Page 48 of Bernadette
“We did, and it’s in the hands of some federal agent.”
“Me,” came a voice outside the curtain, and Morgan turned to smile at Agent Stokes. “May I come in?”
“You may,” Morgan smiled at him, then teared up when he kissed her temple and told her how sorry he was about Wyatt. “Good news, I have nine agents working in teams of three to cover his room around the clock. They’ve been warned about not taking any food or drinks from someone they don’t recognize. I’ve been working with Owen Drake, and he’s been working with Elijah. Right now, we’re trying to do everything in our power to keep you and Wyatt safe. Oh, and Chuck Dryden. I got a call from Lucas about an hour ago and they’re taking him to surgery.”
“What drug was he given?”
“Special K.”
“The horse tranquilizer?” Dillon demanded.
“Yes, if I were you, I’d call home and have someone you trust take inventory, and write down the batch numbers of the vials, or if anything is missing. I don’t know if you have any on the ranch, and you might want to get an up-to-date inventory so their lawyer can’t come back and say that you were the ones to try to take Chuck out.”
“On it,” Dillon said as he pulled his phone. He paused long enough to look at Morgan. “Don’t ever scare me like that again. I’ve seen a lot in the military, but that scared the shit out of me. Don’t do it again.”
“Yes, Sir.” She gave him a mock salute and laughed at his stern expression, but his grin ruined it. It turned out that she could leave, but not before extracting a promise that she would be taking it easy.
“She will,” Alfie said, and took her hand to help her stand. They all went out to the hall, but when stomachs began to rumble, they went to the cafeteria. Alan went over and whispered to Dillon while he was on the phone, and he nodded and gave a thumbs up sign. Thirty minutes later, he joined them and slid into an empty seat at the tables they’d put together. Alex had gone up and gotten the J’s to have them join in.
“I called Wilson and updated him on everything,” Dillon said by way of explanation. “He said he would personally go thorough and inventory all our vet supplies. He knows where the original order is kept, and he’ll compare it to them. We’re hoping if anything was taken from the ranch, we can narrow it down to a timeline somewhere.”
“That sounds good. Let me know what he finds.” Agent Stokes nodded at him.
“Maybe,” Astrid started and looked around, when everyone looked at her, she sighed. “Maybe we should think about setting up cameras in the barn. You know, to keep an eye on who gets the supplies, when, and why. Not that we can answer the why, but we can answer the who, and when, possibly the what.”
“I agree,” Stokes said. “Dillon, what do you think?”
“Normally, this would be a dual decision between Wyatt and me, but with him still asleep in the ICU, I’ll make the executive decision to have it done. Astrid let me know what you need, and can you install it?”
“I can, and I will,” she agreed, and picked up her sandwich she’d bought earlier. Morgan was far from hungry, but she knew she would have to eat something before her brothers yelled at her. She picked at her sandwich, and ended up eating the Jell-O and yogurt she’d purchased. She frowned when she saw her oldest brother on his phone.
“Justin, you know how I feel about phones at the table.”
“I know.” He didn’t bother looking at her for several moments and when he did, she scowled at him.
“What’s wrong?”
“I hate to say this, but I’m going to have to go home.”
“Can you swing by the ranch and have Dolly pack a bag for me? I’m not leaving here until Wyatt wakes up. I don’t know how long it’ll take.”
Justin winced as he looked at her, and cringed as he admitted. “Not that home. Home, home.”
Morgan looked at him with wide eyes, and before she could say anything, all the siblings caught onto what he was saying. “Shit, do you think you should?”
“I do, and we all know that it should be in person. I’ll volunteer to do it.”
“I don’t understand,” Ava said. “Can’t you call your parents and tell them what happened?”
“We can, but it’s not our parents he’s talking about.” Morgan admitted. “It’s Chuck’s mother. Angela Dryden.”
“Is she a bad person?”
“NO!” seven people yelled and held up their hands to stop any other thoughts or words to that nature.
“She’s an excellent mother, a great woman, it’s just that she tends to baby Chuck when he’s hurt.”
“Baby how?” Mikel Stokes asked.
