would have been you.”
Charlie glanced back at Wyrick. “I’m just big and decently intelligent. She’s the genius of the whole operation.”
“Did he get away?” Wyrick asked.
Charlie nodded. “We’ll find him again, but you’re what matters now.”
“I have a headache. I’m not hurt. I’m not bleeding, but you are. Don’t anyone ask me questions,” she said and then closed her eyes.
Charlie started to let her go, but she wouldn’t turn loose his hands.
“You need to let go of him,” Doctor Julian said. “We need to—”
“Stop talking,” Wyrick mumbled. She was already with Charlie, feeling the pain in his hands, seeing the flesh cut from within, feeling the warmth of the blood and then zeroing in on the tiny nerves that he’d shredded to get to her.
Charlie could feel his hands getting warmer and the pain lessening. He knew she could do this, but he’d never thought she’d be doing it to him.
It was one of the nurses who first noticed he wasn’t bleeding anymore, and tapped the doctor’s arm and pointed. After that the room went silent. One doctor, two nurses and an orderly stood in silent awe, witnessing what could only be described as a miracle.
Charlie felt her magic and the power of her flowing through him, and knew when this was over he would never be the same. Ever since the day they’d first met, she’d been hell to live with, but at this moment Charlie knew there would not be a life without her. Whatever had been happening between them had been built on years of trust and sorrow shared.
So he watched her face, mapping the beauty beneath the public mask she always wore. Seeing a tiny blue vein in her neck that he’d never noticed before, and watching a tear seep out from beneath one eyelid and roll silently down her cheek onto the sheet. He’d never seen it coming, but he had fallen in love.
All of a sudden she turned him loose. Her eyes opened, and she was looking straight at him.
Charlie didn’t look away. Couldn’t look away.
“Do you hurt now?” she asked.
It took everything Charlie had to break his gaze, then finally look down. Not only had the bleeding stopped, but the cuts were already closing, too.
He shook his head, but there were tears in his eyes when he looked back up at her.
It was then that Wyrick realized what she’d done. And in front of witnesses. Her eyes widened as she looked at everyone in the room.
“Please don’t tell.”
Charlie heard the panic in her voice and added a plea of his own.
“I know you’ve all seen the video. You know a religious cult was after her. You know there were hit men sent to kill her. And this is why. Because she knows stuff...and can do stuff...like this. But it doesn’t make her anything but special. Don’t make her life any more complicated than it already is. Please.”
Doctor Julian lifted his chin.
“I couldn’t explain what I just saw if I had to, and no one would believe us anyway.” Then he looked at the others. “Do I have to say it?” he asked.
Both nurses and the orderly all shook their heads. “No, Doctor,” they said.
Wyrick didn’t know if she could trust them, but right now it didn’t matter. Her focus was on Charlie.
“We need to go back now,” she said.
“Back where?” he asked.
“To Detter House.”
Charlie frowned. “Oh, hell no! You’re going home to rest and—”
Wyrick held up her hand. “I need the IV out of my arm. So either someone take it out or I’ll do it myself.”
Doctor Julian nodded at one of the nurses, who quickly obeyed, while Wyrick kept arguing with Charlie.
“Rachel can’t wait. If she’s still alive, he’s going to panic. His little game is ruined, and she is the only person who could identify him.”
“The police will get prints and DNA,” Charlie argued.
“Time, Charlie. That all takes time, and I know in my gut Rachel Dean doesn’t have any left. I’m not one hundred percent, but I can focus, and I can sleep when this is over.”
“Hellfire,” Charlie muttered.
“No, that’s where we’re sending him,” Wyrick said. “And I need something to wear. They cut up my clothes... Oh...and where’s my phone?”
One of the nurses pointed to a sack sitting on a chair. “Those are your belongings, including the clothes we cut off you, but we were told the police would need them for DNA. Your phone is there.”
“Show me,” Wyrick said.
The nurse dug through the sack and then held up