Page 86 of Valor

Since her father had made peace with Allen, she couldn’t say he was standing in her way anymore. The only thing keeping her from telling Allen she wanted him in her life was her fear he would walk away once she was attached to him. If she grew to love him, would it destroy her?

Her nurse checked the IV and entered some things on the computer, then gave her a fresh bag of fluids and removed an empty one from the heavily laden IV tree at her side. Allen had been right. There was no way she could leave the hospital yet.

“I’ll need to check your wound to make sure it isn’t weeping.” The nurse gently touched around the gauze and gave a nod. “I’m not going to open it so soon after surgery, but it’s not leaking. What is your pain level?”

Heather hated that question. One person’s five was another person’s ten, and she always felt like a complainer for being as accurate as she could be. “I’m sleepy, but the pain is sharp. Probably an eight.” Even thinking about it made the throbbing intensify.

The nurse adjusted the slide and increased the speed of delivery on one bag of fluid rushing to her veins. “Give that about ten minutes. Sheriff Pendleton said he will stay here in this room until a local officer can come and guard the area. That’s all I know. They aren’t telling us much because they feel that the fewer people who know the full plan, the more likely it will succeed.”

Allen had called Jackie when she’d still been in the other larger room next to the nurse’s station. Now, she was as far down the hall as possible with no other patients nearby. No one would know she was there if they didn’t see nurses coming and going. “Thank you.” She shifted slightly, trying to get more comfortable on the thin mattress.

“Let me help. There’s an exact setting that makes these beds the most comfortable, but it takes some know how.” The nurse grinned as she slowly raised the head of the bed, but not much.

“Oh!” Suddenly, the pressure was gone from Heather’s hips and sleepiness laid heavily over her. “Thank you.”

She closed her eyes as the nurse half opened the curtain, leaving her view of the door blocked. Allen came to her side and took her hand again. She could now tell it was him without opening her eyes. His presence was comforting.

“I can’t stay too much longer, but I don’t want to leave you,” he said. “I sent your father to a safe house while they were transferring you to this room. Only one local sergeant knows where he is. Hopefully, in a few days, he can come home.”

She gripped his hand tighter. “You’ll come back?” Facing the unknown without him there terrified her. Never mind that the plan had been hers. She still didn’t want to end up dead or captured again.

“Absolutely. Jackie is getting set up in the other room. She had to put on a surgical cap because her hair is different, but it’s obvious there’s a woman lying there, not a man. If Eric or Micha don’t look closely, they may not realize anything until it’s too late.”

“I hope they don’t shoot inside the hospital. That’s the only part of this plan that scares me.”

“I know. Danny and I are stationed in the bathroom. Rod is sitting by the bed, like a family member, since they know what Danny and I look like.” He gripped her hand tighter. “I knew you would worry. I considered keeping the information from you, but it didn’t feel right. The Goddards were murdered in their home. There’s a team there now, looking for evidence. Our working theory is that you were correct. It may have been the two men who were killed in Rapid City.”

Her throat was better after the ice water, allowing her to talk. “I did some research on Rose Quartz when I was looking up information about the Black Hills. It’s mostly found near Custer. Mining quartz has become almost as big a business as Black Hills Gold.”

He nodded in agreement. “Yes, and we’ll never know if the Goddards knew about it or not, or if there’s any truth to the claims that there’s quartz on the land. Since there’s a question of minerals, I’ve petitioned for a stay on the election.”

Her heart thundered in her chest. “Won’t that make Eric aware we know? He’ll come after us even harder.”

“I don’t want him anywhere near you, but if we don’t stop that election, we could lose our foothold with him. What little there is. Can you trust me?”

Could she? He was leaving her side to do his job, but he’d been clear about his intentions. He’d even told her more than he probably should out of respect for her. This was the point she had to decide if she was going to give up her old hurts and risk a new one. “Yes, I trust you.”

She’d thought the admission would come harder, that she would feel sick to her stomach with worry. Instead, trust felt more like another tie between the two of them, drawing them closer together.

“Thank you,” he said. “If you weren’t lying in a hospital bed, I’d kiss you. For now, I’ll settle for your hand.” He drew her knuckles to his lips again and brushed them softly, his warm breath tingling over her skin.

“I won’t be here forever.”

He grinned, then winced and pressed the gauze at his neck. “That sounds like a promise. I’ll hold you to that.”

It was a promise she intended to keep. “What about Oliver and Aaron? Micha made it sound as if they were unwitting accomplices.”

He held off from answering for a moment. “I’m not sure. We’ll have to interview them to see how much they knew. I’d love to assume the best of them, but that’s not how this works. Even though Oliver has been your family friend for years, it doesn’t mean he wasn’t willing to do something to get back in his son’s good graces.”

That had been odd. She’d known he had a son, but he was completely absent from Oliver’s life. “It’s sad. Oliver has lived in that house for as long as we’ve lived there, and I’ve never seen his son. The only reason I knew he had one is because he talks about Aaron sometimes. I wonder what separated them and made Aaron take a different last name?”

“I don’t know and can’t speculate, but that’s not an avenue we’ve forgotten about. It’s just as likely that Aaron is working with Eric and Oliver knew nothing. We’ll have to see how all of this shakes out. If Eric thinks the deposit of quartz is worth enough, he could get rich from that land. Enough to bring in all the help he would need to get his hands on it.”

That was obvious from the fact that he’d enlisted the help of so many people. Then again, a quartz operation was mining. Mining meant jobs. Much of the process of mining quartz was done first by blast, then by hand. If Eric had promised all these people jobs close to home, that would carry a lot of weight. Local jobs were scarce. It was one of the biggest complaints of long-time residents.

How far would people go to provide for their families? Some much further than others. That would explain why the clerk at the Wall Mart hadn’t wanted to hurt them, but had wanted them caught. He could want a job, but he wouldn’t get one if he was arrested. Unfortunately, now he’d never have the chance.

Someone knocked on the door and Allen looked at her for permission to allow them in. She nodded her consent, and he glanced around the curtain to see who was there. “It’s the officer who will be watching you. I don’t think anything will go wrong, but we have to plan accordingly.” He kissed her hand once more and left the room.

---