Read Online Heart Failure by Richard L. Mabry - Free Book Online
Authors: Richard L. Mabry
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I’m in cabin six.”
The silence stretched on. Adam was about to say something more when Carrie said, “Okay.”
“One more thing,” Adam said. “Be careful as you drive here. Try to make sure you aren’t followed.”
Adam’s call had caught Carrie in her car, sitting in the doctor’s parking lot after hospital rounds. She’d ended the call, and within seconds her phone rang again.
“Carrie, it’s Julie. Can you talk now?”
“Sure. I’m glad you called. Are we still going to meet for lunch?”
“That’s why I’m calling. Barry and I are going to be in Dallas tomorrow. Will that work?”
“Of course. I need some face time with you.” Talking with her best friend had always helped Carrie put things in perspective. “Tell you what. I can arrange to get away a little after eleven, and my first afternoon patient isn’t until two.”
They settled on a restaurant halfway between Dallas and Jameson. Carrie wondered if she should warn Julie to be certain she wasn’t followed, then dismissed the idea as paranoid.
As Carrie drove out of the parking lot, something she’d heard in med school crossed her mind. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you . Maybe it wasn’t paranoid to be careful—not if someone was trying to kill Adam . . . and her.
SIX
ADAM JUMPED UP FROM HIS CHAIR WHEN HE HEARD THE TAP ON the door of Rancho Motel’s cabin six. “Adam?” a small voice called.
He opened the door and waved Carrie inside. They exchanged an awkward hug, but when Adam made a motion to kiss her, Carrie pulled back, disguising the movement by tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. His heart sank.
Carrie settled into the room’s only chair. “Do you think this is a safe place to meet?”
Adam eased onto the bed and sat with his back against the headboard. He’d asked himself the same question. “It’s the safest place I could think of.”
“Why didn’t your caller ID show up on my phone when you called?” Carrie asked. “What I got was ‘private call.’”
“I went to Best Buy and bought a prepaid cell phone. People, especially those on the wrong side of the law, call them‘throwaways.’ I’ll give you the number before you leave. From now on, use that when you call me.”
“Why?”
“I understand that it’s possible to locate a cell phone, even when it’s not being used, by triangulating the cell towers it accesses. I don’t know how sophisticated this guy who’s after me really is or how much technology he has available, but I decided there was no reason to give him a way to pinpoint my location.”
Carrie said, “Well, I can see that you’re taking this seriously. But what’s your next move? That is, if you don’t mind telling me.”
For maybe the hundredth time Adam regretted thinking he could get by without sharing his past with Carrie. But he couldn’t change that. He leaned back against the headboard and closed his eyes. “I’m not sure what to do. Ordinarily I’d pack up and run again. But that would mean leaving you, and I can’t do that.”
“But if you stay, you’re not safe. Right?” she said.
“You saw what’s happened already. Does that seem safe to you?”
“What I can’t understand is, if DeLuca went to prison, why is this still happening?”
“A connected mob guy can put out a hit whether or not he’s behind bars,” Adam said. “You can bet that’s exactly the message that went out before the prison door closed on Charlie DeLuca.”
“So that’s why you were in the Witness Protection Program,” Carrie said.
“Witness Security Program,” Adam corrected. “But, yes. No one knows where I am except my brother.”
“Why Jameson? Why here?”
Adam forced a smile. “My grandmother grew up here. She went north and married my grandfather, but as a child I heard lots of stories about Texas, and specifically about Jameson, which was just a wide place in the road when she left. I looked it up on the
The silence stretched on. Adam was about to say something more when Carrie said, “Okay.”
“One more thing,” Adam said. “Be careful as you drive here. Try to make sure you aren’t followed.”
Adam’s call had caught Carrie in her car, sitting in the doctor’s parking lot after hospital rounds. She’d ended the call, and within seconds her phone rang again.
“Carrie, it’s Julie. Can you talk now?”
“Sure. I’m glad you called. Are we still going to meet for lunch?”
“That’s why I’m calling. Barry and I are going to be in Dallas tomorrow. Will that work?”
“Of course. I need some face time with you.” Talking with her best friend had always helped Carrie put things in perspective. “Tell you what. I can arrange to get away a little after eleven, and my first afternoon patient isn’t until two.”
They settled on a restaurant halfway between Dallas and Jameson. Carrie wondered if she should warn Julie to be certain she wasn’t followed, then dismissed the idea as paranoid.
As Carrie drove out of the parking lot, something she’d heard in med school crossed her mind. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you . Maybe it wasn’t paranoid to be careful—not if someone was trying to kill Adam . . . and her.
SIX
ADAM JUMPED UP FROM HIS CHAIR WHEN HE HEARD THE TAP ON the door of Rancho Motel’s cabin six. “Adam?” a small voice called.
He opened the door and waved Carrie inside. They exchanged an awkward hug, but when Adam made a motion to kiss her, Carrie pulled back, disguising the movement by tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. His heart sank.
Carrie settled into the room’s only chair. “Do you think this is a safe place to meet?”
Adam eased onto the bed and sat with his back against the headboard. He’d asked himself the same question. “It’s the safest place I could think of.”
“Why didn’t your caller ID show up on my phone when you called?” Carrie asked. “What I got was ‘private call.’”
“I went to Best Buy and bought a prepaid cell phone. People, especially those on the wrong side of the law, call them‘throwaways.’ I’ll give you the number before you leave. From now on, use that when you call me.”
“Why?”
“I understand that it’s possible to locate a cell phone, even when it’s not being used, by triangulating the cell towers it accesses. I don’t know how sophisticated this guy who’s after me really is or how much technology he has available, but I decided there was no reason to give him a way to pinpoint my location.”
Carrie said, “Well, I can see that you’re taking this seriously. But what’s your next move? That is, if you don’t mind telling me.”
For maybe the hundredth time Adam regretted thinking he could get by without sharing his past with Carrie. But he couldn’t change that. He leaned back against the headboard and closed his eyes. “I’m not sure what to do. Ordinarily I’d pack up and run again. But that would mean leaving you, and I can’t do that.”
“But if you stay, you’re not safe. Right?” she said.
“You saw what’s happened already. Does that seem safe to you?”
“What I can’t understand is, if DeLuca went to prison, why is this still happening?”
“A connected mob guy can put out a hit whether or not he’s behind bars,” Adam said. “You can bet that’s exactly the message that went out before the prison door closed on Charlie DeLuca.”
“So that’s why you were in the Witness Protection Program,” Carrie said.
“Witness Security Program,” Adam corrected. “But, yes. No one knows where I am except my brother.”
“Why Jameson? Why here?”
Adam forced a smile. “My grandmother grew up here. She went north and married my grandfather, but as a child I heard lots of stories about Texas, and specifically about Jameson, which was just a wide place in the road when she left. I looked it up on the
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