Lone Star Standoff

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Cal escorted her to her office on the second floor. A deputy sheriff who worked at the courthouse stood outside the door. When she entered, both of them stayed in the corridor while she looked at Sean sitting in a chair in front of her desk.

He glanced over his shoulder and attempted a smile that fell short. “Thanks for coming.”

She walked to the other chair beside him and took a seat. “I heard you were hit, and from what I see it must be hurting. Can I get you a bag of ice or something else?”

“I took a couple of aspirin. Really, I’m fine. I’ve had worse. I’m just mad I couldn’t catch him.”

“You ran after him?”

“I tried, but by the time I stood and got my bearings, he was gone. I decided to stay. I didn’t want to leave your office unprotected.”

She surveyed the area. “It doesn’t look like he took anything obvious. I’ll need to go through my desk and files to make sure, though.”

“If something was taken, it might help us determine what’s going on here. I’ll check the video feed later to see if I can tell how he got inside and possibly who he is, but that’s a long shot. The brief glimpse I got was of a man with a ski mask on.”

“I’ll start with my desk. The computer is here, but I’ll check to see if he got on it. I’ll ask maintenance to change my lock immediately.”

“I already have. One that will be harder to pick. The lock you have is an old one, and I think that’s how he got in here. Who has a key to your office right now?”

“An assistant I share with Judge Rodriquez and Maintenance. You think it was one of them?”

“No, there were fresh scratch marks on the lock. But until I find out what’s going on, you should have the only key. I did look at your file cabinets, and I didn’t see any evidence he picked those locks, but you should still check everything in them. He risked breaking into your office for some reason. What was it?”

Aubrey made her way around to the other side of her desk and sat in her black stuffed chair. Sean started to rise, and she quickly said, “You stay there. I can do this. If I need you, I’ll let you know.” She opened the top left drawer and went through the personal items she kept in it. “After I’ve gone through my office, I’ll drive your car and take you to the ER to make sure you’re okay.”

He opened his mouth to reply, but she held up her palm. “No arguments on that. If something is wrong and you didn’t get help, it would be my fault.” She shut the top drawer and reached for the bottom one.

Their gazes clashed. A war of emotions played across his face while Aubrey pulled the second compartment out.

A rattling sound sent shivers down her body as she stared at the coiled rattlesnake, poised to strike.

FOUR (#u147ff596-4ee7-50be-a9e0-8158f05c4107)

The sound of a rattlesnake shaking his tail reverberated through the office. Sean shoved to his feet while drawing his gun. Eyes wide, Aubrey leaped to her feet, thrusting her chair back at the same time the snake launched itself at her. Sean raised his weapon and shot the reptile. It fell to the floor as he rushed around the desk to Aubrey. The sudden movements sent the room tilting. He clutched the ledge of the desk and steadied himself.

The office door slammed open, and both guards aimed their guns into the room. Sean pivoted toward them. “I need a first-aid kit and something to take a dead rattlesnake to the hospital. I’m calling 911.”

One deputy sheriff turned and left while the other stood inside the entrance. “Where was it?”

“In a desk drawer. This office will need to be thoroughly searched in case there’s something else dangerous in here.” Aubrey held her arm against her chest, the color washing from her face. Blood oozed from the bite wound on her forearm.

As he peered at the snake to make sure it was dead, Sean clasped her shoulders, guiding her back and sitting her down in her chair. “Hold your arm still and let it bleed.” After calling 911 and requesting an ambulance, he said, “I want you to limit your movements. Help is on the way. I need to find a bag or container to take the snake to the hospital. That way they’ll know exactly what bit you.”

Aubrey stared at the rattlesnake. “First a rat and now a snake. Was this the purpose of the break-in?”

“Probably, but the crime might have been done for other reasons, too. Stay seated.” Sean removed his tie and made a sling for Aubrey. “This will help keep your arm still.” When he obtained a first-aid kit, he would place a sterile bandage over the wound. “I need to take off your rings on your left hand in case it swells.”

