Page 141 of I'm Watching You

Zack tightened his grip on his gun. ‘What?’

‘Kendall Shaw.’

While Zack covered him, Warwick holstered his gun and hurried toward the reporter. She lay on the floor curled in a fetal position. Fresh blood pooled around her and stained her clothes.

Zack still didn’t trust that this wasn’t some kind of trap. ‘Is she alive?’

Warwick touched his fingers to her neck. ‘A faint pulse. She’s been shot in the shoulder.’ He flipped open his cell phone and dialed Dispatch. ‘All this blood. It’s a miracle she’s alive.’

‘Check her hands. Does she have both her hands?’

The doors to the hospital’s garage elevator opened and Dr Sam Begley walked out. The Guardian got out of thevan and glanced at the clock above the elevator. ‘About damn time.’

The doctor frowned and kept moving toward his shinyBMW. ‘I couldn’t get away. We had an emergency.’

‘I have an emergency. I need to know where Lindsay is.’

‘She’s not in the hospital. I looked everywhere.’

‘Who was the battered woman brought in? You know never to call Lindsay without calling me first.’

Sam’s forehead perspired. ‘I didn’t treat a battered woman today. No one from the hospital called Lindsay.’

‘Damn it.’

‘The cops were here. They brought Lindsay and her roommate in for blood tests Wednesday. Did you drug them?’

The Guardian was running over an image of Lindsay standing in Ruby’s kitchen. She’d been called by the hospital. He was certain. ‘Yes. It was the only way to keep them safe while I worked.’

‘Jesus. You never said anything about hurting Lindsay.’

He didn’t like the doctor’s tone. ‘I would never hurt her.’

Begley shook his head. ‘You shot those kids today. Christ, one is dead and the other is fighting to stay alive.’

Guilt gnawed at him. ‘They couldIDme. They had to go.’

‘This has gone too far. I’m out. It’s just a matter of time before the cops connect us.’

The doctor didn’t have the conviction to honor agreements. Spoiled rich boy had had everything handed to him on a silver platter. He didn’t understand commitment. ‘You promised me you’d help whenever I asked.’

Begley lowered his voice. ‘I’d never have gotten into this if not for my debts. I’ve more than satisfied my gambling debts to you. I never want to see you again.’

The Guardian slid his hand into his pocket. His fingers brushed the cool metal of his gun and silencer. ‘You’re done when I say you’re done.’

Begley pulled off his glasses and cleaned the lenses on his shirt. The man actually looked defiant. ‘I’m finished.’

The shrill tone in the doctor’s voice grated. The Guardian could see the man was nervous. It wouldn’t take much squeezing from the cops to make him talk. He’d like to use the doctor longer, but now he realized the time had come for them to part ways. ‘If that’s the way you want it.’

‘Good.’

The Guardian pulled the gun and silencer from his pocket and before the doctor realized what was happening, he fired three times. Each bullet struck Begley in the heart. For just a split second, surprise marred the doctor’s face as he glanced down at the plume of blood growing on his chest. He staggered and would have fallen if the Guardian hadn’t caught him.

The thrill of taking life sent a tingle through the Guardian’s body. ‘You were part of a noble cause and I won’t forget what you did for me.’

Begley’s eyes rolled back in his head. He was dead.

The Guardian opened the back of his van and dumped Begley’s body in. He’d deal with him later. Now, he needed to find Lindsay.

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