[Harlequin] - C J Carmichael - It Takes a Hero (txt), Ksiazki, txt
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SophieIt Takes a HerobyC.J. Carmichael===========================================================================Chapter OneIt was 10 p.m., one hour before the end of her evening shift, and LucyCaldwell had just popped the tab on a can of root beer when the ER roomgot the call. Paramedic squad 2 was already en route to the hospital."We've got two men, late twenties or early thirties, both conscious withknife wounds. We started an IV on the younger guy � he's got a knife inhis abdomen and has lost a lot of blood. The other is doing okay � just alaceration to his hand that'll need some stitches."The ER physician on duty, Rachel Browne, hit the transmit button. "Anyother injuries?""Not that we can see."Lucy set aside her soda in order to replenish the treatment tray. Dr.Browne made a sound of disgust. "I can't believe this � it's only teno'clock."So far their evening had been typical � several children with highfevers, a baseball injury to a teenaged boy and a man in his sixties whothought he was having a heart attack. Cases involving crime and gangwarfare � and this latest incident was bound to be one or the other �normally didn't hit the ER until after midnight.Ten minutes later came the inevitable wail of the sirens. Lucy snapped ona fresh pair of gloves then pulled a mask over her mouth and nose. Acrossthe room, Dr. Browne did the same. For a moment, their gazes met over thesterile examining bed. Rachel gave her a small, reassuring nod, whichLucy appreciated. She'd worked in the Courage Bay Hospital's ER sincegraduation two years ago, but each new call still caused a flutter in herstomach.In the ER you never knew what situation was about to fly in the door.Just last week a man had been brought in with a gunshot wound to hischest. Firefighters had accompanied the paramedics, one of themperforming CPR, another holding the endotracheal tube in place. Bad, badnews.Lucy had fought an urge to run out of the room, to hand in herresignation and admit that her parents were right. She couldn't handlethis job.But somehow, she'd stuck it out. Despite the turmoil of emotions withinher, she'd maintained a calm facade. When the paramedic's original IVline had blown, she'd started a new one with steady fingers on her firstattempt.The situation tonight would not be as dire as that one, she hoped. Still,she tensed as she heard the wheels of the gurneys against linoleum.Moments later the paramedics, accompanied by a cop this time, burst intothe room with the two victims."Come on in," said Ellen, the charge nurse for the evening. "We'reholding your table."Lucy was surprised to see that the accompanying cop was Officer CaseyGuthrie. His dark hair was a mess, thanks to his motorcycle helmet, whichhe carried tucked under his arm like a football. As his gaze swept theroom, he spied her and offered a quick nod, displaying no sign of hisusual, cocky charm.Lucy's attention quickly centered on the two victims. One struggled tosit upright on the gurney. "Get me off this thing. I'm perfectly capableof walking." He sounded educated. And familiar. But as he was wheeledinto a separate curtained area, she focused on the second man, who wouldbe her patient.He lay pale and inert � clearly, he had sustained the more severeinjuries."Well, well," Rachel said. "If it isn't our pal, Howard Barker."Indeed it was. Barker, a small-time criminal, showed up in the ERperiodically when his robbery attempts went awry.Lucy checked the IV line. "Don't you ever learn?"Howard was conscious, but only just, as the doctor performed a quickassessment. A second nurse hooked the patient up to the monitor and puton the blood pressure cuff as Lucy hung a new bag to the intact IV line.Howard's glazed eyes followed her every movement."Good to see you, Angel," he said."Howard, we've got to stop meeting like this." With heavy-duty traumashears, Lucy cut away Howard's clothing, his filthy jeans and even morefoul-smelling T-shirt, searching for other injuries. She took note of thetattoo on his left arm, and a new one on the other arm."See anything else?" Rachel asked."Nothing." Apparently the knife in his abdomen was the extent of it thistime. Now Lucy took a closer look at the injury. The knife had entered atthe midpoint above the umbilicus and had only penetrated a few inches."Not too bad," Rachel said. "We can sew this up nice and pretty for you,Howard."Lucy felt relieved that the wound hadn't been more serious. Howard was athief with poor hygiene, but he was also a young man with a wife and twotoddlers. He carried their photos in his wallet. Lucy didn't see how aman who never left the house without his babies' pictures could be allbad. She knew he drank now and then, but he didn't do