Page 36 of Inevitable Dream

“Tell me they’re safe.” Phineas’s desperate voice comes through the phone.

“We’re safe, Phin. Thank you for sending them to find us,” Mitchell says, choking on his words with so much relief and emotion.

“Jesus Christ! Oh, thank God! Fuck me! Mitchell, is that you? God, tell me you’re okay,” Phineas says. Obviously, these guys are closer than Phineas let on at our first meeting.

“Yeah, we’re out of there, so everything is going to be okay,” Mitchell says, wiping a tear from his eyes.

“Remmi?” Phineas asks.

“She’s with us. We’re on the way to the hospital. They drugged her with something,” Mitchell responds, looking over at his daughter, who lies limp in Wire’s arms.

“I’m coming. Which hospital? She’ll have the best care, Mitch. I swear it,” Phineas tells him. Falcon relays the hospital information, and we make tracks down the highway to get Remmi there as soon as we can.

This is where the team normally walks away. We’ve completed our mission; Mitchell and Remmi are out of danger. Mary is at the hospital with her husband and daughter, waiting to hear how Remmi’s doing. Phineas arrived and ordered a private room with round-the-clock care until Remmi is released. The FBI is watching the doors and has the Fontaines being watched until they’re sure they got all the cartel members rounded up and locked up. Diego Rodriguez has gone underground, but all the FBI needs is one of his men to talk. According to Agent Cinto, though, the likelihood of that happening is next to nil.

The entire plot is revealed, and Diego’s reason for holding Mitchell comes to light. He wanted to take over GWO, and the only way to do that was to stop Mitchell’s project from succeeding. They took Remmi to force Mitchell to comply with their demands to flaw their system. Mitchell was holding out for as long as he could but admitted he was close to cracking when they separated him from his daughter. They took Remmi away, and when they brought her back, they tossed her in the cage and kept his daughter from him.

So, why are we still sitting in the hospital waiting area? Simple: the mission ends when we all walk away, but Wire’s not ready to do that yet. “They caged her like a wild animal. But she’s an angel. How the fuck do you do that to an angel?” Wire says, dropping his head into his hands. Remmi was a caged angel.

Chapter17

Family

Sadie

Rebel’s call set my mind at ease, but when it gets to be two hours later and Rebel still hasn’t come home, I begin to worry.

As always, the phone rings only once before Rebel picks up.

“Babe, you should be sleeping,” he says.

“I can’t sleep without you beside me,” I tell him.

“We’re at the hospital. Wire isn’t ready to leave yet.” When he called earlier, Rebel told me that they were all fine, with no injuries, and all the guys were safe.

“I thought?—”

“Not us, sweetheart,” he interrupts. “Remmi, the daughter the cartel kidnapped, was semiconscious when we found her. We brought her to St. Anthony’s, but Wire’s not about to go home without knowing how she’s doing.” He sighs.

“I can help,” I tell him. “I can read patients’ charts, and I’m pretty sure they’ll let me in the room when they know I’m on staff.”

“It’s late?—”

“Let me help. Please,” I beg. All the guys have been so wonderful to me. I also know Wire is a big reason why the man who assaulted me is in jail. He spent hours tracking the guy down.

“No bus,” he insists. “In fact, tomorrow, we’re buying you a car. But for now, call an Uber. I’ll meet you out in front of the hospital.” He hangs up, and I giggle at the idea of buying me a car. I’m sure he’s kidding, but it’s still sweet.

It’s not far to the hospital, and before long, I’m climbing out of the Uber and into Rebel’s waiting arms. He pays the Uber driver, and we ride up the elevator together. He takes that thirty-second elevator ride to kiss me thoroughly. By the time we reach our floor, I’m breathless and flushed.

I push all that aside, and Rebel introduces me to Mitchell and Mary Fontaine, as well as a man called Phineas, who is just as concerned about Remmi as her parents are.

“If you don’t mind, Mr. Fontaine, I’m going to go see if I can get in to see your daughter and get us an update,” I tell Remmi’s parents.

“The doctors haven’t come out for hours,” Mary says sadly. I take her hand and give her a warm smile.

“Doctors like to be as sure as they can be before relaying information. It’s not always the best feeling to be on this side of the double doors, but this is one of the best hospitals in the area, and I’m sure they’re taking great care of her. Let me see if I can see her,” I respond, patting her hand. I let go and walk directly over to the nurses’ station.

“Hi, I’m Sadie McCowan. I’ll be working at St. Anthony’s as of Monday,” I tell the nurse with the name tag indicating her name is Veronica.

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