Julie Garwood - The Ideal Man

His cell phone chirped indicating he had a text. “Number unknown,” he read, and that meant the Landrys. It was a one-word text: “Cancel.”

He sat in the car for several minutes while he considered his options. The Landrys had already put half the money in the secret account. They’d want it back, and that just wasn’t fair. After all the preparation he’d done? Then there was George. Cal and Erika had gotten his brother killed. Hell, no. He wasn’t going to give them any money back. As far as he was concerned, he hadn’t seen the text. He’d do the job and keep the money.

Ellie watched the scenery out of her side window as Max drove around the curves of the worn two-lane road.

“Do we have plane tickets? Clark told me he was taking care of it, but-,” Ellie began.

“Yes, we do. You’ll be sleeping in your own bed tonight.”

Max saw a glint of steel out of the corner of his eye when they rounded another curve.

“We’re near the falls,” she said. “If there were time-”

“Down! Get your head down!”

Max shouted the command as he swerved the SUV to get out of the line of fire. Cogburn leapt onto the road, lifted his rifle, and fired two shots. Max recognized the high-powered rifle as he swerved again. “The son of a bitch is trying to hit the gas tank. Must think he can blow us up.”

Ellie was amazed at how calm he sounded. The side of her face rested on his thigh. She was trying not to knock the gearshift.

The third shot hit the left back tire, and at the speed they were going, it was nearly impossible to control the vehicle.

“Hold on, sweetheart. We’re going off-road.”

The SUV was spinning, and Ellie thought they were going to roll, but Max knew what he was doing. Within seconds the SUV had righted itself, and they were headed into the woods.

He slammed on the brakes, got Ellie’s seat belt off and his own, and said, “Let’s go.”

Max threw his door open and pulled her out behind him. They both ran flat out, ducking under branches and leaping over scrub. Max stopped suddenly, motioned for Ellie to get down, and then pushed her back so that the branches concealed her. He put his hand up to tell her to stay still. And then he waited, crouched in front of her, listening to every little sound.

Ellie tried not to make any noise and to control her breathing. If Cogburn followed their tracks, he would find them. She remained motionless and silent.

How long had they waited? She didn’t have any idea, but her legs were going numb, and she was trying to ignore the knot in her calf. How could Max stay in this position without moving a muscle for so long?

A twig snapped. Where had the sound come from? She thought the left, but Max sprang up and fired to the right, three shots in rapid succession as he moved forward, running toward his target.

He got Cogburn with the third shot. The hit man tried to get back to his car, but he had only made it to Max’s SUV when he collapsed and began to scream. He wasn’t given any sympathy. Max grabbed the rifle and tossed it into the back of the car, then squatted down next to Cogburn. “You’re in a hell of a fix here,” he said.

“I need a doctor,” Willis cried. “I’m bleeding bad.”

“You just tried to shoot a doctor.”

Ellie ran to the car and got gloves out of her purse, nudged Max out of her way, and knelt down beside the man who had wanted to kill her. Willis’s eyes were wide with terror as Ellie pushed his hands away to check the damage.

“The bullet went through,” she said.

She got up and went back to the SUV to find something she could wrap around the wound until Willis could get to a hospital. She ended up using an old T-shirt and the only dress she had left. She wadded the shirt into a ball to apply pressure, then tore the dress into strips to hold it in place.

“There isn’t any more I can do for him.”

“I’m dying?” Cogburn began to wail.

Ellie knelt behind him now and was about to answer him when Max said, “You’d better hope you’re dying because, if you’re not, you’re going away for life.”

“No, I can’t go back to prison. I can’t.”

“How about a deathbed confession?” Max asked. He was still so angry, he wanted to kill the bastard with his bare hands. He doubted Ellie would let him get away with that.

“This is all the Landrys’ fault. It’s because of them my brother’s dead, and now I’m gonna be dead, too.”

“The Landrys didn’t fire that rifle. You did.”

Ellie pulled off her gloves and reached for her cell phone. She was going to call 911, but Max gave her another number.

“Hershey should still be in Winston Falls. Tell him to send an ambulance.”

The agent answered on the first ring. He told her he was at the hospital with the sheriff’s deputy and Evan Patterson, and that he would send the ambulance right away.

“Did you know he was at the hospital?” Ellie asked. She bent over Willis and checked his pulse. She didn’t try to comfort him.

“Patterson was complaining of chest pain.”

“What…?”

“And they’re required to provide treatment.”

Ellie’s shoulders sagged. “So I’ll have to see him again.”

“You’re not going near him.”

“Has he been there all night?”

Max nodded. “Handcuffed to a bed in ICU.”

Willis started crying again. “I can’t go back to prison. I just can’t.”

“Will you testify in court, tell the judge the Landrys hired you to kill Dr. Sullivan and Agent Goodman?”

“No. They hired my brother to kill Goodman. I was supposed to kill the doctor.” He looked up at Ellie. “It’s nothing personal.”

“Yes, it is,” she snapped. “It’s very personal.”

“I can’t testify against them. I wouldn’t last a day.”

“Then you’re going to prison.”

Willis started screaming again. “This hurts bad.”

Max got up and pulled Ellie to her feet. He had to raise his voice to be heard over Willis’s sobs. “I’m going to change the tire. You’re coming with me.”

“The SUV is ten feet away.”

“You’re still coming with me. I don’t want you close to him.”

“I want to make a deal. I want a deal,” Willis pleaded.

Max looked down at him with disgust in his eyes. “What can you give me?”

