Nothing Ordinary - M J Marlow (books for men to read .txt) 📗

relieved. “Of course, he’ll be going to the hospital to make certain he has no concussion. Otherwise, he seems just fine.” “Bossy,” Barney smiled up at her. “Just like her mother.” He saw the look of pain that crossed her face and put his arms around her. “Monica was a good woman, Anneke liebchen. She would be very proud of you.” His men arrived with the investigators and he sent them through. They would find out what, if anything; had been taken. Since Barney was the only person who was supposed to be in here at this time of night, there shouldn’t be any other people here. He remained with Barney and his granddaughter to wait for the ambulance. How she was holding it together, he wondered, was a mystery to him. He knew full-grown men who had broken under less pressure. “Captain Ryan?” Doctor Guthrie’s voice cut through Ryan’s study of the girl. Ryan turned towards the man just coming in. Tall, dark brown hair, deep green eyes, and lean build; Walter Guthrie was the younger partner of Oscar Bayer. From the way he was dressed, he had obviously come from the party. “What happened here?” “Looks like a break-in gone sour, Doctor,” Ryan replied as he turned away from the girl for a moment. “Barney was hurt.” He hated the sight of the girl’s pale face as he admitted this. “My men are going through the clinic now trying to figure out what they were after.” “Who’s the girl?” Guthrie asked tightly. “She doesn’t belong in here.” “My granddaughter,” Barney snapped at the man. “Anneke Owens.” He could see the look of suspicion and realized Guthrie had thought Annie might be involved in this action. As if his angel could have anything to do with such a thing! “She found me when she came to bring my dinner.” “Indeed,” Guthrie felt light-headed as he took a better look at her face. He had seen the photographs in Bayer’s study but the real life version of this girl was more than stunning. “We heard she was coming to stay with you, Barney, but you never introduced her to us.” “There were reasons,” Barney muttered as she and Annie exchanged looks.” “None of which ever made sense, Barney,” Guthrie said as he went to the girl and smiled briefly as he held out his hand. “Mrs. Owens, I’m Walter Guthrie. I work with your uncle.” “As I understand it, Doctor Guthrie,” Annie said softly as she acknowledged his greeting politely, “you are more than an employee here.” Annie shook his hand briefly and then returned the first aid kit to its place. He had never seen such a beautiful child, he thought as he looked at her critically. The glow of pregnancy made her even more exquisite and he suddenly wanted to touch more than her hand. He was shocked at the strong reaction he was having to her. “If there is anything we can do to help,” Guthrie continued, “you must let us know.” “Thank you, Doctor,” Annie said to him in a warm mellow tone that reminded him of bells. He was intrigued by the slight accent to her words. “Can you make this so it never happened?” she asked him bluntly, her accent now quite plain. Guthrie remembered then that Barney’s son had been stationed in Germany for almost eighteen years. This girl had been born in Washington DC, but she had not been raised here in America. “Anneke!” Barney shook his head at her. “That was unworthy of you.” “You are right, Grandfather.” She nodded her head and looked repentant. “I am sorry. This is not your fault. I had no right to snap at you.” The ambulance arrived and the paramedics checked Barney over and congratulated the pretty girl on her competent bandaging job. Annie went with her grandfather in the ambulance and Ryan followed them. Guthrie went up to his office and shut the door. He made a call. “The guard isn’t dead,” he said bluntly. “We’re going to have to remind him what happens if he turns his files over to the authorities.” He smiled coldly as he heard the order. “I have no problem whatsoever keeping an eye on the girl. She is exquisite.” Annie sat next to her grandfather in the hospital room, a book sitting in her lap unread. She kept her eyes on him, frowning at how pale he was. The nurse came in to check his vital signs and assured her that he was doing just fine. “Mr. Weber?” Pamela Franklin said as she squeezed his hand. “You need to wake up for a moment.” Barney groaned but refused to open his eyes. “Come on now. You need to assure your granddaughter that you are all right or I’ll have three patients on my hands.” “Anneke?” Barney’s eyes opened and he looked up at her lovingly. He raised his hand to her hair and she smiled in relief. “Sie müssen nach Deutschland zurück gehen. Sie sind nicht hier sicher.” “I don’t understand,” Annie replied, frowning at the obvious worry in his eyes. “Why should I go back to Germany? Why am I not safe here?” “I should never have done it,” he said as he drifted off again. “Now you are in danger and there is nothing I can do to help.” He gripped her arm tight. “Go back and find out what happened to your husband, Go back to his family, Anneke, before…” “Grandfather?” Annie looked at him in dismay as he drifted off to sleep. She looked at the Nurse. “Is he all right?” “Your grandfather is just resting, Mrs. Owens,” Pamela assured her. “Which is something you should be doing, young lady. You look worse than he does.” She nodded towards the empty bed. “You can sack out there until