Safe Haven (The Protectors Book 1) Read online

  “She didn’t like the fabric,” Hayley muttered.

  “But she did by the end of the week,” Alice said proudly. “Hayley dyed the dress a pretty shade of blue. She pulled the bodice apart and handstitched everything together again. It was one of the loveliest dresses at prom. Do you remember the flowers you picked for your hair?”

  Hayley nodded. “I don’t think Mrs. Davito appreciated me taking her roses.”

  “She might have been a little annoyed when you chose her prize-winning roses, but she soon forgave you when you helped her weed her garden.”

  Hayley looked at Tank. “My date came down with the measles a few days before prom. I went with some of my friends.”

  “You had a lovely time.”

  Hayley sighed. “I had a wonderful time. Mom, I need to tell you something.”

  Her mom frowned. “I hope you still don’t feel guilty about the roses.”

  She gripped her mom’s hand. “It’s not the roses. I love you, mom.”

  “I know that. I love you, too. Now give me a hug and tell me what’s wrong.”

  Hayley wrapped her arms around her mom’s frail shoulders. She pulled her close, desperately holding onto the touch and feel of her mom in her arms.

  Alice sighed. “Tell me what’s worrying you.”

  Hayley sat back and tried to smile. “Nothing’s wrong. I guess I miss Sophie more than I thought I would.”

  “You were always close. It’s only natural that you’d miss your sister. Tank has promised to drive us to Montana as quickly as possible.” Alice held back a yawn. “I should go back to bed—we’ve got a big day ahead of us.”

  Hayley stood up, ready to help, but her mom waved her away.

  “I can manage on my own. You stay here. Could you pass me my walker, Tank?”

  He wheeled the frame close to Alice. “You’re a good man. I’ll see you later.”

  Hayley watched her mom walk slowly back to their room. When the bedroom door closed, she looked at Tank. “Thank you for waking me.”

  “How often does she remember who you are?”

  “Up until two weeks ago, hardly ever. Sophie’s supplement seems to be triggering something in her mind. Mom’s memory doesn’t stay for long, but it’s better than losing her completely.”

  “How long has she been taking your sister’s supplement?”

  Hayley found a tissue and blew her nose. “About ten months. When her memory started improving, she became really frustrated. We still have days like that.”

  “It must be hard.”

  “That’s what I think, too. I just need to check on her.” Hayley walked across to their bedroom and slowly opened the door. Her mom was lying in bed, turning her pillow over.

  “Is she okay?”

  She nodded and closed the door. “Mom seems more relaxed around you.”

  “If it makes traveling to Bozeman easier, I’m glad.” He picked up his cup of coffee. “My grandmother had Alzheimer’s disease.”

  “She did?”

  Tank nodded. “She lived with my family for a couple of years before she died. It’s not easy on anyone.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Twelve. I had to share my older brother’s bedroom. I don’t think he ever forgave me for invading his space.”

  She looked at Tank and smiled. “Older brothers and sisters are like that. Sophie stuck a line of duct tape on the carpet in our room. It was supposed to keep me away from her things.”

  “Did it work?”

  “For about an hour, but she left the tape on the floor for more than a month.” Hayley thought about her family, the changes that living with someone with Alzheimer’s made. “Before dad died, mom was okay. She did a few strange things, but nothing made us think she had Alzheimer’s. But after dad died her symptoms became a lot worse. Sophie and I looked after her for as long as we could. The hardest decision we had to make was finding a nursing home for her. We felt as though we were letting her down.”

  “Was she happy there?”

  “I think so. The dementia unit gave her a better quality of life than we could.”

  Tank sipped his coffee. “Sophie told me you were working there.”

  “It was the easiest way of seeing mom regularly. When she remembered things I’d call Sophie and she’d rush across town. When we started giving her the supplement, we didn’t know what would happen. But it couldn’t have been worse than what Alzheimer’s was doing to her brain.”

