Smoked

other side of the bed and lay on top of the blanket.
When the nurse knocked on the door a little while later, I got up, let her in, and then went to the bedroom across the hallway.
I opened my eyes, surprised it was daylight, and got up to check on Siren. After rapping on the door, I eased it open. The bed was empty, the monitors were turned off, and I didn’t see her IV pole.
I walked down the hallway in search of her. Seeing me, Ms. Wynona rushed out of the kitchen. “Shh,” she said, putting a finger in front of her lips. “Ms. Gallagher is sleeping.”
“Where?”
She pointed over to the sunroom just off the main living area of the house. I could see her IV pole and the nurse sitting in a chair close to the daybed.
When I walked over, she looked up, stood, and led me in the opposite direction.
“Siobhan had a rough night. I’ve just gotten her back to sleep.”
“What happened?”
“I gave her this so she could call me if needed.” The woman held up a small device.
“What is that?”
“It’s a caregiver’s pager, sir.”
“You said she had a rough night.”
“Yes. I came in, and she was complaining of a terrible headache. I gave her something for the pain and then stayed until after she fell asleep. It wasn’t long before she woke again, this time saying she’d had a nightmare. It wasn’t until the sun rose that she was able to settle herself enough to sleep.”
“Did she say anything about the nightmare?”
“Not specifically, but I do believe she was dreaming about the accident.”
“Let me see that thing.” I held my hand out, and she placed it in my palm.
“It’s just a simple pager, sir.”
I gave it back to her without apology. Years of working in the intelligence business had made me suspicious of what sometimes turned out to be the simplest things.
“I’d like to suggest you arrange for Ms. Gallagher to speak to someone, sir.”
“Someone as in a psychiatrist?”
The woman nodded.
I walked back into the main part of the house and sent a text to Hammer. Call when you get this.
The phone immediately rang. “Whadaya need?” he asked.
I told him about Siren’s night and what the nurse had suggested.
“Let me make some calls, and I’ll see what I can get set up.”
“I can do that myself, Hammer.”
“Sure you can,” were the last words I heard before he ended the call.
I went into my bedroom closet and grabbed a pair of jeans to put on in place of the sweatpants I was wearing. I finished getting dressed and went out to the barn, hoping to find Zeke Jennings, the man who managed the ranch, whether I was home or away.
“Hey, Smoke,” he said when I walked into his office. “I heard you were back. I would’ve come up to the house, but it was late when I got in last night.”
“Anything I need to know?”
He leaned back in his chair. “Same shit, different day.”
“How bad is it?”
“Best guess is we’re down sixteen calves.”
While most people assumed cattle rustling was something read about in history books or seen in John Wayne movies, modern-day cattle thieves cost ranchers like me thousands, even millions of dollars.
Given the Blazing T’s location, I’d never thought much about the need for an elaborate security system. The ranch was on top of a mountain, for Christ’s sake. “I’ll make a call. There’s a guy I work with who might be able to help us.”
“Ashford?”
“Yeah. You know him?”
“Heard of him.”
Asking Zeke how or where he’d heard of Decker Ashford, one of the founding partners of the Invincibles, would likely raise more questions than get me answers, so I let it drop.
“Anyway, I’ll contact him and see if I can get something set up.”
“Sorry, boss.”
“Don’t be. With cattle prices skyrocketing and the rest of the economy goin’ to shit, it stands to reason that the challenges of our terrain wouldn’t thwart thieves forever.”
“I hear you brought a woman home with you.”
“That’s the other thing I came to talk to you about.” I told Zeke about Siren being shot, her surgery, and the strokes the doctor said she’d suffered. “I’ll be taking her to Asheville this week to meet with a specialist.”
“Anything else I need to know?” he asked, repeating almost verbatim what I’d said to him a few minutes earlier.
“She has amnesia.”
Zeke’s eyes opened wide.
“Siren believes that she and I were in a relationship.”
“Were you?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but no, we weren’t. In fact, we couldn’t stand the sight of each other.”
“Interestin’,” he said, rubbing his chin.
I got up and walked out of the office. The situation with Siren was bad enough as it was; I didn’t need shit from Zeke or anyone else about it.
I was walking along the bank of the creek when I got another call from Hammer.
“Whadaya want?” I answered his call like he had mine.
“You’re such a bastard. Do you appreciate anything I do for you?”
I laughed. “I thought you were doin’ this for Siren.”
“You make a good point. Anyway, I’ve got a guy comin’ to the ranch.”
“For?”
“Siren.”
I held the phone away from my ear and looked at it. Had I never noticed Hammer and Siren worked my last nerve equally?
“Just jokin’ with ya. I’ve got a buddy who lives outside of Asheville. He specializes in PTSD.”
“Thanks, Ham. When should I expect him?”
“This afternoon. As a favor to me.”
Before ending the call, Hammer gave me the man’s name and contact information.
Siren was still asleep when the doctor arrived midafternoon. He introduced himself as Dr. Paul Mansfield and explained that he was a psychiatrist who specialized in post-traumatic stress disorder.
I started to fill him in on Siren’s condition, but he held up his hand. “Hammer was able to get her medical records forwarded to me.”
How in the hell had he done that? I was the woman’s medical power of attorney. “Okay, well, the nurse can fill you in on her nightmares.”
After showing him inside, I came