Chapter 53

I came out of the spa in a flash. "What?"

"Sorry John, I don't know much yet. Roy heard the license number on the broadcast and knew it was yours. I told him Tamara was driving it."

I was headed to my room to get dressed. Lena followed me asking what was going on. I told her I didn't know anything yet. She bolted out of the room, I assumed to go put clothes on.

I was fully dressed in less than five minutes. Lena was running down the stairs as I passed them. Sam already had his car in the drive with the doors open. He was on the phone when we jumped in the car.

He hung up and told me, "That was Roy. He made it to the scene and she's okay. Luckily it was the Expedition. He said she is shaken up a bit. The paramedics are taking her to the UNM Hospital to check for any internal injuries."

Sam didn't waste any time getting there. He dropped us off at the Emergency Room entrance. Lena and I were shown to the curtained area where Tamara was. She was sitting up when we walked in.

I went straight to her and she smiled. Her hair was a mess and she had a small bandage on her forehead. "How do you feel?"

"Woozy. They gave me some medicine and it is starting to take effect."

"Mom, are you okay? Can I get you anything?" Lena asked.

Tamara grabbed my hand, "John, that wasn't an accident. The truck that hit me kept pushing. It forced me over the edge. I was lucky that I was in your big truck."

I couldn't help but think that whoever did that thought I was in the SUV. Instead they attacked my innocent girlfriend. I tried not to show the anger welling up in me.

Tamara brought me back to the present, "John, who would want to do this?"

"I'm not sure, but I have an idea."

The nurse came in and told Lena and I that we'd have to wait outside. "We have to run some tests."

Sam was in the waiting room when we returned and Roy was with him. I left Lena sitting there and went to talk to Roy.

"The best we can figure out, a big four by four three-quarter-ton pickup came up behind her at the light. When she turned onto the entrance ramp, he rammed her. The Expedition was at an angle and went over the curb. It stayed upright and rolled down the embankment. It hit the concrete base of the light pole. That was probably a good thing, since otherwise she might have gone right out into the I-40 traffic.

"The person behind the pickup saw it all and called 911 on her cell phone. She also wrote the description of the truck and its license plate. She said there were two people in the cab of the truck.

"The fire department was the first on the scene. I talked to the paramedic and he said she was dazed and the air bags had deployed. He saw there was blood coming out of her mouth.

"The witness said the truck waited until it saw the SUV come to rest against the light pole. They then sped off east on I-40.

"John, it was intentional. Whoever it was must have thought it was you." Roy said as he finished his story.

"Have you run the plate from the witness?" I asked.

"Yes, the owner said the truck was stolen earlier today."

"Put out a reward for information, $25,000 for the positive identification of the people in the truck. I want to take care of whoever is responsible!" I ranted.

"John, a piece of advice: let the police take care of it. You already have enough heat on you from the Santa Fe incident," Roy said trying to calm me down.

Sam spoke up. "John, we'll find them. You have a lot of friends. You also have some unexpected allies in the APD. The way you handled the media and the Santa Fe police lieutenant won you a lot of support."

Lena walked up with tears in her eyes. I opened my arms and she ran into them. She immediately burst into tears. I tried to comfort and reassure her.

Roy's phone rang and he walked away to answer it. He came back and said, "They caught the guys in the pickup. A state trooper pulled them over south of Tijeras. The truck fit the description from the broadcast. They have the two in custody."

"That's good. Hopefully we can find out why they did it," Sam added.

Roy's phone rang again at the same time a doctor joined us. Roy went outside and I turned to the doctor.

"Mr. Kegler?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm John Kegler. This is Lena Sanger, Tamara's daughter."

"John, I'm Doctor Wyatt. Tamara is doing fine. She will probably sleep for a couple of hours. The x-rays show there is no damage. She has a slight concussion and we'll keep her here overnight for observation."

"That's a relief. Can we see her now?"

"I don't recommend it. She needs to rest. If everything goes as I expect, we'll release her first thing in the morning. I'll have the nurse call you if anything changes." He shook my hand and walked off.

Lena looked up at me with those puppy-dog eyes, "I want to stay with her."

