Heal (Save The Kids Book 3) Read online

  HEAL

  HEAL

  COPYRIGHT

  © 2019 by E.M. Leya

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  Emma Marie Leya on Facebook

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher or author. Requests for permission to copy part of this work for use in an educational environment may be directed to the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. References to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or persons or locales, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

  Cover Art by SJ York

  ACKNOWLEDGMENT

  I'd like to thank my cover designer, SJ York for her great covers and her willingness to help me find everyday men to fill the shoes of my characters. I couldn't do this without your help. I also need to thank my beta readers. You are an amazing group who do more than asked. I love you all. The friendships go far beyond the books! And to Hannah Walker and Kris Michaels, you two are the ones who keep me focused, hold me accountable and push me to be the best I can be. I love you both more than words could ever say. And most of all, to the real-life pedophile hunters who risk everything to keep the kids safe!

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  EPILOGUE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ALSO AVAILABLE FROM E.M. LEYA

  CHAPTER ONE

  Beau sat down with a hot cup of coffee, glad to be off his feet for a few minutes. It had been crazy in the emergency room all day, and he was glad for the short break. He'd set more broken bones and given more stitches than he'd probably ever done in a day, and it was only two in the afternoon. He still had another five hours before he would be off work and able to relax.

  Not that he was complaining. He loved helping children. Being a pediatrician was his dream job, and he was good at what he did.

  So far today, there hadn't been any serious injuries, and that was good. Broken bones and cuts were part of growing up. While he hated to see any child in pain, the injuries would heal with no issues later on in life. Days like today were ones he loved.

  He took a sip of his coffee as he scanned through his phone, reading the messages that he had to ignore while working. He smiled seeing one from Faith. She was one of his best friends despite her being only fifteen years old. She was the daughter of his friends, Xander and Matt. Ever since they'd met, she'd sworn that she wanted to become a doctor like he was, and he'd welcomed the chance to mentor her as much as he could even though she was young.

  He'd met Faith after she'd been found and saved from the kidnapper and rapist who had held her. She'd been traumatized by the experience, and he hated remembering how scared she'd been when he'd had to treat her injuries when she'd gotten to the hospital. She was a brave girl, and had somehow found a way to get through the trauma and was recovering. Now she was turning into a typical teenage girl, following rock stars, using a vocabulary he didn't understand, and showing interest in boys.

  The fact she was interested in boys made him happy. He'd worried that her rape would make her hesitant to form relationships, and while she still wasn't dating, the fact she was showing interest gave him hope that someday she could lead a normal life and have a great relationship with someone who loved her.

  He often let her come to shadow him around the emergency room, assisting him with simple things when he wasn't busy. He had to be careful about what he allowed her to do, but he loved how attentive she was when she was with him. The girl had a passion for medicine, and he looked forward to seeing what she did with it in the years to come.

  "Dr. Maddington, we have four Code Ones coming in. Two males and two females. Ages range from three to sixteen." Nurse White stood in the doorway. "I've called Fran to come in to help with the females. One male is reported to have visible rectal injuries, but I'm told the other three show no or very little visible injuries."

  Beau stood, leaving his coffee on the table. "CPS?"

  "Child Protective Services has been notified." Nurse White sighed. "I'd hoped we'd get through the week without any of these cases."

  "You and me both." Beau rolled his shoulders. "ETA?"

  "They're about ten minutes out. Exam rooms are set up. I'll let you know if I get any updates." She turned and hurried away.

  Beau ran his fingers through his hair, dreading the next few hours. He was one of three doctors at the hospital specially trained to handle children who had been sexually abused. Along with a handful of nurses, they would do all they could to make sure the children were as comfortable as possible while the team tried to collect whatever evidence they could while treating the children and any injuries they might have. This was part of the job he hated, but was also glad he had the training and the ability to help those who needed him. He just wished it was a part of his training he never had to use.

  Making his way to the main desk, he pulled out his cell phone and sent a quick text to his friend, Bryon, who ran an underground team of pedophile hunters who would hunt down the worst perverts in society and make them pay for what they did. The team called STK had been successful in saving a lot of women and children, but they always worked as a team and alerted each other as to what they were doing. This wasn't one of the cases STK had handled, and that meant he needed to collect all the information he could about the case so he could get it to Bryon and the other members of the team. They might not be able to get their hands on the pervert, but they would follow the case and make sure if the man ever got out of prison that they had eyes on him in case he ever offended again. If he did, then STK would get involved and handle the case themselves, making sure the man could never hurt another child again.

  "What do we have, Beau?" Fran asked as she walked through the door. She was one of the other doctors who was trained to obtain a rape kit and examine the children who were victims of such horrible crimes.

