Background
Cast of Characters:
Cody McClellan - early 30s, widowed, father of 2. Gave up profession as a police officer to become a PI
Jack Mc Clellan - mid 30s, married, father of 1. Detective in the PD
Rach
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Summary
Oh, so much to summarize! Thirty-six chapters in a nutshell...let's see...
When brothers Cody and Jack McClellan go to the state park for a 'men's weekend', Cody goes hiking and stumbles across a botched assassination attempt. Shot and left for dead, he is rescued by his brother, who drags him out of the park in search of their car. Chased by the hitmen, lost and trying to keep Cody alive, Jack keeps hearing Bible verses he learned as a kid. Angry at God, he refuses to pray, but depends on himself and fellow campers to save his brother.
They escape the woods, but the hitmen aren't finished.
At the hospital, Cody crashes. With the heart monitor blaring 'flat-line', Jack begs God to allow his brother to live. Without any more medical intervention, the monitor blips to life again and the trauma team, headed by Abby Kitman, stabilize him and rush him to surgery.
Cody awakens the next day to find one of the Lehman clan (the hitmen) bending over his hospital bed. Dressed in orderly's garb, he adinjects a toxin into Cody's IV tubing. Again saved by Jack and Abby, Cody is put into a medically induced coma until an antidote can be found.
Because the Lehman's are high profile killers, the FBI is involved in the case and assist in finding a way to save Cody. But it's weeks before he is strong enough to return to his family and home.
It's his first night out of the hospital. Jack, Laine and Travis have come over with tamales for dinner.
Laine walked in from the kitchen then, her face more relaxed, the red in her loose cotton blouse making her look flushed. "Time to wash up for dinner, gentlemen," she announced. "I'll get the kids."
"Laine, I just got down a few minutes ago!" Cody looked up at his sister-in-law, brows furrowed.
She smiled. "I guess we can make an exception for you, sweetie."
Jack had started to rise from the couch, but dropped back down, sighing. "Thanks, hon."
"Not you." Laine didn't even slow down as she walked past her husband. "You wash or you don't eat."
"Told you Ma likes you best," Jack whined in a stage-whisper as he stood again and started for the downstairs bathroom.
He veered toward the front door as the bell rang, lifting his revolver from its holster and positioning himself to the side of the door. He motioned with his free hand. "Babe, get back."
Laine froze. "They wouldn't ring the bell, would they, Jackie?" Her voice sounded tight and high-pitched, strained like a rubber band pulled to its breaking point.
Jack didn't answer, his attention consumed with whatever might be fixing to happen at the door.
Leaning forward, every sense on high alert, Cody glanced through the glass panes of the backdoor. He could still see Katie playing with their collie pup. If he got up right now, if he hurried, he might be able to get the kids out of harm's way before –
As Jack peeked through the peephole, he sighed with relief and re-holstered the gun. "Run a hand over your hair and try to look decent, little brother. It's for you." He opened the door to Abby Kitman.
"Hey, Doc!" He looked pointedly from her to Cody and back.
Cody blinked in surprise. Without meaning to, he brushed his hair out of his face, the right half of his mouth turning up into a crooked smile. "Abby! Hey." He sounded as ridiculous as the first time he remembered meeting her, he realized, and added, "It's good to see you."
The young doctor smiled shyly past Jack at Cody and stepped inside. "Hi. I hope you don't mind ... I was on my way home and decided to see how your first day of freedom was going."
Jack glanced outside at the darkening sky, only partially aware of the conversation. He barely noticed the light purples and oranges of the setting sun, seeing instead dark branches of leafless trees, groping the sky like arms reaching up from the grave. He shook his head. Cody had really gotten to him. He looked at the neighboring houses again, scanning them for anything out of the ordinary. Everything looked calm. The streetlights blinked on as he shut the door and slid the lock. "You mean you actually go home? We thought they kept you locked in some dark little room up there at the friendly neighborhood hospital."
"Ignore him," Cody advised. "we all do. Once he's in familiar surroundings he acts even worse than what you saw at the hospital . And this," he indicated the house, "is, unfortunately, familiar to him."
The children, alerted by Laine, made a dash through the living room on their way to the bathroom. The boys said a hurried, muttered 'hello' to the doctor, but Katie stopped, squealing at the sight of Abby, and ran to her. Half-way across the living room floor, she stopped suddenly and frowned. "Is my daddy okay?" She took a tentative step backward.
"Your daddy is wonderful," Abby answered. She flushed slightly, shot a quick glanced at Cody, and then back to the little blond. "He's fine, sweetie."
Katie hugged her around the middle and gave her a grimy smile. "I won a collar with jewels on it because I can dig just like Mollie. Travis showed it to me on his phone, and he says I'm going to go virus!”
“Viral!” a boy’s voice yelled from the bathroom.
