Page 67 of Steele

Faye’s sympathetic gaze swung to her. “I’ve written your discharge order, Harper. Just remember what I said, okay?”

“I will.” She managed a lopsided smile. “No stress.”

Steele winced, and even Brock looked guilty. It wasn’t as if the danger surrounding her was their fault.

But the end result was still the same.

“Let’s go.” Steele held up her coat for her. “Brock, will you get the car positioned near the entrance?”

“Yeah.” He turned to leave.

“Harper?” Her nurse entered the room with paperwork. “These are your discharge instructions. The providers are requesting you call back or come in to be seen if your condition changes.”

“Thanks. I will.” She folded the papers and stuffed them into her pocket. “Can we wait long enough to see how Trent is doing?”

“I’m afraid not.” Steele urged her forward. “We don’t know who attacked your boss or why. It’s possible that same person could anticipate he’d be brought here and show up in the emergency department.”

To finish the job. Steele hadn’t said the words, but they still reverberated through her mind.

He escorted her from the room and through the double doorways leading to the waiting room. The place was half full, but many of the patients waiting to be seen looked far worse than she did. It was probably a good thing she was being discharged so quickly.

Steele hovered near the door. When Brock pulled up, he pushed through the door and ushered her to the vehicle, sweeping his gaze from side to side as she climbed in.

Minutes later, they were on the road, the bright lights from the hospital fading behind them. She took a minute to calm herself, then asked, “Where are we going? Back to the hotel in Timberland Falls?”

The men exchanged a glance. “Yes. But first Steele is going to drop me off,” Brock said. “I need to help the team find Neil Otterson.”

She told herself it didn’t matter if Neil was arrested. Trent couldn’t do much until he’d recovered from his injuries. “Wait a minute. What if someone else attacked Trent to put a wrench in his plan to defend Otterson? Like one of Otterson’s enemies? The family or friends of the two boys he’d killed?”

Steele turned to flash her a look of admiration. “That’s a good theory. I guess we’ll know more once Otterson is found and arrested.”

She nodded, then turned to look out the window. They were heading toward the precinct, the opposite direction from Timberland Falls. She’d seen more of the city and surrounding suburbs in the past few days than she had in her entire life.

When Brock pulled into the parking lot behind the building, he threw the gearshift into park but kept the engine running. “I’ll be in touch,” he told Steele.

“Thanks.” Steele quickly jumped from the passenger seat to slide behind the wheel. “Harper, sit up front.”

“Okay.” She did as he’d asked. Less than thirty seconds later, they were back on the road.

“We’re taking the long route back to Timberland Falls.” Steele glanced at her. “Once we arrive, we’re going to stay put until the danger is over.”

“And what if that takes weeks?” She shook her head. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

He held her gaze for a moment, and the memory of their heated and all too brief kiss shimmered in the air between them. She had to look away to keep from leaning forward to kiss him again.

“It won’t take that long,” Steele finally said. “Things are escalating.”

She couldn’t argue. With Trent injured, she didn’t have the same burning need to get back to the office. Not that she couldn’t still support Earl Roberts, but he had his own assistant.

Without warning, Steele took a hard right. She let out a squeak, grabbing for the hand rest.

“What’s going on?” She was afraid to ask. And even more afraid of the answer.

“We picked up a tail.” His gaze darted between the road ahead and the rearview mirror. “Hang on.”

Tightening her grip on the hand rest, she planted her feet against the floorboard. Yet she was thrown from side to side when Steele made another series of abrupt turns. Then he sped up, going much faster than the speed limit. He made another jarring turn, then hit the gas to take the nearest on-ramp to the interstate.

“Did we lose him?” She didn’t dare turn in her seat to look. Her seat belt had already tightened painfully across her belly. This was hardly the stress-free scenario her doctor had advised.

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