Security for Sleeping Beauty - Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Ben didn’t want to leave her, but the doctor had insisted he step outside while he examined her and removed all the tubes and machines to which she’d been connected. Ben could trust the doctor. He’d personally checked out all the medical staff who came into contact with Ellie, so that he would know if someone tried to impersonate a worker to get to her. She was safe.
Maybe she’d never even been in real danger—except from whoever had stolen her car. Now he might know who that someone was...
He slid his phone back into his pocket just as the elevator dinged. The doors weren’t even all the way open when Paul Prentiss squeezed through and rushed down the hall toward his daughter’s room.
“She’s awake?” he asked. “She’s really awake.” Tears glistened in eyes the same bright blue as his daughter’s. That was about all the parent shared with the child, though. The rest of Ellie’s delicate features as well as her golden hair must have come from her mother. Paul Prentiss was a big man with big features and a bald head. He was also a very nice man, a loving father.
“She’s awake,” Ben assured him although he’d been scared when she’d closed her eyes again. But when she’d opened them and smiled...
He’d felt something he’d never felt before, and a fresh wave of panic rushed over him as he experienced it again.
“Then it’s over,” Paul said. “She can tell us who attacked her.”
Ben shook his head. “I don’t think so...”
“But—”
“I’ll let the doctor explain all that to you,” he said. “But I have more news. The police department called. They caught a carjacker in the area where Ellie was attacked.”
“So it is over,” Paul said with a heavy sigh.
Ben’s panic intensified now when it should have eased with relief she was no longer in danger. But that meant she no longer needed him. He could return to River City and help out his fellow bodyguards.
“I’ll go down to the police department and make sure they got the right guy,” Ben said.
Paul nodded. “Of course. She’ll be safe now.”
Ben hoped so, but reluctance dragged his feet toward the elevator and across the parking lot to his Jeep. Just as he climbed in, he caught sight of one of the second shift nurses driving a shiny new motorcycle into a spot. The guy wore no helmet, which had Ben’s lips curving into a slight grin at the irony of a medical professional not worrying about the danger. Or the money...
Another of the bodyguards, Tyce Jackson, owned an older model of the same bike that hadn’t been cheap. How had the nurse afforded a new one?
He pushed the thought from his mind—for now. His total focus was on Ellie and on making sure she was no longer in danger.