Wanted by the Warrant Officer

It’s a good thing you ditched that guy.

Now we can finally be together.

Soon.

I couldn’t keep my head in the sand any longer. I needed help. The kind that the hospital’s security couldn’t give, even if I could get someone there to pay attention to the problem. After briefly considering a trip to the police station, I decided to give Merrick a call.

Deacon had programmed his number into my cell phone and told me to call him if I needed anything while he was out of contact. If I couldn’t go to my man with my problem, then reaching out to his friend was the next best thing. I wasn’t sure what Merrick did for work now, but as a former Navy SEAL, he had to be better equipped to handle this situation than I was.

After checking the back seat and trunk of my car to make sure nobody was hiding back there, I climbed into the driver’s side, slammed the door shut, and quickly engaged the locks. Yanking my phone out of my purse, I pulled up Merrick’s number and scanned the parking garage while I waited for him to pick up.

After four rings, I was starting to worry he wasn’t going to answer. Then the call connected, and he growled, “Ashford.”

I heaved a deep sigh, filled with relief at the sound of his voice. “Hi, Merrick. It’s Piper Amherst, one of the nurses who helped with Kohen’s birth.”

“Yeah, I know who you are.” I heard a baby crying in the background. “Deacon’s woman.”

As much as I loved that Deacon had talked to his friend about me, I felt horrible for calling. “I’m so sorry to bother you. I know how crazy things can be when you have a newborn, but I need your help.”

He must’ve covered the phone because I heard the muffled murmur of his deep voice and then the sound of a door closing before he asked, “What’s going on?”

I gave him a quick rundown of everything that had happened over the past two and a half weeks. When I was done, he barked, “Where are you now?”

“On one of the employee levels of the parking garage at the hospital.” I did another scan around me. “I was a little slow leaving today, so there isn’t anybody else around.”

There was a tapping noise in the background that sounded as though he was typing on a keyboard, and then he said, “I don’t see anything suspicious in the garage, but I don’t like the idea of you being somewhere this guy knows where to find you.”

I didn’t want to know how he could see me, so all I said was, “Okay.”

“Do you have any cash on you?”

I rifled through my purse to make sure the emergency stash I kept in the zippered pocket was still there. “Yeah.”

“How about a change of clothes?”

“Yup, I keep a bag in my trunk in case I need to change out of my scrubs before heading home.”

“Perfect.” He rattled off an address before saying, “I’ll meet you there in thirty minutes. Leave now and drive to the nearest grocery store. Head straight to the bathroom and change your clothes. Then find a female employee, tell her you’re running from an ex, and ask if you can use her rideshare app to get a car. Give her enough cash to cover the ride and then some.”

I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to find someone willing to help, but he made it all sound so simple. “Will do.”

“See you soon.”

I followed Merrick’s instructions to the T and was pleasantly surprised that the cashier I asked for help jumped all over the chance to get me out of there without anyone knowing. She even had the rideshare pick me up in the employee parking lot out back, so if my secret admirer was watching from the front, he’d have no idea that I was gone before it was too late.

I felt much better when I arrived at the address Merrick provided and found him there waiting for me in an Audi. With his window rolled down, he jerked his chin toward the passenger side. “Get in.”

“Thank you so much for coming,” I breathed as I belted myself in.

“You don’t need to thank me.” He pulled out of the parking lot. “Like I said, you’re Deacon’s woman. That’s enough for me.”

I sniffled, trying to hold back tears of relief. “Where to next?”

“Somewhere safe.”

With Merrick looking out for me, I finally felt as though I didn’t need to keep looking over my shoulder for the first time in too long. About thirty minutes into the drive, the motion of the car lulled me to sleep. I didn’t wake up again until the smooth road under the tires of Merrick’s Audi switched to rough gravel. My eyes blinked open, and I stretched, trying to work a kink out of my back.