Um…” She paused, making him want to crawl through the phone, as if she had any right to question him, but he held his tongue, waiting to hear her great excuse. “Um… Dr. Ashton… Your father, excuse me, Dr. Ashton is already here… for your brother.”
“What?” he asked, confused, thinking he’d misunderstood. “Why? What happened?” he choked out. Derrick had hurt the rogue, but he wasn’t that hurt, and he wouldn’t have been able to get there that quickly, so that was good. His brother was clear of any suspicion.
“Dr. Maher brought him in,” Roseanne responded.
“Victoria Maher or her father?” he pressed.
“Dr. Victoria Maher, sir.”
Hanging up, Derrick pounded on the gas, weaving through the narrow streets of Boston, ignoring every streetlight. Kristina groaned from the passenger seat, and he realized he needed to take it easy with the potholes. He touched her arm, but kept his eyes on the road. After a few seconds, her hand covered his and he breathed a sigh of relief, glancing down at her. Her eyes were still closed, but she was cognizant enough to recognize his touch.
“Where do you hurt, Kristina?”
“My… head,” she said in a shaky voice.
“Did you hit it?” He was certain jostling her around while keeping from falling couldn’t have helped her.
“Don’t… think… so,” she sputtered, and he wondered if she’d passed out again. “He… drugged… pungent, alcohol-like... thirsty.”
Derrick pulled into the parking lot and jogged around to the passenger side, pulling Kristina out. He was careful not to bounce her as he carried her through the ER doors and back to the operating room. It was small, but they had everything the larger hospitals had, if not more. Being a private organization had its benefits. There was no board of directors. If something new came out, Derrick or his father ordered it.
Derrick shouted to Roseanne as he walked Kristina to the back where they housed an MRI. “Tell my father I’m here, please.” An MRI was the fastest way to see if there was any internal bleeding. In public hospitals, they screwed around with cheaper tests, but he didn’t see any need in wasting time with x-rays or ultrasounds. As he trudged along the corridor, he scanned the rooms for his father or Michael, but saw no one.
After the tests were completed, Derrick went to move Kristina from the platform, but Victoria appeared behind the glass wall, streaks of tears running down her cheeks. Derrick checked on Kristina, who was still out, and then went to the door. He needed to get Kristina IV fluids, as it appeared there were no internal injuries. She was just dehydrated.
As soon as he opened the door, Vic fell into his arms. “Michael’s in the O.R. He was shot. I was beating the crap out of him, thinking he was the rogue, and then the agent shot him—”
“Victoria,” Derrick cut her off, “slow down. Michael was shot?”
She nodded.
“You were beating him up?”
She nodded again. “I… I thought he was the rogue,” she stammered. “I heard the man yelp, and then I saw Michael, only he was all in black, fighting him. I just assumed…”
“Agent? Does he have spiky blond hair?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“I have him cuffed to a bed upstairs in the psyche ward, since there’s no one there.”
“Is Michael okay?”
She exhaled a deep breath and more tears fell. “I don’t know. The man shot him.”
“Okay,” Derrick started, steeling himself. “Stay with Kristina. The rogue used her as bait to lure me to my roof, but then I had to make a choice to save her or chase him. So he’s still out there. He drugged her with chloroform, I think. So she needs something for nausea and IV fluids.” He stopped and stared at her, then lowered his voice. “Give her eight hundred milligrams of ibuprofen for her headache. Nothing stronger, okay?”
“You’ll go assist with Michael?” She swallowed hard, shaking her head as if embarrassed. “I couldn’t. I couldn’t pull myself together. Some doctor I am, huh?”
“That’s normal, Victoria.” He rested his hand against her cheek and then pulled her into his arms to comfort her. “He’ll be okay. Dad won’t lose him,” he said, as much to convince himself as her. He stepped over to Kristina and kissed her on the head. “Please protect her.”
“I will, Derrick. I understand. I saw your pain earlier. I don’t ever want to see you like that again. Do you hear me? We need you. You’re strong. The family can’t afford to lose you.”
He closed his eyes and released a shaky breath. He didn’t feel strong at the moment. He felt as if everything in his life was unravelling. He turned and exited the room, heading toward the O.R.
Derrick scrubbed up and entered the surgery area, but his father had just finished, it appeared.
Lynford turned to Derrick and gave him a quick nod. “He’ll be okay.” He motioned for Derrick to leave, so Derrick followed. Once outside the O.R., his father turned to him. “We have another patient. God only knows how, but Vic took them both out. Evidently, Mike had injured the human before Vic showed up, so we need to tend to him. Of course, then I don’t know what we’ll do with him.” His father ran his hands through his black hair that had only a sprinkling of gray, but right now, he looked older than usual. His normally olive skin was pale, and it looked as though someone had sponged a soft purple shade underneath his eyes. “Do you have any idea what’s going on? Why Michael would attack a human?”
Derrick chewed on his lip a second and then nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. We think he’s a government agent. I called his tag number into Michael the other day because he was following Kristina. Michael must have tracked him down. The man has the video of my dive off the bridge to rescue Kristina, and who knows what else.”