drugs. Anotherpoint in his favor."I hurt, Angel.""Of course you hurt. You have a knife in your gut." Lucy cleaned thewound so the doctor could start suturing."So what happened this time?" Rachel drew the needle carefully throughthe first fold of skin."I'm not sure. I stopped this guy to talk. Next thing I know, he'sthrowing punches.""Interesting story, Barker." Officer Casey Guthrie emerged from behindthe curtained area where the second man had been taken for treatment."Unfortunately, it doesn't jive with what the man back there just toldme."Now that the first rush of procedures were over, Casey spared Lucy agrin. "Fancy seeing you here."She gave a small nod toward the man on the table. "I'm running into allsorts of familiar faces tonight.""But mine is your favorite, right?""No flirting in my ER, Mr. Guthrie, please." Rachel's tone was firm, butsmile lines crinkled on either side of her pretty eyes."Got it, Doc." Casey gave Lucy a wink then turned back to Howard. "Howabout you save us some time and cut the crap, Howie. You saw a guy in agood suit step out of an expensive car and decided to unburden him of hiswallet. Unexpectedly, he fought back and you ended up knifing yourself inthe gut. That about cover it?"Howard glowered. "His suit wasn't that good.""Not up to the standard of your apparel, admittedly." A second manstepped out from behind the curtain. Despite the ordeal he'd just beenthrough, his wool jacket had hardly a wrinkle. His black shoes lookedfreshly polished. The collar of his shirt was impeccably white. Thespitting image of a businessman emerging from a boardroom to take a call.Except for the bandages on his right hand.Lucy hadn't seen him for many years. The setting was out of context. Butsuddenly the face � handsome, lean, well-bred � connected with a namefrom her past."Dean Haskins." Or Dean Richard Haskins the third, as her motherpreferred to call him. Alexis Caldwell had mentioned something about hisreturn to Courage Bay when Lucy had called her last week. Now Dean in theflesh turned his cool, detached eyes in her direction and frowned."Have we met?"He stepped up to her and hooked a finger through her mask, pulling itaside so he could see her face. Lucy was shocked. By his nerve. By hiscloseness. By his height. By the fact that he smelled as good as helooked. Wouldn't a normal man sweat after being attacked by a guy with aknife?"Lucy Caldwell," he said softly. He smiled, and something changed in hiseyes. They seemed softer. More approachable. "I see you're no longerbouncing basketballs off my parents' garage door. Or rescuing theirgoldfish from the pond and releasing them to the ocean."Where they most assuredly had died within minutes of being dumped intothe unfamiliar saltwater. Some of her stunts had been motivated by moreheart than brains. But she'd been young and foolish then. The scourge ofthe upper-class Jacaranda Heights neighborhood where she'd been born andraised."Another two-by-two, please, Lucy." Dr. Browne spoke mildly, remindingLucy of her duties.Dean backed away and Lucy dabbed at the small pool of blood, allowing thedoctor to make her final suture. Casey, she noticed, still stood in thecorner of the room, watching Dean curiously."You guys know each other?""I lived across the street. We grew up together," Dean said.Grew up together? That was stretching the facts, Lucy thought. Dean hadbeen five years older and had considered her beneath his notice. Not thatshe had cared. From a young age, she'd known she didn't fit in with thecountry club set. She wanted to make a difference in the world, and notjust with a Waterford pen and a checkbook, the way her parents did.And Dean would be no different. Her father had told her what a successhe'd made of his life. First business school and an MBA, then he'dstarted his own company, which had recently been listed on the New YorkStock Exchange."My mother told me you were relocating your head office from L.A. toCourage Bay.""Did she? I'm so glad you found me worthy of conversation."Was he flirting? Dean Haskins the third? Here, in front of the man who'dtried to rob him, the doctor who was stitching the wound he'd inflictedand the cop who'd undoubtedly been the first on the scene?"Everyone's going to be talking about you after this," she said. And forsome reason, Lucy felt annoyed to realize that he would be considered ahero and all because he'd managed to fend off a poor, malnourished manwho was only trying to put food on the table for his family. "Did youhaveto stick the knife in him?""Did I have to � ?" Dean looked at her in amazement. "He was trying torob me, for Pete's sake! Anyway, I didn't mean to hurt him. I was justtrying to grab the knife out of his hand."What kind of man said for Pete's sake, in a situation like this? Dean...
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