He turned and stared up at the hospital. He was here already. He could just go back in and see what she had to contribute. As he stood here, another vehicle drove past. And then another and another. He realized the workday was starting, and the hospital’s day shifts were coming on as it got busier and busier. That also meant a lot more other people would be walking in and out of the hospital. His mind automatically went to the guy who had the access to get into the sub when he shouldn’t have. If he got onto the sub, he could easily get into the hospital. But why would he? The only reason he would care if she was alive or dead was if he’d heard about her surviving—and if he thought she could identify him.
Frowning at that, he slowly walked to his Jeep. He needed his laptop, and he needed to do some background checks on who she was, who her friends were, and what was going on in her world. No point in going up there blind without any intel before looking for her assistance.
She would just get angry and hurt.
Whereas, if he had a case to present, it would be a lot easier. Not feeling good about the situation in any way, shape, or form, he figured he’d camp out in her hallway as he did research. Then he’d approach her.
This time he didn’t go into her room, finding a nearby empty hospital room to use temporarily. If the nurses needed it for a patient, he’d find another empty room.
He accessed her personnel file, at least what he was allowed to see, and found she was thirty-one years old, single, and never married. Her family consisted of a brother and her parents, who lived in Australia. Her father was an engineer, working in building construction. Her mother had been a stay-at-home mom but apparently was heavily involved in charity work. Axel made a few notes, but not a whole lot was here.
He focused his efforts on her again and checked her education. He could see her path between degrees, until she finally ended up in her specialty. He frowned at that. She had gotten a lot of her training in the military, which was not uncommon, but she had excelled and was always at the top of the class. She could do very well in the private sector, but instead she stayed in the service.
He knew a lot of people made the military service their career, and others just stayed until something in their life caused them to move on. He wondered what she would do after this accident. Apparently she had always been a fanatic about submarines, so she was technically doing what she loved to do. But then people would say things like that, but it didn’t necessarily hold true. Over time, all these ideals and goals could change. Career interests changed as well. He wondered just how much hers had changed and how much they were changing now.
He searched on Google to see what else he could find. He found her Facebook page with very sporadic posts. He checked a few of the dating sites, but nothing was under her name. Of course she could have used a different name. She looked like the straight-shooter kind of person, but then what did he know? According to Mason, an awful lot of questions were being asked about her role in this as it was.
Axel decided a few hospital sandwiches were in order, so he got up, found the lunchroom, and was just about to get a cup of coffee, when his phone rang. “Hello?”
“He was here,” she said, her voice tense, sounding thin and high.
“Who was here?” He could hear her gasping in the background, realizing that, even though she hadn’t stated who she was, he had no trouble recognizing Ally’s voice. “Ally, what’s the matter?”
But her breaths were raspy and harsh.
“Come on. Talk to me. You’re okay. Talk to me.”
She gave a high-pitched laugh. “What do you mean, I’m okay?” she said. “I just told you that he was here.” And the phone went dead. Having heard the emphasis on he, Axel snatched his laptop and his phone and was out the cafeteria door in seconds. As he barreled up the steps, then through the hallway to her room, one of the nurses stepped forward from the nurses’ station and said, “Sorry, sir. She can’t have visitors right now.”
“Oh, she’s having a visitor,” he said, his voice hard. “She sent out a call for help. I need to know what the hell is going on.”
The nurse looked at him in shock. “What are you talking about?” she asked. “She had her checkup not even forty minutes ago.”
“And lunch?”
“Yes. Her lunch was delivered probably about five to ten minutes ago,” she said, checking her watch. But he still walked rapidly down the hallway, the nurse racing to catch up. When he finally got to Ally’s door, he pushed it open and stepped in. He didn’t care about knocking. She sat there with her arms wrapped tight around her chest, curled up into a tiny ball at the headboard, as much as she could with a cast. At least her leg wasn’t in traction at the moment. He raced forward and, without even thinking about it, scooped her into his arms, turned to sit down with her in his lap and wrapped a blanket around her.
The nurse caught up with him and immediately looked at her. “Dear God,” she said. “What happened?”
“She’s in shock.”
The nurse quickly checked her vitals, but Axel wasn’t really concerned about that. He just held her close and spoke softly to Ally. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. You’re safe now.”
She started to shake her head, and she couldn’t seem to stop.
And he knew exactly what that was—shock. And that it would take a lot for her to calm down. Looking at the nurse, he said, “I’m just holding her for now. Give us a few minutes.”
She frowned, nodded, and said, “I’ll have to report this though.”
“That’s fine,” he said. “You and me both.”
She gave him a startled look, then left the two of them alone.
Chapter 4
When Ally slowly became more aware of her surroundings as the shock wore off, she realized she was wrapped up in Axel’s arms. Still on her hospital bed, her bad leg in a cast, just stretched out in front of her, she shivered as soon as the stiffness receded.
He grabbed another blanket and awkwardly threw it around her.
“I’m fine,” she whispered, her teeth chattering.
“Sure you are,” he said.
Obviously he didn’t believe her, but then she didn’t believe herself either. She snuggled closer. “I-I saw him. You know?”
“Who?”
“The shooter,” she whispered. “From the sub.”
He stiffened and then relaxed.
“You knew that’s who I was talking about.”
“But I still needed you to say it,” he said. “Did you get a good look at him?”
She shook her head. “He was walking away. But I’d seen him the same way, walking away on the sub,” she whispered. “So I knew it was him.”
“Same body type, same coloring?”
“I don’t know about coloring,” she said. “He had a black mask on in the sub.”
“So you said. How can you possibly know it’s the same man then?”
“Same hitch to his leg,” she whispered. And the shivering got worse for a few moments. He rubbed her arms and her back, waiting for her to calm down. “I’m not normally like this,” she said. “But seeing him, it was such a shock. It was like seeing a ghost. I knew he was here for me.”