  “Did you expect it to make a difference?”

  She took a deep breath. “No. It seemed too easy. Pharmaceutical companies are spending millions of dollars trying to discover a cure for Alzheimer’s. My sister found a low-cost, natural alternative that everyone can afford. More than forty million people around the world have Alzheimer’s. If her supplement helps people, it could become the miracle treatment of the twenty-first century.”

  “I hope it does work for a lot of people.”

  “Sophie has still got a long way to go. She can’t commercially produce the supplement until she has the patent. After that, she needs to find a manufacturer.” Hayley looked at her watch. “It’s three o’clock. What time did you want to leave the hotel?”

  “If we’re ready by seven we’ll be able to drive as far as Kadoka, South Dakota, today.”

  Hayley uncurled her legs and picked up her coffee cup. “I’d better go back to bed, then. Thank you for looking after mom.”

  “It’s no problem. Can I ask you something?”

  She walked across to their small kitchen and rinsed her mug. “As long as it doesn’t involve a lot of thinking, go ahead.”

  “Why do you call your mom by her first name when you’re talking to her?”

  “She becomes agitated when I call her mom. It’s only when she’s back with us that she doesn’t mind.”

  Tank’s steady blue gaze connected with hers. “She loves you.”

  Fresh tears filled Hayley’s eyes. “I know. Goodnight, Tank.”

  “Goodnight.”

  She headed toward her bedroom. With three hours left before she needed to wake her mom, she didn’t expect to sleep well. She could have stayed awake, read a book, or posted a message on her sister’s website. But she wasn’t sure Tank would approve of the way she updated Sophie on their mom’s progress.

  They had a long drive ahead of them tomorrow. Three hours’ sleep was better than nothing, especially if something happened.

  She took her sweatshirt off and pulled back the blankets on her bed. Her mom was already sound asleep, lost in the world her mind had created.

  Hayley closed her eyes and tried to relax. The person following them hadn’t made an appearance. For now, they were safe.

  ***

  Tank passed Hayley a brown paper bag. He’d left the hotel early to buy everyone breakfast. He would have preferred to eat in the car, but Alice ate faster when Hayley was able to help her.

  Hayley opened the bag and pulled out bowls of fresh yogurt and granola, orange juice, and fruit salad. “Did you see anything suspicious?”

  “A black cat crossed the road in front of me. Does that count?”

  Her eyes widened. “Was that a joke?”

  “No.”

  “I thought for a minute you had a sense of humor.”

  He sipped his coffee. “I keep it well hidden.”

  Alice picked up a spoon and looked at her breakfast.

  Hayley left a cup of her sister’s supplement in front of her mom. “We’re having breakfast, Alice. Would you like me to help you?”

  Alice shook her head, so Hayley picked up her spoon and started eating her bowl of yogurt. “Like this…spoon in, spoon out.” She smiled, encouraging her mom to follow what she was doing.

  Alice started eating.

  Tank silently watched them. Everything about their breakfast reminded him of his grandma. Someone would start eating and she would follow. When her Alzheimer’s had worsened, they’d spoon-fed her until even that was impossible.
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  He would have done anything to give her a better quality of life.

  When Alice was halfway through breakfast, Hayley glanced at him. “I need to use my laptop.”

  He stared at her over the rim of his mug. “Why?”

  “I update my sister’s website each day. It’s the safest way I have of letting her know how mom’s doing.”

  “You put the information on a website for the whole world to see?” He didn’t want to tell her she was crazy, but she was. “If anyone realizes how important that information could be, you’ll have more than a pharmaceutical company after you. Every two-bit criminal will be looking for you.”

  “It’s encrypted.”

  He swallowed his coffee before he choked. “You know about encryption?”

  “It was the only safe way to send data across the Internet. Sophie designed a recruitment website. She doesn’t advertise jobs, but we do have some good advice for people looking for work.”

  “And how is that supposed to tell her how your mom is?”