“There’s a shipment coming in from Singapore. Over a thousand guns with enough ammo to cover Iowa. Grenades, too. All sorts of crap. Cal had me on speakerphone, and I heard him tell Erika how big the buy was going to be. Cal likes to brag. I think he forgot I was still on the line. Maybe, anyway. But I know where it’s going down. Get me a deal. I want witness protection.”

Max kept his reaction contained. Son of a bitch, he thought. Maybe they could get the Landrys once and for all. If Cogburn was telling the truth.

“You don’t talk to anyone about this,” Max ordered. “You understand?”

“Okay, I won’t,” he groaned. “You better not talk to your people either. There’s a leak, and if the guy running the investigation hears about me, someone in his office will tell the Landrys, and I’m a dead man.” He started crying again. “I want something for pain. Can I get a deal?”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Willis was curled up in a fetal position. His gasps were pathetic as he moaned, “You don’t have to worry about the doctor. Landrys called off the hit. I was going to act like I didn’t get the text because I knew they’d want their money back, and I could never get away from them. I was going to use the money to run. Honest.”

“They paid up front?”

“Half,” he said. His voice was getting weaker. “I can’t take this pain. It’s hurting bad.”

A few seconds later, Willis passed out.

Ellie had just pulled the jack from the back of the SUV but dropped it on the ground and ran back. “What did you do to him?”

Max shook his head. “I didn’t do anything. He passed out.”

“The wound isn’t bad,” she said. “He’ll be in and out of surgery in under an hour.”

“If he was in a trauma center, maybe, but this is Winston Falls.”

“I’m sure the surgeons here know what they’re doing. There’s probably one on the way to the hospital now.”

As it turned out, the small hospital had several surgeons on staff, and one was waiting for Willis. It did take longer than an hour to repair the damage, but not by much.

Max had signed Willis in under another name. As soon as Clark got word of the shooting, he had turned around and come back to Winston Falls. He and Hershey stood guard outside recovery while Max explained what Cogburn had told him.

“Are you sure he was telling the truth?” Hershey asked.

Max handed him Willis’s cell phone. “See for yourself.”

All of them were concerned about the leak. “Do you think it could be Hughes?” Clark asked.

“Wouldn’t that be something? He’s been acting like a maniac going after the Landrys,” Hershey said.

“I think it’s someone in his office. He checks in all the time to update them.” Clark made the comment.

“We’ll let Hughes find out who the leak is after we trap the Landrys. Until then, we can’t take any chances. No one in Hughes’s office can know about the shipment,” Max cautioned.

“Not even Hughes,” Hershey added, nodding.

“Speaking of maniacs, where’s Evan Patterson?” Clark asked.

Ellie had been sitting in the surgical waiting room for the past hour. Max had ordered her not to move while he went to check on Cogburn, but she couldn’t wait any longer. She had to find out what was going on. Max saw her looking out and motioned for her to join them.

Hershey knew she’d heard their conversation about Patterson. He looked concerned when he said, “Being in the same hospital with him has to make you nervous.”

“A little,” she admitted.

“One of Sheriff Bennett’s deputies is keeping Patterson company.”

“Where?”

“Patterson’s having a CAT scan,” Clark told her. “He’s been screaming about pain in his head, so they’re scanning him. The sheriff wants to do everything by the book, which means Patterson has to be treated.”

“There’s not a damn thing wrong with him,” Max said.

“Except he’s frickin’ crazy when it comes to Ellie,” Hershey interjected.

“He already tried the chest pain route. There was nothing wrong with his heart. He knows his rights, and he’s playing it for all it’s worth. He’s just looking for a way out, that’s all,” Clark said. The agent then turned the subject back to the Landrys. “How do we get Cogburn a deal so he’ll cooperate?”

“Ben,” Max answered. “I’ll talk to my partner and let him take it to our superior. He’ll decide what kind of deal Cogburn gets.”

“Does your boss have the clout?” Clark asked. “Or does he have to go higher up? The more people who know about this…”

“He has the clout,” Max assured him. “He…”

Max didn’t finish. Two loud pops echoed up the stairwell. The agents knew the sound. Gunshots. A second later an alarm sounded. It was a low, pulsating noise.

“I’ll take the south staircase,” Clark shouted as he pulled his gun free.

Hershey yelled that he had the other staircase and sprinted down the long hallway.

A nurse poked her head out of a patient’s room as Max grabbed Ellie. The woman shouted, “The hospital is in lockdown. Get out of the hall,” and then pulled the door closed.

Max pushed Ellie into a room at the end of the hall. “Keep the door shut.”

Déjà vu, she thought. Max was once again pushing her and telling her to hide.

She didn’t give a second thought to who was firing the gun. It was Patterson. Had to be. People didn’t realize how strong and cunning he was, and that gave him the advantage. It was Patterson, all right. And he was on a rampage.

Her heart sank, but it wasn’t because of her own danger. Her concern was for Max. He had followed Clark down the stairs. How could she hide in a room if there was a possibility he could get hurt?

She leaned into the door and strained to hear. She opened it a crack. It was deathly still. Then laughter… eerie laughter. Patterson had gotten upstairs. How close was he? She opened the door just enough to peek down the hall. She nearly fell to her knees. At the end of the hall just outside the door to the stairs lay Hershey. He was facedown on the floor, and Patterson was standing over him, laughing. He must have surprised Hershey when he opened the door to the stairwell.

Patterson held a gun in his hand. He raised it and pointed it at Hershey’s head. Ellie had to act. She opened the door wide and stepped out. He was at the opposite end of the long hallway, and his back was to her.

Her voice was strong. “Evan. Come get me. Come on, Evan. Turn around.”

He cocked his head and slowly turned. The grin on his face when he saw her sent chills down her spine.