AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She glanced over to see Gavin on the phone and he gave her a thumbs up. "So far so good. Gavin got him out of the room pretty quickly. Hopefully, he wasn't exposed."
“The officials there yet?”
She shook her head then realized he couldn't see that. Oh, man. "Not yet. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, you need to get a replacement ready."
“Replacement?”
“In case I’m out of commission for a while.” Or forever, a small voice muttered in her head and she shivered. What was this? She normally wasn’t this moody or excitable. “If I have to go into isolation or something, we need to make sure the Senator is covered.”
“How many men was Hank sending?”
“Three,” she replied and he mentioned calling Hank and arranging for him to cover the bodyguard. “I’d not be able to get anyone there for at least a week. Hank’s guys are already on their way, should be there by tomorrow morning, if not before.”
She smiled. “Good, cause everything’s FUBAR here.”
CHAPTER5
The medical personnelentered the room a few minutes later, covered head to toe in hazmat suits. Rachel giggled shrilly then covered her mouth, her eyes wide. She’d been pacing the far half of the room for the past five minutes and Gavin noted her breathing had increased as well. As the hazmat specialists contained the envelope and took it from the room, a man approached him. Gavin gestured toward Rachel. “See about her first, she’s been a little jittery.”
The med tech reached for his arm and started taking his pulse. “She’ll be seen to, now just relax.”
Gavin eyed him. “Seriously?”
“Sorry,” the guy’s expression matched his tone through the face mask. He glanced up at Gavin. “Any shortness of breath? Have you been having heart palpitations or flutterings? Any tightness in your chest?”
Gavin shook his head, his eyes still on Rachel. She’d pulled her arm away from the tech at least two times. “Let’s move over there,” he said and led his tech to the couch.
“I don’t want my pulse taken. I’m fine. I need to get back to work.” Her words were staccato and said in a rush and she looked at Gavin, her pupils small and tight. “Tell them, Gavin. I have to get back to work.”
“You called Kane, remember? He’s taking care of everything.”
“He’s going to think I can’t do my job. Ican’tdo it, can I? I almost let the Senator get poisoned. What if he is poisoned? Is he poisoned, Gavin?”
Gavin reached out and took her hand. After jerking away from him she tucked her hand in his and looked at him pleadingly. “I don’t feel good.”
“I know, honey. We’re both going to feel like crap for a few days, I have a feeling. Let’s let these guys do their job then we’ll go have a rest, okay?” He strived to keep his voice calm when he felt like his organs were doing a dance inside him.
“But the Senator,” she said.
“Appears to be fine, miss. He’s being checked out in the hallway, but nothing seems to be wrong with him. He’ll be going to the hospital too, just in case.” The tech examining her looked up and smiled reassuringly.
“Okay,” she said, her eyes closing. She leaned her head back but the hand enfolded in Gavin’s twitched and squeezed, almost as if it were trying to leave her body and go on a mission of its own.
The next hour was a blur as they were transported in an ambulance to a hospital and then, through some miracle of miracles, to the Senator’s house. He insisted they’d be safer and more comfortable in his home. The doctors confirmed the poison was a blend of cocaine and strychnine, nonlethal at the dosage they’d consumed, but serious enough they’d need medical attention. He’d hired a doctor to check on them daily and a nurse to administer to them. When Gavin protested, he shook his head. “We need to work on this and, sorry, but you’re not going to be lying around. You’ll both be busy.”
Rachel already had her room and Gavin was quickly settled in a room next door by Mrs. Finch who hovered over the both of them. The first few hours Gavin spent between wanting to run a four-minute mile and feeling like he was coming down with a bad case of the flu. When he asked Mrs. Finch about Rachel, she shook her head. “The nurse gave her a sedative and a muscle relaxer but she’s like a puppy in her sleep. I’d swear she’s in a track and field competition. Her arms and legs are never still.”
Gavin accepted the small paper cup holding two pills and looked at them. The nurse, standing alongside Mrs. Finch, smiled and indicated the pills one at a time. “Muscle relaxer, for the aches and stiff muscles, sedative for the agitation and restlessness.”
“I’m not—”
“You’re running the fifty-yard dash in your brain,” she said calmly. “Strychnine alone will make you restless. Add in the dash of cocaine you both got and you’re ready to climb the walls. Take the pills, Mr. Hansen. You’ll feel better in a few hours.”
He took the pills and within half an hour started to doze. Just before he went to sleep though, the thought crossed his mind. How’d a tainted letter gotten through the increased security of the Capitol? And how in the hell were they going to fight an organization as big and powerful as the cartel?
Rachel awokeat the sound of her door opening the next morning. Her throat was dry, her pulse still racing, and her muscles felt like she’d been on PT for a week without a break. She groaned then sat up, pushing her hair out of her eyes.
A vaguely familiar-looking nurse came in the room with a bottle of water and a small paper cup on a tray, followed by the Senator. Rachel pulled the rumpled covers up to her waist and sent a prayer of gratitude up that Mrs. Finch had wrestled her into her yoga pants and a t-shirt last night instead of letting her sleep in her bra and panties, as she'd been insisting.
