Rising Hope by Edie James

HARD LANDING CHAPTER 2

The rideto the hospital had been a blur, but the next three hours crawled by as Kelli waited for her father to come out of surgery. Lauren and Nan had joined her immediately, offering the comfort of their presence while the minutes ticked slowly by. Finally, the surgeon emerged from the OR to give her the excellent news. Her father had a broken femur. Serious, but not life threatening.

After that, it didn’t take long for them to be ushered into a room, where her father was already alert and giving orders.

“I have to get out of here,” he said by way of greeting.

Kelli clasped her father’s hand and winced at his stubborn tone. The anesthetic hadn’t even worn off, and he was ready to dive back into work. She leaned close, careful not to disturb the tangle of wires taped to his forearm. “Not going to happen. The doctor said you’re here for at least a week.”

“A week? I can’t.” He gestured weakly. “We have two jets that need servicing before Friday. Tank’s counting on me to check the avionics.”

None of the women took the bait. Nan stabbed a red-lacquered fingernail at his elaborate hospital bed. “Unless you can get that thing in the air, you’re grounded, Flyboy.”

Dad shot her a glare, which didn’t appear to faze the woman in the least.

Lauren laughed.

Dad growled, which only made her bestie laugh harder. “You’re stubborn, Mr. S, but my money’s on Kelli and Nan.” She patted his uninjured leg through the thin hospital blankets. “Be good, and I’ll send Jose by with a box of double fudge brownies.”

Her dad looked away. “I’m immune to bribes.”

“Right.” Lauren winked at Kelli and headed for the door. “I’ll remember that.”

Nan shook her head as she rose to her feet. “Looks like you’ll survive. I’ve got an inbox deeper than all that manure you’re shoveling. Best get back to the office.”

Her dad pressed his lips together as if trying to suppress a grin. “That’s what I pay you for,” he said, but the gruff response came out more like an endearment.

“True enough.” The office manager caught his eye before disappearing out the door.

“Woman’s a handful,” her dad muttered.

Kelli smiled. “Takes one to know one.”

“What? Me?”

Kelli opened her mouth to say something smart, but tears clogged her throat. She struggled to choke them back. The surgeon said he’d be fine, apart from a broken femur and a mild concussion. Still, the powder burns on his cheeks from the air bag, and around his eyes made her tough as nails father look uncharacteristically fragile.

She squeezed his hand. “Dad, are you ready to talk about what happened?”

He stared hard at the ceiling, as if he, too, was caught up in a swirl of unfamiliar emotions. “Brakes failed,” said finally. “I don’t remember much of anything after I turned onto Sierra Avenue, but I remember that once I hit that first stop sign at the top of the hill, the brakes felt… spongy. I figured I’d have Ellison give them a once over when he changed out your tires.”

Fear made the breath freeze in her lungs. That stop was at the top of a very long hill that dead ended into Hope Landing’s main street, Reed Pass Road. She could picture her bright red Jeep streaking through the busy intersection. It was a miracle he hadn’t hit a car on his way through the three-way stop.

An even bigger miracle that he’d survived t-boning a parked truck at what had to be thirty or forty miles an hour. Her legs trembled. She clutched the rail of his bed.

“Hey now, Pumpkin, I’ll be fine.” He covered her hand. “No one else got hurt, and we have insurance. Things happen.”

Images of what could have happened slammed through her mind. She could only nod.

A sharp rap on the door made her look up. Cory Frazer, Hope Landing’s police chief, filled the doorway. “Bob? Can we talk?”

Her dad nodded. “You bet.”

The chief eyed her with concern before stepping further into the room. “I took a look at your Jeep.” He cleared his throat. “I’m going to have the State crime lab boys give it the once over, too. It’s possible I’m mistaken.”

“About what?” Agitated now, her dad struggled to sit up. She pressed him gently down. That he allowed her to do it spoke volumes about his weakened condition.

He eyed the chief. “Spit it out, Cory.”

The chief nodded firmly and met her gaze. “Someone cut those brake lines.”

Open-mouthed, she stared at her father. He looked equally stunned.

Frazer’s gun belt jingled as he moved to the head of the bed. “Who would have known you were driving Kelli’s car today?”

“No one. I only decided last night to take her jeep in.” Her father stared into her eyes, his own face a mask of fear. “Texted you around nine, didn’t I, Pumpkin?”

She nodded.

The chief swore softly. “Then we’ve got to assume whoever did this meant to harm Kelli.”

Fear punched her in the gut again. She pretended to study the elaborate pulley system supporting Dad’s broken leg while ice poured through her, short-circuiting her brain. Aside from Stan Granton, she didn’t have any enemies. Her divorce was over three years ago, longer than her two-year marriage had lasted, and the breakup had been amicable from the beginning. Two lonely friends who never should have gotten married. Sad, but she wished Roger well, and she knew he felt the same. A commercial pilot, he’d been based in Miami for the past few years. Outside of the occasional text, they hadn’t seen each other since the split.

“She’ll need protection.” The chief’s deep voice barely registered over the whirling of her own brain.

Her father nodded. “I’ve got a man in mind.”

The way he avoided her gaze made her shoulders tense.She scowled down at him. “Dad? You better not be thinking what I think you’re thinking.”

His jaw tightened. “He’s the right man for this, pumpkin. He’s the only man—besides Cory here—that I’d trust with your life.”

She couldn’t find the words to refute his ridiculous idea. Clearly eager to avoid her eye, he tried to shift about, but the sudden movement made him gasp. His face paled, and he squeezed his eyes closed.

The pain on his face brought tears to her eyes and lit a burning rage in her heart. Whoever had done this came close to killing him. Innocent bystanders, too.

“Kelli, sweetheart,” her father coaxed softly. “I’m not going to be of any use here, and I don’t want you going through this alone.”

“I have Lauren and Nan and the guys.”

Chief Frazer came from a big city department. He’d catch whoever did this. She had faith in the longtime lawman’s abilities. They didn’t need outside help.

Until they caught the criminal, she’d take every precaution. She put a hand to her own pounding head. If her brain was swimming before, now she was drowning.

Asking Jack Reese for help would be a disaster.