  "I'm not sure yet. Two boys, two girls, but that's all I know." Beau sighed.

  Fran pinched the bridge of her nose. "Family?"

  "No word on family or where they are coming from." Beau would make sure to find out the details later. Whoever did this to the children was going to pay one way or another. He was proud to be part of the STK team. While he never took an active role in the hunt, he was always there in any medical capacity they
needed, and he would gladly share any information he could get about the case with the team so they could follow up on it.

  "I'll take room one." Fran swept past him, pulling off her sweater as she headed to get ready to receive the patients.

  Beau followed, pulling out a yellow gown from the cart by the exam room door.

  Waiting was the worst part. Not knowing what injuries he was about to see or what trauma the child had been through was the worst. His mind always went to the darkest places, but then again, sadly, many times the children he treated had faced much worse than even his mind could imagine.

  The noise from the receiving area told him at least one patient had arrived. He steadied his nerves as he waited to see if it was a male or female.

  "Female, age sixteen. Bruising and cuts on the arms and legs, but no visible signs of any other injuries." The EMT walked along the gurney as he pushed it through the hall.

  Beau stayed to the side, letting Fran step up to meet the girl. He couldn't hear what was being said, but he guessed Fran was gently introducing herself as she tried to relax the girl for the horrible exams that were going to have to take place once they made sure there were no serious injuries that needed to be treated first.

  The fact that children had to even undergo such exams turned Beau's stomach. How anyone could ever hurt an innocent child was beyond him. More than once he'd had to step back to keep from going after a parent or trusted caregiver when he'd found signs of abuse. It was only his training and his need to see the person punished by the law that kept him from beating them to a pulp himself.

  "No. Get away!"

  The loud scream echoed through the hallway, and Beau turned to find the young girl trying to climb off the gurney as she was kicking at Fran.

  Beau rushed to help, moving between two young nurses. "Hey, easy. No one is trying to hurt you." His gaze traveled over the too thin teen as he looked for injuries. "My name is Dr. Maddington. Can you tell me what the problem is?"

  The girl was old enough for him to talk to as an adult. He had no doubt after whatever she'd been through there was no need to speak to her the way he would a much younger child.

  "Not her. I don't want her to touch me." The girl pointed at Fran.

  Beau nodded. "That's okay. No one is going to touch you without your permission, but we'd like to make sure that you're okay. Will you allow one of our nurses to examine you?" He nodded to the two nurses on the other side of the bed. They were trained to handle sexual assault cases, and while they couldn't treat any major injuries the way he could, they could obtain the things needed for a rape kit.

  "No!" The girl shook her head.

  "What's your name?" Beau asked.

  The girl clamped her lips shut as she closed her eyes. Tears leaked from the corners of them.

  "What can we do to make you more comfortable?"

  "Where's my brother?" The girl leaned up on her elbows and looked around.

  "Was he with you?" Beau asked.

  She nodded. "He's only ten."

  "There are three more coming in the other ambulances from where you were. I'm sure he is one of them. As soon as we make sure you are both okay, I'll make sure you see him." He prayed the patient with rectal injuries wasn't her brother.

  "I'm okay, but he isn't. I need to be there for him." She tried to sit up, but the bindings around her chest held her to the gurney.

  "Easy. Let's get you transferred to a hospital bed, then you can move better. We need to make sure you're okay first, but I promise once we do, you can see your brother." Beau wondered if it was a family member who did this to them.

  "I'm not hurt." She waved her hand over her body.

  "Will you let one of us make sure?" He was sure the paramedics wouldn't have brought her here if she wasn't hurt or a possible rape victim.

  The young girl looked around at the faces surrounding her. "You do it. Not her." She again pointed at Fran.

  Fran gave him a simple nod. She wouldn't be offended. They would do whatever helped to make the patient comfortable.

  "I'm going to need a nurse with me. Will that be okay?" Beau asked softly.

  "I don't want any of them." The girl motioned to the female nurses around.

  "Fran, grab Bobby for me." If the girl didn't want females in the room, Bobby was the only male nurse on duty. He wasn't trained in handling sexual assaults, but Beau didn't need him to be. He only needed a second person there, because the law stated he couldn't treat a female patient alone. They liked to always have a female present when examining a young girl, but for some reason, this girl didn't want females around.

  A second later, Bobby ran up. "Did you need me?"

  Beau nodded as he glanced at the girl again. "Will you let the two of us examine you?"

  The girl took a deep breath as she glanced around again. "Yeah, if I can be with Jeff when he gets here."

