Page 21 of Axton
“Tara said she would help you dress her, and you can gauze her face. She still thinks this is a DV case and is willing to help. Ford will take us out the back where one of Crocks men will be there waiting with an ambulance. Hopefully nobody that’s watching will suspect it’s her. I’ll ride with her, and you can meet us at the clubhouse. Crock sent a text with the address, and I’ll forward it to you. Just don’t go straight to the clubhouse and make sure nobody is following you. Hopefully she will sleep and by the time she wakes Koty will be with her. I already paid the bill for the hospital, and they have her registered as Simone Black. Creed already emailed copies of the fake identification for both the cops and the hospital. It’ll be like she was never here, and Ford changed her registration to say she was a black female in her mid-thirties. Ford is downstairs filling the prescription of liquid morphine and lorazepam, along with some antibiotics and blood pressure medication. We’ll have to figure out how to get her to Creed’s Lake. The sooner we leave the better.” We were waiting for Tara and Dr. Ford, but we hoped to have her moved rather quickly. We already had everything in the room packed up and I loaded my things in the car a little earlier.
“An MC made up of cops, first responders, and a doctor. What a world.” She laughed a little. “I presume that’s how we got an ambulance, there’s a paramedic in the MC?” She asked.
“Clint’s reach seems to go further than we thought. This is good and I’m glad to see we are benefitting. Has Creed or Irons reached out lately?” I asked.
“Check your texts, they sent us a group chat about the operatives being mobilized. They should be here in Arizona by morning. You were on the phone when it came through.”
“I wonder if Koty reached his parents. Crock said he had a burner phone for him to use.” I said.
“Maybe it’ll help her if she has the opportunity to hear their voices. I also hope they don’t scare her into wanting to go to one of their other communities. It wouldn’t be good for her when the feds raid their compounds.” She said.
“No, it wouldn’t, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon. They work at a snail’s pace. I wouldn’t be shocked if it wouldn’t happen at all. Look how long it took them to take down Warren Jeff’s. It may even take us to raid it and extract some of these girls.” I hated domestic cases, they didn’t pay and that made me uneasy. What would I do if Creed’s Lake failed?
I looked back down at Belle, and she was peacefully sleeping.
“She’s absolutely gorgeous.” Bolton smiled down at her then brushed her copper hair behind her ear. “Imagine living the way she did. I can’t imagine women in those cults knowing much joy in their lives. It’s all about work and breeding. It’s such a shame.”
“Hopefully it won’t be hard straightening her out. Her mind is probably so twisted with lies and false prophecies, she won’t ever understand what was wrong with her family and community.” I looked Belle over and now that her whole face was exposed I could see just how beautiful she was, and she would give Morgan a run for her money. Belle was perfect without makeup and even in the state she was in, it was nearly unbelievable. I was never very attracted to women with Botox lips that packed on the makeup. That was one reason why I was attracted to Faye. Shewas confident in her beauty, intelligence, and she was driven. She had expensive taste, but she was just as beautiful in a gown, and all made up as she was in my shirt and her hair piled up on top of her head. She was vibrant and kept things simple and fun between us.
I lost my smile as my mind trailed off. What was I going to do about that investigation and the lawsuit? The thought of all of it made me sick and my mind spun out of control. Thankfully, my thoughts were interrupted when Dr. Ford stepped in the room. “Everything is ready.” He handed me a large paper bag. “I have her prescriptions, care instructions for her wounds, and supplies to dress them. I’ll be by daily to examine her. I would like some reassurance that you’ll have her setup with another neurologist in Indiana for another scan just to monitor her recovery.”
“We have an onsite doctor that does have experience with minor head injuries. Would you mind if she does the scans and sends them to you? I seriously doubt she has insurance, and everything will be paid out of pocket by Creed’s Lake.” I asked.
“I would prefer she saw a neurologist, but if that’s the most you can do, I’ll be happy to help as much as possible. You already have a psychiatrist and sometimes patients can benefit from them, and she can monitor her as well.” He glanced at Bolton.
“I’ll be there for anything she needs.” Bolton assured him. I saw a gurney arrive outside the room and a moment later Tara walked in the room. Ford and I excused ourselves and when I walked out I saw a paramedic. I checked his ID to make sure it matched the name and photo of what Crock sent me. The three of us made idle chitchat while we waited for the women to have her ready. When they opened the door the paramedic took the gurney inside and I froze when I saw what they dressed Belle in while we were waiting.
“Is that a moo moo?” I pointed at Belle as I looked at Bolton.
“It’s a very conservative nightgown. I highly doubt she has ever worn jeans or pants of any kind, and I don’t know her size. I figured this came at least a little close to what she was used to wearing. I bought a few along with a bohemian skirt and loose blouse. I didn’t want to put her in anything that might make her uncomfortable.”
We watched as Ford and the paramedic carefully moved her onto the gurney then started to cover her up. Her face was wrapped in gauze and her hands were tucked into blankets. “I think my grandmother had one just like it.” I wasn’t sure what I expected but it sure wasn’t that thing.
“How are we going to get her by the nurses station without them seeing her? They’ve tended to her and know she doesn’t have facial injuries?” I asked. They already knew she was being transported but was told we were moving her to a hospital closer to home.
“I’ll distract them.” Tara volunteered.
Tara distracted the nurses, and Bolton went the opposite direction toward my rental truck. There was a second elevator on the other side of the hospital floor that would deliver us closer to the back of the hospital where most transport patients were sent. I put on a pair of sunglasses and my ball cap then let Dr. Ford and the paramedic take the lead. We made it out to the ambulance and after she was safely loaded I climbed in after her. There were no lights or sirens, and he took the streets calmly toward another hospital to throw anyone off that might have followed, and I watched out the back for any suspicious vehicles. Mainly motorcycles, but also any other vehicles.
We pulled up to a gate where he typed in a code and the gates both opened to a small ranch style house with a large barn. I called Crock on the way and told him to distract Koty, because I needed to speak with him before he was to see his sister. Two uniformed cops opened up the back and the paramedic pulled out the gurney and I followed.
“I’m Winston and this is Smith.” I shook the men’s hands.
“Mike Axton.” I introduced myself.
“We have a small bedroom with a double bed setup for her. It’s not much but we appreciate what we have for a clubhouse.” Winston spoke as I walked behind the gurney and helped the paramedic. “The main hangout is in the barn, but we kept the house in case of any situations like this popping up.”
I helped get the gurney in through the front door, then it was turned to go down a hall and it was awkward pushing it into the small bedroom, but we used the room across the hall to turn and eventually drove the gurney up to the bed. I pulled the covers down then helped move her from the gurney. As soon as I had her covered up, I unwrapped her face and heard all three men take in a sharp breath. “Wow, young but beautiful.” Winston said. I shot a look up at him and he knew he said the wrong damn thing. I didn’t know why it mattered to me, but it did.
Chapter Twelve
Axton
“Iexpect her to be crippled with fear when she wakes.” Koty Ashford was a small man without any real muscle, but he held his head high and tried to give off a tough guy persona. His blond hair was light, but he had dark brown eyes and didn’t think I noticed the nervous tick in his eye. I had just broken the news to him that he wouldn’t be seeing Belle until he answered my questions. She wasn’t far, just in the bedroom of the small house as we sat at the kitchen table.
“Why did you help her escape?” I asked.
He glanced down, which told me there was a smidgen of guilt. “I wouldn’t say I helped her escape as much as scooped her up in the middle of the night and didn’t give her much of a choice.”
