SUNSHINE.
She smiled. "Yes. I'm gonna help you. Kieran Chase is having the charges reversed. The guards will be gone soon."
Troy's eyes shifted toward the door.PAPER.
Elizabeth pulled a pad from her pocket. In broken sentences, he wrote:
Alden in charge moving contraband drugs in jail assault inmates. Deep-voiced woman inserted drugs inside me. His body was straining; his fingers couldn't control the pen. He pointed to below his waist.Man. No name. Taller. Black eyes. Can't move.Troy’s eyes dampened.
She swallowed hard. He had described Lewis. "Troy, they broke your back. You need more surgery. You have to give yourself time. You’re a survivor."
NO.
Elizabeth needed him to understand. She shared her story. She shared the shame she hadn't admitted to herself. "I didn't have someone to carry me off the mountain. He made the choice for me. He threw me off a balcony, and I was badly injured. I was pregnant with Marty's child. Our baby girl didn't survive. Troy, those words on your chest, the things you stand for. The reasons you took this assignment. Youarea survivor."
STOP THEM.His hand dropped to his side; his eyes rolled into his head, and he seized.
"No, no, no." She pressed the code blue button, and medical staff, Sam, and Julian raced into the room.
Elizabeth's voice dropped an octave, her shoulders pushed back as she issued commands like a drill sergeant. The team around the bed jumped at her every word. Minutes ticked by before the seizures stopped.
Patrick approached her. "You got him back, Beth. I'll go with him to CT. You need to rest."
"I WOULD NOT NEED REST IF HIS GUARDS DIDN'T DO THIS TO HIM!" She launched herself at Alden McAllister.
The guard caught and lifted her off her feet, shaking her hard. "You need to watch yourself, Dr. Reed. Next time, I take you down hard."
Elizabeth saw the lethal operator appear in Julian. "Let go of her now."
Alden dropped her to her feet and took a step back, holding up his hands.
After she stomped down the hall toward the doctors’ lounge, Julian engaged the lock behind them. Before either could speak, Sam knocked. "Dr. Hedges is concerned. He wants a full set of vitals on Dr. Reed."
"Tell him I'm fine." She shoved Sam back and turned the lock again. "Here." She thrust her pad at Julian. "I pushed him too far."
He scanned what she handed him, then locked his eyes on hers and opened his arms. "Chère, Marty will be so proud of you. We’ll bring him home soon.”
Tucked inside Julian’s embrace, she sobbed.
Chapter Thirty
TJ "Cuda" Poole, posing as a CO, and Wesley "Alamo" Crockett, posing as Sergeant Dave Tibbs, walked down the basement corridor toward Martin's cell. "Open six," Wesley said.
The CO at the panel at the other end of the corridor pressed the button, and the cell opened. Martin was gone.
"Where's the prisoner?" Wesley asked.
Sergeant Keene Jensen ambled down the hall. "He's in interrogation room two with some lady from Homeland Security. Don't bunch your shorts in a knot, Dave."
"Keene, I'll give you a fucking knot. Bailey's attorney is here, demanding to see him. She's pissed," Wesley said.
Alarms sounded, and lights flashed. "Lockdown. Lockdown. Prisoner escape from interrogation,” the loudspeaker warned on repeat.
Wesley, TJ, and Keene took off in a run. Arriving at the interrogation room, they found Tim Lampton barely conscious and Brynn Hackman dead. TJ knelt to help Lampton. "Bailey escaped," were his last words before he lost consciousness.
Kieran's angry phone calls produced another set of angry calls. The entire federal law enforcement community was in response mode. With Mike at his side, Kieran banged on the front door of District Attorney Loren Ragan's residence until the door opened. "Mr. Chase, what's going on? Even for you, this is dramatic." The DA threw open his door and gestured for Kieran and Mike to come into his home.
"Ragan, sit your ass in that chair and listen."
