Nick moved in from the right, Avery at his side. “Knowing how the CIA works, I’m betting he’s already burned.”
Walsh stared at them, then shrugged. He jumped down, laughed when Avery slapped some cuffs on him. “We’ll see.”
Avery shoved him ahead of her, started back toward the main gate as sirens wailed in the background, Greer’s forces closing in for the cleanup.
Bodie looked over at Rowan, blinked, her features fading in and out of focus. He took a step, tripped, Nick bridging his weight when everything shifted.
“Shit, Page, when the hell did you get hit?”
Nick’s voice washed over Bodie, strangely distant, with an odd echo that roiled Bodie’s stomach. He waved the man away, tried to walk on his own, only to resurface staring up at Rowan as she pressed down on his side, hands soaked with blood.
Blue lights strobed overhead, another female voice chattering close by.
Greer.
He recognized the voice, now, even if he couldn’t quite make out the words.
Rowan tsked, shoved a needle in his arm. “I swear, Bodie, if you fucking die on me…”
He smiled, managed to lift his hand enough to brush his thumb across her jaw. “God, you’re beautiful.”
She huffed, tugged on his side, more pressure than pain, which he knew spelled trouble. “I’m not falling for that line, anymore.”
“But I’ve fallen for you.”
She paused with some kind of instrument in her hand before she continued working. “If that’s true, you’ll hold on. Give me a chance to make a fool out of myself and tell you I love you once you’re fully coherent.”
“I’m coherent, now.”
“With the amount of blood you’ve lost, you won’t remember a second of this.” She leaned down, eyes glassy, her chin quivering. “Greer’s breaking the damn sound barrier getting us to Providence, so don’t disappoint her, okay?”
“I couldn’t let him shoot…”
The words faded, his tongue too thick to get them out. Instead, he gazed up at Rowan, blue eyes staring down at him.
“I know.” She sighed. “Fine, I’m crazy in love with you. And I know it’s quick. People will talk — judge — but the reality is… I just don’t care. Because when you know it’s right, you know.”
He nodded. Not much, but he hoped she noticed as the interior of Greer’s Bronco faded, Rowan’s face washing to black. He roused to bright lights and bleach, some kind of annoying machine beeping in the background.
Rowan jogged beside him, alternating her gaze between him and somewhere up ahead. She seemed duller, smaller, as if she’d shifted away. Voices shouted around him, everything finally grinding to a halt.
Rowan leaned down, cheeks damp. “They’re taking you to surgery. You’d better damn well come back out, or I swear I’ll shoot you, myself.”
Another nod.
Even less movement than before.
Her words from earlier following him into the darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Pain.
Clear. Sharp.
Cracking through his ribs and into his chest. Kicking him back down whenever he tried to surface. Open his eyes. Instead, he floated, noise teasing his senses, a comforting warmth holding his hand.
Time faded, everything washing into a numbing gray until he blinked, caught a flash of light.
