White Wedding for a Southern Belle

“You already have me. Leave her.” Kiefer sounded as if he were about to beg.

“I said shut up. You don’t make the rules here.” To the people in the exam room he said, “First person who opens this door will be shot.” He pulled the door to the exam room closed. He looked at Ashley. “You get what’s needed.”

“I don’t know what that is. I’m not a nurse.”

Marko looked at Kiefer. “You tell her what to get from here.”

Ashley went into the supply room while Kiefer remained in the hall.

“My bag is on the floor by the desk. Open it and I’ll tell you what to put in.”

Ashley found his backpack behind the desk and faced Kiefer, who stood at the door. With her hands shaking, she bent to pick it up. Opening the pack, she placed it on the desk chair.

This wasn’t the Marko she’d known. Why hadn’t she listened to Kiefer? Had she been so caught up in what she’d wanted that she’d been unable to see anything else? She would die if anything happened to Kiefer. She couldn’t live if she was the cause of him getting hurt.

His phone.

It was under a stack of papers on his desk. She glanced at Kiefer. His gaze met hers. He shifted, drawing Marko’s attention.

Marko shouted, “Be still!”

With her heart in her throat and all the possibilities of what might go wrong swirling in her head, she acted as if she was surprised and knocked the papers off, making sure the phone fell into the pack. Now all she had to do was pray that the phone didn’t ring.

“Hurry up,” Marko growled.

Ashley gathered the supplies as Kiefer listed them, shoving them into the bag.

“Let’s go,” Marko announced.

Ashley zipped up the bag and joined Kiefer in the hall. He took it from her. Pulling it over one shoulder, he turned to go toward the front door.

“No, the other way. Up the back stairs.”

Marko pushed Kiefer forward. “Doctor, you first.”

“Marko,” Ashley said, “you know this is kidnapping. A federal offense. If you stop now, Dr. Bradford and I won’t press any charges.”

“She’s right, Marko.”

This time Marko gave her a shove. “Both of you shut up and get moving.”

Kiefer didn’t look pleased but he didn’t argue further. Ashley climbed the stairs behind Kiefer, all too aware of Marko’s gun aimed at her back. She glanced at the bat still standing at the top of the stairs, hoping Kiefer wouldn’t be a hero and pick it up. Thankfully he didn’t.

In her kitchen Marko said, “Let’s go. Down the back steps.”

Again Kiefer led the way. At the bottom of the steps Marko said, “Now through that hole in the fence. Doctor, you first.”

Ashley stepped through after Kiefer. Her pants leg caught on the broken wire. Kiefer snatched her up before she fell, bringing her hard against him. Just the feel of him eased her fear.

“Get moving,” Marko snarled.

Kiefer released her. She moved ahead of him and Marko made no complaint. They followed a path through the vacant lot behind her building. The knee-high grass pulled against her legs. Her pumps sank into the sandy ground. A couple of times Kiefer supported her with a hand to her arm, helping her to stay on her feet.

Halfway across the lot Kiefer asked Marko, “Why don’t you release Ashley? I’ll go with you with no complaints.”

Ashley wanted to scream no. He could be killed. Maybe she could talk some sense into Marko. He would never listen to Kiefer.

“Shut up and keep moving,” Marko growled.

At the next block Marko directed them to a waiting car. “Ashley, get in the front seat. Doctor, in the back. I’ll shoot her if you give me any trouble,” he said pointedly to Kiefer.

When the doors were shut behind them, the driver passed a dark T-shirt to her and one over the seat to Kiefer. Marko said, “Put it on your head. Make sure to cover your face.”

Ashley did as she was told. The stench of body odor almost made her gag but she pulled the shirt in place. She hardly had it situated before the car lurched forward.

For what seemed like forever they wove in and out of streets, taking corners too fast. She held on to the door handle, trying to stay upright. Where were they going? They had traveled so far that they could no longer be in Southriver.

A tugboat horn blew. They were near the river. They bumped over railroad tracks a couple of times so hard that Ashley’s head almost hit the roof. They made a final turn and the car came to a screeching halt, slamming Ashley forward.

“Ashley, are you okay?” Kiefer’s voice was muffled under his shirt.

“I’m fine.”

“Shut up. Pull those shirts off your heads and get out,” Marko ordered.

Doing so, she saw they were inside a warehouse. There were boxes stacked to the roof and empty wooden pallets on the floor. After the harrowing ride, she climbed out of the car on shaky legs. Kiefer joined her with his bag in hand.

“This way.” Marko indicated some type of office-looking area in one corner of the huge building. Lit from within, it had one door, and windows made up half the walls.

The driver jerked her toward Kiefer when she didn’t move. They walked side by side with Marko behind them.

“Tell me what’s going on,” Kiefer demanded.

“You’ll see soon enough,” Marko said.

The driver opened the door to the office and Ashley, then Kiefer with Marko behind him, entered. Inside was a man lying on a dirty mattress that had no cover on it on an old metal bed frame. Based on the amount of bloody rags on the floor, he’d lost a large amount of blood. His pallor was deathly white.

Kiefer hurried to the bedside in full doctor mode. Slipping the ba

g from his shoulder and setting it on the floor, he unzipped it, found plastic gloves and pulled them on. He lifted the material that looked like a T-shirt from the wound in the man’s midsection.

The man moaned.

“I’m Dr. Bradford. I’m here to help you. I’m going to have a look at you and then I’ll give you something for pain. What’s your name?”

“Jorge,” he said in little more than a whisper.

“He needs to be in a hospital,” Kiefer said to Marko.

“No,” Marko barked.

Ashley watched Kiefer look into Jorge’s eyes. His hand went to the young man’s forehead. “He needs surgery. He’s running a fever. Has lost too much blood.”

“You take care of him here,” Marko said.

“He’s already on the road to an infection.” Kiefer looked around the filthy area. “Sewing him up here will only make it worse.”

Marko pointed the gun at her. “You’ll do it.”

Kiefer glanced away but his look returned to meet hers. There was pain, worry and resignation in his eyes. “I’ll need your help, Ashley.”

“I’ve never done anything like this.” She couldn’t keep the quiver of fear out of her voice.

He gave her a reassuring smile. “I’ll tell you what to do every step of the way. I have complete faith you can handle it.” Kiefer looked around. “Is there water?”

“In there.” Marko nodded toward a door.

Kiefer looked back at her. “See if you can find something to put some water in. If not...” he pulled a bag of bandage pads out of the backpack and handed them to her “...wet these.” He gave her another reassuring smile that didn’t reach his eyes.