Blind Faith - Sharon Sala Page 0,28
that, the visiting times are posted. Our ICU is one of the best. We’ll take good care of him here.”
“Thank you,” Baxter said. “Thank you for saving our son’s life.”
Dr. Mack shook his head. “A whole lot of people are responsible for that. Try to get some rest. I’ll check in on him off and on all night, and they’ll call me if the need arises.”
Baxter and Macie began gathering up their things.
“We’re going to be leaving now,” Charlie said. “Keep us updated on Tony’s progress, will you?”
“Yes, of course,” Macie said.
They parted ways in the hall, and Wyrick led the way back to the elevator. Charlie was silent all the way back to the car.
“Do we need to get rooms?” he asked.
“Not unless you’re afraid of the dark,” Wyrick said.
He snorted. “You’re scarier than the dark. But if you’re up to flying home tonight, I’m game.”
Wyrick rolled her eyes. “Big baby,” she muttered. “Do you think you can find your way back to the airport without me?”
He sighed. She had him there. “Not in a timely fashion.”
“That’s what I thought,” she said, and proceeded to direct him through the streets of Odessa and back onto the highway leading to the Midland-Odessa airport.
They returned the rental and then headed back to where she’d left the chopper, ran through her usual preflight check while the chopper was being refueled, and then they got in and ran through her preflight check inside, as well, before starting it up.
He’d never flown in a chopper at night, but there was always a first time for everything. But when she fired up the chopper, what he hadn’t expected was to be able to clearly see beyond the lights of the terminal. The entire windshield had the same capability as the night-vision goggles they’d used in the war.
“Holy shit, Wyrick! The whole windshield is night-vision.”
She shrugged. “I just took existing technology and gave it a tweak. It’s a prototype of something I developed a couple of years back, and yes, I hold the patent on it, too.”
As soon as they reached full throttle, she radioed the tower and lifted off.
The flight back took almost two hours, and when she homed in on the landing strip at the private airport where she kept her chopper, she saw the lights at the helipad and set down.
She was shutting it down when Benny came walking out of the hangar.
“Hey, there’s Benny,” Charlie said.
Wyrick looked up in surprise and then got out. “I didn’t intend for you to wait for me.”
He shrugged. “You don’t let people take care of you,” he said.
“Guilty,” Wyrick said. “But thank you.”
“Go home, boss. I will tow the bird in and lock up,” he said.
Charlie shouldered his backpack, then paused.
“Don’t open the office for business in the morning. Just be there. I’m going to get both boys and their parents in there together to give them the news.”
“They’re going to wonder why they have to come to your office.”
Charlie shrugged. “Let them stew about it. The unknown keeps everyone on edge.”
“Once they find out Tony is alive, they’re going to think he told us everything, aren’t they?” Wyrick said.
Charlie nodded. “And we’re going to see two friends turn on each other to shift the blame. They’ll tell on themselves without ever knowing Tony is still unconscious. But I want some Feds with us when it happens.”
“I’ll be there,” Wyrick said.
Charlie left first, but she wasn’t far behind. She followed his car on the freeway until his exit came up. Once he was off the freeway, she turned on her stealth mode and floored it.
By the time she finally pulled up to her landlord’s estate, entered the code to get herself onto the grounds and then drove around back to her apartment, she was so tired, she was punchy.
She managed to get herself inside, and the security on, before staggering down the hall to her bedroom.
She kicked off her boots, took off her jacket and went belly down on top of the bed and passed out.
The next thing she knew, it was morning.
She stripped, then went to the kitchen to start coffee, before heading to the shower. Two fine upstanding young men were going to bust their public personas to hell and back this morning when Charlie told them the friend they left for dead was in a hospital in Odessa.
Alert and fierce were the words for today.
* * *
Charlie’s sleep was dream-filled, and when he woke, the first thing he did was call to check