She started to lift her arm toward him, but he stopped her. “The less movement you make, the less the venom will circulate through your body. I’ll do it and keep them safe for you.” Gently he removed her wedding and engagement rings and stuffed them in his pants pocket.

She looked up at him, sweat beading on her face. “Thanks.”

“Let me know if your vision blurs or you become dizzy.”

Aubrey attempted a smile, but it didn’t last a second. “That’s what I should be saying to you.”

“The paramedics will be here soon.”

“If I’m going to the hospital, you need to go, too.”

“You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Sorry, I am.”

The deputy sheriff who left to get the first-aid kit and paper bag hurried into the office and gave them to Sean. “I’m going downstairs to wait for the ambulance.”

“I appreciate it.”

As he left, Sean found a clean bandage and placed it over her wound, then he took the sack and placed the dead snake in it.

“After we’re looked at, we need to come back here and see if the intruder took anything, especially concerning Villa’s trial.”

Sean plopped the bag onto the desk. “We?”

“I’m the only one who can tell you if something is missing or added. You can’t do it without me.”

“You’ll have to stay in the hospital,” he said as a bead of sweat rolled down her face.

“Maybe not. I hope I don’t.”

“My best friend was bit by a rattlesnake once. He was in the hospital for a few days.”

“But my family needs—”

The door opening stopped her words. She glanced at the paramedics rolling a gurney into the office.

Sean leaned down and whispered into her ear, “I’ll take care of your family. Don’t worry about them. Focus on your recovery.”

“Promise me you’ll get your head wound checked out.”

Her look of appeal made it impossible to say no. As the paramedics moved the desk to give them more room, Sean smiled and cupped her shoulder. “I will.”

While the EMTs readied her to be transported to the hospital, Sean called the police officer on duty at her house, Officer Carter. After explaining what had happened, he said, “I want you to bring them to the hospital when she’s admitted.”

“The kids, too?”

Sean turned his back to Aubrey. “Leave that up to Camilla Roberts. If the kids stay at the house, have the other officer stay and guard them. Let your police chief know, and have another officer at the house with her children. There’s no doubt Judge Madison is being targeted. Someone wants to harm her.”

* * *

Aubrey lay in her hospital bed, staring at the window with its blinds closed. The pain medication and muscle relaxer were starting to work. She prayed that the antivenin would, too, and quickly. She switched her attention to her left arm, which had a red streak moving up it. The nurse was marking how much it was spreading every hour.

She wished she knew more about rattlesnake bites. She wished she knew how Sean was doing. All she wanted to do was leave the hospital. She hated being here. The last couple days had made her think about Samuel and his murder. He’d left for work one morning, and she never saw him again.

Her eyelids grew heavy. She needed to stay awake. What if someone came in here and completed the job the rattlesnake had been planted in her office to do? But she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer. As she began to drift off, the sound of her door opening jerked Aubrey away from sleep.

She looked toward the entrance and didn’t recognize the person entering. Instantly she fumbled for the call button. The man was dressed in blue scrubs with a name tag, but he hadn’t been in her room before. After what had happened the last twenty-four hours, she couldn’t shake her suspicions.

“I’m your nurse this evening. I wanted to check in with you.” He stopped next to her bed and peered at her left arm. “It looks like the red line is slowing down.”

She didn’t know what to say. Her heartbeat doubled its rate. Where was Sean?

“How are you feeling? Is the pain medication helping?” He moved even closer.

Words stuck in her throat. She kept replaying the rattlesnake attack while pressing the call button.

The door opened. The nurse swiveled his attention toward the entrance. “Judge Madison, I’m Deputy Sheriff Simpson. I’ve been assigned to guard you. I’ll be right outside your door if you need me.” He started to leave.

She’d seen him at the courthouse. He was a familiar face. “Wait!”

The deputy sheriff paused and glanced at her.

“I have a couple of questions.”

Simpson approached her.