  “We have secure pages that only we can see. I add comments to her posts. We developed a code for each test result she needs. It works really well.”

  “Do you need to add your mom’s results today? We’ll be in Bozeman soon—you can tell your sister in person.”

  “I could leave it, but Sophie will be worried.”

  “She knows this isn’t a normal situation.”

  Hayley glanced at her laptop. She’d left it on the end of the dining table. “Will you be speaking to your boss today?”

  He nodded. Alice looked as though she’d forgotten what she was doing. He picked up his spoon and dipped it into his bowl. “Like this, Alice.”

  She sent him an absent smile, then followed what he was doing.

  Hayley glanced at him before continuing to eat her own breakfast. “As long as your boss lets Sophie know we’re okay, I don’t suppose another day or two will matter.”

  “I’d sooner do that than have someone track you via your laptop. Is your cell phone still turned off?”

  “I haven’t touched my phone since you looked at it.” Hayley held the glass of supplement toward her mom. “Do you want me to drive for a few hours today?”

  “I’m happy to drive.”

  She finished helping her mom, then put the glass on the table. “You look tired. Did you get any sleep after I went to bed?”

  “I don’t need a lot of sleep.”

  Hayley didn’t say anything, but her look said plenty.

  He hadn’t slept well for the last ten years. Another night wasn’t going to make any difference.

  “Let me know if you change your mind.”

  While they finished their breakfast he took another look at the map on his satellite phone. If anyone was following them, they’d know exactly where they were going. There were only two ways to get to Bozeman by road, and they didn’t have time for the scenic route.

  The company he worked for was expecting them to arrive in Montana tomorrow afternoon. If that didn’t happen, a search team would be sent to find them. In all the years he’d been working with Fletcher Security, he’d only needed help once. This job wouldn’t become the second.

  Alice nibbled her way through her breakfast until nothing was left. Four hours ago she’d been animated and full of life. When she’d woken, her personality had disappeared behind the fog of Alzheimer’s.

  Hayley put their spoons inside the empty plastic bowls. “Are you okay staying with Alice while I brush my teeth?”

  He nodded. “As soon as you’re ready, we’ll leave.”

  While Hayley was gone, he cleared their apartment of the gear they’d brought inside.

  Alice watched him move around the apartment, checking under sofas and chairs for anything they’d forgotten.

  “Tank?”

  He slowly looked over the top of the sofa.

  Alice’s blue eyes stared back at him. “Are we going to be all right?”

  “You know who I am?”

  “You make sense.”

  He took a deep breath. Alice’s softly spoken words touched something deep inside him, something he tried not to think about. “We’ll be okay. I’ll look after you.”

  She smiled in the slow way he was becoming used to. “We should leave. I can’t protect Hayley.”

  “You don’t need to. I’ll protect all of us.” He walked across to Alice and helped her to her feet.

  “Are you sure?”

  “As sure as I’ll ever be,” he whispered. And before he took a single step with Alice, the sound of a gunshot filled the still morning air.

  ***

  Hayley frowned from the back seat of the SUV. “It was a car backfiring.”

  “It doesn’t matter. You didn’t listen to me.”

  “But I told you it was a car. We didn’t need to crawl under the table.”

  The reflection of Tank’s cool blue gaze stared at her from the rearview mirror.

  “Would you be less grumpy if I promised to listen to you next time?”

  “It only takes one mistake and someone could get hurt.”

  For the last half hour, Tank hadn’t been happy. When the car had backfired, she’d come out of the bathroom with her toothbrush in her hand and a mouthful of paste. Tank had yelled, telling her to get down.

  Instead of listening to him, she’d stood in the middle of the room, staring at her mom as she hid under the dining table. Tank hadn’t been impressed.

  She looked over her shoulder at the empty road behind them. “No one’s following us. Did your boss say anything when you called him?”

  “John doesn’t know who’s looking for you. The best thing we can do is drive to Bozeman as quickly as possible.”

