Submerged

Hinton, AB – Sunday, June 16, 2013 – 7:53 AM

In a private room in the ICU, Rebecca prepared for the performance of her life. She’d already been drilled about what to expect and how to act barely conscious if anyone entered the room after it was cleared.

Marcus sat near the bed, massaging his temples. His clenched jaw and occasional huffs intimated he wasn’t happy about the plan.

But she had to do it. She didn’t have a choice. Not if she wanted to breathe again, or live her life without fear.

She gave Detective Zur a shaky smile. “Okay… I’m ready.”

“Great. We’ll be outside your door, watching every—”

“Rebecca, you don’t have to do this,” Marcus interrupted. “They can catch this guy another way.”

“What other way?” Detective Zur cut in. “We have no leads. We haven’t got an inkling who hired Delaney. If we don’t get him now—”

“He’ll get away and hide,” Rebecca finished. “I need to do this, Marcus. So I’m not always looking over my shoulder, wondering if someone’s going to come after me. Or the kids.”

A nurse hovered over her, fastening an IV line to an empty plastic pouch.

“What’s that for?” Rebecca asked.

The nurse glanced at the detective who gave a slight nod. “We’re running a fake IV drip. It’ll run into this pouch, not into your arm.”

“Why would you do that?”

The nurse bit her lip. “It’s in case someone tries to… uh, tamper with your IV.”

“Tamper.” Rebecca blinked, then glanced at Detective Zur. “You think someone will try to drug me?”

“Possibly. We think they’ll try to take advantage of your ‘relapse’ and make your death look like an accident.”

“I guess that’s better than having them walk in and shoot me.” She cringed. “What’s stopping them from doing that?”

Detective Zur shook his head. “Whoever planned this has been very smart up until now. He’d want to get in and out as quickly as possible. He wouldn’t risk gunshots.”

“What if he has a silencer?” she asked.

The detective glanced from Rebecca to Marcus and back to her. “I think you two watch the same movies. Listen, Mrs. Kingston, the first attempt on your life was in a remote location away from witnesses. If you and your children hadn’t survived, we wouldn’t have Delaney. It might even have appeared to be an accident. Like you’d taken the wrong turn and run off the road.”

“And you think whoever hired this Delaney guy still wants no witnesses and no evidence leading back to him.”

Detective Zur nodded. “And a death that looks accidental.”

“Plus, injecting you with a drug gives him time to get away,” Marcus said. “Less chance he’d get caught.”

“Exactly,” the detective agreed.

“So I’m going to lie here and pretend I’m fading in and out of consciousness, and try not to fall asleep.” She sighed. “I guess I can do that.”

“We have two cameras set up in your room,” Zur said. “One aimed at the door and the other at your bed.”

“So you’ll see everything.”

He nodded, then beckoned to an officer standing in the doorway. “We don’t have time to wire your room with microphones, so Corporal Raddison is going to secure a wire to your pillow.”

Rebecca took a deep breath. “But you’ll get him even if he says nothing?”

“All he has to do is make an attempt and we’ll get it on tape.”

“What if he tries to smother me with a pillow?”

“Every pillow has been removed from your room, except the one you’re lying on. We’ll be here in seconds of him making a move.” Zur glanced at his watch and picked up the TV remote control. “Ah, showtime.”

He flicked on a local television station, and Rebecca gasped. Her photograph was pasted across the screen. Below it, the caption read, “Hit-and-run victim suffers serious complications.”

The camera zoomed in on a female reporter standing outside the hospital. “Rebecca Kingston, a victim of a vicious hit and run that included her two children, remains in serious condition at Hinton Hospital. Sources say the woman is in and out of consciousness after lung surgery setbacks. Her two children will be released into their aunt’s care later this afternoon, while Rebecca Kingston continues to fight for her life.”

A man’s face flashed on the screen.

Rebecca shivered. Rufus Delaney.

She knew his face from the photo Marcus had shown her. This was the man who’d run her off the road.

“Turn it off please,” she said quietly.

The detective gave her an apologetic look, then turned off the television.

“So now all I do is lie here and wait?” she asked him.

“Yes. I’ll be able to check on you once in a while, as will one of the nurses. To make sure you’re okay. We don’t want you panicking and having a relapse for real.”

“I’m sure that’s a big comfort,” Marcus muttered.

She reached out. “I’m fine. And I’ll be fine. This was my choice.”

When he took her hand and squeezed it, she felt rejuvenated with energy.

“I’m sticking around too,” he said.

“You can’t stay on the floor,” Detective Zur argued. “Your face has been plastered all over the news. For saving Rebecca and her kids.”

Marcus shrugged. “Then it’ll make sense why I’m hanging around.”