Safe House Read Free Page B

big man who was still guarding the front door. “Get the stuff, Rocco,” he ordered. Rocco hurried out of the room and came back a minute later with two large grocery bags. He dumped the contents of both bags onto the coffee table.
    “Good heavens!” Kendra exclaimed as bottles of prescription vials rolled around the table. She picked them up and read the labels : codeine, hydrocodone, m orphine, Percocet, Vicodin, Oxycotin, Ativan, Xanax, Valium. Upon closer inspection, she noticed the labels included names of people who obviously weren’t standing in the room. She recognized one name, Rosa Smith, a little old lady who called her a couple of times a year to come out and check her horse’s hoofs.
    “Where did you get these?” Kendra demanded, knowing the answer before she asked. The black market for painkillers wasn’t exactly a big secret.
    Jesse had the decency to clear his throat and look away before answering. “Some of the elderly people on fixed incomes in the community need cash , so we buy their unused medications.” He shrugged as if it was n’t a big deal. “They would just flush them down the toilet or throw them away anyway. It’s a win-win situation. For everybody.”
    “You buy them to resell on the black market,” Kendra stated. She continued cleaning Flint’s wound while she talked. “To junkies? To people hooked on painkillers?” The thought was horrifying.
    “No, not necessarily,” Jesse answered. “Quite frequently it seems we have a need for them ourselves.”
    Kendra let out a short humorless laugh and rolled her eyes. “I can well imagine.” She chose the strongest painkiller in the pile and shook out three pills. “Can someone get a glass of water? I need to get these pills in him before I try to remove the bullet and stitch him up. It’s going to hurt like hell and he’ll need something strong to take the edge off.”
    Kendra leaned over and placed the back of her hand against Flint’s forehead. She tried and failed to ignore the faint whiff of cologne that held a sexy hint of heat and leather.
    “His name is Flint?” she asked for clarification.
    Tom nodded.
    “Flint! Wake up.” She shook him gently, attempting to bring him to long enough to swallow the pills. “Come on buddy! You need to open your eyes so I can give you something for the pain. Then I’ll knock you out again the best I can.”
    His eyes flickered for a moment then closed again. “Flint! Open your eyes,” she coaxed. Suddenly, his eyes opened and she stared into the greenest eyes she’d ever seen; tantalizingly deep and penetrating. She hesitated for a moment, completely caught off guard. “That’s it. Now open your mouth. I’m going to give you some pills and then I want you to swallow a couple sips of water.”
    Beads of sweat popped out on his forehead and slid down his face as he fought against the pain to stay conscious. “Someone get me a cold rag!” she yelled. The men scattered, eager to do something to help.
    Kendra placed her hand behind his neck and propped him up a little. Flint opened his mouth wide enough for her to place the pills on his tongue. She held the glass to his lips and encouraged him to drink. “Don’t choke. Make sure you swallow all three pills. Trust me, you’ll be glad for it later.”
    Flint opened his eyes again for a split second, making contact with hers for an instant before sagging heavily against her.
    “He’s out again,” Kendra said. “I need to scrub my hands and put on a pair of gloves. Then I’ll need a couple of you guys to hold him down in case he comes to again while I’m working on him. Let’s do this as fast as we can while he’s unconscious. It will be much easier on him that way.”
    She worked quickly to clean the wound and remove the bullet. He was lucky. The injury was bad, but it could have been so much worse, even lethal if the bullet had landed just a few inches l o w er. Flint twitched and jerked in pain while she worked, but he