  Her mom patted her hand. “Tank means well. You should do what he says.”

  Hayley ignored their seriously annoyed bodyguard and focused on her mom. “Tell me about Tank.”

  Alice frowned. “Don’t you know who he is?”

  “I do. I just want to know what you remember.” Hayley took her notebook out of her bag and waited for her mom.

  “Tank’s looking after us. You have to trust him.” Alice took a magazine out of the pocket in front of her and looked at the pictures.

  Hayley knew the chance of her mom saying anything more was remote, but she wasn’t giving up. “When did you first meet Tank?”

  Alice looked up from her magazine and frowned. “At the nursing home. He had to wash his face.”

  Hayley listened to her mom and what she remembered of the last twenty-four hours. It was surprisingly more than she’d expected.

  As Tank drove from one small town to another, they looked at her mom’s memory cards, sung her favorite songs, and talked about the things that had happened only in Alice’s imagination.

  Five hours and four bathroom stops later, Hayley was ready for lunch and a walk. “Can we stop soon, Tank?”

  He glanced at the GPS. “Sioux City is half an hour away—we’ll stop there for lunch. How’s Alice?”

  Hayley looked at her mom. “Sound asleep. Has anyone been following us?”

  “Not that I could see.”

  She leaned forward and stretched her arms. “You must have been bored with our conversation.”

  “I don’t mind listening to you and your mom.”

  Hayley smiled. “What about our singing?”

  “It was a bit rough in places.”

  She laughed at the humor lurking in his voice. “I thought everyone from Montana would like Glen Campbell.”

  “They might, but I’m not from Montana.”

  “I thought…I guess I assumed you’d always lived in Big Sky country.”

  “I was born in Atlantic City. We moved around a lot.”

  “Sounds lonely.”

  Tank didn’t reply.

  She stared at the back of his head, wondering what had made him into the man he’d become. “Do you have a good relationship with your brother?”

  “David was fiv
e years older than me. He died a few years ago.”

  “I’m sorry.” Hayley tried to think of something to say, but nothing seemed more important than losing a brother.

  “Tell me about the music,” Tank said quietly.

  She looked at him and wondered why he didn’t want to talk about his family. “Music therapy is an important part of mom’s day. Apart from enjoying country music, she remembers all the words to Glen Campbell’s songs.”

  “My grandmother played the piano. She’d sit for hours, playing one song after another.”

  “What did she like the most?”

  “She loved musicals—My Fair Lady was her favorite.”

  Alice whispered something in her sleep.

  Hayley rearranged the blanket around her mom’s shoulders and waited for her to settle. “It must have been hard to see your grandma slipping away from you.”

  “She didn’t know who we were. She forgot how to wash, how to walk, and how to use the bathroom. It was harder on mom and dad.”

  “I know what you mean. A few months ago, mom couldn’t talk for longer than a few minutes. The supplement has made a huge difference. We’ll have to take it with us when we have lunch. I don’t want to leave it in the SUV.”

  “I wouldn’t want you to, either.” Tank handed her his phone. “We’re getting close to Sioux City. Look on the Internet for somewhere we can eat. I’ll put the address into the GPS when you’re ready.”

  “What sort of food do you like?”

  “Anything that isn’t vegetarian.”

  “Why doesn’t that surprise me.” She tapped the screen. After a quick search she found the Southern Hills Mall. “How do you feel about eating at a mall? There’ll be lots of food choices.”

  “I’d prefer somewhere less obvious.”

  “There’ll be other people eating there. It might be better being part of a crowd instead of on our own.”

  “Sioux City is bigger than most of the towns we’ve driven through. We’ll have people around us wherever we go.”

  “The mall might be better for mom. We could use their bathrooms and have a look at the stores while we stretch our legs. No one’s going to look twice at us.”

  Tank glanced in the rearview mirror. “Okay, but you can’t use any credit cards and no public Internet connections.”