Jack's eyes are startlingly clear, the drugs he was given having apparently cleared from his system in their entirety. He opens his mouth to speak, but the dryness of his throat prevents him from getting out any more than a croak of sound.
Having anticipated this, I reach for the cup of water I procured for him earlier and lift it to his lips. Jack takes a few gulps of the water, eyes still fixed on me as he does. When he's done, he waits for me to take the cup away and put it back down out of the way before making a second attempt at talking.
His first word doesn't surprise me at all.
"Dan?"
He frames his brother's name like it's a question. Also, not unexpected. It's a question I prepared myself to answer.
"Gone."
It's a simple response but the only accurate one I can offer. Damon has been coming in every few hours to give me updates about what's been happening, and according to the intel we have, Dan landed on the ground without injury and managed to escape the facility grounds. All we know for sure is that when he left, he went alone, not with OI. But even that is conjecture. Dan could have been running back to them as well as running away from us.
Jack closes his eyes and releases a slow, shuddering breath. I canfeelhim reining in his more extreme emotions and trying not to explode, his chest hitching as he attempts to work through his initial reaction to the news his brother is MIA. His hand tightens on mine to the point of pain, and I let it fly, making no sound or objection. If he needs someone to hold onto until the world stops spinning, I can be that.
Bringing his hand up to my mouth, I press a soft kiss to his knuckle. At the touch of my lips, his eyelids flicker open again. There's a bright sheen to his eyes, dark lashes wet with unshed tears. When he blinks at me, it allows a couple of them to fall. His anguish is so stark it makes my chest clench in empathy, not fully understanding the scope of his grief but feeling the echoes of it all the same.
There's nothing I can say to make this alright, so I don't try. Any words of sympathy are likely to set Jack off. Apologies and reassurances aren't what he needs right now.
I wipe away the wetness from Jack's face, then close my other hand over the one I already have linked with mine, trapping it there like a freshly caught firefly. Jack doesn't try to pull away, so I press his hand to my cheek, gently stroking the underside of his wrist with one of my thumbs, hoping to soothe him in any way I can, in any way he'll accept.
Jack keeps his gaze locked on mine, looking more lost and desolate than I've seen him since we first met.
We don't talk again for a long time.
Chapter fifteen
Jack
Ispendanotherdayin the medical unit before discharging myself against the doctors’ recommendations, and by that I mean I attempted to leave like a normal person with free will, and they all but body slammed me back into bed. They acted like I was trying to evade a military draft call-up or some shit.
It was Leo's cousin, Rex, who threw himself into the fray and convinced the other doctors to release me from my apparent medical incarceration. Despite being the youngest doctor there, he seemed to be the one in charge, which was low-key hilarious considering what the man looks like.
Rex is like a meaner, tinier, more vicious version of Leo. He declared me a "tragic twatclock unworthy of the effort" and insisted on having Leo come retrieve me so I wouldn't decide to get all "melodramatic" and launch my own search-and-rescue operation for Dan.
After finally convincing Leo to go clean up properly and get something to eat, he'd only been gone a few hours when I attempted to stage my failed great escape. He came back looking better than he had when he left, freshly showered and gorgeous as always if still tired around the eyes.
I'd say I feel bad about causing him so much distress, but in truth, the fact he stayed with me in medical until I woke up, and was there to watch me have my pathetic breakdown, means kind of everything. There's no doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t have handled it even half as well without Leo there by my bedside. He stopped me from completely losing it and gave me something solid to hold onto whilst I silently fell apart. He was there for me in a way no one else ever has been, holding my hand and not making me talk. I don't know how he understood what I needed most, but it's renewed my conviction that Leo deserves more from me than he's been getting.
In the time I spent healing, Dru apparently combed through the data on the backup drive Rohan was adamant we take from the OI facility.
Whatever is on it must really be something special because I'm barely out of medical for half a day before they call us in for a meeting to discuss what Dru has found.
Leo tries to convince me to stay behind in my room on the FISA base, saying it's too much too soon after everything that went down at the facility with Dan. He's not wrong to be worried. My mind is so fucked up over Dan's sudden re-emergence, I'm barely able to function.
But if Obsidian Inc. is up to even shadier shit than they usually are, I want to know about it. Moreover, Rohan will be there, and he might be able to answer some of my questions about Dan. The how's and the why's of it all keep swirling around inside my head like thick tendrils of smoke.
I can't get the things Dan said to me to make sense.
You left me.
What did he mean by that? I thought when he was shouting about being pissed at me, he meant the fact I'd killed him the last time we saw each other. I thought OI had twisted it and somehow made Dan think I killed him because I wanted to or some other sick bullshit. But maybe they've convinced him of something worse, a falsehood I don't understand and that could be potentially more complicated to unravel.
More than anything, I need to find my brother. If I can get to him, I can make him see the truth. I can undo what OI has done, whatever the fuck that is. But first I'll need to find him, and to do that, I'll need FISA's permission if not their help. I don't expect them to put everything on hold to find my brother; I've never been under any illusions about my worth to them, let alone his. But there's a chance I can make a case for turning it into a mission only I will be responsible for.
Snow might allow it. If not, I'll need to do the one thing I told Leo I wouldn't. I'll need to fucking run.
For the first time since I joined the unit, Snow sits in on our team meeting, further convincing me this shit is serious.