“I'd show you, too, but Aunt Laine says I have to go wash my hands for dinner now."
Abby laughed. "Don't forget your face."
"Okay," Katie nodded and ran after the boys.
Rachel came in from the kitchen. "Abby! I thought I heard an intelligent voice in here. I'm so glad to see you! You're joining us for dinner, I hope."
Abby shrugged. "I haven't been asked," she said, and Jack noticed the same quick, shy look in Cody's direction.
"I'd – we'd all be delighted if you'd stay," Cody smiled from his spot on the recliner. "Please."
Abby seemed to consider, unbuttoning the top button of her light-weight sweater as she stood. "Perhaps it would be better if we do it another night. You've already had a pretty full day and--"
"I'm not going to do anything but sit in here with a TV tray and eat," Cody interrupted. "You being here won't change that. And it's homemade tamales -- best in the state."
"Is there enough?" Abby looked at Rachel.
"More than plenty."
Abby smiled, looking from one McClellan to another. "Well, then ... I'd love to."
Jack pulled out a fifth TV tray and directed Abby to sit on the couch as Rachel and Laine carried in platefuls of food. The children, relegated to the dining room, laughed and visited over dinner, acting as if they hadn't seen each other in weeks instead of hours. The adults shared idle chit-chat about people they now all knew from the hospital. Periodically Cody grew quiet, smiling as he listened to the chaos of normal family activity.
"Doctor Kitman," Katie's voice called after a few minutes of serious whispering from the dining area, "are you my daddy's girlfriend?"
Color exploded in Cody's face and he dropped his fork. "You're supposed to be eating in there!" he said loudly.
Laughter, mostly Michael's and Travis', poured from the dining room. Jack looked at his plate and cleared his throat to keep from laughing with them. He felt Laine's elbow dig into his ribs and looked up. Cody was glaring at him with dagger eyes. "Nearly choked," Jack explained, eyes watering. He hit his chest a couple of times, trying to sell the act. "Swallowed too fast."
"So..." Michael's voice drifted in, "she's not your girlfriend?"
Travis' contagious laugh erupted from the doorway, joined by the other two. Jack could imagine the scene – the three conspirators huddled around the table, choking on peals of laughter. He smiled down at his plate.
Abby cleared her throat, her cheeks slightly reddened. "Not to intentionally change the subject, but I actually intended to ask you a question when I came over here tonight," she said, interrupting the children's hysterical giggles. She looked slightly uncomfortable and shifted before she made eye contact with Cody. "Do you know if Aulers has someone following me?"
Cody's face changed from relief at her smooth change of subject to a total blank. He and Jack exchanged glances.
"You do know." Abby accused.
Cody shifted in the recliner, aware that his attempt at innocence had fallen short. "Aulers is having several people watched right now," he told her. "All of his information leads him to believe that the Lehmans are no longer in state, but he felt like it would be the wisest move. He opted not to tell you because he thought you might be somewhat less than ..."
Jack arched an eyebrow, interested in how his brother would extricate himself from his blunder into the truth.
"He worried you might be somewhat less than enthusiastic. That you might be..."
"Uncooperative?" The dark haired woman seemed to bristle. She looked from Cody to Jack, her eyes ablaze. "Did he call me uncooperative?"
"Well, he just knows that you're..."
Jack watched, trying not to laugh as Cody fumbled for a nicer way to voice Aulers' assessment of the doctor's willful personality. He decided it was his brotherly duty to step in and save Cody from himself. "Independent," he supplied. He'd never seen his brother at such a loss for words.
"So he has men babysitting me."
"No," Cody started. He smiled and tried to laugh through the single syllable.
"Babe-sitting," Jack interjected.
"No!" Cody shot him an irritated look, silencing him.
Jack cocked his head in feigned confusion.
"I don't need a babe-sitter!" Abby looked at Jack as she used his terminology, but kept the bulk of her attention on Cody.
"Evidently Aulers doesn't agree."
"It's a waste of someone's time."
"They'll get paid, whether it's a waste of time or not. Just let them do their job. Everybody'll feel better about it."
" I won't feel better about it." Abby looked at her tamales for a minute, AS IF trying to discern the ingredients from a visual inspection of the remnants on her plate. After a minute she drew in a deep breath and, without looking away from her plate, asked, "Am I in danger?"
"Yes. We think you may be." Cody said the words carefully, almost gently, trying to pad the blow they would surely have on this woman. She had seen the Lehmans at their worst.
She looked up at him, eyes confused and scared. "Why? What did I do to them?"
"They don't like your doctoring," Jack answered, when Cody seemed unwilling to do so. "You saved Cody, not once, you know, but twice. Doesn't exactly put you on their Christmas card list."
"Should I be afraid?"
"I am." Laine's voice was hushed, almost too quiet to hear. She glanced at Abby and then away.
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