Ignoring her protests, he started a hands-on, full-body search looking for damage.
Persistent fucker.
Relief at the touch of his familiar hands coursed through her. “I’m okay, Chase. Really.” He didn’t stop the physical exam until he’d covered every square inch. When he finished, he exhaled a heavy breath.
Palming the back of her head, he dragged her against him and kissed her again, this one long and deep. Gray had to break the kiss to replenish her oxygen supply, and refusing to let her go, he lifted her feet off the ground.
His heart beat hard and fast, his hands trembling against her back. She wrapped her legs around him, whispering reassurances in his ear until he nodded. With a couple of breaths deep enough to push his chest against hers, he had himself back under control.
She dropped her toes to the ground, and he set her down, but refused to let go of her hand. Together they faced the group. The harsh lights inside the hangar highlighted the scene in front of them, lighting it up like something out of an action film that had gone terribly wrong for the heroes.
“‘Tell Chase to look to the west.’” Grant repeated as he struggled to stand up. It didn’t take much effort from her brother to push him back down on the old office chair. “It’s the last thing I heard Tak say before the fight broke out.”
“Nothing else?” Jay asked.
“Like I said, just the struggle, then a voice I didn’t recognize.” Grant had already told them about Tak’s situation over the car’s speakerphone, but Jay had wanted to hear it again.
“‘Take his arms,’ that’s all you heard?”
Grant nodded at Jay. “That’s it.” Looking Chase in the eye, he added. “I’m sorry, Mac. I couldn’t get to him.”
“You did what he asked you to do. That’s all that matters right now.” The grip on her fingers tightened, but otherwise, Chase’s voice stayed steady.
“We’ll find him,” Gray said, “As soon as the colonel and the rest of the JTT get here, we’ll…” A look passed between the men, and a knot took up residence in her chest. “What?” She looked at each of them in turn.
Her brother cleared his throat, and she settled her gaze on him. “What is it?” Adam never hesitated unless he had to tell her something she didn’t want to hear. Fear coiled in the pit of her stomach.
“Tell me,” she demanded.
The hangar’s side door burst open, and a blood-spackled Davis called out, “The pilots are ready when you are, sir.”
Her brother’s gaze flicked from her to Davis and back again. “The colonel is gone, Gracie.” Reaching across the space between them, he stroked his fingers down her cheek. “He was killed in Washington earlier today. I’m sorry you have to hear it like this, honey.”
Her wail started from her feet, gathering momentum until it burst past her lips and cut through the night. Lost in a haze of red, it took a while for her to realize she’d been boxed in from behind, and the desperate sound of someone pleading to be let go—came from her.
After strippingGray to her underwear, Chase passed a washcloth over the smooth skin of her stomach. When he rinsed the white square, Kincaid’s blood ran in a red swirl down the drain, the water fading to pink and then once again running clear.
She hadn’t spoken since she stopped screaming. Recognizing she’d reached her limit, Gray’s self-preservation instincts had finally kicked in and shut her down. Chase had carried her on board, heading straight into the private jet’s bathroom.
Bigger than a standard plane’s, the two of them fit inside with room to spare. Lights equipped with a dimmer switch, Chase had kept them low, but even so, her reflection in the mirror was pale, her eyes bruised and hollow looking.
He took her arm, bloody to the elbow, and placed her hand under the faucet. “Bend,” he told her softly, and she did, angling her arm so Chase could run it under the warm stream.
Murmuring instructions, he soaped and rinsed until the red stains were nothing but a memory. When he finished, he toweled her off and grabbed the clothes Davis had brought from Gray’s duffel.
He slipped a clean camo T-shirt over her head, and she put her arms through the sleeves automatically. Bottoms next, Chase crouched in front of Gray and grabbed the back of her right calf. “Lift.”
She did, and repeating the process, he guided her left leg through the opening until her bare foot landed back on the floor. She had her hands on his shoulders for balance, and when he pulled up the waistband of her yoga pants, her grip tightened.
They stood like that for a heartbeat, and then she fell into his arms, weeping for everything and everyone she’d lost. His heart cracked, and he held her hard against him, smoothing a hand down the back of her head and running his fingers through her hair.
He whispered in her ear, saying nothing and everything, hoping the sound of his voice would help to ground her. After a time, her crying abated. Her heartbeat slowed to match his, and when he took a deep breath, her lungs expanded.
Thank God.His emotions raging, they jumped from one end of the scale to the other. He’d never been more torn in two. He would have given his life to keep Gray alive, whole, and safe. The fact Grant Kincaid nearly had meant he owed the man a debt he could never repay.
But ultimately, Tak had sacrificed everything for the woman Chase loved.
And the guilt filled him as quickly as the relief at finding Gray in one piece.