"I don't think they will allow it, but why don't you go talk to the nurse." She took off like a rocket.

Roy came back up, "That was Dan. He is en route to the Bernalillo County Jail where they are being taken. He said for you to take it easy and to wear the present he gave you."

I looked at the two young men who had spent so much time with me lately. "I know you're doing a job but you both have gone above and beyond for me."

"John, it may have started as a job, but I don't think of you as a client. I know Dan doesn't. He has never gotten this involved with anyone before," Sam said.

Roy added, "You know how I feel. I'm off today. What I'm doing today has nothing to do with me being APD nor working for Dan."

I shook both of their hands and felt very honored to have developed a friendship with them. I guess I was going to have to get another watch for Sam.

Lena came back with a smile. "The nurse said I could stay if I didn't get in the way."

"That's good. I'm going to look in on her and then I'll get Sam to take me to the Expedition. Why don't you call Christina and get her to come up here with you," I said.

"That's a good idea. I need a couple of things."

I asked her if she had any money with her and she thought a second and said she didn't. I gave her some and kissed her. I walked to the curtained area and looked in on Tamara. She was propped up but obviously asleep. I walked over and kissed her cheek. "I love you," I said. It hit me that I hadn't said it to her when we hung up before the wreck. The thought of something happening to her without her hearing those words from me hurt my heart. I looked at her one last time and headed back to the waiting area.

Sam took me to the Ford dealership where they had taken my SUV. The service manager took us to the backlot and let us have access to it. The items she purchased were scattered throughout the vehicle. I asked Sam to pull around so we could load the items into his car. While he was gone to get his car, I found Tamara's purse and cell phone on the floorboard.

I began to get angry. My baby was in a hospital because some asshole tried to injure me. If it was Richards behind this, I would get him. I was lucky, I thought. I had the resources to fight back; the ordinary Joe didn't have a prayer.

Sam pulled up and we cleaned out the SUV. I guess I should've called Steve and had him arrange a lease vehicle to replace the Expedition. I needed to touch base with him anyway.

He answered right away, "Hey John, I was meaning to talk to you. I met a wonderful lady. Can I bring her Saturday night?"

"Absolutely," I answered. I then told him what happened to Tamara. He was hot and said he wanted to help me take care of the ones that did it. I told him to relax and we would get to that later.

I asked him about the leasing deals. He said he had talked to Jim and he lined up a listing of cars that fit in three categories: Sedans for the low level, SUVs and luxury for the middle tier, and then he said the upper tier would be by choice of the person.

I said that sounded good. He told me he had lined up a corporate insurance policy. He would go over the overall plan with Bob and they would decide to go forward or not.

I asked him to get with George to help him with the tenants of the building. I wanted to start remodeling as soon as possible. I told him to get Christina to help him if he needed any legwork. He made a crack about her legs and I told him to stop that right there. He commented I was a little touchy about her... if he only knew how touchy I had been with her.

I told him I would talk to him the next day if he needed to; otherwise I would see him and his new lady on Saturday.

I called Jim next. It took him a few minutes to get to the phone. "Hi, Jim. Are you busy?"

"Not for you. How are doing?"

"Pretty good, considering. I need a favor." I said.

"Shoot. What do you need?"

"I need to get a loaner vehicle for tomorrow. I need an Escalade-size SUV. Mine was in an accident today and I'll be replacing it, but with my daughter and some friends coming in to the airport tomorrow, I need large transportation."

"I think I can arrange that. One of my salesmen has one we use for a demo unit. I'll arrange for you to have it over the weekend. Are you going to want to look at one for purchase as well?"

"Maybe. I'll let Steve get one for me through the leasing company as a company car. I haven't decided on what type yet."

"Fair enough," he said. "John, I haven't had a chance to talk to you since I told you about the invitation to the Board of Governors was pulled. Everett called me yesterday. He asked me if he should re-open the invitation."

"Tell him that he can search elsewhere. I'm not interested in being on the Board with a bunch of lily-livered media driven assholes. He apparently doesn't believe in 'innocent until proven guilty'. If I didn't live in the community, I would look elsewhere for membership. I always thought that a club should rally behind its fellow members rather than ostracizing them the minute something bad happens."