Aubrey stiffened and slanted a look at the nurse. “I’m fine. Thanks,” she said in a dismissing voice.

He lifted his gaze to the deputy sheriff, then said, “If you need anything, push the call button.”

The second he left, Aubrey relaxed, releasing a long sigh.

“Is something wrong, Judge Madison?” the deputy sheriff asked.

“After what happened at the courthouse, I’m anxious. Please make sure that whoever comes in here works here.”

His forehead wrinkled. “Did that nurse give you any problems?”

“He was a stranger. That’s the first time I saw him. Something didn’t feel right.”

“Ma’am, his outfit is similar to others on the floor, and he had a name tag.”

“Deputy Simpson, after today I’m suspicious of everyone.”

“I understand. I’ll check into who he is.”

“Thank you.”

When the door closed behind the deputy sheriff, Aubrey lifted her shaky right hand and couldn’t stop it from quivering.

* * *

Sean finally left the emergency room after being checked out. The test confirmed what he already knew—a concussion. He’d had one before and knew what it felt like. He was more concerned about Aubrey. A nurse told him she’d been taken to a room on the second floor. One reason he headed upstairs was to make sure the deputy sheriff assigned to guard her room was in place. But his main purpose was to see how Aubrey was doing. No one would tell him anything in the ER, even though they’d come into the hospital together.

Exiting the elevator, Sean immediately spied Deputy Simpson. Sean had requested him since he was one of the deputy sheriffs who worked at the courthouse. Aubrey would be familiar with him. While waiting to be treated, he’d talked with Police Chief Juan Perez and Sheriff Don Bailey to coordinate law enforcement officers guarding the judge during Bento Villa’s trial. It was clear she was in danger, and the dead rat pointed to the Coastal Cartel. Later he would meet with his informant to see what he’d heard about the trial and the judge.

Sean stopped next to Simpson at the nurses’ station down the hall from Aubrey’s room. Why wasn’t he at her door?

Simpson glanced at Sean then resumed his conversation with a nurse behind the counter. “Where is your nurse Chris Newton?”

“Chris called in sick today.”

“Is there a problem?” Sean asked when he saw the surprised look on Simpson’s face.

Keeping an eye on a room down the hall, Simpson answered, “He was with Judge Madison a few minutes ago in her room. At least his name tag said Chris Newton.”

Sean started down the corridor, saying, “Get a picture of Newton and see if it was him or an impostor.”

Simpson had left Aubrey unguarded in her room when he went to the nurses’ station. When Sean had arrived, the deputy sheriff had his head turned away from her room while talking with the woman. Even if only for a couple of minutes, his action could have put her in jeopardy. Sean drew his gun, approaching 214 as though there was a crime in progress. He burst into her room, his gaze sweeping the area.

Aubrey’s eyes grew round. “What’s wrong?”

“Anyone in the bathroom?”

“No.”

Sean moved to her bed, standing on the side that gave him a view of the whole room and the door. He told her about the nurse being out sick today. His hand on his weapon tightened. “Simpson is seeing if there’s a photo of him to check if the person in here was Chris Newton.”

Aubrey closed her eyes for a moment. “I knew something was wrong. That’s why I asked Deputy Simpson to check on the nurse.”

The red streak moving up her arm caught Sean’s attention. “What did the doctor say?”

“I need to stay until they make sure the antivenin has taken care of the poison in my body. I want to go home, but the doctor says I’ll probably be here for a couple of days. After what just happened, I don’t want to stay.”

“You’ll have twenty-four-hour protection from now on. Someone will be outside your door.”

“Someone I know, like Deputy Simpson?”

“Yes, and I’ll be here some of the time.” He would make sure Simpson and any guard understood the importance of not moving from the door.

“What about my mother and children?”

“I’ve taken care of that. Two people will be guarding them at all times.”

“Thank you. I won’t be intimidated by anyone behind this, but having my family protected makes me feel better.” She stared at her left arm. “This cartel hasn’t gone after many judges. Why now?”