we need the bed. Try to get some rest.” “A very good idea,” Doc Ryan said as he came in. “How is our patient, Pam?” “He was awake and lucid a moment ago,” Pamela told him. “All of his vital signs are strong and steady. He drifted off to sleep just before you arrived.” She looked at Annie pointedly and he nodded. “I won’t disturb him then,” Doc replied. He turned to Annie. “How are you doing, Mrs. Owens?” “I am not the patient here, Doc,” Annie looked at him. “I will be fine once I am certain he is.” She looked at Barney and was relieved that he had more color in his face. He might say he had a hard head but he was in his sixties and he was all she had left of her father’s family. She put her fingertips to her temples and closed her eyes a moment. She got her purse and pulled out the bottle of aspirin and swallowed a couple. “I’ll take you up on your offer and rest for a while.” She looked at Doc and Pam. “You will tell me if anything changes.” She went to lie down on the other bed and closed her eyes. She was asleep before Doc and the nurse had even left the room. Doc Ryan watched her closely and wished he could assure her that everything was going to be all right. To not know if her husband was alive or dead, then to lose her parents so recently and have to see her grandfather in the hospital was more than any young woman should have to deal with. Being pregnant on top of all that was a blessing and a curse. What was worse was the knowledge that the men who had broken into the clinic were still out there somewhere and her grandfather was the only witness. “General Owens, please,” he asked as he made a call from his office. “General? This is Doctor Paul Ryan from Memorial Hospital in Youngstown, Ohio. Barnabas Weber, Major Weber’s father, was brought in after he was hurt in a robbery where he works.” He listened and was pleased by the questions the man asked. “I think you should do all you can to get someone here. Anneke is going to need help.” He looked up as someone knocked on the frame of the door and beckoned his son inside. “He has a concussion and should recover, but after all this child had gone through…” He smiled. “We’ll be looking for your son then, General.” “Who was that, Dad?” Ryan asked as he settled on a chair, looking weary. “Mrs. Owens’ father-in-law, General Owens,” Doc replied. “I thought it might be wise for him to send someone to be with her. She’s looking very shaky.” He saw Ryan’s look. “So what is going on?” “I wish I knew, Dad,” Ryan told him honestly. “I suggest that you ask hospital security to keep an eye on Mr. Weber. He is the sole witness to a robbery. The men responsible might come back to silence him.” “Consider it done,” Doc nodded. 2 Annie woke to the sound of an angry conversation and saw a strange man standing over her grandfather’s bed. From the way he held himself and the way he was dressed, he was law enforcement. His lean face was stiff with anger and his eyes were hard and cold. He noticed her and the expression softened. He took a step back and she had the distinct impression that he was doing his best to calm down after a deep disappointment. He had wanted something from her Grandfather and Annie could see from the tight expression on Barney’s face that he had refused to give it to him. “Why are you bothering my Grandfather?” she asked the man as she came over to hold Barney’s hand. “He needs to rest.” “I’m Agent Charles Taylor,” the man said as he showed her his credentials. “I was just asking Mr. Weber about the break in.” “You were arguing,” Annie stated bluntly. She looked at her Grandfather and saw him lower his eyes from hers. Then she looked at the man. “You think he was an accomplice to this break in, don’t you?” “Anneke…” “No, Grandfather,” Annie shook her head as she glared at the FBI agent. “Don’t tell me not to get involved. You are family and Mr. Taylor has no right to come here and accuse you of wrongdoing when you were injured!” She met the man’s cold eyes. “Leave your card, or whatever your type does, and go away.” “I’m only doing my job, Miss…” “Mrs. Owens,” Annie said tightly. She was so tired of people assuming she was a child. She turned to him then and his eyes widened slightly as he saw that she was pregnant. “Go do your job somewhere else,” Annie snapped at him. She turned to her grandfather again and did not see the anger in Clark’s eyes. “How are you feeling now, Grandfather?” Barney smiled and patted her hand and assured her that he was just fine. He watched Taylor go and was very proud of his grandchild. If she had known what they were really arguing about, she would not be looking at him quite so kindly. He had received a message from the men he had been spying on while Anneke was asleep. If he didn’t give them the information he’d compiled on them, they would take his granddaughter instead. Agent Taylor had been here to get the files and Barney had refused to hand them over. He was facing jail time if he did not comply, Agent Taylor had warned him. “Grandfather,” Anneke said as she made him more comfortable. “How could they believe that you would do such a horrible thing?” “They say they have evidence, Anneke,” Barney said softly. He put his hand on hers. “Don’t worry, child. Everything works out.” Annie nodded and did not feel at all reassured. There was a knock on the door and a man in a blue suit and carrying a briefcase came into the