  "I promise you can see him as soon as we make sure you're both okay. But until we examine you both, you'll have to wait, okay?" Beau was already leading the gurney into the exam room.

  "He's hurt. I know he is. I saw him." Tears filled her eyes.

  Beau waited until the paramedics had wheeled their gurney out of the room and the girl was situated on the bed before speaking. "I know he's hurt, and we're going to do everything we can to help him, but first, I need to worry about you. I know you didn't want Dr. Fran to help you, but I need to examine your whole body. Are you sure you wouldn't rather have a female do this?"

  The girl shook her head. "That doctor, she looks like the lady who…" Tears started to flow again.

  Beau pushed back his anger at what the girl was implying. "It's okay. I understand. You don't have to talk to me about anything that happened if you don't want to, but I am going to have to do a full exam, and that means I'm going to have to—"

  "I know what you have to do. It's okay. Just get it done so I can be with Jeff." The girl closed her eyes as if bracing herself for the intrusive exam.

  "Will you tell me your name?" Beau moved slowly as he slid a prepped cart closer to him.

  Bobby stood back several feet, waiting for instruction.

  "Lisa."

  "Lisa, I'm Beau or Doctor Maddington. You can call me whichever you're more comfortable with. And this is Bobby."

  Lisa glanced at Bobby and nodded.

  It was telling that the tall, thick, black man with tattoos up and down his arms was less intimidating to Lisa than the sixty-year-old, gray-haired Fran.

  "Are you hurt anywhere? Any injuries or pain?" Beau asked.

  The girl closed her eyes.

  "None of this is your fault, Lisa. We're here to help you and collect any evidence that can help us make those who hurt you go to prison where they can't hurt anyone again. I know enough already that you don't have to tell me much, but I do want to make sure if you're hurt, we take care of it." Beau didn't rush Lisa. Any sudden movement, any forcefulness would probably trigger her and cause her to withdraw even more.

  "My legs. She bit my legs." Lisa turned her head away, sobbing softly.

  "Thank you for telling me. I'm going to remove the blanket and look at your legs, okay?" Beau didn't move until Lisa gave him a slight nod.

  Gently, he eased the blanket from the bottom up, keeping the top half of her covered. He wasn't shocked to find her naked. Sadly, most of the children he treated for sexual assault came in naked. He kept her privates covered for the time being as he gently pushed her legs apart to look at her inner thighs.

  His temper flared as he took in the teeth marks and broken skin from the bites. They lined her thighs and even higher. He would swab them in time, but first, he needed to be sure there weren't other injuries. "We'll take care of those. Are there any other injuries?"

  Lisa shook her head. "I don't think so."

  Beau nodded. "So we have all the evidence we can get, I'm going to do a full exam on you. That means that I will be doing a vaginal and rectal swab. Are you okay with that?" He was always upfront about every
thing he would do, even if the child was young. He needed them to have as much control as he could let them.

  "Do you have to?" Lisa looked embarrassed.

  "We do. If you're not comfortable with me doing—"

  "No, not a female." Lisa's eyes went wide as she stared up at him.

  "Okay." He rested his hand over hers. "I know this is uncomfortable, but I'll make it as quick as I can." He glanced at Bobby, glad the nurse was staying silent near Lisa's head.

  He would perform the exam as if she'd been raped by both a female and a male, though he wasn't sure. It was unlikely that the male hadn't touched her. Then again, he didn't know if there even was a male attacker. He just assumed so from hearing about the boy's injuries. It easily could have been just one female attacker. It wasn't his place to ask Lisa about the attack. He was here to make sure she wasn't hurt.

  He rushed through the exam, carefully collecting any evidence he could, making sure to swab the bite marks and other injuries he saw for possible DNA. He could tell she had been raped, but other than making sure there was no serious damage and getting what he needed for the rape kit, he left her alone. A gynecologist would handle the rest.

  "Okay, Lisa, I'm finished. You don't have any pain anywhere else? Your head, stomach?"

  "No. I just want to make sure my brother is okay." She went to sit up.

  "I promise you we are going to take care of your brother, but he's going to need to be examined first. We'll let you see him the moment you can." Beau stood by her side. "I know how hard this is all going to be, but people will have questions, and I know you don't want to talk about what happened, but the more information you give the police and social workers you're going to be talking to, the more likely whoever hurt you and your brother will never get out of prison."

  Lisa nodded, but didn't look at him.

  "Would you be more comfortable with Bobby being your nurse for the next hour or so while we check on your brother?" He wasn't about to tell her that she would probably be admitted to the hospital for the night.

  "Please." Lisa closed her eyes. "No women."