Lone Star Standoff

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?”