“He’s back in the elevator,” Alex reported. “Seventh floor. You’re clear, get out of there.”
Ava heaved a sigh of relief. If she could just make it to the van, she would be safe.
“Ava? You going to make it?”
“I’m going to try,” she answered, “but I would prepare plan B.”
“On it,” Alex answered as Sebastian swung the door open and tore off down the hall toward the stairwell. Ava and Kyle hurried behind him. The trip down the stairs was mucheasier than the one up. They hit the bottom floor with Ava puffing for breath.
The corners of her vision had started to blacken, but she shoved it aside, using the adrenaline coursing through her body to push herself down the hall.
The trio gathered at the door, pushed it open, and hurried into the night. The cool breeze sent a shiver down her spine as she hurried toward the van, using every last ounce of energy to make it.
She pulled the door open and climbed inside. A stabbing pain shot through her arm the moment she entered, following by the painful rush of cool liquid into her arm muscle.
She flicked her gaze sideways to Alex, a sad smile on her features before her eyes rolled back in her head, and she slumped to the floor.
CHAPTER 7
ALEX
Alex paced the floor of their bedroom, raking a shaky hand through his hair as he flicked a sideways gaze at Ava’s limp form.
His stomach remained twisted into a tight knot despite having made it safely home after a successful retrieval of the files they needed to secure from PharmaTech.
At least he no longer experienced the nausea that had gripped him when he’d plunged the syringe into Ava’s arm as she entered the van.
Her sad smile had been the last thing he’d seen before she fell asleep, knocked out quickly by the powerful sedative.
He hadn’t wanted to do it, but she’d insisted on their plan B. Had she been on the verge of another behavior-altering blackout or had her vitals merely been the result of the high stakes mission where they were nearly caught by the guard?
He didn’t know, but he dreaded the moment she awoke.Would she be Ava or would she have that dead look in her eyes, devoid of any of the sparkle that made her who she was?
With a huff, he stopped his ambling and twisted toward the bed, flinging his hands out. “Shouldn’t she be awake by now?”
“No,” Kyle answered. “That was a strong sedative. We wanted to make sure it knocked her out without any chance of her waking up before we could get her home.”
Alex sighed, resuming his frantic walkabout on the area rug.
“Man, this is totally normal. It’s good, in fact.”
He flung a hand at his wife’s limp form. “The fact that I just stabbed my wife with a syringe so she wouldn’t go all Jason Bourne on us is not good.”
Kyle rose from his perch on the side of the bed. “What I mean is, it’s good that she’s still asleep. It means she’s probably going to come out of this herself. She’s not leaping up in weird Ava mode despite the sedative.”
“Wait, can that happen?” Alex asked, furrowing his brow. Did he have yet another thing to worry about with Ava? That she could somehow defy extra-strength sedatives with this drug she’d been given?
“I don’t know. And we don’t even know if she was on the verge of a blackout. She was just being cautious. Her elevated heart rate could have been from the near-miss with the guard coupled with the physical exertion. Try to relax.”
“I can’t. Until I know she’s fine, I can’t.”
Kyle heaved a sigh, shifting his weight. “Well, that’s not going to be for a few months. And she needs your support. Not your worry, your support.”
Alex slid his eyes shut, pressing his lips into a thin line. “I know. I know that. I just…can’t stop worrying. Every second that this affects her, I feel like…”
“Time is slipping away, and you’ve already lost time with her because you never said anything for like two decades of your marriage?” Kyle asked.
Alex shoved his hands into his pockets. “That about sums it up.”
