A Dangerous Affair Chapter 58

Stephanie is taken to hospital

The paramedics arrived and moved Stephanie onto a stretcher. There was a lot of noise and people and commotion around her but through it all she could make out only one reassuring sound, the deep authoritative sound of Brick’s voice. When they moved her she remembered thinking that it should have hurt but she felt no pain, just a strange numbness throughout her whole body.

Once in the ambulance she began to slip in and out of consciousness. Words fell out of her mouth randomly; she had no idea what she was saying or what Brick was saying back to her. She felt her hand enveloped in his and she held onto it as if it were her only lifeline. His face hovered and swam above hers and then there was darkness and silence.

When she was next aware of the world, her surroundings were a lot quieter and the first sound she heard was her father’s voice. The lights above her seemed excessively bright and she squinted as their luminance hurt her eyes.

“You’re going to be okay Stephanie. Rest some more if you need to.”

She had wanted to hear that for she felt exhausted and incapable of focusing properly, let alone holding a conversation. She shut out the annoying lights and closed her eyes once more, drifting off into a deep sleep.

It was the pain in her side that brought her out of her sleep the next time. It cut through her unconsciousness and forced her to open her eyes.

“Are you all right Stephanie? I’ll get a doctor?” her father said. Her hand was in his and he went to move away but she held onto him.

“No, I’m okay…I think.”

Brick appeared from behind her father and smiled down at her. “You had us worried for while there Stephanie. But you’re going to be okay now,” he said, more as a reassurance to himself than to her.

A shadow crossed her face then. “Samantha?…Jack?”

Brick shook his head. She had hoped but she knew at the time that it was too late for them.

“Oh my god! Tom!” she said suddenly as her head cleared and her memory returned. She moved suddenly with the shock of realisation and a pain shot through her side.

“He’s okay,” Brick said quickly, watching her with concern and exaggerating what he really knew. To all intents and purposes he should have been okay but Brick couldn’t be entirely sure until he received the phone call he had been waiting on tender hooks for. “Your father got the police to speak to customs in Belfast airport and they’ve assured us that Tom will be stopped the moment he arrives there. I don’t know where he’s been but as luck would have it he only booked a flight this morning.”

“But...” she began, straining to sit up.

Her father put a hand on her arm and urged her not to move. “They have it under control.”

“But what if...” she tried to speak again.

“He should be there in the next hour,” Brick explained. “I’ll phone to check they have him,” he reassured her.

“No more talk of this,” her father cut in, frowning when he took in the paleness of her face. “I’m getting that doctor to check you over again.”

The doctors poked and prodded and made notes in their files but Tom was her only concern. Not only that but Brick had not shown his face for a while now and that fact bothered her. Tom should have landed over two hours ago at least. Brick was avoiding her and she dreaded to think why. She had tried to question the nurses and requested that they pass on any messages from Brick but no such messages had arrived.

Brick sat in the hospital waiting room wringing his hands together and waiting on the off chance for a phone call to confirm Tom’s whereabouts. He had been furious when he had heard that the custom officers had missed Tom. Did they not realise the urgency of the situation? He thought that had been made very clear! He stood up suddenly and headed for the vending machine, slotting in some change and punching the button for yet another paper cup of chemical tasting coffee. He waited impatiently for the cup to drop but nothing appeared and he lost his patience, thumping the machine with an angry fist. He cursed the coffee and decided that he was sick of waiting. He wanted answers and he wanted them now.

Taking his mobile phone out of his pocket he dialled the private number of the police officer who had been helping them with this matter. He had been abrupt and bordering on rude when he first spoke to the man but after some explanation the tension and anger began to leave Brick’s face. As it happened Tom hadn’t been on the flight in the first place. He had booked a ticket, not boarded the flight, but booked himself on another flight departing that evening. Brick tried Tom’s mobile phone yet again but, as before, there was no reply. Well whatever the hell was going on at least Brick could stop him from boarding the plane in the first place now. And now finally he had something positive to tell Stephanie.

Reviews

[Daydreamer54]

Well at least i was right about steph being ok and i do hope brick gets a hold of tom before it's too late! Can't wait to see what's going o on his end. ^^