A second blow across his mid-back caused the air to empty from his chest. His vision clouded but not enough that he couldn’t see Belinda lower her hands and point a gun at him. A third blow struck him across the back of his head as he fired his gun.
* * *
Eleanor groaned and opened her eyes. She tried to find her bearings.
“Good morning.” Pete moved to her side.
“Thirsty.” She pushed up on her elbows.
“Here.” He helped her sip. “How are you feeling?”
“Feel sick. My head wants to explode.” Eleanor adjusted her position again.
“Your body sustained a serious trauma.” He wrapped an arm around her, lifting her off her elbows and fluffing her pillows. Resting her back down, he sat on a stool, so they were eye to eye. Eleanor was able to say her name, tell him she was in a hospital room and that she worked at the Center for Training.
“Tuck warned me. I’m so stupid. I was afraid to trust him.” She hit her head with her palm and cringed from the pain. She looked at her arm and squeaked. “I’m all red.” She lifted her gown. “What’s wrong?”
After Pete explained to her what had happened from the time she was found to now, she held her head and shuddered. “Wes must hate me. I’m causing too much trouble. Will he even talk to me?”
Pete scanned her forehead with the digital thermometer. “102.8,” he said. He turned to the medicine cart and dropped two caplets into a white paper cup. “Swallow these for me…two Tylenol.” He helped Eleanor take the medicine. “Wes isn’t mad at you. He’s barely left your side. Ellie, he is worried sick.”
“He can’t have feelings for me. No….you have to help me, Pete. I need to get out of here.” She tried to flee.
Pete caught her as her foot hit the floor. She collapsed against him. “Ellie, lie back down. You are still very sick. You’re anemic, and you have the measles and brain inflammation. You’re not able to run anywhere.”
“Save them… I have to save them…” Her head rolled back, and her body began to jerk.
“Ellie!” he yelled. “I need help in here!”
* * *
Kip, Mike, Kyle, Bruce and Kieran sat in Wes’s office speaking with Troy and Gwen on speaker. “I think we have to adjust our views in this case. Belinda is not who we think she is,” Troy said.
A harsh breath fell out of Kieran’s mouth. “Belinda set Eleanor up. She’s been indifferent to her since childhood. Eleanor is a therapist. Wouldn’t she have seen this?”
“Boss, Starr may have said one true thing. He thought she was shattered by something. We thought it was the baby. Maybe it was the truth about Belinda. We need to look at her family history with the Wests more closely. Even if the Wests put the adoption on fast forward, the court must have foster records, which include a psych evaluation. Where’s Wes on his itinerary?” Troy asked.
“His last check-in was an hour ago. He was waiting to see the nurse administrator,” Kyle said.
“Alright, I’ll reach out to him.” Troy ended the call.
Kip chewed his bottom lip. “Now we need to work on the premise that Belinda is her captor, along with the rest of Ellie’s birth family. And we need to find the plant, fast.”
Buzz, buzz, buzz, flash, flash.Their cell phones went off.Employee TC 1 Alpha Whiskey Charlie in need of emergency assistance. The message was followed by coordinates.
Kieran called Communications and requested the address of the coordinates. “It’s the West house in Leesburg. Move. I’ll call the locals on our way.”
The group pulled up to the home a long twenty minutes later. The ambulance with its rear doors wide open gave them an ominous warning. Mike made it up the steps first. Two ambulance personnel and his backup were on the floor on either side of Wes.
One medic was forcing air into his lungs, and the other was starting an IV. His heartbeat was slow on the monitor.
Kip joined them in the room and knelt across from the paramedic starting the IV. “Bro, you have to wake up,” he begged, holding Wes’s limp hand.
* * *
Troy almost fell trying to run in the hospital doors. Gwen grabbed him to return his balance. They joined the rest of the group in the waiting room.
“How is he?” Troy shuddered.
